Chapter 462: Demarcate the territory
Garnett is 2.11 meters tall and has unusually long arms. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ļ½ļ½ļ½Uļ½Eć info This made the wolf king, who was able to play five positions back then, a very peculiar existence.
But now, due to the lack of interior players on the Celtics, this standard forward has to be pushed to the No. 5 position.
In an era when good centers were as rare as prehistoric dinosaurs, Garnett's No. 5 position was understandable for the most part. But when he faced Anjie, it was obvious how embarrassing it was for a striker to reach the number five position.
In the jump stage, Damion Lillard got his wish and got the first shot from Angel. Many years ago, the story of Garnett being able to touch the top edge of the rebound was very popular among the people. Not to mention whether the story is true or not, Garnett's bounce at that time was really good.
But now, Garnett, who is almost 37 years old, is not very jumping. Fischel, who entered the league a year later than Garnett, has taken a back seat, and Garnett has to confront Anjie head-on with such a big weight and height, which is really not easy.
On the first offense of the Trail Blazers, Lillard raised the tempo very fast. The reporters were surprised to point their cameras on the Trail Blazers' bench, but the two guys, Rickard and Divac, sat firmly on the Diaoyutai and were very calm.
"What the hell? Lillard has got that much power?" "Anyone familiar with the Trail Blazers knows that Ricard's team is a slow-paced, positional offense-oriented team. But Lillard opened the game with the intention of storming, which logically went against the Trail Blazers' tactical style.
Lillard can rush, is it possible to let Anjie and Aldridge follow a rookie guard to rush?
In fact, Lillard picked up speed as soon as he started, which is exactly what Rickard arranged. Unlike the young Trail Blazers, the Celtics are just too old. And they're not as consistent as the similarly aging Spurs, and once the pace picks up, the Celtics may be in a mess.
Thanks to Rondo's injury, Lillard easily broke through the experienced but already slightly sluggish "Jet" Terry, who is already fast at this age compared to Fischer. But in the face of Lillard, the veteran can only watch the opposition pass by his share.
Entering the interior line, Garnett immediately planned to help defend. It's just that under the blockage of An Jie, Garnett, who couldn't run, missed the best opportunity to make up for the defense. At this time, the Celtics only power forward Brandon Buss completed the help defense, ready to block Lillard's layup. But Buss's height of just 2.03 meters won't make him too much of a threat to Lillard.
Lillard undauntedly leaned on Buss for a layup, and Buss tried to block it, only to find that the impact and jump height of the zero guard made it impossible for him to touch the basketball at all.
Under the physical contact with Buss, Lillard insisted on scoring the ball! In the first attack of the opening game, Rickard used a "blitzkrieg" to give the Green Shirts a dismount.
"I don't know if this was deliberately set up by Coach Ricard, but I have to say that Lillard's breakthrough really worked. In the face of the Celtics who have entered the aging period, speed up the pace, and it is not good that they can be dragged to death faster. "Mike Brin certainly knows that the Trail Blazers are a slow-paced team, but sometimes a change of style can be unexpected.
"Damn!" Garnett slapped his legs unwillingly, if he had been four or five years younger for that ball just now, Lillard would have to take the risk!
"Serve now, the game has just started, we have time. Pierce yelled at Garnett as he ran to the front, he really couldn't understand why Garnett was so energetic every time he met Anjie.
The Celtics' offense doesn't have that kind of menacing momentum, but just one pass and run can show how good the team's tactical cultivation is.
The cheers of the fans at TD's North Shore Garden Arena were like metronomes, and the Celtics were running on this beat.
The five people on the field perform their duties, the run that should run, the cover that should cover, never sloppy, never delayed. The strength of the traditional giants was vividly demonstrated by the Celtics. This team always has a championship background in it.
In the end, through patient transmission, small forward Jeff Green, who had a lot of connections with Anjie, got a chance to shoot outside the three-point line.
Iguodala's defense is not without effort, but he has been unable to meet two delicate blocks in a row, and he is powerless about what is happening in front of him.
Although Jeff Green is just an ordinary starter now, you must know that he and Durant were collectively called "twin stars" when he was in the Thunder. Although he lacked stamina to become a big star, Jeff Green still has a lot of quality.
With standard shooting stance, Iguodala's remarkable defense doesn't work against Jeff Green's height. Green hit a three-pointer to open the door for the Celtics. The current Celtics don't have a super scorer, but they have proven that they still have a way to take on strong opponents!
On the next offense, Lillard still picked up the tempo. This style is also Lillard's favorite way to play.
He is usually very confined to death, but today he can finally fly freely without restraint. He plunged into the interior again, and just as the Celtics trio shrank to the basket and were about to stop Lillard, the orange basketball flew out of the pile!
As soon as An Jie stepped into the three-point line with one foot, he received the incoming ball. Due to Lillard's attraction, Anjie is now empty in front of him. But Anjie didn't plan to make a pull-up jumper, he wasn't a defender, and he knew he couldn't rely too much on outside offense.
So An Jie didn't use this space to shoot, but used this space to plan three steps!
Because Anjie was chasing after Lillard, Anjie rushed very fast in this ball. After catching the ball and taking three steps, An Jie's speed did not slow down in the slightest.
