On January 23, 2006, US time, in New Jersey, the Celtics held a pre-game press conference at their hotel.
"Mr. Doc Rivers, let's talk about Paul Pierce's injury. I got the news that he kicked a cabinet in the locker room and broke his toe."
"This is simply nonsense. Mr. reporter, if you insist that Paul kicked the cabinet and caused his injury, I think you can go back and prepare to receive the lawyer's letter from the Celtics and Paul Pierce."
"Then let's talk about the deal you just completed. In the last game, Wally Szczerbiak shot a super-low 6-for-19 from the field. On the other hand, Ricky Davis, his first goal in Minnesota,
In the game, they scored 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists on 8-of-15 shooting. Isn’t the competitive state of the two of them a little different?"
"The performance and data of one game can't explain anything. Besides, that was all about the last game. Let's focus on today's game, okay?"
Rivers is not a reporter who is good at dealing with the media, at least not as well as his teacher Gregg Popovich.
When questioned by reporters, he always leads the topic to another embarrassing topic.
For example, now, the topic has started to revolve around today's game, and reporters have asked: "You lost miserably to the Nets in the last game. Now you will play against the Nets away from home. Are you confident in winning?"
Rivers' response: "I'm not going to predict the victory of the game before it starts."
Or: "There are rumors that after Paul Pierce is injured, you will take advantage of the situation. So, will you lose the game against the Nets?"
Rivers's response was: "I said, I will only answer questions about this game."
The reporter asked: "I am asking a question about this game. Please answer, will you lose this game against the Nets?"
"No, absolutely not!"
The press conference had just ended, and Danny Ainge unexpectedly appeared in the corridor of the hotel.
He stood in front of Rivers with a smile on his face: "Why don't you tell them that we are going to fail? Even if you tell them now that we are not going to fail, the next losing streak of the team will make them realize,
The Celtics are already on the road to failure."
"I haven't agreed to your suggestion yet, Danny."
"But Doug, what's the point if you don't agree? Paul is injured for a month, and our current record is 17 wins and 23 losses. In the next month, we will play 16 games. Once we lose more than 10 games,
Even if we don’t want to ruin the market, we are already on the way to ruining it, so why not do it more thoroughly?”
Rivers had made up his mind and shook his head: "In the next month, we will never lose more than 10 games. If it exceeds 10 games, I agree to let Paul sit out until the end of the season."
Danny Ainge smiled. In his opinion, Rivers's words were an agreement.
"Don't worry, Doug, I will remember your contribution to the team." After patting Rivers on the shoulder, Anji returned with satisfaction.
"Of course the Celtics will not lose with the flow, because they will lose without the flow of the game."
In the Continental Airlines Center Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey, amid the noise before the game, Charles Barkley opened his big mouth again in the commentary box.
"The last game was the Celtics' home game against the Nets, a 21-point defeat. It couldn't be more miserable. Now the Celtics are already a civilian team. Without Paul -
Pierce, they can't beat most teams in the league."
"Judging from the result of the game, this is a game without any suspense. Why would ESPN let me commentate on such a game?"
Barkley looked at Kenny Smith beside him with Nick Young's question mark face.
Kenny Smith laughed: "Maybe this game will be different? After all, this is where amazing happens!"
On the other side, in the quiet home team locker room, Lawrence Frank's voice rang out.
Lawrence Frank is the head coach of the Nets. When he took over the Nets in the 2003/04 season, he was the youngest head coach in the NBA. Of course, he is still the same now.
His coaching record is excellent, but some people will always say that before he took over the Nets, the Nets were already the Eastern Conference champions.
Lawrence Frank has always wanted to prove himself, so he takes every game seriously, hoping to regain the Nets' past glory, or even go further.
Before every game, he will prepare carefully, and for every opponent he needs to target, he will arrange everything in advance.
But against the Celtics without Pierce, Lawrence Frank suddenly had no clue.
"Uh... first of all, Vince, you have to defeat Wally Szczerbiak on the offensive end like you did in the last game, and prevent him from scoring on the defensive end."
Carter nodded, and Lawrence Frank then turned to Richard Jefferson: "As for Richard, if the Celtics defend you, then pass the ball more, but in the last game, you defeated China
Lin's defense, I believe you can still do this in this game..."
Richard Jefferson showed his white teeth: "Of course, Lawrence, I have proven in the last game that China Lin is not my opponent. I will crush him from both offense and defense, just like Vince from both offense and defense."
Just like crushing Wally Szczerbiak."
There was a burst of cheerful laughter in the locker room. No one would take the Celtics without Pierce seriously.
With less than half an hour left before the start of the game, the Celtics came on the court.
Lin Yu stood on the sidelines. He noticed that there were not many fans on both sides of the stadium, so the "fieldside voice" was of no use.
Taking a deep breath, Lin Yu closed his eyes.
[Are you sure to use the "Peak Kobe Bryant Single Game Experience Card"? 】
"Sure!"
Opening his eyes, Lin Yu felt that the world was completely different.
The basket seemed to have grown a whole circle larger. He felt that no matter how he shot, he could hit the center of the basket. He could shoot countless hollow balls.
Even if faced with multiple attacks, the result is the same...
"Hey Lex, give me a ball."
Lex Kalamian, who was the ball boy on the court, passed the ball to Lin Yu.
Lin Yu received the ball, jumped up, then leaned back sharply in the air, twisted into a picturesque posture, and threw the ball directly.
Whoosh!
The basketball was hit so accurately that it didn't touch the edge of the basket at all.
"Fadeaway jumper?" Lex Kalamian was a little surprised.
Lin Yu smiled: "Yeah, it's a fadeaway jumper!"
Then, he shot another shot, this time twisting himself more picturesquely, but the basketball hit the edge of the basket with a bang and bounced out.
Lin Yu felt excited instead. He had never thought that the clanging sound of iron could be so wonderful to his ears.
Soon, the warm-up was over, the referee walked to the center of the court, blew his whistle, and the game was about to begin.
"Dear viewers in front of the TV, the NBA regular season game between the New Jersey Nets and the Boston Celtics is about to begin..."
Newcomer Michael Olowokandi became the Celtics' starting center, and his opponent was Nenad Kostic.
"There is no doubt about the duel between Michael Olowokandi and Nenad Kostic. Kostic won the jump ball this time, and the sugar man can no longer jump..."
After failing to get the ball in the opening game, Lin Yu retreated quickly. In this game, his opponent was Richard Jefferson.
He carefully marked Jefferson and didn't give Jefferson the slightest chance to catch the ball.
But just seven seconds later, Vince Carter had already passed Wally Szczerbiak who was guarding him, and then faced Olowokandi's weak defense.
Bang, dunk!
The Continental Aviation Center sounded the alarm, and there was a sporadic cheering and screaming.
Although he has suffered many serious injuries, Carter is still the familiar demigod in his memory.
"Wally Szczerbiak couldn't restrain Vince Carter at all, and the sugar man inside just acted as a supplementary defense."
"For the Celtics, a difficult game started with Carter's dunk..."