Just when Danny Ainge was hesitant and didn't know how to deal with Lin Yu, the March game started.
In the first game, the Celtics will face the Miami Heat, the favorites to win the championship. This will obviously be a tough battle.
When the Celtics arrived in Miami, Pat Riley and his assistant team were studying how to defeat this Celtics effortlessly.
"I think none of you here are goldfish. Your memory should be able to ensure that you can recall the game at the end of January. Lin Yu, also known as Lin Crazy in many people's mouth, made all 26 shots in the game at the end of January.
Scored 65 points and beat our team."
Pat Riley's lengthy speech explained why he takes this regular season game so seriously.
"We tried every means but failed to stop that guy. He made us the background and the object of ridicule. The Heat are a young team and we have no mortal enemies. But now, that guy has
He became someone we had to beat, and we had to defeat him, not in one or two games, but forever!"
Pat Riley directly raised Lin Yu to the level of the Heat's mortal enemy. If Lin Yu heard this, he would definitely feel proud, because it was an affirmation of him.
"In the past week, Lin's performance is no longer as invincible as it was at the end of January, but it's not that bad. I noticed Mark Stein's report on him. In the past four games, he averaged 21.8 points and 5.5 assists per game, which is more than 50%.
Hit rate.”
Riley continued: "Obviously, if we are going to let him suffer, we have to let him not get the data he is now. We have to let his shooting percentage drop, let his scoring drop, and let his assist data also follow.
Slide down!”
He glanced around: "So, do you have any good ideas?"
The bald black coach raised his hand and made a suggestion: "One mark and four defenses. To deal with the current Linsanity, one mark and four defenses is the best way!"
When Lin Yu came on stage at the American Airlines Center, he was met with overwhelming boos.
"Your 26 shots made all of them offended the people of Miami. In today's game, I'm afraid you will have to fight with the boos of the audience."
Lex Karamian patted Lin Yu's shoulder. Lin Yu smiled and didn't take it to heart.
But when the game actually started, Lin Yu's uncomfortable moment really came.
He suddenly discovered that Dwyane Wade began to follow him every step of the way. On the strong side, even if Pierce could always break through the defense, Wade would not go back to cover the defense.
In other words, Lin Yu was caught by Wade's one-on-one marking.
"Lin was stared at. He didn't get the slightest chance..."
Off the court, Jim Bravo frowned and described the situation on the court. Rivers replied: "Let Paul step up the offense. Lin is being targeted. Now we can only watch him."
Pierce stepped up his offense, but the result was that the Heat's four-and-four defense was still able to form a partial pincer attack on Pierce.
Pierce's side of the offense had little chance, and the Celtics were suddenly defensively misfired...
Rivers gradually saw this clearly, and he swore: "fxxk! Pat Riley is serious, this is playoff-level intensity!"
The Heat directly showed playoff-level intensity, and the Celtics' offense was in a mess, not scoring for a long time.
Lin Yu, who was on the weak side, could only continue to catch the ball and force three-pointers, but his sights were obviously much worse. He played an extremely inefficient game, and the offensive end was hit one after another.
With four defenses on the strong side and one-on-one on the weak side, the connection between Lin Yu and Pierce was also completely severed.
Both of them fell into a one-on-one fight. The Heat were already stronger than the Celtics, so there was no suspense about the outcome of this game. The Celtics suffered a disastrous away defeat.
Lin Yu's performance was also very poor. He made 6 of 17 shots and scored 16 points with a 35% shooting rate. He also had 2 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals.
At the end of the game, the American Airlines Center cheered wildly. Lin Yu's poor performance made the Heat fans very satisfied with the game.
"China Lin was completely targeted by Pat Riley's targeted defense. He played very inefficiently in this game, hitting 11 irons. He seemed to have made all 26 shots he made the last time he faced the Heat.
Return the ball!"
There are always reporters who think this game is an accident, but soon, almost all the opponents that the Celtics encountered next noticed this game that the Celtics suffered a disastrous defeat.
They followed suit and came up with a variety of one-mark-and-four defenses.
Lin Yu, who was targeted, had a very uncomfortable game. Compared with the game at the end of February, his performance declined.
Being caught up in various solo battles, he felt like he was back before Pierce returned. He still maintained an average of about 17 points per game, but his shooting percentage dropped to a little more than 40%.
The Celtics first lost to the Heat, and then won consecutive games against the Pacers, Raptors and Wizards.
Then they were avenged by the 76ers at home. After the winning streak ended, they were defeated by the Nets and Nuggets in succession. After three consecutive victories, there were three consecutive losses. The Celtics' record suddenly returned to the starting point.
Doc Rivers' scalp is turning white with worry, but unfortunately, most of the Celtics' opponents in the second half of the season are outstanding, and it is normal for the Celtics to lose and win.
In addition, the previously efficient Lin Yu was targeted, and the Celtics struggled even more.
After losing to the Nuggets, the Celtics went to Memphis on the road and fought a bloody battle to win against the Grizzlies.
Then he lost another game on Heat territory.
Another win and a loss.
After half a month of games, the Celtics' record has become 30 wins and 35 losses, still 2.5 games away from the 50% winning rate.
It's like they're back to square one, with their winning percentage and win margin from the playoffs unchanged.
Such a change in record suddenly caused the Celtics to lose confidence in the playoffs, and the atmosphere within the team deteriorated again.
After the training day, Lin Yu, who was sitting in the locker room, could feel that the team was back to the time at the beginning of the season, when they lost consecutive games and everyone was silent.
He felt that he should do something.
Lin Yu's personal performance began to decline since Pat Riley adopted one-man-four defense.
Even so, Lin Yu has still maintained averages of 17.7 points, 3.2 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.2 steals per game in the past half month, but his shooting rate of 43.4% is a bit low.
This data is not bad. Although every game is difficult, Lin Yu believes that such games are very helpful to him and he can learn a lot from them.
But at the same time, Lin Yu can feel the huge impact his personal performance has on the team. The Celtics need an efficient Lin Yu.
With the addition of an efficient Lin Yu, the Celtics have a chance to defeat most playoff teams.
Otherwise, the Celtics' record will be like it is now, winning one game and losing one, and they will always stay in the same place.
"It's time for me to improve myself."
He thought about the "Seven Games of Madness" special effect card. It was time to use that card. Keeping it would always be a prop. Only when it is used can it play its real role.
Every time Lin Yu wants to use up a time-effective prop card, he will try every means to use this time-effective prop card to exchange for at least one meme.
He thought of the "Yellow Mamba" mentioned by Brian Scalabrine before...