NBA: Since James left the Cavaliers

Chapter 109 Celtic Weaknesses

"Long Rui, do you want to change your tactics?"

Scott held the tactical board in his hand and asked Long Rui.

Long Rui smiled slightly and waved his hands: "No, we're just out of shape temporarily. Once we get up to speed, the situation will change immediately."

"Also, we need to increase our running. Positional warfare has never been our strong point."

"Now the Celtics have limited our movement very well, so we have to keep running to get rid of the defender."

"Their main players are old after all, and cannot maintain such a high-intensity defense for so long."

"They have been forcing me to play singles now, nothing more than trying to consume my energy, and we can do the same."

"Our players are younger, and they will definitely not be able to consume us."

Long Rui has his own unique insights into the situation on the court, and he is very good at doing such analysis.

The so-called knowing yourself and the enemy can win all battles. Only by knowing enough about the strengths and weaknesses of your opponents can you make the most reasonable adjustments to deal with them.

"Long Rui, if you don't become a coach after you retire, it's a waste of talent!"

Stephen Curry laughed.

His performance in the first quarter today was also very bad. He took three shots from outside the three-point line, but none of them hit.

Originally, he was still worried about today's game, but after hearing what Long Rui said just now, he immediately felt a lot more relaxed.

"Hey! Maybe I can be the best coach in the NBA!"

Long Rui also made a joke!

Moments later, the second quarter began.

The two teams are still competing with rotation lineups.

The first offense of the second quarter was initiated by the Cavaliers.

Long Rui held the ball and pushed forward slowly. Jeremy Lin, George and others followed Long Rui's request and increased their running on the field.

Frequent running can bring better opportunities to play the ball.

Long Rui tried again to organize his teammates to attack, and after a few moves, an opportunity finally appeared!

Paul George ran out of space on the right, and Long Rui passed the ball immediately.

After the latter received the ball, he made a decisive shot, but the ball was a little stronger and he couldn't make it.

Although there was no goal, the corner of Long Rui's mouth curled up.

This is one of the few Cavaliers' tactical cooperation so far in this game. As long as the cooperation is played out, it will be a matter of time before they score.

On the sidelines, Rivers frowned slightly. He also saw Long Rui's intentions and couldn't help feeling a little worried. After all, a strong defense like the first quarter couldn't last until the end.

Once their defense can't keep up with the Cavaliers' offensive rhythm, there is likely to be a trend of collapse.

"Our rotation lineup won't last long, and you will probably play early in a while."

"Remember, your first priority is to score and your second priority is to defend."

"Now we must focus more on offense, and then consider defensive strength while ensuring stable scoring."

"If it is fundamental, reduce the intensity of the defense and try to preserve physical strength, as long as they don't let them shoot easily."

While observing the situation on the field, Rivers gave instructions to Pierce, Garnett and others.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Long Rui began to show his court dominance.

Under his control, the state of his teammates began to pick up. George and Jeremy Lin on the outside scored points one after another, and Yi Jianlian on the inside also scored.

On the other hand, the Celtics began to fall into a passive position. Fortunately, Rondo controlled the rhythm. Even so, they were still overtaken by the score.

When the second quarter lasted 9 minutes, taking advantage of a dead ball, Rivers immediately made personnel adjustments, replacing Rondo and Ray Allen.

Pierce and Garnett re-emerged to increase the height of the lineup, but there was another embarrassing problem.

When Rondo left the field, they couldn't find a second good organizer, and Pierce could only temporarily transition this embarrassing time.

So far this season, this problem has always existed. The best organizer in the team is naturally Rondo. Apart from him, Paul Pierce has the most assists per game on the team, but he only averaged about 3 assists per game. Assists, others are even worse.

This made it difficult for them to move the ball when Rondo was off the field, so that the offense stagnated.

As the head coach, Rivers is of course aware of this problem, but he has no way to solve it. He can't let Rondo play the whole game...

Rondo is not Long Rui, he doesn't have such abnormal physical strength.

The Cavaliers replaced Yi Jianlian with Varejao. After all, Yi Jianlian also played for a long time and needed to rest. The other four remained unchanged.

In the first attack after the substitution, the Celtics obviously became sluggish on the offensive end.

Pierce held the ball on the outside, lost Rondo's organization, they didn't seem to know how to move, and the ball couldn't get out.

Fortunately, this is not the first time they have dealt with such a situation, and Pierce did not panic, but planned to conduct a one-on-one singles.

What he is facing is Paul George, one is a seasoned veteran and the other is a young and energetic rookie, each with its own advantages.

"Rookie, I'll let you know what an offensive kaleidoscope is."

Pierce didn't pay attention to Paul George at all.

As soon as the words fell, he launched an attack. His speed was not fast, but his sense of rhythm was very strong.

After several times of crossing and changing directions in front of the body, the whole person suddenly paused, and then restarted.

This tricked Paul George's defensive focus. After passing George, Pierce hit a jumper at the free throw line!

In the next round, Pierce struck again and scored another goal in almost the same way.

He suppressed the offensive rhythm as much as possible, played every ball seriously, and scored steadily according to Rivers' requirements.

"Rookie, give up, you can't guard against me."

Pierce kept hitting George's confidence.

The Celtics relied on Pierce's singles to score steadily, while the Cavaliers continued to achieve tactical cooperation under the organization of Long Rui, and the point difference was not much different.

Paul George's defense was very active, but Pierce was too cunning, and he was playing George on several offenses.

George was also a little annoyed by this, but the angrier he was, the more likely he would make mistakes.

Pierce tasted the sweetness of singles and once again wanted to teach Paul George a lesson.

But he suddenly found that this time it was no longer George, but Long Rui who stood in front of him.

Pierce was taken aback for a moment, but immediately sneered: "You think you can guard me?"

Pierce, who plays confidently, can be said to be ignored by everyone.

Long Rui said coldly: "Just try it and you will know."