The rest is just noise

May 20, 1988

In the morning, Louis woke up from a nightmare. He had not had a good sleep in the past few days.

Ge2's game plan is already in his hands.

The person who formulated the plan is Zhao Yuanzheng, who is also Louis' most valued assistant. Although Tomjanovich is his chief assistant, Zhao Yuanzheng's future is limitless.

He is a natural coach. He has been with Louis for four years and has become proficient in various businesses. He is also the most versatile presence in Louis' assistant coaching team.

This game plan made it clear that the series should be turned into a war of attrition.

The Celtics don't have as many manpower as the Knicks. Although the lineup is also very deep, it cannot compare with the Knicks.

Moreover, Bird's back injury is also a major hidden danger for them.

Once Bird can't hold on, the Celtics will have to focus their pressure on Sampson and Thomas.

The significance of this incident is that the Celtics' three unsolvable players have become two. Thomas' unsolvable players are slightly inferior to those of Bird and Sampson. After all, his long-range shooting is unstable. Sampson

As an interior lineman, Sen is naturally not as easy to catch the ball as defenders and wings.

He is indeed a player that the Knicks cannot deal with. His status as an inside post makes it easy for him to dominate the game, but it also gives him a limit to dominating the game, which is slightly worse than an omnipotent wing like Bird.

This is the core significance of the game plan formulated by Zhao Yuanzheng.

Drag word trick

The longer the series goes on, the worse it will be for the Celtics.

This was originally their advantage. Before Bird was injured, all teams that wanted to beat the Celtics had to pursue a quick victory.

Once the two sides reach a stalemate, or the Knicks become the second team in four years to drag the Celtics into a tiebreaker like the Lakers in 1985, the Celtics' three giants will use all their strength to explode and use whatever they can to

The upper limit encountered is unmatched by other teams.

Now, it's the other way around.

The Celtics hope to defeat their opponents quickly so that Bird can end the season early to recuperate from his injury.

Therefore, whether the Knicks can drag out this series and wear out the Celtics is the key to victory or defeat.

In this way, it is very important to win a game on the road and return to G with a score of 1-1 instead of 2-0.

If we go home with 2-0, if we lose again, the Celtics will take four match points in a row, and there will be no chance of a comeback.

1 to 1 is equivalent to returning to the starting line.

Louis opened the team's roster and thought carefully about tonight's game.

Reggie Miller must be replaced. He was the leading shooter in history before Ray Allen and Curry, but now he is just a rookie. In the future, he will become the most feared player on the Knicks' perimeter.

It's a bit too early to expect him to be the vanguard in defeating the Celtics.

Louis took Miller off the roster and was torn between Cooper and Dale Ellis.

In addition, the choice of point guard is also a question worth pondering.

Stockton, whom Louis considers to be the best general in history, performed well in a tactical system that was more advanced than Utah's pick-and-roll system.

What Louis didn't expect was that when he used a modern offensive system to benefit his players, his opponents would also change their thinking and use modern defense to target the players' weaknesses.

Different from Stockton and Malone's classic pick-and-roll, the Knicks' pick-and-roll does not necessarily allow the inside line to end in a downward direction. Everyone is moving, and two tactics are often used in parallel.

Stockton needs to use his tactical knowledge to find the one with the best opportunity to complete the offense.

This kind of offense was very popular in the era when ball-handlers who held the ball in pick-and-rolls and shot three-pointers were popular. Now we don't have that kind of concept and skills, so Louis added a lot of strong and weak side-to-side passing and cutting coordination.

The key to this tactic depends on how Stockton releases the ball and how effective he is as the ball carrier in the pick-and-roll.

Starting with Don Nelson, for the first time there was a way of giving up on defending the Knicks' ball-handler to shoot, and choosing to go behind and open up space to maintain defense.

This kind of defense will be shot through by Harden, Curry, Lillard, Irving and others in the future, but in this era, the Stocktons have never been exposed to three-pointers since they were young, let alone a three-point line.

The habit of holding the ball outside and shooting naturally means that there is no shooting rhythm.

Therefore, when faced with such a defense, his pick-and-roll offense always has a sense of immediacy like a mysterious dance in an Indian movie.

Even if you know that this Indian movie is good, but when you think that they will intersperse a lot of dance music in the movie, people who don't like it won't want to click on it (like me).

Stockton found a way to deal with it, which was to break through.

This can indeed solve his problem to a certain extent, but it seriously goes against his playing habits.

