After returning home, the Boston Celtics narrowly defeated the Eastern Conference regular season champion Chicago Bulls, eliminating their opponents with a score of 4:2 and advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals. As a result, Xu Nuo and his Indiana Pacers faced the challenge of the Boston Celtics at their home court, Conseco Arena.
Compared with the Chicago Bulls, who are the Eastern Conference regular season champions, the Indiana Pacers prefer to play against the older Boston Celtics. After all, the Indiana Pacers have the advantage of youth and stronger impact over the Boston Celtics, and can completely smash the aging Boston Celtics lineup to pieces. It is difficult for the Boston Celtics players, led by the three veterans of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen, to keep up with the pace of the Indiana Pacers players in the game.
However, despite this, it is not that easy to defeat the Boston Celtics.
Being able to defeat the Chicago Bulls, the Eastern Conference regular season champion, shows how powerful the Boston Celtics are. Although Chicago Bulls stars Derrick Rose and Rose were injured in the last two series, which greatly damaged the strength of the Chicago Bulls and made the Boston Celtics' victory look like luck, we cannot underestimate the Boston Celtics because of this. The strength of the team.
As for Xu Nuo himself, Xu Nuo also hopes to play against the Boston Celtics in his heart.
If Derrick Rose can be healthy and lead the Chicago Bulls to the Eastern Conference Finals, the promised game will become quite difficult. After all, Derrick Rose is an MVP-level player and is better than the Miami Heat point guard. Mario Chalmers is more than a level above him, and it is a very difficult job to guard Derrick Rose. Compared with Derrick Rose, Boston Celtics point guard Rajon Rondo poses a relatively smaller threat on the offensive end, and it will be easier to defend.
However, after all, Rajon Rondo is also one of the top ten super point guards in the league. Playing against Rajon Rondo is also a very challenging thing.
Moreover, not only the other players of the Boston Celtics, but also the Big Three of Kevin; Garnett, Paul; Pierce and Ray; Allen have also begun to rely on point guard Rajon; Rondo, it can be said Now Rajon Rondo is the soul of the Boston Celtics. If you can guard Rajon Rondo, it will be equivalent to hitting the Boston Celtics' Achilles' heel, and the Boston Celtics' combat effectiveness will be greatly affected.
Coach Larry Brown of the Indiana Pacers knows the biggest advantage and biggest disadvantage of the Indiana Pacers against the Boston Celtics.
The biggest advantage of the Indiana Pacers over the Boston Celtics is naturally that the Indiana Pacers are young and extremely impactful.
The biggest disadvantage of the Indiana Pacers in front of the Boston Celtics is that the team's playoff experience is not as rich as their opponents. The current Boston Celtics are a team that has won the NBA championship, and the Indiana Pacers' most experienced player in the playoffs is power forward David West; Guard; West once represented the New Orleans Hornets in a fierce battle with the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference semifinals.
Of course, the playoffs are not just a duel of experience, nor is it just a physical confrontation, but a comprehensive contest of various factors. Naturally, the head coaches of the two teams will arrange their own tactics based on any details of the team. of.
Before the game started, Coach Larry Brown, as usual, stood in front of the tactical board in the players' locker room to explain the team's tactics to the players.
"Most of the Boston Celtics' offense is initiated by their point guard Rajon Rondo. Through Rajon Rondo's passing organization, it creates creation for other Boston Celtics players. A chance to score," coach Larry Brown said.
"Rajan; Rondo" Xu Nuo muttered silently in his heart.
"It can be said that how to defend Rajon Rondo is our biggest problem in this series!" Coach Larry Brown continued, "And the job of defending Rajon Rondo can only be left to us. ¡¯s main point guard¡ªpromise!¡±
Center Roy, who was sitting next to Xu Nuo, Hibbert couldn't help but pat Xu Nuo's shoulder.
