I'm not really a role player

Chapter 203 Loser
bang, bang, bang...

In the opening game, they even smashed three irons, and the Bobcats' attempt to bet on the touch failed very badly.

Fortunately, the Celtics' offense also pulled their hips, and the Big Three made one shot and none of them scored.

With 6 points of fine iron attached, the basket at the Time Warner Center is already moaning.

Everything is far from over, the Bobcats' offense, Lao Ai controlled the ball, dribbled the ball under the crotch, caught the back dribble, accelerated, shook Rondo's defense, rushed two steps, made a sudden stop and made a mid-range shot...

Bang-dang-!
It was still a fine iron, the rim shook three times, and under the rim, KG grabbed the rebound.

Offensive and defensive transition, the Celtics' round.

Rondo received the ball and sped up for a while. With a time difference, he passed Lao Ai, and then faced Hua's second defense, with a pass, he found KG who had just reached the high position and was unmarked.

KG's iron-blooded big jumper made a swish!
Finally, after 7 minutes of fine iron, basketball passed through the heart for the first time.

"The Celtics suddenly increased their speed, Kevin Garnett hit a jumper, 2-0!"

Although the Celtics took the lead, the Bobcats' offense was still not in a hurry, what rhythm should it be, or what rhythm it should be.

Lao Ai was in control of the ball, then changed direction and swayed Rondo away, speeding up and rushing into the three-point line.

An emergency stop and another mid-range shot.

Bang-dang-!
Although he voted resolutely, deep down in his heart, Lao Ai had already begun to doubt himself.

Counting the three-pointer in the opening game, he has already made 3 of 0 shots. Is this playoffs still a stage for answers?

Under the basket, Perkins caught the old shark, or KG, jumped to grab the rebound, slammed it a few times, and then handed it to Rondo again.

Rondo controlled the ball to the frontcourt and suddenly slowed down again.

He held the top of the arc for a few seconds before unhurriedly handing the ball to Ray Allen who was out of the corner.

Jun Zilei caught the ball and made a breakthrough, but Dai Quinn Cook couldn't catch up, and was directly shot through half of his body.

Then Jun Zilei went straight in, facing Hua's second defense, and shot a throw.

Swish-!
4 to 0!
The Bobcat's attack made Lao Ai visibly irritable.

Although the ball old shark took a few steps outside, looking like he was going to provide a cover for Lao Ai, but Lao Ai rushed out in a hurry.

Rondo still couldn't stop Lao Ai, but the Celtics' supplementary defense was very fast, and soon blocked Lao Ai's breakthrough route.

Just when Lao Ai jumped up and decided to make another mid-range shot against the defense, the Time Warner Center rang at the same time——

Sam Vincent's chanting: "Pass the ball!"

And Li Ke's shout: "I'm empty!"

Li Ke was empty, and Lao Ai couldn't tell the difference for a while, but Sam Vincent reminded Lao Ai that the most critical part of the team's tactical strategy was not to insist on long-range shooting, but to transfer the ball to the weak side in a large range.

So, the old Ai who jumped up turned his head in the air, and the moment he saw Li Ke, he threw the ball directly.

Lao Ai passed the ball, Li Ke received the ball, faced Pierce who was following closely behind him, and made an emergency stop to make a mid-range shot.

Bang-dang-!
"Sheldon made a mid-range shot and still missed."

"Since the beginning of the game, the Bobcats have not even touched the edge of the penalty area, and they have completely floated outside. They have played too strangely."

Kenny Smith and Barkley felt more and more that the Bobcats' strategy was weird, a bit like the Celtics in G2, and they began to blew themselves up.

On the court, Li Ke, like Lao Ai, also had some self-doubt.

Although the strategy of betting on hand feel is really too sloppy, and when the hand feel is bad, it is self-destructive, but...

What Li Ke never expected was, is their luck so bad?

So far from the start, three three-pointers and three mid-range shots, but one goal was missed!
Looking at the basket, KG made another rebound, and Li Ke clapped his hands: "It's okay, defend, we will come back later!"

The voice was loud and full of confidence, but only Li Ke knew that this competition had almost reached a fork in the road of "one step to heaven, one step to hell".

If this feeling doesn't go away, the game can be declared over.

The Celtics' offense was still Rondo's breakthrough start, followed by Ray Allen's catch from the bottom line and another burst.

After two waves of grinding, there was no chance, and the basketball was finally handed over to KG.

KG hit Hua's No. [-] from mid-range. After two steps forward, he turned around and shot an iron-blooded jumper close to the frame, but he missed it with a bang.

