Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

The Celtics were playing at home, so they shouldn't have been in a hurry to score.

But the problem is that the Bulls are no ordinary team. They are the defending champions who have fought their way from sixth place in the Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bulls have so much playoff experience! The Bulls' past experiences are so legendary!
In recent years, the Celtics and the Bulls have faced each other in the playoffs, and all of them ended in failure.

Under the influence of multiple factors, the Celtics players on the field couldn't help but become anxious.

Especially when the Bulls scored first.

As the Celtics resumed serving from the baseline, a new round of offense was launched.

After half-court, Brown took the ball and wanted to call on Curry.

No one from the Bulls came forward to double-team and rescue Curry, but instead let Brown try to single out Curry.

If Brown had just pulled up for a three-pointer, or stepped inside the three-point line and shot a mid-range shot, the Bulls would have been able to accept it even if the ball went in.

After all, the Bulls can't guard every Celtic player.

If the Bulls have to choose between Tatum and Brown and let one of them go all out, they will definitely choose Brown.

It's not that I look down on Brown, but Tatum has good physical strength and his scoring depends more on his touch.

There was no way the Bulls would allow Tatum to get his touch back, and there was no way they would watch Tatum scoring like crazy in the first quarter and still taking crazy shots until the entire fourth quarter.

After clearly focusing on defense, the game became much simpler.

Although Brown had a good touch at the beginning and made a mid-range shot right at the start, it had little impact on the Bulls' overall tactical arrangement and game rhythm.

You Celtics scored, so we went straight to a fast break.

It's a quick return, right? No problem, let's fight a positional battle.

Jokic took the ball in the low post on the right side and started to back up. At the same time, Curry cut in from the left side at a forty-five-degree angle, and the basket instantly attracted all the Celtics players on the court.

Jokic passed the ball to Curry through a ground pass, and Curry jumped up and passed the ball to Duane in the left corner.

Duane, who also followed and cut into the basket, dribbled the ball again, then jumped with both feet and completed a violent dunk over Grant Williams' head.

Who can ask, Lian Po is old, can he still eat?
Relying on the attraction of Jokic and Curry, Durant showed the physical fitness that a GOAT should have right from the start!
Your uncle is still your uncle.

Even though Duane is old now, his leg strength has declined, his weight is a bit out of control, and his overall jumping ability has declined a lot, but he still has no problem catching a pass or dunking the ball.

Of course, if you really want to think about it, Duane's dunk was not difficult at all.

The Celtics players' attention on the court was drawn to Jokic and Curry. As long as the Bulls had the awareness to follow up on the open cut, anyone could get a simple 1-on-0 chance and score the goal.

However, Wiggins and Ohashi are also responsible for returning to defense to prevent the Celtics from launching a transition offense, so this simple ball is left to Durant.

It feels pretty good. The cake is big and fragrant.

After completing this dunk, Duane seemed to have returned to a few years ago and suddenly became excited.

Next, Brown named Curry again.

It's no wonder that Tatum gave the ball to Brown. The Bulls finally had a relatively weak defensive point to attack. The Celtics must have expected Brown to be able to blast Curry in a single point and help the Celtics establish a scoring advantage.

However, this idea is a bit too simplistic.

Although Curry's defense is relatively weak among the Bulls' outside players, Curry is not completely defenseless. It is impossible for him to watch Brown shoot without interference.

No matter how strong Brown's one-on-one ability is, it is impossible for him to score every goal against Curry.

Duang——

Although Brown missed the shot, Jokic grabbed the defensive rebound and the Bulls immediately launched a defensive counterattack.

The Celtics' defensive discipline was indeed good, and the Bulls' fast break did not succeed, but in positional warfare, the Bulls were not at all weak.

Duane, who had just dunked, took the ball at the top of the arc, while Curry and Jokic acted as bait, one in the low post on the right and the other running from the left corner without the ball to the top of the arc.

Curry's running attracted the attention of some Celtics players. As Curry ran to the top of the arc, Duane pretended to hand the ball to Curry.

Fearing that Curry would shoot a three-pointer with the help of a screen, Guwei had to squeeze past Duane and block Curry.

The problem is, Duane was faking a handoff, pushing the ball to Curry, then immediately turning his hips and heading for the basket.

Duane walked straight to the middle and immediately started to pass the ball from the free throw line. Seeing this, who among the Celtics players dared to come to help defend?

If you defend, you will either be dunked on or give up a two-plus-one. Even the best result is just a foul, sending Duane to the free throw line.

Forget it, I can only watch.

boom--

Duane made another dunk, completely igniting the atmosphere on the scene!

To be honest, although Celtics fans are xenophobic, they still have due respect for the historical superstar.

Even Kobe Bryant, the star player of the arch-rival Lakers, was welcomed and treated with courtesy by Celtics fans when he retired.

