NBA Building Cardinals

Chapter 267 268. The Snake Hit Seven Inches (28)

"It can be regarded as a good word from you. To be honest, I didn't even think that we would meet in the playoffs."

"Of course, when it comes to the playoffs, I won't show mercy. I hope you will lead the team and go all out. Let's contribute a classic playoff matchup."

Although Liu Rui still has a good impression of Rivers, but in the playoffs, the two teams met each other, and what they experienced next was only fighting with all their strength on the court.

Chatting with Rivers on the sidelines for a while, the entire North Shore Garden Arena looked around, all green clothes, as if people had fallen into the green ocean.

This kind of visual impact, as well as the invisible shouts of the fans, will have some impact on the Bobcats' young players.

This is one of the reasons why home field advantage is so important in a playoff matchup.

There is an intangible thing called potential. Potential is invisible, but it exists.

Teams playing at home can not only have a great psychological difference, but also sometimes give intermittent help to the referee's judgment.

In turn, all this will cause great trouble to the away team.

Especially in the free throw and the final stage of the game, this pressure will be more obvious.

And this is exactly what Liu Rui is worried about. After all, they are all young players. Even if his style of play is mature, his mental age is only a young man.

With the whistle of the referee, the game officially began.

After the opening, both teams announced their starting lineups.

Bobcats:
Mo Williams, Martin, Wallace, Okafor, Jefferson.

Celtic:

Payton, Ricky Davis, Pierce, Lavrentz, Mark Blunt.

After the start of the game, the Celtics made adjustments to their starting inside line and did not send Brezek or Gugliota.

Instead, he chose to replace Mark Blount, because in the previous several matches with the Bobcats, it has been completely proved that when Gugliota is on the court, he will only be targeted by the Bobcats.

Because Gugliota moves slowly on the field, facing the Bobcats' pick-and-roll, it is difficult to keep up with the rhythm whether it is switching defenses or delays.

And Brezek is due to an ankle injury, although he will definitely play in this game.

But to be conservative, Rivers put Brezek on the bench.

And in the later period, with Brezek's injury, the Celtics also used Blunt as the team's starting center.

After several games of Rivers' experiments, it was also found that the starting partner of Blount and LaFrentz had the best chemical reaction in the team.

And Blount has excellent movement speed, which can also reduce a great disadvantage in the matchup with the Bobcats.

The Bobcats, on the other hand, are still continuing their starting lineup for the latter part of the season.

It is worth mentioning that Jefferson, the starting center of the Bobcats in this game, faced the Celtics as he faced his old club.

And this encounter in the playoffs made Jefferson even more excited.

If he can give his old club a perfect response in the playoffs, obviously, there is nothing more exciting than this.

After the opening, the two sides made a jump ball, and the ball was taken by the Celtics first.

What is different from the past is that after the opening this time, since the Celtics did not take the lead in hitting the ball into Pierce's hands.

You know, in the regular season of this season, no matter which game it is, the Celtics will hand the ball to Pierce for their first goal.

Let him play a singles first to try out the touch, and at the same time speed up the team's pace of finding the game.

But after the game came up, the Celtics instead handed the ball to Ricky Davis first.

Pierce fell to the bottom corner on the right.

For this kind of situation, it is still relatively rare for the Celtics.

Because when the Celtics are on the court, when Pierce is on the court, most of the offensive ball will pass through his hands.

Davis is used as the team's second offensive point to finish.

As soon as this game came up, the Celtics took the lead in playing in a different way from before.

Obviously, the head coach of the Celtics, Rivers, also made tactical arrangements before the game, and must have conducted a deep analysis of the Bobcats.

Sitting off the court and watching this scene, Liu Rui stroked the stubble on his chin with his hand.

"Oh, it's interesting..."

After the ball was handed over to Davis, the others chose to pull away, and Blount took the initiative to raise the high position, intending to make a pick-and-roll for Davis.

Because of the defense of several insiders on the Bobcats field, Jefferson's defensive ability is the worst.

So it was supposed to be LaFrentz's pick-and-roll, but now it's Blount coming up to do this pick-and-roll for Davis.

Seeing this, Liu Rui probably understood Rivers' thoughts in his heart.

Throughout the Bobcats' field, the weakest outside defense is Martin, and the weakest inside defense is Al Jefferson.

So Rivers voluntarily gave up on Pierce, and chose to let Davis and Blount play pick-and-rolls in the high position to target these two defensive weaknesses of the Bobcats.

Regardless of whether the Bobcats will switch defenses on the defensive end, Davis, as a ball handler, has a great advantage.

Because the person defending Pierce is Gerald Wallace, the two teams have played against each other many times in the regular season. Whether it is Pierce himself or coach Rivers, he has a rough estimate of Wallace's defensive ability.

So in the end it was decided to put the main offensive point on Davis.

Liu Rui, who was sitting off the court, directly saw through Rivers' tactical intentions.

With a smile on his face, he lay back, his hands spread out, and resting on the back edge of the chair.

"Zuzu, you're still too young..."

When Bickerstaff heard Liu Rui's words, he couldn't help covering his face with his hands.

This guy actually has the nerve to say that others are young? !
At present, there is no head coach younger than him in the entire league, so how did he say this sentence? !
After facing the pick-and-roll on the court, the Bobcats did not choose to switch defenses.

Jefferson stepped back directly, and Martin's intentions were also very clear. The whole person chose to bypass Jefferson's back and stand ahead of Davis on the way to the inside.

And this defensive method, if the offensive end chooses a three-point shot, there will be a good opportunity.

But that's what Liu Rui forced the Celtics to do.

Because Liu Rui explained before the game that Ricky Davis's three-point shooting was not stable.

It can be said that it is the weakest part of all his current offensive methods, so the defensive strategy for him is to try to put three points as much as possible, and mainly defend his mid-range jumpers and breakthroughs under the basket.

So seeing the current situation on the field, Liu Rui on the sidelines immediately burst into joy...

(End of this chapter)