readytorunbook Chapter 241 The storm is coming
Chapter 241 The storm is coming
Chapter 241 The storm is coming
"Another year in the conference finals, the Celtics seem stronger than ever, but their opponent is the Milwaukee Bucks who knocked them out last season.
Will the result be the same this time?Will the Celtics get their revenge, or will the Bucks finally prove that the Celtics' inherent style of play can be crushed by gravity, as it was last year?
Mind you, no one believed the Celtics were going to lose, as they almost won the Eastern Conference playoffs with contempt.Sweeping Washington in the first round and Detroit again in the semifinals, they had a record 72 wins and 10 losses, and they had a great season.
They shot 55 percent from the field per game in the playoffs and outscored their opponents by more than 15 points per game. "Sometimes there's a difference between the game plan Coach Lu makes and what the players actually implement and execute, but so far, we haven't had any issues," said Rudy Tomjanovich, Little Lu's assistant. "It's like Lou is playing Pac-Man, controlling the player and saying 'Okay, you eat him, then you go catch him, and we win.'" – The Boston Globe.
The trend of the playoffs is becoming more and more clear.
It is the battle between the Celtics and the Lakers, and other teams are destined to be just passers-by.
In the first two rounds of the Celtics and the Zijin Army, they only lost one game in total.
In the Western Conference finals, they all faced the challenge of the strongest opponent in the division.
Some people who expected the Bucks to challenge the Celtics were disappointed. As one of the ten teams that beat the Celtics in the regular season, the Bucks' performance in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals was not a surprise.
They took an extreme strategy.
This kind of defense is called "one-sided four-man stacking".
As the name suggests, the Bucks' defensive focus is to circle half of the position, and then put four defenders on that position.
The problem is, the Celtics are usually a 1-4 high.
This formation will have up to three people on one side and two on the other to keep the space flexible.
Therefore, the Bucks are so defensive that they must let go of at least one Celtic.
It was Bill Lambiel who was let go by them. At the same time, John Long's defense was not so concerned, and the main energy was focused on limiting the Celtics' Big Three.
Louis admired their ambition, stronger than the Pistons, they only wanted Thomas and Byrd to choose one to kill, but the Bucks wanted three people to kill at the same time.
A team with Sidney Moncrief is capricious.
But unfortunately, none of the Celtics' Big Three could be guarded by Moncrief.
He can limit Bird and Thomas' offense at most, and Sampson's height advantage is obvious, so he suffers no matter how he plays.
The problem is that the Celtics cooperate too tacitly. Except for Moncrief, the Bucks are not very mobile defenders.
Hand-to-hand combat is fine, but if you play modern unilateral stacking and large-scale rotation, you will be scratched because of your footsteps.
Sampson scored 20 points by cutting inside.
Bird had no intention of scoring. He passed the ball more to Lambir and Lang, who were strategically given up by the Bucks.
Both also scored more than 20 points.
Even if the Bucks use advanced defensive strategies to lock the Celtics' offense, they have no way to score under the Celtics' defense.
Although the Celtics are not a strong defensive team, if they are strong on the defensive end, opponents cannot easily score.
In the first game, Don Nelson had more than enough strategy, but the players did not implement enough, and was killed by three times, five times and two divisions.
1 is better than 0
"The next game will be more intense," Nelson said to Louie.
Louis smiled: "If I were you, I would stick to the current strategy."
Because this set of strategies is really advanced, four people stacking on one side means that an area will be released. If you change it and replace it with three people stacking on one side, will the effect be worse?
The Celtics' personal ability is too strong. If they want to rely on defense to limit, they must have strong defensive ability and exquisite cooperation.
Moncrief's strength is limited, and he can exert greater strength only if he has teammates who can help him.
But there are very few teammates in the Bucks who can help.
The Bucks have a group of strong men who dare to confront and are not afraid of hand-to-hand combat, coupled with the best wing defenders in the league, so they have played the league's first defense year after year.
Game2, the Bucks made a gesture of desperately fighting.
That's how they came about when they beat the Celtics in the regular season.
But during the regular season, Louis will be more conservative and not fight against them. It will be different in the playoffs.
The Celtics fought back three consecutive games when they were 1-3 behind the 76ers. How could they back down here?
When the desire for hand-to-hand combat on both sides reaches the same level, they can only rely on the shooting touch to determine the outcome.
This one is the strength of the Celtics.
The game is over.
2 is better than 0
Nelson's scalp is numb. The way they dealt with the Celtics last year will not work this year.
No, since Louis took over the team, the Bucks have lost their effectiveness against the Celtics.
Nelson valued not just the Celtics' talent, but their offensive creativity.
This is something that players cannot learn by themselves, and it is not something that ordinary coaches can bring.
Watching the Celtics' game, and then looking at his own, Nelson is inevitably ashamed.
Now that the series is not over, he must bite the bullet and say: "The next game will be more intense."
Louis believes that he will do what he says.
On this day, the reporter asked a very impolite question.
"Are you guys ready to face the Lakers in the Finals?"
Louie looked at his sign and was disappointed to find it was from Philadelphia.
Such a stupid question was not asked by a New York reporter, he was not used to it.
"Please respect our matchup with Milwaukee. It is still unknown who will advance to the finals." Although Louis is very humble, the warm-up work for the finals has already begun.
There are also basketball experts in the league, and they often predict which teams may reach the finals in the playoffs.
They analyze those potential matchups.
If it is the 76ers and the Lakers, it is a continuation and extension of the grievances over the past few years.
If it is the Lakers and Celtics?
Then they have to find a way to plan in advance, publicize, and make a big wave.
Think about how the NCAA used the skin color of Bird and Magic to make the commercial value of the league soar and the nationality soar.
This is a path that can be used for reference.
Color and race, white and black, this is a topic that can arouse the interest of Americans anytime and anywhere.Some people use it to make money, some use it to get away with crimes, and some use it to run for president. The only thing they have in common is that those who play this card have achieved their goals.
You just have to believe that Americans take this set.
Louie maintained their duel with the Bucks, but in private, he dispatched Tomjanovich to the western battlefield to scout the Western Conference Finals between the Lakers and the Suns.
His disengagement with the Bucks paid the price.
They could have swept the Bucks, but in Milwaukee's fourth game, they let their opponents bite back and lost a game by a narrow margin.
The Celtics have not lost for almost two months. This victory is like a dose of adrenaline, which has boosted the Bucks' morale.
Game5
The Celtics didn't give them another chance and played their best game of the playoffs.
In a game without overtime, they scored 129 points against the Bucks, which had the league's best defense, and beat the Bucks by 25 points, 4-1.
As for the Lakers, they also lost a game they shouldn't have lost against the Suns.
But it didn't hurt, the result was also 4 to 1, and the Lakers eliminated the Suns.
The two long-awaited teams came to the stage of the final.
Magicians are the best ever;
Byrd is stronger than anyone;
Magician is overrated, he is far inferior to "Big O";
Bird was just an average player because he was so good around Thomas and Sampson.
Diode remarks like this can be seen everywhere in the United States.
Louie was tortured when he was getting his hair cut outside. He wanted to have a better haircut, which was no problem. However, his barber was a white man, and he swears about magicians for 40 minutes.
Louis was very embarrassed, he could neither agree nor disagree.
Fortunately, his complexion saved him.He's an Asian and doesn't need a team, so he can make a logical choice: Bird and Magic are both good.
(End of this chapter)