Rivers wasn't wrong, and while there were a number of good veterans who chose to come to Boston last summer to hug their thighs, their athleticism was nowhere near par with the Bobcats' fierce bench. A galloping Ellis is enough for them to drink a pot, not to mention the likes of Chandler, Lee and Mark Hill on the field.

In the final minutes of the first quarter, the Celtics were led by Rondo, but he was also in trouble because he had to play against Allen on the offensive end, which was Jackson's strategy. Rondo's strength lies in his playmaking and relatively mediocre scoring ability, while Allen's task is to limit his passing and try to keep him on his own.

This made Rondo feel awkward, he has never been a great scorer, and his main way of scoring is to break through to the basket, but Lee and Mark Hill are flexible and tough, and can always keep him out of the reasonable collision zone and let him shoot.

When Rondo was unable to organize an effective attack, the Celtics were paralyzed, and the score quickly returned to the same running line, and then the Bobcats took the lead. Fortunately, there was not much time left in the first quarter, and if it had been a little longer, Rivers was expected to bring the starting lineup back up, and at the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats were 32-27 up by five points.

Before the start of the second quarter, Rivers said something very loudly from the bench, and although it was noisy in the arena now, Chang Wei could still faintly hear his voice. From the few words that can be distinguished, Chang Wei knows that Rivers is not laying out tactics for the Celtics players, but emphasizing the importance of defense, which is also the foundation of their existence.

At the start of the second quarter, the two sides reinstated their starting lineups, with Jackson taking the opponent seriously and Rivers hoping to tie the score as soon as possible. During the break, his words were mainly to Garnett, although Pierce is the captain of the team and Rondo is the team's first line of defense, but in fact Garnett is the foundation of the team's entire system, both offensive and defensive.

KG is now in the twilight of his career, but his strength should not be underestimated, and his keen sense of smell and wide range of defense make him a tiger on the defensive end. For a period of time in the first quarter, he only had not yet adapted to the Bobcats twin towers to handle the ball alone, which gave them a chance, and now he decided to give the juniors a little color.

As the Celtics' defensive stalwarts, Garnett has a lot of autonomy on the defensive end, directing Perkins to the basket and himself to cruise around the mid-range. Garnett is well aware that the Bobcats' twin towers have a good shot, so Perkins can use his weight to limit their back-to-back singles while he can defend himself from mid-range and near the three-point line.

Even if he plays the basket, Garnett can always help defend with his movement recovery and protect the basket by the way, which is also his value in the Celtics' defensive system, and in his opinion, this is the most effective way to deal with the Bobcats twin towers.

At first, Milicic and Gasol Jr. secretly rejoiced, thinking that this was Celtic's determination to make a fuss about them inside. But Milicic's first offense with the ball was deflated, although it was not blocked frontally, but Garnett, who rushed back to the three-second zone in time, still interfered with his hook hand, the rebound was accepted by Perkins, and then a long pass across the court allowed the Celtics to play a fast-break counterattack, and Rondo, who had already started secretly, made an easy layup, and the gap between the two sides returned to 3 points.

Milicic didn't believe in evil, and in the next offensive round of the Bobcats, he insisted on raising his hand in the low post to ask for the ball, but this time he couldn't even make a shooting move, and the basketball was cut directly by Garnett in his hand. This time, the Celtics did not fight back, but steadily ran tactics in the positional battle, and finally it was Garnett who hit a big two points in the high post.

Now anyone can see that the Bobcats don't have much to do on the inside, even if Milicic and Gasol Jr. are in their prime, but they can't do anything about Garnett. This made Jackson feel helpless, the Celtics broke the Bobcats' interior twin towers with just one Garnett, so what else can be done to break their defense now?

Without waiting for Jackson to call a timeout to rearrange the tactics, the players on the court had already made automatic adjustments. Roy, as the leader of the team, has taken up the offensive banner uncontrollably, and since the lethality of the twin towers on the inside has been greatly weakened, let's come up and do the blocking! And Roy cleverly chose to let Gasol Jr. cover himself, so that he could move to the high post as the central axis, and Milicic pulled outside the three-point line to be his own anti-aircraft battery, emptying the inside line and letting Roy dodge and move inside.

Roy's absolute speed is not fast, but his rhythm is excellent, and Garnett can't wait under the basket all the time to block his layup, otherwise who will defend Gasol Jr. and Milicic's shots? Perkins? This meat shield can be said to be useless after leaving the basket, no speed, no bounce, and thank God for not sending a foul.

However, this only made the two sides into a stalemate, and no one could help anyone. While the Bobcats were able to rely on Roy's breakouts and pick-and-rolls to open up the game on the offensive end, they also struggled to defend against the Celtics' offense. Garnett is also a good central axis, and his teammates are more experienced, whether it is Pierce's single or Ray Allen's three-pointer, it is a very effective offensive means, although the tempo is a little slower, but the Celtics are used to playing like this.

Although the Bobcats still have a slight advantage in the score, Jackson is still frowning on the sidelines, and he can see that Garnett is the key to the entire Celtic team, and as long as he can get him, he can win the game. But Garnett is not something that can be done casually, he is older, and all the statistics are not as good as when he was in the Timberwolves, but the experience he has accumulated over the years is very valuable in the game, and he knows how to achieve the best results in the most relaxed way.

In Jackson's view, the only way to limit Garnett is to have people go up and fight him, and consume his physical strength in physical confrontations, which is undoubtedly a nightmare for a veteran player. But is there such a person on the Bobcats' roster? With height, strength, speed and experience, can you really figure it out in the team?