"It's said that the Green Shirts are a celebrity retirement home, but it's very exciting to see these basketball stars come together for glory in the latter stages of their careers, and I want to play against them because you can always learn a lot from them." Wu Huang gave a rare compliment to his opponent in his pre-game press conference against the Green Army, which he rarely said last season, but now he doesn't mind being hypocritical, although he still likes to call Celtic's players "old and immortal" in the team!

The Celtics have a bunch of veterans on the Internet this summer, and they are nicknamed "retirement homes" by fans.

With the rise of Rajon Rondo last season, the industry has been paying less and less attention to the "Big Three". At this time, it is really meaningless to mention the so-called "spiritual leaders" role of the three veterans, because in the final analysis, the stadium still relies on performance. Rondo's offensive and defensive roles are no smaller than those of the Big Three, so it makes sense that the Green Shirts have quickly become his team. Of the Big Three, the fastest to take the place was striker Ray Allen.

Since Ray Allen joined the Celtics, his performances have been up and down. For example, before the 2008 Finals, the "laser gun" was inaccurate for a while, but fortunately, he adjusted his state in time and finally made a great contribution in the series against the Los Angeles Lakers. Since then, Allen has not been without his old plays, most notably in the early stages of the 2008-09 season and his playoff clash with Ben Gordon that year. But it is also an indisputable fact that he started high and low in the finals last season, and in a few games, he was so dumb that he couldn't even score three points.

In this regard, Ray Allen is strongly supported by the management and his teammates. Paul Pearce has told the media that he will be steadfast in passing the ball to Allen. It's good to have team spirit, and the possibility of Allen playing as a solo savior in crunch time remains – the real problem is that his role in the team is not as one-dimensional as Derrick Fisher's, and he doesn't expect a few goals to be enough. Or it can be said very bluntly that Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are geniuses, with them in the middle army, and the Lakers can afford to raise their so-called key gentlemen who "just need a flash of inspiration"; But the Green Shirts can't do this, Allen is still their regular scoring army, and even often has to be used as a second attack point, and the ups and downs are a headache at this time.

Fans like to blindly emphasize the role of the spirit after watching the game for a long time, and are too superstitious about the so-called "champion's heart", which is actually a fallacy that ignores the essence of basketball. Why did Tim Duncan lead the Spurs to several championships? Not only because he is experienced and good at playing tough battles, but also because he has a combination of height and technique, and at the same time does not rely too much on mobility, his style of play is less likely to be affected by age. Allen, who has limited altitude and has to rely on constant running to find his shooting rhythm, can't do it.

The other two of the Big Three, Pierce and Kevin Garnett, also have their own problems. Garnett is not as active as he was in his prime, especially on the offensive end, there is only one jump shot left and is rarely available, and it is quite difficult to play against Pau Gasol; In contrast, Pierce is in a better situation, but the industry is questioning whether he is still among the top superstars.

ESPN data expert John Hollinger once wrote in his column: "That's enough, I don't know why the best players on a team have to be All-Stars as long as they have a good record, and there are actually a dozen players in the East who have better overall ability than him." ”

Hollinger's comments may have been too harsh, but the Green Shirts' winning pattern was certainly different from previous years. Rondo's role is becoming more and more critical, and the biggest advantage of the Big Three is actually that they have a clear positioning, and everyone tries to do a good job within their ability. There has even been a very exaggerated statement in the industry that the Green Shirts are actually playing with a bunch of golden supporting characters in Rondo, including the Big Three, which was unimaginable two or three years ago.

D'Antoni will demand that Wu Huang have to keep an eye on Rondo in this game, and for this he can even put less energy on the offensive end, because the Knicks have many players who can step up and provide enough firepower for the team. Needless to say, Gallinari also strengthened his ball-handling breakthrough in the summer, Iguodala optimized his long-range shooting, especially the bottom corner three-point shot, Danny Green is the only player who did not go on vacation in the Knicks for two summers but chose to practice hard, Wu Huang also trained with Green for a while in the summer, and the strength of the sophomore in New York has also improved greatly.

The mustache is not honest again today, he is a typical good scar and forgot the pain, and actually put on a small lineup again, the starting lineup of the Knicks: Wu Huang, Danny Green, Iguodala, Gallinari, Stoudemire.

The Knicks used the interior combination of Gallinari + Smalls in the preseason, but it was Tony Allen who started at the second position, but not only did the interior defense hurt too much, but even the outside offensive ability was greatly reduced, and the mustache only let this lineup play half a game before extinguishing this idea.

