"Avery [Bradley], Roy is up to you, you did a good job defending against him last time, and you have to keep working on this time. You don't have to do anything else today, just pestering Roy, you know? ”

"No problem, sir."

With 30 minutes to go before the official start of the game, Celtics' young coach Stevens has already begun to lay out his tactics one by one.

In his opinion, this match is a must-win, first, he is eager to avenge the defeat at home in the first leg, and secondly, he is also going to round up the Haikou that he boasted in front of the media.

Stevens is full of confidence today, and the team is full of momentum today compared to the low morale of the whole team due to the interference of Phil Jackson in the first round by trade rumors. Not only has the team's defensive stalwart Al Horford returned from injury, but the team also has a quasi-MVP-caliber superstar Kyrie Irving, and the team's starting strength is a few steps up from the first time they played against the Knicks.

On the other hand, on the Knicks' side, compared to the first time they played Carmelo Anthony, they lost the team's number one star Carmelo Anthony, although Farid, Crowder, Brown, and Arthur were also added later, but except for Crowder, who can occasionally play the main team, everyone else is bench player-level strength, and the old acquaintance Crowder has a few pounds and taels, Stevens doesn't know yet, he subjectively judged that the strength of the Knicks team that lost Anthony fell miserably.

There is no reason for the Celtics not to win, the Knicks are almost a one-man team now, and all the Roy Nixes can do is raise their hands and surrender, so Stevens' plan is to use the defensive titan Bradley to completely freeze Roy and then kill the game.

"Kyrie [Irving], it's all up to you to attack, and you're in control of the game. In addition to the defensive toughness of the Knicks, the overall defense is actually not too good, they are conceding 106.6 points per game, and none of them can prevent your singles, so just let it go. ”

"Al (Horford), it's up to you on the inside, and show the opponent how horrible the Celtics are to have you. You should have a good time dealing with that Playboy alumnus (referring to Noah, who was once an inside partner with Horford at the University of Florida). ”

"Kelly (Olynyk), Amir (Johnson), your defense is the best, and I've given you the task of limiting the Knicks' second best player, Porzingis, who is very tall and has good skills, and you have to keep using your body to wear him down, understand?" Stevens, who had finished all the tasks, clapped his hands, and he shouted at the players, "Remember, we are the Celtics, our goal is the Finals, and today our task is to limit the Knicks' scoring to 90 points, do you understand?" ”

"Understood!"

"Celtic!"

"Victory!"

Kyrie Irving, Avery Bradley, Amir Johnson, Kelly Olynyk, Al Horford, that's the starting lineup for the Celtics today. Regardless of the offense, at least the defensive ability of this starting lineup will definitely rank in the top five in the league. Coach Stevens' intentions seem to be quite obvious, he wants to be based on defense, he wants to limit the Knicks' scoring, he not only wants to win, but also wants to make the Knicks unable to raise their heads, so as to avenge the one-point loss in the first round.

While Stevens was strategizing, Hornacek also began to set up pre-match tactics here. Unlike the Boston Celtics, Hornacek is almost entirely an offensive knife player, and his starting lineup today is Rose, Roy, Arthur, Porzingis and Noah, with the exception of Noah, the other four are offensive and defensive players.

You don't have to think about it to know that this must be a head-to-head battle between spear and shield.

Just like the situation when the players of the two teams were interviewed by the media before the game, the players of both sides also felt a little tense as soon as they entered the field, "Villaink" Olynyk and "Ruffian" Noah looked at each other angrily, and Johnson, who was five big and three thick, and Porzingis, who was clear-eyed, kept muttering.

As the boss of the Celtics, Irving will naturally not be resigned, he started his trash talk performance as soon as he entered the court, and he had too much resentment for Roy to vent.

"Hey, rookie, those fans who shout 'MVP' are all actors you invited, you only led the team to win a few games and dared to shout 'MVP', don't you feel blushing."

Owen's face was full of contempt, and Roy was cold, and he shot back coldly: "Shorty, I don't know anything else, but at least in terms of statistics, I am more qualified to be called 'MVP' than you." ”

I X, hearing Roy's counterattack, Irving suddenly felt a tingling pain in his chest, Roy's words really talked about Irving's weakness, you must know that Roy's current data is 26.1 points per game (fifth in the league), 5.7 rebounds and 6.7 assists, while Irving's data is only 23.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 5.5 assists per game, and the data is behind in all aspects. And even if you just look at the data after he joined the Celtics, he only averaged 24.8 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game, which is naturally a little worse than Roy, not to mention that Roy also played 5.8 minutes less than Irving per game.

Roy's counterattack left Irving furious, and before he knew how to fight back, the game began.

There was a shout from the crowd as the ball was thrown into the sky.

Where exactly has Roy been in the last two days? What did you do?

Roy seemed ready to give the world an answer in the first minute.

At that time, the University of Florida double-male jumped ball to a tie, and the ball was flicked by the two at the same time and flew to the direction of Olynyk, and just as the 213-centimeter man was about to catch the ball, a black shadow suddenly burst out.

