After the training day, the Celtics ushered in another game day.
On December 2, U.S. time, the Celtics returned home to face the Chicago Bulls.
Since Kirk Hinrich, Ben Gordon and Luol Deng joined, the Bulls in the post-Jordan era have finally ushered in a short-term recovery. They have reached the playoffs for three consecutive seasons (counting the ongoing
2005/06 season, and the subsequent 06/07 season).
But Lin Yu knew that in the 2007/08 season, the Bulls once again entered the lottery. Then, they won the No. 1 pick with a very low probability of 1.7% and selected Derrick Rose, the son of the Windy City.
It is unknown whether there is manipulation by the alliance behind this.
The Bulls in the 2005/06 season can be considered a pseudo-strong team in the Eastern Conference, with an excellent regular season record and no one being able to beat them in the playoffs.
Of course, this is also a problem caused by the lack of superstar players. The current Bulls are too ordinary from top to bottom.
In the home team's locker room at the North Shore Garden Arena, before the game started, Doc Rivers announced the starting lineup for this game.
"Point guard, Delonte, shooting guard, Lin, small forward, Paul, power forward, Reeve, and center, Kendrick..."
It was no surprise that Lin Yu entered the starting lineup. Before this game, everyone had guessed it, including Lin Yu himself.
When he stood up to leave the locker room, Ricky Davis walked up to Lin Yu, stretched out his right hand and fist bumped with Lin Yu.
Behind him, Marcus Banks also bumped fists with Lin Yu in the same way.
And Tony Allen, this guy didn't have any objections to Lin Yu just because Lin Yu took away his starting position after just one game.
In order to show that he had no idea or objection to Lin Yu, Allen even ran over, fist bumped with Lin Yu, and said: "Come on."
"Come on, Tony." Lin Yu replied with a smile.
The starting position not only means that Lin Yu can stand in the center of the field at the beginning of the game, it also has a symbolic appearance ceremony.
After the warm-up, the lights at the North Shore Garden Arena suddenly dimmed.
A huge beam of light shone in front of the home team's bench. The Celtics' five starters were all sitting on the bench. The DJ at the scene shouted: "Let us welcome... He is six feet eleven inches tall and weighs 109.
Kilogram striker...Riff! LaFrentz!"
Violent cheers erupted in the arena, and Reeve LaFrentz rushed out and stood under the lights.
Then, the DJ shouted Kendrick Perkins' name again, which was accompanied by a burst of cheers.
The third one is Lin Yu, and DJ has already prepared a set of words: "Let us welcome... a six-foot-five-inch, 98-kilogram forward and defensive swingman... China's Lin, who is starting for the first time this season!"
The cheers were not as loud as expected, there were only sporadic applause and shouts. Lin Yu just stood under the lights of the stadium, feeling suddenly uncomfortable.
He believed what Jeff Schwartz said, Boston was indeed the most exclusive city in the United States.
When Pierce came on the stage for the finale, the cheers reached a peak and almost toppled the roof of the arena.
After the entrance ceremony, the game begins.
"Kendrick Perkins versus Tyson Chandler, it's a no-brainer jump ball."
The commentary team in the broadcast booth finally changed. The veteran commentary team of Mike Breen and Marv Albert appeared at North Shore Garden to commentate on this game.
"Perhaps we should take this opportunity to talk about the Celtics' starting lineup. China Lin appears in the starting lineup, and Doc Rivers has made another bold change."
Mike Breen put the topic aside, and Albert took over: "Actually, it's not too bold. Lin's personal performance in the last game was outstanding enough. As a pseudo-starter, there is no problem."
"Then let's see what kind of report card China Lin will hand over in his NBA debut."
On the court, Chandler easily won the jump ball, and Kirk Hinrich controlled the ball and advanced to the frontcourt.
Lin Yu's opponent is Luol Deng, the Bulls' third leading scorer this season.
