Coach: Coaching the Grizzlies at the beginning, playing the bantam

Chapter 378 Help Adu become the unanimous MVP!

Sure enough, after returning from the timeout, Tatum immediately stepped forward to provide firepower.

He got stuck in the corner of the left corner and asked for the ball with his back. Walker looked at it from the top of the arc and passed the ball smoothly.

Although he was firmly stuck by Durant behind him, Tatum still relied on his talent to send the ball into the basket with a simple fadeaway jumper.

"Shh!"

16:7, this goal is very crucial, stopping the bleeding of the Celtics who are about to collapse.

When the Nets attacked, Durant was probably not convinced, but he also fell into the low post.

And he happened to be standing at the position where Tatum launched his attack just now.

Brunson immediately understood what his elder brother was thinking, and with a flick of his wrist, he hoisted the ball in.

Durant turned his back to catch the ball, leaned twice, suddenly turned around and broke through from the left, exposing the basketball in his hand to Tatum.

And the moment Tatum's fingertips passed by, Adu pulled back with his backhand to protect the ball.

Walker passed the ball out to the outside. Brown hesitated to catch the ball but did not shoot. Mitchell blocked him, and the opportunity was not very good.

Although the young Celtics fought back hard, they failed to narrow the point difference to single digits.

The Celtics attack and the Nets guard man-to-man.

The Nets had a dream start, leading the Celtics by a big score.

Durant's goal can only be described as sophisticated.

He worked very hard to guard Brunson and blocked the breakthrough route, but Brunson still easily completed the pass in one step.

After the pick-and-roll, Brown was out of position and faced Brunson for a pull-up jumper. He hit it with slight interference, 20-9.

The Celtics attacked and passed several passes from the outside without leaving any room. Cousins ​​guarded the penalty area and the other four players rotated quickly from the outside.

After the first quarter, the score was fixed at 36:22, with the Nets leading by 14 points.

Tatum knew that he had been fooled at this time, but he had no time to jump to interfere, so he could only extend his hand symbolically.

For the next period of time, the Nets played steadily and maintained a double-digit lead.

Lu Yong applauded him several times from the sidelines to comfort his disciple's frustration.

Brunson's defense was not out of position, but he suffered too much when facing Brown head-on, and it was understandable that he couldn't guard him.

"Durant's shot perfectly combines skills and experience. He is worthy of being the best player in the active league. The young Tatum is a little immature in front of him, but he is still very old!"

The Celtics began to cut off the connection between Brunson and his teammates, keep a distance, and give Brunson more space to attack.

With 24 seconds almost gone, Tatum turned over and shot a jumper, which missed due to Durant's interference. The rebound was grabbed by Porzingis.

He took a step and distributed the ball to the middle to Gu Wei. Facing Porzingis, the latter was even more afraid to shoot. He protected the ball and then looked for his teammates.

Charles Barkley shouted from the commentary box.

He reached the three-second zone to attract double-teams and passed the ball from Gwei to the middle. It was already too late for him to stop Porzingis.

In a positional battle, Brunson slowly moved to the frontcourt, and Boshen came up to cover and broke through with his right hand.

Adu, who is well aware of this, directly chose to teach young people in another way, perfectly combining technology and experience, which shows how confident he is in his own technology!

Really cool!

18: 7.

Porzingis took the ball and took three steps. Theis made up the defense again. Porzingis directly faced the defense and hit the board with a high throw.

On the sidelines, Lu Yong couldn't help but nodded.

Brunson chased from behind and teamed up with Cousins ​​to double-team.

Not only that, Tatum's center of gravity changed in order to get the ball.

Gerwei's current height and weight are similar to James, but he is full of fat and does not move fast.

"Shh!"

The basketball went hollow into the net, and Adu and Tatum rushed forward!

20: 7.

Theis gave Walker a pick-and-roll from the side, and the latter rushed to the basket from the left, and the Nets' formation shrank.

In fact, the talent advantage between him and Tatum is not obvious, especially since Tatum is young and explosive, and the hard steel in the front will undoubtedly speed up physical consumption.

Brunson took a look and hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc. Stevens panicked and kept wiping his cold sweat with a towel. This game was much harder to play than he expected.

But how could a player of Durant's level make such a low-level mistake?

He obviously deliberately exposed the flaw to lure Tatum to reach out.

"Shu~"

Tatum's eyes narrowed and he reached out decisively to steal.

Seizing the opportunity, Durant immediately stepped back to open up space and made a mid-range pull-up jumper.

When the Nets attack, Brunson controls the ball and plays pick-and-roll in the middle.