Tonight, Duane was a guest at TD Garden. The last time he dunked over Gway, they forced themselves to remain silent.

And this time, Duane played really beautifully with the fake hand-off and slam dunk, which made people couldn't help but shout and cheer for Duane.

Coincidentally, after Curry hit the next three-pointer, some Celtics fans who admired Curry were no longer reserved and also exclaimed for Curry.

When the Bulls won Game 112 of the Eastern Conference Finals 98-1, led by some Celtics fans, all the fans in the stadium began shouting "MVP" at Jokic as he was about to leave the player tunnel!
The Bulls are sixth in the Eastern Conference this year, and the team's record is too poor, so Jokic naturally has no chance to win the regular season MVP again.

However, in the eyes of Celtics fans, Jokic is still the MVP of last season and the undisputed ruler of the league.

For example, tonight, Jokic didn't seem to put in much effort, but he quietly scored 22 points, 13 rebounds, 7 assists and 2 blocks.

Although the statistics are a bit inflated these days, it is indeed rare to find inside players who can consistently score 20+10 in the playoffs.

What's more, in addition to points and rebounds, Jokic also had assists, and even almost doubled his assists, getting a triple-double of 20+10+10.

There is no doubt that Jokic is the Bulls' core.

The Bulls were able to beat the Celtics tonight, and the work done by Jokic was undoubtedly very important.

The Celtics paid too much attention to Jokic, and no one in the interior could stop Jokic, causing the score difference to widen little by little.

By the time the defense was adjusted and Jokic was heavily guarded, either Curry would make a three-pointer from the outside or Duane would succeed in stealing the ball again.

For the rest, Wiggins somehow scored another 18 points.

In addition, there were 8 rebounds, which was more than usual.

Among the Bulls' five starters, only Ohashi's stats were slightly worse, with only 13 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

If there were one more 3 points, the combined score of the Bulls' starting five would have reached 100 points.

No matter how you look at it, the Bulls' starting lineup did make Celtics fans feel in awe. The five of them scored a total of 97 points, which was only 1 point less than the entire Celtics team!
With the strength of this starting lineup, how can the Celtics win?
Not to mention, the Bulls' starting lineup also has good defensive capabilities, especially on the outside.

If Tatum had not failed to break through Wiggins, and was even a little afraid to shoot because of Wiggins' defense, the Celtics would not have failed to score more than 34 points despite free throws.

However, although Brown scored 32 points tonight, it was the Bulls who gave up the lead.

In Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Bulls' initial defensive strategy was similar to that of Game 1.

When Brown gets into the game early and starts to take charge of the ball, the Bulls will switch to Wiggins to defend Brown.

Brown learned from Tatum that Wiggins' defensive ability is extraordinary, but he didn't take it too seriously.

After all, he and Tatum have different physical qualities, offensive methods and offensive habits. Brown doesn't believe Wiggins can still lock him down, not to mention that he is in good shape today. Who would have thought that Wiggins is in better shape.

He moves quickly with small steps and is very focused on defense.

Brown was unable to attack Wiggins as he did with Curry, and he barely made an emergency stop and pull-up shot, but was blocked by Wiggins with his physical talent.

"What happened?"

In Brown's eyes, Wiggins' arm seemed to suddenly stretch a few inches, causing his sure-shot shot to miss.

After being shocked for half a second, Brown took advantage of Wiggins not landing yet and immediately jumped up to grab the ball in the air.

However, given Wiggins' previous magical block, Brown did not continue to shoot in front of Wiggins, but instead tried to dribble Wiggins away.

Wiggins was really fooled this time, but Brown did not seize the opportunity to commit a foul. Instead, he chose to dribble to the side before shooting.

It can only be said that Brown, the third pick, does not fully understand the talent of Wiggins, the first pick.

As soon as Brown threw the ball, Wiggins' hand blocked it from the side. This time the block was more solid and directly sent the ball flying to the sideline. Unlike the last time, Wiggins only used his fingers to poke the ball into the air.

"Where did you come from?"

"How could you... be Wiggins?"

Brown was blocked. At first, people thought it was other Bulls players assisting in defense, but who would have thought it was Wiggins who blocked the shot after a second jump.

Just outrageous!
Brown felt that the person defending him was not a normal person, but Spider-Man.

What does it mean to have an airtight defense that covers the entire sky and blocks out the sun?
Unlike other death-coiling perimeter defenders, Wiggins' defense is not too aggressive, so when shooting, Brown did not feel any discomfort, but subconsciously thought that Wiggins' defense was just so-so.

But witnessing Wiggins' miraculous block, which was simply limited by his outstanding jumping ability and excellent wingspan, was a shock to Brown's heart that was beyond words.

In the next few rounds, when Brown met Wiggins with the ball, he only tried to break through instead of shooting.

When the breakthrough failed, Brown decisively passed the ball.

