Curry described the 76ers as a mountain, and this statement spread throughout the alliance, and the 76ers became a mountain.

"It's not just the Warriors who want to cross the mountains, we're also crossing the mountains."

The 76ers were sent to Chicago. On the way away, Wei Xia officially responded to Curry's words.

"The mountain in front of us is different from other teams. There were three teams that had climbed this mountain, and we hope to be one of them."

Wei Xia did not make it clear, but some principles were all indifferent.

In mid-March, 76ers waited for the good news they wanted.

Because his wife suffered from a brain tumor, Holiday returned to the team to take care of her family indefinitely.

"I want to apologize to everyone because my personal affairs have affected the team's season planning. Now that I'm back, I promise I'll give you all for you!"

Holiday earnestly assured that there were no other things, only the game could give the answer.

Holiday's return has made the 76ers' lineup complete.

They will sprint to the playoffs at their best, and at the end of March, the 76ers won a row.

In April, there are seven regular season games left.

Currently, the 76ers ranked first in the Eastern Conference with 56 wins and 19 losses.

Tonight, their opponent is the Boston Celtics, a famous hard bone in the East. With the help of super newcomer Embiid, they are firmly ranked in the top five in the East.

The Celtics are like the Grizzlies in the West in the past few years, and they all know that they have no hope of winning the championship, but no team is willing to meet them in the playoffs.

Win, peel off;

It is not impossible to lose.

What this so-called tough-willed team is best at doing is to make things difficult for strong teams and create miracles in desperate situations.

The Celtics' defensive strategy was very clear from the beginning.

If Wei Xia, Hayward or Holiday holds the ball and goes to the pick-and-roll with the big guy, then decisively attack and recover the penalty area on the weak side; if it is Rondo or someone else's pick-and-roll, it will be bypassed normally.

In terms of defending weak players, the Celtics have always insisted on not letting go of Hayward and Holiday, and other defensive players assisted in defense and then saved to defend three-pointers. Therefore, the life-and-death line of this strategy is the open three-point shooting percentage of the 76ers player.

Wei Xia was experienced and saw the problem at the beginning, so she played many local cooperations with Hayward and each helped the opponent make three-pointers. The Celtics' defense was no longer possible.

However, the other players of the 76ers had not had an ideal three-point shooting percentage.

Therefore, the Celtics' defense was more firm, blocking the wings and the penalty area, and setting up three-pointers for 76ers.

Although doing this can be a gambler, the Celtics bet right.

If you can't deal with the 76ers, the two superstars with good passing ability and shooting ability, the Celtics chose to test other players.

The Celtics wanted to prevent the 76ers from killing them, and the side effect was that their attack was also bad.

They tested the 76ers' role player's open three-pointers, but their open three-pointers were even more outrageous.

1 of 18 three-pointers in the first half.

In fact, among these 18 shots, the buzzer-beating three-pointers in the last buzzer were basically considered normal opportunities. Moreover, in order to make it difficult for the Celtics to feel comfortable with the inside, the 76ers also found that their three-point shots were not accurate. In other words, except for some shots, their defense did not affect the opponent's shooting in the other shots.

Tom Heinthorne was very worried about this situation: "This is not the first time that the Celtics have shown such a bad touch."

The Celtics themselves are back-positioning, but they did not quickly lose suspense because of their lack of strength and they still had no clear shots.

Despite the poor shooting performance, the Celtics can score a certain advantage in the last 3 and a half minutes each time during the 76ers rotation.

With 6 minutes left in the third quarter, the 76ers led 58 to 56.

Because Wei Xia and Cousins ​​played for too long, Wright replaced Wei Xia and Cousins ​​at the same time for the first time, preparing for the final quarter final game in advance. At least three of the main players of the Celtics were present, but they seemed to breathe a sigh of relief and did not have the momentum to take your life while you were sick. Until 4 minutes before Wei Xia returned, they only played 8-9 with the 76ers, and one of them was Embiid's lucky 24-second buzzer-beating three-pointer.

This is a young team, and they still have a lot of room for improvement in reading the situation.

What surprised Wei Xia was that the Celtics were still testing their lineup.

The regular season has reached its final stage, and they entered the playoffs with the fifth pick, but they have no intention of practicing tactics for the playoffs.

