After the Celtics' timeout, Lin Yu left the field.
He has been on the court for a quarter and a half, fighting continuously with high intensity. Even if he evolves into an Iron Man, it is already time to take a rest.
Lionel Hollins, who was sitting on the visiting team's coaching bench, showed a proud smile and replaced Lin Yu, successfully invalidating the Celtics' timeout.
But on the other side, in the home team's coaching bench, Doc Rivers breathed a sigh of relief.
Lin Yu came off the court to rest, and the Celtics immediately felt relaxed.
Lin Yu, who scored 32 points at this stage of the game, has single-handedly defeated the Celtics' defense, which ranks first in the league.
As soon as Lin Yu left the field, the Celtics instantly reversed the situation.
But the Knicks also put up a lineup with average strength but invincible hard work, including point guard Lowry, shooting guard Fred Jones, small forward Wilson Chandler, power forward Randolph, and center Navarro.
Zir-Muhammad.
With Randolph as the core and defensive, the Celtics continued to be consumed.
So much so that at halftime of the game, the Knicks still maintained a leading position.
"Surprising and amazing halftime, 61:55. In the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals, the New York Knicks burst out their potential. They took the lead at the end of the half, with a 6-point score gap.
They can enter the second half of the game as a leader."
Taking the lead at halftime, Lin Yu also got time to rest. Counting the 15 minutes of midfield, in the second half, he could face the Celtics' defense in an almost 100% full state.
It’s just hard to guess: What kind of strategy will the Celtics use to deal with Lin Yu? Is it to completely expand the defense and lock Lin Yu’s three-pointers? Or will the defense continue to shrink and let the players defending Lin Yu increase their efforts?
; Or directly attack Lin Yu and completely break up his defense system...
Time flew by and the second half of the game began quickly.
Hollins made no adjustments and just put the Knicks' main lineup on the court.
Point guard Lowry, shooting guard Lin Yu, small forward Wilson Chandler, power forward Randolph, center Kwame Brown.
The Celtics also responded with their main players, point guard Rondo, shooting guard Ray Allen, small forward Pierce, power forward Garnett, and center Perkins.
"The game restarts, Knicks' baseline kickoff."
Lin Yu took the ball from Kwame Brown and controlled the ball at a constant speed through the half.
He still didn't know the Celtics' defensive arrangement. He just observed the defense a little during the half. Garnett's position was very outside, but this did not mean that the Celtics' defense must be outside.
Expanded.
Because Garnett may be facing Kwame Brown, and he is waiting for Brown to get there.
Lin Yu still stopped the ball after halftime. At this time, Kwame Brown, who had also just passed halftime, turned sideways and gave Lin Yu a screen. Then, Garnett jumped out.
"The Celtics chose to expand their defense again, and KG directly defended beyond the three-point line!"
Lin Yu made a move, changed direction drastically, squeezed Garnett, who was still in position, and continued walking inside.
Randolph also quickly moved up the high post, setting up another screen. This time, the Celtics' defense was completely unsustainable.
Lin Yu took two steps forward, and Perkins was forced to defend. Lin Yu passed the ball to Wilson Chandler, who ran to the basket.
After Chandler's layup and the crisp sound of a basketball wiping the net, the score jumped to 63:55 at the beginning of the second half, and the Knicks' lead reached 8 points.
On the sidelines, Doc Rivers kept shouting one word: "Back up, back up!"
In the Celtics' offensive round, Rondo controlled the ball. They played very constipated and spent more than ten seconds without finding a chance to score.
In the end, Pierce took the pot and hit a mid-range shot, bringing the score gap back to 6 points.
In the next round, when the Knicks attacked, Lin Yu quickly understood the meaning of Rivers' "back up".
Garnett's defensive position moved back a little, seemingly holding the mid-range range, but Lin Yu shook Garnett away, drove straight in, faced Perkins' defense, and succeeded in a layup.
Then in the next offensive round, Garnett continued to delay, but Lin Yu faced Garnett's defense, raised his hand and directly made a three-pointer, and the basketball hit the net amidst exclamations.
In this way, after the Celtics' defense made changes, Lin Yu still scored 5 points and 1 assist in the second half, unstoppable.
"Lin is so weird in this game..."
On the sidelines, Rivers shook his head.
He felt that Lin Yu in this game was too strange. Before the Eastern Conference finals, he and his coaching staff studied Lin Yu very carefully and concluded that Lin Yu, who had left the Celtics for two seasons, had become a
He is a super scorer with no blind spots in the mid-to-long range. In the entire half, Lin Yu's only blind spot was attacking at the basket.
Therefore, after halftime, Rivers came up with the idea of having Garnett's defense expand slightly, then contract it slightly, and cooperate with Ragnarok Rondo's single defense to completely lock Lin Yu's space for movement in the mid-to-long distance.
The result is that Lin Yu relies on screens, mismatches, and a seemingly small amount of outside space to still be able to shoot three-pointers. He can even rely on the threat of fake three-pointers to get a chance to break through the basket.
As a result, the basket became a space where Lin Yu could wreak havoc at will, and the Celtics' defense was already riddled with holes.
"We can't continue fighting like this. Let Lajia bypass the cover and carry out a pincer attack on Lin..."
In the remainder of the third quarter, the Celtics began to disrupt their defensive formation and flanked Lin Yu.
But what amplified the double attack was Lin Yu's passing ability. He continued to hold the ball in singles, relying on the threat of single offense to attract the Celtics' double defense, and then distributed the ball, playing like LeBron James.
The Celtics' defense fell into disarray under Lin Yu's sudden scoring style, and the game went very smoothly according to Lin Yu's vision.
After three quarters, at 89:78, the Knicks' lead reached double digits again.
The double-digit lead earned Lin Yu some rest time at the beginning of the fourth quarter. The Celtics took advantage of this opportunity and quickly narrowed the score gap to single digits.
Then, with a high single from Pierce and a three-pointer from Ray Allen, the gap in the score was successfully reduced to less than 5 points.
Immediately afterwards, Hollins called a timeout. After the timeout, Lin Yu was replaced, and the Knicks attacked again with all their strength.
Back on the court, Lin Yu immediately broke out and directly took advantage of the Celtics' defensive gap. He hit a super long three-pointer from the outside and once again stretched the score to more than five points.
Then, relying on his threat on the offensive end, attracting flankers, and scoring two assists, the Knicks' lead was re-opened to double digits.
The originally fiery North Shore Garden also gradually lost its sound under Lin Yu's wave after wave of explosions.