pinnacle of basketball

Chapter 379
The game restarted, and the Celtics made personnel adjustments, replacing the team's top star Gaia, with Hudson and Hilton leading the role players on the court, and Gaia recovering on the bench.

It is a very common phenomenon to properly rotate the main players in the game, but the substitution adjustment that directly replaces the team's first star like the Celtics is really unique.

However, this is not the first time the Celtics have made such a rotation adjustment. They have a tradition of rotating the first star in the team, and even this has become a major landmark substitution for the Celtics.

The reason why the Celtics made such bold substitution adjustments when the score was close was out of trust in Hudson and Hilton. Although these two players did not occupy too many core positions in the Celtics, they were still important core players even if they were switched to other teams with their strength. Gaia's fate did not weaken the role of these two players on the field, but released more possessions for them.

To know how terrible it would be to give a top shooter unlimited firepower.

Without Gaia on the court, Hilton assumed the core of the Celtics' offense, while Hudson's main task was to protect the rebounds.

On paper, the overall strength of the Celtics has declined. Therefore, the Heat have focused on marking Hilton when defending.

But so what?
Any tough defense seems to have no effect in the face of superb shooting skills. Hilton adjusted his sight and loaded his magazine with bullets. Through running, Hilton was half a body ahead of the defender. The ball was passed by his teammate immediately. Hilton turned around while receiving the ball and then threw the ball without any transition.

Hilton's shooting speed is only 0.75 seconds. In such a short period of time, he has to complete the necessary actions of shooting almost at the same time, such as stopping the ball, turning around, calibrating, and shooting!
Hilton used a "quick shot" three-pointer to let Mu Chenfeng, a rookie, witness what is the league's top three-point shooter.

After the legendary NBA shooter Stephen Curry retired, there was no other legendary shooter like him in the NBA. However, among the many shooters, three people stood out and became the league's new three-point shooter. Hilton is one of them.

He once hit 11 three-pointers in a single game, and he also scored 7 consecutive three-pointers in the game. No matter for any opponent, Hilton is a headache for defensive players.

Even when he feels bad, he will adjust his feel through free throws and other methods. He has scored at least 125 three-pointer in 1 consecutive games, only 3 games away from setting a new NBA record.

The quick shot is just a conventional weapon in Hilton's arsenal, and his other conventional weapon is far more lethal than the quick shot.

Over there is the "top shot", Hilton is the most accurate player in facing three-pointers, and his ability in this area can even be compared with Damian Lillard.

This is also one of Hilton's favorite shots, because such a shot can not only score points, but also cause a great blow to the opponent's heart.

No matter how you defend me, I can just go in, angry or not?

Of course, Hilton was not able to make every shot, but two-thirds of the rebounds formed by the few shots he missed were taken by Hudson alone, and then the Celtics also seized the opportunity for the second attack, and the score gradually rose.

The Heat responded by relying on Wade and Barrett's two strong points, but after all, the opponent scored a 3-pointer, and both of them scored 2 points, and the point difference was being opened up point by point.

The game was interrupted in the second quarter, and the Celtics led the Heat 45:40. The performance of his teammates allowed Gaia to rest on the bench with confidence.

In the first game of the new season, most of the stars will not have an overly strong performance, especially for outside shooters. It takes a few games to pave the way for them to find the touch, but Hilton completely omitted this process. In less than two quarters, he has already scored 18 points, and all of these points came from outside three-pointers.

Hilton also surpassed his teammate Gaia in scoring and became the player with the highest score in the game, followed by Barrett with 15 points and Wade with 12 points.

As halftime was drawing to a close, Hilton hit another super long three-pointer from 8 meters away against Wade. His personal score also exceeded 20 points, and the Celtics extended their lead to 10 points.

"The situation is not good." Wade and Barrett whispered on the court. This is the gap between stars and ordinary players. Stars can find solutions to problems through simple communication when encountering difficulties.

"Hilton was on full fire in the first game. It seems that he didn't stay this past offseason." Wade sighed.

"But a shooter is a shooter after all." Barrett said, "There will always be times when he can't make a shot. Our main problem is on the rebounds. We have already been controlled by Hudson too many rebounds. Because of this, Hilton will not hesitate to shoot from the outside. The more decisive we are, the easier it is to score. If we can control the rebounds, Hilton may not dare to shoot easily."

"Well, I think so too, but it's not easy to get rebounds from Hudson," Wade said.

"If it's too easy to achieve, then what's the point." Barrett decided to go inside and grab rebounds with Hudson, but the difference between the two in Shenzhen and Hong Kong was about 10 centimeters, and they were at a clear disadvantage in rebounding. If a small man wants to get a rebound from a big man, he can't fight his body at all, and he still needs to be smart.

Hilton missed a three-pointer, but his expression was unusually calm, because he didn't worry about the ownership of the rebound at all. In the previous rebound competition, Hudson had proved that he could crush the Heat's inside strength, so Hilton felt that as long as there was a rebound, Hudson would safely collect the rebound in his arms.

