The rest is just noise

In the opening game of the 1980-81 season, the Boston Celtics met the Chicago Bulls, who had just been divided into the East from the West.

Before moving to the United Center, the Bulls used Chicago Stadium as their home court.

This stadium is about the same "age" as the Boston Garden, both being products of the 1920s.

However, the number of fans that can be accommodated here is almost twice that of the Garden.

The Celtics came here as guests. Louis looked at the familiar Bulls team and the unfamiliar Bulls players, and thought that in a few years they might get the best player in history in the draft.

Even so, so what?

Due to the addition of Ralph Sampson, the Celtics have received a lot more attention.

CBS decided to broadcast the game live.

Of course, only CBS stations in the Chicago and Boston areas had live broadcasts, and fans in other areas saw time-lapse tapes.

In addition to fans' disgust and stadium violence, a more serious problem is growing - the problem of exclusive products is spreading.

The average viewership rating for last season's finals was only 6.7.

How miserable is this data? Only three finals had lower ratings than this.

The famous ratings black hole between the Spurs and the Cavaliers, the least suspenseful finals in history, and the famous ratings black hole between the Spurs and the Nets in 2003, where no one cared about the outcome, and the era of the epidemic.

The 2020 finals held in the park (lowest ratings in history).

With the Magician and Dr. J at the top, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Finals couldn’t be more sinful.

Louis watched the two sides warm up. There are not many players with outstanding athletic ability. Those who can perform dunks to entertain the fans before the game are all treasures.

The Celtics were responsible for fueling the excitement with Sampson and Randy Smith, both of whom had extremely beautiful dunks.

On the Bulls side, the person responsible for performing dunks for the fans was Larry Kenon PF/SF, who was known as "Dr. K" in the ABA.

This person once participated in the slam dunk contest with Dr. J in the ABA.

The few actions he contributed are not a big deal from today's perspective, but they caused bursts of cheers at the time, but they are still not comparable to Dr. J.

Dr. K is more of a nickname for him among the fans of the home team.

Right from the start, the Bulls won on the jump ball.

Their starting center is Artis Gilmore, a famous player from the previous era.

Gilmore's bounce was very fast, and Laimbeer was unable to pass the ball to his teammates. The Bulls won the ball, and Sam Worthen (PG), this year's second-round pick and the Bulls' starting point guard, dribbled the ball through half court.

.

He doesn't have any outstanding talent, he just has a lot of hard work and determination.

Louis whistled to signal Ranbir to pay attention to the incoming enemy.

After Cowens retires, the first thing the Celtics need to solve now is the defensive problem inside. Laimbeer can defend alone and grab rebounds, but he is not good at protecting the basket. Maxwell can't bring much help either.

Bird also heard Louis' whistle, so he prepared in advance and interfered with Watson's offense after predicting it well.

Gilmore jumped up and grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it to Dave Greenwood PF, the first-round pick selected by the Bulls this year. This guy is quite famous in college and is known as the next Dave DeBussche.

Er (Dave Debusschere PF Knicks legend).

As a result, Greenwood's offense also struggled.

The backboard fell out, and Kenon, who rushed to the basket, picked up the backboard and scored a dunk.

The announcer at the Chicago Coliseum bellowed out Kennon's other, better-known nickname: "Airbomb from Super K!"

Bill Fitch couldn't accept being rebounded like this by his opponent.

He angrily scolded Ranbir: "Are you fucking asleep?"

"Make a tactic!" Louie shouted.

Archibald listened to his words, controlled the ball with his left hand, and made a pistol gesture with his right hand, but raised it upward, making an "L" shape.

The "L" series of tactics appeared on the Celtics' court for the first time.

Ranbir ran up like a coolie, stood high on the left wing and stood still.

On the left, Bird came over to respond. Archibald passed the ball to his hands, then went straight to Laimbeer's screen, turned around and passed by, getting rid of the defense.

