NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

"Stop arguing, all of you!" the usually taciturn Duncan suddenly said. "They're already here! Aren't you afraid of losing face arguing with your own teammates on the court?"

It must be said that Duncan's intimidation factor is still there.

Although he has spoken less and less in the past two years and is willing to give way to Howard, this does not mean that his prestige has also declined.

In the Celtics, Parker, Ginobili, and Howard all respected, and even feared, Duncan.

And it's quite possible that among these people, the one most afraid of Duncan is Howard himself.

Because he's not stupid.

He was quite clear that his current status, the team's star player, the first shot taker, and the tactical position as the primary offensive option were all given to him by Duncan, not something he had truly seized.

He was afraid of Duncan. He was afraid that if Duncan ever became unhappy, he would really take everything back: the space in the low post, the right to attack independently, and the status of the team's leader.

Howard believes that if Duncan wants it, a large portion of the team would support him.

No, if we only consider the players, it's very possible that there isn't a single person on the team who supports him!

He's not stupid; he knows very well Duncan's position and popularity within the team.

But Howard is the kind of person who is ambitious beyond measure, and there is always a supreme ruler above him who is suppressing him. Howard is really unhappy about this, and he dreams of rising up and completely getting rid of Duncan, this supreme ruler.

But he also knew that he didn't have that skill level.

The person was caught in a rather conflicted state.

They want to be the leader, but they're also afraid someone will take that position from them.

He became the boss, but he knew that he was given the position by someone else.

But this time, Duncan's words did indeed resolve the Celtics' internal conflict. Parker and Howard both quieted down and quickly returned to their positions to prepare for defense.

"pause!"

Lin Tian was furious.

He stood up aggressively, gestured for a timeout to the referee, and stared grimly at the bewildered player who walked up to him.

The players don't know what's wrong with them. They just defended against the opponent's attack, and no one made a mistake.
"What were you guys doing just now?" Lin Tian didn't even go back to the bench, but stood directly on the sidelines, looking at Rose and the others: "Answer me, what were you doing?"

"Advance, prepare for attack." Although Ross didn't understand what was going on, he answered truthfully.

"Advance, prepare to attack?" Lin Tian snorted, looking at him and saying, "Didn't you see the argument on the other side?"

"I saw it, so I think this is an opportunity, and we might be able to take advantage of it and easily score points."

"What are you talking about?" Lin Tian waved his hand, looking at Ross with disappointment. "Our opponents are fighting amongst themselves. How can we take advantage of their misfortune and just rush in to attack? That's not fair at all!"

“My players shouldn’t do this kind of thing.”

Half of the team patted their ears, thinking they had misheard.

Be upright and honest; do not take advantage of others in their time of need.

Did these words really come from my beloved coach?

Stephenson, who was superstitious about shamanic magic, even considered hitting Lin Tian directly with a broom.

"No matter who you are, get off our coach!"

But the other half, such as Yao Ming, Jeremy Lin, and Fields, were smart enough to know that Lin Tian definitely had something else to say, and that he would definitely try to turn things around.

"Slow down! Slow down! Everyone, don't rush, slow down, slow down!" Lin Tian kept pressing down with his hands, reminding his players: "They're fighting amongst themselves, and you rush over to take advantage of their misfortune? Are you men?"

"What we need to do is slow down, understand? Slow down! Let them fight, let them argue, let them have their fun!"

"Got it? Everyone, next time this happens, let them argue all they want, and then we'll go over. You can be a little slower when serving from the baseline, and you can push the ball up close to the edge of the 8-second timeout. If all else fails, I'll call a timeout for you, and I won't let you make a mistake."

"Coach, you mean we rushed over too fast, and when they saw us coming, they stopped arguing, right?" Ross slapped his thigh, realizing!
"You mean, let them argue a bit more, make a scene for a while, or better yet, just start fighting, and then we'll attack!"

"That's the idea! Let them resolve their internal conflicts internally. We, as external factors, shouldn't interfere with their efforts to solve their internal problems, understand?"

"Understood!" Rose and the others nodded, indicating that they understood. At the same time, they regretted that just because they ran two steps faster, the Celtics' internal strife had vanished without a trace.

such a pity!
pity?

Lin Tian looked at the opposing bench without any regrets!
He knows the Celtics team all too well!
He wouldn't say he knew everyone inside and out, but he at least knew the most important players on the team.

Rivers is bad at handling internal conflicts. When conflicts arise, he avoids the issue, tells everyone to stay strong and that the team is the priority, and then gives everyone another pep talk.

When faced with team problems, his tactic is always to make empty promises and smooth things over. He makes a grand promise, assigns equal blame to both sides, and that's it! The matter is then put on hold.

But sometimes, it's clear that you can't turn the page.

Why is he so good at coaching tank teams that are mostly rookies and fringe players, and how does he manage to lead them to success?

Young players and those struggling on the fringes of the league fall for this approach; they need opportunities, they need playing time, and they can't afford to offend coaches or cause trouble.

However, when he coaches a team with a lot of star players and players with different personalities, the team atmosphere always becomes problematic.