The Celtics players had expected Brown to continue calling on Curry to open the scoring, just like he did in the previous game.

Who would have thought that just meeting Wiggins would be like hitting a wall for Brown.

In fact, it’s not that Brown doesn’t have the ability to break through the wall in front of him. He can definitely do it if he tries a few more times.

But the problem is, this is the Eastern Conference Finals, and this is G2, which has already lost a home game!

Brown was worried that because he insisted on single-handedly attacking Wiggins, he would end up losing the game because of his poor scoring efficiency.

Sometimes, star players worry that they will get too carried away and cause the team to lose. The more they think so, the easier it is for them to restrict themselves, seal their own abilities, make their offensive capabilities weaker, and ultimately lead to losses.

Therefore, there are famous scenes where some stars dare not score more after scoring 8 points.

If you really work hard, there will be no problem scoring in double digits.

Having said that, Brown was limited by Wiggins, but also by his own inner demons.

In this way, the Celtics' scoring responsibility can only be entrusted to Tatum.

However, Tatum is only a king of durability, but not a king of weight-bearing.

In terms of scoring output, even with the help of the whistle, Tatum did not score 40 points very often in the playoffs.

In the situation tonight, even if he scores 50 points, he may not be able to lead the team to victory.

What's more, the Celtics not only need him to score, but also to defend.

The inside combination of Jokic and Durant is clearly better than the Celtics.

In order to limit Jokic and Durant's scoring in the paint, the Celtics had to set up a 23 zone defense to strengthen protection of the restricted area.

Both Jokic and Dunn are happy to use offense to consume Tatum.

Tatum wanted to help the Celtics win the game, so sometimes when he was caught out of position by Jokic and Durant, he could only force his way forward.

However, in terms of strength and confrontation, there is indeed a gap of several orders of magnitude, and there is no way to resist it.

After expending a lot of energy on the defensive end, Tatum, who shot more from the outside, also looked relatively weak.

Although it was better than the previous game, it was still difficult to score.

The referee couldn't stand it anymore and called two fouls on Jokic within 2 minutes, forcing Jokic to leave the court early to rest.

However, before the end of the first half, the score difference had widened to 20 points, making it difficult for the Celtics players to have the confidence to catch up and win.

In the third quarter, Curry made two three-pointers right at the start, further breaking through the Celtics players' psychological defenses.

In fact, the Celtics' problems are not only on the court, but also that there is no big brother in the locker room who can intimidate everyone and then unite them.

The core of the Celtics is the two rookies. As long as one of them plays well, he can take the lead and drive other teammates.

To be honest, the Celtics' lineup is very good. Not only do they have two rookies, but the other players are all championship-contending pieces who are both talented and have playoff experience.

Unfortunately, the personal abilities and leadership of the two top players are a little short of being super giants.

This means that although the Celtics are a strong championship contender, they do not have a strong ability to fight tough battles.

If they encounter opponents weaker than them, they will naturally be able to crush them all the way.

When facing a team with a restrained lineup like the Bulls, once the team fails to win the game and falls into a disadvantage, they can only wait for death.

124 to 101, the Celtics finally scored over 1 points, but the Bulls also scored a little more than in G.

With the Bulls winning two consecutive away games, the outcome of this Eastern Conference Finals series seems to have become a foregone conclusion.

Sure enough, the Bulls are about to soar into the sky again!

The league's top brass were somewhat restless, but there was really no better way.

The key to the Bulls' victory lies in the perimeter defense!

Today is the era of small ball, which has led to the phenomenon that the top forwards in the league win the game and the forwards are king.

The Bulls happen to have two of the league's top wing defenders who can limit the performance of their forward stars to the greatest extent, causing those teams that rely on forwards to lose their biggest advantage.

On the other hand, championship-contending teams that rely on forwards as their core often have limited team salaries, which leads to insufficient quality of their inside players.

After all, the team has money, so they must find a qualified organizer to provide an engine for the double front line.

As a result, there is naturally no money to strengthen the inside line.

If the interior defense is strengthened, the influence of the organizer on the team and the game will be ignored.

On the contrary, it will be because the two forwards do not have enough ball possession, and the team lacks a point guard to connect the team and drive and inspire role players.

As a result, during the regular season, the team spent a lot of money and suffered heavy blows because the two forwards could not play their due role, and were beaten badly by other teams with more reasonable lineups.

Therefore, the closer we get to the playoffs, conference finals, and finals, the more the Bulls' lineup restraint advantage will become.

This also means that even if a team can break through the Bulls' perimeter defense, the Bulls can rely on Jokic to score high and low in the interior and fight for offense.

The Bulls are fully capable of scoring 120 or 130 points in the playoffs in this era.

But so far, the Bulls only need to implement the strategy of winning the championship with defense. As long as they limit the opponent's single-game score to less than 110 points, they can win. (End of this chapter)