From South China Tiger to NBA King

Chapter 87
October 10, Boston, North Shore Garden Arena.

Today the Celtics will face the Milwaukee Bucks at home. The game time is 8 pm, exactly 18 hours from the end of the previous game.

The Bucks were established in 1968. In 1971, only three years after the establishment of the team, they won the only championship in history under the leadership of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

For most of the time since, they've been a relatively mediocre team in the league.

Most of their star players are not the top players that the league says, such as Michael Reid, such as Ray Allen.

Then Chinese fans were familiar with the year 2007 when the Bucks selected Yi Jianlian. At that time, Chinese fans naively thought that Yi Jianlian would lead the team forward as the core of the Bucks like Yao Ming.

It's a pity that the good times didn't last long, and the two parties soon parted ways.

The Bucks in the "post-Yi Jianlian era" rose in 2013, when they chose the guy from Greece-"Antetokounmpo" Giannis Antetokounmpo.

The next year they traded two second-round picks from the Nets for head coach Jason Kidd.

This is the only trade in Jianghu's memory where a draft pick was exchanged for a head coach.

Although Kidd failed to lead the Bucks to achieve good results, his greatest contribution was to train a monster like Antetokounmpo.

A guy with a height of 211cm and a wingspan of 224cm, who should play a center or a power forward no matter how you look at it, was trained by Kidd to be a monster with a ball attack, which also contributed to the rise of the Bucks in recent years.

Last season's Antetokounmpo hasn't seen the feeling of the top players in the league, but starting from this season, the Greek monster will start to show his talent like the whole league.

The Celtics players played it easy.

After all, they played in the Eastern Conference finals last season, while the Bucks played in the first round.

And in the last game, the Celtics just defeated the Eastern Conference champion Cavaliers last season.

Even if Antetokounmpo looks a full circle stronger than last season, it's not a big deal in their eyes.

Jaylen Brown poked Smart, pouted and said: "Look at him, compared to last season, he has grown stronger again!!"

Smart glanced at Brother Antetokounmpo, then curled his lips in disdain: "It's all dead muscles, useless."

"It's ugly and affects shooting."

Smart's thoughts coincide with the thoughts of most of the Celtics, that is: Antetokounmpo is not very good, and the strengths of the two teams are not at the same level at all.

Only Jianghu knows that this game is not easy to play...

The progress of Middleton and Brogdon, the re-evolution of Antetokounmpo, and the defensive foundation laid by Kidd for the Bucks have all made this Bucks team stronger than ever, which cannot be underestimated.

Due to Hayward's injury and Morris' knee soreness after the last game, the Celtics' rotation in this game has become a starting double guard mode.

Marcus Smart and Kyrie Irving pair up in the backcourt.

Jianghu, Jaylen Brown and Al Horford partnered up front.

The Bucks have Malcolm Brogdon and Tony Snell in the backcourt.

Khris Middleton, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Thon Maker partner up front.

The Bucks have a height advantage in the lineup. Brogdon, the shortest Bucks on the back line, is 196cm, taller than Smart at 193cm and Irving at 191cm. It is 206cm, while Antetokounmpo is 211cm tall on the Bucks side, and Meck is a standard seven-foot height-213cm.

And according to Jianghu's observations, Owen's height seems to be a little watery, and he is almost a head shorter than himself. This height is definitely less than 191cm. Jianghu has not measured it, but visually, Owen's tallest is only 187cm to 188cm. , this has to be the height with shoes on.

With such a size gap, once the Celtics can't shoot correctly, the pressure on rebounding will be huge.

"Beep-"

With a whistle, the game started.

In this home opener, the Celtics played very smoothly at home.

On the first attack of the game, Irving singled out Brogdon with a mid-range jumper and scored the ball.

Then Middleton missed a three-pointer on the Bucks side, and Antetokounmpo grabbed an offensive rebound and gave it to Brogdon to miss again.

Conversely, Smart, who was emptied of the three-pointer, unexpectedly made the iron tree blossom.

The Celtics started 5-0 with the Bucks.

