Chapter 3 The North Shore Garden Arena

The Celtics, forced to the edge of the cliff by the Raptors, were fighting with their backs to the wall tonight.

In the NBA, even including the future, no team has ever completed a comeback from a 0-3 deficit.

Therefore, before the start of this game, even without Auerbach's reminder, the Celtics players knew that losing Game 3 was equivalent to losing the entire series.

Different from the first two games, tonight Davis took the initiative to adjust the Raptors' starting lineup.

Nash returned to the starting lineup, while McGrady returned to the bench.

Before the game, on the Celtics' bench, when noticing that the Raptors had changed their starting lineup, even Miller Karl couldn't figure out why Davis would arrange it this way.

What would John do?

But no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't understand it. How to break it?

On the court, after the players from both teams finished warming up, Duncan and Big Ben began the game with a jump ball in the center of the court.

Big Ben, who had been beaten bald by Duncan in the first two games, couldn't exert his advantage in deterrence when facing Duncan, the giant.

Duncan calmly jumped the ball to the Celtics for the first attack.

Marbury "steadily" dribbled the ball across the half-court amidst the cheers of the fans.

Because the Celtics' home floor was replaced in a hurry, even the Celtics' own players couldn't completely remember the locations of those buried "honor floors."

So, rather than saying that Marbury's dribbling was steady, it was better to say that he was afraid of being tricked by his own floor.

In order to defeat the Raptors, Auerbach had racked his brains in this Eastern Conference Finals.

In desperation, the "Red Auerbach" even unleashed the ultimate move of Seven Injury Fist.

However, although the Celtics players couldn't guarantee that they wouldn't be tricked by their own floor, compared to the Raptors, who relied more on outside play...

The Celtics, with Duncan, could indeed eliminate this environmental impact to some extent by playing high.

Before the game, Su Feng had already discovered during the warm-up...

The location of the Celtics' landmines was very cunning.

Because the two restricted areas on the court happened to be areas without "landmines."

The Celtics launched their first attack. Marbury passed the ball to Bowen on the wing, and the latter directly lobbed the ball into the paint.

As Duncan's simple and unadorned combination punches were unleashed, Big Ben still had no way to deal with the young Duncan's offense, just like in the first two games.

0 to 2.

Because the Nets were tightened up tonight, the Raptors couldn't quickly inbound the ball from the baseline immediately after Duncan scored.

At this time, Karl was even more puzzled as to why Davis would put Nash in the starting lineup.

Because in Karl's view...

If they couldn't play fast breaks, Nash's role on the court wouldn't be as great as McGrady's.

However, Karl would soon know why Davis did this.

The Raptors' first attack, Su Feng, who failed to get the ball in the low post immediately, ran from the baseline to the high post with Big Ben's screen.

His run successfully disrupted the Celtics' defensive positioning.

Just as Marbury's attention was drawn to Su Feng, Nash, who had been dribbling the ball in the "safe zone," suddenly jumped up and completed a quick shot.

Swish!

3 to 2.

Unlike in the past, when he needed to shoulder the team's organizational responsibilities, Nash, who started tonight, only received one instruction.

That was, no matter when, no matter where.

As long as Nash thought he could shoot, he could fire at will.

Because of the abundance of minefields on the Celtics' home floor, players who were good at breakthroughs and needed to rely on dribbling to complete their offense would suffer greatly.

Therefore, under Su Feng's hint, Davis quickly found the correct response.

That is, to increase the movement of off-ball players while reducing one-on-one plays.

In addition, the ball-handling players adopted a simpler and more brutal way to complete their offense in the game.

In this way, the Celtics' "honor floor" would have a very limited impact on the Raptors.

Of course, as a generation of basketball godfather, Davis's arrangements didn't stop there.

On the court, after the Celtics' second attack also scored, it was the Raptors' turn to attack.

This time, Carter, taking advantage of a screen on the wing to seize a shooting opportunity, also decisively fired from the outside, just like Nash just now.

Clang!

Just as Carter shot, Big Ben, Jordan, and Su Feng had already inserted themselves into the Celtics' restricted area.

Loosening the rim would indeed change the trajectory of the rebound to a certain extent, but...