The Bulls' leading scorer is Ben Gordon, and their second leading scorer is point guard Hinrich.
Because Gordon was on standby and Hinrich was handed over to Delonte West, Lin Yu's defensive task naturally became Luol Deng. At the same time, Pierce was also released. Pierce only had to deal with
A lesser-known Eddie Baston.
The Bulls' offense didn't have many singles. They played a lot of pick-and-rolls. On the first goal of the game, Hinrich relied on Michael Sweetney's screen to reach the mid-range position and made a mid-range shot, but missed.
Perkins collected the rebound under the basket, the ball was transferred, and the Celtics started an offensive round.
Delonte West controlled the ball in the frontcourt and then handed it to Pierce.
Lin Yu also lurked in the corner at this time. He had practiced three-pointers for almost a week and had already discovered that if the area outside the three-point line on the basketball court was divided into five parts, then Lin Yu would be the most accurate shooter.
The two pieces are the bottom corners on the left and right sides.
He was waiting for the ball in the bottom corner, but Eddie Baston was defending him in front of him.
Like Baston, he is a fake starter. The difference is that Baston fakes it more completely, playing just to kill time.
In the first offensive round of the Kai team, Lin Yu was in trouble because Baston followed Lin Yu all the time.
Pierce's breakthrough attracted a flanking attack, but it was not Baston who rushed forward to attack, but Sweetney on the inside.
Then after the double attack, Pierce didn't pass the ball, but chose to go forward and missed a throw.
In the opening game of offense and defense, neither team scored.
Switching to the Bulls' offense again, Luol Deng began to try an air cut, but Lin Yu followed him closely. The focus of the court was Hinrich holding the ball.
Hinrich made another breakthrough and took two steps. It was not considered a success and he handed the ball over directly.
Deng got the ball, stopped in the mid-range position, and faced Lin Yu's defense.
"Luer Deng has to face China Lin's defense. This is a challenge!"
Although Lin Yu's defense has only shown its strength for two regular season games, everyone already knows that Lin Yu's best defense is single defense.
Luol Deng also knew this. Bulls head coach Scott Scales emphasized this before the game, and he took it to heart.
Hinrich failed to break through, so Luol Deng had to find some opportunities.
He turned around, leaned against Lin Yu, and then made a gesture to turn around again.
However, Lin Yu moved his steps slightly, blocking Luer Deng's turning route, but leaking the space on the other side.
Luol Deng was also very smart. He turned directly to the other side, then lowered his body, stabilized his center of gravity, and rushed towards the basket.
Then, he ran into Lin Yu's sideways defense.
Time was running out minute by minute. Luol Deng couldn't find a good opportunity, so he could only jump up and forcefully make a strike.
With a bang, the basketball flew out of the frame.
"Ruhr Deng failed to complete this challenge. I have to say that China's defense was so good that there were no flaws at all."
Marv Albert affirmed: "China Lin is indeed an excellent perimeter defender."
In the Celtics' offense, Baston still stayed with Lin Yu. Lin Yu was a little depressed. Before this game, his open three-point shooting attribute had risen to 69 points, which was only 71 points away from the full potential value.
Two o'clock.
Compared with the previous game, he had higher open three-point shooting attributes, but he didn't get a chance to perform, which really made Lin Yu a little unhappy.
Fortunately, on the defensive end, he did an excellent job of limiting Luol Deng. After the game started, Luol Deng hit two more goals against Lin Yu's defense, but neither scored. He only relied on a surprise attack.
Cut and scored 2 points for a layup.
The first quarter lasted more than five minutes, and Luol Deng made 1 of 4 shots. The data was very dismal, and the Bulls fell behind the Celtics.
The game entered the official timeout, Doc Rivers made a substitution, Lin Yu put on training clothes and sat off the court to rest.
After playing for more than five minutes in the starting lineup, there were only a string of zeros on the statistics table. Lin Yu's first start in his career was indeed a bit bleak.