Chapter 480: The Distance from the Champion
"It's really busy."
In Boston's Celtics training hall, Zhuang Fei stood aside and watched the team's assistant coach Stephen Green directing the team's training, and sighed in his heart.
At this time, the Celtics players on the team's training ground looked a little tired, but they were also extremely serious, and their physical condition also looked very good, which is not bad for a team that has just flown back from Vancouver after two games.
The first two games of the Eastern Conference Finals were played in Vancouver, in the first game, the Vancouver Grizzlies defeated the Celtics 94-81, and in the second game, although the Boston Celtics were more tenacious than the first, but still did not get too good results, and even in the final score was not as good as the first game, the Boston Celtics lost to the Vancouver Grizzlies 83-100 in the second game under the comprehensive suppression.
It can be said that in the first two games, the Boston Celtics suffered a heavy defeat in Vancouver, which is also the first loss and the first consecutive defeat in the playoffs after Zhuang Fei came to the Boston Celtics, which is a very bad result for Zhuang Fei and the Boston Celtics players, although these people are psychologically prepared for this result, but they are still a little difficult to accept when this result really appears, so they will be so silent on today's training ground, The players have no words other than to train hard.
At this time, Zhuang Fei glanced at the players of the team again, and his mood was also a little emotional, and he saw the ball boss Maddie's somewhat blank eyes. Zhuang Fei also sighed again, in the first two games, because Yao Ming was restricted, the team had to hit him in the triangle attack, Maddie's potential is very powerful, but it is only potential, in terms of real ability, this sexual assault is still a little lacking, especially when compared with the current Grizzlies boss Vince Carter.
In an offensive system with extremely contrasting players like the triangle offense, in the first two games, Maddie almost played the most primitive one-on-one with Carter. Maddie wants to beat Carter and open up space for the team's offense, while Carter has to block Maddie in order to block the triangle offense. It's an incompromising matchup, with Maddie suffering heavy defeats in both of those matchups, and the current comparison with Yecarter is like the gap between the two games. It's huge.
And, more importantly, at this time, the player who has been transforming for his future path has also been slow to find his own path. Now there are three options for him to be an A+ player at the top of the game, one is to be like Iverson, unlimited offense and killing, one is to follow the path of Grant Hill and Garnett, and the other is to follow the path of Jordan, Carter and Duncan. But if the small forward chooses any of these three options, he will take the team up to the next level, but at this time the small forward is still hesitating and vacillating, and there is still no way to choose a path for his future. It's just that at this time, although Zhuang Fei was worried and anxious, he couldn't give him much help. This kind of thing can only depend on the choice of his own heart. Only when he himself determines the path he wants to take can he truly transform, and outsiders have no way to interfere.
Now the situation of the Boston Celtics is 0-2 down, and at this time, the outside public opinion is also one-sided in favor of the Grizzlies. And this time the Celtics lost their first two games neatly and neatly, 2-0. …,
So before the start of the third game, some media that have a bad relationship with Zhuang Fei have begun to advocate that the Boston Celtics will inevitably be swept by the Grizzlies in this series, just like the Boston Celtics swept the Wizards at the beginning, the most representative of these media is naturally the media in New York, these guys have been focusing on Zhuang Fei and his Boston Celtics at the beginning of the playoffs this season, and it can be said that these guys can come up with a lot of gods in every round of the series. Inevitably, the Celtics will encounter the Cavaliers Black Seven, and after the Celtics dodged the Black Seven, these guys stood up again and said that Zhuang Fei and the Celtics would lose to the Wizards, and in the end, they were still slapped in the face by Zhuang Fei's crisp 4-0.
The inability of New York to enter the playoffs this season also made Zhuang Fei suffer a lot more pressure, of course, Zhuang Fei was under a lot of pressure, and the New York media who had been slapped in the face by Zhuang Fei was also under a lot of pressure. At the same time, it is also the focus of ridicule from other peers and fans that make it normal for them to be the focus of ridicule again.
It's just this time, the views of these New York media have been shared by many other people, and it can even be said that they are supported, judging from the rhythm of the current Celtics and Grizzlies game, it is definitely a swept ending, this team has too many internal problems compared to the Grizzlies, even the average fan knows that the current two cores of this team are not in shape, one has been studied thoroughly and the other has been suppressed after meeting his cousin, And if the Celtics want to leave those two guys behind and let someone else lead the team forward and beat the Grizzlies now, that level of difficulty is basically impossible.
