Tonight, Byron Scott is holding Leon's nose most of the time, the regular season has always been "me-oriented, see the moves", since the Nets have an advantage in the lineup and hard power, then Scott let the players play normally, and the Nets have a good chance of winning the game.

In the absence of Mutombo, Scott let Collins, Scalabryen, Rodgers, Aaron Williams and others take turns to consume Antoine Walker, so that the Nets' outside players can have more energy to deal with the Celtics' outside line, and not let Walker open up and need outside players to help defend him.

Although Grant Long was an unexpected surprise for Scott, his play was limited to part of the time, and when it came to critical moments, Long, who lacked the ability to attack independently, still couldn't make up for the hole caused by Walker's cold hands. As long as the Nets maintain a normal offensive and defensive state in the last 1 minute, everyone you score one, I score one, or defend the Celtics one, and the game is over.

However, Wang Zhizhi's surprise three-pointer became a key goal to turn the situation around, and then a foul gave the Celtics the initiative. Then there is the embodiment of the player's individual ability, Paul Pierce was in good shape in this game, and the decisive breakthrough also directly stopped the Nets.

With a three-point lead, Scott certainly still has to play steady, but the biggest problem with the Nets as a defensive team is that they don't have a very reliable and consistent scoring point. If you look at the Nets' schedule record table this season, you can find that the Nets will either win by about 10 points or lose by about 10 points, and there are very few games with a difference of less than 5 points.

In the few games with close scores, the Nets mostly lost, such as 95:96 to Seattle, 99:101 to the Knicks, 107:108 to the 76ers, 103:106 to the Jazz, 86:89 to the Wizards, 90:91 to the Jazz, and so on.

The reason is simple, because their team's number one player, point guard Jason Kidd, won't shoot.

The only long-range jumper Kidd made in this game was the three-point shot he made before Wang Zhizhi came on the court, almost killing the Celtics at home, "I'd rather let Kidd shoot two points than let him try three points!" We need a defensive trap where whoever has the ball on the perimeter is going to draw them to 45 degrees, don't let them go in the middle, don't let them slip to the baseline, 45 degrees, remember, go to PJ and Chris. However, be sure to pay attention to the players you are marking, don't lose your position, and remember not to lose your position! If it's a clean burst to the inside, we only have to foul, and when we foul, we can be a little harder, and we will pounce directly on the arm, and if anyone gives them a 2+1, I will screw his head off. "When Leon took a timeout, he asked Dick Hart to set up defensive tactics for the players, and the old man directly let out cruel words.

Because the Nets don't have an arrow figure on the offensive end, the Celtics can continue to maintain their average defense, one-on-one marking. At the same time, Leon replaced Wang Zhizhi and replaced Chris Anderson, although Anderson is not trusted by Cowens and is not as solid as Durham Porter on the defensive end, but Leon still values his mobility and blocking and interference ability at critical moments, and puts him on the court to build an interior defense with PJ Brown.

For the Celtics' perimeter players, sealing the middle is inevitable, and letting Kidd into the free throw line in the middle leaks all the opportunities to him in all directions, so it is necessary to push Kidd or the other ball handlers of the Nets to the sides. And because Kenyon Martin has a strong ability to cut in the middle, he can't just let them go to the bottom line, prevent the bottom cross, and directly attack the basket, so that the interior line will be very passive.

The best strategy is to drive them to 45 degrees, 45 degrees is the world of low-post attackers, but the Nets do not have super low-post attackers, not even on the same level as Paul Pierce, they may rely on Kidd's breakthrough and Martin's frontcourt rebounds the most in the final stage, and for the breakthrough player, the position of 45 degrees is really not good, a funnel, the basket position is not conducive to direct attack, and the passing is very embarrassing.

So there is no problem with Hart's strategy at all, the question depends on what routine the Nets will follow and how the Celtics players play. 'Don't focus on Kidd, let him shoot if he gets the chance, pay attention to his passing, not only Martin, but other people who are ambushing on the flanks. Interfere with them, it's your duty, OK? After Hart finished arranging, Leon pulled Anderson aside and gave him a separate lesson.

Leon knows that Kidd's passing is far more dangerous than his shot, and at a 45-degree angle, players tend to be caught in a dilemma when it matters most: should they hit the board or shoot in the air? Once the shot is hesitant, the ball will be inaccurate. If Kidd can shoot, Leon can't do anything, but he can't allow Kidd to tear through the Celtics' defense with a pass and let the Nets get straight under the basket.

As for the three-point shot, Hart and Leon have made it clear that they should shoot, and Leon bets that with Scott's more conservative coaching style, he will not allow a player to shoot a risky three-pointer when he only needs a point to win a secure victory.

At the end of the timeout, the last tens of seconds are the moment when the game is decided.

Jason Kidd received the throw-in with difficulty under the entanglement of Arenas, obviously the Nets' throw-in tactics did not work, they wanted to do a stacked tactic, four people got together on the right side of the half, two weak side air cut feints, and then Richardson as the last actual point of attack, under Kidd's involvement, the ball can choose to shoot or break directly.

However, the Celtics' players were very focused, especially Pierce saw through Richardson's intentions and kept a tight eye, and the Nets had to go through Plan B, allowing Kidd to spend time holding the ball and waiting for opportunities to find new opportunities.

After Kidd got the ball, he found that the middle was blocked very dead, Anderson and Brown were a left and a right ghost to shoot the goal, Kidd tried to do a block with Martin, and then found that Anderson Arenas was directly bypassing Martin to follow the defense, which was obviously to let Kidd shoot and not let him burst.

Kidd hesitated for a moment and still didn't shoot, he really didn't have any confidence, and besides, there were still more than ten seconds, and he had to consume it again.

At this time, Arenas stood in front of Kidd and began to press, and then turned sideways, leaving a position in the direction of 45 degrees, Kidd knew that this was a defensive trap, but he glanced around, the Celtics were man-markers, there were no good passing opportunities, and it looked like they were going to drill into it even if they knew it was a cover.

Kidd tried to go to the baseline, and Skiles bypassed the baseline and tried to take Reed's defense, but Reed didn't follow near the basket, so he let go of Skiers, and then blocked the baseline. Skiles was free, Kidd immediately transferred the ball to Martin in the middle, and then Martin passed the ball again and passed it directly to the vacant Skiles!

At this time, the Nets on the weak side have formed more and less play, but Skiles hesitated, he did not shoot after receiving the ball, but continued to hold the ball and choose to break through from near the baseline, wanting to make a rebound from the right side.

But this time Chris Anderson made a contribution, he jumped high with a pegboard cap, pressed the basketball to the rebound, and got the ball on the second jump, a very valuable ball! There were 11 seconds left until the end of the game.

At this point, Leon used his last short timeout, 20 seconds, which was enough time for him to set up a strategy.

However, instead of taking out the tactical board and drawing a precise and numbered lore strategy as usual, Leon threw away the board and pen, and then said: "The last attack, 11 seconds, my strategy is very simple, single block, three-point, frontcourt rebound." That's all, remember, frontcourt rebounding, that's the key! Out of the blue! “

Leon's several setups in the final moments of the night highlighted a surprise for the simple reason that he had a strategy in his head, and the problem was that the Celtics players were in a state of shape tonight and couldn't play those tactics in front of the Nets' perimeter defense.

Only surprises, only hard work, and believing in the ability of the players can ensure that the Celtics have come to this final step, and at this time, Antoine Walker is still sitting on the bench and watching.

Leon was replaced by Wang Zhizhi again, and did not let Walker play. (To be continued.) )