Especially Butler, there are countless scenes of helping Thomas wipe his butt, and his sense of presence is naturally strong.

The Celtics arrived in Brooklyn the day before the game.

That night, Butler went to the training hall and practiced for a while with Lin Ying and Durant.

“It still feels like home here.”

Butler wiped his sweat and said to Lin Ying with a smile.

“Aren’t you happy in Boston?”

Lin Ying heard something in his words and asked.

Butler moved his mouth, but still didn't speak.

But in fact, he knew it even without telling Lin Ying.

The Celtics' lineup is not weak on paper this season, but in terms of record, not only is it compared to the Nets and Cavaliers, it's also a notch behind the Raptors.

Internal conflicts are more terrifying than external enemies.

To take an extreme example, if Lin Ying used Green's formula to Durant, it would be useless for the Nets to have the Texas Twins.

"Jimmy, you can come back."

Durant on the side suddenly spoke.

This was said somewhat suddenly.

But surprisingly, Lin Ying didn't refute immediately.

This year's free market is very special. The team's salary cap has increased significantly, and each team can have enough room to strengthen.

But there is a point that is easily overlooked. There are so many free agents in the free market, and it is not enough to consume so much salary space.

So this will inevitably mean that supply will exceed demand and junk contracts will be everywhere.

Some people say it’s okay not to sign it, just leave some space.

This is definitely not possible.

First, there are many teams that need to fill the poverty line. Second, and more importantly, premium contracts are contracts and trading chips, which are more valuable than air.

Not every team's air is valuable.

So in this context, it would be a waste if the Nets have space.

Moreover, Mahinmi Jr.'s contract expires this summer, and Lin Ying and Durant have to sign new long-term contracts, so there is room to sign a maximum-paying player.

For example, if you had the opportunity to sign James, wouldn’t you?

Just kidding, but the Nets do have such room for maneuver.

On this basis, letting Butler return to the Nets is indeed a theoretically feasible option.

Of course, this possibility is very small.

Even if there are serious conflicts within the team, Ainge cannot send Butler to the Nets.

Ainge is as stingy as Mosaic, and he didn't think too much about Butler in the first round of three or four rounds like you.

Butler just smiled.

Lin Ying also smiled when he saw Butler's reaction.

The biggest difference between Butler and history is that he already has two championships in his hands.

Therefore, what he longs for more than a championship is team status. Even if he eventually changes teams, he will not return to the Nets.

…

On game day, the Barclays Center was sold out.

During the warm-up before the game, the on-site photographers also kept taking shots of Butler.

The fans also felt extremely cordial.

Watching Butler, whom he drafted, grow into a core-level team is like watching his own children grow up.

Now that the children have come back with success, they feel full of pride.

During the warm-up, Lin Yingyou was observing the Celtics half court.

Then he discovered that the conflict between Butler and Howard was indeed quite obvious. There was zero communication between the two when they stood on one side.

Not only the two of them, Thomas and them basically had no communication with each other.

This scene seems really inconsistent.

This actually made Lin Ying feel that Durant's proposal yesterday was not completely impossible.

If conflicts within the team intensify, someone will inevitably have to leave, or else they may have to rebuild.

After the warm-up, the scene entered the opening ceremony, and the starting lineups of the two teams were announced one after another.

Celtics: Isaiah Thomas, Courtney Lee, Jimmy Butler, Thaddeus Young, Howard;

Nets: Bradley, Ariza, Lin Ying, Durant, Jokic.

There was a jump ball in the midfield of the two teams, and Howard easily moved the ball back to the Celtics half.

Jokic failed the jump ball for the nth time.

The Celtics started the game with Thomas Jr.

But it was not Howard who initiated the pick-and-roll, but Yang.

Young's pick-and-roll quality is average, but Thomas is indeed fast enough and confident enough.

He took the initiative to accelerate, took advantage of the time difference in the pick-and-roll to force a mismatch against Durant, and then used a fake back pass to catch the throw and hit the board.

The ball passed Durant's defensive board and bounced into the frame.

In this round, he brought the little man's spirituality to its fullest.

When the Nets attacked in the frontcourt, Bradley held the ball, Durant put up a pick-and-roll, and after the split, Bradley returned the ball, resulting in a mismatch.

The reason why the Celtics started playing Thomas is very simple. If you don't play him, you shouldn't let him stay on the court;

The reason why the Nets looked for mismatches when they first came up was also very simple. He shouldn't have played him even if he was on the court.

However, the Celtics are a little different from the Warriors. They have long been accustomed to this and have formed a complete defensive system.

Almost as soon as he was out of position, Li's help defense came up.

Durant chose to break through, but Butler had already blocked the ball in advance.

Durant was suddenly overwhelmed and couldn't distinguish the ball, so he chose to pull up and shoot a pull-up jumper.

"Dang!"

The basketball hit the hoop.

This ball is a bit difficult.

Howard grabbed the defensive rebound.

The Celtics advanced to the frontcourt, and Thomas continued to hold the ball in the pick-and-roll. This time he used a double change of direction, which was faster than Walker.

Durant was also passed immediately.

Speed ​​is the key to survival for top short players, and it is difficult to guard against Lin Ying and Durant's mismatched defense.

However, when Thomas rushed to the basket and threw up, Lin Ying was in place to help defend and caused huge interference.

"Dang!"

Thomas Jr.'s shot hit the frame.

But the moment the basketball popped out, a figure suddenly jumped up.

Jokic was stuck with Howard one second, but the next second he felt like he was pushed away by something.

"Bang!"

Before Jokic could react, Howard jumped high and smashed the ball into the basket directly through Jokic!

The huge impact pushed the little fat man straight out of the bottom line!

4 to 0!

Celtics take the lead!

And although it was only the first few rounds, the Celtics played the same game that Lin Ying saw during the warm-up before the game, which was very inconsistent.

There is basically no coordination between the three cores of the team. When the Heat used to play pick-and-roll with Howard, he didn't block at all with the Celtics.

But even so, relying on their respective strengths in certain aspects, they played pretty well.

It sounds weird to say it, but it's like a,

A divided whole.

ps: I went to do the nucleic acid test again, but it was said that it was transferred by express delivery, so I had to do it four times in a row. It was miserable.
Chapter completed!