In the next round, Middleton tried a three-pointer from the outside and still missed, but turned around and scored a mid-range jumper.

In another round, Middleton faced Jianghu and was directly blocked in singles. The Celtics counterattacked and Jianghu dunked.

In the first 3 minutes, the Bucks 0-9 Celtics.

Kidd came to the sidelines and asked for a timeout. After the timeout, Middleton lost possession of the ball and changed to Antetokounmpo to hold the ball.

Antetokounmpo started with a three-pointer and made a layup against Horford's defense. Although he didn't score, it caused Horford's foul and went to the free throw line.

Under the boos of the audience, Antetokounmpo made one of two free throws to help the Bucks open the scoring.

Looking back, the Celtics couldn't find a chance to pass the ball continuously from the outside. Irving stared directly at the outside and missed a three-pointer. In the counterattack round, Antetokounmpo assisted Middleton and made a three-pointer.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 4 to 9.

In the next round, Jianghu made another mid-range jumper.

But then Antetokounmpo hit two plus one against Horford's defense.

Not only scored the ball, but also caused Horford's second personal foul.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 7 to 11.

In order to protect Horford, Stevens replaced him and replaced him with Baynes. At the same time, when the game time was up to 4 minutes, the rotation time of Jianghu was up, and he was also replaced.

Jianghu will come on stage at the end of the first quarter with a substitute, and then play continuously until the end of the second quarter. This is his basic rotation time.

During the period when Jianghu was off, something happened to the Celtics.

After the end of the game, the Bucks chose to double-team Irving and empty Smart.

Smart did not live up to the expectations of the Bucks. He made three consecutive undefended three-point shots with confidence, and then failed...

The backup striker who replaced Jianghu was Nader, a guy who couldn't play outstanding statistics in the summer league.

Facing Nader, Middleton played with confidence and scored consecutive singles to help the Bucks overtake.

Time hit the 7th minute of the first quarter, the Bucks 18 to 15 Celtics.

Stevens called a timeout, replaced Nader with Caruso.

Caruso quickly held down Middleton after he came on the field, making his offense return in vain.

But after seeing Caruso's tough defense, Middleton did not choose to play hard, but chose to give the ball to Antetokounmpo.

At this time, it was terrible. The tallest player on the Celtics field was 208, and Baynes was extremely slow. Except for him, none of the remaining players was taller than two meters.

It's time for Antetokounmpo to show off.

He succeeded in three consecutive offenses, a dunk with the ball to the basket, an alley-oop dunk, and a mid-range score against no defense.

Instead, the Celtics played like a headless chicken. Irving was caught like a meat sandwich. Smart missed three shots in a row and dared not continue to shoot. Antetokounmpo inside caused an offensive foul.

In the last 3 minutes of the first quarter, Jianghu appeared on the stage.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 25 to 18.

Jianghu started to attack with the ball after his debut. As soon as he came up, he faced Middleton with a mid-range shot, but unfortunately he didn't score.

The Bucks launched a counterattack, and Antetokounmpo rushed up with a European step, attracting a pincer attack from three people, and still walked to the free throw line, making two free throws.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 27 to 18.

Taking advantage of the dead ball, Stevens slightly replaced Tays, playing the double inside lineup of Tays and Baynes.

Kidd didn't eat for nothing. Seeing Stevens on the double inside lane, he decisively called Brogdon over and whispered something.

Then Brogdon passed Kidd's words to Antetokounmpo who was making free throws.

In the next round, Jianghu used a high-throw alley-oop to Baines on the inside. A normal inside line could catch the ball at a height. As a result, Baines wobbled to catch the ball and had to put down his body. Fortunately, when he got up, he was blocked by Antetokounmpo decisively.

The Bucks quickly counterattacked, and the rushing Antetokounmpo was surrounded by three people, and the point was given to Brogdon in the bottom corner, and Brogdon hit a three-pointer again.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 30 to 18.

Looking back, Jianghu went to the basket and dunked the ball into the basket against Antetokounmpo's defense, which made the audience shout out.

