The Whip of the God of Basketball

At halftime, the atmosphere in the Celtics locker room was a little restless. When the team is in a good lead, Kevin Garnett will be the best catalyst, but when the team is in a bad situation, Garnett's passion does not necessarily have a positive effect. This was the first time they encountered such a bad situation in the game. Their excessive relaxation at the beginning of the first half prevented their offense from opening up.

Garnett's weaknesses in attacking were also exposed. The Pistons used Campbell's top defense and Wallace's assist defense to deal with Garnett. Garnett could only use fadeaway jumpers to end the offense in the low post. Such attack efficiency Undoubtedly inferior. The Pistons don't need to use outside players to help defend Garnett at all. Garnett's offense has no way to provide space for outside shooters.

When Garnett was unable to pose a threat in the low post, he could only score with his mid-to-long-range jumpers near the top of the arc, and this way of scoring became increasingly difficult as the Pistons became increasingly physical. . The fact that he was unable to break down the opponent's defense while facing the basket caused the Celtics' offense to fall into chaos in the second quarter. Garnett, who had been omnipotent in the first three games, seemed to be unable to attack all of a sudden.

Is it just because Fox-Leon didn't attend?

Carlisle soon realized that it was a mistake to let Garnett take on too many isolation tasks on the offensive end. Garnett is indeed an efficient scorer, but his efficiency is based on reasonable shots and a comfortable offensive method. He's not a master of the power play. In the first game, he played so well and his shooting percentage was so high, but in the end he only scored 30 points.

What's scary about Kevin is his comprehensiveness, so during the halftime break, Carlisle reminded Garnett that he should focus more on defense and support in the second half, "Leave the offensive matters to Pierce and the others." ", Carlisle said.

Garnett had no objection to this. On the contrary, he who was a little restless quickly calmed down. On the surface of his heart, he is eager to carry the team forward. This is a habit he has formed in the Timberwolves for many years, and he is very offensive and defensive; but deep in his heart, this guy who always puts the most pressure on himself is eager for his teammates to step up. , to help him in areas he is not good at.

So sometimes Garnett's selfless behavior on the court makes people feel that he is not competitive, because he is a completely different player from Kobe and Jordan. This is why Leon thinks he is best for the Celtics.

With Carlisle's correction, the Celtics' tone was set in the second half. Trailing by eight points, they had to regroup on the defensive end and rely more on the outside on the offensive end. However, Carlisle was still somewhat hesitant on whether to replace Arenas and replace him with Alston.

After several weeks of contact in training, Carlisle had a preliminary understanding of each player's character. Among them, Arenas is not the most famous in the team, but his temper and self-confidence are definitely the best. It can be said that the whole team except Paul - Pierce, Fox-Leon, and Arenas refused to accept anyone, including Garnett.

Arenas' performance in the first half was the best on the team. He hit three three-pointers in the first quarter. In the second quarter, when he couldn't get open in the paint, he faced Billups' entangled defense. He can still use his strong torso to kill a bloody lane and commit two fouls to the free throw line. Otherwise, the Celtics' deficit will definitely be more than 10 points.

Carlisle thought for a while and decided to let Arenas start the second half first. If the situation goes wrong, it is not too late to replace Alston.

As for Alston, Carlisle didn't have a deep impression of him. Although this guy was famous on the street, he was just a nobody in the professional basketball circle. Carlisle's only impression of him was that this guy was really good at dribbling and was good at playing. He once had a great time playing with Garnett in training. In addition, some basic passing, shooting, and especially defense are all below par.

If I have to say what are the advantages that are different from ordinary defenders, firstly, they are stable enough, have a good mentality, and make few mistakes. Secondly, they can rely on excellent dribbling to break through. There is no first step, but they can get through by going around. Go inside. For such a basic-salary guard, Leon said he could be used if something went wrong against the Pistons, but Carlisle didn't believe it.

Carlisle knew very well the level of Billups. Three games into the first round of last year's playoffs against the Magic, he knew that the No. 3 overall pick, who had been wandering around, had really come to his senses. Sure enough, Carlisle saw a more prudent and steady Billups in this game, with a master's style in both offense and defense.

Carlisle struggled like this for fifteen minutes, and the second half of the game was about to begin.

The Auburn Hills Palace Arena is extremely hot tonight, not only because of the visit of the Super Green Fleet, but also because they were eliminated by the Celtics in the semifinals for two consecutive years - of course, tracing back the grievances and resentments between the two teams can even be more... Talk for two days and two nights. In short, the fanatical Detroit fans put even more pressure on the Celtics.

At the beginning of the second half, the Celtics attacked. Arenas held the ball from the center and went directly to the three-second zone. When he wanted to throw, Ben Wallace slapped the ball away with a volleyball block. Campbell diverted the ball. Billups took the ball and launched a counterattack.

