In the second half of the third quarter, the Celtics no longer played regional defense, which was too heavy a burden on Garnett, the wolf king is not a 22-year-old energetic young man, he is now a 32-year-old veteran, and he can't keep running all over the court, which will exhaust him to death. However, even if they don't play joint defense, the Celtics' defensive purpose is still clear, that is, not to let Zhang Yu pass the ball, or not let him receive the ball, just do anything.

In the fourth quarter, the two sides of the bench battle, the big baby became the Celtics' breakthrough again, his impact made the Knicks' interior line unable to parry at all, this big meat ball was too violent.

D'Antoni is really in pain at the moment, and he hasn't figured out how to crack the Celtics' targeted arrangement of Zhang Yu, and the big baby over there is killing on the field again, which is simply embattled!

In the 8th minute and 45 seconds, the score was 69:88, the Celtics had a 19-point lead, and the mustache had no intention of sending Zhang Yu again, but the rabbit insisted on playing.

This is not to score points, Zhang Yu's idea is very simple, even if he loses the game today, at least he has to figure out how he lost? So he has to go up and feel the Celtics' defense again and find a way to deal with it, otherwise he will lose again in the next game?

After a dead ball on the pitch, D'Antoni replaced Nate. Robinson, Crawford, Zhang Yu, Jeffries, Anderson semi-bench semi-main lineup. This lineup is very mobile, and the three people in the backcourt have good offensive ability with the ball, and their outside shots are also accurate.

Coach Rivers is wary enough of the Knicks lineup to run and bomb the team if it goes crazy. A mere 20 points is really nothing, and immediately put on a defensive lineup to deal with the Knicks' ruin.

Rondo, Tony Allen, Pierce, Big Baby, Perkins, these five are the on-court configuration of the Celtics' main transition section. said that it was a bridging lineup, but in fact, there were still three main players on the court, which can also be seen that Rivers maintained enough caution.

Zhang Yu tried to hand over the ball after coming on the court and ran without the ball himself, which was one of the ways to deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the last round.

The Celtics also had a way to deal with this, paying attention to the passes of other Knicks players to Zhang Yu, not guarding against others but waiting for the opportunity to break the ball.

Nate. Robinson's passing ability is much worse than Zhang Yu's. In the face of the Celtics' defense, they naturally did not dare to pass the ball easily, and the attack finally ended with a small potato in the waist with a stop-and-go jumper and two points.

Zhang Yu's egg hurts. He is still divided by the opponent, and if he doesn't take the initiative to attack with the ball, the Celtics don't let him receive the ball, which seems to be easier.

Played for three minutes. Nate Robinson and Crawford played well. The style of play of these two people is simple and rough, the Celtics have to concentrate on guarding the pass to Zhang Yu, so they can't take a bag against them, basically they are one-on-one defense, and these two guys have been playing there alone.

4:05 in the fourth quarter, the score was 81:96.

The Knicks relied on the singles of Little Potato and Crawford to narrow the gap by 4 points.

This made New York fans and Zhang Yu nauseous, and his feelings have become a cancer?

D'Antoni was also disgusted off the pitch. I don't know if this point difference is to change the main team to fight on the field, or continue to use this lineup?

In the end, D'Antoni did not change the main team. The game entered the last two minutes, the score was 85:98, and the difference between the two teams was still as much as 13 points.

The final score of the game was 90-100, and the Knicks lost the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals by 10 points.

After the game, the Knicks players quickly walked into the player tunnel, don't look at the score of this game, it was the Celtics in the last half of the quarter, the Big Three all went off the court in the last three minutes, and the whole game was counted, Pierce, who played the most time in the Big Three, only played 34 minutes, Garnett only played 30 minutes, and Ray Allen 31 minutes.

The Knicks' Zhang Yu scored the highest score of the game, playing 39 minutes and scoring 36 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals. Wallace had 14 points, Nate Robinson 11, David Lee six and Kenyon Martin five.

For the Celtics, Pierce had 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, Garnett had 19 points, 12 rebounds and 5 assists, Ray Allen had 16 points, and Rondo had 10 points and 8 assists.

