Chapter 37: The Future Is Yours
Seeing Thomas's first victory, Olynyk followed Guan Yu at the same time, and when Shang Guan Yu suddenly went down and ran towards the bottom line. And Olynyk covered for Thomas, and after dismantling, Olynyk went outside the three-point line, but Shangguan Yu, who ran to the bottom line, did not stop and ran out with the defenders.
Thomas got inside and didn't find a chance to pass the ball to Hunter in the bottom left corner. He didn't stop the ball and gave the ball to Olynyk at the top of the arc, but there was no chance of a three-point shot.
But Shangguan Yu has already come out to answer and hand over the ball, and Olynyk will go to the basket. At this point, there were already opportunities, Djerebko in the low post on the right, Hunter at 45 degrees on the left, and Olynyk in the basket. He gestured to pass the ball to Olynyk, but with a flick of his wrist, he handed the ball to Hunter.
Brush!
Hunter threw his first three-pointer of the game and shook his fists in excitement. When Thomas returned to the defense, he also came over to high-five Guan Yu.
Coach Stevens off the field, as well as Manager Anji, nodded when they saw Shangguan Yu's performance. Their original intention of signing Shangguanyu was just to bring a three-point shooter to the team, as well as the Chinese market. But now I found that Shangguan Yu still had the ability to organize an attack, so I was very satisfied.
Especially Coach Stevens, he is already considering whether to put Shangguan Yu in the starting lineup and partner Thomas.
Of course, Shangguan Yu on the court didn't know anything about this, he just wanted to play basketball well. But on the defensive end, the weakness of his poor single defense ability was once again exposed. After switching defenses with Olynyk, he defended Aldridge alone, and he really didn't have much to do in the face of players who were five centimeters taller than him.
Lacking strength of his own, he was pushed away by Aldridge and hit two points with an easy jumper.
The last time the tactics were played, Thomas chose to continue, but the ball smashed into Shangguan Yu's hands again, and found that there were no particularly good opportunities, so he handed the ball to Thomas and asked him to make a foul under the basket.
Tactics are dead, people are alive, so we must always observe the changes in the situation on the field and look for the best opportunity to shoot.
When Thomas shot, he caused a foul on Mills, so he got two free throws. However, when Thomas made free throws, Turner and Johnson came on the court, and at the same time brought new instructions from the coach, using a two-three defense strategy on the defensive end.
Thomas hit both free throws, the Spurs served the baseline ball, and the Celtics pressed the ball. When it fell into positional warfare, it immediately adopted joint defense. In the face of such a defense, only by constantly breaking points can you create scoring opportunities. And Shangguan Yu's ability to assist in defense was reflected at this time.
Ginobili got the opportunity and shot towards the basket, Shangguan Yu made up for it as soon as possible, but did not let him make a foul successfully, so Ginobili chose to step back and shoot a jumper. Under Shangguan Yu's interference, his shot smashed out of the frame. Shangguan Yu immediately turned around, took the rebound, and handed it to Turner to launch a quick counterattack, and he and Thomas completed a two-on-one cooperation, and scored easily under the basket.
This goal also completely sounded the clarion call for Celtic's counterattack.
Aldridge missed a mid-range jumper and Johnson grabbed the rebound, but this time he didn't hit a counterattack because the ball was too slow. But after falling into the position, after the Celtics continued to block and dismantle, Thomas hit the basket, Shangguan Yu hit the basket again, Olynyk passed the ball to Johnson, and he hit a mid-range jumper.
The Celtics chased 6 points in a row, but Mr. Bobo was still very calm.
But after successfully defending the Spurs' offense, Turner hit another three-pointer to close the gap to five points.
Old Man Bobo finally asked for a timeout, and at the same time replaced Parker with Duncan. Parker's breakthrough was obviously sharper, and after completing the block with Duncan, he hit a basket throw to break the scoring drought for a while.
Shangguan Yu was on the offensive end, finally found face, broke through and went to the basket, and used his feet to shake off Duncan's defensive shot. Although the final shot was interfered with by a foul by Duncan's hitter and did not hit, he hit both free throws.
