NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

As it turns out, Howard's difficult hook shot was just a fleeting moment of brilliance.

It's not just because Thomas became more aggressive on defense after being reminded by Barnes; the guy has remembered his job again. He shouldn't be afraid of fouls, and he doesn't need to worry about fouling out.

Barnes' defensive awareness and speed in helping defense are also significantly better than DeRozan's. Although their offensive abilities are incomparable, the Bobcats clearly need defense more right now.

Howard then defied all odds and scored three consecutive baskets under the rim.

It didn't work out even once.

Or, to put it another way, he was double-teamed by Barnes once, fouled by Barnes who came over to help defend once and had the ball snatched from his hands when inbounding the ball, and fouled by Thomas once and went to the free-throw line.

Then it was another 1-for-2 free throw.

Howard's efficiency remains quite low.

After Howard had essentially taken four shots in a row, Ginobili finally couldn't stand it anymore. He forced his way through the Bobcats' tight defense and made a very difficult reverse layup, which was the Celtics' second field goal of the quarter.

Meanwhile, the Bobcats exploited the Celtics' weaknesses, namely the lack of mobility and defensive threat among the players besides Howard. They constantly used drives, passes, pick-and-rolls, and cuts to disrupt and destroy the Celtics' defensive system.

The effect is quite good!

Although the Bobcats' offensive efficiency is still not high because Thomas and Barnes have few and inefficient finishing moves, they are not in a hurry since they are already leading.

We're in the lead, there's nothing to worry about!

With both teams playing at this pace and in this style of play, the Bobcats were still slowly widening the score gap, albeit not significantly, but they still maintained an advantage on the court.

As time ticked away, with only 8 minutes left in the game, Rivers finally patted a frantic Duncan on the shoulder: "Go, Tim, go and finish the game!"

This time, Duncan didn't waste words with Rivers. Instead, he stood up and walked straight onto the court.

He was very unhappy!

If he had substituted himself in 3 minutes earlier, the team wouldn't be down by 6 points now.

But Rivers insisted on suppressing his own desire to clock in and make substitutions.

Duncan was extremely unhappy.

Alongside Duncan, Parker and Jackson also played.

In the last 8 minutes of the game, Rivers temporarily removed Tony Allen, a defensive specialist, and brought out his strongest offensive five!

On the Bobcats' side, Lin Tian also chose to change his lineup at this time.

Rose took the court first, followed by Thomas, Barnes, DeRozan, and Odom. Lin Tian still opted to rotate his lineup at this point! He didn't bring out his starting lineup, or even his theoretically strongest lineup.

Looking at the lineups of both teams, it's clear that the Celtics want to have an early showdown, while the Bobcats are still in a leisurely and tentative manner.

Judging from the abilities of both head coaches and the atmosphere of the teams, it seems as if the Bobcats are the team with 60+ wins in the regular season and home-court advantage.

"Lin is still not playing Yao Ming? He even took Boozer out." Miller was once again astonished by Lin Tian's lineup and couldn't help but ask, "What is he really trying to do?"

"Look at the number of fouls!"

At this moment, Jackson displayed his natural point guard vision and shouted, "Four times! The Bobcats have committed four fouls! Honestly, I have a very bad feeling."

"The Celtics might be in trouble from here on out!"

Sure enough, no sooner had Jackson finished speaking than Barnes rushed over, grabbed Howard, and sent him to the free-throw line just as the Celtics inbounded the ball.

"Too fast." Lin Tian was clearly dissatisfied with this. He pulled Barnes to his side and said, "We're in the lead! What's the rush? Wait until they cross the halfway line, wait until they start making runs and launching their attack."

"Go ahead and foul again! You'll waste another 10 or 8 seconds of his time."

"This not only effectively kills time, but also makes them restless and even more angry and unhappy."

"You're not just using foul tactics, you're using psychological tactics, understand?"

"Sorry, Coach." Barnes rubbed his head and said, "Foul tactics are usually used when we're behind. When we use them, the faster the foul, the better. But we're leading this time, so it's a bit unusual."

"I've never seen a bastard use this 'Hack-a-Shaq' tactic when leading! It's a desecration of basketball, and the game is going to become quite ugly!" Van Gundy couldn't help but point his finger at Lin Tian and curse him, saying, "I've never seen such a shameless person."

"What are you saying!" Lin Tian looked at Van Gundy and said, "I tolerated everyone else saying that my move would affect the entertainment value and excitement of the match, but what gives you the right to say that? What makes you so confident in saying that?"

"When you were a coach, your playing style was the least entertaining, ugliest, and most ugly in the league!"

"Do you believe that my fouling tactics are much more entertaining and interesting than your serious coaching of the team?"

"I don't understand my own position!"

Lin Tian's few words left Van Gundy speechless. He opened his mouth several times, and even the few remaining strands of hair on the back of his head showed signs of falling out.

In the end, Van Gundy really couldn't say anything to refute it; Lin Tian's knife strike was too accurate.

Van Gundy, still fuming and cursing, sat back down in his chair.

I can't argue with them, I really can't argue with them.

