Chapter 324: Conception
"I'm sitting in the high stands and broadcasting tonight's game, the 2003-2004 NBA Playoffs Eastern Conference Finals, good evening everybody, I'm Dick Stockton, and I'm going to watch the Celtics vs. Pacers with you. The guest www.biquge.info and I will be commentating tonight's game with Steve Cole, Hello Cole. β
On game-day night, T-NT commentator Dick Stockton, who sat on the sidelines, opened the Eastern Conference Finals with a classic commentary by Boston Celtics legend Johnny Most. His partner is former Celtics player Steve Kerr, Kerr joined *** to start his commentary career after retiring from football, and his experience with the Celtics has made him the guest commentator tonight.
After greeting the crowd, Stockton asked, "Steve, seeing the current Celtics, do you regret your decision to retire in the summer?" β
Kerr has undoubtedly been asked this question many times, and he smiled and said, "I lack a lot of things, but I don't seem to be missing a championship ring." Indeed, the three consecutive championships in the Bulls have made Kerr have no regrets in the championship, otherwise leaving the Spurs to join the Celtics last year and finally losing to the Spurs in the Finals can be remembered for a lifetime.
"Let's not talk about it, let's give a prediction Steve, I'll start with myself, I think the Pacers have a chance to win the Celtics in the first game. The Celtics have had too much rest, which isn't necessarily a good thing for the team. And the Pacers have played seven games, but their players are very young, and the fierce battle with the Pistons has sublimated them, and I believe that they have a chance to beat the Celtics, and the possibility is very high. "Before the game started, Stockton dug a hole for himself first, the NBA legend commentator has broadcast countless NBA games, and the pits dug are also innumerable, anyway, it is not bad.
"If I hadn't been with the Celtics, if I hadn't played under Fox Leon, I think I'd be on the same page as you, and the Pacers' comeback in the semifinals was amazing, and as a former NBA player, I know what that experience means to young people. However, I still believe more that Fox Leon and his Celtics are a team that doesn't play unprepared battles, and he never breaks his word. "Kerr, as a former Celtics player, did not hesitate to stand on the side of the Celtics and blew a wave of Leon.
"Never breaking his word, did Leon ever tell you that he owes you a championship?" Stockton joked that he knew that Leon had traded Kerr from the Spurs back then, and as a result, Kerr was missing a championship.
"Of course! He told me he would pay me back later. Kerr said he remembered Leon tearfully hugging Kerr and whispering in his ear after Game 6 of the Finals. Of course, Cole didn't take it all to heart.
The two of them are talking about each other, but the game is about to start. Before the start of the competition, rap group Oscorst performed "The-Way-You-Move" and the American national anthem at North Shore Gardens, and then the high-profile battle began.
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Before the start of the game, Leon and Bird's verbal battle had already spread, but Leon was obviously not as completely confident and relaxed as the outside world seemed, in fact, any seemingly easy establishment and casual success came from the hard work and carefulness of walking on thin ice behind the scenes.
After returning to the dressing room, LeΓ³n spent half an hour detailing the tactics to be implemented in the first half and how the players would respond to possible problems. Getting vaccinated in advance can help players calm down and get out of the situation when they face difficulties.
In terms of lineup, Leon made an extremely bold decision - to put Michael Reid on the bench as a substitute and Ragabel to be the starting line-up.
Changing formations on the spot is a taboo for soldiers, especially the Celtics belong to the side with superior strength, the right time, place and people have advantages, and they should respond to all changes with the same, but he came to the scene like this, which makes people feel very strange.
"Look at the Celtics' starters, oh, they've changed their lineup, PJ Brown, Kevin Garnett, Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pearce, and the starting point guard has been replaced by Ragabel!" Stockton was also taken aback when he saw the Celtics' lineup, but he didn't expect someone to change the starting line at the beginning of the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Celtics did not report that Reid had an injury.
'It's really surprising, but as I said, he's a coach who doesn't fight unprepared, and I'm sure he must have put a lot of thought and work into that decision during this week's break. Kerr is still unconditionally supporting Leon and the Celtics.
Indeed, Leon has done quite a bit of preparation, in fact, as early as the middle of the season, he had the idea of putting Ragabel in the starting line-up and Reid as a substitute to improve the team's lack of independent offensive ability of the substitutes, so that the team's two lineups are more balanced, and the game is more fluid and smooth.
