The Celtics, playing at home, didn't get enough attention before the game began, with the ABC television station airing footage of interviews with Allen Iverson and the headline that Iverson had just recently appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine. It wasn't until near the start of the game that a little bit of Paul Pearce's pre-game interview was shown on TV, and then the camera quickly cut to the game, the North Shore Garden Arena.

This is Boston's North Shore Garden, and this will be the 18th playoff encounter between the Boston Celtics and the Philadelphia 76ers in history, and their last meeting was last year, when the Celtics beat the 76ers 3-2 in the first round; And their earliest duel dates back to 1953! I believe that the Celtics and 76ers will still give us a wonderful round of playoffs this year! "ABC TV live reporter, Reggie Miller's sister Cheryl Miller is doing live reporting.

She briefly reviewed the history of the playoff encounters between the Celtics and the 76ers, the two oldest teams in the NBA, when the 76ers were still called the Syracuse Nation, the two teams began to meet, and with the addition of Chamberlain in the sixties, the 76ers became a stumbling block to prevent the Celtics from dominating ten in a row. By the seventies and eighties, the battle between Dr. J. Irving and Larry Bird basically summed up the entire Eastern Conference playoff game in the late '70s and early '80s.

Last year, the Celtics faced the 76ers in the first round, and they won two games, but the 76ers won two games in a row, and finally relied on Dennis Rodman's key frontcourt rebounds and Pierce's jumper to eliminate the defending Eastern Conference champions in Game 5.

This year, there have been changes in the lineup on both sides, the Celtics are more mature youngsters, and the interior has PJ Brown as the pillar; Compared with the peak season of 01, the 76ers' lineup has changed a lot, especially on the inside, they sent away Mutombo, got Van Houghorn, signed Coleman, and the interior offensive strength has increased greatly.

Their performance in the regular season this season has improved from last season's plummeting form, and the previous over-reliance on defensive play consumed too much talent and health of the 76ers, and they have significantly improved their performance in the regular season after improving their offense. And Iverson played a full 82 regular season games this season, compared to the 22 games he missed last season, which is also his healthiest season since entering the league in 1996.

Therefore, even though Iverson's average points per game has dropped to the lowest in four years, but he is healthy, coupled with the 76ers team with a more balanced offense and defense, and the experienced veteran coach Larry Brown, it is no wonder that before the start of this series, most people are optimistic about the 76ers, even if the Celtics defeated the 76ers in the playoffs last year, even if the Celtics are stronger this year, people are still more willing to believe in the "answer" Iverson who can do everything in the East.

The game started quickly, and the 76ers fielded a different starting lineup than they did in the regular season, with Larry Brown putting Van Horn at small forward and Kenny Thomas at power forward and Derrick Coleman at center.

Clearly Larry Brown has the matchup in mind and could be beaten up as an ATM if Van Horne is given a one-on-one against Antoine Walker. And let Van Horn go to play against Pierce, although it is also possible to be beaten into an ATM, but Van Horn has a height advantage over Pierce after all, and although Van Horn is not good at one-on-one defense, he has experienced enough time in college to temper him, and he still has a good sense of defense under the urging of Larry Brown's coach.

In the jump ball, Derrick Coleman took the lead and Allen Iverson held the ball. Dressed in a black No. 3 jersey, he still has his trademark furrow head, and although he is only 6 feet tall, his limbs are long, like an agile gibbon. Arenas was a head taller than him, but his stocky shoulders and disproportionate lower body made him look like a stupid gorilla.

Leon was preoccupied with Iverson and Arenas on the sidelines, he didn't expect Arenas to limit Iverson alone, but hoped that in the confrontation with Iverson, Arenas could at least not fall behind, because he knew that the Celtics were still relatively weak in the position of point guard, and he couldn't expect Steve Kerr in the last year of his career to fight against Iverson.

But as soon as Iverson opened the game, he told Arenas what the NBA's MVP was. He first shifted his direction to dribble away from Arenas' center of gravity, then took a step back and shot a step inside the three-point line.

Iverson's arms were long, his shots were high, and his shots were so fast that Arenas couldn't interfere with him at all, and the ball hollowed into the net, and Iverson pulled out the 76ers' first point.

Subsequently, the Celtics attacked, Pierce missed the jumper, the 76ers quickly counterattacked, Iverson received a pass from Snow, dribbled to the top of the free throw line arc, slowed down a little to observe, and suddenly jumped again again, and hit another two-point shot!

