Chapter 1014 The Plot Thickens

June 1st, Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals between the Raptors and the Celtics continued at the Air Canada Centre.

Due to the basketball craze stirred up by the Raptors, there was a clear difference in viewership between games with and without the Raptors in the playoffs.

Therefore, at the league's routine meeting on May 31st, the "Joke," eager to end his miserable life in Africa, decisively suggested to Stern, out of the overall situation, that they should find a way to make the Raptors play more games.

However, the "Joke's" suggestion was immediately rejected by Stern.

In the 2000/01 season, the Lakers were on a winning streak in the playoffs until they lost one game to the 76ers in the Finals.

At that time, due to Allen Iverson's never-say-die spirit, that Finals series successfully attracted a lot of attention.

But even so, Stern did not force that Finals series to go to seven games.

Because Stern knew better than anyone the principle that manipulating the script had to be appropriate.

Temporary gains, no matter how tempting, were only temporary.

Currently, Stern didn't care whether the Raptors won more or less.

What mattered was that if an offensive team like the Raptors were to win the championship, it would inevitably lead to other teams emulating them in the future.

Stern, who had been in charge of the NBA for many years, had long seen through the minds of these iron merchants.

In short, the NBA was a true fragrance league.

Most coaches, no matter how mediocre, would still copy the homework they were supposed to copy.

Therefore, in Stern's view, instead of thinking about how many games the Raptors would play against the Celtics, it was better to think about how the league should operate if the Raptors and the Lakers made it to the Finals.

On May 31st, after the Lakers won another game, leading the Trail Blazers 2-0, they had already opened the door to the Finals.

Now, those high school students who had been defeated by Lower Merion could finally hold their heads high.

Because although they had been beaten badly by Su and Ke in their early years, if you think about it the other way around...

Was it a shameful thing to lose to two players who were about to meet in the Finals in their third season?

Of course, although the outside world was very much looking forward to a final battle between the Raptors and the Lakers to decide who was the real boss of Lower Merion...

But for the steady Su Feng, everything was still unknown until he had reduced the Celtics to ashes.

In the second game between the Raptors and the Celtics, Auerbach adjusted the team's starting lineup.

Damon Jones, the "Universe's Number One Shooter" who was traded to Boston during the regular season, replaced Bowen in the Celtics' starting lineup.

Unlike those coaches who were single-mindedly trying to defend the Raptors to death, Auerbach, who had thoroughly studied the Raptors, knew very well that if they wanted to defeat this Raptors team, the Celtics had to put more effort into their offense.

As a non-drafted player, in Su Feng's previous life, Damon Jones was even more famous in the rabbit country than some ordinary stars.

Because if you only watched the advertisement that Li Ning shot for him, you would definitely think that this guy was a superstar.

Then, James would be miserable.

Because in the future, when many people thought that the early Cavaliers lacked a super shooter, someone would always stand up and add:

The Cavaliers lack shooters? Damon Jones alone can play two!

But...

In fact, Damon Jones' career average score was only 6.6 points. Except for a single season with 10+ points during his time with the Heat, this guy was at most an excellent substitute in the NBA.

In this game, Auerbach sent Jones, whose career score was almost entirely composed of three-pointers, to play, and his intention was very clear.

That was that the "Red Auerbach" knew that if he couldn't free Ray Allen, the Celtics would have no way to turn the tide in this series against the Raptors.

But...

In the first quarter, after playing for half a quarter, Auerbach realized that he had also made the mistake of being impatient and making a stupid move.

Because Bowen couldn't defend Su Feng in the first game, but at least Bowen spent the entire game trying to stop Su Feng.

And with Bowen out, the only one on the Celtics' side who could match up with Su Feng was Ray Allen.

Then, before Jones could use three-pointers to help the Celtics further widen the gap, Ray Allen, who had to match up with Su Feng on both offense and defense...

Was already being tortured to death by Su Feng.

In terms of style, players of Su Feng's type were simply the natural counter to Ray Allen.

On the court, touching his chest muscles that had suddenly swollen by a circle, God knows how many times Ray Allen cursed Su Feng in his heart that night.

Don't be kidding!

How could Su Feng give an assassin like Ray Allen even the slightest chance to prove himself?

It seemed that Su Feng had crushed Ray Allen in all aspects from the first game, but in fact, Su Feng also paid a considerable price to defend Ray Allen to death.

