Chapter 130: Face the Pacers!
The love-hate relationship between Bird and the Celtics cannot be explained in just a few words.

He came to the scene today just to take a look.

What on earth is Lin Yu like?

The warm-up is over and the game will begin soon.

The Celtics' starting lineup: center Mehmet Okur, power forward Lin Yu, small forward Pierce, shooting guard Hardaway, and point guard Coach Lue.

The Pacers' starting lineup: center Jeff Foster, power forward O'Neal Jr., small forward Artest, shooting guard Reggie Miller, and point guard Payton.

After Jeff Foster successfully jumped the ball, the game officially began.

Payton began to organize the offense. Miller, like Hamilton, is a typical player who mainly plays without the ball.

But Miller's advantage is that his shooting range can reach beyond the three-point line.

Miller started running without the ball, and with the help of O'Neal Jr.'s screen, he got rid of Hardaway's pursuit.

Lin Yu switched defense directly in front of Miller, preventing Miller from receiving the ball.

"Lin Yu, right? The throat-slitting ceremony in Detroit was nice, but I won't go easy on you!"

Although he was blocked by Lin Yu and unable to receive the ball, Miller was not idle either. He started to talk trash.

Miller was very unhappy with the Pistons because they were eliminated by the Pistons last season.

Seeing the Pistons being defeated by Lin Yu, he naturally had a good impression of Lin Yu.

"Reggie, just don't accuse me of bullying an old man!"

"Although I am old, I am not too old to walk. I don't need anyone's pity!"

Miller's trash talk was as tough as his playing style. Payton saw that Miller couldn't run out of space, so he directly passed the ball to O'Neal.

At this time, the defender in front of O'Neal was Hardaway, so O'Neal directly used the big man to attack the smaller one.

Facing Hardaway's defense, he took a direct shot from mid-range.

Swish!
The basketball went into the net, and the Conseco Arena was instantly filled with cheers!

This season, O'Neal's mid-range shooting percentage is 43.4%, which is indeed very accurate.

The Celtics began to attack, and Pierce took the initiative to ask for the ball facing Artest.

Lin Yu came to the high position, and O'Neal Jr. immediately began to defend Lin Yu.

"Lin Yu, I'm not that guy Rashid. He will be beaten to death by you, but I'm different!"

O'Neal's voice was full of confidence in his own abilities.

In fact, O'Neal Jr. is indeed confident.

As a power forward who ranked third in the MVP list last season, only behind Garnett and Duncan.

O'Neal's assist defense and blocking are both at the top level in the league.

Last season, O'Neal's defensive WS was 6.0, while Rasheed's was only 5.1.

"Jermaine, it's good to be confident, but I don't think you can defend me."

It’s not that Lin Yu looks down on O’Neal, but O’Neal is afraid of players like Lin Yu.

In order to ensure his mobility in assisting defense, O'Neal Jr. actually weighs only 103KG.

This weight is relatively thin among inside players.

Therefore, when facing powerful inside players, O'Neal Jr. often suffers losses.

This is also the fundamental reason why O'Neal recruited Dampier, the "second center in the Western Conference" during the offseason.

While the two were trash-talking, Pierce and Artest had already started fighting.

Pierce is known as an 'offensive kaleidoscope', and he is excellent whether it is facing the basket, posting up, or shooting.

But as the best defensive player, Artest's strength is beyond doubt.

"Artest's defense was very rough, directly confronting Pierce!"

"Artest was very close and didn't give Pierce any room to shoot."

"Pierce tried to post up, but Artest held on tightly. With the 24-second shot clock running out, Pierce forced a shot."

"If you ask me, Pierce's shot was not reasonable. If it was Dayu who played, the result would be different."

Coach Zhang then began to be more reasonable.

Artest's defense is a typical confrontational defense. This kind of defense naturally cannot be too far away, otherwise it will be inconvenient to confront.

Therefore, Artest's defense often seems like close defense.

He doesn't give his opponents space to shoot, and at the same time he deliberately leads his opponents to the inside.

This is also the reason why Artest had to partner with an inside player in the years when he had the highest defensive efficiency.

Jeff Ford grabbed the rebound and the Pacers began to fight back.

Artest took the initiative to ask for the ball, wanting to play one-on-one against Pierce on the wing.

But Artest clearly overestimated his own ball-handling offense.

Bang!

Artest missed the shot while dribbling the ball.

Pierce also started talking trash.

"Ron, you should focus on defense! Your offense means you won't be the best small forward in the Eastern Conference."

"Let's see if you can still act recklessly after I kill you today, Paul!"

Artest also looked unconvinced at this time.

At this time, both sides have begun to compete for rebounds.

Jeff Ford blocked Okur, and O'Neal jumped to grab the rebound. Suddenly, his pupils shrank.

He found himself shrouded in a shadow!
Snapped!
I looked up subconsciously and saw two big hands grabbing the rebound in mid-air.

The person who came was Lin Yu!

After grabbing the rebound with his excellent jumping ability, Lin Yu immediately dribbled the ball and started counterattacking.

O'Neal Jr. was also chasing closely at this time, and the two of them were entangled all the way to the low post.

Lin Yu stopped and signaled his teammates to create space.

He wants to play one-on-one against O'Neal!

"Interesting! Dayu is now signaling his teammates to open up some offensive space for him. He wants to single out the Pacers' star player, O'Neal!"

Coach Zhang's eyes were full of anticipation at this moment.

Big Bird on the sidelines also had a serious expression on his face, staring at Lin Yu and O'Neal Jr.

"Come on! Lin Yu! Let me see how strong the players who can defeat the Dream Team are!"

O'Neal's eyes were full of fighting spirit.

"Jermaine, I hope you don't regret it!"

As he spoke, Lin Yu started to attack from behind.

bump!
With the sound of muscles colliding, O'Neal Jr. was pushed back a step by Lin Yu.

O'Neal's weight is his biggest weakness. In an era that advocates physical combat, his weight is indeed not enough.

bump!
At this moment, O'Neal Jr. only felt a huge force coming, and his body retreated uncontrollably.

Lin Yu rolled over and leaned back to attack directly.

"FXXK!" He knew he had lost his position, but he still tried his best to defend the ball!
But in the end it was all in vain.

O'Neal Jr. watched with unwillingness as the basketball flew over his fingertips and went straight to the basket.

Swish!
The basketball goes hollow into the net.

"Dayu played one-on-one against Jermaine O'Neal, who was ranked third in the MVP list last season and the best power forward in the Eastern Conference, and he successfully scored the ball!"

Coach Zhang kept yelling excitedly.

The Dragon Country fans in front of the TV also began to cheer for Lin Yu at this time.

"Dayu is awesome! O'Neal is no match for him at all!"

"In the past, people always said that Dayu was a guard. With this low-post back-to-the-basket shot, who would still say that Dayu was a guard?"

"Little O'Neal has no power to fight back in front of Dayu!"

(End of this chapter)