In the infield of TD North Shore Garden Arena, some fans were sparsely seated in the surrounding stands, and there were still many empty seats.
The Celtics' game attendance is not outstanding, which is also due to their recent poor record.
Since Larry Bird retired in 1992, the Celtics' glory has gone forever. In the 1993/94 season, they failed to enter the playoffs, and in the 94/95 season they barely made it to the playoffs.
race.
Then, starting from the 1995/96 season, the Celtics failed to reach the playoffs for six consecutive seasons, which created the history of the Celtics and can be regarded as the most depressed period in the history of the Celtics.
It wasn't until the 2001/02 season that they ended their consecutive lottery journeys under the leadership of Pierce and Anthony Walker.
But even after reaching the playoffs, the Celtics' playoff record was often a first-round exit. Such results are in sharp contrast to their eight consecutive championships at the most glorious time in history.
It is understandable that the attendance rate at the North Shore Garden Arena is not high. The Celtics' results have never been able to meet the needs of the fans.
Lin Yu was wearing a green and white training suit and doing some leg presses to warm up on the sidelines.
Suddenly there was a burst of cheers from the sidelines, and Paul Pierce came on the court. Even if the Celtics' record in the new season is very average, Pierce is still the favorite of the fans.
In contrast, Lin Yu, who stood on the sidelines very early, was completely ignored by the fans in the stands. At times, he was even disliked by some crazy Green Army fans because he occupied a spot for nothing.
Player quota.
"Hey Lin, give me a high five."
Ricky Davis's voice suddenly sounded next to Lin Yu. He subconsciously stretched out his right hand and gave a high-five to Ricky Davis, who was already standing beside him.
"Are you looking at Paul?"
Following Lin Yu's line of sight, Ricky Davis saw Pierce who was performing the opening ceremony.
Pierce raised his hands and kept signaling to the sidelines: He wanted more cheers!
Then, the fans in the audience cheered more, and the North Shore Garden Arena, which had a low attendance rate, created the illusion of being full at this time.
"Don't look at it. If you want to reach Paul's level, you are still far away. Even I have no hope."
Compared with the arrogance he had when he was in the Cavaliers, Ricky Davis has clearly recognized the reality now. He knows that he is not the material to be the boss of the team. At most, he is only a second-in-command.
Even if he goes to a championship-level team, he won't even be able to be the second in charge.
Lin Yu also shook his head. He felt that although the distance between him and Pierce was still far away, it was not out of reach. On the contrary, it was within reach.
Turning his head to glance at the basket on the court and the dark-toned floor of the North Shore Garden Arena, Lin Yu's heart was filled with all kinds of expectations.
With a beep, the referee blew his whistle and he threw the basketball into the air. Then, Kendrick Perkins and Bobcats starting center Primoz Brezek jumped into the air together.
Perkins, who has always lost the jump ball, surprisingly surpassed Blazek and got the basketball first.
Cheers erupted at the North Shore Garden Arena.
What's even crazier is Lin Yu on the sidelines. As soon as the game started, he was already standing at the front of the bench holding a towel and waving it twice.
Brian Scalabrine patted Lin Yu's butt: "Hey, kid, sit down, the game has just started, it's not time to celebrate yet."
Lin Yu curled his lips. If it weren't for Scalabrine's early existence, he wouldn't have had to work so hard to wave the towel. He just had to sit quietly on the sidelines and spend a period of golden years, and he would be able to relax easily.
Completing another meme-stealing progress of Brian Scalabrine's "Mascot" meme.
(If there is a popular mascot among NBA players, it must be the White Mamba Scalabrine.)
On the first kick of the game, Paul Pierce launched an attack on Gerald Wallace's defense.
After taking advantage of the screen to reach the middle distance, Pierce directly pulled out his hand and missed with a bang.
Switching to the Bobcats' offense, Brevin Knight and Gerald Wallace knocked the ball over each other, and finally found an opportunity. Knight went to the basket, but his layup was blocked by Parkin.
