the rest, only noise

Chapter 453 The difference between the regular season and the playoffs

When the Lakers defeated the Sonics 4-2 and joined the Trail Blazers in the Western Conference Finals for three consecutive years, this season's playoffs also ushered in the final prelude.

Eastern Conference Finals and Western Conference Finals.

The Knicks are an "unfamiliar face". They were eliminated in the first round last season and ranked fourth from the bottom in the league last season. The changes that Louis brought to this team are visible to the naked eye.

However, now they are challenging the Celtics, and there are very few people who are optimistic about them.

1987/5/19

Madison Square Garden

This game has tested the formation of both sides from the very beginning, and the Celtics came prepared.

In order to limit the Knicks' N.UCLA system, the Celtics' defensive idea is to let Bird and Sampson come to the high position frequently, and let them take a walk on the line to participate in the pincer attack; Harper enters the starting lineup and is responsible for filling the position.

Their logic is that Ewing, as the core insider, is only the Knicks' fourth offensive point in the team, so his offense does not necessarily hurt people.

It is mainly about Dell Ellis. The Celtics don't want him to run and attack as he pleases, so they compress the wing and keep him away from the comfort zone.

In the first few rounds, it really made the Knicks very uncomfortable to do so.

The Celtics started 6-0.

Louie saw it, called a timeout, and let Stockton use the Celtics' widening of the wing, let him make the ball for Wilson, and let Wilson attack the basket.Then, taking advantage of the Celtics' idle attitude towards Ewing, give the ball more to the weak side and let the gorilla attack the basket.

The Celtics' defensive arrangement is extremely extreme, just not allowing the Knicks to shoot comfortably.

This approach is against the times. Everyone is defending the pocket and shooting, but the Celtics put you under the basket and let you attack, and they will not give the shot.

This is exactly where the Celtics are smart.

After all, KC Jones is Louie's old partner. He is too aware of how "unorthodox" Louis is in building an offensive system. The Knicks are a team that relies heavily on long-range shots.

Since the Celtics gave up the basket generously, the Knicks will naturally focus on hitting the penalty area.

When it was the Knicks' turn to defend, Louie strictly required the players to switch on pick-and-rolls.I would rather be misplaced by the Celtics than pinch, and prevent the three of Thomas, Bird, and Sampson from having the opportunity to play the ball.

The Celtics' Big Three are very comfortable, and almost every round they face is misplaced.

The Knicks also hit the basket easily, and the two sides grinded each other's points in the first half, and each was a test.

One point was missed on both sides.

The Knicks are Wilson, and the Celtics seem to have forgotten that this teenager averaged close to 30 points per game in five games in the regular season.

On the Celtics side is Lambiel. His three-pointers woke up that night. The Knicks' defense against him encouraged him to shoot, and he was not ambiguous.

Wilson's outbreak greatly changed the rhythm of the game.

The Celtics didn't give him a shot and released the penalty area for him to attack, which looked like they were looking for death.

When he scored 8 points in a row and had a dunk over Sampson's head, the Celtics took this young man seriously.

They began to divide their manpower to stick to Wilson in the corner.

However, Harper failed to defend, and Wilson broke out and scored 28 points in three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks took a 7-point lead.The Celtics completely turned on the championship mode, Sampson dominated the penalty area, Bird deliberately asked Wilson to play back, and told him in advance what to do every time he attacked.

In the last 6 minutes, Isiah Thomas finished with a hatred for Louie.

He first played a pick-and-roll with Lambiel and fed the latter a three-pointer;
And he broke through better than Stockton, hit McHale and scored 2+1;

When facing Wilson to switch defenses, he swayed away from the defense and rode a horse to shoot arrows.

Coming back to attract a switch, the Knicks made a mistake that young people would make-they emptied Bird in order to switch, and Thomas immediately passed the ball to the GOAT on the outside.

Bird almost killed the game with a three-pointer.

In the end, Thomas made a three-pointer that was emptied out. The 28% shooting rate does not mean that he cannot shoot a three-pointer.

The game was killed.

129 is better than 119
The Celtics beat the Knicks by 10 points and stole the opponent's home court advantage from their hands.

"The Knicks have a promising future, but they are facing a team consisting of the first in the league, the second in the league and the third in the league." Tom Heinsohn said of the result of the game.

Regardless of whether what he said is true or not, the Knicks will not back down.

In the second game, they insisted on using defense to compete with the Celtics for their personal abilities.

This strategy was Zhao Yuanzheng's opinion, and Louis adopted it, because he created the Celtics' four offensive systems, and they all took advantage of the characteristics of Thomas and Bird, two misplaced offensive monsters, to create dislocations for them.

