In Miami, the Heat's game ended early, with a win over the New Jersey Nets in their final game of the regular season to end their regular season and finish in fifth place in the East, and their opponents in the playoffs were none other than the Nets. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

However, Riley doesn't seem to have much interest in their opponents, and even if they easily beat the Nets in the last game, Riley knows that there is a big gap between the Heat and the Nets, and the Nets played all the benches in the last game, and they didn't play the last game seriously at all.

At this time, Riley was a little concerned about the confrontation between the Celtics and the Pistons, and from the halfway point of the game between the Heat and the Nets, he left the audience on the sidelines alone and never came back. He returned to his luxurious office in the locker room at the American Airlines Center and turned on the television to watch the Celtics and Pistons game live.

As the game entered the third quarter, the Celtics used an all-defensive lineup that only existed on the court for five minutes.

Riley's fingers kept tapping on the table, and he was thinking to himself about when the Pistons would score a goal and he would get up and leave to make himself a cup of coffee.

Riley waited for this cup of coffee for more than six minutes, his fingers tapping on the table getting louder and louder, until a whistle blew on the TV, and Riley got up to leave to make himself a cup of coffee.

At this point, the Heat's game was over, and the players poured into the locker room after the interview, everyone was happy, Odom grinned and raised his hands in the locker room to provoke a hip twist, and Wade sat in front of his cupboard, looking at Odom with a smile on his face that surpassed the maturity of a rookie.

When Riley appeared in front of everyone with coffee, everyone greeted Riley excitedly, but Riley didn't say a word, and after a while, the voice in the locker room was quiet. The group thought that Riley would give an exciting speech to sum up the season, but Riley turned away after taking a few sips of coffee and saying "You can't get a point, you can't get a point".

………………

In San Antonio, SBC Center, the game between the Spurs and the Nuggets is coming to an end, the Spurs lead by a score of 91-65, and the Nuggets have no chance, but they don't seem to care too much, because the Nuggets have entered the Western Conference playoffs. After getting Anthony this season, the Nuggets finally have their superstar and hope for the future, and they are back in the Western Conference quarterfinals after many years.

It's just that in the face of the defending champion Spurs, Anthony still looks very immature, plus the playoffs are worry-free, the Nuggets, who have always been good at offense, are in a mess on the offensive end, and there is less than a minute left before the end of the game, and they can't pass 70 points.

Popovich sat on the bench with a smug look up at the scoreboard, thinking that it would be another game to bring his opponent down to less than 70 points, and it looked like he could play in front of reporters again.

Sure enough, with Anthony missing the last three-pointer, the game ended, and the Nuggets' score was fixed at 67 points, and the Spurs won their 57th game of the season.

Popovich was stopped by reporters as he left the court, and reporters asked him several questions, but they didn't ask about defending against the Spurs and pressing opponents to 70 points. Popovich left with a few casual answers, seemingly annoyed that the reporter didn't ask the question he wanted to answer.

Back in the locker room, Popovich couldn't resist asking assistant coach Mario Arie, "Aren't we pretty defensively tonight?" Another one under 70 points. ”

Avery shrugged his shoulders and said to Popovich, "You should be watching the TV news, the game between the Celtics and the Pistons is over." ”

Popovich stood up, walked into the office inside the locker room, turned on the computer on the desk, asked an assistant to log in to the ESPN website, and sure enough, the game between the Celtics and Pistons was over, but the score was ......

"It's over? Are you sure it's not the end of the half? Popovich thought, no wonder the reporter didn't ask himself questions about defending and pressing scores, because he was afraid he would be embarrassed.

………………

Back at the North Shore Garden Arena, Bill Russell on the sidelines has completely and completely incarnated as a Celtics fan, and he doesn't want to hide anymore, he doesn't want to pretend to be fair and objective anymore, because he sees the ultimate defense in this Celtics team.

The great Bill Russell, and Reed Auerbach's greatest contribution to basketball was not to create the longest eight-game winning streak or 11 championships in the history of professional sports, but to establish the low post that defense is crucial in the game of basketball, and second, to refine a set of basic norms, movements, and guidelines for defense, especially for the center.

It was from Auerbach and Russell that defense was no longer an accessory to offense in NBA games, and they took the lead in summarizing and refining some crucial strategies and methods in defense, some of which were not their first creation, but they were used earlier in professional games, and defense began to become a tactic and offense from now on.

From the monotony of the 60s, to the chaos of the 70s, to the modern basketball defensive technology that gradually became clear in the 80s, several major defensive schools were formed in the 90s, and until today, like offense, defense has begun to become integrated and strategic. A team's defensive strategy is no longer a simple one or two tactics that can be summed up, they are as ever-changing as the offense.

But even so, basketball is still a game of comparing who scores more goals and scores, and the offense will always go ahead of the defense. For those coaches or basketball enthusiasts who are obsessed with defense, the ultimate defense in their minds is to be able to turn passive into active, and the defense can really face the offensive side in the confrontation.

Pat Riley, Jeff Van Gundy, Dick Hart have all tried this, and there are many defensive coaches who have used aggressive sieges, fierce physical confrontations or quick rotations to deal with attackers, some of which have worked well, but the strong side of the offense has always been superior, and no matter what, whoever has the ball in their hands, the initiative of the game is in their hands.

But tonight, Bill Russell, and the well-known coaches who sat in front of the TV and watched the game, for four minutes, appreciated what it means to be truly the ultimate defense, and what it means to make the opponent have no way out, no way in, no way back.

In four minutes, the lineup of Garnett, Posey, Bale, and Brown Garred lasted for four minutes, but Fox Leon used this high-intensity, impeccable, lion-like four minutes to completely destroy the Detroit Pistons' offensive confidence and will.

"It was the greatest collective defensive performance in NBA history, the defensive performance of the 2004 regular season curtain call, in which the Detroit Pistons didn't score a single point, didn't make a single free throw, had six turnovers, got four steals, were fouled four times, had one technical foul, and were blocked three times...... What a terrible and horrible four minutes that were a nightmare for the Pistons' players. Larry Brown tried a timeout, but it didn't work, remember, it didn't work. ”

It would be a nightmare five minutes of the Detroit Pistons' career, and many years later, Billups recalled the experience, saying, "There was a little moment, maybe a minute or two, and I had doubts about whether I could play in the NBA." I didn't think about it even when I was traded away by the Celtics, but it was really, really ...... back then."

In the end, the score of the game was fixed at 93:45, and the Pistons scored 45 points in the game, setting a record for the lowest score in a single game in the NBA, breaking the lowest score of 49 points in a single game of the Bulls in 1999.

And Leon and his Celtics have taken the defense to a whole new level. (To be continued.) )