LRAB Chapter 704 Did you know that Eva sent me a text message back then?
Chapter 704 Did you know that Eva sent me a text message back then?
"I didn't expect you to be so shameless." The Eastern Conference Finals game was still going on, and the players from both sides were already standing on the court, waiting for the game to begin.
While making final preparations and warming up, Lin Tian complained to Duncan.
Duncan still had that goofy look, but his eyes were still bright, revealing his hidden wisdom: "But I knew you were shameless all along. I was just giving you a taste of your own medicine. I learned it all from you!"
"Scumbag." Lin Tian rolled his eyes, too lazy to pay attention to this guy, and turned to leave.
Now, it's the pivotal Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals!
Both sides won two of their first four matches, and each also won one away game.
In the third game, the Knicks continued their beautiful team offense, with Lin Tian as the absolute spearhead, while the players around him each performed their duties, did their jobs well, and made the shots they were supposed to make!
Lin Tian delivered his best performance of the series in this match!
29投14中，3分球9投5中，同时罚球线上也13罚11中，全场比赛拿下43分11篮板9助攻的准三双数据！
At the end of the third quarter of this game, when the score was extremely close and the Celtics had the upper hand, Lin Tian suddenly exploded. He drove inside and shot outside, scoring 11 points in 3 minutes, once again demonstrating his terrifying scoring explosiveness!
With Lin Tian's outburst, the Knicks successfully turned the tide and gained a 5-point advantage!
Then the two sides went back and forth over the 5-point advantage, with the Knicks unable to pull away and the Celtics unable to catch up!
It wasn't until there were 6 minutes left in the fourth quarter that the Knicks finally seized another opportunity!
The turning point of the game came from Howard!
After missing both free throws, Stoudemire grabbed the rebound and passed it to Anthony. Anthony immediately dribbled up the court, drawing the defense before passing the ball to Lin Tian. Lin Tian instantly drove into the paint, circled the Celtics' basket, and then suddenly made a behind-the-back pass to Stoudemire, who was following up in the middle.
"boom!"
With a loud bang, Stoudemire slammed home a two-handed dunk, extending the lead to 6 points!
The basketball then came into Howard's hands again, and this time the Celtics weren't playing along!
Okur, who was closest to him, grabbed him and sent Howard to the free-throw line.
"Here it comes, the 'Hack-a-Shaq' strategy! This strategy was invented by Don Nelson and used against Shaq, now it's Howard's turn!"
Howard stepped to the free-throw line, took a deep breath, dribbled, raised his hand, and then missed!
After missing two free throws again, Okur grabbed the rebound and found Lin Tian. Lin Tian took the ball and threw it straight up the court without even dribbling.
Anthony grabbed the basketball, took a step forward to steady himself, and then pulled up for a jump shot!
"Whoosh!"
After another crisp sound, the Knicks extended their lead to 9 points!
Logically, at this point, with the opponent starting to use fouls against Howard repeatedly, Rivers should have called a timeout to stabilize the situation, even if he didn't take Howard out of the game.
This would both stabilize Howard's mentality and prevent the Knicks from committing more reckless fouls.
Unfortunately, none of them were available!
Rivers made no response at this point, and then watched helplessly as the Knicks fouled Howard again, sending him back to the free-throw line.
Howard made one of two free throws this time.
The Knicks failed to launch a fast break this time, but in the half-court set, Lin Tian used a pick-and-roll to mismatch Howard and then accelerated again with a series of changes of direction and sudden stops.
After a series of technical maneuvers, Howard was completely bewildered by Lin Tianhuang.
Then, when Lin Tian suddenly stepped back, gathered the ball, and raised it, Howard finally fell for it!
He jumped up suddenly and crashed into Lin Tian.
Lin Tian took the opportunity to shoot, the ball went in and the whistle blew, Lin Tian completed a very morale-boosting 2+1!
It was after Lin Tian's 2+1 play that widened the gap to double digits that the Knicks completely took control of the game. Although the Celtics launched several counterattacks afterward, they were unable to close the gap to within 5 points.
With 20 seconds left in the game, Josh Howard's final three-pointer bounced off the rim and missed, effectively ending any suspense in the match.
Stoudemire grabbed the rebound and let the clock run out. The Knicks defended their home court and defeated the Celtics 99-109, taking a 2-1 lead in the series!
If the Celtics' loss in Game 4 was due to Howard's 1-for-6 free throws and Rivers' slow reaction to substitutions, then Game 4 was all about Don Nelson!
The Celtics started the game with great momentum, taking an 11-2 lead over the Knicks right from the start, and maintained a lead of around 10 points for the rest of the game.
