The Rest, Only Noise

When the Lakers defeated the Supersonics 4-2, and the Blazers met in the Western Conference finals for three consecutive years, this season's playoffs also ushered in the final prelude.

East and West.

The Knicks are an "unfamiliar face". They were eliminated in the first round last season and ranked fourth last in the league last season. The changes Louis brought to this team are visible to the naked eye.

However, now they have to challenge the Celtics, and very few people are optimistic about them.

May 19, 1987

Madison Square Garden

This game has tested the formation of both sides from the very beginning, and the Celtics came prepared.

In order to limit the Knicks' system, the Celtics' defensive idea is to let Bird and Sampson come to the high position frequently, and let them both walk on the line to participate in the attack; Harper enters and is responsible for filling the position. it is good.

Their logic is that Ewing, as the core of the inside line, is only the fourth offensive point of the Knicks team, so his offense does not necessarily hurt people.

It's mainly Dale Ellis. The Celtics don't want him to run the dynamic offense as he wants, so squeeze the lower wing and keep him out of his comfort zone.

The Knicks are not used to doing this for the first few possessions.

The Celtics started 6-0.

Louie saw it, called a timeout, and had Stockton take advantage of the Celtics' flanking outreach and let him make the ball for Wilson to attack the rim. Taking advantage of the Celtics' idle attitude towards Ewing, they gave the ball to the weak side and let the gorilla attack the basket.

The Celtics' defensive arrangement is extremely extreme, just not allowing the Knicks to shoot comfortably.

This approach is against the times. Everyone is shooting in the pocket formation, but the Celtics let you attack the basket and refuse to give the shot.

That's exactly how smart the Celtics are.

K.C. Jones is Louie's old partner. He knows too well how "deviant" Louie is when building an offensive system. The Knicks are a team that relies heavily on mid-to-long shots.

Since the Celtics graciously give up the basket, the Knicks will naturally focus their firepower on the restricted area.

When it was the Knicks' turn to defend, Louie strictly demanded that players switch on pick-and-rolls. I'd rather be misplaced by the Celtics than flank, and don't let Thomas, Bird, and Sampson have the chance to play the ball.

The Celtics' Big Three is comfortable, and it's a mismatch on nearly every possession.

The Knicks also hit the basket with ease, and the two sides grinded each other's points in the first half, each for a test.

Both sides had a point that was missed.

On the Knicks side is Wilson. The Celtics seem to have forgotten that this teenager averaged nearly 30 points per game in five games against the Celtics in the regular season.

The Celtics are Laimbeer. His three-pointer sense woke up this night. The Knicks' defense against him encouraged him to shoot, and he was not ambiguous. Three points.

Wilson's outbreak greatly changed the rhythm of the game.

The Celtics didn't give him a shot and let him offense in the restricted area, looking like they were courting death.

When he scored 8 points in a row and had a dunk over Sampson, the Celtics took the young man seriously.

They started splitting their staff to guard Wilson in the corner.

However, Harper was unstoppable, and Wilson's explosion scored 28 points in three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, the Knicks took a 7-point lead. The Celtics completely turned on the championship mode, Sampson dominated the penalty area, Bird deliberately asked Wilson to fight, and every attack told him what to do in advance.

In the final six minutes, Isiah Thomas finished with a hatred of Louie.

He first played a pick-and-roll with Laimbeer and fed the latter a three-pointer;

He made his own breakthrough and surpassed Stockton, and hit McHale's body and scored 2+1;

When facing Wilson's switch, he swayed the defense and shot arrows on horseback.

The Knicks made a mistake that a young man would make. They emptied Bird in order to switch, and Thomas immediately passed the ball to G.O.A.T on the perimeter.

Bird nearly killed the game with a 3-pointer.

In the end, Thomas made a missed 3-pointer, and 28 percent doesn't mean he can't make 3-pointers.

The game was killed.

129 to 119

The Celtics beat the Knicks by 10 points, stealing the opponent's home-court advantage from their hands.

"The Knicks have a bright future, but they're up against a team of No. 1, No. 2 and No. 3 in the league," Tom Heinsohn said of the game's outcome.

Whether he's telling the truth or not, the Knicks won't back down.

In the second game, they insisted on using switching defenses to compete with the Celtics on their personal ability.

This strategy was Zhao Yuanzheng's opinion, and Louis adopted it, because he created the Celtics' four offensive systems, and they all used the characteristics of Thomas and Bird, two dislocation offensive monsters, to create dislocations for them.

