This change ca too suddenly, Mayo couldn’t fully understand it, but Al Jefferson, who has been in Boston for 4 years, was already used to it. He told Mayo the reason, just one sentence—our skin color.
After losing 5 gas in a row, the Celtics stabilized, winning 3 out of the next 6 gas, bringing their record to 12 wins and 13 losses. Their ranking didn’t continue to drop, keeping them in the Eastern playoff competition.
In just these three weeks, the already sensitive Mayo felt like he had endured a torturous year.
Every day he wanted to give up, to let himself go, but for so reasons, he chose to persevere.
After understanding what kind of crowd the Boston fans were, he no longer had the thought ’I want to prove myself to them, let them acknowledge ’ like he did in the sumr. He no longer considered the Celtics as his ho team.
He persisted, trained harder than before, played more diligently than before, not for this team. He didn’t have the sa decade-long persistence as Pierce trying to ’revive the dynasty’. He did it all for himself... to slap those people’s faces!
Those people refer to the six who were ranked higher than him in the 08 draft... and Zhang Yang on the opposite side, mainly Zhang Yang.
It was this guy who caused him to end up in that bankrupt city of Boston!
Luckily, Mayo didn’t know that Zhang Yang was curious about his changes and didn’t shout it out loud. Otherwise, given Zhang Yang’s character, he would have definitely grabbed a small bench to let him thoroughly recount his misfortunes for amusent, which could have made him so angry that he’d hold his breath.
The chicken soup poured by Rivers also helped Mayo to so extent, but Mayo only had a good impression of the coach, as for this team... let it go bankrupt!
At 7 PM, the ga between the Bobcats and the Celtics began.
Okafor won the jump ball, but Al Jefferson started the ga with a big block on Pietrus who was cutting in to catch the ball and attack the basket. Then, when it was the Celtics’ turn to attack, he hit a turnaround hook shot against Millsap in the low post.
Al Jefferson, 24 years old, but already in his 5th year of career. After 4 years of training, this season so far he’s averaged 21 points, 11.1 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 1.8 blocks, entering the ranks of top power forwards.
Tonight Al Jefferson was in excellent form. After making a block and a hook shot to build montum, he continued to make two shots in a row, and with Mayo’s three-pointer as Zhang Yang shrank in, and Gooden drawing a foul on a layup and hitting both free throws...
for 6 from the field, including 1 for 1 from three-point range, plus 2 for 2 from free throws, the Celtics started the ga with an 11 to 6 run, forcing the Bobcats to call a tiout!
But after the tiout, Carlisle didn’t sub in Perkins early as Rivers expected to defend Al Jefferson, instead, he replaced Millsap with Ibaka.
The purpose of this rotation, Rivers could understand — Ibaka is the most athletic big man on the other side, can even switch to guard the point guard for a short ti. With this rookie power forward on the court, the opponent’s rotation and switching defense capability would be enhanced, helping Mayo and Gooden’s assistance and defense better.
But Rivers was puzzled, could it be that Carlisle isn’t concerned about Al Jefferson’s one-on-one scoring and passing?
Millsap was off, Hill and Brad Miller didn’t co up, the other team’s overall offensive ability will surely be affected, giving up on offense?
Soon, Rivers knew the reason...
Bobcats on offense, Zhang Yang received the ball from Felton at the top right arc, saw Tony Allen a whole arm’s length away, directly turned around and jumped for a three-point shot...
Tony Allen wasn’t expecting Zhang Yang to shoot directly, but he reacted sharply, dashed forward imdiately... still a bit slow, this guy’s shot is crazy fast!
Rivers (Doug Rivers, Rivers-Text) turned his head to look at the bald guy on the other side: Coach, you don’t play by the rules, who goes for star power imdiately at the start?
After elevating his threat level with a sudden three-pointer, Zhang Yang entered an off-ball offensive mode, running around with Tony Allen, using screens to look for shooting opportunities, or moving to reception points based on the movents of his teammates with the ball.
Felton and Okafor initiated the pick-and-roll attack, along with Ibaka capitalizing his ability to roll and finish, using his mobility to deal with the Celtics’ interior defense.
Reducing the starting lineup’s reliance on setup ability, there’s more variety in the starting lineup’s play, which Carlisle anticipated when adjusting the starting lineup, and it played out again tonight.
The way they played after the trio’s tiout is actually the old style from the end of the regular season in the 05-06 season when they first beca teammates.
Old style, the way they played when they were weak, doesn’t an it’s an outdated style, it’s about whether it fits or not.
The Celtics’ two big n have strong defensive intensity, and aggressive interior help defense, this style is just right to counter Al Harrington and Drew Gooden.
Al Jefferson felt fantastic on offense tonight, with an excellent touch, hitting 6 of 9 shots in one quarter, plus 3 for 3 from the free throw line, marking the second highest single-quarter score of his career with 15 points, only trailing the 18 points in a single quarter against the Nuggets, leading the Celtics to 32 points in the quarter.
However, by the end of the first quarter, the point difference was 1 less than when the Bobcats called a tiout at the start. From Zhang Yang’s three-pointer to the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats scored 22 points!
to 32, the Bobcats stayed within reach of the score, trailing the Celtics by 4 points going into the second quarter.
In the second quarter, the Bobcats’ strategy of applying high-intensity periter defense against opponents paid off, causing the Celtics’ periter players’ shooting touch to decline. The Bobcats’ rotation players started contracting inwards, doubling and assisting on Al Jefferson and Josh Smith.
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