"I think you all know that Rajon Rondo's mid-to-long-range shooting is not very good, but his breakthrough with the ball is quite sharp." Coach Larry Brown continued, "We mainly focus on defending Rajon Rondo. The breakthrough forced Rajon Rondo outside the three-second zone, where his shooting percentage was not very good and his threat on the offensive end was relatively small.??Some. "
"Even if we can force Rajon Rondo outside the three-second zone, Rajon Rondo can use his own passing to activate his teammates, so that his offensive efficiency does not decrease. "Xu Nuo was the first to raise the questions in his mind.
"We have naturally been prepared for this issue." Coach Larry Brown looked at Xu Nuo and said, "If we want to guard against Rajon Rondo's pass, we can only use other players to guard against our Xu Nuo pass. Method."
"Oh?" Xunuo raised his head and frowned at Coach Larry Brown.
"When Rajon Rondo holds the ball, he is right in front of him and is on guard against his attack. However, around Rajon Rondo, there must be at least one of our players guarding Rajon at all times. Rondo's pass." Coach Larry Brown said, "Our purpose is to cut off the connection between Rajon Rondo and other Boston Celtics players through steals and disrupt their offensive rhythm. .¡±
Xu Nuo nodded silently.
"Moreover, the Boston Celtics only have Rajon Rondo, a capable point guard, and we not only have promises, we also have Irvington, Darren, and George." Larry Coach Brown said, with a smile on his face.
"That's right!" Team captain Danny Granger nodded.
"And Ray Allen, another backcourt general of the Boston Celtics, has been injured recently and is likely to be put on the bench by Coach Doc Rivers, and his replacement It is very likely that it will be Avery Bradley, the backup guard of the Boston Celtics, or Michael Pietrus." Coach Larry Brown continued, "Whether it is Avery Bradley It¡¯s still difficult for Michael Pietrus to get much playing time in the game, but their breakthroughs and outside three-pointers cannot be underestimated, and Michael Pietrus¡¯ defense is also quite good.¡±
"Compared with them, Allen's outside three-point long shot is what needs to be guarded the most!" DeMar DeRozan said.
"Boston Celtics' two major inside players, Kevin Garnett and Brandon Bass, are likely to rotate back and forth between the center and power forward positions, but Kevin Garnett will play center. It's more likely." Coach Larry Brown continued, "Although Kevin Garnett is old, his mid-range shooting and defensive level are still there. We still can't underestimate Kevin Garnett. special."
Roy Hibbert nodded.
"As for Brandon Bass, we only need to be careful about his mid-range shots, everything else is fine." Coach Larry Brown said, "Faced with such an inside combination, if we can attack We can suppress our opponents and force them to spend their energy on defense. This is our success!¡±
"The last one is Paul Pierce!" Danny Granger said.
"It's exactly the same as the last round of the series. This is another showdown between the aces of the two teams, but this time Danny really needs to face Paul Pierce one-on-one!" Coach Larry Brown's expression Said seriously, "Although Paul Pierce's condition has also declined, his post-up singles are still one of the Boston Celtics' powerful offensive weapons. Facing Paul Pierce, we have no other choice. Just focus on it all the time and tighten every nerve in your body.¡±
"And Paul Pierce will not play power forward like LeBron James, he will only appear at the small forward position." Danny Granger said.
"It doesn't matter, I will pass the ball for you during the game, so you don't have to worry about being unable to participate in the offense because all your energy is spent on defense." Xunuo said to Danny Granger with a smile.
"Yes, after all, you are our ace player." Paul George also said.
"Besides, passing the ball is still my job after all!" Xu Nuo said as he leaned on the back of his chair.
Coach Larry Brown nodded slightly, "Very good!" Coach Larry Brown said.
The game time was finally coming, and Xu Nuo and his teammates ran into the huge Conseco Arena with the roar of the fans. At the other end of the court, the Boston Celtics players in green jerseys have arrived on the court.
"Come on now, Boston Celtics players!" Xu Nuo said in his heart, "Come on now, Rajon Rondo!"
The first game of the 2011-2012 NBA Eastern Conference Finals is finally about to begin!