If the other party wants to play the wrong position, you can't prevent it, and you must dare to hand over the wrong position.

The Celtics used one move effectively and continued to use it. Once again, they used expanded defense to press the Knicks' perimeter, and they still handed over the penalty area for you to whip.

One of Wilson's attacks was elbowed by Ranbir.

Oakley stepped forward and slapped Ranbir to the ground. The two sides almost got into a fight.

The smell of gunpowder grew, and Wilson wanted the ball to single against Bird, but missed a jumper.

Conversely, facing the Knicks man-to-man, Bird faced Ewing, who was taller than him, and made a strong shot; Ewing's interference with the ball was almost flawless, but he made the shot.

"Rookie, welcome to the NBA."

Bird's trash talk makes Wilson angry.

In the next round, when Wilson tried to single out Bird again, Thomas behind Bird squeezed through the screen to compress the space. Wilson just shook his hand and was caught by the eyeing Bird.

When it was the Celtics' turn to attack, Bird was also pressed by Ewing and made a mistake, but he saw clearly the idea of ​​the Knicks continuing to use Ewing to improve his position and try to increase the intensity of the game.

This time, it's Harper to guard Wilson.

Wilson was playing with his left waist, and Harper completely emptied Wilson's right shoulder, which means "you can turn over with your right shoulder, but don't even think about walking with your left shoulder in the middle."

Louie isn't worried about Wilson's skills, but as a rookie, he's prone to problems if he doesn't adjust his mentality.

Sure enough, Wilson, who didn't feel online, missed again.

In the next round, Ewing also singled out Sampson with the ball, and the game was meant to be competitive.

As a result, Sampson saw through Ewing's offensive path, and his way forward was blocked. Ewing returned a pass to Stockton, and Thomas quickly approached the defense.

This defensive method is very close to what Louis has seen with his own eyes, the way the stags with the Greek monster are prevented from death.

This kind of defense is a test of the players' tacit understanding and cooperation. It can turn passive into active, so that the opponent can't concentrate when he heads up.

Bird lays up Harper with a pick-and-roll: the basket is empty after knowing Ewing has mentioned the high post.

After Sampson caused McHale's second foul.

Wilson asked Bird for a one-on-one fight, and the horse archery still missed. In turn, Sampson made a slam dunk; then Dale Ellis missed another three-pointer.

So far, the Knicks' offense has nothing to do, Louis changed lineups, but the young man's mentality began to collapse.

Wilson's scoring average of nearly 30 points per game against the Celtics in the regular season made the Knicks' coaching staff misestimate his current combat effectiveness.

Zhao Yuanzheng proposed to fight against the Celtics, use the player's personal ability to force the Celtics, and then use the depth of the lineup to suppress K.C. Jones' short rotation strategy.

The three main offensive points of the Knicks, McHale, Ewing, and Wilson, if they can open one point, they have to play.

As a result, Wilson's mentality was out of balance, Ewing was prevented by Sampson, and McHale had difficulty catching the ball.

What made Wilson's mentality unbalanced was Bird's trash talk; what made Ewing's offense weak was Sampson's superb defense; only McHale was limited by the Celtics' tactics.

In the final analysis, the Celtics are invincible in the world with their players' personal ability, and they also play well in role players, like Laimbeer and Danny Ainge, once they see the Knicks who have explosive momentum, they will go to the mentality.

At this time, the arrangement of the coaching staff is not important, the players' mentality cannot be adjusted, and the game will be explained accordingly.

2 to 0

Another double-digit win for the Celtics.

In NBA history, no team has ever been able to complete a comeback after losing two home games in a row.

Tom Heinsohn, a die-hard Green Kai supporter~www.novelmt.com~, said relaxedly: "Like I said, the Knicks have a great future, but right now, they're not at all Celtics. Opponents, the basketball game is sometimes easy and sometimes difficult, and the opponents who played on par with you in the regular season will suddenly change in the playoffs.”

"The Celtics in the regular season gave the New Yorkers hope, and in the two games at MSG, they brought deep despair."

When Louie came to the visiting room, his only friend in the New York Times, Dave Anderson, delivered Isiah Thomas' trash talk: "Isiah thinks this series is going to end in four games. Coach Lou. ,What do you think?"

"Me," Louie said with a smile, "I hope Boston is ready to roll around at home."

It doesn't matter if the strategy fails, the important thing is to adjust it back.

The Knicks are not as good as the Celtics, but they will never be swept away.

Thomas wants to sweep the Knicks? Louis sneered inwardly.

Let's see who is more ruthless!