At half-time in the Celtic dressing room, the atmosphere was a little restless. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 infoKevin Garnett is the best catalyst when the team is ahead, but Garnett's passion doesn't necessarily play a positive role when the team is in a bad position. It was the first time they had faced such a bad situation in a game, and the over-relaxation at the start of the first half kept their attack from opening.

Garnett's weaknesses in attacking are also exposed, the Pistons use Campbell's top defense and Wallace's assistance defense to deal with Garnett, and Garnett can only use a step-back jumper to finish the offense in the low post, which is undoubtedly inefficient. The Pistons don't need to use perimeter players to help defend Garnett, and Garnett's offense can't provide space for outside shooters.

When Garnett couldn't pose a threat in the low post, he had to score with his mid-range jumper near the top of the arc, and that way of scoring became more difficult as the Pistons got stronger physically. The fact that he couldn't tear through the opponent's defense in the basket caused the Celtics' offense to fall into chaos in the second quarter, and Garnett, who was omnipotent in the first three games, seemed to be unable to attack all of a sudden.

Was it just because Fox Leon wasn't in attendance?

Carlisle quickly realised that it was a mistake to let Garnett take on too many solo tasks on the offensive end, Garnett was indeed an efficient scorer, but his efficiency was based on reasonable shots, comfortable offensive style, and he was not a master of strong attack. In the first game, he played so well, hit so highly, and only scored 30 points in the end.

Kevin's scary lies in his all-roundedness, so at halftime, Carlisle specifically reminded Garnett that in the second half he should focus more on defense and playmaking, "Leave the offensive business to Pierce and they will do it," Carlisle said.

Garnett didn't have any objection to this, on the contrary, he quickly calmed down after being a little restless. On the surface of his heart, he is eager to carry the team forward, which is a habit he has formed in the Timberwolves for many years, grasping offense and defense; But deep down, this guy who always puts the most pressure on himself, craves his teammates to step up and help him in areas he is not good at.

So sometimes Garnett selflessly makes people feel that he is not competitive on the court, because he is a completely different player from Kobe Bryant and Jordan, which is why Leon thinks he is the best fit for the Celtics.

With Carlisle's correction, the tone was set for the Celtics in the second half, with an eight-point deficit to rebuild their strength on the defensive end and a greater reliance on the outside line on the offensive end. However, on the question of whether to replace Arenas and replace Alstom, Carlisle is still a little hesitant.

After a few weeks of contact in training, Carlisle has a preliminary understanding of the character of each player, among which Arenas is not the biggest brand in the team, but his temper and self-confidence are definitely countable, it can be said that the whole team except Paul Pierce and Fox Leon, Arenas is not convinced, even including Garnett.

Arenas' performance in the first half was the best on the team, he hit three three-pointers in the first quarter, and in the second quarter, when the interior line could not be opened, in the face of Billups' entangled defense, he could still use his strong torso to kill a bloody road, and make two fouls on the free throw line, otherwise the Celtics would definitely be behind by more than 10 points.

Carlisle thought about it for a while and decided that it would be better to let Arenas start the second half first, and if things didn't go right, it wouldn't be too late to bring on Alstom.

Carlisle doesn't have much of an impression of Alstom, and although he is famous on the streets, he is nothing more than a nobody in professional basketball circles. Carlisle's only impression of him is that this guy is really good at dribbling, he can play, and he used to have fun with Garnett in training. On top of that, some basic passing, shooting, and especially defense are all below the standard.

If you have to say that there are any advantages that are different from ordinary guards, one is that it is stable enough, the mentality is very good, and there are few mistakes, and the other is that it is okay to rely on excellent dribbling to break through, there is no first step, but you can drill to the inside line around it. is such a base-salary guard, Leon said that if something goes wrong against the Pistons, he can be played, but Carlisle doesn't believe it.

Billups' level Carlisle knows very well in his heart, and from the first round of last year's playoffs against the Magic three games, he knows that this Tanhua show, who has been on the move, is truly enlightened. Sure enough, Carlisle saw a more serious and steady Billups in this game, and he already had a faint master's demeanor in both offense and defense.

Carlisle struggled for fifteen minutes before the second half began.

Tonight's Auburn Hills Palace Arena was extremely hot, not only because of the Supergreen Fleet's visit, but also because they were eliminated by the Celtics in the semi-finals for the second year in a row - of course, going back to the two teams, the feud between the two teams can be told for two days and two nights. In short, the raving Detroit fans have added to the pressure on the Celtics.

