"It's time to make a substitution, Jim. Let the substitute come in and play for a while."
Doc Rivers raised his hand and glanced at the time, signaling Jim Bravo to replace him.
Then, Lin Yu was called up by Jim Bravo.
"Lin, you go up and play the second position. Your opponent is Tony. Pay attention to your offensive position and increase your running."
Lin Yu nodded, and then stood in the middle of the field. Then, he completely forgot about Brevo's words.
His opponent is Tony Allen, a shooting guard who is good at defense. If Lin Yu really listens to Brevo and devotes all his energy to the offensive end, the opportunity of this match will be wasted by him.
Shaking his head, Lin Yu knew clearly that his chance only existed on the defensive end.
The opponent Lin Yu had been looking forward to was Paul Pierce, but by the time he came on the court, Pierce had already gone to rest.
Therefore, he looked directly at Ricky Davis, who was still fighting on the court: "I'm going to find an opportunity to switch defense against Ricky."
Defending Ricky Davis is the Celtics' backup small forward Ryan Gomez, a player who can play both power forward and small forward positions. He is slow and not a qualified outside defender.
In the main team's offensive round, Pierce was not on the court, and the ball was handed over to Ricky Davis. Ryan Gomez was short and defensive, but was shaken by Ricky Davis with a test step.
Then, Ricky Davis accelerated and passed Ryan Gomez.
This was a single that was overwhelmed by personal strength. Ricky Davis scored directly, helping the substitute team expand its lead.
Then, in the substitute team's offensive round, substitute point guard Marcus Banks controlled the ball for almost 10 seconds and was unable to find a chance.
Lin Yu has also been running, but unfortunately, with his current offensive ability, it is almost impossible to get an excellent opportunity and score.
The substitute team could only give the ball inside. Al Jefferson received the ball in a low position and turned and missed the hook.
After the main team grabbed the rebound, they quickly advanced towards the frontcourt.
It was Ricky Davis again. He quickly rushed to the frontcourt with the ball. The huge offensive threat instantly attracted a double attack. Then he distributed the ball to the outside. Delonte West received the ball and raised his head to shoot.
Three points.
Bang, didn't come in.
Doc Rivers crossed his arms across his chest and rested his chin on one hand.
Although West's three-pointer was not scored, these two goals have fully exposed the threat of Ricky Davis on the offensive end.
If he compared it to when Pierce was present just now, he found a huge difference.
When Pierce was on the court, Ricky Davis had almost no performance and had zero presence.
And when Pierce left the game, Ricky Davis almost became another Pierce.
Ricky Davis continued to play singles with the ball, like a god coming down from the earth, and soon dominated the offensive end, and Ryan Gomez completely became a backdrop.
Lin Yu had been observing secretly. Ryan Gomez had been beaten to the point of collapse. Lin Yu felt that the time was gradually coming, and his eyes gradually locked on Ricky Davis on the other side.
It was another offensive round for the main team. Delonte West controlled the ball in the frontcourt, and the sound of sneakers scraping the floor could be heard in the quiet training ground.
In the process of retreating, Lin Yu suddenly rushed in front of Ricky Davis.
Ryan Gomez, who collided with Lin Yu, was stunned for a moment, but saw Lin Yu pointing to Tony Allen on the other side.
"Switch defense, Ryan, you guard Tony."
Upon hearing this, Ryan Gomez reacted immediately and rushed to the other side without any hesitation. He even felt a sense of relief.
As for why Lin Yu came here to die, Gomez didn't want to think too much. He just wanted to be freed from Ricky Davis' purgatory. If he continued like this, his confidence would be destroyed.
The disparity between players at the NBA level is not that big. It can only be said that Ricky Davis, who is flexible and has strong breakthrough ability, just restrained the bulky Ryan Gomez. Now, what Lin Yu wants to prove is that his
The style just matched Ricky Davis.
If he can do this, in the next regular season, if the Celtics encounter a scorer with the style of Ricky Davis, the first defender Doc Rivers thinks of will be Lin Yu.
Already.
There is no way, Lin Yu must consider that he also has a competitor: Tony Allen.
"Boy, do you want to commit suicide?"