"Nice fake move!"

In the second quarter, the two teams replaced substitute players.

Lu Yong did not use five ups and five downs. To be conservative, he brought Durant, who had rested for a while in the first quarter, to lead the bench.

Five people on the Nets court: Rose, LeVert, Durant, Oubre, Mitchell Robinson.

The Celtics left Tatum and Gerwig on the court, as well as sixth man Gordon Hayward.

Originally, Hayward joined the Green Army as part of the Big Three, but due to the season reimbursement, he can now only play as the sixth man.

There is no competitiveness in competing for position with the young Brown and Tatum.

But even if Hayward's strength is not as good as his peak, he still has the level of a second-rate star.

This season he averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game, shooting 50.2% from the field and 39.2% from the three-point range. The overall offense is very efficient and he is a traditional organization forward.

After the organizer changed from Walker to Hayward, the Celtics' offense became much smoother.

On the first ball, Hayward and Gerwei started a pick-and-roll in the high post.

While walking, he observed his teammates' opportunities and used a hidden behind-the-back pass to hand the ball to Smart behind him.

Facing the empty defense in front of him, Smart made a steady shot of an open three-pointer, giving the Celtics a good start in the second quarter.

A good starting point for offense can often boost the state of other players.

Looking back, Smart gave Oublay a block in assist defense.

Hayward quickly controlled the ball and launched a counterattack.

In transition between offense and defense, Tatum's movement attracted the attention of Nets players.

Hayward went all the way to the basket, used a backhand pull when facing Mitchell Robinson, twisted in the air to avoid the block, and hit a layup from close range.

After the ball was scored, Hayward kept cheering for his teammates.

A young team like the Celtics will launch a series of fierce offensives once they get going.

Durant knows this very well.

So after Hayward helped the Celtics score consecutively, Durant immediately stood up.

He carried the ball through half the court, and Oubre stepped up to cover for him.

Adu used the screen to accelerate the breakthrough, throw away Hayward's defense, and pull up from the mid-range to shoot.

Gewei, who was assisting the defense on the weak side, jumped up in front of him.

He tried his best to jump to the highest point, but Durant stopped suddenly and was not fully prepared. If you continue to take shots, the chance of being blocked is very high.

In an instant, Durant made the wisest decision, forcibly twisting his body in the air and passing the ball to Oubre, who was open on the weak side.

As for Gewei, who was defending Oubre, it was too late to go back at this time.

Oubre caught the ball and took a jump shot without any hesitation.

Just when the fans at the scene thought this would definitely be a wonderful goal, Oubre got sick again.

"boom!"

The ball hit the front of the basket and hit the iron angrily!

Insider Robert Williams got stuck in position, jumped high, and protected the backboard.

Then passed Hayward and launched another counterattack.

After sprinting to about one meter outside the three-point line, Hayward suddenly released the ball and passed the ball to Smart who inserted in front.

Smart took advantage of the situation and made a layup in three steps, then counterattacked Rose and made a layup again!

At 36:29, the point difference was narrowed to 7 points in a very short time!

After the ball was scored, the Celtic players gradually began to get excited.

The team seems to be gaining momentum.

Lu Yong sat on the sidelines without calling a timeout. He didn't care how the Celtics played.

Rather than taking a timeout, he hopes the players can withstand the pressure at this time and solve the problem on their own.

The regular season is mainly about tempering players. If the Nets cannot withstand even this small impact, it will be difficult to enter the playoffs.

In the next few minutes, Durant stepped up and scored consecutive points, helping the Nets to continue their offensive firepower.

However, the touch of others is not that good. Most of their jump shots end up as irons, and their shooting percentages are generally not high.

The most important thing is that Hayward played very well in this quarter, making every outside shot, as if he was possessed by God.

In positional battles, he frequently uses pick-and-rolls to launch attacks. In addition to scoring himself, he can also drive his teammates.

Although Mitchell Robinson is excellent at protecting the frame, he is not good at switching to guard outside players.

Whether facing Tatum or Hayward in a mismatch, Mitchell Robinson is at a disadvantage in terms of speed.

Seeing this, Lu Yong on the coaching bench frowned subconsciously.

Although Mitchell Robinson is young and has the fastest speed among inside players, his lateral speed is still not enough to become Gobert in the small ball era.

This is also the main reason why traditional centers are gradually falling out of favor.

As for Hayward's outbreak, Lu Yong actually didn't take it to heart.

Whether it is Tatum or Hayward, they may be able to use their personal abilities to chase points, but this style of play will inevitably speed up the physical exhaustion of the two.