However, Wei Xia heard from Heinthorne that the Celtics' offensive state was very unstable in recent games, so he could understand why they were still testing the lineup.

When the starting lineup is not smooth, Embiid and Isaiah Thomas' pick-and-roll offenses will frequently appear. The former will use his presence in the low post to help the team stabilize the situation. In the 9 minutes of the first half, Embiid made 4 of 6 shots and scored 8 points and 5 rebounds.

After playing, Thomas took over the offense in the second half. This little guy has endless energy. Embiid's low post ability and frontcourt rebounds are a supplementary adjuster. Although it is a bit wasteful, it does make the Celtics' offense better.

Except for super rookies of Duncan, no one can hold the team's offensive and defensive core as soon as they come.

In the fourth quarter, the 76ers' defense is similar to the Celtics' strategy. They also use Thomas's assisting defense to leave the basket with confidence, take the initiative to grab double-teams or block and block, and hand over the penalty area to the weak side forward.

Thomas, who performed stably in the first three quarters, met Wei Xia, who contributed DPOY-level assisting defense. His worrying figure directly overwhelmed him. Not only did he not see the basket, but his teammates in his vision also disappeared. He made 7 of 24 shots in the game and scored 19 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.

He is not a lone wolf, and his figure limits his vision. His biggest problem is not the end, but the echo of his weak teammates. It is very difficult to put this kind of work on the spot, because it is not a problem of learning ability, but because he cannot improve his height.

The 76ers can rely on the talents of Wescha, Cousins, Hayward, Holiday, and even Robertson.

Even the rookie Oubre has some signs of fighting.

At the critical moment of the game, such talent gap will naturally be infinitely magnified. Jay Wright is a coach who is extremely good at round-based play. As long as the opponent does not understand a strategy thoroughly, he dares to let the player keep playing, playing forever, and playing forever, until the opponent's mentality explodes.

Therefore, in the last three minutes of the fourth quarter, the Celtics' effective offense was only the wingers and Embiid's pick-and-roll layup. When the final battle entered, the 76ers who strengthened the weak side recovery protection made Embiid's strategy after cover failed. Thomas, who had a poor touch before, completely disappeared from the offensive end.

That was just a few points of gap, but it seemed like an eternal distance to Lukai.

"This game makes you feel that no matter how hard you try, the Celtics just can't beat the 76ers."

"Yes, it's too dull, we've totally felt the 76ers' control over the game."

One minute before the end of the game, Wei Xia held the ball, and the 76ers led the Celtics by 6 points. As long as he could hold back time and score the offense, it would basically kill the goal of the game.

Even if the Celtics let their best wings face off, they would not be able to stop Wei Xia from making the goal.

He controlled the offensive rhythm in a scattered manner. In the last 6 seconds, he suddenly started to rise and stopped quickly, and dribbled behind him to find the rhythm.

That moment of shaking is better than a trot that is full of accelerator and suddenly brakes while moving at altitude.

His defender was like a person sitting in the passenger seat. Faced with such vibration, his body lost its balance uncontrollably and shaking violently.

As a defender, encountering such a thing is basically equivalent to a defensive failure.

Wei Xia left no room for breaking through his defense. Embiid actively helped to defend, but was confused by the "magic" he released in an instant.

He saw Wei Xia push the racket behind him. When he turned around, he heard the wailing of the audience. The ball was still in Wei Xia's hands, and he rode his body and dunked it.

“holy    wish~~~!!!”

"It's over!" Heinthorne shouted in frustration, "I'm sorry, no Celtics won Tom points tonight. I decided to make an exception to give this score to my opponent - wish, who is the Tom points winner tonight!" 1

Wei Xia broke through the Celtics' defensive system, and when Embiid scored that goal, the winner was decided.

In the next 40 seconds, the Celtics fought stubbornly and used penalty tactics to fight to death to catch the gap to 5 points, but that's the end.

The Celtics can predict this. As for whether the game strategy needs to be adjusted on the spot for players who are temporarily hot, this is just a path they have chosen. They are willing to accept the loss without regrets when making a move, and they quickly accepted the failure.

1 Heinthorne will select a person to give Tom points in every Celtic game. The specific criteria are, from his perspective, the one who works the most actively and desperately in the game.
Chapter completed!