Li Ke rushed to the basket, took off the backboard, and shouted: "Counterattack!"

Although G1's sharp counterattack was no longer there, the Celtics' retreat was still respected. The backcourt trio retreated quickly, and Rondo switched defenses in front of Li Ke immediately, and the Bobcats' counterattack was stopped.

But in the frontcourt, Li Ke still controlled the ball, accelerated two steps forward, made an emergency stop and made a mid-range shot...

Bang-dang-!
Li Ke knew that half of the game was over.

……

Even in the next offensive round, Dai Quinn Cook received a pass from Lao Ai and made a three-pointer, and the Bobcats' opening lag was a foregone conclusion.

The Celtics rely on the number of half-court offense and defense to kill the time of the game and the patience of the Bobcats. The game has already entered the rhythm of the Celtics.

The first section of the game ended quickly, the score was 17 to 22, and the Bobcats only scored 17 points.

In the words of Barkley: "Long shot, long shot, long shot, the Bobcats used extremely poor offensive selection and shot a terrible first quarter."

Li Ke with 6 of 2, Dai Quinn Cook with 3 of 1, and Lao Ai with 7 of 2, the outside trio can be called crouching dragon and phoenix plus Zhou Yu. They took 16 shots and only scored 5 goals in total.

With this offensive efficiency, it's hard not to fall behind.

During the holiday break, Sam Vincent hesitated, intending to return to his normal style of play, but Li Ke was very firm: "Persistence is victory!"

Persistence, however, does not win.

In the second quarter, the Bobcats, who were still long-range and long-range, continued to be led by the Celtics.

The new shooter Dudley who came off the bench also felt bad. He made only one of 4 shots.

On the other hand, Li Ke, who made consecutive shots, slowly warmed up. In this quarter, he made two three-pointers and one mid-range shot, which helped the Bobcats recover some of their decline.

In this quarter, the Celtics played hard. They stared at the Bobcats' No. [-] position and slammed a wave. Relying on KG's explosion, the gap in the score was further widened.

40 to 49, at halftime, the Bobcats trailed by as many as 9 points.

Immediately after the third quarter, at the beginning of the game, Li Ke and Lao Ai hit the iron one after another, and the Celtics pulled the score to double digits in an instant.

Finally, Sam Vincent couldn't bear it anymore, he paused, and adjusted his tactics back.

As a result, after the tactics were adjusted back, the Bobcats played even worse than in the first half.

Although long-range shooting is too much of a gamble, but if you don't make long-range shots, but play normal offensive and defensive positions, the Celtics' chain defense will become a solid wall, blocking all the Bobcats' attacks.

In a word: The inside combination of Garnett and Perkins is too hard!
This is not counting the two perimeter defenders above the average level of Allen, Rondo, and James Posey.

With only 17 points in another single quarter, the Celtics' lead was further expanded.

In the private room on the stands of the Time Warner Center, Joe, who knows football, knows:

"This game has completely entered the rhythm of the Celtics, there is no chance."

"If Sam persists, there may be a chance."

Relying on the long-range shot, the touch is felt, and there may be a chance, but now, the long-range shot has decreased, the threat is gone, and the Celtics are playing more confidently.

This game is naturally hopeless.

Although in the fourth quarter, Lao Ai's touch exploded slightly, and he led the team to pull the score back a little bit, but this little bit was not enough at all.

At the end of the game, with a score of 79 to 88, the Bobcats were defeated at home.

The Celtics, who were determined to make a comeback after falling behind 0 to 2, finally pulled back a victory. With a total score of 1 to 2, it seems that there is some hope.

……

"If you lose, you lose. It's okay, we are still the one in the lead!"

After the game, in the shower room, Li Ke took a shower with his butt naked, boosting the morale of the team.

He didn't have the confidence to say that.

After all, G4 is the most important game for the Bobcats.

If they lose another game and the score becomes 2-2, the advantage of the Bobcats will disappear, and the two sides will return to the same starting line. The Celtics will definitely have the psychological advantage.

In the shower room, the "leader" Li Ke's encouragement did not receive a response, and his teammates remained silent.

Lao Ai was silent, with his head lowered against the tattoo on his body, no one knew what he was thinking.

After taking a shower, the press officer watched the players get dressed and was about to open the door to let the reporters in, but Sam Vincent stopped him: "Wait, Randy, I have something to say."

Then, he was facing the completely quiet locker room: "Just now, I reviewed our game, and I must admit that in the third quarter I changed our established tactical strategy, which was a failed adjustment."

