Pick Westbrook

Chapter 253 It's already been decided

Seeing that Pierce was still on the court, the fans in the United Center Arena burst into applause and cheers instantly.

Pierce raised his hand and pointed to the sky above the arena, then patted his chest as a gesture.

He's going to play the second quarter!
Pierce still remembers the picture of last season's playoffs.

At that time, fans all over the world were looking forward to the reunion between the Lakers and the Celtics in the Yellow-Green War.

But it was the Bucks in front of them. They pulled the Celtics down abruptly, cut off the dreams of all fans, and also cut off the future of the Celtics.

Because of the formation of the Celtics Big Three in 07, the Celtics have been facing high luxury taxes.

Although they and the Lakers are both well-known giants in the league, there is a big gap with the Lakers in terms of team revenue.

In addition, Angie, the general manager of the Celtics, has always been known for his wily calculations.

After he saw the strong strength shown by the Bucks and the very reasonable salary structure, Angie can already predict that this Bucks team will win the Eastern Division with a strong attitude for many years.

It is difficult for the Celtics' aging Big Three lineup to maintain the same competitiveness as the Bucks for a long time.

So the Celtics management made a decision at that moment, rebuild!

Dismantle the Big Three lineup and cultivate the young potential star Rondo, and wait for the Bucks' lineup and salary problems after a few years before making a comeback.

"If it wasn't for the Bucks, how would the Celtics choose to trade me?"

"Even if Angie is so scheming, it is impossible for him to trade away the soul of the Celtics!"

"I was supposed to spend my whole life in the Celtics because of you, the Bucks! It was because of you that I was abandoned!"

At this time, Pierce had countless grievances against the Bucks. When he met the Bucks again in this year's playoffs, he also vowed to avenge his elimination last season.

That's why Pierce played consecutive first and second quarters even though he was 34 years old.

The second quarter begins.

Pierce played Curry again.

This time he played even more brutally on the court, directly against Curry's defense and went to the basket.

Neither Yi Jianlian nor O'Neal had time to assist in the defense. This goal also made the Bucks want to beat the Bulls in the second quarter.

Then Curry was ready to fight back from beyond the three-point line, but this time, his shot ended in a black iron.

The Bulls took this opportunity to fight back.

Rose made a layup.

"pause!"

"pause!!"

Li Lai walked to the technical stage and decisively called a long timeout.

Pierce continued to play the game disrupted the Bucks' pre-match deployment, but also disrupted all the offensive and defensive rhythms of the Bucks.

Curry was targeted again.

Originally, Curry's defense was not particularly good, and Li Lai also let him play shooting guard, which was a very risky move.

In the starting lineup, the Bucks at least have Artest and Cousins ​​in the lineup, and the two can also cover up Curry's problems on the defensive end.

But in this period of time, with the defensive strength of Dragic, McGrady and others, they cannot help Curry solve this problem.

So at this moment, Li Lai made a very difficult decision.

"Take Curry!"

Tyronn Lue was shocked when he heard the substitution decision. He looked at Li Lai and said, "Coach, we have been led by Curry during this period of time. Judging from the results of the first 4 games, the effect is also very good. good."

"So why suddenly adjust the field lineup at this time."

Li took a look at Curry who immediately sat on the bench to rest after the timeout.

In the ball just now, Curry was obviously affected by his physical strength and failed to maintain a high level of shooting ability.

Throughout the series, the reason why the Bucks dared to use Curry to face Pierce was because of Curry's almost unsolvable ability on the offensive end.

Able to shoot, shoot, and drive teammates.

But a full 4 games have passed, even if the iron man played in the first and second quarters consecutively, it should be too much.

Curry has already reached the point of exhaustion, and he has put in all his efforts for the Bucks to win every game.

When Curry heard that Li Lai was about to replace him, he raised his head nervously and said, "Coach, I can still play."

O'Neal and Iverson held down Curry who wanted to continue rushing to the court, and said: "We all know you can still play, but you also have to try to trust your teammates."

Li Lai patted Curry on the shoulder and gave him the same signal to stop and rest.

Of course, Li Lai saw more from Curry's eyes.

Last season, Curry lost to Westbrook in the FMVP selection by one vote. He wanted to prove himself again in the playoffs this season, so he played so hard.

Li Lai knows where Curry's continuous motivation comes from, but as the head coach of the team, he should always make the most correct decision for the team.

