Chapter 319: New Jersey's Nightmare Shot

In the first half, the Celtics faced two problems, one was the foul problem, and tonight's referee's whistle was obviously a little biased in favor of the Nets, but it was not traceable. Pen ~ fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info This made the Celtics players who played ferociously and savagely in the first two games a little uncomfortable, Arenas and Garnett were all rested because of two early fouls, and Leon had to replace Strickland and Anderson in advance.

However, the two are obviously lame on the offensive end, and the second problem the Celtics face tonight is the average shooting touch from the outside, when the team has no way to use the breakthrough and secondary offense to score, the Nets obviously stabilize their position on the defensive end, and they still have a hard outside defensive shell.

In the first half, the Celtics only hit 3 of 11 three-point shots, but even in this situation, the Celtics still led by 2 points to end the first half, which is enough to see the overall strength gap between the two sides.

At halftime, Leon first emphasized that in the case of unfavorable referee decisions, it is necessary to adjust the mentality, shift the team's offensive focus, reduce physical contact on the offensive end, slow down the offensive tempo, and improve the success rate of the attack.

'The test is that we may not be on our side at the right time, but we still have to win the game. It's not like we've won in New Jersey, so we have to have a lot of confidence. At the same time, caution and caution are necessary, and some mistakes are not allowed to be made again. Since the referees don't welcome us, then we have to give them no grip to slow down and increase the success rate. Even if we didn't play as well as we could in the first half, we were still the one who was ahead. ”

After saying that, Leon laid out several tactics for the players that could play a role in the second half, with several variations centered on the flex tactic. This is also the first time since the start of the playoffs that Leon has given the players tactical explanations in the game.

The Nets' defensive focus is concentrated on the three positions of point guard, power forward and point guard, with strong mobility, rotation and filling positions are quite agile and fast, of course, Kidd is still suffering from injuries and his skills have decreased a lot, and the first two games have drilled a lot of holes for Arenas. Kidd has obviously adjusted his condition in this game, he has been better rested and recuperated in New Jersey, and his condition is much better than the previous two games, and with the proper protection of the referee, the Nets' defensive performance on the outside tonight is quite good.

One of the weaknesses of the Nets' defense is that they have never had a strong low-post interior defender, which is why their record against the Western giants has always been ugly. Leon could choose to let Garnett eat hard, and PJ Brown attacked this weakness of the Nets by rushing for the rebound in the frontcourt. It's just that Garnett's strong ability in the low post does not completely reassure Leon, and grabbing frontcourt rebounds is not a long-term solution.

The second option is to use Pierce's offensive kaleidoscope, do the axis in the low post, and play a war of attrition with the Nets. The Nets' defense in the low post has always been unsatisfactory, and neither Jefferson nor Rodgers has been able to contain Pierce's offense.

The third option is to regain the overall offense, using transmission and distribution of the ball to open up space. The Nets' interior defense is relatively weak, and the defense level is single, as long as the Celtics can play a combination of inside and outside, and conduct a rapid overall offense, it is only a matter of time before the Nets collapse.

Leon finally chose the third option, not only because it would destroy the Nets to the greatest extent, but also because the Celtics had already played a series and a half of talented basketball, and it was time to gather their hearts and play team basketball seriously to move towards higher goals and stronger opponents.

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Fifteen minutes later, the third quarter began, and the first five minutes were a quiet affair. The Celtics were a lot more cautious on offense, slowing down the tempo, and constantly transferring and channeling the ball, but their shooting feeling still didn't come back, and they didn't score a few chances. On the Nets' side, with the help of the home court, plus Kidd gave an exciting speech in the locker room at halftime, the whole team wants to regain the initiative in the series in New Jersey.

As a result, the morale of the Nets was greatly boosted, and they played 100% combat effectiveness in the third quarter, not only overtaking the score in one fell swoop, but also maintaining a lead of about three points, and there is a tendency to lead all the way or even expand the advantage.