Arenas is almost helpless against Iverson, although his feet are fast enough and his reach is okay, but his defensive positioning and hand skills are always below average, even if Sigfried opens him a small stove, he can't change him, after all, he is a sharp dagger, and blocking is not his strong point.

was scored four points in a row by Iverson, replaced by Arenas in the regular season, at this time no matter what, he had to do one alone, either break through directly, or chase a three-pointer, but Arenas didn't, he looked quite calm, held the ball over half the court, and then hung the ball to Brown on the inside, Brown squeezed Coleman away with a reverse cut, and made a layup.

The Celtics relied on the interior to score their first opening point, which is quite rare in a Celtics game, as they are a team known for their projection, and interior offense has always been their weak point.

And the 76ers' blow to the Celtics continued, Iverson broke through the middle, and Van Horn, who was 45 degrees on the right side, received the ball and hit a direct three-point shot! At 7:2, the 76ers started the game with a five-point lead over the Celtics.

After that, the Celtics still tried to play from the inside, Antoine Walker beat Kenny Thomas, causing Thomas's foul, and Walker, who stood on the free throw line, hit one of two free throws, 7:3, and the Celtics still fell behind.

And the 76ers' hand was very smooth, Snow suddenly hit an inside pass outside the three-point line, penetrating the Celtics' defense, Coleman received the ball and made a successful layup, and returned one to Brown.

To make matters worse, Arenas made a mistake on the counter-attack and was cut off by Iverson, who almost went out of bounds on the left touchline, but Iverson rushed out to get the ball back and into Snow's hands before it flew out of bounds.

Iverson, who stepped out of bounds, immediately rushed to the boundary, and then went straight to the Celtics' basket, Snow made a just right short pass, Iverson didn't have to dribble after receiving the ball, and went straight to the basket to avoid Michael Reed's block, and the layup was successful!

After the goal, Iverson pointed his right hand to the sky, as if to provoke the Boston fans, telling them who is the MVP of the East and who he wants to regain the dignity he lost here last year.

Leon got up from the bench, and referee Steve Jarvey, thinking that Leon was going to call a timeout, bit the whistle in his mouth and looked at Leon, but Leon did not react, he just stood up and took two steps before sitting back on the bench.

On the other side, Larry Brown was also a little strange, he thought that the Celtics would definitely call a timeout, so that he could also perform the next tactical plan, at least so far his plan has been relatively successful, Van Horn mentioned small forward, Kenny Thomas went to the Walker This decision is undoubtedly aimed at the Celtics' strategy of opening the interior in order to open up the shooting space.

But it didn't look like Leon and his players were in a hurry, they still stuck to the inside, PJ Brown hit Coleman in the low post on the right, a turnaround jumper inside the inside, and a reluctant shot to meet the block, but the ball went in. PJ Brown seemed to be the only point of fire for the Celtics in the opening stanza.

As the bout continued, Iverson's hot hand didn't go away, and this time he forced a break down the right side against Arenas and then scored with a throw. Everyone knew that Iverson had a way to go, but knowing this, many times they still couldn't stop him.

On the Celtics side, Michael Reed missed a three-point shot, PJ Brown grabbed the rebound, and then caused a foul on Van Horn, who stood at the free throw line and hit two free throws. In this way, on the Celtics' side, PJ Brown alone scored 6 points in 7 minutes, which is also an unprecedented situation this season, and the other players of the Celtics seem to have been sucked away.

"Shall we call a timeout?" Cowens saw the current situation on the court and asked, he felt that the Celtics' state was not very normal, on the contrary, if the 76ers were allowed to open up and play the offensive feeling, the Celtics would be very difficult in the next games.

"No, wait...... They just haven't found the right rhythm yet, they're adjusting, I can see that...... Wait. Leon responded. He still remembers what he said to the players before the game, he remembers the strategy the team worked out in training the day before yesterday, and he remembers the sweat and effort that the players put into training.

They are like a freshly oiled pliers, slowly applying force.

When Iverson broke through again to Van Horn, Van Horn tried to repeat his old trick and hit the ball with a jumper, but this time Pierce's fingertips touched the ball and the ball fell in mid-air.

PJ Brown squeezed away the 76ers player like a bulldozer and grabbed this backcourt rebound, and then a diagonal pass was handed to Arenas on the right sideline, Arenas received the ball and advanced quickly from the sideline, and then crossed, Paul Pierce received the ball and dunked directly with both hands!

After nearly five minutes of silence and depression, the North Shore Garden Arena finally erupted like a tsunami, and Pierce roared angrily after the goal, as if to tell the 76ers players and Iverson, the real Boston Celtics, to start fighting them from now on.

(To be continued.) )