But this guy didn't die, and within a few days, the idea of playing a small lineup was revived, and this time he replaced Tony Allen with Green to try to struggle again.

If you look at it theoretically, the Knicks' outside defense is amazing, and the offense is not bad, Danny Green has also strengthened his shooting stability this summer, and Wu Huang and Iguodala can both attack with the ball, and there are no defects in outside firepower. The interior combination of Smalls and Gallinari has little presence on the defensive end, but it can play extremely aggressive on the offensive end. Both of these are big men who can shoot from mid-to-long range and can also pass through with the ball in their faces, and most teams in the NBA will find it tricky to face such an offensive combination, which is actually the old way of replacing defense with offense.

Celtics' starting lineup: Rondo, Ray Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Perkins. The Greens' starting line-up was unchanged from last season, with new O'Neal Jr. on the bench.

Wu Huang thinks that his coach dares to send such an inside combination, and he should also think that although Perkins is strong enough to have no neck, the threat on the offensive end is close to zero, so Xiao Si should be enough to deal with him, the big question is whether Garnett will blow up Gallinari?

D'Antoni feels he can deal with this problem, Gallinari's disadvantage against Garnett is strength, and the Knicks outside players only need to help prevent the old Wolves from playing back in the low post. Since last season, Garnett has gradually reduced his low-post offense, increased his mid-to-long-range shooting, and looked for mid-range shooting opportunities after playing high posts and covering without the ball. It is conceivable that Garnett's low-post offense will be further reduced this season, and Gallinari's height does not look shorter than Xiaosi, but he can still do it when defending the Wolves' shooting.

As soon as the game began, Wu Huang defended Rondo with all his might according to the pre-game arrangement, and took a big step away from defending the star point guard who made the Cavaliers, Magic and Lakers feel anxious last season.

The Knicks' outside lineup has a natural attribute of restraint to the Celtics, Iguodala vs. Pierce, Green vs. Ray Allen, Wu Huang vs. Ray Allen, and when Tony Allen vs Ray Allen, every opponent does not suffer, and even restrains the opponent to a large extent.

The first thing Boston fans found out was Rondo's embarrassment in the face of Wu Huang, because the former had almost no shooting ability outside the three-point line and could only rely on breakthroughs to attack, which made it easy for Wu Huang to make defensive judgments. And Rondo can't suppress Wu Huang in terms of speed, and the threat of breaking through is greatly reduced, although it can be seen that his first step is a little faster than Wu Huang, but the latter has a height advantage, and only a little bit faster will not cause trouble to Wu Huang at all, especially when he is still a big step away from Rondo, he only needs one step to stick to the opponent, and then cover Rondo with his long arms.

Rondo's offensive approach is too one-dimensional, and the defense is very easy to predict, and he felt very uncomfortable against Wu Huang last season, even if he can use the same level of speed and explosiveness to break through Rose and Westbrook, and can use his perverted arm span to limit Chris Paul, but these advantages are all invalid in front of Wu Huang.

Wu Huang said that he was embarrassed, his physical advantages are also these, but he is 6cm taller than Rondo, which is equivalent to the difference between Jordan and Wade, so he can completely use static talent to bully Rondo, just like Rondo often bullies other point guards.

Iguodala goes without saying, his defense may not have as many blocks and steals, but he has a knack for limiting the number of shots he can take from opposing players. Last season, when facing Kobe, Wade, Pierce, Roy and others, he could almost make these stars who usually shoot more than 20 times drop their shots in the game by half, which is where his defense is strong.

Danny Green is not as good as these two men in terms of defensive skills, and he is not as good as Tony Allen, but his shooting is solid and his defensive attitude is positive, and he is a good fit for a player like Ray Allen who is constantly on the move.

Today, Ray Allen is one of the most tragic players in the Green Army, Danny Green's follow-up has made him very uncomfortable, but he knows more about Tony Allen's defensive ability, this person has been his substitute in previous seasons, and some of his defensive ingenuity is still learned from Tony Allen, so of course he knows that his style is most afraid of a player like Tony Allen who is good at death winding, and his running position will be seriously affected at that time.

In the first quarter of the game, the Celtics' outside offense was almost wiped out, Pierce and Ray Allen couldn't find a chance to shoot, Rondo was embarrassed to stand outside the three-point line and didn't dare to shoot, and the team's offense was supported by Garnett alone.

Garnett now has a feeling of being in the Timberwolves, he is dragging the team forward with his old body, but in fact he can no longer carry such a heavy burden, the mustache lineup may also have the purpose of consuming the physical strength of the wolf king, if Garnett is too strong on the offensive end, then does he still have strength on the defensive end?