It's just that just when everyone thought that the Boston Celtics would also collapse on their home court, and the Grizzlies would enter the finals with 11 consecutive wins in the first three rounds, Zhuang Fei and his Celtics gave the Grizzlies a heavy blow in the North Shore Garden, and on May 25, in the North Shore Garden, Zhuang Fei gave up the team's triangle offense, and the team's offense began to become disorderly. That made their Celtics' defensive shooting percentage poor, and the Boston Celtics defeated the Grizzlies 89-84 at home in a game that was also the Grizzlies' first playoff defeat this season. At the same time, the victory also made the faces of the media pundits who advocated the Celtics be swept into the heat on the face.
It's just that Boston fans haven't been happy for long, and the Grizzlies, who have adapted to the environment and the Celtics' new style of play in the fourth game between the two sides on May 27, once again showed their dominance, defeating the Celtics 94-88 away to make the score 1-3, and also got the match point, this game also let everyone see the gap between the Celtics and the Grizzlies now, when the two teams set up a shelf and pull away, the Celtics are not the opponent of the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies won the match point, plus the fifth game is a home game, basically as long as they play normally, the Grizzlies have no problem winning this game on their home court and then advancing to the Finals, in fact, public opinion in the United States also thinks so, those media who thought that the Boston Celtics were swept at the beginning stood up again and congratulated the Grizzlies in advance on their promotion. It's just that this time Zhuang Fei and his Celtics once again gave all the fans and expert media in the United States a joy, in this away game Zhuang Fei directly took the team's big center Yao Ming down, and also took the team's best sixth man Arenas into the lineup, this game Zhuang Fei put all the Maddie and Arenas who were not very compatible in the lineup, and Zhuang Fei also used such a lineup in the previous regular season, but at that time there was Yao Ming who played at the same time as these two people, but at this time Xiao Ao replaced Yao Ming's role, Although the effect of the three is much worse, but it also makes the Grizzlies a little uncomfortable, this time the Celtics' change even makes the Grizzlies defense line that has been defending on the periphery like an iron bucket actually cracked, this lineup Boston Celtics' perimeter offense is absolutely strong in terms of destructiveness, but the defense on the inside is a big problem, if it weren't for Big Ben's offense is too poor, Olajuwon played a little late, and the Celtics would not have won the Grizzlies' home court, In Game 5, the Celtics once again surprised everyone by beating the Grizzlies 98-93. stubbornly pulled the score to 2-3. …,
"The Celtics have done their best, and they're playing a great game this series," said Larry Bird with a relieved look in the grandstand commentary box at North Shore Gardens, by which time he and the Celtics fans around Michaels were already on their feet, and it was clear that these Boston Celtics fans were getting up and going through the final home game of the season with their team.
In the sixth game of this series, the Celtics have played very tenaciously in the game between the Celtics and the Grizzlies, especially in the first few games, Maddy, who has been at a loss in the first few games, suddenly broke out in the second half of this game, and even led the team to see the possibility of dragging the game into a tie-break, but the player failed in the final moment and Carter's struggle.
"I never thought they would play with the Grizzlies like this, it seems to me that this team can compete with the Grizzlies for up to five games, but Coach Z almost dragged the game into a tie-break, if it weren't for Yao Ming's exposure of all his flaws in the last series, I believe that Coach Z's use of Maddie Yao Ming-Arenas in these games is similar to that derived from the No. 5 system. The leverage' type of tactics can make the Grizzlies suffer, and it can even be said that they can beat the Grizzlies, and it is obvious that Coach Z has prepared this gift for the Grizzlies at the end of the regular season, but he didn't expect such a change in the playoffs to make the final executor of this tactic become O'Neal, and the effect is greatly reduced"
"They're very close to the championship"
is really a person who hides deeply, and in the end, Larry Bird took a deep look at Zhuang Fei, who was saluting the fans with the Celtics players on the court, and there was a trace of fear in his heart, this is an opponent who can never be judged. (Your support is my biggest motivation.) )