NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 275 276. No Contrast, No Harm (27)

April 4

After a day's rest, the Celtics are also a guest in Charlotte, and will usher in the third matchup between the two teams in this game.

In the first two games, the Bobcats have led the Celtics with a big score of 2:0.

Obviously, this is something that no one thought of.

So even if this game is an away game, for the Celtics, there is no way out.

This game must be won, once the Celtics lose again in this game, let the Bobcats get the match point.

Facing a 0:3 disadvantage, the Celtics may find it difficult to make a comeback.

Therefore, the game has not yet started. Whether it is the Celtics coaching staff or the players, everyone is under tremendous pressure.

Especially Celtics star Paul Pierce.

In the regular season, Pierce averaged 21 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists per game.

In the previous two games with the Bobcats, Pierce averaged only 16 points and 5 rebounds per game.

And the shooting percentage is only 32.5%.

This has caused more and more people to doubt whether Pierce can grow into a superstar.

Because as a star, Pierce not only failed to help the team better in the playoffs, but he degraded a lot compared to the regular season.

The shooting percentage is even more appalling.

In the first round of last year's playoffs, the Celtics were kicked out. This year, Pierce thought that Pierce, who had grown up for a year, would lead the team to make a comeback.

But judging from the current situation, they are not very optimistic about the Celtics, which also makes more and more people start to doubt Pierce.

And it is precisely because of the matchup with Pierce that Gerald Wallace has once again become the focus of the league.

During the regular season, Gerald Wallace's defensive ability was excellent, and each team only had a rough assessment.

But in the one-on-one matchup with Pierce in the playoffs, Pierce's personal offense was limited to this point, which also made more and more people start to re-examine Wallace.

Before the game started, Liu Rui and Rivers had no unnecessary communication, and simply hugged on the sidelines.

After all, at this stage, both of them are under a lot of pressure, but Liu Rui's pressure is much less at this time.

After the start of the game, the two sides announced their starting lineups:

Bobcats:
Mo Williams, Martin, Ariza, Wallace, Okafor.

Celtic:

Payton, Ricky Davis, Pierce, Lavlenz, Blazek.

Both sides still continued the absolute main force in the first quarter of the last game.

After the opening, the Celtics obviously handed over more of the ball to Pierce in this game.

As the leader of a team, when the team is already in absolute trouble, it is obviously a matter of course to come forward.

And in this Celtics team, if Pierce can't stand up, it will be very difficult for anyone to lead the Celtics to win the game.

There is an interesting statistic. When Pierce scored no more than 15 points in a single game this season, the Celtics all faced losses.

Therefore, the entire Celtics' dependence on Pierce is also clear at a glance.

Moreover, the reason why the Bobcats were able to make the Celtics' offense so difficult was that Wallace used his personal ability to block Pierce as much as possible.

It also directly blocked Pierce's line of connecting teams.

When Pierce couldn't pass the ball to connect the team, he could only face tremendous pressure on the offensive end and play one-on-one singles.

Then the Celtics' offensive efficiency can be imagined. After all, Pierce's shooting percentage this season is only 43%.

This is why later, Angie did not hesitate to pay a heavy price to get Ray Allen and Garnett to form the Big Three with Pierce.

Because Pierce, who leads the team with a single core, is too easy to be targeted by other teams in the playoffs.

It has also been unable to take the team out of the first round.

In the first round of the previous life, the Celtics faced the Pacers and were also eliminated by the Pacers.

After the opening, the two teams no longer need to test, because the duel in the regular season plus the playoffs has made the two teams very familiar.

He also has a deep understanding of the team's offensive options.

However, in this game, Ricky Davis fired shots one after another from the outside and hit a few difficult three-pointers. It was precisely because of Davis' performance in the first quarter.

At the end of the first quarter, the two teams played at home with:

26:26
It was a draw.

And this is the first time the Celtics have tied with the Bobcats in a single quarter in this round of the series.

During the short rest period, Liu Rui still did not make any adjustments on the defensive end.

Although Davis hit a few difficult three-pointers in the first quarter, Liu Rui didn't believe that he could hit consecutive three-pointers in one game.

If he can really hit this kind of shots throughout the game, then Liu Rui will admit defeat in this game.

Back in the second quarter, the Celtics were at an absolute disadvantage in the contest between the two substitutes.

It was also because Ricky Davis' touch was very hot in the first quarter, so Rivers replaced Pierce early in the first quarter.

Guarantee that Pierce can lead the second team first after coming up in the second quarter.

Otherwise, when Pierce and Davis go off the field at the same time, the Celtics' offense will become very difficult.

On the Bobcats side, the cooperation between Damon Stoudemire and Divac in the second team is also becoming more and more tacit.

Due to the limited playing time of Divac in each game, Liu Rui also split the time of Jefferson and Divac.

Although Jefferson can also play a guest role in the fourth position, the speed of his feet will suffer a lot.

Therefore, in this game, Liu Rui will take Jefferson when Divac is replaced.

With the non-stop lineup rotation on both sides, at halftime, the Bobcats played at home with:
56:50
Leading the Celtics by 6 points, the contest in the first half ended.

This is already the third time the Bobcats and Celtics have played against each other in this round of the series.

In these three games, the Celtics were on the trailing side at halftime.

At this time, the Celtics fans who did not come to Charlotte's home court, but chose to watch the game at home, have begun to feel a little downcast.

Because no matter from which point of view, the current Celtics do not seem to be opponents of the Bobcats.

In stark contrast to the Celtics fans, with the end of the halftime game, the Bobcats were still in the lead, which made the Bobcats fans at home start shouting crazily.

Because so far, the chances of the Bobcats advancing to the next round are getting bigger and bigger.

And according to the current trend, the Bobcats are also very likely to score zero against the Celtics at the same time! !

(End of this chapter)