Because if the threat level of the opponents was arranged using 2K's difficulty, then the threat level of Ray Allen's "Gentleman's Sword" was definitely Hall of Fame in Su Feng's heart.

In Su Feng's previous life, Ray Allen was not only the NBA's all-time three-point king before his transmigration, having made 2973 three-pointers, but also in the playoffs, Ray Allen's career playoff three-point percentage was as high as 40% or more.

Ray Allen, who had a big heart, would be a disaster for the Raptors if he was liberated in this series.

Therefore, in order to protect his teammates and his own smile, what was the difference between him, Su Feng, not tormenting Ray Allen to death and stabbing himself twice with a sword?

Unfortunately...

Just as Su Feng was preparing to increase the intensity to "augment" Ray Allen's chest, Auerbach, who knew his mistakes and corrected them, quickly put Bowen back on the court.

And so, the "Universe's Number One Shooter" Jones, he gently came, and gently left, without scoring a single three-pointer...

And at the Air Canada Centre, unlike the first game, if the first game was a back-and-forth battle between Duncan and Su Feng, then this game became Tracy McGrady's battle to prove himself.

Like Su Feng, McGrady, who was good at pull-up jumpers, had a shooting percentage that could only be explained by quantum mechanics.

In this game, facing Stephon Marbury, who was much shorter than him, McGrady, who had a good touch, decisively applied to Boss Su and Boss Jordan for unlimited firing rights.

In Su Feng's previous life, there were always many people who thought that McGrady lacked the desire to win, but you should know that in McGrady's playoff career, this guy had scored 30+ four times and 25+ twice.

If he didn't want to win, McGrady wouldn't have been so desperate.

This season, McGrady had been working hard without complaint, but in his heart, he also longed to receive the same cheers as his cousin.

And with McGrady in great form, in the second game, Su Feng and Jordan also showed their "generosity."

As a result, at the Air Canada Centre, Ray Allen, who had just been freed from the heavy responsibility of defending Su Feng, soon received Auerbach's new instruction:

Ray, go!

Go help Stephon!

On the court, Marbury, who had been penetrated by McGrady's face-up jumpers, had already exploded mentally.

Because like Su Feng, once McGrady's pull-up jumper became accurate, he was also the kind of unreasonable existence.

And on the basketball court, the most annoying thing was precisely this kind of offense.

"Coach, in my opinion, this Raptors team has nothing unique except for one-on-one plays." On the Celtics' bench, Karl, who was exasperated, said to Auerbach.

Auerbach, on the other hand, patted Karl's shoulder earnestly and said, "Miller, do you think this Raptors team doesn't play as a team at all?"

Karl nodded.

"But do you know, Miller, in my opinion, this Raptors team plays even more as a team than we do." Auerbach said to Karl.

Hearing this, Karl was immediately stunned.

"On the surface, the Raptors' players are fighting on their own in this game, but in fact, everyone knows their responsibilities very well.

Miller, think back carefully, why haven't we been able to solve the Raptors' one-on-one plays in this series so far?" Auerbach then asked.

And after carefully recalling the game process of the first game and the scenes of this game up to now, Karl felt cold sweat breaking out on his back.

Because under Auerbach's reminder, Karl quickly discovered an unacceptable fact.

That was:

When the Raptors formed one-on-one plays, the Celtics were unable to effectively limit the Raptors.

"Miller, if you want to surpass John in the future...

Then from now on, you must seriously study every tactical arrangement of John, and spend twice as much time thinking about why he did it this way." Patting Miller's shoulder, Auerbach said to him.

Think about what John would do?

On the sidelines, after taking a deep breath, Miller Karl began to take out his small notebook and carefully studied every tactical detail of the Raptors on the court.

On the other side, on the Raptors' bench, Davis, who felt that he had nothing to do in this game again, felt a little sleepy...

…

In the end, relying on McGrady's outstanding performance and the continuous output of the second unit, the Raptors won another game, rewriting the score of this Eastern Conference Finals to 2-0.

In this game, the score of the whole game was 99 to 113.

McGrady scored the highest 27 points for the Raptors, while Su Feng and Boss Jordan combined for 48 points, 19 rebounds and 9 assists.

On the Celtics' side, Duncan's condition was still excellent. In the game, Little Duncan, who stabilized the situation for the Celtics many times, scored a game-high 29 points, plus 17 rebounds, 3 blocks, 4 assists and 2 steals.

