Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

Back at the United Center in Chicago, Duane and others thought that this Eastern Conference Finals would be like the previous Eastern Conference semifinals, sweeping their opponents 4-0 to advance to the next round.

After all, they have already won two consecutive away games, so how difficult will it be to win the next home games?

However, everything should be viewed from a developmental perspective!
The home and away factors are not static, and the Bulls and Celtics are not static either.

What makes the series even more exciting is that every game is different.

Even if the previous few games are won easily, the offense and defense may change in the next game, resulting in a shocking reversal.

Perhaps it was because they had won too many games against the Celtics in recent years, coupled with two consecutive away victories, the Bulls were clearly not fully prepared for Game 3.

In other words, the Bulls did not take opponents of the Celtics' level seriously enough. As the defending champions, the Bulls coaching staff and goalkeeper seemed too arrogant.

As the saying goes, arrogant soldiers will be defeated!

From the start of the first quarter of G3, the situation on the court was somewhat unfavorable to the Bulls.

But the Bulls players didn't care too much about it. They felt that their lineup had more advantages and Jokic could provide a backup, so they were not worried at all and continued to play at the same pace as before.

Until the Celtics changed their previous home lineup and style of play, tonight they mainly relied on the two rookies to hold the ball and use screens to break into the inside.

Even if he can't force his way in, he chooses to try a jump shot near the restricted area instead of reluctantly shooting from outside the three-point line.

This offensive style is very different from the current small ball era.

Anyone who knows a little bit about basketball knows that just breaking into the paint without shooting three-pointers means the team has no space at all.

When a group of people crowd in the inside, the difficulty of breaking through increases greatly, and the dribbling error rate will also increase.

Whether the ball can be scored depends entirely on the offensive ability of the ball handler, and the role of role players on the court will be greatly reduced, limited to positioning, rebounding, or secondary offense under the basket.

For this style of basketball that is a revival of ancient times, the Bulls should just play zone defense and strictly guard the restricted area.

If there were no other interference, the Celtics would undoubtedly be launching a suicide attack.

The current Celtics do not have historical inside superstars such as Chamberlain, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, O'Neal, Olajuwon, and Duncan.

Relying solely on the two rookies to break into the interior, but there are no cornerstone or pillar players in the interior who can finish stably, productively and efficiently after receiving the ball.

Well, even if the two rookies transform into Kobe, they will still fail to make three shots from behind when double-teamed by three or four players.

Why did Jordan and Kobe play the triangle offense? Isn't it because they don't want to be double-teamed by three or four opponents all the time?
Isn't it more comfortable to be able to finish in a one-on-one game than to shoot when being double-teamed by three or four people?

And today's two top picks obviously haven't reached Kobe's level.

However, with the help of the body hair whistle, Wade can also transform into Jordan.

The Celtics' two rookies, with the help of the whistle, abandoned the three-point shooting style tonight, which also has some sayings.

At the beginning, the Bulls saw the Celtics attacking the restricted area and took the initiative to set up a 23 zone defense to strengthen the defense in the interior.

This leaves only two players on the outside, and the Celtics pull the inside players at positions four and five to the three-point line and free throw line to provide continuous screens for the two rookies who have the ball.

The Bulls are short of players on the outside, so the two rookies can easily get space from outside the three-point line to the front of the restricted area.

As an opponent, the Bulls are also aware that the two rookies have certain mid-range shooting abilities.

Therefore, when the two rookies get a chance to shoot from a wide open or half-open position one step inside the three-point line, the Bulls' wing and inside players will inevitably rush out from the restricted area.

Unexpectedly, the two rookies were well prepared, and whoever jumped on the Bulls side would be unlucky.

Whether it is a normal foul or a standing long jump foul, as long as the Bulls defensive player dares to jump first and the opponent touches him, it will be two free throws.

Sometimes, the two rookies are well prepared before committing a foul and shoot towards the basket. If they are lucky, it can be a 2+1.

As for the Bulls, both the starting players and the substitutes quickly accumulated fouls without realizing it.

As a result, less than 5 minutes into the first quarter, the team had accumulated the maximum number of fouls.

In this way, even if the Bulls adjust their strategy and let their outside players set screens faster, they may still have physical collisions with the Celtics inside players who are setting screens when chasing the two rookies, and the referee may seize the opportunity to call a foul, sending the Celtics inside players to the free throw line.

Everyone knows how difficult it is to play a 5 vs. 8 game.

Body hair whistles can greatly affect a team's overall defensive strategy, and can also affect the players' emotions, mentality and offensive state.

Especially in the current small ball era, the percentage of three-point shots and points is getting higher and higher.

When an outside shooter's mentality is affected by unfair calls, it is easy for him to miss shots frequently.

In the NBA, it is common to see that one player on a team misses shots for several consecutive rounds, and then the rest of the teammates follow suit.

Once someone on the team starts shooting three-pointers, the shooting touch of the others will also improve and everything will go smoothly in an instant.

To put it bluntly, the pressure of the game can affect the players' mentality.

In a favorable game, everyone has no pressure and is very confident, so making a three-pointer is a win.

In a game against the odds, the stars cannot stand out, role players dare not take the blame, the ball is hot, and they are in a wide open position and have to shoot, and then they miss the shot, and the more they shoot, the worse they get.

The same thing happened to the Bulls tonight, with no problems on offense at the beginning.

It was just the body hair whistle that made the Bulls players feel a little disgusted.

