Jordan: I thought he was there to help me!

Chapter 548 He played with eagles his whole life, only to get pecked in the eye by one!

69: 38!

At the end of the first half, the Knicks used their almost insane firepower and relentless attacks to make the Celtics run for their lives!

This time, it wasn't just Lin Tian who dominated; the entire Knicks team seemed to have regained their form!

In today's Knicks team, Lin Tian is truly the only player capable of winning tough games, coming from behind, and engaging in high-intensity defensive battles.

But do you want to go toe-to-toe with them, competing in firepower and shooting?

Hehe, I'll beat you to death!

Especially when it comes to beating a dog when it's down, everyone does it, and everyone is good at it!

In the first half, Lin Tian scored 11 points, 10 assists, and 8 rebounds!

He played his most relaxed and comfortable half of the series, almost achieving a triple-double in the first half!

Meanwhile, his score was only the third highest on the team!

Anthony scored 20 points in the first half!

This was his highest half-time score in his playoff career. Okur also hit three three-pointers in the first half, scoring 14 points, which was also the best half-time playoff performance of his career!

The only regret is that Stoudemire still doesn't have many effective strategies against Duncan and Howard.

When facing a physically imposing, high-impact center like him, he really has no choice but to give up against centers who are taller, stronger, more athletic, and more powerful than him.

too difficult!

Stoudemire is the one who has the hardest time playing for the whole team!

While the team was unleashing a devastating barrage of attacks, he only managed 2 out of 7 shots in the first half, a rather poor performance.

Even so, the team still led by 30 points, and they completely crushed the Celtics!

Throughout the Celtics' history, although two players scored in double figures, and although Duncan achieved a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds in the first half, and Pierce also scored 14 points.

But apart from those two, the rest of the team only scored 9 points!

They encountered a major problem!

During halftime, when Rivers led his dejected players into the locker room, everyone was surprised to find Auerbach waiting for them there.

"You're back?" Auerbach didn't smile. Instead, he just sat there, his gaze sweeping over everyone. The players were so intimidated that they didn't even dare to go inside, and instead just stood at the door.

"Come in, all of you." Auerbach chuckled. "Paul, especially you, you've really disappointed me today! I've noticed that you haven't improved at all these years; in fact, you've been regressing!"

"Do you remember how you argued with Antoine in the locker room back then? Do you remember how you managed to snatch the team leader position in just one halftime, not only making Antoine willingly play supporting roles for you, but also acknowledging you as the team leader?"

"You were much tougher back then! But look at you now, you got a max contract and then became a piece of trash who just drifts along! I have rejected the team's management's ideas and suggestions to trade you countless times."

"But now I regret it. I've found that you're completely different from the Paul I imagined. You've changed. You've become a coward, trash, and a loser."

"And you, Tim, didn't you graduate with a psychology degree? Didn't you give everyone a rundown of how to deal with Lin's trash talk before the series started? Didn't you become a member of the All-NBA First Team in your second year and lead the team to the Finals, almost defeating the Jordan and Ewing combination?"

"When I let you join the team, I thought you were a leader, I thought you could become the new standard-bearer of the Celtics, but what happened? How did you repay me? Just because Marbury is gone, you bunch of idiots and softies are all lost and confused?"

"And... never mind, I don't want to talk about the others. If these two guys are trash, then everyone else isn't even trash. I'm too lazy to criticize you all one by one. You guys are so trashy they make me want to vomit! I can't believe I once thought you could recreate the team's glory days of the 80s!"

"I once thought I had finally waited for the day the Celtics would rise again! I thought I could see the Celtics win another championship before I died!"

"But now I realize how stupid I was."

"Let me tell you all this!"

"Next season, Marbury won't be on our team, nor will he be on any of the other 29 teams in the league! His NBA career is over! If he still wants to play? No problem! Go try your luck in the Continental Basketball League or Europe!"

"I hope he can get enough to eat in those places."

"But as for you guys, you've disappointed me. Honestly, you might as well have just run away like Marbury did. I would have thought you were more shameless and had more guts, instead of standing here like women in North Shore Garden getting beaten up."

"You bunch of brats, do you even know what North Shore Gardens means?"

Auerbach stopped speaking, perhaps because he was too tired from not having delivered so much information at once for so long, or perhaps he wanted to see the players' reactions. In any case, he stopped, panting heavily, and looked at each player in front of him.

