Chapter 295: Pull back a game
After the start of the second quarter, the Celtics tried to limit the Trail Blazers' offense with defense, but under the leadership of Ye Feng, the Trail Blazers players did not throw around on the outside, but frequently took advantage of the opportunity to block and dismantle to impact the interior, and even took the initiative to find physical confrontation. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 infoBecause of the home court of the Trail Blazers, the referee gave a little more care, which is also the unspoken rule of the NBA, the so-called "home whistle" and "superstar whistle" are like this.
After a series of fouls on the inside, the Celtics were honest, and they finally understood that the Trail Blazers were not easy to mess with, but that didn't mean they had to surrender outright. They have seen that the Trail Blazers are a fast-paced team on offense and defense, and only quick transfer of the ball can help them pull out space, so what the Celtics have to do is to lower the tempo of the game and force the opponent to grind with the same slow tempo.
This shows how experienced they are. If you have a hot mind and play against the Trail Blazers, not to mention the shooting percentage, at least with their player configuration, it is unrealistic to play a fast-paced game, you can't ask a group of veterans to follow the boys on the court and constantly do switchback runs, which is undoubtedly their own shortcomings. But when the tempo is lowered, the Celtics are more experienced in this area, and the slow tempo is also conducive to the Trail Blazers' sharpness, and when the opponent's morale is worn out, it is easy to win the game.
But how could the Trail Blazers relinquish control of the pace of the game? Their idea is simple, you play your slow pace, we play our fast pace, and see who can do whom. As the tactical core on the field, Ye Feng still has some small calculations in his heart, he is not afraid of the Celtics playing positional battles with a board and a glance, although the Trail Blazers are not known for defense, but the basic defensive tactics and defensive desire are still there, and the Celtics cannot get the opportunity to score easily casually, and the slow-paced defense can also allow the Trail Blazers players to take a break for a while, after all, no one wants to be led around by the nose of basketball.
The Trail Blazers continued to insist on their fast-paced offense, which made the Celtics players miserable and a little out of breath before the halfway point. In desperation, Rivers had to replace a few substitutes and mix with the starters. After all, strictly speaking, Rondo and Perkins didn't consume much, they can continue to play, and the Big Three need to rest more, and after changing to the bench, they can rest a little more off the court.
It has to be said that Tony Allen is indeed the league's top outside defender, and the backcourt combination of him and Rondo put a lot of pressure on the Trail Blazers on the outside, but the Trail Blazers quickly shifted their offensive focus to the interior, because Wallace, who replaced Garnett, simply couldn't live up to the previous defensive intensity. Indeed, Wallace was an important figure in the "Pistons Five Tigers", but the defense of the Pistons' interior line relied largely on "Big Ben", and he was much smarter than "Roaring Tianzun" in terms of defense. Although Wallace was trained in Detroit, he still failed to reach the top level as an offensive player himself.
For a while, the Trail Blazers players won one after another on the inside, and Wallace could certainly use his long arms to interfere with the shot, but his interior partner Perkins was a meat shield player, and it was difficult for him to help defend it, and Ye Feng saw this weakness and unscrupulously attacked the basket. In case Perkins is to make up for the defense, he can pass the ball to Camby under the basket, which will undoubtedly make the offense easier.
The Celtics' current on-court lineup has a shortcoming, that is, the firepower is too weak, and Rondo and Wallace alone can't compete with the Trail Blazers. As a result, when the Big Three re-emerged, the Trail Blazers once again played a wave of 10-3 climax, stretching the difference to 12 points in one fell swoop. The Big Three were also unable to lead the team to counterattack for the time being, so they could only try to ensure that they played back and forth with the opponent, and finally entered the second half with a disadvantage of 12 points.
Ray Allen seemed to be showing signs of recovery in the third quarter, in large part because he saw through Batum's defense and continuously called inside players to the high post to cover without the ball, and then he could quickly run to open positions to catch the ball and shoot. Batum obviously didn't expect Ray Allen to make this move, and what was even more embarrassing was that he had no way to crack it, so he could only attack and attack and use his own score to offset the weakness of the fire defense.
In fact, Batum still has an advantage in the face of Ray Allen's defense, although he is a Trail Blazers scoring guard, but his height is still the height of a small forward, so when facing the 1.96-meter Ray Allen, the opponent needs to spend more energy to stop his shot. Ye Feng, who is responsible for organizing the attack, did not skimp on the right to shoot, as long as Batum had a chance on the outside, he did not hesitate to throw the ball out. Batum also lived up to expectations, I don't know if it was because he was already hot or stimulated by Ray Allen, and after only four minutes of the third quarter, he shot 2-of-3 three-pointers to make up for his defensive concedes.
Originally, the Celtics also hoped that Ray Allen could lead the team's offense, but his scoring momentum was soon interrupted by the Trail Blazers, and Rivers stood on the sidelines and scratched his head as he watched the imminent score be pulled away again. He is also not good at yelling at the players, but the gloomy expression indicates that he is in a very bad mood at the moment, although even if the Trail Blazers win this game, the Celtics still have the advantage, but in Rivers' opinion, this is unbearable.
However, his mood was not enough to stop the Trail Blazers' indiscriminate bombardment, and in the second half of the third quarter, the outside firepower was once again powerful, Ye Feng, Miller and Batum hit three-pointers in a row, and the furious three-point rain completely dispelled the Celtics' stubborn resistance. In the fourth quarter, the helpless Rivers simply replaced all the starters and let the benches play the final quarter. That's the sadness of the veteran coach, if the players on the roster were younger, Rivers said that he would have to let the starters fight for an extra quarter to see if there was any hope of equalizing or even overtaking the score in the fourth quarter.
However, it would be good to give the Big Three a little more rest so that they can have enough energy for the next game. In Rivers' view, the state of the Trail Blazers' game is abnormal, and of course their morale is understandable, and the unbelievably high shooting percentage is very unscientific. Watching the Trail Blazers players still running tirelessly on the court, Rivers' heart has gradually flown to Game 4.