If the opponent wants to play a wrong position, you can't defend against it. You must dare to hand over the wrong position.

The Celtics continued to use an effective move, and once again used expanded defense to oppress the Knicks' perimeter, and still handed over the penalty area for you to whip.

An attack by Wilson was elbowed by Lambiel.

Oakley stepped forward and slapped Lambir to the ground, and the two sides almost started fighting.

The smell of gunpowder was born. Wilson wanted the ball to single Bird, but missed a jumper.

Conversely facing the Knicks' man-to-man, Bird faced Ewing, who was a head taller than him, and shot hard; Ewing's interference with the ball was almost flawless-but he made it.

"Rookie, welcome to the NBA."

Byrd's trash talking made Wilson angry.

In the next round, when Wilson tried to single out Bird again, Thomas behind Bird squeezed through the screen to compress the space. Wilson just shook his hand, and Bird, who was watching Bird, stole the ball.

It was the Celtics' turn to attack, and Bird was also pressed by Ewing to make a mistake, but he saw clearly that the Knicks continued to use Ewing to improve the position, trying to increase the intensity of the game.

This time, it became Harper to defend against Wilson.

Wilson leaned on the left waist, and Harper completely emptied Wilson's right shoulder, meaning "you can turn over with your right shoulder, but don't even think about walking in the middle with your left shoulder."

Louis wasn't worried about Wilson's skills, but as a rookie, he was prone to problems if he didn't adjust his mentality well.

Sure enough, Wilson, who didn't feel online, missed again.

In the next round, Ewing also singled out Sampson with the ball.

As a result, Ewing's attack was seen through by Sampson, and the way forward was blocked. Ewing passed back to Stockton, and Thomas quickly approached to defend.

This defensive method is very close to what Louis saw with his own eyes, the way the stag with the Greek monster was defended to death.

This kind of defense is a test of the tacit understanding and cooperation of the players. It can turn passive into active, making the opponent unable to concentrate when singled out.

Bird hit a pick-and-roll layup for Harper: the basket was empty after Ewing mentioned the high post.

Sampson then caused McHale's second foul.

Wilson challenged Bird single-handedly, and still missed the horse-riding archery. In turn, Sampson made a sudden dunk; after that, Dell Ellis missed another three-pointer.

So far, the Knicks' offense has been helpless, Louis changed the lineup, but the young man's mentality began to collapse.

In the regular season, Wilson averaged nearly 30 points per game against the Celtics, which made the Knicks' coaching staff miscalculate his current immediate combat power.

Zhao Yuanzheng proposed to fight against the Celtics, use the player's personal ability to fight against the Celtics, and then use the depth of the lineup to suppress KC Jones' short rotation strategy.

The Knicks' three main offensive points, McHale, Ewing, and Wilson, can be played if they can be opened up.

As a result, Wilson's mentality was out of balance, Ewing was blocked by Sampson, and McHale had difficulty receiving the ball.

What made Wilson's mentality unbalanced was Bird's trash talking; what made Ewing's offense weak was Sampson's superb defense; only McHale was restricted by the Celtics' tactics.

After all, the Celtics are invincible by virtue of their players' personal abilities, and their role players are effective, like Lambiel and Danny Ainge. Once they see that the Knicks have explosive momentum, they will engage in mentality.

At this time, the arrangement of the coaching staff is not important, and the players' mentality cannot be adjusted, so the game will be explained.

2 is better than 0
Another double-digit victory for the Celtics.

In the history of the NBA, no team has ever been able to complete a reversal after losing two home games in a row.

Tom Heinsohn, as a hardcore supporter of the Green Kais, said very relaxedly: "As I said, the future of the Knicks is very good, but now, they are not the opponents of the Celtics at all. The basketball game is sometimes very simple, and sometimes it is very difficult. The opponent who played with you in the regular season will suddenly change in the playoffs."

"The Celtics in the regular season gave New York hope, and in the two games at MSG, they brought deep despair."

When Louie arrived in the interview room, his only friend at The New York Times, Dave Anderson, delivered Isiah Thomas' trash talk: "Isiah thinks this series will end in four games. Coach Lou, what do you think?"

"Me," Louie said with a smile, "I hope Boston is ready to roll the floor at home."

It doesn't matter if the strategy fails, the important thing is to be able to adjust back.

The Knicks are not as good as the Celtics, but they will never be swept away.

Thomas wants to sweep the Knicks?Louis sneered inwardly.

Let's see who is more ruthless!

(End of this chapter)