Antoine Walker played this hard for the first time in this year's playoffs, scoring 24 points in the third quarter, grabbing seven rebounds and diching out two blocks. While he wasn't particularly good on 7-of-17 shooting, including just two three-pointers, he made 10 free throws and drew three fouls from Ben Wallace. In last year's playoffs, Walker scored 13 points on 5-of-20 shooting and 16 points on 7-of-20 shooting in Game 6 in the all-important Battle of Kings Mountain and the brink of elimination.

Especially against Kenyon Martin's embarrassing performance, Dennis Rodman looked down on him after the game and was reluctant to say goodbye to him after the game, because Rodman has never looked down on soft eggs.

Tonight, under the pressure of Leon, Walker burst out with powerful energy, Leon could have taken advantage of the situation to change tactics, but he still insisted that Walker grit his teeth and attack. It's both strategy and gambling. Leon knows that in the end, basketball games are often about fighting the will and momentum of the players, and blindly pursuing tactical ingenuity will be counterproductive. At the same time, Leon is also betting on Walker's state, Walker did not play at full strength in the first round, and Walker did not play superbly in the face of the 76ers' greatly weakened inside, which is enough to see that he has not yet entered the playoffs.

If the Celtics want to go far in the playoffs, the highest-paid player on the team can't play to their full potential, and Leon will have to bring out Antoine Walker's form. Since Carlisle asked Wallace to defend Walker, let Walker find himself in the confrontation with Wallace.

If Walker is prevented by Wallace, then the Celtics will be in danger tonight, and it will be very lucky to lose this game and return to Boston with a 0-2 disadvantage. Fortunately, Leon won the bet, and in the face of the head coach's encouragement and constant encouragement, Walker is not a vegetarian, he slowly found a way to deal with Wallace, and in the constant confrontation, he inspired the blood.

By the fourth quarter, Walker continued to produce steadily, and Carlisle had to start using a trap strategy against Walker, and once he started wrapping Walker, it meant that the Pistons' defense began to loosen. Midway through the fourth quarter, the Celtics hit three three-pointers in a positional battle, with Reed, Pierce and Arenas each making one, two of which came from Walker's assists and one from Walker.

When Walker received a pass from Pierce on the counterattack and scored his 35th point of the game with a one-handed slam, he finally couldn't contain his surging passion and roared to the sky on the bright blue floor of the Palace in Auburn Hills! By this time, the Celtics had already led the Pistons by 14 points, and with less than two minutes to go, Carlisle reluctantly called a timeout.

Many Pistons fans continued to cheer for the home team on the sidelines, but 14 points in two minutes was too difficult for the Pistons, who were not known for their offense, and allowing the Celtics to stretch the margin to more than 10 points in the fourth quarter was their biggest failure.

Pierce didn't have a super performance in this game, but he did a good job of organising, delivering seven assists, and the twin stars teamed up again on the court, and the two were also happy off the court, sweeping away the gloom after the last game.

When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, Leon hugged Walker on the sidelines, and at 99:85, the Celtics stole a valuable victory in Detroit and regained their home advantage!

"Congratulations Antoine, you've won a valuable victory, what improvements have you made compared to the last game?" In the post-game Player of the Match interview on the sidelines, Walker was questioned by Sager.

"Improvements? I played more resolutely, and my coach told me to be brave and fight on the inside, and that's how he guided me, and I think I got back the feeling I hadn't felt in a long time, and it was amazing. Walker gasped as he said that he had really fought his life tonight.

After finishing the interview, Walker rushed back to the locker room, and the Celtics team had to celebrate tonight's win a little, but more importantly, after the three-day schedule, they could go home and back to North Shore Gardens to get ready for a new game.

……………………

When Rick Carlisle arrived in Boston with the Pistons, it was the morning of May 9th, and their plane was very punctual, it was the playoffs, and all the work was rigorous and meticulous, including the team's route to the hotel.

After losing the crucial second game, the Pistons had to contend with a loss of home-court advantage and had to travel to Boston to play Little Kings. Last year, the Pistons also met the Celtics in the semifinals, and they were swept away by the Celtics four in a row after winning one game first. It was Carlisle's first season with the Pistons, and the Celtics were still coached by Carroll.

