NBA: Miracle Workers

Chapter 569: A welcome counterpoint? (Daily chapter)
On Tuesday, May 2008, 5, the TD Garden was filled with boos. Boston fans were disappointed. This was not the game they expected.

In the past two days, sports reporters in Cleveland have been constantly attacking them, believing that the Celtics stole their victory, and some fans even called them - thieves.

It's a familiar name. A few years ago, New York fans cursed the Lakers in this way. Now the situation has changed, and it's the turn of Cleveland fans to strike back.

After the end of G3, there was no suspense in the series. By G4, it was basically the time to share the blame, and no one cared about the result of the game anymore.

As early as after the Eastern Conference semifinals, some commentators were not optimistic about the "Big Four". They had a seven-game series in the first round and another seven-game series in the semifinals, and were even behind 1:3 at one point. This did not look like a championship at all.

This morning on ESPN, a topic was even initiated, which completely ignited public opinion:
"Where are the Celtics' 100 plays?"

Obviously some people want to put the blame on the head coach. After all, the "Big Four" cannot be disbanded in the first year of their union, so the only ones who can take the blame are the coaching staff.

Before the game, Rivers had lost his previous passion, and the Celtics were perfunctory in their interviews. When the game started, the Boston fans at the scene could no longer hold back as they missed shots again and again.

On the ESPN commentary booth, feeling the atmosphere in the arena was completely different from the day before, Mark Jackson also showed a helpless smile on his face. The Knicks' domination continued:
"In my opinion, the Celtics must replenish their roster as soon as possible during the offseason. In the conference finals, they rotated almost seven players, which was a disaster for the veterans."

"In addition to the depth of the squad, they also have to consider the issue of offense. Once the game enters a stalemate, someone must stand up and take responsibility."

"Pierce is doing well but he needs more help."

With little time left in the third quarter, the Celtics' score was fixed at 3. After scoring 55 points in the first half, the Celtics continued to be silent in the second half, and the game had become a show time for the Knicks.

After the first quarter ended at 31:17, Mike Breen knew the game was over. He had witnessed too many collapses in one quarter and was about to enter garbage time, so he also gossiped:
"Lee's numbers in this series have even declined. Compared to previous years, this seems to be the easiest conference finals he has ever experienced!"

"Although the game is not over yet, I want to praise the Knicks boys. They performed very well and suppressed their opponents in all aspects."

"Raga Bell should be selected to the All-Defensive Team this season. He did a good job of limiting Ray Allen, which made the Celtics more passive."

The two started chatting during the free throws. Tonight's game was heading for another 3-hour period, but the Celtics did not give up completely. They were still trying to commit fouls and show their "tough guy qualities."

Li You went off the court to rest with 3 minutes and 46 seconds left in the third quarter. His playing time tonight was less than 30 minutes. The team established a leading advantage early and D'Antoni began to make large-scale rotations again.

The intensity of Game 4 was unlikely to satisfy critics, and many even felt that this year's Eastern Conference Finals was not as exciting as the semifinals, and that the Celtics did not perform like a 60-win team.

Because Marbury received four fouls too early, he was replaced by veteran Cassell early. As the score gap continued to widen, the "Son of New York" kept his hands on his head.

"You guys got the shit beat out of you!"

As soon as the boos ended, the New York fans in the back started shouting loudly again. Some fans even held up white boards and jumped for joy.

From the beginning of the game, the shouting never stopped, and fans from both sides had already had two fights, which forced the Celtics' security personnel to stand in the back and watch the game together to prevent conflicts.

The shouting and laughter never stopped. The TD Garden did not show the momentum of a "devil's home court" tonight. Instead, the New York fans seized the opportunity and continued to attack.

Both sides missed shots and took free throws. At the end of the third quarter, the score was 3:85 and the game officially entered garbage time.

Pierce, who returned to the bench, was so angry that he became an emoticon. He has been avoiding interviews these two days using the excuse of injury, but there are more and more news about him shitting his pants.

The laughter in the gym even made it difficult for him to concentrate. Of course, more importantly, his physical strength was exhausted and he could not play anymore. He made 11 of 2 shots and 8 of 8 free throws in three quarters, contributing 12 points. He had already tried his best.

Pierce, panting, threw the towel on the floor. The staff cleaned it up silently, and the Celtics' bench became even quieter.

Garnett actually performed well in the first three games, but he also performed poorly tonight, making 12 of 4 shots and 6 of 4 free throws, also contributing 12 points. He was too tired to talk.