They maintained this 10-point lead until the middle of the third quarter. With 3 minutes and 27 seconds left in the third quarter, the Knicks finally found an opportunity. Taking advantage of the Celtics' absence of Duncan and Parker, the Knicks launched an offensive surge with Stoudemire and Anthony combining for 14 points.
They've successfully turned the score around!
这3分多钟的时间里，小斯拿下6分，安东尼8分，两人联手14分打了凯尔特人一个16：5的进攻高潮！
When the fourth quarter began, the Knicks were already leading by one point!
At this point, Rivers chose to take the initiative to change his rotation strategy, bringing in his strongest lineup of four starters plus Ginobili!
Clearly, this guy is going to have the team's starters play the entire fourth quarter!
This is a fight to the death! This is a relentless, all-or-nothing fighting style!
But playing like this isn't wrong, after all, the Celtics are down 1-2. If they don't fight hard now, when will they?
What if the team is down 1-3?
This time, when Rivers chose to go all out, Don Nelson suddenly became conservative!
Instead of immediately switching to a lineup that could match the Celtics, he somewhat overestimated himself by bringing in the veteran duo of Hill and Houston, along with Ward, Stoudemire, and Okur to form the starting lineup for the fourth quarter.
Needless to say, this five-man team is no match for the opponent's strongest lineup!
The Celtics took control of the game almost instantly and took the lead.
But Nelson didn't make any substitutions or call a timeout at this point. Instead, just like Rivers did in the previous game, he watched the Celtics' starting lineup run rampant!
By the time he finally called a timeout to bring in Lin Tian and others, four minutes had already passed in the fourth quarter, and the Celtics' lead had reached nine points!
The last 8 minutes of the game became the most exciting 8 minutes of this series for both sides!
Both sides fielded their strongest lineups, and both lineups delivered their best performances. Everyone gave it their all and poured all their energy into the fight against their opponents.
The Knicks used every method to attack and score, and Lin Tian made a difference in both individual offense, pick-and-roll plays, and penetration and passing. He is still the best player on the court!
Although Anthony wasn't shooting well, he chose to drive into the paint to compete for rebounds with Duncan and Howard, and he also took the initiative to guard Josh Howard on the defensive end, holding Howard scoreless in the last 8 minutes of the game!
Stoudemire became the Knicks' most important offensive weapon besides Lin Tian, repeatedly attacking Duncan through pick-and-rolls.
If Duncan moves forward, he will drive past him in one step; if Duncan pulls back, he will shoot without hesitation!
In the final 8 minutes, Stoudemire made 6 of 8 shots, scoring 14 points by himself!
Even though the Knicks' trio gave it their all, the Celtics on the other side were not going to back down!
Rivers reacted extremely quickly this time! With 6 minutes left in the game, he substituted Howard to prevent the Knicks from "Hack-a-Shaq" again, and then brought in Ginobili, switching to a big man and four small men lineup.
Duncan became the team's anchor at this time!
Although he only scored 4 points in the last 8 minutes of the game, he was involved in every successful attack by the team!
Use screens and walls, hand-to-hand cover, and top-of-the-line support!
Duncan did everything he could to the best of his ability.
It was precisely because of his selflessness that Parker and Ginobili were able to engage in a head-to-head battle with Stoudemire and Lin Tian.
No matter how hard the Knicks tried, the Celtics just kept at it and held onto their lead!
Even as the point difference gradually narrowed, the Celtics remained calm and composed, steadily maintaining their advantage.
With 30 seconds left in the game, Lin Tian suddenly pulled up for a three-pointer once again!
This time, Lin Tian's three-pointer was accurate, and after this shot, the Knicks successfully narrowed the gap to 2 points!
This is the first time they've narrowed the gap to a point where they could catch up with a single ball after the score widened!
They worked hard for 8 minutes and finally did it!
If they can stop the Celtics' offense, they will have a chance to win the game!
This time, facing Lin Tian's tight defense, Parker decisively passed the ball to Ginobili, letting Ginobili organize the team's offense.
Compared to Parker's predicament when facing Lin Tianshi, Ginobili seemed to have a lot of ease when facing Barnes.
He deliberately delayed his attack until the last 5 seconds before launching it!
Ginobili's speed when breaking through is not top-tier, nor are his stride frequency and stride length.
However, the route he chose when breaking through was enough to baffle everyone and leave them unsure how to respond.
Every step he takes lands in places his opponents never expect!
The hardest part of defending Ginobili is anticipating his moves!
This guy's serpentine breakthrough is truly as elusive as a snake!
For example, Barnes couldn't keep up with Ginobili this time. Even though he tried his best and was fully focused on defense, he still lost sight of Ginobili when Ginobili took his second step after receiving the ball!
