Pierce slapped Lin Yu's butt, and with one goal difference, he saw hope of equalizing the score.
After Lin Yu hit a three-pointer in the opening game, the Celtics only briefly led for two or three rounds, and then fell behind.
Until now, they have not been able to take the lead for a second time.
But now, with the opportunity to equalize the score approaching, Pierce began to take it seriously, and he began to use his full strength on the defensive end.
Josh Howard cut into the paint, received the pass and layup.
Pierce stretched out his long arm to interfere and missed.
"Rebound!"
Perkins stayed in position and steadily picked off the rebound.
"Give me the ball!"
Pierce decided to take over the game. He once again caught the ball and made a single. Instead of passing the ball, he made a mid-range shot against the defense.
boom!
The basketball hit the hoop.
The chance to equalize was wasted.
Then, the Celtics once again prevented their opponent's attack.
But back to the offensive end, there was another "bang", this time it was Lin Yu, and his three-pointer also failed.
After that, Nowitzki took over the game, using his soft touch to hit shots one after another, and the score opened up again.
boom!
Facing the defense, Lin Yu shot a three-pointer against the defense.
The basketball hit the frame, bounced very far, and was picked up by the second center in the Western Conference.
Another piece of fine iron.
In addition to the two three-pointers in the opening game against the defense, Lin Yu has missed three consecutive three-pointers against the defense.
His three-point shooting has become 2 of 5, a 40% shooting rate, which no longer looks magical.
The game has entered the fourth quarter, and there are only more than three minutes left before the end of the game. The Celtics are lagging behind, with the deficit reaching 11 points.
The Mavericks are still too strong and are too much better than the Celtics. Nowitzki alone is unsolvable for the Celtics.
"Dirk Nowitzki's mid-range one-on-one was a beautiful move. He got past LaFrentz's defense and shot directly!"
Whoa, white net flowers appear!
"The ball was scored and the point difference expanded to 13 points. Dallas people are moving towards victory!"
The Celtics served from the backcourt and Delonte West advanced to the frontcourt.
Lin Yu started running without the ball, from the bottom corner to the bottom corner on the other side, and then from the bottom corner on the other side to 45° to the left. He ran like this wildly, without any rules.
Rivers could no longer stand Lin Yu's running without the ball: "Robert, on the training day after this game, teach Lin how to run without the ball."
Robert Lowell, the Celtics' player development coach, nodded to Rivers and accepted the job.
There was not much time left in the game, and Lin Yu hesitated whether to use KD's "Three Minutes of Death" special effect card.
After hesitating for a long time, he gave up.
For him now, the gains and losses in one or two games are not important, only "Linsanity" is important, and that is the key to his further improvement.
It was Terry who was guarding Lin Yu. Terry kept staring at Lin Yu's open three-pointers. At the same time, he didn't dare to give Lin Yu too much space.
"Pierce's breakthrough, he was flanked and he couldn't shoot. Time is running out. Is he going to force a shot?"
In the middle of the half court, just inside the free throw line, Pierce jumped up and looked like he was about to take a shot.
Josh Howard's big hands were directly sealed on his face, completely blocking the angle of the shot.
Pierce retracted his hand from hitting the basket, turned around in the air, and surprisingly smashed the ball behind him.
"Jump pass to China Lin."
It was another opportunity to face the defense. Although he had already made three consecutive irons, Lin Yu still showed no mercy and shot the three-pointer in one leap.
"China Lin from outside the three-point line took a direct shot and hit another three-pointer against the defense!"
Marv Albert no longer dares to judge Lin Yu's three-point shooting against the defense, even though Lin Yu's three-point shooting rate is now 2 of 5.
Whoosh!
The basketball got into the net, and after three straight irons, Lin Yu found his touch again.
"In! At the critical moment, China Lin made this three-pointer, ending his triple iron streak."
"This three-pointer gave the Celtics a chance to survive. They still have a chance to win this game."