Ricky Davis made a joke. He and Lin Yu had a pretty good relationship and could be considered half friends, but even so, he still despised Lin Yu very much.
To put it more realistically, the entire Celtics team looked down upon Lin Yu, including Rivers on the sidelines.
"Why did Lin switch to Ricky? Who told them to adjust like that, Jim?"
Bravo spread his hands and said it had nothing to do with him.
"Then let them adjust their defense, Jim."
Jim Bravo nodded, but on the field, the main team's offense has already begun. Even if they adjust their defense, they can only wait for the next round.
Because he underestimated Lin Yu, Ricky Davis had to take the ball and play alone. This was a good opportunity for him to show his prowess in the intra-team competition.
Facing Ricky Davis, who looked fierce and seemed to want to swallow him in one bite, Lin Yu acted very calmly. He thought of a word, pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger. What he is doing now is pretending to be a pig and eating the tiger.
.
Delonte West quickly passed the ball over, and Ricky Davis' singles officially began.
This is a matchup with a huge disparity in strength, because in the eyes of many people, Lin Yu is not even an NBA-level player.
Ricky Davis held the ball outside the 45° three-point line on the left side, posing a not-so-standard triple threat.
Then, he stepped out with his right foot, increased his speed instantly, and was ready to run over Lin Yu and get inside without any false moves.
Rivers on the sidelines tilted his gaze, and he couldn't bear to look directly.
Then, he heard an exclamation from Jim Bravo.
"Oh my God!"
Rivers immediately turned to look at the court, only to find that the basketball miraculously appeared in Lin Yu's hands.
And Lin Yu was accelerating, running towards the frontcourt. Although his dribbling posture was very bad, it was already a very surprising thing for the basketball to appear in Lin Yu's hands.
"what happened?"
"Doug, didn't you see? Lin cut the ball out of Ricky's hand!"
"Is Ricky too careless?"
"No, no, no, it's Lin's timing of cutting the ball that's so good. Of course, his prediction of the defensive position is even better. Ricky wanted to run over him and get into the penalty area, but he was completely entangled by Lin. From the beginning to the end
Lin's defense was not out of position at all!"
Doc Rivers looked at Brevod with suspicion, not believing Brevo's judgment.
On the court, Lin Yu rushed to the frontcourt with the ball and immediately passed the ball to Marcus Banks. Banks resisted West's defense and hit a layup.
There were several ghostly screams in the stadium. Obviously, Lin Yu's chip shot surprised everyone.
And Ricky Davis, the background board of this ball, although his face was not very good-looking, he still smiled and looked at Lin Yu with a pretentious look: "Wait, Lin, I will kick you hard later."
Of your ass!”
Lin Yu returned the gesture with an OK gesture and returned to the backcourt with a smile.
Delonte West received the basketball in the backcourt, and it was another offensive round for the main team. Rivers seemed to have forgotten to adjust his defense, and kept his eyes on Lin Yu.
He wanted to see if Lin Yu, who Brevo said had excellent defensive positioning, really existed.
As soon as halftime passed, Ricky Davis passed the ball and once again assumed a triple-threat posture. This round, he was really serious and seriously wanted to kick Lin Yu's ass.
Compared with the previous ball, Ricky Davis added countless fake moves to this ball.
Constantly dribbling with his hips, twisting and moving from outside the three-point line, and occasionally taking a tentative step, Lin Yu watched Ricky Davis' performance without moving.
It wasn't until Ricky Davis really stepped out with his right foot and accelerated toward the penalty area that Lin Yu took a step laterally and blocked Ricky Davis.
On the sidelines, Rivers showed a hint of surprise on his face.
"Accurate defensive prediction, this guy actually blocked Ricky's breakthrough!"
His eyes widened.
Then, Rivers saw Lin Yu move laterally and blocked Ricky Davis' breakthrough route again, and the surprise on his face was even greater.
After forcing several stoppages in a row, Lin Yu had already forced Ricky Davis to stop the ball on the spot.
After stopping the ball, the ball was already dead, and Ricky Davis could only pass the ball out to reorganize the offense.
On the outside, Delonte West received the ball again, controlled it twice, and shot it directly, but missed.