Inexplicably and unbelievably, Ginobili twisted his waist and passed right in front of him, driving to the basket.
Then, Ginobili made a floater and scored before Stoudemire could come up!
Ginobili executed this attack almost perfectly! He used up all 24 seconds of the clock, leaving the Knicks with not a single extra second.
With only 6 seconds left on the clock, the Knicks were down by 4 points and had no timeouts left!
They've fallen into a dead end!
As long as the Celtics don't play defense or commit fouls, it's almost impossible for the Knicks to come back and take the lead!
Sure enough, when Okur picked up the ball at the baseline and quickly found Lin Tian, Lin Tian had no time to advance the ball after receiving it. Instead, he threw out an almost desperate long-range three-pointer from near the center circle.
"Bang!"
With that muffled thud.
2: 2!
The series is tied!
Next up is the best-of-three final battle!
After this match, both coaches and players finally lost their playful mood, and they no longer had the intention to continue jinxing the other side or spouting nonsense.
The post-match press conferences finally returned to normal, and various reproductive organs, well wishes and greetings to the other party's relatives and friends, and all sorts of slang and profanity that even Lin Tian couldn't understand began to appear again under the relevant news on major sports forums after the match.
Everything has returned to the normal state of a playoff!
These changes all signify that this series has officially entered the final stage!
In the upcoming matches, neither side can afford to lose!
……
"Beep beep!"
With the referee's whistle, the basketball was tossed into the air, and the crucial game officially began!
Howard once again beat Okur, giving the team their first offensive opportunity.
After gaining possession of the ball in the first offensive possession, Parker dribbled in place for a moment, then suddenly passed the ball, throwing it towards the frontcourt!
"boom!"
Howard, who had just finished the jump ball, showcased his unparalleled physical talent!
He accelerated immediately after the jump ball, catching Okur off guard, and easily completed the alley-oop!
"Great shot! Parker's pass is just like Lin's pass to Webber and Carter back in the day when he played for the Pacers! The Celtics' first possession of the game is imitating the Pacers' signature fast break back then and the Knicks' current style!"
Kenny laughed and said, "I wonder if this counts as a kind of tribute?"
Barkley added, "As far as I know, Tony and Lin have a really good relationship. They're like mentor and friend. I'm sure Lin will be very touched by Parker's actions, and maybe he'll even smile at Tony!"
Barkley had barely finished speaking when Lin Tian dribbled the ball up the court and faced off against Parker.
Then, he slapped Barkley in the face!
Touched? Smile?
Go to hell!
Lin Tian turned around and charged straight at Parker!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three times in a row!
Barkley was speechless as he listened to that voice, and couldn't help but wonder: Do these two have such a deep grudge?
They're going all out!
With Barkley grinning and frowning, Lin Tian shoved Parker to the basket in three moves, then turned around and stepped back to create distance before pulling up for a step-back jump shot!
"Come on, Tony! Let me see what you've got! Let me see what you've been training for all these years!" Lin Tian clapped his hands loudly after scoring and said to Parker, "Don't hold back, bring it on!"
"I don't need you to tell me!" Parker rubbed his chest, which was still sore from being rebuked, and cursed under his breath before starting to push forward.
If you want to see it, I'll let you see it!
Look what I, Tony Parker, have been training for these past few years!
Then, the very first moment after arriving at the frontcourt, Lin Tian's first trash talk made Parker shudder, and he almost dropped the basketball.
"Tony, did you know Eva texted me back then?" Lin Tian said with a wicked grin, one hand around Parker's waist and the other outstretched. "Want to know what she asked me back then?"
"What?" Although he knew that Lin Tian was 99% talking nonsense, Parker couldn't help but recall the rumors about Lin Tian and Eva during the playoffs that year.
Although the rumor seemed ridiculous back then, and Europeans didn't really care about this kind of thing, sometimes it just makes people a little uncomfortable!
Influenced by Lin Tian's trash talk, Parker did not immediately call for a play or pass the ball.
Fortunately, Duncan noticed something was wrong and rushed over quickly, setting a high screen for Parker.
Parker immediately realized what was happening and used the screen to accelerate his breakthrough, reaching the Knicks' basket in the blink of an eye.
He's really fast!
I need to score!
After I score, I'll ask Lin about it! I'll look at him with a joking expression and ask in as casual a tone as possible, making it seem like I don't care at all!
I don't care at all, absolutely not! As long as I can score this goal, I don't care!
"Tony, watch out!"
Just as Parker was completely lost in his daydreams and was taking a relaxed layup, a loud shout pulled him back to reality.
But clearly, it was too late. (End of Chapter)