Despite Si's interference, he didn't get in.
The two sides were fighting each other until the game was over for more than a minute before Emeka Okafor cut through the middle and received a pass from Wallace for a dunk, scoring the first score of the game.
In this era of 2005, defense was still the mainstream of basketball. The overall shooting rate in the game was not high, and there were more strikes than goals. Naturally, the game was not as smooth as in the future small ball era.
If two strong defensive teams compete against each other, such a game will naturally become extremely fierce and very exciting to watch.
But if it were a pecking contest between rookies, it would be quite boring.
The game in front of Lin Yu was just a competition between rookies. He found it a bit boring, so he found something to do for himself: screening the opponent's players one by one to find out the tricks he could steal.
The star player of the Bobcats is the little-known Gerald Wallace. If Rivers lets Lin Yu play, his opponent will most likely be Gerald Wallace.
What's the famous joke about Wallace? I'm afraid it's that this guy plays hard to death, so he got a nickname, "Crash". Later, because of this playing style, he was crippled by Andrew Bynum with an elbow.
A few ribs damaged his lungs, causing his left lung to shrink and his career to plummet.
Gerald Wallace's jokes are not suitable for Lin Yu. On the one hand, his physical fitness is not up to the mark. On the other hand, although there is help from the system, he does not dare to be too presumptuous and risk his career.
joke.
More importantly, Wallace's meme is not well-known, so the value of stealing it is really low.
Among the other players on the Bobcats, Okafor has a high degree of education. Lin Yu is not stupid, but he can't match his high degree of education.
Going further down the list, Lin Yu can hardly recognize all the Bobcats players, but this is normal. A team that has just established its second year will naturally have many players like Lin Yu filling its ranks.
It stands to reason that for the Celtics, this game should be a game without any suspense, because their opponents are really too weak, except for Gerald Wallace and Okafor.
Players are worth noting.
But sports games are often so unexpected.
In the opening game, the Bobcats scored first, and then Pierce's single tied the score.
After that, the Bobcats continued to attack the inside through strong attacks, constantly causing damage, and continuously scored ahead of the Celtics.
In other words, the situation on the court has always been dominated by the Bobcats. The Bobcats took the lead, and then the Celtics equalized the score.
The ideal dream of quickly taking the lead and then winning an easy victory didn't happen, and Doc Rivers became impatient.
He kept walking up and down the sidelines, waving his arms toward the court.
"From the outside, Paul Pierce's single went past Gerald Wallace, and he went in... There was no defense under the basket... Oh my God, this is a dunk!"
"Celtic equalized the score again. The intensity of this game exceeded all of our expectations!"
"Paul Pierce has already scored 13 points, and Gerald Wallace, who is opposite him, has also scored 11 points. Their offense and defense seem to be a tie!"
On the sidelines, Rivers had just finished commanding the court. He had retracted his waving arms and was akimbo, looking up at the technical statistics above his head.
Beside him, Lin Yu led a group of bench gangsters, cheering crazily and waving white towels crazily, artificially creating a white ocean.
"With less than 7 minutes left before the end of the second quarter, Paul has already scored 13 points, but we still failed to take the lead!"
Rivers sat back in his seat and muttered something.
Coach Lex Kalamian sitting next to him also glanced at the technical statistics above his head and gave a suggestion: "Doug, should we replace Ricky in advance? His functions overlap with Paul's.
So far, Paul has scored 13 points, but Ricky has only made one three-pointer."
Stagger the playing time of Pierce and Ricky Davis? Rivers showed a thoughtful expression.
As early as the intra-team match a day ago, he had a similar idea, letting Ricky Davis go as a substitute, directly replacing Pierce in most of the time, and then in a very small part of the time, Pierce and Lee were substituted.
Key Davis together.
Perhaps, this will be a way to solve the Celtics' lack of a second scoring point.
Thinking of this, Rivers immediately looked towards the bench, scanning his eyes back and forth over and over again. Finally, he locked on Lin Yu sitting at the end of the bench...