Jeff Green was stunned for a moment, and then raised his hands to interfere with An Jie! But at this time, An Jie had already jumped high! The fast speed made his inertia greater, and the greater inertia meant that An Jie was more difficult to stop!
Green stood under the basket with his arms raised like a low wall, and An Jie directly separated this low wall, using his strength and reach advantage to dunk the basketball hard!
Garnett watched Anjie complete the whole process of the partition on the sidelines, young, it's good......
After the goal, Anjie did not provoke Jeff Green, after all, he did this kind of thing when Anjie was still in the Thunder and Green was still in the Kings. The No. 00, who had just completed a wonderful dunk, just gave him a light high-five to thank him for the beautiful pass.
Although Anjie is very calm, Mike Brin, who is in charge of commentating the game, is not calm. The sudden dunk of the big center after the big center is about to go down, in today's era when the front guard is rampant, the scene just now is really a bit different. Mike Brin didn't want to put the repetitive words of praise on the table, but his heartfelt exclamation was the greatest affirmation of the brilliant goal.
So far, Garnett has not had a single head-to-head confrontation with Anjie. But Anjie's performance in these two rounds has made Garnett clear about the gap between them.
But for the sake of victory, even if he meets God, the "wolf king" will not back down!
So after that, An Jie found that the guy next to him began to be restless. In order to stop Angel from running, Garnett often uses irregular pulls to slow Angel down. It was also on this occasion that Paul Pearce broke through Matthews with a fake shot.
Pierce's explosiveness and speed are not as explosive and fast as they used to be, but his control over the pace of his play is getting better and better. This breakthrough Pierce did not completely get rid of Matthews at all, but with his excellent sense of rhythm, Pierce managed to avoid the interference of Matthews and Aldridge and steadily put the ball up.
Each of his three steps is so solid and deceptive that you can't figure out his next move. In an era where most people rely on their bodies to play, Pierce taught Matthews a good lesson in an unconventional way.
"That's Paul Pierce, maybe he's not a super scorer anymore, but he's still one of the best players in the league!" How long does Pierce have a "shelf life"? When his body has started to degrade and he can still average 19 points per game in other ways, that's one of the reasons why the Celtics still have the winning faith.
Maybe it was because Pierce's goal touched Garnett's heart so much, this guy actually cut two points on Anjie's head with a turnaround jumper in the next round of attack.
An Jie had to marvel at Garnett's hand, this guy with a rough and savage appearance and personality is not bad at all when it comes to technical work.
It's just that the difference in strength between the two lineups is there, and the Celtics have not been abused to death by the Trail Blazers. But all they can do is bite the score.
But the fast pace of Lillard and Ricard quickly overwhelmed the Celtics' veterans. Faced with this situation, Coach Doug Rivers had to replace Garnett, Pierce and Terry early.
The effect of this substitution was very obvious, because on the offensive end, the Celtics lost a few cool, but a little more frizzy.
Barbosa, the "Brazilian Lightning" who transferred from the Pacers, is not Terry, and he is an honest organizer of the offense, which is not the Brazilian's strong point.
Facing Fischer, who was slow to move after replacing Lillard, Barbossa did not call for a block, and easily passed the "old fish" by relying on his personal ability to change direction in two consecutive body forwards.
After passing the old fish, the Trail Blazers' defensive formation did not shrink. They were afraid that the shrinkage would give the rest of the Celtics room to shoot, and at the same time, they also believed that Angel would take care of it under the basket!
Anjie's former teammate Chris Wilcox did everything he could as he said before the game, but he still couldn't stop Anjie from making up for the basket. Seeing An Jie completing the defense so quickly, Barbossa was a little unwilling.
Do you have to give up because of the score in hand? Barbossa knows that with his height, it is impossible for him to go head-to-head with An Jie. But a lukewarm toss may be a good option......
"Slow down!" Barbossa thought everything he was doing was seamless, but Anjie observed Barbossa's slowing pace. Most defenders will habitually slow down their break pace before throwing in order to adjust their tempo. Anjie has to take a gamble and see if the Brazilian will actually throw his shot!
As soon as Barbosa stepped into the free throw line, he got up directly to hold the ball and was ready to throw, but to his surprise, Anjie seemed to have already chosen the time and appeared in front of him just right!
Barbosa had no choice but to bite the bullet. But before the basketball even began to fall, it was ruthlessly "dismissed" by An Jie. ā
"Another performance of blocking and throwing! Oh my God, even blocking can become Ann's signature move!"
Open your hands and land smoothly. An Jie jumped very high just now, so high that even the blocked Barbossa himself felt incredible.
He swallowed his saliva and set his eyes on An Jie. I saw An Jie laughing at himself at the moment, which does not mean that it is friendly, but it makes people feel furious.
"This is the territory of the big guys. There's no way you're going to soar here. Listen, get out of my turf and shoot from beyond the three-point line!" An Jie said this, and the smile still hung on his face.
Barbossa felt creepy, but Garnett on the bench was happy.
Garnett could see that An Jie had finished "warming up" and was starting to get serious. And to fight seriously, this is the greatest respect for veterans.
"Come on, let's show the others what a real man is!" Garnett bared his fangs, and the veteran found that his blood was boiling......