Rivers put on an "you guys did a great job" look in front of everyone, stopped giving out chicken soup, and stared at everyone and encouraged them:
"We didn't lose! In our first year as a team, we came here, to the Eastern Conference Finals. This is a great achievement!"

"Now all you have to do is applaud your own performance, calm down, show the demeanor of a winner, and congratulate our opponents after the game!"

"Hey! Remember, the era belonging to the Celtics will soon arrive. This season, we are the biggest winners."

Garnett stared with his eyes wide open, suspecting for a moment that he had heard wrong. Rivers' encouragement made him look up subconsciously. On the scoreboard, the 27-point difference indicated that they had lost badly tonight.

Ray Allen, sweating profusely, leaned back in his chair after realizing that his head coach was about to surrender completely. He had never been blindly confident, and two game sevens made him somewhat dissatisfied with the coaching staff. The team should have been better prepared.

"Do we need to get back on the court? Sorry, I'm not interested in playing garbage time."

As soon as Rivers stopped talking about chicken soup, Ray Allen stared at him and asked a question. He had lost so badly, and being a "winner" was just a trick to deceive himself. He just wanted it to end early and go home to take care of his kids.

"We need to hold on for another five minutes and remember, the Celtics will not give up."

"."

Seizing the opportunity, Rivers gave another round of praise. For the coaching staff, if the score difference was within 20 points, the loss would be more decent, at least the public opinion after the game would be better.

Marbury, who had been keeping his head down, suddenly responded. He agreed with the coach's approach and wanted to return to the court to continue the game.

No one in the atmosphere group spoke. In the somewhat depressing atmosphere, the Celtics did not make any rotations and put the starting lineup on the court again. They wanted to "fight to the end."

"Shhh!!"

Amid the boos, JR Smith moved quickly on the left wing, and with the help of Dio's screen, he easily came to the left corner, received Rondo's pass, and hit another three-pointer.

Pierce, who was supposed to switch defense, almost gave up on defense, and Ray Allen didn't want to communicate. Everyone on the court knew that the team had collapsed.

The uniform cheers had long since disappeared, and Garnett's screen at the top of the arc allowed Marbury, holding the ball in his left hand, to break through to the basket.

Gasol, who had been insisting on retreating defense, still had light steps at this time. When the opponent tried to jump and attack the basket, he used his long arms to interfere again.

Almost getting rid of most of the defense, but Marbury's left-handed layup still missed. In this series, the Knicks have been targeting his weak hand, and the effect is very significant. The basketball hit the rim and Perkins was unable to hold Gazuric, who was not afraid of fouls at all, and used his height advantage to protect the backcourt rebound again.

"A superstar worth 500 million!"

JR Smith ran to the half court, still taunting. Seeing the mocking smile on his opponent's face, Marbury couldn't hold back for a moment and started yelling again:
"Have some respect, bastard!"

"You spineless bastards! Go check my next contract, you are like an old dog that only knows how to wag its tail"

Nearing the midline, with J.R. Smith's loud output, Marbury lost his mind on the spot, gave up on his defender and rushed forward.

When JR Smith was pushed to the front row of the audience by Marbury, angry Celtics fans cheered. The sideline referee rushed to the two of them at the first time, but was soon drowned out by players from both sides.

The game was interrupted again, and the staff of both teams rushed to the court. Marbury, who was separated, was so angry that his eyes turned red. On the other side, JR Smith was still yelling:
"Go endorse toilet paper! They'll definitely give you a good contract"

“Referee suck!.”

Marbury was eventually ejected from the game, and the Celtics fans at the scene began to curse the referee. Many people could not accept the result of being swept.

After tearing off his jersey and walking towards the player tunnel, Marbury thought there would be fans cheering for him, but no one on either side greeted him at all. The fans were very dissatisfied with the poor performance in this series.

The staff wanted to say something, but they were scared by the way Marbury punched the wall, so they just silently escorted him back to the locker room.

9中2，罚球4中2，6分4篮板5助攻2失误，和前三场比赛没有太大区别，马布里的数据又是“四巨头”垫底。

Perhaps disappointed with his own performance, the emotional Marbury covered his face with his hands again as he sat down in his seat and gradually burst into tears.

He clearly earned the least, but he still had to take the responsibility for the loss. New York fans looked down on him and mocked him as a "traitor and wimp". Boston fans also did not respect him and believed that the series was lost because of him.