At the beginning of the second half, the Celtics attacked, Arenas held the ball from the middle and went directly to the three-second zone, he wanted to throw the ball and was fanned away by a volleyball hat by Ben Wallace, Campbell dialed the ball, and Billups took the ball and launched a counterattack.

Billups was also unhurried on the counter-attack, watching as he pushed forward and then passed a lateral pass to Hamilton. Hamilton is not fast, he catches the ball and enters the inside, facing Reed's close defense, first feints a layup to shake off the center of gravity, and then turns back to make a close-range pick-up, 10 points! The Pistons stretched the margin to 10 points.

That's when Pierce stepped up, and he forced a break with the ball on the next offense, causing a foul on Prince, hitting both free throws to chase the score back a little bit.

But chasing points like this is not a way after all, the Pistons have controlled the rhythm on the court, and on the Celtics' side, Arenas has been trying to speed up, but in addition to causing mistakes to counterattack the Pistons, he has not played a second fast offensive edge at all, and the Pistons continue to expand their lead.

Finally, in the fifth minute of the third quarter, Carlisle called a timeout, and he replaced Arenas for a good rest, and then switched to Alston.

"It's not time for me to rest?" Arenas was a little weird, and according to the normal rotation, he usually played the whole third quarter and then took a break at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

"I'm going to make some adjustments, you've made too many mistakes." Carlisle said bluntly, which made Arenas a little unhappy. Before the game, Carlisle also said that he would let him play, but he was replaced after a few mistakes, but Arenas was not bold enough to openly argue with Carlisle, after all, Pierce and Garnett were there.

He sat back on the bench sullenly, and he was the Celtics' top scorer tonight, scoring 14 points in the first half, making a 3-pointer in the second half, making two free throws and scoring 19 points, and one more point to 20 points. He was still quite proud in his heart, thinking that the almost crazy hard training in the summer was not in vain. In his mind, the words Fox Leon said to him on the night of the 2001 draft would forever hammer him out, and he wanted to prove to Leon that he deserved the top pick.

But as soon as Alston came on the pitch, things changed for the Celtic side a bit.

On the first attack after the timeout, Alston dribbled through the half, and Billups didn't have a pressing defense, and he probably didn't feel necessary for Alston at all. Als handed the ball through half-court and then cut down from the left 45 degrees to take away Billups' defense, and it was Pierce who held the ball from the outside, directing the offense from the top of the arc outside the three-point line.

Garnett stepped forward to block and Reid came around from the weak side and made a cross-cover with Alston near the three-second zone, allowing Hamilton's follow-up to lag for a moment, while Pierce was feigning to break through from the front with the ball and attract the central defender.

Reid went around 45 degrees to the left, Pierce split the ball, Reed received the ball and made a direct three-point shot, throwing the ball to the basket before Hamilton's interference came up. A well-honed knife, a swift shot and a powerful parabola, the ball smashes against the edge of the basket and into the basket with a loud and crisp sound, just like this goal.

Once the offense is smooth, the defensive end of the Celtics will be able to regroup and set up a formation to fight the Pistons. The Pistons' three-board offensive attack was actually very inefficient, and both Campbell and Big Ben were offensive scraps, relying mainly on the two guns of Hamilton and Billups, especially Billups.

Alston really couldn't deal with Billups one-on-one, and as soon as Billups started to push his back to Als with his butt after halftime, but there was one more person in the Celtics, and that was Garnett.

Garnett would rather give up his marking of Campbell than pinch Billups, the two are good friends off the court, Garnett is not polite on the court, and he is familiar with Billups's approach.

As a result, the man-to-man marking that Arenas had been pursuing when he was on the court became a bag, and Alston became an invisible man on the offensive end, but gave enough ball possession and space to Pierce and Reed, and the Celtics came back to life all of a sudden.

In the third quarter, they played steadily, narrowing the score gap little by little, and finally at the beginning of the fourth quarter, they relied on a rebound by Chris Anderson to successfully overtake the score. The Celtics, who were fully in full swing, did not give the Pistons a chance, Pierce and Reed fully opened, hitting the mid-range in succession, and the difference widened and widened, and finally they took a victory at Auburn Hills Palace with a 97-91, 7-point advantage.

Carlisle also won the game with the Celtics' acting head coach to complete his revenge, while avoiding the "not as good as a dog" ending. It's just that Arenas wasn't too happy again, he scored 22 points in the game, the second highest score on the team, but in the second half he only got 7 minutes of playing time, and the limelight was completely overshadowed by the substitute Alston. The latter played 19 minutes and scored just two points, but handed out four assists and zero turnovers.

Carlisle's substitution was also considered a turning point for Celtic throughout the game.

A little emotion began to brew in Arenas's heart. (To be continued.) )