At the end of the first half, the score between the two sides was 55:55, tied, and the two sides were evenly matched in 24 minutes.

Garnett's recovery allowed the Celtics to take the lead in the second quarter. However, when Leon replaced Garnett in the last two minutes, the Celtics fell into a scoring drought. In two minutes, they only After scoring three points, the Spurs made an 8:2 spurt at the last moment. As a result, the point difference was smoothed out and the two sides returned to the same starting line.

Due to Chris Anderson's injury, Leon could only use Dalembert as an interior substitute. This guy's defense has improved a lot, but his offense is really lacking in spirit. As for Wang Zhizhi, he will not be used against Spurs Leon. Last year's finals proved that under the Spurs' efficient rotation system, a surprise player like Wang Zhizhi will not be very effective. On the contrary, the defensive loopholes will expand.

During halftime, Leon had no time to miss Anderson. Now the guy is still at home reflecting.

"Do you think tonight is really Christmas, so we should hang our socks by the bed, stay on the court, sleep, and wake up with victory in our socks? Look at your fight Desire, who is the opponent? The opponent who won the two finals at North Shore Garden last season. If we could win those two games at that time, there would be one more flag in the sky, and then write 2003! Now, you don’t have it I'm ashamed of you for showing the desire to kill the opponent." Leon angrily pounded the tactical board in the locker room, scolding the players for not showing a firm determination to defeat their opponents during the game.

Indeed, the atmosphere of Christmas Eve and the continuous success of recent games have made the Celtics players take it a little lightly, especially in Staples. After they relied on tacit understanding and strength to defeat their potential biggest enemy without much command from Leon, the Celtics The Ertes, a group of young people who have not yet tasted real success, have not yet learned how to calmly control their own power.

The Spurs on the opposite side are a good positive example. This may be due to their leader Tim Duncan, the super forward who reached full level as soon as he entered the league, and the stable stone Buddha who remains calm despite the collapse of the mountain. His career so far is not without failure, and the Spurs he leads cannot be called the strongest in history, but they never underestimate their opponents, are never proud, and never collapse. The Spurs that can kill are either absolute strength or a miracle. This is the true style of a strong team.

The Celtics have extraordinary talent, but they lack such temperament due to lack of experience. Leon also knows that this cannot be established overnight. It requires constant fighting and a strong spirit honed in iron and blood.

After reprimanding the players, Leon thought for a while and decided to make some adjustments to the starting lineup in the second half. He made Michael Reed sit on the bench and asked Laga Bell to take the starting position. Leon felt that using Reed as a substitute might alleviate the Celtics' lack of bench firepower.

This was just a small personnel change, and Reid accepted it without complaint. Anyway, he felt that this was a special situation and he would still return to the starting lineup in the future.

The second half of the game started. When the five starting players of the Celtics came on the court, Popovich was a little surprised. It seemed that Leon was going to do another trick and put Bell in the starting lineup. Sit on the bench.

Anyway, Popovich is a master of tricks. Compared with the number of cards in his hand and the tricks, Popovich is not as good as Leon, but compared with the stability of playing cards, Popovich is better.

The Celtics launched an attack in the second half. Arenas felt a little uncomfortable after Reid came on the bench. He was not used to not seeing Reid in the corner. Every time when there is no chance of success, Reid will consciously cut from the baseline to 45 degrees to catch the ball to Arenas. Now it is Bell, and Arenas does not dare to give him the ball casually.

Arenas chose to pick and roll with Garnett at the top of the arc, the most common starting method, and then hit the ground and passed to Garnett. Garnett cut to the three-second zone, turned around to face Duncan after receiving the ball, and then passed the ball to Garnett. The ball was passed to Pierce on the right. Pierce took the ball and took a step forward to make a jumper.

Bruce Bowen clung to Pierce like a gummy candy. When Pierce shot, he poked Pierce's eye directly with his finger. Although he didn't actually poke it, it affected the feeling of Pierce's shot.

"Bang!" Hitting the iron, Duncan pocketed the rebound.

