Payton handed the ball to Pierce. Pierce had a difficult time under Artest's guard, but he still opened up a little space and shot a fadeaway jumper. The ball hit the front of the backboard and bounced a little further. Milley
Sic grabbed the rebound and took off for a dunk, but O'Neal over there came from behind and slapped the ball away with a solid big block. Even so, the referee still called O'Neal a foul and Milicic made two free throws.
O'Neal protested to the referee and then said to Milicic: "Do you only commit fouls? Boy!"
This free throw that shouldn't have made Milicic feel very uncomfortable. He unexpectedly missed both free throws. O'Neal said to Milicic: "Basketball can't lie. What do I want you to know today?"
It’s NBA basketball.”
Tinsley went to the frontcourt and passed the ball to Artest for a transition. Artest passed it to O'Neal, who was in a good position inside. O'Neal took two steps with LaFrentz, turned around and made a 0-degree jumper, which hit!
For the Celtics, Pierce did not pass the ball to the outside after Milicic's pick-and-roll. Instead, he used Milicic to draw Foster out of the gap and deceived Artest with a fake pass.
, rushed into the paint and faced O'Neal with a dunk. After the ball went in, Pierce yelled at O'Neal: "This is Celtic territory! Come at me if you have any ability!"
Pierce's domineering dunk made Milicic feel confident that he was not the boss of the team and did not need to compete with the opponent to see who was stronger and who was weaker. Having just been promoted to the main force, he was already exceptional and could only do every step well.
It is the right choice. It is somewhat unrealistic to challenge All-Star power forward O'Neal at this stage.
After the Pacers' offense used O'Brien as the pivot to attract double-teams, Reggie Miller found an open space while running. Ou passed the ball over, and Miller shot a shot with a standard posture like a basketball textbook.
Scored three points, and then said to Pierce: "Whose territory is this? Please tell me, I can't hear it!"
This time it was directly replaced by the big brother of the two teams to score points. The baseline ball was directly passed to Pierce. Artest led the defense to the half-court position. Pierce made two consecutive fake moves and then broke through to the right.
As soon as Artest followed, he bumped into LaFrentz who was on the pick-and-roll. Foster on the left came over to cover and block the shot. Miller on the right also rushed over to steal Pierce's ball. Artest behind him was
After getting rid of LaFrentz, he followed up. As these three people were encircling Pierce, he did not choose to pass the ball, but collided with Foster. After the big center Foster was knocked away, Pierce
A split shot, Pierce didn't break through very quickly, and his jump wasn't high, but his aura of giving up the ball was even hard to watch.
After the dunk, the referee also called Foster a blocking foul. Pierce shouted: "This is the Celtics' territory! This is my territory!"
Even the venomous Reggie Miller had to shut up at this time. The court commentator Gorman said: "Man, after watching this ball, you can understand why the team did not hesitate to trade Anthony Walker.
It's time to build a team around Paul, he is a natural leader and a player born for the big scenes."
After the penalty shot was made, the game entered the official timeout.
After the timeout, all the main players except Ricky Davis took off the court, leaving Ricky Davis with Banks, Tony Allen, Mark Blount and Al Jefferson on the court.
Rivers looked at the situation on the court, called Milicic to his side and said: "Darko, don't have too many ideas when playing, otherwise you won't become a key player. Many things are not what you should be doing now."
I thought about it. In comparison, I like Al's attitude better. He has always led the team in high school, but after he arrived at the new team, he immediately found his own position, blocking others and grabbing rebounds... And you just
Just feel free to score, pass, and grab rebounds and do everything you can. There are some responsibilities that you don’t have to shoulder on yourself too early!”
Milicic looked at Al Jefferson on the court, a talented power forward who would average 20+10 points per game in the future. He firmly blocked the opponent's Bender behind him, and Mark Blount easily earned a
On the rebound, the opponent's Stephen Jackson broke into the inside. It was his defense that forced Jackson to return the ball to the outside. Now Al Jefferson has no baggage in his heart. All he has to do is help the team win.
, and before, Milicic was more concerned about the matchup between himself and the opponent's players, how he performed in a game, and whether he could make Brown more uncomfortable... He cared about too many things, on the court.
My attention is no longer so focused.
Let's look at Ricky Davis, who was once the boss of one team. After coming to the Celtics, he was able to accept his position and even became the team's third and fourth offensive option. He led the team after Pierce came off the court.
The substitute lineup continued the firepower and showed his offensive talent, but when Pierce came on the court, he immediately transformed into a defensive warrior. This is everyone's role in the team, but Milicic once ignored this problem.
The first quarter of the game ended. Although the Pacers' substitutes were better and relied on the performance of Stephen Jackson, Jonathan Bender and Crohill to recover some points, they were still 2 points behind 23-25.
End the first section.
The second quarter lasted about 2 minutes, and all the main players from both sides came on stage.
The Celtics started the attack with Pierce. Milicic took the initiative to cover and cut inside after the pick-and-roll. Pierce handed the ball to Milicic under the basket, and Milicic succeeded in dunking the ball with both hands.
Looking back, Milicic and LaFrentz exchanged defensive positions and took the initiative to defend the opponent's inside offensive leader O'Neal. O'Neal made a mid-range shot after shaking. Milicic's fingertips touched the ball, but the ball was still there.
After stumbling and falling into the basket, Pierce came over and said to Milicic: "Good job! That's it!"
When the Celtics were attacking, O'Neal Jr. also switched to defend Milicic. Milicic moved to the high post to provide support. O'Neal provocatively said to Milicic: "Come on! I just made a shot, come and return the favor!"
"
Milicic tried to shoot, but the ball was passed directly to Pierce, who had already reversed and reached the basket. Pierce got the ball under the basket, used his strong back muscles to squeeze Artest behind him, and hit a layup with a rebound.
.
Pierce ran over and high-fived Milicic to celebrate, trusting his teammates more to avoid falling into a one-on-one situation. Milicic's fighting spirit also became excited, shouting loudly: "Here is -"
"Boston's territory!" Five people on the field shouted in unison.