But in the next round, Shangguan Yu faced Duncan again, this time Thomas suddenly appeared and cut Duncan's ball, after Shangguan Yu grabbed the ball, he didn't turn around, it was a back pass, Turner ran to the basket after receiving the ball, and a wonderful one-handed slam dunk was successful.
Now the momentum of the Celtics has been fully raised, but after Parker broke through, he assisted Green to hit a three-pointer.
And Thomas also took advantage of the breakthrough and assisted Johnson to hit a three-pointer in the bottom corner.
But Mr. Bobo immediately made substitution adjustments and replaced the main force, especially Leonard's appearance, which finally interrupted the Celtics' attack.
Parker and Leonard hit shots one after another, and the Spurs once again controlled the situation, allowing Shangguan Yu and Thomas to be replaced and rested. Obviously, he had to face the next tough battle, but fortunately, the other players were very strong and bit the score, so that they had a chance to fight in the final battle.
Shangguan Yu came on the court in the last less than two minutes, when the Celtics trailed by five points, so Coach Stevens arranged a three-point strategy.
Shangguan Yu covered Thomas to catch the ball, and he did not run the empty position outside the three-point line for the first time, but cut inside, wanting to score two quick points. The Spurs players weren't fooled, but Thomas was driven to the basket and they were forced to shrink their defense. At this time, Shangguan Yu used Olynyk's cover and appeared in a three-point gap of 45 degrees on the left side.
After receiving Thomas's pass, Shangguan Yu glanced at Olynyk and found that he did not get rid of it.
With a slight touch, he shook off Green's defense and made a three-point shot.
Brush!
The ball hollowed into the net, Shangguan Yu hit a key three-pointer to chase the score to 102-100, the Spurs asked for a timeout, and Shangguan Yu was substituted. Because he wasn't very good defensively, he was replaced by Sallinger.
The final minute or so was intense, and in the final 52 seconds, Parker made a layup. But at 43 seconds, Thomas made a successful foul and hit two free throws to keep the score tight.
The Spurs attacked, pressed to the last 20 seconds to shoot, and the ball didn't hit. Johnson grabbed the rebound, the Celtics called a timeout, and Coach Stevens replaced Shangguan Yu again.
This time it was a quick three-point shot, but Leonard followed closely behind Thomas and didn't let him go out to catch the ball, and Shangguan Yu ran out and took the ball down. Olynyk came over to cover, and Dior, who was defending Shangguan Yu, was blocked by him, Aldridge didn't dare to pounce too much, and he didn't believe that Shangguan Yu would make a move.
Dribbling beyond the three-point line, the ball flew towards the basket.
Brush!
Shangguan Yu hit three points again, and even the fans at home were boiling.
With 15 seconds left in the game, as long as the Spurs serve successfully, they can drag it out until the end of the game. So the Celtics had no choice but to use foul tactics, and Leonard hit two free throws safely.
The Celtics only had the last 7.5 seconds, and Stevens' tactical arrangement still let Shangguan Yu shoot three points. But this time, Dior, who came to defend, followed closely, and Shangguan Yu had no chance. Thomas faced Leonard's defense and didn't have a chance to make a shot.
This moment must be stepped up!
When he was in the NCAA, Shangguan Yu was expected to cover for his teammates, but more often than not, at such a critical juncture, he was a spectator. I don't know if it was the confidence given by the all-around basketball mission system, or the courage he gained from recent training, he used Turner's cover after running back, received a pass from Thomas, and shot directly for three-pointers.
But Dior and Green had already pounced, and Shangguan Yu leaned back slightly and raised the arc.
Syllable!
The ball bounced out of the frame, and the game ended, and Celtic lost to the Holy City by three points.
Missing the goal that dragged the game into overtime, Shangguan Yu looked annoyed, although his teammates comforted the coach, he was still not very happy.
When Duncan shook hands and hugged after the game, he touched Shangguan Yu's head and said to him with a smile: "The future is yours!"