Howard then made one of two free throws, helping the team gain a small point.

But looking back, the Bobcats no longer lack a key offensive player like before.

Rose is back!
This guy couldn't wait to show off his energy as soon as he got back.

Facing Parker, Rose dribbled and changed direction repeatedly, then suddenly accelerated and stopped, pulling up for a clean and crisp jump shot from mid-range.

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound, the basketball swished through the hoop! The Bobcats won this round by one point!
In the next round, Barnes stuck to Howard closely, but he didn't foul. He just followed Howard closely, and he really wasn't in a hurry to foul.

He remembered Lin Tian's words clearly.

Howard, who was initially dejected and thought he would have to go to the free-throw line again, didn't even move towards the frontcourt or participate in the offense this time, because he felt that running around would be pointless since he would be fouled anyway.

Then why bother with all that effort?

Howard only continued walking forward to participate in the offense when he suddenly realized that the Bobcats were not fouling and seemed to have no intention of sending him to the free-throw line again.

But his joy didn't last long. He had just crossed the halfway line, and Ginobili was finally ready to start the attack, when Barnes grabbed Howard again.

Eleven seconds have already passed on the attack timer.

The timing of this foul certainly made the Celtics players, who had just started running and were preparing to execute a play, even more frustrated.

WTF!

How shameless!
Lin Tian: Yeah, Barnes, have you no shame! That's too much! How could you choose a time like this to foul? That's outrageous!
Therefore, Lin Tian directly substituted Barnes.

Of course, the main reason was that my buddy committed 4 fouls.

Lin Tian still needed to leave some room for maneuver, just in case he needed to use Barnes later. He substituted Barnes off the court in case of emergency, and Williams replaced Barnes.

"By looking at this substitution, we can tell what Lin is going to do next," Miller said. "If he doesn't continue with the fouling tactic, I'll cut my head off and let him kick it around like a ball."

Of course, they continued to foul and continue to cut off Huo's shots.

However, Lin Tian doesn't have to cut every round; he has to decide based on the situation.

He wanted to see if the Celtics' rhythm had been completely disrupted, and he also wanted to observe the Celtics players' morale and mentality from time to time.

Fouling tactics and the "Hack-a-Howard" strategy are ultimately just means, not ends. Lin Tian's goal is to completely disrupt the Celtics' rhythm and their mentality.

As the game progressed, the Bobcats' fouling strategy consisted of committing three direct fouls in five possessions, leaving the remaining two possessions to be decided based on the situation. Howard did not disappoint Lin Tian and the Bobcats.

His free throws were incredibly inconsistent. The Bobcats fouled him multiple times, but he never made both free throws; he either made one out of two or missed both.

This guy has even started smashing the ball.

Every time he misses a free throw, he looks like he wants to tear the rim apart. It's only a matter of time before his mentality completely collapses.

But the "cut-the-horse" tactic can sometimes be a double-edged sword.

The Celtics' offense was completely ineffective and unable to function properly, while the Bobcats, lacking any opportunities for fast breaks, also had a low success rate in positional play.

But they have an advantage; they have a 6-point lead, so they are not worried at all about not being able to quickly extend their lead or launch an effective offensive run.

We're in the lead, and our lead is even bigger than before we started the fouling tactic, so what are we afraid of?
Let's take it slow!

With five minutes left in the game, Thomas finally lost control of his defensive move and slapped Howard on the arm, committing his sixth foul!
He fouled out!

"Yao, Carlos! Go!" Lin Tian patted his twin towers in the paint and said casually, "It's about time to close the game!"

Having rested and recuperated for a long time, Yao Ming, who hadn't played in the entire fourth quarter, and Boozer, who had been resting for several minutes, got up at the same time and walked side by side toward the court.

The Bobcats have finally assembled their strongest lineup and are ready to battle!

"Shh! Shh!"

With two consecutive crisp sounds, Howard finally achieved his first two successful free throws of the fourth quarter.

Unfortunately, Howard's mentality was already quite bad at this point. Making both free throws didn't excite him too much, nor did it allow him to provoke the Bobcats players. Instead, he quietly retreated to defend.

This guy's spirit has been completely crushed.

Just then, Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer both took to the court.

After these two came up, they became increasingly experienced. They could accurately grasp the weaknesses of their opponents. He glanced at them and immediately had Boozer come up to run a pick and roll with him. Then, when he was halfway through the drive, he suddenly passed the ball to Boozer on the other side to create space for him.

Boozer glanced at the ball after receiving it and noticed that Howard's defensive intensity had dropped significantly; he wasn't even extending his arm.

In this situation, what was Boozer hesitating for? He pulled up and made a mid-range jump shot!
"Shh!"

After that crisp sound, the gap between the two sides widened to 8 points again.

The Bobcats didn't manage to extend their lead to more than 10 points even once tonight, but this slow, insidious lead was really making things difficult for the Celtics.

They couldn't catch up, couldn't run away, and couldn't even play in the fourth quarter.

The whole time, everyone was watching Howard's free throws.

We guys are really upset.