The fact is indeed the case, at the height of the inside, Hudson's take-off height obviously overwhelms Standemire and Gasio, and firmly controls the rebound with both hands in the air.

The Heat's double interior failed to protect the rebound. It seems that the Celtics are not alone in their good form.

This is already the 10th rebound that Hudson has grabbed, and he got a double-double before the end of the half.

"Be careful!" Suddenly, there was a burst of shouts from teammates from outside the field. Before Hudson could react, Barrett's hand pressed hard on the basketball. After the force, the basketball broke through Hudson's hands and fell to the ground. Barrett immediately stepped forward to control the ball.

"Good cut!" Barrett's steal made the fans go crazy again.

Although he was intercepted, the rebound was still credited to Hudson. Although he got a double-double, the Heat owned the ball.

Barrett's steals were precise and fierce, and even the tough guy Hudson couldn't stabilize the ball.

Barrett fulfilled his promise with Wade and successfully obtained the possession of the ball from Hudson. Wade immediately slammed the ball down. Barrett flicked the ball, and the basketball fell steadily into Wade's hands. Wade got the ball and strode straight to the basket.

Successfully put the point difference in single digits before the end of the midfield.

The Celtics used only 4 seconds left to complete an exquisite fast break, but Barrett's game focus was too concentrated. He had already noticed the Celtics' next move, so he stood in the defensive position ahead of time, with his arms raised high, and did not allow the opponent to get an easy shot.

In the end, the Celtics players failed to make a final buzzer shot because of Barrett's timely interference.

This goal more or less inspired cold sweat on the Heat players. That position was within Hilton's attack range, and this shot was straight and powerful. Unfortunately, it was just a little luck away from the final goal.

Gaia rested off the court for a whole quarter. He saw the performance of his teammates. If he continued to play with such a strong performance, then there would be no need for him to play in the second half.

The news summary in the first half of the opening game also gradually changed from the crushing support rate that was overwhelmingly optimistic about the Miami Heat at the beginning to the point of "tie to each other". Many fans turned to Boston, thinking that they deserved this victory more than the Heat.

"I played well in the first half and continued to do so in the second half. I hope that you will never grow up." The huge lead made Gaia a little "inflated", but what he said was indeed true. The whole world believed that the Heat had acquired Barrett in the free market, and the NBA would enter the finale.

But the Celtics are very clear that such a score is not a safe score for the Miami Heat. After all, there is still halftime in the game. With the explosive scoring power of Wade and Barrett, if they are given a chance, they only need to catch up with the score in a very short time.

So the coaching staff of the Celtics vaccinated the players to make everyone vigilant and prevent the Heat from counterattacking in the second half.

Judging from previous games, the Heat are bound to launch a large-scale counterattack in the second half, and the counterattack time is very early. Generally, they will launch a violent impact on the opponent's basket at the beginning of the second half.

Just as the Celtics coaching staff expected, just after the second half, Wade and Barrett launched a violent attack on the Celtics basket. Although the team was ready to be attacked, they never expected that the impact of the two men would be so strong.

What the Celtics were worried about happened after all, so just 40 seconds into the second half, the Celtics applied for the first timeout of the two teams in the second half.

"This timeout was called too quickly."

"It's a bit fast, but it's timely. If more points are recovered, the suspension may not be very meaningful."

The audience discussed the Celtics' "speed of light" timeout. Some people think that the Celtics coaching staff is too cautious, and some people think that this timeout is necessary and the time is just right.

During the timeout, the Celtics emphasized the defensive arrangement and called Gaia back from the bench, because no one except him could restrain Barrett. When the players returned to the court again, it really had a certain effect. Wade and Barrett were stared at, and they were not given a chance to catch the ball. They began to stifle them from the passing and receiving link, and the Celtics stabilized the momentum of being chased.

Gaia returned to the court and faced Barrett. Although the situation was stable, he blocked Hilton's possession of the ball and greatly diluted his shots.

The game was at a stalemate. Both teams played the most proud defense and strangled each other's scorers. In 3 minutes, the scores of the two teams only increased by 4 points, and the point difference was neither widened nor narrowed.

The 5-point difference has been maintained until the end of the third quarter, and the score between the two sides is 69:64. Compared with the previous two quarters, this offensive efficiency is too bad. The Heat have the last chance to attack in the third quarter. At this time, the head coach of the Heat Scola applied for a timeout.

A historic timeout.

"Mu Chenfeng, are you ready?" Scala roused Mu Chenfeng from the bench, pointed to the team's point guard, "You two change."

The Heat's players were a little confused, including Mu Chenfeng. They didn't understand why Scola would replace Mu Chenfeng at this time. The team needed to close the point difference, and let a player who hadn't even played a minute play.

"Coach, do you want to think about it again?"

"That's the decision." Scola insisted on his decision and replaced Mu Chenfeng. Mu Chenfeng also officially landed in the NBA as a substitute player and started his first NBA game.

(End of this chapter)