This time it was Antetokounmpo again, who received a pass from Brogdon in the middle distance, took only one step forward, stretched his arms and threw the ball into the net.

At the end of the first quarter, the Bucks 32 to 20 Celtics.

字母哥4投4中罚球5投4中砍下12分3助攻，米德尔顿9投5中拿到11分，江湖5投3中6分，欧文7投2中拿到5分，斯玛特5投1中拿到3分。

As soon as the second quarter came up, Antetokounmpo was not there.

Jianghu strengthened his personal offense in this quarter, but unfortunately his shooting touch today was bad enough, and he missed a three-pointer that was close to the open.

Fortunately, he intercepted Brogdon's pass on the defensive end and scored a dunk.

In the next round, Henson, who was defending him, fouled again, and made two free throws to close the point difference to single digits.

Bucks 32 to 24 Celtics,

In the next round, the Bucks' point guard Dellavinova, who came off the bench, showed his power and hit a three-pointer against Smart's defense, which caused Baynes' screen foul on the offensive end.

Looking back, Brogdon did not score in a misplaced play, and it was Delavinova who grabbed the offensive rebound above Baynes's head and took it to a mid-range throw to score.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 37 to 24.

After playing for 3 minutes in the second quarter, the Celtics requested a timeout again.

After the timeout, the Celtics replaced Horford. With the help of Horford's cover, Jianghu finally made a three-pointer from the outside.

Turning around, it was Dellavedova again, rushing to the basket desperately, throwing himself in the air, causing Horford's third foul.

Delavinova made two free throws.

The Bucks beat the Celtics 39 to 27.

Horford just played for less than 1 minute, so, he went down again.

He was replaced by Baines.

Dellavedova scored 7 points in a row and became the game changer on the court.

Seeing Horford being beaten down, the witty Kidd made a decisive decision and immediately replaced Antetokounmpo, who had only rested for 3 minutes.

Kidd's use of Antetokounmpo is not like the later Brogdon. He fixed a little more than 30 minutes per game, and he was not willing to play more than 1 minute. Even if he was about to be eliminated in the playoffs, he was not willing to let Antetokounmpo play for more than 45 minutes.

Kidd's rotation is very flexible. When he sees the timing, Antetokounmpo can use it as much as he needs, and he will never save it.

Because in his own player era, it was standard for core players to average more than 38 minutes per game. When he was 24 and five years old, he averaged 40 minutes per game throughout the season.

In the first round of Antetokounmpo playing, Jianghu broke into the inside line, causing Antetokounmpo's defensive foul.

It's a pity that Jianghu felt average today, making two free throws and one.

Looking back, it was Delavinova who broke through to the basket again and passed to Alphabet. Alphabet thundered on the spot and scored a dunk.

Looking back, Jianghu was double-teamed.

The people who double-teamed him were Antetokounmpo and Brogdon.

He passed the ball to Theis on the outside, Bucks substitute center Monroe defended Theis, and Theis passed to Baynes who was open three-pointers.

Baynes has a three-point range, but he didn't make it.

In turn, Antetokounmpo passed it to Brogdon, and Brogdon scored a three-pointer.

Bucks 44 to 28 Celtics.

When the time came to the 6th minute, the Celtics replaced all starters except Horford, and the Bucks did the same.

Seeing the Celtics' inaccurate three-pointers today, the Bucks began to shrink their defense.

Still let Smart go to shoot, the rest of the team defends 5 against 4, Antetokounmpo is like a monster, running around double-teaming, double-teaming Irving for a while, and double-teaming Jianghu for a while.

Jaylen Brown made a few shots during this period, and Smart also hit a three-pointer again.

But it's useless, both of their offenses are within the range of the Bucks, as long as Jiang Hu and Irving don't score, their defense will be successful.

At the end of the first half, the Bucks led the Celtics by 56 points 42 to 14.

Antetokounmpo had 19 points, 9 rebounds and 3 assists in the half.

欧文半场12投4，9分3篮板3助攻。

Jianghu had 13 points, 5 rebounds and 2 assists in the half.

(End of this chapter)