This feeling is even more painful than being down by 20 points.

The person who was most upset was Duncan. He had been staring at Rivers several times, hoping that Rivers would make adjustments. The game was going so badly, why didn't you make a substitution?
What would happen if you took Howard off the court first, let him rest for a while, and then brought him back on when there were two minutes left before he could commit a foul?
Why do they have to be so stupid as to compare free throw percentage with the Bobcats?
Even though Duncan graduated with a degree in psychology, he really couldn't understand what Rivers was thinking at this moment.

He couldn't see through it, he had a headache, he was in pain.

He felt that he had wasted his time studying psychology.

He even wanted to ask Lin Tian why their head coach was acting this way. Why didn't he make a substitution?

If he were to actually ask Lin Tian this question, Lin Tian would definitely be able to give him a precise answer.

Because Rivers is stupid, what else could it be?
He's just plain silly, there's no other reason.

The Celtics' offense was terrible this time. The whole team seemed to think, "If you're going to foul Howard and send him to the free-throw line, we'll just play casually, run around, then you foul quickly, we'll wait for him to make the free throws, then we'll quickly move on to the next possession."

Taking advantage of their undisguised laxity, DeRozan found an opportunity, intercepted a pass from Parker, dribbled aggressively, drove to the basket, and slammed home a powerful dunk, completing a spectacular steal and coast-to-coast dunk.

10 points!

The gap between the two sides has reached 10 points!

"It's okay! Stay calm, it's okay! There's still plenty of time. Let's take it one step at a time! Cheer up, guys, cheer up!" Rivers, off the court, was still not going to call a timeout, but instead was shouting encouragement to his players.

"pause!"

But the Celtics still couldn't get the ball in from the baseline, and Duncan couldn't take it anymore. He crossed his arms and called a timeout.

"What's wrong, Tim? Are you feeling unwell?" Rivers' first words when Duncan walked onto the bench almost earned him a punch in the nose.

Why is this person trying to be cute?

Who would dare to act cute in the last 5 minutes of a Game 7 when their team is down by 10 points?

"I'm fine, but we are! Dwight rests, Tony comes in, we'll play a big man and four small men! We need to catch up, we can't let them disrupt our offensive system like this anymore!"

“But we need Dwight’s defense. I think as long as Dwight makes his free throws, they won’t dare to…” Rivers clearly didn’t want to just listen to Duncan, and instinctively retorted, “What we need to do is very simple, we just need to…”

"All we need to do is take Dwight out of the game and then bring him back in for the last two minutes, and everything will be fine." Duncan looked at Rivers and said in an unquestionable tone, "He can't make the free throws, it's that simple, he can't make them!"

"I can make the free throw!" Howard retorted, dissatisfied. "I can!"

"You fucking made 38 free throws! You made 38 tonight, you bastard! You black devil, do you not know math? You've only made 16! That's less than my mid-range jump shot percentage! How can you make them? What makes you think you can make them?!"

“Dwight, listen to me. Sit on the bench and rest, recover your strength. Then, in the last two minutes, we need you to go on the court and close out the game. I need you to do what you’re good at, not what you want to do, understand?”

"They won't foul you in the last two minutes. That's when you'll be on the court! Now, sit here and think carefully about what you're good at and what you want to do!"

"If, if you happen to like something but aren't good at it, or you're good at something but don't like it, then fucking go practice it! Stop going out drinking, having sex, and clubbing during the offseason, and get back to practicing your footwork and free throws."

"Understand? Now, shut up, be quiet, think, and then wait for the last two minutes."

After saying that, Duncan angrily threw off the towel he had just draped over his shoulders and said, "It's only a 10-point difference, let's go and catch up!"

"There's plenty of time!"

……

"Howard's going to rest, so there's no need for us to foul unnecessarily." Lin Tian sat in his chair, looking at his teammates with complete ease, and said, "They'll definitely launch their fiercest attack of the night!"

"Duncan regained his status and absolute dominance. He couldn't stand it anymore; he wanted to become a tyrant. This Duncan was even more terrifying than he was in the third quarter!"

"Yao, Carlos, now it's up to you two to keep them in check!"

"Also, Gordon, Demar and Derrick, the three of you will come on together next to slow down the tempo! No matter what, slow down the tempo and the pace. Time is on our side, so we should play slowly and not give them, especially those two, the chance to push the counter-attack from the back."

“Let me think, Gordon, you only have 2 fouls so far, so when the game starts, you foul Tony Allen and send him to the free-throw line!”

"This guy's free throw percentage is only 68%, and his free throw percentage in the fourth quarter is even lower at 63%. He doesn't have that much of a heart; he gets nervous and trembles."

“Remember the timing of the foul, just like before. As soon as they are about to enter an offensive state, as soon as they finish their run and start attacking, then foul them.”

"If Gordon gets separated from them by their screens and runs, then whoever gets close to him should foul him!"

"Alright, that's it! Hold on for the last five minutes! We've won this game, we've completed the comeback, and we'll celebrate back in Charlotte tonight!"

"Yes!" (End of this chapter)