Billups' counterattack was also unhurried. He observed while advancing, and then passed a lateral ground pass to Hamilton. Hamilton was not fast. He caught the ball and went inside. Facing Reid's defense, he first faked a layup to shake his center of gravity, and then turned around and succeeded in a close pick-up basket. 10 points! The Pistons opened the point difference to 10 points.

At this time, Pierce stepped forward. In the next attack, he forced a breakthrough with the ball and caused Prince's foul. He made two free throws and recovered the score a little.

But chasing points like this is not the answer after all. The Pistons have already controlled the rhythm on the court. On the Celtics side, Arenas has been trying to speed up, but in addition to causing mistakes for the Pistons to counterattack, he has not been able to make a second quick attack at all. The sharp edge also allowed the Pistons to continue to expand their lead.

Finally, in the fifth minute of the third quarter, Carlisle called a timeout, replaced Arenas and asked him to take a good rest, and then replaced Alston.

"It's not my rest time yet?" Arenas was a little surprised. According to the normal rotation, he usually plays the entire third quarter and then takes a break at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

"I have to make some adjustments. You made too many mistakes." Carlisle said bluntly, which made Arenas a little unhappy. Before the game, Carlisle promised to let him play freely, but he was replaced after making a few mistakes. However, Arenas was not bold enough to openly challenge Carlisle. After all, Pierce and Garnett were there.

He sat back on the bench glumly. Tonight he was the Celtics' highest scorer. He scored 14 points in the first half. In the second half, he scored a 3-pointer and two free throws. He already scored 19 points. One more point would be 20 points. . He was still quite proud, thinking that his almost crazy hard training in the summer had not been in vain. In his mind, the words Fox Leon said to him on the night of the 2001 draft will forever inspire him. He will prove to Leon that he deserves the highest pick.

But when Alston came on the field, the Celtics' situation immediately changed.

In the first attack after the timeout, Alston jumped and dribbled the ball past half court. Billups did not defend in a pressing manner. Maybe he felt that it was completely unnecessary for Alston. Als handed over the ball at halftime, and then cut down at 45 degrees from the left, taking away Billups' defense. Pierce was holding the ball on the outside, and he directed the offense at the top of the arc outside the three-point line.

Garnett stepped forward to pick and roll, and Reid came around from the weak side and made a cross screen with Alston near the three-second zone, which delayed Hamilton's follow-up for a short while. At the same time, Pierce was holding the ball from the front. The ball pretended to break through and attracted the defense in the middle.

Reed circled 45 degrees to the left, Pierce passed the ball, Reed took the ball and shot a three-pointer directly, and threw the ball towards the basket before Hamilton interfered. A sharp knife that has been polished for a long time, a quick shot and a powerful parabola. The ball hit the edge of the basket and entered the basket. The sound was loud and crisp, just like this goal.

Once the offense goes smoothly, the Celtics can regroup on the defensive end and set up a formation to compete with the Pistons. The Pistons' three-position offense is actually very inefficient. Campbell and Ben are both useless offensively. They mainly rely on the dual guns of Hamilton and Billups, especially Billups.

It is true that Alston could not deal with Billups one-on-one. As soon as the half was over, Billups began to push Alston with his butt and lead to the back arch, but there was another person in the Celtics, and that was Alston. Nate.

Garnett would rather give up guarding Campbell and double-team Billups. The two are good friends off the court, but Garnett is not polite on the court, and he is very familiar with Billups's play.

As a result, the man-to-man marking that Arenas had been pursuing when he was on the court became a double-team. On the offensive end, Alston became invisible, but gave enough ball rights and space to Pierce and Reid. The Celtics suddenly The child came to life.

In the third quarter, they played steadily and narrowed the score gap little by little. Finally, at the beginning of the fourth quarter, they relied on a tip-in by Chris Anderson to successfully overtake the score. The Celtics, who were fully motivated, never gave the Pistons a chance. Pierce and Reid were fully open, hitting consecutive mid-range shots, and the point difference widened. In the end, they won the Palace of Auburn Hills with a 7-point advantage of 97:91. Walk a victory.

Carlisle also completed his revenge by winning the game as the Celtics' acting head coach, while avoiding the "not as good as a dog" ending. But Arenas was not too happy again. He scored 22 points in the game, the second-highest score in the team. However, he only got 7 minutes of playing time in the second half and was completely overshadowed by substitute Alston. The latter played 19 minutes and only scored 2 points, but sent 4 assists and made 0 turnovers.

Carlisle's substitution was also considered a turning point for the Celtics.

A little emotion began to brew in Arenas's heart.