Larry Bird felt his palms sweat slightly. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

The 1984 heat battle in Boston's Garden Square is still fresh in his mind, and the old arena was like a big steamer, and he had to run fast to cool off the wind.

Twenty years later, Boston Garden Square has been replaced by North Shore Gardens, and although it still has a parquet floor, the floor here is no longer hollow, no longer warped, and no longer a racket that cannot bounce. The air conditioning here will not be damaged "casually", and fans can watch the game in the stadium cool and enjoyable, no matter how hot the summer sun is.

However, Bird could feel the sweat in his palms as the fanatical fans had raised the temperature of the stadium by at least five degrees Celsius, and the Indiana Pacers did not score a point from the sixth minute of the third quarter until O'Brien called a timeout in the ninth minute. That's right, not a single point.

Before the start of the Eastern Conference Finals, the battle between the Celtics and the Detroit Pistons caught Bird's attention, and the Celtics showed amazing defense in it, but Bird thought it was just a coincidence, as if Jordan scored six threes in a row in the Finals, an unrepeatable outburst of state.

In the subsequent playoffs, the Celtics did not show such a terrifying defensive level again, indeed, it is not impossible to completely lock up the opponent's offense in three to five minutes, but this requires the cooperation of the opponent, and the long period of scoring is often not because the defense is too good, but because the offense is too poor.

But tonight, in the gradual white fog of the North Shore Garden, Larry Bird once again saw the Boston's terrible defense, the death defensive lineup raised the defensive intensity and defensive attention to the peak in a short period of time, all the defensive moves and actions of the Celtics were in front of the Pacers' offense, blocking, jamming, blocking, stealing, the Pacers' players could not find any tactical routine except one-on-one singles, they were completely cut off.

"Cheer up, guys, cheer up!" Bird got up from his position and yelled at the Pacers players, who sat not far from the Pacers' bench.

However, Bird's shouting was immediately drowned out in the almost frenzied cheers of the North Shore Garden, and the fans around him noticed that Bird was shouting, and immediately increased the decibel to disturb him. Now, Bird is not a hero here, but an enemy here.

The timeout was over, and O'Brien was replaced with Reggie Miller, but by this time the difference between the two sides had stretched to 22 points, and the Celtics did not score many points in those minutes, and without Arenas and Pierce, the Celtics' ability to attack with the ball was too poor. The fundamental thing about them opening up is that they can keep their opponents from scoring.

Of course, this is not all without cost, Leon replaced Garnett off the court in advance, and Posey also sat on the bench to rest and gasp for breath, such a defense is a huge drain and test of physical strength and energy, Kevin Garnett as the core of the defensive end, is the CPU on the court. He must make advance predictions according to the opponent's offensive situation and direct his teammates to fill in in time.

The Pacers' offensive routine: Fox Leon laid out a 45-page playbook and 15 tapes before the game began, took Garnett to see the spit and analyzed all the offensive backs, changes and habitual tactical options.

After three days of simulated training, coupled with the foundation of continuous practice before, it is easy to completely block the Pacers' offense in a game like the Eastern Conference Finals, and directly lower the opponent's offensive level by two notches, just like an NBA team against an ordinary team in the NCAA.

Back on the court after the timeout, the Celtics fielded a bench lineup, with Strickland replacing Bale, Anderson replacing Garnett and Pierce returning. It can be said that the Celtics' substitutions are very irregular and elusive, but anyone with a discerning eye knows that Leon has a clear mind and reasonable scheduling, and he has established a 22-point lead in one quarter.

For a defensive team like the Pacers, the 22-point gap is completely high, and even if the Celtics don't score in the entire fourth quarter, it is a question whether the Pacers can score 22 points. In the 2004 season, when the three-point shot was not fully developed and the influence of the outside handcheck remained, the death sentence was already sentenced to death with a 12-minute reprieve, after trailing by more than 20 points in the third quarter of the playoffs.

However, Leon still seems uneasy, he doesn't want to give the Pacers the slightest chance, and he doesn't want them to stir up any "we can still be saved" thoughts.

So the Celtics' firepower has never been broken, the defensive intensity is still the same, after Anderson came on the court, that kind of ultimate defense is impossible to play again, Leon safely guarded a 4-in-1 mark, let Reed take care of Reggie Miller throughout the whole process, and not give the veteran a chance to stage the magic script again.

But the game continued, and by the middle of the fourth quarter, the two sides still had a 25-point gap, more than at the end of the third quarter, and the Pacers finally gave up on their efforts completely, and O'Brien replaced O'Neal Jr., Artest and Stephen Jackson, and even the most resilient team would feel hopeless in the face of such an indelible gap.

In just one quarter, the Celtics completely destroyed the Pacers with explosive defense and offense in the third quarter. The Pacers, who played back and forth with the Celtics in the first half, acted like a team on the brink of the playoffs in the second half, playing with nothing in order.

When the game was over, Leon breathed a sigh of relief, he straightened his tie and suit, walked on the court and hugged O'Brien and Vogel, and the three exchanged a few words before parting. Tonight, Leon's pressure was by no means as easy as the score seemed, 97:74, 23 points advantage to defeat a strong opponent, behind the overwhelming advantage of the Celtics is full preparation and a season of accumulation.

Leon was interviewed by reporters on the sidelines, and he briefly said a few perfunctory words, saying that the Celtics won the three-point shooting explosion and defense in the third quarter, and anyway, on the surface, it looks like the Celtics won the game. He then left the pitch and went back to the dressing room to celebrate with the players, and there was a cheerful atmosphere in the dressing room, but not overzealous, after all, it was only a small step.

"We're a small step on the way to winning the championship, but I think it's a big step in the Eastern Conference Finals." Rick Carlisle said as he took off his coat and put on his shirt in the locker room.

"Your arrogant rhetoric is quite my style, what gives you such confidence?" Leon makes fun of Carlisle Dao. He didn't change his clothes because he had to go to the post-match press conference later.

"Because of the confidence, I bet the Pacers' confidence has taken a hit. Confidence is very important in every playoff game that counts, and we not only won the game, but we won the battle of confidence. I've never been a megalomaniacal guy, but today I also want to say that we're going to sweep them away! Carlyle said in a rare loud voice, and his face turned red with it.

The players in the dressing room laughed, as if Carlisle's passionate words had no effect on them at all. Garnett stood up from his position, walked to the door and said to Carlisle, "Coach Rick, tell you that we have been thinking since the beginning of the playoffs, and you are thinking too late. ”

"I thought your fo, fo, fo, fo was joking."

"Nobody is going to joke about that, we all think that, Coach Rick." Arenas said, his expression very serious.

Carlisle nodded, and now this belief is extremely firm in his heart, and he wants to win the championship in the most perfect way! (To be continued.) )