"If we can stick to the tactical strategy of more long shots and more ball transfers, we definitely have a chance!"

Li Ke showed a gratified smile, although Sam Vincent admitted his mistakes this time, imitating the traces of Rivers next door is too heavy.

But at least, Sam Vincent has been able to understand the correctness of Li Ke's strategy.

"Persist on long shots, we have a chance!" Li Ke clapped his hands and nodded his head: "We were unlucky enough in this game, but we only lost by 9 points. If we were lucky, each of me, Allen, Dai Kuien and Jared made an extra three-pointer, and this victory would be ours!"

"Believe, persistence is victory!"

The Bobcats continue to believe that "persistence is victory", and the Celtics next door have shown a long-lost smile.

At the press conference after the game, Rivers said with a smile: "As I said, the Celtics are still in control of this round of the series!"

In the locker room, Pierce waved his arms: "There are still three victories left, and we can end this round of the series and add a lot of color to our championship season!"

Don't be a monster, don't be funny, don't play tricks, the Celtics are still the top name of today's league fault.

This victory alone is enough to convince many people of this.

"ESPN": "The rhythm of the Green Army, the iron-blooded defense pulled back a city!"

"Yahoo Sports": "The sleeping lion has woken up, the Bobcats lost, the series is 1 to 2!"

"Bleacher Report": "The offense was weak throughout the game. Maybe the Celtics have seen through the three tricks of the Bobcats?"

According to the media reports of G3 the next day, the public opinion was already in favor of the Celtics. This victory naturally made the public opinion even more one-sided.

Indeed, throughout the entire game, the Bobcats were weak.

On the contrary, the Celtics, the defense is solid, and the offense has also found Garnett, the Bobcats, an offensive firepower that no one can limit.

G3这一战，加内特掠下26分，外加12个篮板4个助攻1个抢断2个盖帽，就像是回到了森林狼时期。

"As I said, the pure strength of the Celtics is enough to support them to become the NBA's No. 15 team that has come back after falling behind 0-2!"

On TNT and ESPN, Skip Bayless highlighted his predictions to show he's not a beacon.

"Now, the situation is very clear. The Bobcats can't solve the Celtics' defense, nor can they deal with KG's singles. Next, I am optimistic that the Celtics will win three games in a row and advance directly!"

Barkley was silent and did not express his opinion.

It was Kenny Smith, who started his repeated horizontal jumps: "It is undeniable that the Celtics are extremely strong, but in this game, the Bobcats' tactical strategy is undoubtedly a bit self-destructive, just like the Celtics in G2."

Before the start of G3, Kenny Smith also clearly supported the Bobcats, but now:

"In G3, they gave up hitting the rim and kept shooting long shots from the outside. This style of play is undoubtedly unhealthy. If they still stick to this tactical strategy in the next game, I am optimistic that the Celtics can successfully come back!"

……

In the Bobcats training hall, the players began to practice long-range shooting early in the morning.

Sam Vincent was sitting on the sidelines of the training hall again, facing a laptop, holding a tactical board, studying something.

"The question now is, how do we deal with KG, the Celtics' remaining firepower that can stably score."

The offensive strategy remains the same, so the only thing that can be changed is the defense.

"Let Sheldon switch to KG?"

Xiao Gouba made a suggestion, and Sam Vincent shook his head.

He has thought about asking Li Ke to switch to KG, but the problem is, if Li Ke switches to KG, who will stare at Pierce?Isn't this still staring at one and missing the other?

"Are you thinking about Pierce?"

Although Sam Vincent shook his head, Xiao Gouba insisted on putting forward a completely different idea: "I think, compared with KG, Pierce is nothing to worry about."

On the training ground, Li Ke didn't want to pay attention to Sam Vincent, who had no sense of presence at the side of the court. His focus was all on Lao Ai.

"Is this... your new tattoo?"

"That's right, a semi-finished product."

Right behind Lao Ai's neck, there is an extra tattoo. The content of the tattoo is five letters, and the combination is "Loser".

Luther, which means loser.

Lao Ai said it was a semi-finished product, but Li Ke clearly looked at the tattoo as if it had already taken shape.

"Semi-finished product? Are you sure?"

Li Ke felt that Lao Ai might have been fooled by the tattoo artist.

But Lao Ai nodded with certainty: "If we beat the Celtics, I will add 'not a' in front of 'loser'"

"So, what if we don't beat the Celtics?"

"Then I'm a loser!"

(End of this chapter)