"Right now, I need a leader, the kind who takes responsibility, the kind who can carry the team," Auerbach said, raising his hand. "He doesn't even need to be a great player, but he has to be a good talker, he has to step up when necessary, right?"

"I am the leader of this team," Duncan's deep voice rang out, drawing everyone's attention to him.

This big guy is amazing, incredibly amazing!

But to be honest, he doesn't like to talk. He's always quiet and looks a bit silly. At least half of his interactions with his teammates come from his occasional lame jokes and key criticisms.

But this guy has never given any speeches or declarations within the team; he's just a quiet guy who works hard.

This kind of person is indeed not very suitable to be a leader.

"This incident was my fault! I acted too impulsively and got into an argument with Stephen on the court. During the timeout, instead of communicating, I told him to just get out of here. After the game, when faced with a barrage of questions and sarcasm, my response was not to clarify, but to remain silent."

"At that time, I felt that I didn't need to care about these things, and I also felt that I shouldn't waste my energy on unnecessary things. I just wanted to play basketball."

"But now, clearly, I was wrong! I was utterly and obviously wrong. My poor choices put the team in a desperate situation, and my terrible behavior made everyone pay for my mistakes. Even in this game where we had the best chance of advancing to the Eastern Conference Finals, we were down by 30 points at halftime!"

"I take full responsibility!"

Duncan stepped out of the crowd, bowed to everyone, and continued, "I swear here that, apart from what everyone has seen, I have had no private conflicts or communications with Stephen that you are unaware of."

"I didn't force him to leave. We had a fight, that's all. I was just unhappy about those few rounds. I'm willing to apologize, to you and to Stephen."

"After today's game, whether we win or lose, I will tell the media the truth. I will no longer remain silent because I am too lazy to deal with them. I will no longer keep quiet."

"I will take responsibility for my mistakes, but right now, I want to ask everyone one thing: let's keep working hard in the second half! Let's play well!"

"I know it's impossible to catch up with a 30-point deficit, and I know that with our offensive capabilities, turning the game around is practically a pipe dream, but I don't want to give up! We're going to show them our strength and resilience!"

"Even if we don't win, even if we end up losing by 20 points, we have to show New Yorkers how strong we are!"

"Then, in the seventh game, we showed them what we were made of! We'll decide the victor at Madison! We'll win another game at Madison!"

At this point, Duncan quieted down. He first looked at Auerbach, receiving an encouraging look, then turned to his teammates and asked, "Are you willing to support me and help me?"

"I support you!" Pierce was the first to step forward: "Let's get them!"

"Of course, I was wrong too, I shouldn't have..."

"Paul, I don't mean to disrespect you," Auerbach interrupted Pierce with a smile, but his face still showed considerable satisfaction. "I just want to say that this isn't an internal meeting; we don't have five hours to admit our mistakes one by one."

"We only have 5 minutes left before we have to go out and start the second half of the game."

"So now, I believe everyone, like me, is willing to forgive you no matter what you did wrong. But the question now is: what about the others? Can we unite and become a perfect team again?"

"I don't need everyone to answer individually; just give me a uniform answer, okay?"

"able!"

"Very well, Doug, it's all yours now. I need to get some fresh air! Whose locker is this?" Auerbach pointed to the locker next to him and said, "The socks need washing. They're so smelly they're going to affect my lifespan, okay? Please, have mercy! I almost died while waiting for you guys."

"As you know, I don't have much time left."

After Auerbach finished speaking, the entire locker room burst into laughter again. Only after the greatest legend in the team's history left did the players turn their attention to Rivers.

It was his turn to perform.

As for Auerbach, who came out of the locker room at this moment, he immediately leaned against the wall outside the locker room, took out a box of medicine from his pocket and took a pill. Then he stood there leaning against the wall, panting heavily. He looked very weak, and there was no trace of the spirited look he had just had in the locker room.

"Mr. President, are you alright? Your body no longer allows you to speak for long periods of time. This passionate voice is not suitable for you." Danny Angie appeared out of nowhere and helped Auerbach, who was barely able to stand.

"I've told you so many times, Angie, you're the CEO, I'm just an advisor. You can call me special advisor, senior advisor, chief advisor, or whatever else you want, but the CEO is you!"

Seeing Auerbach still joking at this point, Angie could only sigh helplessly. He knew he couldn't persuade the old man, but he could also see Auerbach's weakness. He could feel that life was slipping away from Auerbach.

"Let's go, teacher. I'll take you to a private room so you can get some oxygen."

