You should cross the mountains like a brave man

Chapter 861 Tom Point Winner of the Visiting Team

Curry described the 76ers as mountains, and this word spread throughout the league, and the 76ers became mountains.

"It's not just the warriors who want to climb the mountain, we are also climbing the mountain."

The 76ers sent troops to Chicago. On the way away, Wei Xia officially responded to Curry's words.

"The mountain in front of us is different from other teams. This mountain has been climbed by three teams. We hope to be one of them."

Wei Xia didn't make it clear, but some truths should be kept in words.

In mid-March, the 76ers waited for the good news they wanted.

Due to his wife suffering from a brain tumor, Holiday, who was on an indefinite truce to take care of his family, returned to the team.

"I want to apologize to everyone because my personal affairs have affected the team's season planning. Now that I am back, I promise I will give it all for you!"

Holiday seriously assured that there is nothing else, only the game can give the answer.

Holiday's return completes the 76ers' lineup.

They will launch a sprint to the playoffs in the best condition. At the end of March, the 76ers won a winning streak.

In April, there are seven regular-season games remaining.

Currently, the 76ers rank first in the East with 56 wins and 19 losses.

Tonight, their opponent is the Boston Celtics, the famous tough bones in the East. With the help of super rookie Embiid, they are firmly in the top five in the East.

The Celtics are like the Grizzlies in the Western Conference a few years ago. They all know that they have no hope of winning the championship, but no team wants to meet them in the playoffs.

win, peel off;

Losing is not impossible.

What this so-called tenacious team is best at doing is to add obstacles to strong teams and create miracles in desperate situations.

The Celtics' defensive strategy was crystal clear from the start.

If Wescia, Hayward, or Holiday hold the ball and the big man is on the pick-and-roll, then decisively pinch, and the weak side recovers to protect the penalty area; if it is Rondo or someone else pick-and-roll, bypass it normally.

In terms of defending weak-side players, the Celtics have always insisted on not letting go of Hayward and Holiday, and other defensive players will assist in the defense and then save to defend the three-pointer.Therefore, the life and death line of this strategy is the open three-point shooting percentage of the 76ers role players.

Wei Xia is experienced and saw the problem at the beginning of the game, so he played a lot of small cooperation with Hayward, and each helped the other party to score three-pointers. The Celtics' defense seemed to be failing.

However, the 76-point shooting percentage of other [-]ers players is not ideal.

Therefore, the Celtics' defense was more determined, blocking the flanks and the penalty area, and releasing the 76ers' three-pointers.

Although there is a gamble in doing so, the Celtics made the right bet.

Unable to deal with the 76ers' two superstars with good passing ability and shooting grasp, the Celtics chose to test other players.

The Celtics wanted to defend against the 76ers, but they used too much force on the defensive end. The side effect was that their offense was also poor.

They tested the open three-pointers of the 76ers' role players, and as a result, their own open three-pointers were even more outrageous.

He made 18 of 1 three-pointers in the first half.

In fact, in these 18 shots, aside from the ultra-long three-pointer at the buzzer at the end of the first half, the others were basically considered normal opportunities. Moreover, in order to make the Celtics feel uncomfortable inside, the 76ers found that their three-pointers were not accurate.

Tom Heinsohn was very worried about this situation: "This is not the first time the Celtics have shown such a bad touch."

The Celtics themselves are in the back position, but they didn't let the game lose suspense quickly because of their lack of strength and inaccurate shots.

Despite the poor shooting performance, the Celtics can seize the advantage of the 3ers' rotation in the last 76 and a half minutes every time.

With 6 minutes left in the third quarter, the 76ers led 58-56.

Since Wescia and Cousins ​​played for too long in a row, Wright replaced Wescia and Cousins ​​at the same time for the first time, preparing for the final battle in advance. The Celtics had at least three main players on the court, but they seemed to be relieved.

This is a young team, and they still have a lot of room for improvement in terms of reading the situation.

To Weixia's surprise, the Celtics are still testing their lineup.

The regular season has come to an end, and they entered the playoffs with the fifth overall pick for the last time, but they have no intention of practicing tactics for the playoffs.