Normally, it wouldn't be a big problem to play 5 against 8, and we have done it that way in the past.

However, as the two core players Jokic and Curry came on in the second quarter, they were fouled one after another. The number of personal fouls was either three or four, and they had to go down to avoid the spotlight temporarily.

Then, the Bulls players seemed to have lost their backbone and were extremely angry at the referees and Celtics players on the field.

Under the influence of these negative emotions, the Bulls players missed the shots they should have made.

He even wanted to argue about some penalties, and was distracted, allowing the Celtics defender to snatch the ball from his hands and trigger a transition offense.

As the score gap widened, the Bulls lost by 18 points after the first half, and the Bulls' starting five all accumulated three or four fouls, so there was no way to play the game.

After the third quarter, the score was 85-61, and the Celtics had a 24-point lead, which basically turned the fourth quarter into garbage time. Next, the Celtics did not withdraw their main players, but instead used their remaining courage to pursue the Bulls and add insult to injury.

It was not until the beginning of the fourth quarter when the score difference widened to more than 30 points that the Bulls took the initiative to surrender their main players and then withdrew the two rookies step by step.

After the game, the Bulls naturally expressed dissatisfaction with the game.

Not only for the referees and Celtics players, but also for the Bulls themselves.

To put it bluntly, as defending champions with rich playoff experience, the Bulls should have expected something like this to happen.

It was also because the Bulls had been winning continuously recently, playing too smoothly, too complacent, and too lazy, which allowed the Celtics to seize the opportunity to make a mistake.

However, the series is only halfway through.

Even if the Bulls make mistakes, they still have many opportunities to make up for it.

Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Finals is coming soon, and the Bulls, who have already adjusted themselves, will naturally not give the Celtics any more chances.

If the Celtics want to scam me, I'll just get into position in advance, stand still and don't jump.

At worst, I'll let you take mid-range shots in half-open space.

Mid-range shots are the least efficient way to score.

As long as the Bulls give the two rookies more physical contact before they shoot, and put pressure on them on the offensive end to consume their physical strength, they can accept a large number of mid-range shots from the two rookies.

"brush--"

"brush--"

"brush--"

If defense is not enough, offense will make up for it!

As Curry made three-pointers one after another, the Bulls proved that three-pointers are more valuable than two-pointers.

Relying on the "nuclear deterrence" of three-pointers, three-pointers are one point more than two points, and the accumulation of one point again and again, the Bulls firmly grasped the scoring lead in the first quarter.

Faced with Curry's god-like performance, the Celtics had to adjust their defensive strategy.

What is the small ball era? This is the small ball era!

In the small ball era, the thing that has the greatest influence on changing defense is not the whistle, but the three-pointer!
As long as the outside shooting is accurate enough, even 5 vs 8 is no problem.

As long as the opponent's defense is focused on the outside, as long as the inside line is a little stronger than the opponent, it can explode at a single point and be unstoppable.

The Bulls happen to have the league's strongest three-point shooting ability, explosive scoring from the outside, and dominance in the interior.

Admittedly, Curry, who has declined now, is not as stable in three-point shooting.

However, as long as Curry finds his touch, his scoring explosiveness is still amazing!

The Eastern Conference Finals have reached Game 4. No matter what, Curry should have a big game!

As the saying goes, when good luck comes, heaven and earth will be on your side!
If the Bulls were playing at home, all the fans would cheer in unison to cheer for Curry to make a three-pointer.

Curry also felt very familiar with this scene and became more excited.

Curry made three consecutive three-pointers, and other Bulls players also followed with two or three three-pointers. In less than half a quarter, they scored nearly 20 points.

The Celtics heavily guarded the perimeter on defense and intensified the double-team on Curry. Jokic took advantage of the situation and struck hard, playing with the Celtics' inside players.

The Bulls relied on their two core players, Jokic and Curry, to perform well inside and outside, severely suppressing the Celtics' offensive momentum.

The other players realized that this was a favorable and crushing game, so they worked harder.

Strengthened the protection of rebounds and accelerated the speed of defensive counterattacks.

The Celtics rely on the two rookies to hold the ball a lot in offense, so it is impossible to ask the two rookies to invest more energy in protecting rebounds and returning to defense on fast breaks.

The Celtics' role players were unable to defend, which affected their offensive state, and their offense became worse and worse.

Even though the two rookies scored a combined 69 points with the help of the referee, it was of no avail.

In the end, the score was fixed at 104 to 121. The Bulls once again defeated the Celtics with a huge gap of 17 points and pushed the series score to 3 to 1.

The Celtics players are all experienced people and they know very well that this means it is almost time for this series to end.

Therefore, after the start of Game 5, the Celtics only put up a symbolic resistance in the first half.

After confirming that there was no way or chance to defeat the Bulls, they could only watch the Bulls defeat them once again and advance to the finals.

“We lost to the champion!”

“They are a dynasty team!”

"We are still growing, and they are about to end!"

"Congratulations to them! In the next season, we will be as great as the Chicago Bulls!"

“Yes, greatness is not about achieving success.

It’s about how to accept failure, how to climb out of the hell of failure and reach the highest peak!

I believe we can be successful and we can be a great team.

Just like the Chicago Bulls in front of us!"

After the game, the Celtics players comforted themselves in this way.

However, I am really convinced by the Bulls.

After the game, no one walked directly to the player tunnel in a dejected mood. Instead, they stayed on the court, waiting for the Bulls players and blessing them. (End of this chapter)