At the post-game press conference, Coach Rivers was in a good mood and was in good spirits, and said to reporters: "The Big Four played well, and it was natural to win." Celtic are confident of a 2-0 result at home, and although the three giants are a year older this year, they are just like the Spurs, and age will not break them for the time being, at least not this season. We are confident that at the end of the Big Three's career, we will create another triple crown dynasty for the Green Shirts. ”

As soon as Rivers' words came out, the Knicks were not embarrassed after the loss, because the Los Angeles media all ran to smash the Celtics' field.

The Los Angeles media did not threaten the Knicks with a championship on the spot, and the Lakers had only one opponent, and that was the Celtics, who were opponents in the Finals last season.

The media in the City of Angels, on the contrary, hope that the Knicks will work hard, strive to win two home courts, create more trouble for the Celtics, and it is better to force them to the seventh game and exhaust the three old guys.

So after this game, the Los Angeles media rarely did not criticize the Knicks, but followed the equally developed New York media to cheer for the Knicks. The wind is getting so fast that even the Knicks' players can't accept it.

Before the game against the Nuggets' Big Three, Kobe Bryant did not forget to give Zhang Yu a boost, claiming that his successor has the ability to win a victory on the Celtics' home court.

These words made Zhang Yu, who returned to New York, very tired of listening, what do you call your successor? Such a stinky fart, curse you to be swept away!

Zhang Yu listened to Kobe's words very much, but he didn't have time to fight with Peter Pan now, as soon as the Knicks returned to New York, they conducted a closed tactical drill, the main purpose was to study a way to deal with the Celtics' regional division defense.

Zhang Yu, in particular, had to figure out a way to reconnect with the team.

The Knicks were not as good as the Celtics as a whole. If the core of the team is separated from the other players, D'Antoni can only think of one end, and that is to be swept!

LeBron. James encountered similar trouble to Zhang Yu in the finals. The Gorilla can only fall into a solo battle and is eventually swept by the Spurs!

New Yorkers just need to think about it, even James, who is temporarily much stronger than Zhang Yu in personal ability, can't beat the Spurs alone, how can their little bunny kill the Celtics?

The Los Angeles media and the New York media came to the Knicks for a while, and even Popovich came to join in the fun and give the Knicks ideas.

But none of these doctrines worked in D'Antoni's eyes. Because they lack players who can execute.

Popovich was the most inadequate, obviously giving D'Antoni ideas, but in fact he changed his tricks to ridicule the mustache's coaching ability as inferior to him.

D'Antoni cursed in his heart: "Give me a Duncan." Lao Tzu can also win the championship! Of course, the mustache said this in his heart, and it would be terrible for Zhang Yu to hear it.

On May 23, the second game of the Western Conference Finals began. The Lakers take on the Nuggets big ass team again at Staples Arena.

The whole Knicks team didn't bother to watch this game. They think it's more realistic to focus on how to deal with the Celtics, and how can they have time to watch the Lakers and Nuggets play. Still, D'Antoni organized the team to watch the game together, and the Lakers Jr. thought watching a game from another team would help them get inspired.

Zhang Yu was still thinking about the madness of the Los Angeles media during this time, when he thought that the Lakers had fallen behind 0:1 and lost the precious home game, he was amused in his heart, where did the Los Angeles media get the confidence to reach the finals?

The source of confidence for the Los Angeles media is Kobe Bryant. Bryant. Peter Pan scored 43 points in the game and hit two key three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Help the team open the gap and win the game.

After watching the game, Zhang Yu was really inspired when he saw Kobe's last two wave shots.

He couldn't see anything in the Lakers' triangle tactics, in his eyes it was Gasol's response, Kobe Bryant's crazy swing, and he opened his heart and passed a few more to his teammates. However, the boss is accurate, and the wave investment is to be able to enter, especially at the critical moment, it is even more accurate to have no friends, and use blind chickens for life. Batou threw the Nuggets to death.

Zhang Yu admired in his heart, Kobe Bryant was obviously much better than him in the playoffs, especially the momentum on the court, and the confidence that he still believed that he would hit the next goal with 10 shots and 0 shots, but he didn't have it now.

As soon as Kobe Bryant gets the ball, people can seem to hear the narration that comes with the boss: Lao Tzu is a blind chicken. Ba Tou, Lao Tzu Blind Chicken. Batou is able to enter!

