NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 240 Getting Better (610)

After returning in the second half, Rivers took the initiative to take away the team's starting power forward, Gugliota.

Instead, he chose to replace McCarty, a short striker, and let McCarty face Wallace.

After all, Wallace's height is definitely short for the fourth position, and his biggest advantage is his speed.

But in the first quarter, Gugliota did not take advantage of the one-on-one singles against Wallace.

Because Wallace's reaction speed is too fast, forcing the low-post Gugliota to make mistakes in losing the ball many times.

So after returning in the second half, Rivers took the lead in making adjustments.

Facing the Celtics who had made adjustments, Liu Rui didn't make any response even though he sat off the court and watched them all.

Back in the third quarter, facing Wallace's defense, Pierce's offensive efficiency is still not high.

The end of Gugliotta also directly dropped the height of the Celtics penalty area by a notch.

After all, his height is only 1.9 meters eight.

So whether it is Mo Williams or Kevin Martin, after the Bobcats came back in the second half, they frequently increased the number of times they entered the penalty area.

In the third quarter, Kevin Martin's ability to make fouls was finally fulfilled. Facing Ricky Davis' defense, Martin made 8 free throws in a single quarter in the third quarter.

8 free throws also created a single-quarter free throw record for Kevin Martin's personal career.

Relying on Kevin Martin's sudden and outside shots.

At the end of the third quarter, the Bobcats played at home with:
80:68
A 12-point lead ended the third quarter.

It is worth mentioning that in the matchup between Pierce and Wallace in this game, in the first three quarters combined, Pierce made only 12 of 4 shots and 3 of 0 from outside the three-point line.

At the end of the three quarters, only 8 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists were scored.

This is also the main reason why the Celtics trailed by so many points at the end of the three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Rivers still failed to find a way to check and balance Stoudemire and Jefferson.

Rather than saying that there is no way, it is better to say that the Celtics have no players who can match them on the bench.

Facing the little flying mouse Stoudemire, the Celtics' bench was simply pierced.

After all, Knight, who is less than 1.8 meters tall, is also responsible for defending Little Momonga.

Even if he has excellent vision and a super high ball quotient on the court, he can organize the team well, but the flaws on the defensive end still cannot be resolved.

After playing just over three minutes into the fourth quarter, Rivers had to call a timeout and dispatched the main lineup ahead of schedule.

Because if the game continues like this, I'm afraid the game will directly enter garbage time.

On the contrary, Liu Rui, who was sitting off the court on the other side, was very calm.

I didn't choose to rotate the lineup, but I also wanted to see how far the current lineup of the Bobcats can play against the Celtics' main force.

Sure enough, as soon as the glove Payton came up, it had a great impact on Stoudemire's offense.

Although Payton is old, his little moves on the court have not been restrained at all.

And in terms of the ability to talk trash, it can also be said that the older you get, the more demonic you become.

Although Stoudemire will not be completely strangled by Payton on the defensive end, the offensive efficiency has indeed been greatly reduced before.

Seeing this, Liu Rui off the court also called a timeout, and took advantage of the opportunity to replace his main lineup.

With both sides deploying their main lineups, after several rounds of confrontation, the Celtics not only failed to catch up with the score, but the point difference between the two teams has a growing trend.

Until more than four minutes before the end of the game, the Celtics were still 16 points behind the Bobcats.

Seeing that there was no hope of winning this game, Rivers replaced his main lineup ahead of time.

After all, it has reached the sprint stage at the end of the season, and no team wants to have injuries.

Seeing Rivers' substitution, Liu Rui also directly replaced all the main players.

In the garbage time confrontation between the two sides, the whistle for the end of the game also sounded.

At the end of the game, the Bobcats played at home with:

108:92
A 16-point win over the Celtics.

With the victory of this game, the fans at home cheered loudly.

And all the Charlotte fans who watched the live broadcast of the game at home also felt the excitement from the bottom of their hearts.

Because after the victory of this game, not only let the Bobcats' record come back to 27 wins and 26 losses, but also rose to ninth in the Eastern Conference.

It is also because the Celtics currently rank fifth in the East, but in this game, they were suppressed by the Bobcats throughout the game.

This makes more and more fans optimistic about the Bobcats making the playoffs this season.

After the game, Liu Rui and Celtics coach Rivers hugged on the sidelines.

"You are really a freak. It seems that every time we meet next time, I feel that you become stronger. It really makes me feel incredible."

Facing the very young Liu Rui, Rivers also said with emotion.

And what he said is absolutely true.

Every time he played against Liu Rui, Rivers felt that Liu Rui became stronger than the last time.

Although most people in this world are improving every day, the speed of this improvement also makes Rivers feel horrible and a little envious in his heart.

"Haha, it's just luck, and I like your coaching style very much. I believe you will achieve something in the future."

His own arrival has disrupted the original rhythm of the East, so in this life, whether Rivers can still lead the Celtics to win the championship, Liu Rui is not sure.

He didn't say that you will definitely win the championship in the future, but just showed Rivers that there will definitely be achievements in the future.

Because in any case, Rivers is indeed a coach who has the ability to bring the team into the playoffs.

In the post-match press conference:
Reporter: "Coach Liu Rui, with the victory in this game, the Bobcats have once again returned to the ninth place in the East, and this time they only have 0.5 wins with the Blue Nets, which is the eighth in the East."

"So for the team to hit the playoffs, do you have absolute confidence now?"

Liu Rui: "I don't know if the team can make it to the playoffs, but every player on the team worked hard, and we got a new player, Amare Stoudemire, which is of great help to us."

"So I believe that the Bobcats will get better and better in the next games. What we have to do is to try to win every game. As for whether we can make the playoffs, we have to consider other teams."

At this time, Liu Rui also has great confidence in his heart to enter the playoffs.

But as he said, this matter should not only take into account the Bobcats, but also other teams.

So what Liu Rui can do is, in the future, lead the team to win every game as much as possible...

(End of this chapter)