It was Roy, he appeared in front of Olynyk in a blink of an eye, only to see him jump with all his might before Olynyk was about to get the ball, Olynyk only felt that his eyes were dark, and then there was no more.

In the exclamation of the New York fans, Roy got the basketball he had set up, forcibly shook off the rushing Bradley, dribbled straight into the Celtics' restricted area, and completed the Knicks' first attack with a powerful windmill slam dunk.

Boom, the shaking basket stimulates everyone's visual nerves.

What just happened?

The audience was stunned for a moment, and the four major commentaries were also suddenly stuck, this bounce, this speed, this power, and this explosive power seemed to be a little inconsistent with the previous Roy.

Kyrie Irving was also in a trance, when Roy roared past him just now, the first thought that popped up in his mind turned out to be "LeBron James", is this most familiar stranger still haunted? But in the blink of an eye, the person who dunked it was clearly No. 1 Roy.

Half a second later, the audience finally reacted, the tide of cheers and the faint sound of "MVP" sounded at the same time, seeing Owen passing by, Roy also took advantage of the topic to play.

"Kyrie (Irving), I don't think you're going to be an MVP in your life, because I've already booked the MVP in advance after this year."

"I'm X, I don't know how thick the sky is." Irving was so enraged that he got the basketball and fought back without thinking.

"Cover, Amir (Johnson), run, Avery (Bradley), what are you doing? Cheer me up. A nameless fire instantly ignited Irving's chest, Roy's words just now poked at his pain point again, Irving still remembers his bold words after becoming the champion, and also remembers the expectations of James after coming to Cleveland, and the loneliness when Xiao Hua finally awarded the Finals MVP trophy to James.

What, I, Kyrie Irving, am not an ordinary person, why should I help others? I'm the best choice for MVP, and if it weren't me, I wouldn't be your turn, Roy.

"Kyrie (Irving), watch the rhythm." Stevens immediately saw a clue, and he was still pulling his throat off the court to remind him, but Owen had already started.

Unsolvable rhythm, unsolvable passing, Rose, who defended Irving, was almost unable to resist and was deceived by Irving's cross-step, and Irving, who pulled out the gap, stepped to the ground and threw an extremely elegant mid-range shot, and the ball went into the net, 2:2.

"Rookie, there's a talent you can't learn." Irving, who scored two points, shook his head and made two "OK" gestures, and he was clearly proud of his fancy goal.

Talent? What is Talent?

Roy sneered.

In the blink of an eye, it was the Knicks' turn to attack, and in the previous rush, Roy's superhuman speed made Avery Bradley not even have a chance to eat ashes, so this defense was his first meeting with Roy.

Bradley still vaguely remembers the first round of the confrontation between the two, in which Roy's score was controlled at 17 points and his shooting percentage fell to 38.46% near freezing. Therefore, although the Celtics lost the game in the first leg, and although his own defense was a little difficult in the first leg, Bradley was still a little confident in defending Roy.

Speed, agility, footwork, focus, defensive awareness, Bradley is proficient in everything, he is one of the top defensive experts in the league, and with Stevens' concession, he is even more emboldened, and he does not have to think about offense, he intends to adopt a defensive strategy to stalk Roy.

Roy immediately experienced that kind of stalking, unreasonable defense, and just like Payton Jr. did before, Bradley chose to use a rubber rubber defense method at the expense of physical strength from the first minute.

"It's Bradley, he's a rare defensive stalwart in the league, and it's no exaggeration to say that even if you put Avery [Bradley] on that Knicks team in the '90s, he can find his place." When it comes to defense, Van Gundy naturally has the most to say, and he always has praise for players who are good defensively, even if this guy is his opponent.

"Jeff (Van Gundy), put Avery [Bradley] back in the nineties, he's going to be blown up to scum by the old guys." As a representative of that iron-blooded era, Ewing certainly would not agree with Van Gundy's praise for others.

"Patrick (Ewing), do you think Roy can break through a defense like that? He's not Michael (Jordan) again......"

On the sidelines of the court, looking at the energetic Bradley, Stevens showed a pleased smile, and he secretly thought that his tactics should have succeeded, Bradley's level of defensive hardness, even if he is the "singles king" Irving in his team, he can't take too much advantage in the internal confrontation.

Is this really the case?

While Ewing was arguing with Van Gundy, and when Stevens was secretly proud, Roy on the court was ready to go.

"Avery (Bradley), I don't know if it's my delusion, I feel like you're slowing down."

Want to trash talk again? Bradley, who was defending Roy, was unmoved, his eyes fixed on Roy's feet.

As he spoke, Roy took a step, two lightning-fast cross steps, Bradley only felt a flower in front of him, and Roy suddenly took a step past him.

What's going on? Bradley was still secretly surprised that Roy had already finished shooting.

The mid-step shot after the cross step is exactly the same as what Irving did just now.

When the ball went into the net pocket with a strong spin, when Van Gundy said "He's not Michael (Jordan)", when Stevens thought he was winning, Roy used his talent to fight back, and the whole court boiled again......