It was still the same problem.

In a short period of time, even the Celtics' own players couldn't fully grasp this change in trajectory.

Therefore, Davis's second arrangement tonight was to have the Raptors players with three-point shooting ability make three-pointers their first offensive choice.

Under normal circumstances, in order to prevent being hit by counterattacks, the Raptors would have someone make some unreasonable three-point attempts in previous games, but in most cases, their three-point shooting wasn't as exaggerated as in the future.

But tonight was different.

Even if the Raptors' three-point shooting was very unscientific tonight, they didn't have to worry about being hit by counterattacks.

Because in the case of scoring, the Raptors couldn't quickly inbound the ball from the baseline, and neither could the Celtics.

Plus, with the restriction of the floor, it was impossible for the Celtics to force a fast break tonight.

As for not scoring?

What did it matter?

On the court, Su Feng, seeing the basketball falling in the direction of his charge, directly grabbed the ball into his arms with one hand in the air.

Immediately afterward, Su Feng, grabbing the rebound, threw the ball to the outside, and Nash completed another shot from beyond the three-point line.

Swish!

6 to 4.

First of all, in the case of not scoring, the Raptors could completely seize the opportunity for a second attack through aggressive rebounding.

Because even if the Celtics loosened the rim, the trajectory of the three-point shot's rebound was different from that of a mid-range shot and would only be more difficult to grab.

Secondly, from a cost-performance perspective, three-pointers were definitely better than two-pointers.

Therefore, in Su Feng's view, playing in the Celtics' home court under this specific environment tonight was simply too suitable for the Raptors to play a shoot-and-grab tactic.

Anyway, if they were accurate, they would take the opponent away in one wave.

And if they really missed dozens of shots in a row like a certain team in the future, then that would be...

Bad luck!

On the Celtics' bench, when noticing the Raptors players' firm attitude when shooting three-pointers...

Auerbach suddenly had the feeling that the era had changed.

Yes, it was different now than before...

In the past, everyone didn't like to shoot three-pointers.

So these details that weren't valued could determine the success or failure of the game.

But now, as the weight of three-pointers in modern basketball was getting higher and higher, the shackles that the Celtics created for the Raptors tonight, in turn, also created objective conditions for the Raptors to find another way.

"Miller, although I don't like three-pointers very much, you must put more effort into three-point tactics this summer."

At this moment, Auerbach said, patting his disciple's shoulder while looking at the dome of the North Shore Garden Arena.

Hearing this, Karl nodded and couldn't help but look at the "fat man" next door.

John, is this the reason why you were able to train this Raptors team so well?

Ah...

Achoo!

On the Raptors' bench, Davis, who felt that someone was always talking about him behind his back, suddenly sneezed.

He didn't know why, but Davis had been feeling that someone was always saying bad things about him behind his back recently.

On the court, in the case that the Celtics' positional warfare couldn't break through the Raptors, the Raptors' unreasonable three-pointers...

Were coming again!

Tonight, Su Feng, who changed from close combat in the paint to racing on the outside, didn't care if there was anyone in front of him after receiving Nash's pass. Anyway...

He would raise his hand and take a quick shot first!

Swish!

Then, Su Feng, who had a connection with the basket, made this three-pointer a clean swish.

9 to 4.

In front of the TV, for the fans who were tired of watching defensive battles, although the Raptors hadn't performed their best alley-oops tonight, this kind of three-point random shooting was quite enjoyable to watch.

And on the scene, the Celtics' fans felt that the Raptors players were deliberately showing off their skills.

In this era, this kind of three-point random shooting tactic was really rare.

On the commentary booth, the commentators from major North American TV stations were at a loss for words for a while and didn't know how to comment on this game.

On the court, the game continued.

Because the Raptors' three-pointers were very accurate tonight, the pressure on the Celtics players on both offense and defense had invisibly increased.

In Su Feng's previous life, the Warriors' chaotic style of play could often take away opponents in one wave because continuous three-pointers could easily break down opponents psychologically.

Many times, the Warriors' opponents were defeated not so much by the Warriors' three-pointers as by their own disarray.

