The cheers in the North Shore Garden Arena lasted for a long time, but the Celtics players were not as excited as the fans on the sidelines.
This was just a battle of honors. Lin Yu, who returned from injury and was the king, led them to victory in this game.
A tragic victory, it is almost certain that Lin Yu will not play in the next game, and without Lin Yu, it is almost impossible for the Celtics to win.
Even in this game, the Celtics relied on Lin Yu's 25-point performance in the last quarter to barely win the game.
Amid cheers, the Celtics briefly celebrated their victory.
All the teammates rushed to Lin Yu's side at the moment the game ended, either dripping with sweat, or wearing training jackets and waving towels.
"We won, Lin, we successfully resisted the sweep."
In front of countless cameras, Paul Pierce hugged Lin Yu heavily.
"Yes, we rejected Sideswipe."
Lin Yu nodded seriously in response. The game had just ended when the tearing sensation in his hip reappeared. He knew it was time to leave.
The first time the game ended, Clint Wood appeared on the court holding a pair of crutches.
Countless cameras were focused on Lin Yu and Pierce. Now it was time to celebrate the victory. Clint Wood could only stand aside and wait.
Doc Rivers ended his handshake with Mike Brown, then walked to Lin Yu and patted Lin Yu: "Lin, let's go, we should go to the hospital."
Lin Yu nodded, leaned on a crutch, and began to move toward the players' tunnel.
The cheers in the North Shore Garden Arena suddenly stopped, and everyone looked at Lin Yu, seeming to understand something.
"So, we can now confirm that China Lin is fighting with injuries. We hope his injuries will not be serious..."
When I walked to the players' tunnel, the cheers still didn't come back, but the applause sounded like a tide.
A fan in the back row took the lead and shouted: "linsanity!"
Then the whole place shouted in unison
"linsanity! linsanity! linsanity!"
"linsanity! linsanity! linsanity!"
"..."
Lin Yu waved to both sides, knowing that this might be the last time he would step foot in the North Shore Garden Arena as a home team player.
Boston Catholic Hospital, it was already noon the next day.
Lin Yu was lying on the hospital bed, and sitting next to him was Amber, who had rushed over overnight. She looked at Lin Yu with worried eyes.
The effect of the sealing needle had worn off, and Lin Yu felt the pain of tearing in his buttocks. He had just finished the examination, and now, the results of the examination should be available.
Doc Rivers was in the hospital room with Clint Wood, and Jeff Schwartz was in the back.
Lin Yu looked at the three people with serious expressions and asked, "Has the result come out?"
The answer was Clint Wood: "A torn hip labrum, also commonly known as a hip injury."
"Does surgery need to be performed?"
"You can have surgery or conservative treatment and wait for it to heal on its own."
"So, this injury is not serious?"
Since it was an injury that could heal itself, Lin Yu guessed that it might not be serious.
Clint Wood shook his head: "On the contrary, this injury will affect your career, because this is a stubborn disease that can never be completely cured. It will keep recurring unless you stop exercising."
Lin Yu frowned. What he cared about was not whether the injury would recur. What he cared about was the recovery time of the injury: "If there is surgery, how long will it take to recover, and how long will conservative treatment take?"
"For surgery, it takes two to three months. For conservative treatment, it depends on the specific recovery situation, from one month to half a year or even longer."
Lin Yu couldn't wait that long, so he gave his choice: "Then let's have surgery."
Two days later, Lin Yu underwent hip labrum repair surgery. The surgery was successful. He went directly to vacation time. Accompanied by Amber, he flew to Hawaii for recuperation and vacation.
On the same day, Game 5 of the series between the Celtics and Cavaliers began.
In Cleveland, the Celtics suffered a disastrous defeat and were eventually eliminated in the first round with a total score of 1:4, ending their playoff journey this season.
Lin Yu played in four of the five games.
In the four games, he averaged 27.75 minutes per game, 20.75 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.75 steals, and 0.75 blocks, shooting 48.5% from the field, 51.1% from the three-point range, and 90% from the free throw line.
Lin Yu's return as the king in the last game helped him improve the basic values of all statistics.
Before the return of the king, Lin Yu's performance was poor, his offensive efficiency was lower than in the regular season, and the defense he relied on for survival was completely destroyed by LeBron James.
The average data in the first three games was 16 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 1 steal, 0.7 blocks, and 1.7 turnovers. The shooting percentage was only 43.6%, the three-point shooting percentage was 42.8%, and the free throw shooting percentage was 90%.
This does not include the two-plus quarters before the return of the king in the fourth game. If the two-plus quarters in the fourth game are included, Lin Yu's playoff data will be even worse.
Without that return of the king game, Lin Yu would have been relegated to a regular season player.
Even those "taken advantage of" people who once intended to use poisonous contracts to compete for Lin Yu may have to hesitate when faced with Lin Yu who played well in the regular season but played extremely poorly in the playoffs.
Especially Lin Yu was injured. The impact of the injury coupled with a poor performance in a series, without the return of the king, Lin Yu's worth will plummet.
But now, after the return of the king, everyone knows and thinks that Lin Yu is a player who is good at creating miracles.
From "Linsanity" to the final explosion of the regular season to the return of the king, Lin Yu has proven this point countless times.
He is good at creating miracles. To put it simply, his upper limit is extremely high.
The "taken advantage" will be willing to ignore injuries and use a poisonous contract to lock Lin Yu, who has a very high ceiling, because most team management attaches great importance to the team's ceiling, and the ceiling means potential, which means
future.
Therefore, for the sake of summer, Lin Yu must also play in the fourth quarter of the fourth game. He must have a return of the king.
Lin Yu spent more than half a month in Hawaii, and the NBA playoffs have reached the finals of the Eastern and Western Conferences.
The Pistons swept the Wizards in the first round, and then played the tiebreaker with the Cavaliers in the second round. After winning the tiebreaker, they advanced to the next round.
In the other half, the Heat also defeated the Bulls and Nets. The scores of the two series were 4:2 and 4:1 respectively. The two teams recognized as the strongest in the East met in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the Western Conference, the Spurs defeated the Kings and the Mavericks swept the Grizzlies.
In the semifinals, the two teams reached a tiebreaker, and the Mavericks won.
In the other half, the Suns defeated the Lakers in a tiebreaker and the Clippers beat the Nuggets 4:1. In the second round, the Suns played another tiebreaker and continued to win.
In the Western Conference Finals, the Suns faced off against the Spurs, a showdown between the two teams that were also recognized as the strongest.
At this time, Lin Yu also set off from Hawaii and returned to the North American continent.