But Carlisle knew that the Celtics' tactics came from Leon, who was still an assistant coach at the time. I thought that Leon would continue their offensive basketball last year in the playoffs, but I don't know how after becoming the head coach, Leon also began to play slow-paced defensive basketball in the playoffs, and their fast counterattack skills have not diminished, and they suddenly attack on the offensive end when necessary, and the second game of the Pistons was taken away in this way.

After arriving at the hotel, Carlisle turned off his cell phone, knowing that he would inevitably be approached by old friends in Boston, and that he had such a deep relationship and friendship with the city. But he doesn't want his personal feelings to affect the game and his coaching.

But during the day, the whole team trained and in the evening he received a call from Leon in the hotel, inviting him to his house for dinner.

Carlisle, of course, refused, the two armies face off, tomorrow is a very critical third game, at this time it is really inconvenient for him to go to the Celtics head coach's house for dinner as the head coach of the Pistons. And Carlisle knows that Leon is a scheming guy who is good at playing psychological tactics, and he doesn't know what hole he dug for himself at his family's Hongmen banquet.

But Carlisle is a stubborn person, but he eats soft and not hard, Leon repeatedly pestered, and made it clear that he would not talk about any topics related to basketball, but only wanted to drink and chat with him. And Leon also said that by the end of the series, one of the two will be eliminated and go home fishing, and no matter who wins or loses, they will no longer be in the mood to sit together over a cup of coffee and chat. Rather than this, it is better to take advantage of the fact that the two sides are now tied by a big score, and the series has just begun, and the results are confusing.

Carlisle was finally moved by Leon's words, in fact, he himself had a little bit of caution, thinking about whether he could find a little Celtic flaw from Leon.

After Carlisle agreed, Leon drove to the Piston's hotel to pick Carlisle to his home, where Leon and Khamenes had prepared a sumptuous dinner of beef, potatoes, vegetable salad and fragrant refined wheat bread, accompanied by warm black tea and a little bit of gin, which was a wonderful dinner on a cool summer night.

Carlisle and Leon were both cautious at first, after all, they were still rivals, and after eating, they let go, and they chatted nonsense. Leon kept his promise and didn't say anything about basketball, but Carlisle finally couldn't help it and said: "You've changed a lot from last year, and the Celtics' style of play seems to have changed, especially in the playoffs. ”

Leon scratched his head and glanced at Carlisle, which seemed to mean "you talked about basketball first, I didn't break the rules," and then he said, "Head coach and assistant coach are different after all, I think you must feel different when you're in the Pacers and in the Pistons." “

Carlisle nodded, he followed Bird in the Pacers, focused on tactical adjustment, and he didn't need to worry about the relationship between the players and other matters on the team, with Bird in front of him, it was also a very happy time for him. Later, Bird also invited Carlisle to be the head coach of the Pacers, but the management of the Pacers was more inclined to Thomas, and as a result, Thomas from the Pistons went to the Pacers that Carlisle wanted to go, and Carlisle could only go to Thomas's lair, the Pistons. "I bet the Pistons will fire you this summer." Leon suddenly said to Carlisle, who didn't react and almost spit out the black tea he had drunk into his mouth. "Don't talk about basketball, don't tell you, you're going to beat me in the series, and then the Pistons will fire me, save boy." Carlisle wiped his mouth in response.

Leon smiled and said to Carlisle in a low voice, "I know, Davidson and that group of executives in the management don't like you!" “

After saying that, Leon continued to lie down on the chair and drink tea, while Carlisle put down the teacup in his hand and said goodbye to Leon. Leon didn't keep him, but drove Carlisle back, but Carlisle refused. But after all, it was not convenient for him to take a taxi back, so Leon asked Khamenez to drive Carlisle back to the hotel. "Are you going back so early?" Khomeenes asked Carlisle, who nodded and said, "I regret coming here...... Of course, tonight's dinner was perfect. (To be continued.) )