"It looks like the players haven't been feeling very good, do you want Paul to attack?" Carlisle, who was sitting next to Leon, saw that the situation on the field was becoming more and more unfavorable for the Celtics, and couldn't help but say to Leon.

"No, bear with me a little longer. Believe in your players, believe in their performance, and don't change your tactics once you've got them in place. Leon rejected Carlisle's suggestion and stuck with his current style of play.

In the ninth minute of the third quarter, the Nets stretched the gap to six points for the first time as Kidd assisted Jefferson on the offensive layup, and at 72:66, Leon called a 20-second timeout.

During the timeout, Leon did not make any tactical adjustments, but told the players, stick to the current style of play, and if you don't feel good about shooting, keep shooting until you feel good. At the same time, he also made substitution adjustments, replacing Brown with Wang Zhizhi to broaden the team's offensive level.

When Wang Zhizhi took off his sportswear and stood on the floor of the Continental Airlines Arena, the sound of the entire stadium dropped by several tens of decibels. Even the Nets players couldn't help but glance sideways at the Celtics bench, the Chinese player at the end of the Celtics bench, who left a memorable scar in the hearts of Nets players and fans alike.

"The king? We don't fall under the same tricks in a row. Frank watched Leon replace Wang Zhizhi and thought to himself that he would not make another mistake like Scott's and let a role player like Wang Zhizhi cause huge damage on the outside.

Sure enough, once Wang Zhizhi receives the ball in the offense, there will be outside players on the Nets side who will immediately come forward to interfere, and if he does not receive the ball, the opposing players will not easily let Wang Zhizhi go. For two or three rounds in a row, Wang Zhizhi did not have any outstanding play on the offensive end, but just ran and ran with the pass.

Seeing that the Nets are becoming more and more confident on the defensive end, and the offensive end is also impressive, and when they began to gradually open the score, in a counterattack, Wang Zhizhi took the ball at the top of the arc, which instantly attracted the defensive attention of Martin and Kidd.

A crucial three-pointer, the first three-pointer the Celtics threw in the second half.

"Okay, the situation has been opened." Leon was also nervous off the court, and he had been waiting for the Celtics to come with a three-pointer.

When Kevin Garnett interrupted Martin's pass on defense, the Celtics launched a counterattack again, this time with Wang Zhizhi, who held the ball at the top of the arc, which was an inexplicable counterattack position for the Nets' defenders - no defense in the end!

This time, the Nets chose Collins to pounce on the defense, but Wang Zhizhi passed the ball to Pierce who cut into the inside, where Martin could stop Pierce alone, and Pierce directly forced a layup.

With less than thirty seconds left in the third quarter, the Celtics scored five straight points.

When Kittels missed a pull-up jump shot after breaking through, the hearts of fans in the entire Continental Airlines arena were tugging, and the lead of 8 points had turned into 3 points in an instant, and now, the Celtics were about to launch a deadly fast break.

Kevin Garnett took the lead and got into the box early, stretching out his long arm to summon Arenas' pass.

Arenas made a long hang in a quick drive and passed the ball to Garnett. Only Martin and Collins followed very closely, and the two of them pressed against Tarzan from behind, and directly pressed Garnett to the ground.

At this time, Garnett saw Wang Zhizhi standing outside the three-point line, with his knees slightly bent and his hands facing forward, and there was no one to defend him at this time.

Garnett made a powerful long pass with both hands, and the ball flew accurately between Wang Zhizhi's hands, Wang Zhizhi received the ball, took aim slowly, raised his hand, and shot the basket.

New Jersey fans' long-time nightmare shooting stance was reinstated in their minds tonight.

"Brush!" The ball was scored, and the Celtics equalized at the end of the third quarter. And it looks like they've found their groove on the offensive end.

After scoring the goal, Wang Zhizhi smiled and high-fived his teammates, still looking very shy.

But his psyche has become stronger and stronger, thanks to his training in New Jersey. (To be continued.) )