Amid the cheers in the North Shore Garden Arena, the score jumped, with 10 points left.
In the Mavericks' offensive round, Jason Terry, who was in control of the ball, had no chance at all because Lin Yu always locked him tightly.
But Nowitzki, who came out of the penalty area to catch the ball, became very confused. He easily received the ball, dribbled under his hips for a single like a defender, and then made a step-back jumper.
Whoosh!
The opponent's shot caused the basketball to fall into the basket, wiping the white net flowers. A crisp sound of net wiping made all the home fans despair.
"The point difference is back to 12 points. Dirk Nowitzki's performance is too stable, so stable that it makes people desperate!"
Immediately afterwards, the Celtics attacked.
"Pierce's isolation, let's see if he can prove that he is also a key player like Nowitzki. The Celtics are in urgent need of scoring."
Pierce indeed has a big heart, but in this game, his big heart didn't seem to work well. At the critical moment, he made a jumper against the defense, but with a bang, it didn't go in.
Returning to the Mavericks' offensive end, Nowitzki patted the basketball, raised his hand and shot another Golden Rooster, and swoosh, he hit it again!
"It's 14 points. China Lin's three-pointer suddenly became useless, and everything is back to the starting point..."
Three minutes later, the game ended. The Celtics lost to the Mavericks by 13 points at home. Another loss. They had lost three consecutive games.
Lin Yu made 3 of 7 shots, hit 3 three-pointers, plus 2 of 2 free throws, scoring 11 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal.
Terry, who was locked on the defensive end, made 5 of 14 shots, a 35.7% shooting rate, and only scored 12 points and 4 assists, which was completely below average.
But Nowitzki made 11 of 17 shots and scored 30 points and 7 rebounds with extremely high efficiency, single-handedly destroying the Celtics' defense.
In contrast, Pierce was surrounded by Josh Howard and Jerry Stackhouse throughout the game. He failed to get many opportunities, was in average form, and failed to take over the game at critical moments.
This is the key to the Mavericks winning.
"Bye, dear." Lin Yu said goodbye to Amber at the airport.
Then he boarded the Celtics' special plane and flew to Atlanta.
Ricky Davis always says: Atlanta is not as big as New York or Los Angeles, nor does it have the casinos of Las Vegas, but it is the favorite away stadium for NBA players, whether it is in the past, present or future.
It was difficult for Lin Yu to understand this sentence, and he wanted Ricky Davis to show him around.
But this time it came at a bad time. The Celtics had lost three consecutive games and the team's record had dropped to 16 wins and 18 losses. Doc Rivers was in a bad mood.
No one dared to run away at this time. Everyone was honest and wanted to end their losing streak in Atlanta.
In this away game against the Atlanta Hawks, Lin Yu tried his best to restrict the future Hawks Joe Johnson, who just transferred from the Suns this season.
With 6 of 18 shots, Joe Johnson's shooting percentage was only 33.3%. He only scored 15 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. His performance was completely below expectations.
On the contrary, Lin Yu's score reached a new high. In this game, he made 5 of 11 shots, hit 4 three-pointers, plus a mid-range shot and 1 of 2 free throws. He scored 15 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 1 block.
On the road, the Celtics ended their losing streak, but that was all.
Because two days later, they returned to their home court and battled the Timberwolves into overtime, and were finally defeated by Kevin Garnett's buzzer-beater.
With 17 wins and 19 losses, the team's record has changed from being stable at around 50% winning rate to permanently lower than 50% winning rate.
Then two days later, the Celtics went to Detroit and were suppressed by the strong defensive Pistons for a whole game. Even Lin Yu shot 1 of 8 and only scored 3 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
, his streak of scoring double figures came to an end.
The Celtics suffered a disastrous away defeat, another two-game losing streak, with a record of 17 wins and 20 losses, 1.5 games away from a 50% winning rate.
They are gradually slipping into the lottery zone where they can't even reach their fingertips.