Lin Yu's personal defense once again frustrated the main team's offense, and in the following games, Ricky Davis suffered losses from Lin Yu again and again.
When facing Ryan Gomez before, Ricky Davis had a success rate of more than 70% in singles. Now facing Lin Yu, the success rate is only about 30%.
The substitute team also relied on Lin Yu's sudden emergence on the defensive end to quickly narrow the point difference. The changes in the situation on the court also made Doc Rivers think about it.
He called Jim Brevo: "Jim, let Paul play, and then move Lin to the third position."
Jim Bravo nodded, turned around and went to make substitutions.
Rivers held his chin and watched Paul Pierce reappear. This was an experiment for him. Lin Yu achieved unexpected results in defending Ricky Davis, but it was hard to say how to defend Pierce.
In terms of player attributes, Ricky Davis is a scorer with a single offensive method but a huge threat. Paul Pierce has become another type or even a higher-level scorer with rich offensive methods.
, facing different defenders, being able to use different offensive methods to defeat the opponent.
When the match restarted, the main team attacked and Pierce came on the scene. Lin Yu, who had been moved to the third position, happened to be facing Pierce.
One-on-one, without any assistance, Pierce stood in front of Lin Yu. He looked a whole size larger than Lin Yu just in terms of size.
With the huge size gap, Rivers didn't think Lin Yu, who had guarded Ricky Davis before, could guard Pierce.
As soon as Pierce came on the court, the main team's ball rights were concentrated in Pierce's hands.
For the first ball, Pierce also chose a very direct breakthrough, running over Lin Yu and rushing in.
Lin Yu never lost his position, which is the main reason why he impressed Rivers. The sense of position in defense is so important.
And now, Lin Yu's characteristics are that he has an extremely good sense of defensive position and an extremely good ability to entangle people.
Although his confrontation ability is poor, Lin Yu can use his defensive positioning sense to make up for his shortcomings on the confrontation end.
Pierce rushed in, and when he reached a certain depth, he had to face Al Jefferson's help. Pierce knew this well, and rushed to the free throw line. When he saw Al Jefferson slowly approaching, he
There was an emergency stop immediately, and he raised his hand to shoot.
However, Lin Yu also saw through Pierce's intention, turned back suddenly, lunged towards his side, raised his right hand high, and stabbed Pierce in the eyes.
Of course, it's not really a poke, it's just a pretense.
The basketball had left his hand, and Doc Rivers on the sidelines once again opened his eyes wide, staring intently at the basketball flying over the arena.
"boom!"
The basketball hit the frame and Lin Yu's defense was considered a success.
Rivers' expression was very exciting. He originally thought that Pierce would use his absolute personal strength to crush Lin Yu. However, Lin Yu used excellent personal defense to completely restrict Pierce.
From beginning to end, from outside the three-point line to the mid-range, Pierce never got a chance to make a shot!
In the offensive round of the substitute team, Lin Yu naturally did not perform well. After paddling for more than ten seconds, he faced Pierce again.
With this ball, Pierce used another trick.
He first made a crushing breakthrough and advanced into the three-point line. Then he suddenly turned around and started to advance with his back. He played a post-up single, which was Pierce's killer move on the offensive end.
"Paul is serious."
Pierce turned his head seriously and aimed at the basket, then suddenly turned around again and took a step inward. After getting stuck in position, he prepared to continue to break through.
Lin Yu took a small step back, giving himself a space to interfere with his opponent.
Pierce stepped back and shot a jumper.
But when he stepped back, Lin Yu surprisingly took a step forward, another solid interference.
"Whoosh!"
There was a crisp sound of a basketball wiping the net, and Lin Yu was a little surprised that the ball actually went in.
I have to say that this is the personal ability of a superstar. Lin Yu thought that he had defended perfectly, but he still failed to prevent Pierce's goal.
On the sidelines, Doc Rivers showed a long-lost smile and turned to look at Jim Bravo: "Lin's defensive defense is so good. I thought of Bruce Bowen. Jim, what do you think?"
Brevo also smiled: "Change the order of the rotation and let him play in the next game and give it a try."