However, even if Duncan single-handedly beat Big Ben, the Celtics could not change the fact that they could not compete with the Raptors on the outside.

But fortunately, on the Boston side, the "renovation" work of the North Shore Garden was completed.

For the veteran Auerbach, like his disciple Bird, he was also the kind of person who would not give up easily before everything was finalized.

And on the way back to Boston, Karl, who was thinking about "what would John do," came to more and more details about these two games when reviewing the first two games between the two teams.

In this life, Miller Karl, whose fate trajectory was also rewritten, had been living in Auerbach's swaddling clothes, but watching his aging mentor, he wanted to share the pressure for his mentor, and he was precisely the kind of coach who was willing to learn and willing to change.

And for the coaching position, coaches like Miller who were willing to learn and change generally would not be too bad.

According to the schedule, the G3 game between the two teams would start on the 3rd.

In the shortened season, not only was the regular season schedule compressed, but even the playoff schedule was shorter than in previous years.

In Su Feng's previous life, many naive fans thought that as long as a team's lineup was thick enough, then physical fitness should not be an excuse for these teams.

But in fact, even the Raptors could not escape the sanctions from physical fitness during the regular season.

Because what kind of impact did that kind of devilish back-to-back have on the main players?

You should know that the long journey was sometimes even more tiring than playing the game.

Because for this kind of three games in three days, in the case of needing to fly thousands of kilometers, many substitute players could not even sleep well, so how could they guarantee 100% investment in the game?

And after reaching the playoffs, in order to be on the safe side, increasing the playing time of the main players was a consensus that many teams would reach.

Take the Cavaliers-Warriors battle in Su Feng's memory as an example.

Every time it came to the playoffs, both the Cavaliers and the Warriors in their respective halves of the bracket were eager to defeat other opponents as soon as possible.

Because for a team aiming for the championship, if you cannot guarantee that your physical fitness is on a healthy line, then your road to the championship will never be smooth.

And on the 2nd, after the Lakers rewrote the score of the Western Conference Finals to 3-0 in Portland, now, the pressure had already come to the Raptors.

Su Feng knew very well that five games was his bottom line for this Eastern Conference Finals.

Because if the Raptors could not solve the big problem of the Celtics as soon as possible, then at that time in the Finals, the Lakers would become the side with better physical fitness.

But...

On the 3rd, when the Raptors players walked into the North Shore Garden for warm-ups, although they could not say what was different about this arena from the past, everyone felt that this arena was strange.

For example, when doing shooting drills, Big Ben found that the trajectory of the basketball bouncing off the rim was completely different from when he usually played.

And when running tactics, Raptors players who wanted to practice quick baseline inbound passes also found that the Celtics' home nets were not generally tight...

When waiting for the basketball to fall from the net, some impatient players even wished they could go up and tear the net to pieces.

In addition, when dribbling the ball forward, many players found that the basketball often did not bounce back after hitting the floor.

And for all of the above, Su Feng and Davis, this master and apprentice, would not be unfamiliar.

Because back then, when they played against the Bulls, what they learned...

Wasn't it the Celtics?

The so-called basketball game was composed of countless details.

And in here, every detail had the potential to affect the final outcome of the game.

Loosening the rim could allow the basketball to bounce closer to one's own side after hitting the rim.

And in this way, the Celtics, who had a height advantage, were very likely to grab a few more rebounds.

Tightening the net could delay the basketball for a few tenths of a second when it swished through the net.

And in this way, the Celtics could more calmly complete their defensive retreat.

As for increasing the "honor floor" of the Celtics' home...

That was to prevent the Raptors, a one-on-one team, from playing to their heart's content.

What was home court advantage?

This was home court advantage.

During the warm-up, Su Feng, who found that almost half of the Celtics' home court floor was a trap, was very clear...

If they were not careful in the upcoming game...

Then it was not impossible for the Raptors to be dragged to the seventh game by this Celtics team.

And as an elderly AC Milan fan, in this world, no one hated being turned over more than Su Feng.

Therefore, under Su Feng's hint, Davis found that his talent had finally gotten another chance to be proven.

Before the start of this G3 game, watching this group of players who kept complaining about the Celtics' home court, Davis crossed his arms and, with a smile on his face, issued such and such instructions to the entire Raptors team...

…

ps: Throwing a tantrum! Both updates are 4000-word small chapters! Sob sob sob!