However, Wei Xia heard Heinsohn say that the Celtics' offensive state has been very unstable in recent games, so he can understand why they are still testing the lineup.

When the starting lineup's offense is not smooth, the pick-and-roll offense of Embiid and Isaiah Thomas will appear frequently. The former will use his presence in the low post to help the team stabilize the situation. In 9 minutes of the first half, Embiid scored 6 points and 4 rebounds on 8 of 5 shots.

After playing the touch, Thomas took over the offense in the second half. This small guy has endless energy. Embiid's low-post ability and offensive rebounds are used as supplements. Although it is a bit wasteful, it does make the Celtics' offense better.

Except for Duncan's level of super rookies, no one can secure the team's offensive and defensive core as soon as they come.

In the fourth quarter, the 76ers' defense was similar to the Celtics' strategy. Their defense against Thomas was also that the big man left the basket at ease, took the initiative to double-team or block and cover, and handed over the work of filling the penalty area to the weak-side striker.

Thomas, who played steadily in the first three quarters, met Wei Xia who contributed DPOY-level defense. His worrying figure directly overwhelmed him. Not only could he not see the basket, but his teammates disappeared from his vision. He scored 24 points, 7 rebounds and 19 assists in 9 of 2 games.

He is not a lone wolf, and his size limits his vision. His biggest problem is not the finish, but the echo connection with his teammates on the weak side.It is very difficult to do this kind of work on the spot, because it is not a problem of learning ability, but because of the inability to improve the height.

The 76ers can rely on the talents of Weisha, Cousins, Hayward, Holiday, and even Robertson.

Even rookie Oubre is showing signs of hitting.

At the critical moment of the game, such a talent gap will naturally be infinitely magnified. Jay Wright is also a coach who is extremely good at turn-based play. As long as the opponent does not understand a strategy, he dares to let the players play forever.

Therefore, in the last 3 minutes of the fourth quarter, the Celtics' effective offense was only the wing players and Embiid's pick-and-roll layup. When entering the decisive battle, the 76ers who strengthened the weak side recovery protection made Embiid's strategy after the screen invalid.

It was only a few points, but it seemed like an eternal distance to Lukai.

"It's a game where you feel like, no matter how hard you try, the Celtics just can't beat the Sixers."

"Yes, it was too dull. We fully felt the 76ers' control of the game."

One minute before the end, Weixia held the ball, and the 1ers led the Celtics by 76 points. As long as he can delay the time and score an offense, it is basically a game-killing goal.

Even if the Celtics put their best wing to match, it couldn't prevent Wechat from making this goal.

He controlled the offensive rhythm eloquently, waited until the last 6 seconds, suddenly made a strong start and stopped suddenly, and dribbled the ball behind his back to find the rhythm.

The shaking at that moment was better than a trot that stepped on the accelerator and braked suddenly while traveling at a high altitude.

His defender was like a person sitting in the passenger seat. Faced with such a shock, his body lost his balance uncontrollably and shook violently.

As a defender, encountering such a thing is basically equivalent to a defensive failure.

Wei Xia broke through his defense without leaving any room, and Embiid actively assisted in the defense, but was confused by the "magic" he released in an instant.

He saw Wei Xia racket the ball behind him. When he turned around, he heard the wailing of the audience. The ball was still in Wei Xia's hands, and he dunked directly on his body to score.

"Holy Wish~~~~!!!"

"It's over!" Heinsohn cried in frustration, "Unfortunately, no Celtics won Tom points tonight. I decided to make an exception and give this point to the opponent—Wish, he is the Tom points winner tonight!"⑴
Wesha broke through the Celtics' defensive system, and when Embiid scored the goal, the outcome was already decided.

In the next 40 seconds, the Celtics fought tenaciously and used penalty kick tactics to chase the point difference to 5 points, but that was the end of it.

It was predictable for the Celtics to play like this. As for whether the game strategy needs to be adjusted on the spot for players with temporary hot hands, this is just the path they chose. They have no regrets and are willing to gamble and admit defeat.

⑴ For every Celtics game that Heinsohn explained, one person will be selected to give Tom points. The specific criterion is, from his perspective, the one who is the most active and desperate in the game.

(End of this chapter)