Looking at Wu Huang in turn, D'Antoni originally planned to let him defend at all costs, and the offensive end could be handed over to his teammates, but Wu Huang found that he had the strength to do both, because it was not too difficult for him to limit Rondo, and he couldn't take care of the offense before he defended with all his strength.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 29:23, the Celtics had problems on offense and defense, Garnett consumed too much physical energy in the low post, and he couldn't be perfunctory when defending, which made him sweat and pant when he left the court in the second half of the first quarter.

Wu Huang played the whole quarter here, and he still didn't blush or pant when he got off the court, of course, the second half of the sentence was a bit exaggerated, all he wanted to express was that he didn't feel too tired, this kind of all-out play at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, although he couldn't hold on to the whole game, but it was no problem to play for forty minutes.

In the second quarter, the Knicks still had half of the main team, and the lineup on the court: Alstom, Tony Allen, Gallinari, Evans, Monroe.

The Green Army's rotation looks much worse, with five players on the court: Nate Robinson, Delonte West, Pierce, Glenn Davis, and O'Neal Jr.

O'Neal Jr. and West have performed well in previous seasons, but the level has dropped rapidly this season, especially West and Nate Robinson are offensive guards with similar styles, he may not be old, but he can't adapt to the Green Army's tight tactical system, he has to play with James to play his attacking power, and the Celtics need veterans with tactical execution.

The Knicks also found good news in the regular season, that is, Monroe performed well in both games, the last game against the Raptors' weak interior, Monroe scored 10 points and 5 rebounds in 28 minutes of playing time, as the first regular season game of his career, his performance has been promised. Monroe was also in good form today, first receiving a pass from Alston under the basket after coming up, using his body to cover in the penalty area, and throwing in a close-range shot. Then he grabbed a rebound two minutes later and scored two more points on the rebound.

Monroe should be grateful to his teammates, the regular season is very different from the preseason, he does not need to stay with the bench players for a long time, and the increase in playing time of the main team has made Monroe often appear on the court with Wu Huang, Iguodala and Xiao Si. In this way, due to the team's outside advantage, he also has an All-Star interior partner like Xiao Si who needs to be sandwiched, as a rookie, he must be often defended by opponents, at this time, as long as he can shoot in the open position, it is not difficult for Monroe to get 10+ points and 6+ rebounds this season, at least much better than the Kings' Cousins and the Nets' Favors.

O'Neal saw his little brother perform well off the court, and he smiled very happily, but in these two games, his performance was not very good, especially after meeting Perkins today, the fat shark couldn't squeeze into the penalty area at all to use his ******, but after playing a few minutes in the first quarter of the game, he didn't stand firm after grabbing a backcourt rebound and landing, his ankle was a little uncomfortable, and he took the initiative to ask to get off the court, and this game is estimated to be no longer played.

But with or without O'Neal, it doesn't affect the strength of the Knicks, they signed O'Neal just to buy an extra insurance for the playoffs, if this guy can make some contributions in some games in the playoffs, then this deal will be a big deal. But even if he didn't make a contribution in the end, with such a Hall of Fame superstar who created a dynastic team in the team, the experience bonus alone is worth a veteran's base salary.

In the 9th minute of the second quarter, Wu Huang and Rondo were replaced by their respective coaches at the same time, and most of the Knicks were all in place.

Rondo has had enough stamina to play the full game since last season, and Wu Huang has also developed the stamina of other stars this summer. The mustache doesn't need to think about how to arrange Wu Huang's playing time this season, he only needs to decide whether to send Wu Huang on the field according to the form of the game.

If the team has the advantage, then it is natural to give the substitutes more playing time; If the team is inferior, then you can always put Wu Huang on the field.

After Wu Huang came on the court, he immediately entered the inside line under the cover of Evans. However, Rondo's defense is not inferior to him, Wu Huang has only scored 4 points, 2 rebounds and 2 assists so far, and this breakthrough still failed to get rid of Rondo's pursuit, but using the height advantage, Wu Huang still passed the basketball to Gallinari, who cut from the bottom line.

Gallinari took advantage of his height to throw the ball in the box, and O'Neal Jr. only rushed back to the basket after the basketball went into the frame, only to catch the ball that fell from the basket.

The Boston fans at the scene sighed, O'Neal Jr. has lost his athleticism to play in the NBA this season, he is not good at executing complex tactics, and he has not integrated into the system of the Green Army, and the Celtics' mid-level contract has lost a lot.

