In the second quarter of the game, with Wang Zhizhi's three-point shot after his debut, the situation began to tilt, although in the next ten minutes, Wang Zhizhi did not score again, and one of his mid-range shots was also interfered with and did not shoot, and the magical performance of the previous four shots with a 100% shooting rate was also broken, but Wang Zhizhi's three-point shot gave the Mavericks players a lot of psychological pressure. Nowitzki, in particular, was hit four times in a row by a former substitute player who had been his own bench, as well as a three-pointer, which made him start to look forward on defense.

If offense can rely on a superstar to do all the tasks, then defense is not something that can be carried by one person anyway, and everyone on the court is an important link. Nowitzki's defensive level is not high, but his awareness is still quite good, and as the team's highest point on the court, he still has a great role in blocking opponents from hitting the three-second zone and protecting rebounds.

But now he has been completely transferred away by Wang Zhizhi. After three successful flash cut tactics, Wang Zhizhi seemed to have found a tacit understanding with Pierce and Kerr, Pierce turned to the low post, and Wang Zhizhi wandered near the three-point line, forcing Nowitzki to always keep an eye on Wang Zhizhi, but in fact, Wang Zhizhi's scoring ability is not worth staring at alone.

A mature defensive system should have trade-offs, but unfortunately the Mavericks have neither a mature defensive system, nor Nowitzki still lacks a mature enough game mentality, and the Mavericks' defense that is not good enough began to be torn open by Paul Pierce and Wang Zhizhi. Pierce began to show the fruits of his summer efforts, turning over jumpers, shaking shoulders to fake to break fouls, step-back jumpers, left-handed driving layups, and back-to-back small throws. And, of course, the lethal three-pointer, Pierce went completely crazy in the second quarter.

Although Nowitzki is also unstoppable on the Celtics' interior line, there is still no way to match Pierce's popularity.

"Paul Pierce got the ball from outside the three-point line on the right side and the crowd started cheering, and oh my god, I saw the Mavericks players have some look of fear on their faces. How many points did he score in the second quarter? 17 points, already 17 points! Pierce...... In the last 5 seconds, he didn't want to block and dismantle, and directly forced ...... Shooting from beyond the three-point line...... The referee blows the whistle! "Bill Wharton's commentary is like intermittent pee, because he can't predict what Pierce is going to do next.

In the final five seconds of the second quarter, Pierce made a strong jumper from beyond the three-point line, and Mavericks player Nahura fouled Pierce three free throws. While Nahura argued at the referee, Nelson blushed at the referee. Cuban even got up from the bench and yelled at the referee ******, but this did not do anything other than make the crowd shout "T".

Pierce stood at the free-throw line, his legs crossed back and forth, which was his unique free-throw stance, and he hit all three free throws steadily, and at 66:52, the Celtics stretched the deficit to 14 points in the second quarter.

With Finley finally missing a three-pointer from long range. The second quarter ended. The Celtics relied on Leon's brilliant tactical scheduling and personnel deployment in the first half to grasp the Mavericks' soft underbelly. Not only did it expose the Mavericks on the defensive end, but it also made them lose their sense on the offensive end. From start to finish, Leon never changed his defensive strategy, and no matter how Nowitzki hit his mid-range shot, no matter how Finley's solo kills, the Celtics were always tough and steady on the defensive end. This was Dick Hart's pre-game policy for the Celtics - to keep the deal in place and focus more on the offense.

Back in the locker room at halftime, the Celtics players looked quite excited, especially Paul Pearce, who played one of his best first halves of the season. With 22 points at halftime, he unleashed all his abilities, and those skills accumulated in the summer, the experience accumulated in past games, were perfectly unleashed in today's second quarter.

Leon walked to Pierce's locker and the two of them high-fived in tacit understanding, Leon also seemed a little excited, he felt the whole locker room rippling with cheerful atmosphere, it was really a great first half. In this game, Leon's potential in tactical preparation and command was maximized, because in the previous game, they did not meet a strong team like the Mavericks, their opponents were either young teams such as the Bulls and Timberwolves, or old teams like the Jazz and Wizards, although there was a super strong team Lakers, but O'Neal was not there, and the Celtics lacked a victory in a heavyweight game.

So for this game with the Mavericks, Leon made sufficient preparations, not only conducted targeted training before the game, but also released several killer skills that had never been used in the game, so that the Mavericks, who were not fully prepared and even some underdogs, fell a big heel in the first half, if it weren't for the Mavericks' strong strength, many stars in the team, and strong personal ability, the Celtics should have opened up a bigger point difference. "It's only half the game, it's only half!" After the excitement, Leon reminded everyone to calm down. There are many veterans in the team, and they all know that a 14-point lead at halftime is nothing, and against a team like the Mavericks, there may be an attack wave that will chase the difference to within five points.

The locker room fell silent, and Leon began to summarize the gains and losses of the first half and lay out some points for the second half, especially the points to watch out for in defense, Leon could foresee that the Dallas Cowboys in the second half would set off a frenzy of counterattacks.