Although this Celtics team was well-trained, they would still be flustered in the face of the Raptors' play style, which was nearly 15 years ahead of its time.

After all...

Players were also human.

In the first quarter, the Raptors, who had been bursting with confidence recently, even had Old Curry, who came on as a substitute for Carter in the second half of the first quarter, get into the groove, in addition to a certain North Carolina junior and a North Carolina senior.

There was no way, although Carter had received Old Curry's guidance last summer, he obviously hadn't mastered the quick shot after receiving the ball.

Look, Nash was very accurate.

Because he usually had to snatch meat from his older brothers, God knew how much Nash cherished the opportunity to fire at will like tonight.

In the first quarter, the Raptors took a full 18 shots from beyond the three-point line.

Among them, Su Feng alone took 8 shots.

You know, even in the future, this data would definitely be considered crazy.

Firing at will with the HC rules, they hit 9 three-pointers in the first quarter, directly destroying Auerbach's idea of relying on home court "decoration" to win two consecutive games.

In the second quarter, Jordan, sitting back on the bench, couldn't help but recall the scene of the Bulls being eliminated by the 76ers that year.

In that game, if Jordan remembered correctly, Su Feng took a full 20 three-pointers.

For many old-school NBA players, three-pointers were a coward's choice in their eyes.

However, after following the Raptors all the way this season, Jordan found that sometimes choosing to shoot a three-pointer on the court required even more courage than shooting a mid-range shot.

Looking at this group of teammates on the court with their eyes like torches, each shooting more resolutely than the last, Jordan was very clear that a brand new era...

Was quietly arriving.

In the second quarter, with the Celtics' defense expanding like crazy, the Raptors' three-point attempts were somewhat limited.

In this era with HC rules and a fierce defense, if the Raptors hadn't been inhumane in the first quarter and the Celtics hadn't been thrown into disarray, three-pointers wouldn't have been as easy to shoot as in the future.

However, because the Celtics' defense expanded like crazy, their interior naturally became empty.

As a result...

Su Feng's god-like operation of dodging the landmines time and time again directly stunned Auerbach and Miller Karl on the sidelines.

In order to stop Su Feng's quick shots, Bowen had no choice but to choose to entangle with Su Feng in a close and intimate way in the second quarter.

However, under this kind of defense, it was extremely easy for Su Feng to get a chance to break through easily.

Just as Bowen was following behind Su Feng, praying that Su Feng would step on a landmine in the next step...

Bowen was surprised to find that every time Su Feng could use his bizarre, snake-like breakthrough to bypass those "honor floors" in the Celtics' home court.

This...

Was this the strength of the regular season MVP?

Bowen was dumbfounded.

Especially one time, after Su Feng broke through, made a layup, and scored, this guy actually deliberately pointed to a spot on the floor and reminded himself that he had accidentally stepped on a "landmine" just now...

Bowen then realized that even he himself didn't know that that piece of floor was a "landmine."

On the Celtics' bench, Auerbach knew that he had shot himself in the foot.

The so-called court environment was relative.

Tonight, the Celtics, who were beaten dizzy by the Raptors, not only failed to exert their home court advantage, but were instead taken over by the Raptors, who took the upper hand.

But then again.

How could the great "Red Auerbach" have imagined that Su Feng was such a meticulous man?

To be honest, being able to memorize so many "traps" after only stepping on the court once, and at the same time avoiding these "traps" in the tense and exciting game, this...

Was this really something that humans could do?

If the NBA also had a show called "The Brain," then without a doubt, Auerbach would definitely be willing to call Su Feng the strongest.

"Does this kid have anything else in his brain besides basketball?" On the sidelines, Auerbach thought with emotion as he watched Su Feng constantly directing his teammates to avoid the "landmines" on the court.

……

ps: I'll update one chapter first today. I'm going to sleep first, because I have to get up early tomorrow to go to the hospital to deliver porridge to my grandma. Speaking of this chapter, in order to come up with a way to crack the Celtics' home court, I still have to thank the almighty book friends!

ps2: To reiterate, I have not plagiarized chapter reviews, because all along, chapter reviews have been plagiarizing me. (Righteously akimbo)