"Danny!"

Danny Green, who had been sitting on the bench gearing up for a while, jumped up excitedly after hearing this sentence.

Jeremy Lin and Andre Ingram beside them patted Danny Green on the shoulder and said encouragingly.

"Brother, go teach the Bulls a lesson."

"Let them all see how powerful you are."

Danny Green took a deep breath, then nodded excitedly.

In fact, he had been waiting for two full years for tonight.

Danny Green still remembers the first team training when he joined the Bucks. At that time, Li Lai told him that he did not have the strength to play in the NBA, but Li Lai was willing to wait.

This word is always hanging in Danny Green's heart.

He didn't know how long the coach asked him to wait, but he could clearly feel that the coach had been paying attention to him, so he kept working hard.

In the past two years, Danny Green has asked Curry and Reggie Miller to learn three-point shooting crazily. At the same time, he has also asked Artest and O'Neal to learn defensive skills.

For this word, Danny Green has not slacked off in the past two years. He knows that he is only one chance away now.

Only by giving him a highly anticipated stage, Danny Green believes that he will be able to soar into the sky.

Li Lai reached out and rubbed Danny Green's hair, just like he rubbed each other's hair when the two first met.

Li Lai said seriously: "Go and let those guys from the Bulls take a good look at your strength."

Danny Green nodded solemnly, then stood in front of the technical table, polished his shoes, and rubbed his hands vigorously.

After doing all this, Danny Green kept his eyes on Pierce, and then walked straight towards him.

Kenny Smith said: "Danny Green's progress this season is very obvious. As a swingman in the regular season, he averaged 18 minutes per game and averaged 7 points and 2 rebounds per game."

"It is worth noting that Danny Green averaged 40% of his three-pointers per game in the regular season. At the same time, he is also one of the best perimeter defenders on the Bucks besides Artest."

"In the playoffs, Danny Green averaged 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assist in 1 minutes per game."

"In the last game, he suddenly made 3 three-pointers and made 5 of 3 shots. It still impresses me until now."

Barkley noticed that the players on the Bucks at this time were Dragic, Danny Green, McGrady, O'Neal and Yi Jianlian.

He wondered whether the Bucks were too confident to send a lineup without Westbrook and Curry in such a crucial playoff game.

Thibodeau was very pleased to see the Bucks fielding such a lineup on the court.

He thinks this is a big mistake made by the Bucks. Dare to use such a lineup to match the Bulls lineup with Pierce and Rose at the same time. This is not courting death.

After the timeout, the game continues.

The Bucks attack.

Dragic held the ball for halftime, and Yi Jianlian mentioned the pick-and-roll outside the three-point line.

Rose squeezed through early and used the best way to break the Bucks' pick-and-roll tactics.

Dragic still chose to break through the basket, and Rose was still half a body behind Dragic when he squeezed through Yi Jianlian's pick-and-roll.

With Dragic's speed and breakthrough ability, it is not easy for Rose to perfectly defend the ball.

Taj Gibson made a decisive lateral move in front of Dragic, so that there was a good opportunity for Jermaine O'Neal to open.

call!
Dragic scored the ball very quickly.

O'Neal received the ball near the paint area and immediately attracted countless Bulls players to double-team him.

This is a defensive awareness that a team built on defense is born with. Any opponent who gets a chance inside can attract their full defensive attention.

Pierce took a step back inside.

O'Neal did not hesitate after receiving the ball, and decisively passed the ball to Danny Green in the bottom corner.

Pierce jumped out quickly.

Danny Green still took off resolutely, and then shot decisively.

"You can't make it!"

Pierce reached out and covered Danny Green's eyes, not forgetting to disturb him with trash talk.

But the basketball still slid across the court in a perfect arc.

Swish!
"The ball is in!"

Su Qun was very excited in front of the commentary stand.

He likes the player Danny Green very much. Whether he is playing or not, scoring or not scoring, Danny Green will always look calm and calm on the court.

This is an innate characteristic of a player with a big heart.

And Danny Green was born for such a big scene.

Yu Jia on the side couldn't help but recall that Danny Green was the captain of the University of North Carolina, the player who played the most games and won the most games in the history of the University of North Carolina men's basketball team.

Under the leadership of Danny Green, the University of North Carolina defeated a group of talented young teams and won the 2009 NCAA championship.

"He is a perfect championship puzzle!"

The game continues on the field.