In the end, the Lakers relied on the boss's 43 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals, 16 of 28 shots, and 4 of 10 three-pointers to turn the tide and keep the Lakers' second away game.

Gasol had 20 points, 15 rebounds and 6 assists, and his adaptability and efficient offense were also the main factors for the Lakers to win, and Ariza had 15 points and 6 rebounds, and two steals in the final quarter also contributed to it, and Lama's 24 points and 8 rebounds were the Lakers' second-highest scorer.

Nuggets Big Three, Billups got 18 points, 8 assists, 2 turnovers and 2 steals, as always efficient and responsible, Anthony showed the ability of the league's outstanding attacker in this game, once with the boss on the court, cut 34 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists, Randolph, who performed well in the last game, seems to be overboasting today, the whole game was dominated by Gasol, only 10 points, 8 rebounds and 5 turnovers of bad data, Randolph became the biggest sinner in the Nuggets loss in this game.

After watching this game, D'Antoni was still not inspired, and the only thing the mustache had after watching it was: Do you want to trade for a strong interior player next season?

Zhang Yu has gained a lot, the boss throws when he catches the ball, throws on the dribble, and throws when he raises his hand in 1V3...... All these technical actions have benefited him a lot.

I was too hesitant in the last game, and when I changed Kobe Bryant and encountered the Celtics' defense, I must have shot when I had the opportunity, what about Jordan's rule? What about 40 shots?

When he got home that night, Zhang Yu refused the temptation of the five-haired girl to roll the sheets, and resolutely said that he wanted to recuperate, and he would have a big fight with the Celtics tomorrow, and it would be better not to do it again tonight......

On May 24, after lunch, the Knicks flew to Portland again for the second round of the competition.

About 500 New York fans rushed to the airport to see off the team, hoping that the Knicks would fight back and salvage a victory in Portland.

Zhang Yu also released cruel words to the media before leaving, and he must come back with a victory.

Bryant shouted in Los Angeles: "You can do it, as long as you play like me!" ”

The game time was arranged by the league at 20 o'clock local time in the evening, and the Knicks team had arrived in Portland in the afternoon, and took a short rest at the hotel, and the whole team took a bus to the TD North Shore Garden Course, where they had to acclimatize to the venue and attend the pre-game press conference two hours before the game started.

At the press conference, neither D'Antoni nor Coach Rivers made any radical remarks, which was determined by the coaching style, neither of them liked to have a war of words before the game, even if the relationship between the two teams was not good, and the atmosphere before the game did not emit gunsmoke.

The media hates this kind of coach the most, there is no topic if there is no quarrel, and at this time, I want to see Popovich and D'Antoni compete before the game, so that they can copy the game well, and now I am afraid that the ratings will be reduced a lot.

Reporters can only ask D'Antoni how to deal with the Celtics' defense in the last game.

D'Antoni had nothing to say, and learned that Popovich cherished words like gold, which made the reporters in the audience curse in their hearts, and it was best for the Knicks to be shaved head.

But it's not to blame the mustache for not cooperating, it's really that he has no way at all, he can't say anything, of course, he can only prevaricate with no comment.

Reporters turned to asking Rivers if he would continue to use the defensive set-up of the previous game against the Knicks in this game.

Rivers also refused to reveal his tone, talking nonsense casually, perfunctory to the media in the audience.

Half an hour before the start of the game, the Knicks locker room.

D'Antoni looked at the time, and the game was about to start, which would take advantage of the Celtic's entrance ceremony and the mustache began to mobilize before the game.

"This is our first year after rebuilding and we have a lot to fall short of, but to be able to reach the Eastern Conference Finals is a precious experience for us, and we want to make the journey as long as possible, do you want them to sweep it?"

"I don't want to!"

D'Antoni nodded: "Since you don't want to, then use our speed to get a victory." We are not as good as them in defense, we are not as skilled in passing and cutting as they are, we are much worse than our opponents in positional battles, we are only better than them in terms of speed, this is the only weapon we can rely on and use to win! So what to do, I don't need to say, I think you know that. ”

Zhang Yu raised his hand and shouted: "Run them to death!" (To be continued......)