Chapter 709 Franchise Player (Third Update!)

The North Shore Garden Arena in Boston was fully attended.

The Celtics are one of the oldest teams in the NBA, and their fans are also among the most loyal in the league.

The team made the playoffs last year while struggling under the leadership of Stevens. The momentum has been good since this season, and the fans' support for the team has not diminished.

Moreover, the wave of public opinion created by the media before the game also made the game more interesting.

If the Celtics can successfully overthrow the Pelicans in this game, the improvement in team morale will be unprecedented.

Stevens, look, the team you once looked down on defeated the team you led!

Team general manager Danny Ainge also came to the scene.

He looked high-spirited.

As a meritorious player of the team, he first brought in the Big Three after joining the management team, and won the championship trophy again 22 years later.

Immediately afterwards, he made a prompt decision to quickly clean up and obtain a large number of high-quality draft picks after the Big Three became old.

Now the team is rebuilding while competing in the playoffs. There is nothing more satisfying than this.

Especially tonight, Stevens is under tremendous pressure to coach, and the Celtics have high hopes of winning the game.

During the reconstruction process, he ended his opponent's 15-game winning streak. When the salary cap skyrockets next summer, he will be even more confident in recruiting superstars.

After the players from the two teams arrived at the venue, Celtics players came over to greet Stevens one after another.

It can be seen from this that Stevens' coaching is still very popular.

And at the end of the opening ceremony, when Stevens was introduced, there was a lot of applause.

Although Ainge has been slandering, the fans are still clear-eyed. They know that the team has been in the quagmire in the past two years, and it is Stevens who is carrying the burden forward.

Anji frowned slightly, but didn't pay much attention.

When the Celtics win the game, fans will completely forget about Stevens and turn to McHale, who is also a meritorious player.

After the warm-up, the starting players from both sides came on stage one after another.

The Pelicans are still the regular top five.

Stevens has the same type of rotation as Popovich. He has to play 9 to 10 people in a game, which can give the main players a lot of time to rest.

Coupled with the strength of the team this season and the main players playing less time, the Pelicans have not suffered any injuries so far.

On the Celtics' side, Smart and Bradley are on the outside, Crowder and Amir Johnson are on the forward line, and Sullinger is on the center line.

This is an absolutely defensive lineup. The Celtics have conceded an average of 98.6 points per game this season, largely due to this lineup.

Sullinger is a stocky center, and Davis easily jumped out of him, giving the Pelicans the opportunity to take the lead.

Jokic came to the frontcourt to provide support at the high post, and the ball was given to Tang Tian who was cutting through the air.

The Celtics' defense was really good and they were double-teamed at the first opportunity.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Ariza on the weak side, but Smart immediately turned over to assist the defense.

The Pelicans' offense was still slightly lacking, and there were no tactical opportunities after this wave of tactics.

There was not much time, Ariza's final layup to the basket was interfered by Johnson.

The Celtics successfully defended the Pelicans' first-round offense.

Ainge smiled in the stands.

What he said is indeed right. The Pelicans' offense has not yet been fully adjusted, and the Celtics have a good chance of defending.

The Celtics defend well, but their own offense is also very anxious.

Sullinger attacked Jokic under the basket, hoping to use the advantage of confrontation to score points, but Davis' help came in time. After taking the shot, Sullinger received a nail-biting block, and Davis also won the rebound. .

The Pelicans attacked the frontcourt again, and Tang Tian took the initiative to ask for the ball.

When Stevens was coaching last season, the core of the Celtics' offense was Thomas.

If he is on the court, it will be easy for the Pelicans to exploit this defensive hole.

But now Thomas is no longer used by McHale and is not allowed to play in the starting lineup. This has greatly reduced their offensive strength, but their defense has been greatly enhanced.

With the Pelicans' currently unfinished offensive system, it will be very difficult to play.

In other words, the people in this Celtics team are still the same as when Stevens was coaching, but the system has completely changed.

Stevens' coaching experience with the Celtics doesn't help.

After holding the ball, Tang Tian motioned for the others to pull away, and then asked Jokic to raise the three-point line to play the pick-and-roll.

Of these five Celtics players on the court, the other four are fast and strong defensively, and can work together defensively.

But Sullinger is an exception.

This player, who is 2.06 meters tall but weighs 127 kilograms, is the core of the Celtics' offense.

If it were the last century or even the beginning of the century, such a stocky insider would be very popular, just like Charles Barkley and Elton Brand.

But McHale is obviously a bit outdated. In the small ball era, this kind of inside line is a standard breakthrough when encountering strong teams.

Jokic used his huge body to block Smart. After breaking it open, Tang Tian faced Sullinger in a misplaced position.

When he dribbles low and changes direction from left to right, Sullinger is like a wine glass in the wind, ready to fall over at any time.

After seeing Claude coming to help defend from the right, Tang Tian accelerated and walked to the left to pass Salinger.

Davis blocked Johnson at this time, and Tang Tian broke in and scored with a one-handed dunk.

Tang Tian helped the Pelicans take the lead in scoring!

There was a commotion on the sidelines.

Anji's brows also frowned.

He has worked with Stevens for two years and is quite familiar with Stevens' coaching.

Stevens is very strict tactically.

Just like training an army, the first thing to do is to obey orders and have absolute execution.

This is also a big reason why the Celtics were able to reach the playoffs last season with a group of role players.

But in this game just now, the Pelicans' tactics were obviously not Stevens's.

He glanced at Stevens.

Instead of getting angry, Stevens reached out and applauded.

This made him even more incredible. Stevens suddenly changed his gender when he arrived at the Pelicans?

But he soon discovered that was not the case.

Because in the next round, the Pelicans relied on strong execution defense to prevent another wave of Celtics attacks.

Angie was confused, but it was actually very simple.

Stevens and Tang Tian have been in contact as early as last season. The two have been together for a long time. Stevens admires Tang Tian's tactical ability very much.

Even during the training camp at the beginning of the season, the two had many private conversations about the tactical system.

Therefore, he would not easily question Tang Tian's judgment on the court.

And although he was very strict, he was far less domineering than Popovich. He gave Tang Tian a lot of freedom on the court.

Or to put it another way, Tang Tian is a privileged player in Stevens' tactical system.

Tang Tian just used this privilege to gain insight into the Celtics' defensive weaknesses through his own judgment and change his offensive tactics, which proved to be effective.

So what Stevens will do is applaud him.