O'Neal Jr. is not in good shape, and even a rookie can't be even, which is a big demoralization. Soon after, West was prevented by Tony Allen and missed two consecutive shots, and the score was quickly stretched to double digits.

Rivers has no choice but to replace Ray Allen in advance, except for Garnett, two old giants and a new giant are on the court, but the Celtics are still difficult to break through the Knicks' outside blockade.

Ray Allen's fears came true, as Tony Allen knew his running route too well and was so fast that his running path was judged to be completely denied him a chance to catch and shoot.

Rivers paced back and forth on the sidelines, and in the summer he told Aegie early in the morning that Tony Allen couldn't let go, and even if he really couldn't stay, then he had to go to the Western team, and he must not let the Eastern contenders, or the Lakers in the West, otherwise Ray Allen would be in big trouble at all. This is not only because Tony Allen's defense is really top-notch, but also because he knows the Celtics too well, so as long as he plays against the Green Shirts, Tony Allen can use his 100% defensive energy, so once the Eastern Conference competitors and potential opponents in the Finals get Tony Allen, Ray Allen may be strangled to death.

In the end, Tony Allen was obtained by the Knicks, who are also in the Atlantic region, and Rivers foresaw this scene at that time, and the Knicks, who were already excellent in defense on the outside, were even more powerful now, and it would be difficult to meet them again in the future.

New York fans in front of the TV feel that Green's defense of Ray Allen was already very good before, but he didn't expect a mountain to be high, if Green just limited the number of Ray Allen's catches and shots, and didn't let the opponent easily shoot in the open space, then Tony Allen directly blocked the Celtics' sharpshooter.

Ray Allen faced Tony Allen, not to mention getting an open shot, it was difficult for him to catch the ball at the moment, Tony Allen was like sticking to him, and Rondo didn't dare to pass the ball to Ray Allen.

This kind of defense is a good boost to the Knicks' morale, and Wu Huang is also very uncomfortable with Rondo's defense, but he can continue to provide assists for his teammates even if he doesn't score.

By the final three minutes of the first half, the score had become 56-40, and the Knicks' lead had reached 16 points.

Many media and fans can't believe that this year's Knicks will be so strong, and the Celtics can't find a comfortable opportunity to shoot at all. Rondo and Pierce were restricted, Ray Allen was directly blocked, Garnett, who was powerful in the first quarter, faced the combination of Monroe and Xiaosi in the second quarter, and he couldn't score easily.

In the last three minutes of the first half, the referee saw that the Knicks had a tendency to play the Celtics, and blew several home whistles in a row, allowing Pierce to stand on the free throw line 6 times, which allowed the Celtics to withstand the blocking and dismantling attacks of Wu Huang and Xiaosi.

However, the wolf king did not have a good way to face the high-level cooperation of Wu Huang and Xiao Si, and he naturally did not feel afraid of this kind of cooperation three years ago, but now he can't keep up, and no matter how good his consciousness is, it is useless. Duncan couldn't stop Smalls in the playoffs last year, let alone Garnett, who is even more aging.

Some fans suddenly thought that the Knicks' lineup obviously restrained the Celtics in the same division as them, and also somewhat restrained the Orlando Magic, if it weren't for the Heat forming the Big Three and the Bulls forming a competitive lineup, I am afraid no one would be able to stop the Knicks in the East this season.

In the last attack of the first half, Wu Huang singled Rondo and missed again, the score was 63:48, and the Knicks entered the second half with a 15-point advantage.

Wu Huang's shooting is not a crosshairs under Rondo's defense today, the two of them are equally top-notch in defense, and their response and passing abilities are also excellent, but the difference is that Wu Huang's offense is on the same level as his defense, especially the superb shooting skills are enough to rank among the top three in the league, while Rondo's shooting skills are terrible, but he can rank in the bottom three among the starting point guards of thirty teams.

In the first half of the game, Wu Huang only hit 3 of 8 shots, 0 of 3 three-point shots, and only scored 8 points, but had 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal and 1 block, Gallinari scored a team-high 14 points, Stoudemire 11 points and 5 rebounds, Iguodala 8 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists, Monroe 8 points and 4 rebounds, Tony Allen 4 points, and Green 3 points.

For the Celtics, Garnett had 14 points and 3 rebounds, Pierce had 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, Rondo had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists, Davis had 6 points and 3 rebounds, Nate Robinson had 6 points, and Ray Allen had 3 points. (To be continued.) )