If the Celtics continue to play with this intensity, the Nets' advantage will slowly emerge in the second half.

After all, the Nets' lineup completely beats the Green Army in terms of depth, and Lu Yong has never been afraid of this.

In the second half, Hayward held the ball in singles again and again, turning into an all-around hero.

The Nets are no slouch either. Facing the Celtics' terrifying 15-for-12 shooting rate, it's already impressive to be able to withstand this wave of offense.

The two teams have been in a stalemate, with the point difference always hovering around 7 points.

Until there were more than 5 minutes left in the second quarter, the Nets still led by 6 points.

Taking advantage of the dead ball, both sides made lineup adjustments.

Lu Yong directly replaced all five players with a wave of his hand, and the lineup became: Brunson, Mitchell, Dun Luo, Porzingis, and Cousins.

Brad Stevens decided to continue attacking around Hayward.

Tatum and Hayward are still on the court, and Walker, Theis and other main players are also back.

While using their main force, the Celtics were no longer inferior to the Nets in this quarter.

As soon as he came up, Walker used the pick-and-roll to break through and penetrate the Nets penalty area.

However, faced with Cousins' assisting defense, Walker still gave up and circled around to distribute the ball to the outside.

Hayward caught the ball and shot from outside the three-point line. Relying on his hot shooting touch, he scored another goal!

"Shh!"

The basketball goes hollow into the net.

The Celtics narrowed the point difference to 3 points!

Looking back, Brunson was not to be outdone. He faced Walker's defense with a throw and immediately retaliated.

In this way, the two teams' offenses went up against each other, with the shooting percentage getting higher and higher, always maintaining a balance of power.

But overall, the Celtics took advantage of Hayward's outburst in this quarter and quickly narrowed the point difference.

At the end of the second quarter, 62 to 60, the Green Army chased the double-digit disadvantage to only two points.

This result made everyone in the Celtics extremely excited, but the Nets players were not very satisfied.

Although Hayward scored 16 points in the second quarter, his hands felt hot.

But in everyone's opinion, this is not the reason why the team is caught up.

Even Adu was dissatisfied with his performance in the second quarter, blaming himself that if he could have played better, the game might have been won long ago.

After returning to the locker room, Lu Yong saw that the players were in a very low mood.

He walked to the middle of the locker room, clapped his hands, and said with a smile: "Can you stop showing such a depraved look? If I remember correctly, it seems that we are the leading team?"

Everyone looked up and glanced at each other, but no one answered.

“It’s really not a good feeling to be caught up after a big lead.”

"But no one would have thought that someone in the Green Army would break out, shooting 9 of 7 from the field. Jordan would only be beaten passively."

"There is no need to blame yourself, let alone be frustrated. Judging from the midfield results, we are in the lead. From a long-term perspective, we still have the advantage."

"The Celtics' main players didn't take much rest in order to chase points. Their physical energy consumption was much greater than ours."

"As long as we play at our own pace, the Green Army will be defeated quickly in the second half, and by then our advantage will be visible to the naked eye."

Lu Yong comforted him with a smile on his face.

"Okay, in the second half we can strengthen our physical confrontation, actively interfere with our defense, and continue to consume their energy. As long as we increase our intensity, our advantage will soon be reflected."

Everyone nodded after hearing this, and their low mood finally eased a little.

"By the way, in tough battles we can give the ball to Kevin as much as possible."

"This is his last regular season game of the season. If he scores high, he has a great chance of locking in the unanimous MVP."

"This is an honor that even Jordan has not had. Adu has a chance to get all the votes. Everyone should try their best to give him as much cover as possible."

At this point in the game, winning and helping the disciples win unanimous MVP votes are both important.

As long as everyone has a goal, we will definitely play hard in the second half.

Even if there is no physical advantage by then, the Nets' level of unity will not be comparable to that of the Celtics.

Naturally, the Nets generals had no objections. They all laughed and joked with Adu, celebrating him in advance for locking up the MVP.

Adu did not speak harshly, touched his head and said: "Thank you brothers for your support. I will try my best to win this game and will never hold you back."

"No worries, Kevin, you just need to score and leave the defense to us." Porzingis responded with a smile.

"Okay, the game is about to start. Let's adjust our mentality and strengthen our defense in the second half. Let the Celtics see how terrifying the Nets are when they go all out!"

Lu Yong stretched out his hand and put it underneath. Upon seeing this, everyone immediately formed a circle, folded their hands one by one, and shouted loudly:

"Must win!!"

(End of this chapter)