"You stinky-****..." Pierce couldn't help but cursed at Bowen. He was made uncomfortable by this annoying guy tonight. So Pierce is in very bad shape and has only scored eight points so far. The Celtics' main scoring points in the first half were Arenas and Reid.

When Reid is not in the starting lineup, the Celtics lose a fierce firepower point on the outside and a third ball-holding point, making it difficult to make some tactical changes.

But back to the defense, when Parker held the ball through halftime, the person defending him changed from Arenas to Bell, which was also arranged by Leon in the midfield. Bell is taller and heavier than Parker, but his speed is not inferior. Arenas focuses more on offense and was outnumbered by Parker a lot in the first half.

Against Bell, Parker immediately felt the pressure.

Bell plays not for offense, but for defense.

Except for the triangle offense and Princeton, in almost all other offensive systems, the point guard is one of the most important links, and the Spurs are no exception. After snatching Parker back from the Celtics, the little man from France worked hard under the careful guidance of Popovich and became a point guard with unique characteristics.

His shooting and distribution requirements have never met the requirements of a top point guard, but his speed, breakthrough, rhythm control, and tacit understanding with Duncan ensured his unique tactical position in the Spurs, and he is also a role that is easily overlooked.

Many people underestimate this point guard, but Leon will not underestimate him. He knows the unique talent of this French kid who has been favored by him.

The Spurs' offense also started with the pick-and-roll between Parker and Duncan. Unlike Arenas' bypassing of the defense in the first half, the more dexterous Bell chose to squeeze through. It is not easy to squeeze through Duncan's high-quality pick-and-roll, but Bell did it. Squeezing through the defense will consume more energy and give the opponent more breakthrough opportunities. But it also increases the opponent's ball-holding pressure and compresses the opponent's operating space.

Most teams will choose to bypass Parker's pick-and-roll defense. After all, Parker's shooting ability is insufficient, and his ability to force three-pointers is even worse. But many people have overlooked Parker's ability to distribute the ball and his running skills without the ball.

So Leon decided to try a new defensive strategy against Parker in the second half, which is the ICE strategy.

After Parker and Duncan started the pick-and-roll, Pierce on the other side immediately came up to block the breakthrough line in the middle, even if Bruce Bowen was freed up. Parker passed the ball to Bowen, and Bowen missed a 45-degree three-point jumper. The Celtics counterattacked with the rebound. Kevin Garnett once again played the role of the central axis in the second fast attack. He took the ball at the top of the arc and lobbed it back to Arenas, who succeeded in a layup.

When the Spurs were attacking, Parker once again prepared to pick and roll with Duncan. This time he no longer chose to go to the center, but to go to the wing. Firstly, the Celtics were very blocked in the middle. Secondly, Bell deliberately turned to the side. Obviously, Set aside in the jam.

After he completed the pick-and-roll with Duncan, a route appeared on the wing that penetrated the Celtics' penalty area. This route can penetrate into the Celtics' hinterland, but it is not that easy to score the ball again.

Parker used his speed to get rid of the difficult Bell, and then cut to the baseline from a wide angle, trying to slide the baseline and hit a reverse layup.

This trick worked well against the Celtics in the Finals last year, but he forgot that this year's Celtics had Kevin Garnett.

Leon's biggest reliance on daring to squeeze past Parker is Kevin Garnett!

Parker slipped across the baseline, only to find that Garnett was already close to him, with his hands spread out like a spider monster. He went to the basket and wanted to force a layup, but the angle was blocked. He wanted to fake Garnett away - dreaming.

With three seconds to go, he had to force a small throw, but the ball missed due to interference. Garnett grabbed the rebound and passed a long pass to the frontcourt. Arenas quickly counterattacked and succeeded in a layup. . The Celtics beat the Spurs 4-0 at the beginning of the second half.

The Spurs served from the backcourt, and Parker lowered his head and dribbled the ball past half-court. This time, he could no longer see Duncan waiting for him at the top of the key to provide him with a screen. Stone Buddha was already standing near the three-second zone with open arms. Suppressing Garnett behind him.

He's going to start using low post attacks to lift the Spurs.

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