The rest is just noise

"You have no way to explain how Boston has persisted to this point. Tonight, the Celtics and 76ers hate each other so much that it makes the game look like American football and ice hockey. Countless people fell, several players

Injuries, tons of bruises on everyone. This was the most intense game I've seen in a long time." - "Sports Illustrated" writer John Papanec (field notes).

In the last two minutes of the third quarter, the game seemed like two teams that were out of ammunition and food, fighting with fists, legs, and teeth.

Bird forced his way through Dr. J's defense, but was knocked over by Dawkins in the penalty area.

This kind of unreasonable action was obviously a foul but was not called. It is difficult to accurately calculate how many fouls there were without blowing the whistle tonight.

The doctor brought the ball to the frontcourt, but Sampson, who was catching up at full speed, blocked it with his fingertips.

Andrew Toney, who was following them, got the rebound and pushed forward against Sampson's body. The whistle sounded, 2+1.

White Jones' shot was interfered by Sampson, Doc grabbed the rebound but was knocked over by Maxwell, Dawkins wanted to make a last ditch effort, but Bird was charged with an offensive foul.

It turns out that there was an offensive foul in this game.

Louis wanted to laugh but couldn't.

Archibald broke through the middle with the ball. He wanted to score the ball, but his line of sight was blocked. His body during the layup was affected by external forces. He could not grasp the ball at all. He took a shot in a hurry and fell heavily. The offensive rebound was blocked.

Maxwell won, and he passed Dawkins with his beautiful steps and hit the board.

71 to 72

The Celtics were only 1 point behind the 76ers. Dr. J failed to make a mid-range shot. Dawkins grabbed the offensive rebound with all his strength and passed it to Andrew Tony who was on the three-point line before time ran out.

That distance was beyond his range, but he had no choice.

Archibald's defense did not provide enough interference, and he made a pull-up at the buzzer and hit a hollow hit.

74 to 71

The two sides entered a crazy fourth quarter.

Bird intercepted a pass from the 76ers and got his sixth steal of the night. However, he fell to the ground due to unstable center of gravity control and still held on to the ball until he saw his teammates before starting the pass. The tone of this quarter was

Already decided.

Louis saw the 76ers unswervingly play a seven-man rotation, and Dawkins committed five fouls. Although the others were brave, they would always get tired.

Louis' eyes fell on Chris Ford.

Long and Bird gave the Celtics two spacing points, which was already a luxury configuration in the 1980s.

But the Celtics still have a space point sitting off the court.

He can play two guard positions and has no other problems except that he is not very defensive.

Chris Ford is a typical white player with slow speed, poor defense, good skills, and a leading three-point shooting percentage in the league.

Now, the 76ers, who mainly play a seven-man rotation, no longer have the strong defense they did in the first half. If Ford is replaced and only used as a space point, no matter how high their defensive intensity is, it will not have any effect.

Because defensive intensity requires physical confrontation, what can you do if he just stands on the outside and stretches space.

Louis quickly walked up to Fitch and shared his thoughts.

Fitch doesn't like the idea of ​​letting Ford replace Archibald, but starting from Game 5, the Celtics have adjusted their offensive and defensive play styles according to Louis' ideas, and they have achieved results. Now, he has no reason to veto Louis.

proposal.

"Just do as you say!" Fitch went to the technical desk to apply for a substitution.

At the moment when the Celtics made a substitution, Andrew Toney hit three consecutive pull-up jumpers that were beyond his usual range, causing the Garden to burst into boos.

80 to 74

The Celtics replaced Ford and put together a lineup they had never used before: Ford, Long, Bird, Maxwell, and Sampson.

Archibald, who was replaced midway, showed no signs of frustration and became a cheerleader on the bench.

Every time he defends, Laimbeer will stand up and roar loudly, never letting his teammates make any mistakes.

Not just them, everyone stood up.

This team has never been more united.

Dr. J's difficult turnaround shot from outside the paint area, the ball circled around the basket, like some kind of signal - the goddess of victory was smiling at the Philadelphians.

So it went in!

82 to 74

John Long continued to run, running from outside the three-point line into the three-point line, and then ran to the bottom corner to receive Bird's pass.

At the critical moment, a three-point shot was taken.

The third goal of the night.

No hit!

But they opened up the 76ers' position, and Sampson grabbed the offensive rebound, jumped up violently, and dunked over Dr. J's head.

Dr. J couldn't bear the impact and hit the basket frame.

Sampson has become the guardian of the Celtics' restricted area. Like Andrew Toney, he is a first-year rookie. They are both key players in this series.

Interfering with Dr. J's layup, he turned around and blocked Bobby Jones who grabbed the rebound for a second attack.

The rebound fell to the ground, and he slid to the ground desperately to grab the ball and threw it to Bird.

The announcer's voice can no longer be heard clearly.

Fitch's roar blended into the cheers and shouts of the fans. Louis had never been in such a noisy environment.

The smell of fans' sweat, the smell of beer, the mixed body odor of blacks and whites, plus the closed environment of this old warehouse.

They were playing a hell of a game in the worst arena in America.

Louis is always looking for the perfect team, and those teams that can achieve perfection but fall for various reasons off the court.

He is now very seriously judging whether this Celtics team is a perfect team?