He didn't get along with McGrady on the Magic, he caused Rondo and Allen to fall out on the Celtics, he had many problems on the Clippers, and he didn't get along with Harden while coaching the 76ers. When he came to the Bucks... there haven't been any problems with the Bucks yet, but he's only been there for half a season. Who can guarantee what will happen in the future?

In short, Rivers is not the kind of person who can handle the psychological problems of star players!

As for the others?
Parker and Ginobili have always played together and have a good relationship. Add to that the upright and loyal Jackson, and Howard bullies Parker. Do you think these three can make him feel comfortable?
If we pause now, we might start arguing.

As for Howard, this guy thinks he's a combination of Chamberlain, O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, and Olajuwon, but clearly, while he has the ability to be the league's best center, he's still quite far from being a true all-time great center.

His abilities don't match his ambitions!
Howard and his former teammates Lin Tian are destined to clash!

The only suspense is when things will escalate.

Lin Tian only called this timeout for a small portion of his own players; he wanted to teach them how to deal with infighting among their opponents.

But the remaining majority were called by the other side.

After all, it's just a small matter of who gets the ball in one round. If it goes on for two rounds, they'll most likely forget about it and just keep playing.

We should take advantage of the fact that the fire has just started and is burning brightly, add fuel to the fire, give them time to continue burning, and ideally, let it explode!
Then, Lin Tian saw Duncan suddenly stand up and stand in the middle of everyone.

This guy is the only variable.

No one else on the Celtics team can change the current situation and the team's terrible atmosphere.

But Duncan could. If he were to step in and calm the players down and stop their infighting, there would be a good chance that the Celtics could reunite.

What a pity! Such a big guy, it would be great if he broke his leg.

Lin Tian watched Duncan speaking rapidly, but he couldn't hear what he was saying.

But he could guess that it was nothing more than making Parker and Howard apologize to each other, and scaring Ginobili and Jackson away from getting carried away and escalating the conflict, making them behave themselves.

Then Lin Tian saw Howard and Parker reach out and shake hands. Although both of them looked reluctant, at least on the surface, they had made up.

"What a pity." Lin Tian sighed again, clapping his hands. "Looks like they won't self-destruct! Then we'll have to rely on ourselves!"

With a whistle from the referee, the players from both sides returned to the court. This time, neither side made any substitutions. This was mainly because Lin Tian's timeout was too sudden, and neither side needed to make any substitutions.

How long has it been since the last timeout!
That's not necessary.

After Rose got the basketball again, he used almost the exact same tactic as before.

Everyone, pull him away; he's going to continue his one-on-one fight with Allen!
There's no need to elaborate on how terrifying a fully fit Derrick Rose can be.

If a fully fit Rose faces an exhausted opponent, his speed will be even more terrifying!
When he charged past Allen once again, everyone else on the court looked like they were moving in slow motion.

Rose's speed appears to be at least two gears faster than everyone else's!
"Whoosh!"

It was almost like a gust of wind, and then Rose rushed past everyone and drove to the basket! This time, he didn't even give Howard a chance to contest with him; he jumped early and launched a floater!

"Shh!"

After another crisp sound, Rose helped his team score another 2 points!
The score is tied.

"We can't stop him now," Miller said after Rose made the shot. "Rose is at least two stops faster than everyone else."

“Right now, it feels like Rose is driving an F1 car around the court,” Jackson added. “The rest of the players are more like family vans.”

"Lin's approach to personnel management is truly astonishing!"

Miller also praised, "Great! At first I thought it was because Jeremy played better and more reassuringly tonight that Lin reduced Ross's playing time, but now it seems that it was all part of his plan."

"He's forcibly suppressing Rose so that he has enough energy to explode in the last quarter!"

“There’s another detail,” Jackson said. “The Bobcats didn’t play fast tonight! They completely slowed down the pace; they really slowed down.”

"I used to think this was about playing it safe, about avoiding mistakes when the team tries to push too fast. But now it seems that this kind of safe, cautious, and boring tactic is not something a crazy coach like Lin would consider. That's not what he would do."

"The reason this guy is slowing down the pace is to encourage more intense physical contact between the two sides, and to cause their stamina to drop and be depleted significantly under such intense competition. Also, if the Celtics are really in good form tonight..."

Even if the Bobcats are at a disadvantage and are being pressured by the Celtics, they won't fall too far behind or be completely crushed.

"For example, right now, when Rose is firing, they are only down by 4 points, and they can catch up in 2 possessions."

"He's cunning and calculating!"

While the two commentators were lavishly praising Rose, the Celtics finally broke their scoring drought.

This time, Howard finally didn't try to position himself under the basket, but instead gave space to Duncan, allowing Duncan to take a one-on-one shot under the basket.

Facing Boozer, Duncan managed to score a basket thanks to his height advantage.

The Celtics regained the lead.

But their lead didn't last long.

Because Rose is back in action!

This time, although he didn't score himself, Rose's impact threw the Celtics' defense into chaos. Although his layup was interfered with by Howard and missed, Yao Ming grabbed the offensive rebound and successfully put it back in for a basket.