Against the Kings this season, Leon put Reed off the bench in the second half, and Reed played brilliantly to knock the Kings out in one fell swoop. However, after that, for the sake of the smooth running of the regular season, Reed still stayed in the starting lineup as usual, and in some games Leon would try to start Bale and Reed played Super Sixth Man. So, it wasn't unprepared to have Reed on the bench tonight, but it took a long time to prepare.
"This guy, let Reed come on the bench...... fuc-k......" Larry Bird, who was sitting in the audience watching the game, cursed in his heart, because he knew that before the game started, the Pacers also changed lineups.
"Let's take a look at the Pacers' starting ...... Oh, and it's changed...... The starters are Jerry Foster, Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Jamal Tinsley, and Reggie Miller! In the previous games, they used Stephen Jackson as the starting point guard, and now, Jackson is sitting on the bench! Did Fox Leon have predicted in advance that the Pacers were going to change lineups? "Seeing the Pacers' starts, Stockton won't think about the Celtics' starters anymore, this is simply an unpredictable prophet!
"Did the Pacers really change formation? This must be Vogel's idea, this kid ......" Leon looked at the Pacers' starters and was reassured, although he was not sure that the Pacers would definitely change formations, but this was also within his consideration. Second, he knew that this must be Vogel's suggestion, O'Brien rarely made such risky decisions, on the contrary, Vogel, as a young generation, had some ideas in his head.
This season, after the Pacers brought in Jackson, the backcourt strength has increased greatly, but there was a conflict in how to arrange the roles of Reggie Miller and Jackson, they tried to play a small lineup, let O'Neal Jr. play a big or four small as a center, and then the Celtics beat it badly, and then it was not used much. In the end, Miller took the initiative to give way to Jackson to start, and he played off the bench to play the remaining heat, and the result worked very well, and the Pacers reached 60 wins this season.
Now, they are suddenly relegating Jackson to the bench, apparently with an idea. It's just that the one with the idea met the one with the more idea, and the Celtics did the same, putting Reed on the bench.
"I want to keep a back hand for myself, I don't know which side is more ruthless...... This venue is really noisy, how can I endure it here for more than 40 years? Sitting in the stands on the other side, Auerbach, wearing sunglasses, thought to himself that the noisy North Shore Garden Arena was giving him some headaches. In fact, the use of the sixth man began precisely with Auerbach.
The ancestor who used the Super Sixth Man sat quietly on the sidelines and watched his disciples and grandchildren carry forward this method and fight wits and courage.
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The game started, the jump ball, PJ Brown pressed Foster and tossed the ball to Garnett, and the Celtics got the first offensive possession.
The Celtics often have two kinds of starting offense in the opening stage, one is Garnett's high-post organization and jump shot, and the other is Arenas's breakthrough shot. Against a team like the Pacers with a strong defense, Leon has always liked the second type, which is the first to come hard and mess everything up.
Sure enough, Arenas took the ball and advanced quickly all the way, and then faced Tinsley first with his back to open up the space with his power, and then with the help of Garnett's block, he went straight through the middle, and then he didn't choose to go deeper, but pulled up a mid-range jumper near the free throw line. It was a good position and there was no interference with the ball.
The Celtics scored the first point.
On the Pacers' side, Reggie Miller hit a 45-degree jumper on the right side after receiving a pass from Tinsley, and it looked like both sides had a good opening game. The game didn't go as expected, with no one scoring in a defensive battle at the beginning, and soon the score was broken to zero.
Turning around, Arenas broke through again, this time he distributed the ball to Pierce, who received the ball and shook it off, and a beautiful back turn and step back made a jumper. Then the Pacers launched a quick counterattack, and Jermaine O'Neal quickly got to the basket, dodged Garnett and Brown's defenses, and made a left-handed rebound.
In the next few attacks, both sides had a high shooting percentage, and the game was unexpectedly smooth, which made Stockton can't help but say: "Is it possible that the two sides have discussed that everyone should not defend too tightly and run slowly?" β
In this way, there was no dead ball between the two sides in the first five minutes, and the score reached 14:13, and the Celtics led by one point and had to enter the official timeout.
But the storm is being bred in this only beginning of calm. (To be continued.) )