However, no matter how smart and shrewd Leon was, he would not have imagined that Don Nelson would come up with a strange trick in the second half.

………………

After a 15-minute break back on the court, the second half of the game was about to begin, Leon continued to maintain the starting lineup for the first half, and Wang Zhizhi continued to appear in the center forward position. The Mavericks made adjustments, Griffin did not appear in the Mavericks' starting point guard position again, the Celtics veteran is really useless, Nelson has Raja Bell as the shooting guard, Finley is the small forward, the power forward is still Nahoola, the center is Nowitzki, it seems that Nelson is not convinced by the defeat in the first quarter.

Leon looked at Nelson's starting arrangement, and didn't know what his intentions were, thinking that he would send Bradley, but he didn't expect him to continue to use Nahura, and also replaced Raja Bell, a somewhat undersized shooting guard.

But as the Mavericks' baseline serve began their first offense, Leon learned what exactly was selling in Nelson's gourd.

Nash controlled the ball after half the court, did not start to penetrate like in the first half, but handed the ball to Bale, Bell held the ball on the outside and watched for a while, at this time Nash with the help of Nowitzki's cover went around to the right side of the three-second zone, because of Nowitzki's huge three-point threat, the Celtics from the top of the arc to the space near the three-second zone were pulled away, and then the magical scene appeared, Nash actually began to get stuck in the low position on the right side to ask for the ball!

Bale hoisted the ball to Nash, who faced Arenas and pushed Arenas away with his not wide but somewhat thin back, then made a skilful outside turn and threw the ball out with a super wide angle of leaning back before Arenas could stick to it—not a backward angle, but a backward shot. Nash was a master shooter, and his jumper from only 8 feet away from the basket hit the ball steadily, even if it was super backwards.

Leon smelled a hint of danger, first of all, he knew that Arenas had never practiced back-to-back defense in weekday training, and he wouldn't be able to defend against back-to-back at all, and secondly, Nelson's strange tactics undoubtedly forced Leon and forced him to change his tactics in defense. However, Leon still has time to wait, and if the Celtics can continue to score in the first half of the third quarter, then no matter what tactics the Mavericks use on offense, he won't have to be afraid.

But looking back, Leon found that Nelson began to use Nahura to defend Wang Zhizhi, and it was a close-knit entanglement defense. Nahura is very familiar with Wang Zhizhi, knows his weaknesses, his confrontation ability is still not enough, and he lacks the ability to get rid of it, Nelson used a dirty coolie point to abolish the tactical eye on Leon's side. In the first half, everyone changed players and didn't have time to deal with the set-up, but a halftime break gave Nelson enough time to target Wang Zhizhi. "Careless......" Leon was a little annoyed in his heart, a strange soldier like Wang Zhizhi really shouldn't be used directly, but suddenly used when necessary.

With Walker missing on the inside and Nahura grabbing the rebound, Nash didn't rush to launch a fast break with the dribble, he dribbled again over the half court and handed the ball to Bell, running to the low post himself, this time on the left. Still facing Arenas, this time he used a feint to pass Arenas, and at the same time faced Wang Zhizhi's supplementary defense, not only successfully scored the ball, but also caused Wang Zhizhi's foul!

Leon immediately stood up from the bench, he wanted to replace Wang Zhizhi, but Cowens on the side grabbed Leon and said: "Don't change players as soon as you find a mistake, give them a little room to make mistakes." We still have a chance to make mistakes, calm down. Cowens's words made Leon sit back down, indeed, every player makes mistakes, and this time it was not Wang Zhizhi who was wrong, but Leon himself.

However, in this case, he decided to let Wang Zhizhi continue to stay on the court to feel the bad situation of the situation being reversed, which is also a training for a player, training how to find the motivation to get back up in the difficult situation. It's also a grind for Leon, as he has to watch the Mavericks catch up little by little.

Nelson's intention couldn't be more obvious, you let Wang Zhizhi shoot three points? Then I'll let Nash play in the low post, Arenas not only hasn't systematically practiced back-to-back defense, but he is also known for his slender lower limbs, which is of course an advantage to the outside line, but it can't be used to defend back. In the first quarter, Arenas easily passed Nash, and now it is Nash's turn to easily play Arenas with his back.

At the same time, the Mavericks are three shooters on the outside, Nahura also has a certain mid-range shooting ability, and he is constantly cutting inside to hit the frontcourt rebounds, and Nash's points are not comparable to ordinary interior players. The Celtics' lack of excellent defenders and rebounders on the interior was infinitely magnified by Nash. "The best center in the third quarter was Steve Nash! Nelson's tactical imagination is amazing, and if the Celtics don't do something about it, their advantage will be eroded! Just as Wharton sighed, Leon finally called a timeout, and by this time the Mavericks had chased the score to 61:67, with only a six-point difference. Only 5 minutes passed in the third quarter. (To be continued.) )