"We can't defend him! We can't hold him up at all! Shouldn't the Celtics consider calling a timeout?" Jackson couldn't help but say. "They need to adjust their approach to playing against Rose!"

Rivers completely ignored Jackson's suggestion; instead of calling a timeout, he let the team continue their offense.

Not only did Rivers not call a timeout this time, but he also didn't call a timeout for the next two minutes.

However, the score remained close.

Or rather, the Bobcats were always just one step away from completely turning the score around!
Even though Rose was unstoppable for those few minutes, and no one could stop him, the Celtics always managed to respond accordingly.

The Bobcats could only manage a tie at best.

As time dwindled, Lin Tian grew anxious. Rose's speed remained unstoppable, but the Celtics were gradually adapting to his superhuman pace.

Although neither Allen nor anyone else could catch up with Rose, the Celtics' second line of defense reacted faster and faster. After all, they had two top-class defensive big men, Duncan and Howard, who could give Rose very fierce interference on the second line of defense.

Just one breath away.

Lin Tian bit his lip, a rare look of tension on his face. He really wished he could go on the court himself. He had plenty of ways to disrupt and deal with the Celtics' twin towers, but unfortunately, he couldn't.

At this point, it's no longer a time when the coach can control the game.

At this point, all tactics and arrangements are no longer important.

Both teams' main players were exhausted, and they had used up all the resources they had.

The upcoming matches will be a test of willpower, a test of who makes fewer mistakes, a test of who can better control their emotions, avoid errors, minimize missed shots, and defend against their opponent.

At this point in the game, all the coach can do is cheer the team on.

It would be better if I just went out there and played myself!
Instead of just standing on the sidelines anxiously like tonight.

Then, he watched helplessly as Duncan's strong drive to the basket missed, but Howard found an opportunity to grab the rebound and then slammed it home with a dunk!
He not only dunked successfully, but also drew a foul from Boozer!
This is Boozer's sixth foul.

This guy got kicked off the court.

At this point, there were only 2 minutes left in the game.

The score was 83-85!

After Rose came on, the Bobcats' offense improved significantly, and Lin Tian's strategy proved effective. Rose scored 8 points and provided 1 assist in the last few minutes. Of the 12 points the team scored in the last few minutes, 10 were related to him!
But the Bobcats were still behind.

Because Duncan unleashed his power, Lin Tian didn't know what he said to Howard during that timeout, but in any case, Howard became obedient after that.

They didn't go for one-on-one plays, nor did they obsess over low-post play; the two even executed two low-post inside passes.

The Celtics' chemistry just suddenly kicked in!

And it wasn't just their chemical reaction that took off, but also their luck.

"Shh!"

After a crisp sound, Howard made the free throw!

83: 86!

The Celtics have once again taken a 3-point lead.

"Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar! Roar!" Howard roared excitedly to the sky after successfully scoring a 2+1, pounding his chest in wild celebration.

"I am Dwight Howard! I am Superman/Warcraft! Nobody can stop me!"

That free throw unleashed all of Howard's confidence!

Not only did he make a play, but when he passed by his teammates, he selectively gave Duncan and Allen a high-five.

As for Parker, he ignored him.

"pause!"

At this moment, Lin Tian decisively called a timeout. He needed to make some adjustments, as he believed the team could not continue playing like this.

He's not the kind of person who passively watches the changes on the field without making any changes; at this moment, he actively seeks change.

"With Carlos out, the pressure on our interior will be even greater. They'll definitely be more aggressive in grabbing offensive rebounds, and they'll be even more aggressive in utilizing their height and size advantages. Box out, everyone, pay attention to boxing out and rebounding!"

"Rebounds are our lifeline. If we lose all rebounds, then tonight will truly be our farewell."

"Hold on tight! Understand? Don't let us lose a single defensive rebound!"

Lin Tian looked at all the players around him, thought for a moment, and then said, "Lamar, you'll replace Carlos! Help Derrick relieve some of the pressure of dribbling and organizing, help him advance the ball, and if there's an opportunity, go for it!"

"Gordon, take a break! Your replacement is here." Lin Tian glanced around at his players, then looked at a player who rarely played: "Landry, it's your turn!"

"You're replacing Gordon, and your task is simple: grab offensive rebounds, secure defensive rebounds, and look for opportunities to cut to the basket or catch and shoot!"

"Me?" Landry Fields, who hadn't played a single second all night, stared at Lin Tian in disbelief, even though he had dreamed many times of becoming a hero and saving the team, and even though he had been waiting for Lin Tian to call out his name.

But at this moment in the game, at this very moment in the game, Fields really didn't expect that Lin Tian would suddenly call out his name.

"You, give me one question: Are you ready? Do you dare to step up and take responsibility?"

"I will complete the mission!" After the initial shock, Fields immediately patted his chest and said, "Lance, Jeremy, and I are all ready!"

"Let's go!" Lin Tian shouted. "We're only down by 3 points! With two minutes left, we'll catch up! We'll win the game!" (End of Chapter)