Pierce still wants to continue to play an effective role on the offensive end. This time his singles player has changed from Curry to Danny Green.

Danny Green took a step back to defend Pierce, seemingly actively giving the opponent a lot of shooting space.

Faced with this sudden easy shooting environment, Pierce hesitated and did not try to shoot in the first place.

Such hesitation also made Pierce completely lose the chance to shoot, and he began to lower his center of gravity and try to dribble.

But Danny Green seems to have anticipated Pierce's offensive tendency very early, so the moment Pierce lowered his center of gravity, he made a very quick shot to steal.

Snapped!
The basketball was knocked to the ground, and Pierce fell to the ground to save it, but McGrady was more active than him. He dived forward and fell heavily to the ground, while the basketball fell into his hands.

"Counterattack!"

Danny Green pointed forward and shouted.

Dragic and O'Neal played fast breaks at the same time.

McGrady threw the ball in Dragic's direction. The latter hit the board on the spot, and O'Neal came from behind and scored with a one-handed empty dunk.

"Oh my god, is this the Bucks?!"

Countless fans at the scene couldn't help sighing.

They never expected that the Bucks could play such a dominant performance in a lineup without Westbrook and Curry.

Especially Danny Green's defensive ability against Pierce after playing.

"Even if Pierce has been on the court for a long time and is not at the peak at 34 years old, Danny Green's ability to limit the opponent is already very remarkable."

"He's proven what he can do."

Thibodeau shook his head with his hands on his hips on the sidelines.

He originally wanted the Bulls to launch a counterattack and defeat the Bucks at this time, but he didn't expect that the opponent would counterattack and expand the score in one fell swoop.

You know, there are no Curry and Westbrook on the court at this time, not even Cousins ​​is on the court.

But the Bucks abruptly used a bunch of substitutes to defeat the Bulls' starting lineup, and Thibodeau has completely lost his temper at this moment.

boom!
A shocking dunk appeared on the court.

Rose applauded vigorously to remind teammates and coaches, "We haven't lost yet!"

This sentence also awakened all the Bulls players. They suddenly realized that they realized that they were indeed beaten a little by the Bucks.

"On the entire court, only Rose is the most sober."

Su Qun watched as Rose took over the Bulls' offensive banner again on the court, and Noah scored a layup with a very exaggerated fake shot to the basket.

Yu Jia even couldn't help saying from the side, "The waist is really good."

The second quarter is over.

The Bucks maintained the lead with 54:50.

Second half of the game.

Westbrook, who got enough rest time, took the lead, and he rushed into the penalty area with the ball and succeeded.

The entire third quarter also turned into a breakthrough duel between him and Rose.

Su Qun couldn't help sighing when he saw this scene on the court.

"Ross has only rested for 1 minute so far in tonight's game, and Pierce has only rested for 5 minutes."

"I don't know what kind of motivation supports the two to play so hard on the court, but at this moment, both of them are heroes on the court."

The players on the Bulls field were infected by the spirit of teammates Rose and Pierce.

Noah scrambled for the offensive rebound from Cousins ​​and then made a layup.

Cousins ​​defended fiercely and slapped Noah to the ground with a slap.

But not only did he fail to defend the ball, he was also called a foul by the referee and sent Noah to the free throw line.

"what!"

Noah sat under the basket clenched his hands and roared wildly, very emotional.

Everyone on the Bulls bench rushed onto the court to lift Noah up.

Then Boozer's iron-blooded jumper from the free throw line returned to color, and the Bulls relied on their own tenacious will to tie the score at 84:84 in the third quarter.

Final battle.

Li Lai sent the strongest lineup of the Bucks.

Westbrook, Curry, McGrady, Yi Jianlian and Cousins.

"Under this lineup, the Bucks will perfectly match the Bulls' Boozer + Noah combination."

"At the same time, with Curry and McGrady opening up the space, Yi Jianlian is located far beyond the three-point line. The Bucks' offensive space will never be affected by the two big men."

Barkley is very optimistic about the lineup of the Bucks. In fact, before Yi Jianlian was not injured, he scored the All-Stars by playing in this position.

"Actually, when Yi Jianlian came back from injury, I was always curious why the coaching staff of the Bucks didn't let Yi Jianlian start the game."

"It now appears that the Bucks are deliberately hiding their strength."

"Their goals may have been set long before the playoffs even started."

(End of this chapter)