"I'll just smoke cigars; that stuff is way more effective than oxygen!"

"By the way, three years from now, find a way to bring Lin to me! I've spent my whole life playing dirty tricks, I'm known as the king of dirty tricks, and today I actually got tricked by that kid's dirty tricks!"

"The team I painstakingly assembled almost fell apart because of him! Danny, I couldn't do it 8 years ago, you figure something out 3 years from now."

……

The second half of the game continues!

At the start of the game, the Celtics' basketball came to Ricky Davis's hands. Davis passed the ball to Howard, who leaned back slightly after receiving it and then made a rather clumsy one-on-one move, a spin move followed by a small hook shot, and threw the ball toward the basket.

"Whoosh!"

With a crisp sound, the Celtics opened the scoring in the second half.

"The Celtics' first offensive play was actually a combination of Davis and Howard?" Barkley paused for a moment, then looked at Kenny and said, "Do you think they gave up, or have they developed a new tactic?"

"A new tactic," Kenny said without hesitation. "Look at the court, the Celtics are playing like crazy!"

"Their defense is back to normal! Their defensive intensity and physicality have increased again! They're back to their old form! Look! Davis and Howard are combining defensively again, forcing Anthony into a corner, and Anthony forces a pass..."

"The pass failed! Pierce stole the ball! The Celtics are on a fast break! And leading the charge is... Howard?"

"That big center has charged to the front! Pierce's pass was spot-on, Howard pulled up... beautiful! A two-handed dunk!"

"Roar!" Howard, who scored 4 points in a row at the start of the second half, was incredibly fierce. He raised his hands, flexed his muscles, and roared at the court!

Even though the team is still down by about 20 points, Howard is still full of passion!

His passion was reignited by Auerbach's encouragement during halftime!

Unfortunately, the Boston fans had lost their passion; they became quite quiet, and very few joined in Howard's roars.

The fans felt the game was over; they thought there was no chance for them.

Howard is just trying to attract attention and padding his stats during garbage time.

Because every team in the league today believes that once the Knicks get hot, they are unstoppable!

In the first half, the Knicks got completely into a rhythm, and they had already turned the game into garbage time.

At least half of the audience at the stadium and the vast majority of fans watching on TV believed that the Celtics' game was over.

The entire second half will be garbage time!

"They're not right." Lin Tian received the ball from the baseline and said cautiously, "Looks like Rivers gave them another pep talk during halftime. They haven't given up; they're still playing with all their might! Everyone, be careful! Hold onto the 25-point lead! Don't let them close the gap!"

"Pay close the gap! Let all their efforts be in vain!"

"clear!"

The entire Knicks team was chanting in unison. They had been shooting so accurately in the first half, so of course they were full of confidence now!

But sometimes, confidence alone is not enough!

For example, on this night, confidence was practically worthless.

When the Celtics tightened their defense once again, when Anthony faced Pierce's relentless harassment on every offensive possession, when Okur couldn't get open looks beyond the three-point line, and when Stoudemire was still powerless against the Celtics' twin towers in the paint, the Knicks' offense stalled once more!

These players are missing shots again!

During this series, they finally understood the difference between the playoffs and the regular season, and the gap between the first and second rounds of the playoffs.

They realized that when the league's top defensive teams go all out on defense, their offense is nothing!

To put it bluntly: they can't play high-level games. They dominate in the regular season, but become weak in high-level games.

The Knicks players started missing shots incessantly. Lin Tian was still able to deliver the shots, but the shots they made in the first half were no longer going in during the second half.

The Celtics have started to close the gap!

In the third quarter, they outscored the Knicks 27-11!

The Celtics closed the gap to 16 points in a single quarter, reducing the deficit to 15 points!

By the end of the third quarter, the fans in the arena finally realized that their team had no intention of giving up and was desperately trying to catch up!

The Celtics' five starters played the entire third quarter, putting all their effort into defense and launching a furious offensive. Relying on their renewed intensity, they saw a renewed possibility of victory towards the end of the third quarter!

In fact, if Lin Tian hadn't scored 5 points late in the third quarter with a three-pointer and a mid-range jumper, the Celtics might have already narrowed the gap to less than 10 points!

"They're serious." During the break, Lin Tian looked at his teammates again and said fiercely, "They haven't given up, so in the fourth quarter, give me the ball!"

"They thought there was still suspense, so I personally shattered their suspense and delusions!"

"Damn it, this is preventing me from clocking out early!" (End of Chapter)