They have a conservative, traditional, irascible coach who is, you could say, imperfect;

They have an domineering second-year star. He comes from the countryside. He has low self-esteem, is sensitive, is arrogant and determined, but always likes to do things that are difficult to do. You can tell that he is not perfect;

They have a super star who has high hopes from countless people. He has been a substitute for a season and shined in the Eastern Conference finals but couldn't even grab a rebound. You naturally think that he is not perfect;

Before Game 5, they were still quarreling over various things. The coach accused them of not being tough. The attitude of the old players was too lazy. The core players were unable to get into the situation. They were beaten by the opponent's rookie king. They fell behind 1 to 3 and were on the verge of collapse.

, you definitely have reason to say they are not perfect.

Starting from Game 5, something started to change.

The score difference changes back and forth between 1 point and 2 points.

Both the Celtics and 76ers used all their energy to prevent their opponents from scoring.

Ford didn't make a goal. He took three shots, one three-pointer and two mid-range shots, all of which missed the basket. He looked very calm and his mood was not affected, but he just didn't have the touch.

Louis did not ask Fitch to substitute because the 76ers were afraid of Ford's shooting range. Even if he did not score, he was destroying the 76ers' space.

The Celtics still have a pocket formation, but the intensity is not as strong as before because Sampson needs to take into account many aspects.

Dr. J was driven by the desire to score and made a priceless high jump shot from the right side.

88 to 86

In the last minute and a half, the 76ers still maintained the lead.

When Bird, Long, and Ford stood on the outside at the same time, the 76ers chose to let Ford out and flank Bird.

Bird passes to Ford.

Ford showed his selflessness and big-picture perspective when he saw Maxwell driving to the basket quickly, so he used his own shot as cover and suddenly threw the ball toward the basket.

Bobby Jones was approaching like a devil. Knowing that he could not block Maxwell's ball, he decided to push his opponent into the abyss - he slammed Maxwell who jumped into the air into the basket.

There was a loud noise that could be heard by everyone, and the perpetrator was a saint who carried the Bible wherever he went.

"You bastard, why are you tickling me?" Maxwell shouted with eyes wide open.

He got up and hit two free throws steadily.

88 to 88

1 minute 14 seconds

The 76ers made a mistake in their half-court offense and actually passed the ball into Sampson's arms.

Sampson passed the ball directly to Bird's hands.

Bird moved to the frontcourt with Dr. J's back behind him. Suddenly, like the legendary "Pearl" Monroe who was omnipotent with his back up, he turned around and left Dr. J's defense far behind him with a destructive back-up move. At that moment,

Larry Legend was exhausted, and his invincible will drove the energy in his body to jump to the highest height. Bobby Jones's block hit him in the face, and he grabbed the ball with his right hand and used all his strength to hit it.

It hit the basket in front of Jones.

"!￥%..."

The moment he scored a dunk, the roar of the fans had already eclipsed countless people.

Bird couldn't grab the basket and fell to the ground. He didn't hear the referee's whistle and his first reaction was to get up and return to defense.

The referee called him back because the goal just scored was a 2+1.

"Larry!"

"Larry!"

"Larry!"

Louis watched silently what happened on the court. That's what Larry Bird did. A second-year player who couldn't run fast or jump high took away the life-or-death situation, broke through Dr. J, and used the dunk that the opponent was good at.

, scored a crucial goal.

At the free throw line, Bird took a breath and took the shot.

"Whoosh!"

91 to 88

This was the first time the Celtics had taken the lead tonight, with only 49 seconds left in the game.

Louis, who was still noisy in the garden, could not hear any sounds. This extreme noise made him feel calm.

There was no one's voice in his mind.

He watched the game with his eyes, watching Sampson come up to the line to force out Andrew Toney's pass, and watching Dr. J helplessly try a long shot that he was not good at at all.

Blacksmithing!

With 28 seconds left in the game, the 76ers wanted to press forward, and Bird grabbed the defensive rebound and threw a long pass.

Maxwell said that he wanted to be the key player in Games 6 and 7. He may not have been the key player, but he fulfilled his promise. He was indeed the key player in these two great games.

He dribbled forward and the white lightning behind him turned into a white devil. He tried his best to catch up with Maxwell and gave him a nail-biting block that kept the 76ers alive.

Then, that ball——

"Ford picked up the rebound!"

"He stood outside the three-point line and chose to take a shot~~~~!￥#%...￥"

Chris Ford, this unknown person, the abandoned man in the Eastern Conference finals, the invisible man in the fourth quarter, who missed three consecutive shots, threw the fourth shot of the night 14 seconds before the end - that

It was a three-pointer from the top of the arc.

“Ugh!!!!”

The desperate Phillies requested a timeout and made a desperate attempt from beyond the three-point line.

7,6,5...

Andrew Tony made the final struggle for the 76ers - the basketball bounced out of the basket under the curse of everyone in the audience!

Before the time returned to 0 seconds, fanatical fans rushed into the stadium. Larry Bird held the back of his head with his hands and jumped up and down like a child with joy.

Louis heard the voice again.

The noise could upset anyone who didn't care about the game, but Louis felt that the Siren was holding him in his arms and singing beautiful songs in his ears.

He decided to close his eyes and enjoy the moment.

Because, he heard the most pleasant noise in the world that best represented joy, and witnessed the rise of a perfect team.

PS: Excerpted from Encyclopedia "In mythology, the Siren is portrayed as a siren with a human face and a bird's body. She flies on the sea and has a heavenly singing voice. She often uses her singing to seduce passing sailors and cause the ship to hit the rocks and sink. The crew becomes

Dinner in the siren's belly."