NBA: Since James left the Cavaliers

Boston, USA, North Shore Garden Arena.

Countless honors have been born in this ancient arena, and today's third game of the Eastern Conference Finals will be staged here.

This is the home court of the Celtics, and the iconic clover can bring them good luck.

Prior to this, the away Celtics experienced two consecutive losses in the series, and now they urgently need a victory to motivate themselves.

In the evening, there was already a long line of fans outside the stadium. They wore home jerseys to support their hometown team!
Although they are now 2:0 behind with a big score, these fans are also not frustrated, because they believe that the Celtics can complete the comeback, which they have done countless times.

Fans entered the arena one after another, and the entire stadium was full of seats. The Celtics had a group of absolutely loyal fans.

Meanwhile, inside the home team's locker room.

Head coach Doc Rivers motivates his players as he sits and deploys.

"Guys, don't be under pressure. We must believe in our own strength and we will definitely be able to defeat our opponents!"

Hearing this, all the players immediately shouted, looking full of fighting spirit!
And in the visiting locker room, Byron Scott is doing the same.

Although the morale booster before the game may seem nothing special, it is actually a very important ceremony.

Almost every team has its own team's ceremonies, or slogans, or some actions, which can motivate players, and this also symbolizes a team's culture.

"As long as we win two more games, we will be able to advance to the final. Taking advantage of everyone's momentum, we will go all out and try to send them out at their home court!"

Byron Scott said with a high voice.

A moment later, players from both sides came on stage to warm up, and G3 of the Eastern Conference Finals kicked off.

After the game started, the fans in the North Shore Garden Arena cheered frantically for the home team. I have to say that this momentum is indeed very majestic.

The Cavaliers in the away game were slightly shocked when they saw such a scene. You must know that these players are all people who have experienced big scenes.

But the momentum of the opponent's fans today is really amazing. Players with a bad mentality are easily affected by these factors and thus perform abnormally.

After the opening of the first quarter, the Celtics played an outstanding performance as always.

When they were playing at home, they played extremely aggressively, and the team's momentum completely suppressed the Cavaliers.

But the Cavaliers' ability to adapt is also very good. When they fully adapted to this environment, they began to counterattack.

Under the leadership of Long Rui, the Cavaliers gradually exerted their strength. Curry and Yi Jianlian took turns to score points, and the game fell into a state of anxiety.

In the second half of the first quarter, the Celtics suddenly changed their defensive style. They actually learned how the Heat used zone defense.

During this period, zone defense was rarely used. In the league, the Heat were the team that used zone defense the most. Insufficient, then enable joint defense.

And now Rivers' purpose of using zone defense is very clear, which is to prevent the Cavaliers from attacking the inside.

The best way to crack the zone defense is outside shooting, and the Cavaliers used this method to break the Heat's zone defense. Coach Rivers is very clear about this.

The reason why he suddenly switched to the zone defense strategy is because he observed that the Cavaliers' outside shooting percentage is not high today.

He only made one of his first five [-]-point attempts, so he decided to use the zone defense.

If the Cavaliers have been unable to shoot three-pointers, then the zone defense tactic is the most effective defense for them.

Whether it is Long Rui or Paul George, they like to make breakthroughs, and the current defensive method makes it difficult for them to give full play to their advantages.

The sudden change of the Celtics on the defensive end was indeed miraculous.

When they set up the zone defense, they immediately blocked the Cavaliers' offense. Long Rui tried to break through twice, but they were both blocked in the end.

They were still a little unaccustomed to the away game. Curry actually missed two shots in a row when the outside line was completely open.

Failed to make shots from the outside and failed to make a breakthrough from the inside, the Cavaliers' offense suddenly misfired.

The Celtics seized the opportunity and played a wave of offensive climax at the end of the first quarter, opening the score in one fell swoop.

The two sides finished the first quarter.

19:30
The Celtics not only limited the Cavaliers' scoring to less than 20 points, but also achieved an 11-point lead!

This is the best performance of the Celtics in a single quarter in this round of the series.

The Cavaliers also created their lowest score in a single quarter in the playoffs this season.

When fans everywhere saw this score, they all rushed to incredible.

Everyone knows that the Cavaliers are a team that is good at scoring. It is not easy to limit their scoring to less than 20 points in a quarter of the game.

Counting the entire season, this happened three times, and the first two happened when Long Rui didn't play.

Seeing the performance of the Celtics, the home fans were even more delighted. Even during the inter-section break, they could not stop their voices.

Soon, the second quarter began, and the Cavaliers tried to counterattack under tremendous pressure.

But today's Celtics are like a prehistoric behemoth, no matter how the Cavaliers change, they will always be suppressed.

Throughout the first half of the game, the Cavaliers played very depressed, and Long Rui and others always felt that they could not use their strength.

In fact, they have a lot of opportunities, but today's outside shooting is so bad that they have been unable to crack the Celtics' zone defense for a long time, and can only rely on the players' personal ability to score intermittently.

After the end of the first half, the Celtics continued to widen the point difference, reaching 16 points.

This is the biggest point difference created by the two teams in the first half of the game. For the Cavaliers, this is a very unfavorable situation.

If they still can't find the touch in the second half of the game, it is very likely that after three quarters of the game, they will completely enter garbage time.

"Damn it! It's like the basket is covered, and I can't make any shots."

During the intermission, Curry vented his unhappiness in the locker room.

Throughout the first half, he only made 7 of 1 shots from beyond the three-point line, and the basket was almost distorted by him.

Not only him, but even Long Rui, with 5 of 1 outside shots, completely lacking the demeanor of a three-pointer.

Although Long Rui was also a little anxious, he pretended to be calm and said: "Don't worry, we still have half a game to chase points."