What Bird has to do is very simple, which is to lob the ball to the "elf" who cuts into the basket.

If the pass is in place, it equals tactical success.

Archibald made an easy layup.

The first battle of "L" tactics got off to a good start.

"This tactic really suits our offensive system." Fitch said happily.

Louis laughed dryly, if it wasn't suitable, he wouldn't bother to study it.

The initial "L" series of tactics has a total of 8 tactics.

Five of them require Bird to activate.

In the entire starting lineup, he is the only one with a comprehensive offensive threat. Louis' implementation of this tactic has strengthened Bird's tactical status to a certain extent. If he keeps playing Fitch, he will be rigid, lack of change, and have a bit of Luke Walton-style egalitarianism.

In the offensive system, Bird's ability is difficult to use.

In the opening few offenses, the Celtics combined Fitch's high pick-and-roll system with Louis' "L" offensive tactics and made 4 of 5 shots, including a three-pointer from Bird's pick-and-roll that bounced off the ball.

12 to 6

Just as Louis thought, Bird is very powerful. Even under Fitch, he is very powerful from the data point of view, but his presence on the court is obviously insufficient.

He is the type of player Luka Doncic and Jokic need to hold the ball to fully understand how good he is.

Even if he didn't get the ball, his strength caught everyone's attention.

Halfway through the first quarter, the Bulls' core guard Reggie Theus missed a high jump shot.

Gilmore grabbed an offensive rebound again.

Miraculously, he missed a shot under Laimbeer's defense. Bird blocked Greenwood's position, and the rebound was again grabbed by Kenon. He wanted to attack a second time, but was interfered by Bird. Bird, who had opponents both front and back,

Germany, it was difficult to protect the rebound when surrounded by these two people.

The offensive rebound was once again grabbed by the Bulls.

Greenwood got the rebound and attacked with force, but his elbow hit Bird in the face.

The latter lay directly on the ground.

"Isn't this an offensive foul?"

Louis was shocked when he saw the defensive foul called by the referee.

If we put it in the future, it would definitely be an offensive foul. Bird defended one against two, causing his opponent to miss his second attack in a row. He obviously didn't jump high, but his defensive intensity was very high.

Taking advantage of Bird's foul, Fitch decided to make a substitution.

"Ralph!" Fitch yelled, "It's your turn!"

The 7-foot-4 giant stood up from the bench, and the cameras immediately focused on him.

“The most exciting rookie since Bill Walton is about to debut!”

Louis raised his hand on Sampson's shoulder like an old father, and repeatedly warned, "You are in the fourth position on the court, remember! Play more 'L three' with Larry, reduce the offense with the ball, and don't succeed."

Hero, your time has not yet come!"

Sampson smiled: "Understood."

Sampson ran onto the court, and Bird gave him a ritual high-five: "What did the kid say to you?"

"He said, my time has not yet come." Sampson was very honest.

"He's farting!" Bird snorted, "Hit him however you want!"

The noisy Chicago Stadium made it difficult for Louis to hear what Bird was saying, but he saw that Bird's garrulous words were definitely not saying good things about him, so he waved his hands and shouted: "Hillbilly, it's not a good habit to speak ill of people behind their backs!"

Louie was worried that the old bird on the court would not give Sampson a chance, so he gestured "L three" with both hands off the court and shouted: "Play tactics! Play tactics!"

After the Bulls made the free throw, it was the Celtics' turn to attack.

Archibald was dribbling the ball and suddenly struck Bird behind him with one hand from the crotch in front of him.

Bird caught the ball, and Sampson followed up, making a pass. Suddenly, Sampson accelerated, but the ball did not pass. After Bird created the illusion of hand-off, he saw Sampson

With such forward speed, a hook-like alley-oop pass came directly.

Sampson was like a thunderbolt. The moment he rushed into the penalty area, he jumped up and reached an area that was untouchable by mortals. He caught Bird's pass and blasted towards the basket like a missile.