What is Stockton's style of play? First of all, he is not very aggressive in passing the ball, but emphasizes accuracy, so he also relies heavily on the movement of his teammates.

Organizations like Kidd and Rondo are those who seek to win steadily and rely on their teammates to come out and give the ball to them in a timely manner.

People like Nash, Curry, Harden, and Westbrook who actively attack and destroy the opponent's defense and provide assists are considered creative.

Stockton cannot be strictly divided into these two categories.

He belongs to the five-point rhythm and five-point creation.

After coaching him for four years, Louis knew that Stockton rarely broke into the basket. Even if he called for a pick-and-roll, he liked to organize near the free throw line.

He doesn't go deep into the basket, so he doesn't take many free throws, and his destructive power is not good enough. Every move he makes is to instigate his teammates' offense, and he doesn't pay much attention to his own offense.

The problem the Celtics now give him is to let him attack on his own.

Once the opponent discovers that he mainly passes the ball when he breaks through to the basket, the defensive targeting will become more obvious.

Louis called Stokes and Miller's rooms and asked them to come over.

If they are to be substituted, the reasons for doing so must be explained to them before the decision is announced.

The process went smoothly. As a rookie, Miller has far exceeded his expectations by playing in his rookie season. Now that he is not performing well and has to sit on the bench, it is completely acceptable.

Stockton is simpler than imagined.

He asked: "Is it because I can't make three-pointers?"

"Yes, and no." Louis explained, "The Celtics have indeed made a lot of plans based on your playing habits, but this is also based on the premise that we have not prepared a second plan for you. If there is only one

With your style of play, it’s normal to be targeted. You won’t sit on the bench for a long time, so be ready to play at any time.”

Stockton had no objections.

During the afternoon training session, Louis announced tonight's results.

"Boston people think they are sure to win. I just want them to know that the first defeat was just an accident. From now on, every game will be a war!"

The response to news of Luigi's changes was positive among players.

In the subsequent training sessions, Louis didn't want the players to waste too much energy and just practiced casually.

That night, Boston Garden.

Every time he comes here, Louis is proud of the fact that he has worked here for seven years.

How did he persist? The environment in the garden was so stinky.

If all the arenas in the league were compared together, none would be able to surpass it.

However, Louis has this idea because the Bucks and Bulls have no chance to play until June.

All old arenas named xxx Stadium are basically products from half a century ago.

Since they are all old items, it is normal for the crotch to stretch under certain conditions.

"But this is too crotch-stretching!"

When Louis shook hands with...

He said heartbreakingly: "G is the most luxurious arena in the league, but what are your results? Although the Garden is old, it can keep us working hard. G is gorgeous outside, but it is defeated in it. If you can't win, no matter how good the home court is,

It’s no use.”

Louis was speechless at the logic of forcibly linking results to home games.

Is this different from criticizing Curry for not having FVP, complaining about James for not being able to pass the first round, complaining about Jordan for not being able to pass the first round without Pippen? They are all sophistry based on facts, it is better to complain about Harden pulling his hips in key games.

"Real goods at a reasonable price".

"Okay, don't be too proud." Louis put away his smile and turned from an old friend into the Celtics' enemy. "The era when you were kings and hegemons is over."

Said confidently: "Then it depends on your ability, w. Lu."

Both sides threw the ball for a while, and then all players were replaced.

The Celtics' lineup has changed somewhat from the first game. The second position is Danny Ainge, the third position is Ron Harper, and the fourth position is... Bird?

Sampson plays center and Laimbeer is the substitute.

"Larry plays the four position, what do they mean?" Louis didn't think it was a good decision to let Bird, whose back injury has not healed, play the four position.

Are you crazy? Or is Bird's injury not as serious as imagined?

"No, this lineup is too targeted at us, isn't it?" Tomjanovich felt something was wrong, "How do they know we are going to change our lineup, and how do they know what kind of lineup we are going to change? Could it be..."

Louis was not surprised at all.

His eyes turned to the smiling old man Reed Auerbach in the middle of the garden. Of course he could find out the news about the Knicks' lineup changes.

"Are we going to proceed as planned?" Tomjanovich asked.

Although the Celtics' formation changes are very targeted, just being targeted is not enough. Some of them are not that targeted. For example, they are serious about letting Bird play the fourth position.

?

"Don't worry."

Louis did not change the team's lineup.

Ge2 Knicks are: Hornacek, Michael Cooper, Wilson, Oakley, Ewing.

"This lineup...are the Knicks going to use their full-court press from the beginning???"

said Dick Stockton in surprise.