It only takes one round of series to transform from a "giant" to a "scapegoat". Feeling aggrieved, Marbury couldn't stop crying for a while. No one could understand his sacrifice, as those were green and juicy US dollars!

"Coach Rivers is right. This is only the first year of the team, and we are a 1-win team. We have achieved success!"

"Everything is going to be fine man, don't pay attention to the fans complaining."

After hearing the staff's words of comfort, Marbury tried to control his emotions. The only way to regain respect was to win the championship:

"I will live in the training hall during the offseason and they will respect me!"

The people in the locker room looked at each other, gave a simple encouragement, and said nothing more. In fact, everyone had similar thoughts in their hearts, but they just didn't know how to say it out loud:

"No one in the alliance respected you before."

With 6 minutes and 26 seconds left in the game, as the Celtics took a timeout and the atmosphere team came on the court, there was jubilation on the Knicks bench. They swept their opponents and entered the finals again!
In this series, Li You's statistics declined, but the statistics of others improved a little. Artest and Raja Bell were not very efficient, but they scored in double digits in three games.

Players in their contract year will always involuntarily express themselves. Even if they say that data is not important, their bodies will be more honest at this time. They just want data.

Only with data can you gain more trust from the coaching staff, and with data, the agent can ask for a contract with confidence.

In a contract year, if anyone said that data was not important, Artest would probably punch the person. Even if he was a kid from Queens, the general manager would not offer a big contract to a guy who averaged less than 10 points per game.

Although the performance did not meet expectations, Li You did take care of them. Raja Bell smiled happily and jumped back to his seat, and subconsciously praised:
"In front of Lee, the Celtics are a joke! They will never succeed. Gartner may regret coming to Boston!"

People used to complain that Artest's emotions had calmed down unconsciously. Although his shooting percentage was just over 40% and his three-point shooting was not very good, he successfully restricted his old rival in this round of games.

Pierce made 16 of 4 shots and failed to rebound. He scored some points against Dio, but his overall performance was still poor.
"They are long gone, Lee will beat that arrogant clown in the finals!"

"'I'm the best player in the league.' Who does he think he is?"

Artest imitated Kobe in a rough voice, and everyone laughed even more happily. Gasol, who had just been substituted off the court, also covered his mouth with a towel and laughed quietly. He noticed Chandler sighing and whispered to comfort him:

"Next season, the rebounding title will be yours. Maybe you can even win two trophies."

Chandler responded with a smile. He was just struggling with one thing. The team didn't want him to participate in the Olympics, and his agent also wanted him to focus on next season, which would reduce the risk of injury:
"I was just thinking about the offseason camp, you know, they also sent me an invitation, but the schedule was too tight."

Gasol doesn't want to give any advice on this. If we only look at his physical condition, his recovery speed is getting slower and slower. Every time he finishes an international competition, he has to use the game as a substitute for training at the beginning of the season.

Injuries also began to find him, and his almost year-round non-stop status was bound to affect the league and damage the team's interests.

The TD Garden Arena was no longer noisy. It seemed that everyone was waiting for the game to end. Li You, who was sitting next to D'Antoni, was still discussing the changes of the Lakers with the mustache. They also watched the game video this morning:

"We can try boldly. Ray gave me an inspiration. Maybe I should defend the opponent's core players more."

The two had just talked about the Lakers' home court problem, and Li You suddenly changed the subject. D'Antoni was a little surprised. After all, in the current system, everyone is trying to reduce the burden on the core:
"This may be a good attempt, but we have to discuss it. You know, Li, the team hopes that you can stay healthy all the time, and the fans also want to see your personal performance more."

The team was undefeated at home last season, and James Dolan did a lot of public relations for the referees. The scale of penalties is sometimes very subjective. Even if the referee makes a mistake, the worst that can happen is that he will apologize after the game.

The referees union has been more restrained this season due to the betting scandal, which has also affected New York's home court, but overall, it's not a big problem.

The Knicks, who have already won so many games, not only don’t want to lose, but also want to win beautifully. Li You has no objection to this, but sometimes he also needs some fun:
"Why not give it a try? Maybe the best player in the league would like the challenge, and the fans would like the matchup."

"."

Li You smiled and gave his reasons. D'Antoni said nothing but smiled. When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game, the two stood up and hugged each other briefly. The mustache guy suddenly whispered:

"As long as we can win, we don't need to please anyone"

(End of this chapter)