dognovel Chapter 655 The Green Army, United as One!
Chapter 655 The Green Army, United as One!
Two days later, the fourth game between the Nets and the Celtics began as scheduled.
Before the game, Wang Xiucheng received the 23-24 season MVP trophy from the NBA league at the home court.
This is not only Wang Xiucheng's first regular season MVP award.
It was also the Nets' first Most Valuable Player award.
To witness this scene, Cai Congxin made a special trip back from China.
Wang Xiucheng had barely held the trophy for less than a minute when Cai Congxin snatched it away.
The trophy was then handed to a staff member, who hurriedly took it away, apparently to have a replica made and put in the team's showroom.
Thus, the number of teams that had never produced a regular season MVP in the league decreased from 8 to 7.
With this award in hand, the Nets absolutely could not accept losing at home that night.
In particular, Cai Congxin has returned from China.
If we lose the game again, it will be too embarrassing.
With the Nets united and witnessed by their owners, Julia Koch and her daughter, and cheered on by 20,000 fans at home, they won Game 4 with ease.
The Nets now lead the Celtics 3-1.
The Nets have taken a 3-1 lead in this series!
The Nets need just one more game to win this series and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
After the match, Wang Xiucheng, holding his first trophy, hosted a banquet for all the players and staff at his Vista 30th restaurant.
The meal was good, and everyone drank some alcohol, but they were all quite restrained.
Before midnight, everyone dispersed and went home.
After all, the competition isn't over yet. If you want to celebrate, wait until you actually win the final trophy.
The next day at noon, everyone went to the airport and boarded a private plane to Boston.
The two cities are so close that many Brooklyn fans had already driven to Boston.
They ate lobster while waiting for the fifth game to begin.
For the Celtics, there is no turning back in this game.
Losing means getting nothing this season, ending up with nothing.
This is unacceptable to the Celtics.
The Celtics will have to pay $4380 million in luxury tax this season, which isn't a lot.
However, this summer, Tatum is expected to sign a 5-year, $3.15 million supermax contract extension with the team, while White is expected to sign a 4-year, $1.2 million extension.
With Jaylen Brown's new contract taking effect next season, his annual salary will exceed $5000 million.
There's also Horford's $1000 million and Porzingis' $3000 million, who didn't play a single playoff game.
The salaries of these players alone already exceed the salary cap.
If it drags on for another year until Tatum's new contract takes effect, the Celtics' salary cap pressure will be unimaginable.
If they don't win a single championship during this period, the owner absolutely cannot afford the luxury tax.
There are even rumors that if the Celtics don't win the championship this year, owner Wick Grosbeck will consider selling the team.
Therefore, the Celtics must win this game no matter what.
The competition started on time the following evening.
From the very first ball, the tone of tonight's contest was set.
The first quarter was completely disrupted by the referee's whistle.
Throughout the first quarter, the Celtics committed a staggering 12 fouls, and the Nets fared no better, managing only 9 fouls, though Dillon received a technical foul.
The fragmented game made it difficult for both sides to hit three-pointers.
The Celtics only made two three-pointers in the quarter, while the Nets also made two three-pointers, one by Westbrook and the other by Durant.
Wang Xiucheng made two shots, but neither went in.
Even during "Wang's Time," Wang Xiucheng didn't have a single chance to make a move.
The Celtics stuck to their tactic of fouling Wang Xiucheng in the final minute.
Wang Xiucheng was only allowed two free throws, which resulted in two points.
Wang Xiucheng also unusually scored only two points in "Wang's Time," failing to reach the "3-point" baseline.
At the end of the first quarter, the Celtics held a slight lead of 27-26 at home.
The fact that two teams that rely heavily on three-point shooting scored less than 30 points in the first quarter speaks volumes about how intense and fragmented the game was.
After a short break, the second quarter began.
Wang Xiucheng was resting as usual.
The Nets were led by their two veterans, while Jaylen Brown of the Celtics was on the court.
Without Wang Xiucheng, the game seemed much more normal.
Both sides started hitting three-pointers, their drives to the basket became sharper, and dunks appeared.
In the first six minutes of the second quarter, the score was 17-18, with the Nets even leading by one point.
The game has been paused.
Then Wang Xiucheng and Tatum returned.
The game started to fall apart again.
The score was tied 17-18 in the first half of the game, but only 13-11 in the second half.
Although the Celtics led by two points, it was at the cost of player fouls.
Especially the duo of Tatum and Jaylen Brown, each of them got two fouls.
White committed three fouls.
Wang Xiucheng scored 3 points in the last minute of the second quarter by making 3 of 4 free throws, which was considered to have met the minimum requirement.
The second half of the game began after a sexy and sizzling performance by the Boston cheerleaders.
The Celtics' problem of high foul counts among their key players is beginning to surface.
Wang Xiucheng, who was largely invisible in the first half, took the ball and went one-on-one against White at the start of the second half.
Knowing he had committed three fouls, White didn't guard Wang Xiucheng but instead went to guard Westbrook.
But Wang Xiucheng and Westbrook kept switching on him, and Holiday and White were eventually bumped into each other by Wang Xiucheng's maneuvering.
Wang Xiucheng took a step to the side after receiving the ball and launched a three-pointer.
The basketball swished smoothly into the net.
Wang Xiucheng made his second three-pointer of the game.
This is definitely not good news for the Celtics.
Two rounds later, Wang Xiucheng switched to guard White after a pick-and-roll with Westbrook.
Using his footwork and rhythm, Wang Xiucheng entered the paint, then braked suddenly, causing White to rear-end him, and scored a three-point play.
White had to leave the game early after committing four fouls.
Then, Wang Xiucheng set his sights on Jaylen Brown.
Jaylen Brown, with his superior physical attributes, is unlikely to be at a disadvantage against Wang Xiucheng most of the time.
But the prerequisite is that Wang Xiucheng cannot make three-pointers.
This premise clearly no longer exists.
Therefore, after Jaylen Brown was switched onto, he was under intense pressure, having to both prevent Wang Xiucheng from driving and passing the ball, and also prevent Wang Xiucheng from shooting a three-pointer directly.
At the same time, he had to constantly remind himself not to be fooled by Wang Xiucheng and not to fall for Wang Xiucheng's feints.
However, three minutes later, Jaylen Brown was still called up by Wang Xiucheng!
Wang Xiucheng took advantage of his jump and lobbed the ball, and made another three-pointer!