The rest is just noise

A beautiful offense can only guarantee temporary needs.

The overall strength shown by the Lakers is worthy of being the dominant team.

With Magic missing most of the season, they changed their previous fast-paced dynamic offense, with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as the core of the tactics and All-Star guard Norm Nixon assisting in speeding up the attack.

Within a few minutes, Louis saw many of their routines.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's offensive position is the most basic, followed by Nixon's small cooperation with Cooper and Wilkes on the weak side.

They will call a pick-and-roll in the high post, making the offensive space extremely crowded. Nixon has the vision and ability to find open spaces in the crowd, and often passes good balls.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is more like a strategic weapon used to deter opponents, rather than a killer weapon to end opponents.

In addition, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's lack of intensity in the game really made Sampson feel comfortable playing.

He went back and forth with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on the offensive end.

However, Celtics starting guard Gerald Henderson was much worse than Nixon. Two low-level passing errors were counterattacked, and the Lakers led 12-8.

Bill Fitch jumped in anger and immediately called a timeout.

"Our defense has no integrity!" Fitch roared.

This sentence sounds easy to understand, but it is difficult for fans of players and authorities to understand what Fitch means at the first time.

"Coach, what are we going to do?" Henderson asked timidly.

At this time, Fitch was as terrifying as a demon with two horns on his head.

"It's none of your business!" Fitch yelled, "Nate, come and replace him!"

In addition, Fitch also replaced John Long with Randy Smith.

Long struggled in the Celtics. If Louis hadn't led him to practice three-pointers, his tactical status would have been even lower. Fitch had never designed tactics for him before, and Louis was still figuring out how to use his running ability.

Create offensive opportunities.

The Celtics need defensive integrity. According to Louis' understanding, defensive integrity refers to the connection between players on the defensive end. They cannot work alone, but must make full use of the strength of the team.

No one can guard Jordan and Kobe one on one.

But the New York gang could use rough methods to make Jordan shoot 40% in the series, and the 08-10 Celtics could guard Kobe like DeRozan.

This is not the credit of any one person, but the result of teamwork.

There are not so many defensive routines in the current game, and few teams will specifically design defense. If the coach emphasizes integrity, he just wants to see more linkage between the players on the defensive end. In the absence of tactical guidance, just

This effect can be achieved by relying on the tacit understanding between players.

It's a pity that the Celtics don't have such a good understanding on the defensive end.

Guiding defense is Fitch's strength, and Louis didn't want to interfere, but Fitch only talked about the overall situation and did not tell the players specifically what to do. He also replaced Henderson, who was better defensive than Archibald.

The best result of such an adjustment is that the offense will play better and the problem on the defensive end will become bigger.

The worst result is that Archibald did not enter the state quickly, the Celtics' chemical reaction was affected, and his inherent defensive black hole attributes plunged the team into greater chaos.

Louis walked up to Fitch and said: "The reason why the Lakers have repeatedly found players cutting into the penalty area is because our inside mobility has not kept up."

"You mean Ralph?"

"No, I mean, Cedric is a bit lazy." Louis laughed.

Maxwell was Fitch's favorite general, and he liked the former's fighting spirit and courage to challenge anyone.

Fitch noticed that Maxwell wasn't as dynamic on defense and that Jamaal Wilkes was too free.

But coaching defense is his strength, and he doesn't want Louis to remind him of such trivial matters.

Therefore, even though he knew there was a problem, he refused to correct it immediately.

"Let's have another look." Fitch walked to the side and loudly urged Maxwell's defense.

Then, wait a little longer?

Louis is not in a hurry, and if something goes wrong it's not his problem.

Maxwell heard Fitch's roar and decided to show off.

He went to the basket and shot a throw, thinking that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar could not jump. Unexpectedly, when Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did jump, he was so high.

The defensive power brought by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's enigmatic height was something Maxwell never expected.

His floater was touched by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's fingertips, the rebound was controlled by Cooper, and Nixon pushed back.

Sampson's speed is amazing and he has returned to the backcourt, but it is impossible for him to defend the Lakers' fast break by himself.

Nixon's performance was not as good as the magician's, but Hearn's live commentary added a lot to his beauty.

"Norm Nixon moved his counterattack gracefully, his hands moving like a ballet. This was show time that Bostonians had never seen before!"

Bird fired from a high position and responded with a jumper.

Louis' "prophecy" soon came true.

Maxwell doesn't like to run too much on the defensive end. A lot of running causes him to lose a lot of physical energy.

Wilkes was nicknamed "Silk" because of his silky shooting touch. People who are good at shooting often don't like rough confrontation.

Therefore, in order to avoid confrontation, Wilkes will run a lot.

Maxwell didn't like it, so this was exactly what he wanted.

Maxwell lost track of someone under the Lakers' cover and didn't change defense immediately. Wilkes rushed into the paint like a sharp sword, and Nixon threw the ball into the air, followed by an explosion in the Forum Arena.

Alley-oop to cheers.

"Did you take too many drugs so you can't run?"

Lakers fans in the front row sarcastically shouted.

Fitch's face darkened, and he glanced at Louis secretly.

Louis didn't show any pride or anything else. He had expected Maxwell's problem.

Replacing Archibald is also a bad move. Keeping the wrong lineup on the court will put the Celtics in a passive position.

Fitch understood this and took the initiative to come to Louis and asked: "What adjustments do you think our lineup needs to make?"

"Let Cedric take a rest, he looks exhausted." Louis had already thought of a countermeasure. He looked at the substitute off the field, "Bill, do you think it's feasible to close the door and let the dogs out?"

There are two dogs on the Celtics team.

One is the evil dog Ranbir, and the other is the famous mangy dog ​​M.L. Carl.

"Who's going to dribble the ball?" Fitch asked.

"Simple," Louis' open concept often shocked Fitch, "Randy is a shooting guard who can dribble, you can let him come; if there is a problem, Larry can take over, and even Ralph can also dribble."

We should set up a 'pocket formation' within the free throw line to limit the Lakers' penetration of the penalty area, especially Kareem and Jamal, we must not let them hit the penalty area so easily again."

Fitch was listening to a book from heaven.

Pocket array?

What is a pocket array?

"What are you talking about?" Fitch thought he knew defense well, but now he doesn't even know what a pocket formation is.

From what Louis said, this formation seems to be very popular?

Then why doesn't he know?

Louis also just realized that pocket formations became popular only after 2016. At that time, the NBA did not allow zone defense, so there was no pocket formation. However, it was not allowed by the rules, but there was no loophole that did not allow teams to exploit the rules.

Therefore, a little adjustment is possible.