Christmas has only been two days, and the Hornets’ home court is still filled with a festive atmosphere. The "Beehive" at the home court of the Hornets is decorated as a bright sapphire. Under the four TV sets in the center of the stadium, there is a huge blue and purple honeycomb, shining brightly.
As early as an hour and a half before the game started, the two All-Star point guards ran from their respective locker rooms to the court early for training. As soon as Irving stepped onto the court, he concentrated on his usual practice. He started practicing throwing shots with his left and right hands two steps away from the basket. He was not satisfied until he made more than 30 consecutive shots, and then continued with mid-range shots.
He is very much looking forward to the focus showdown with Walker, and wants to do his best to prove that he is better.
When asked after the game what he thought of being entangled with Walker and scoring back and forth during the game, Irving's answer also confirmed his expectation of confronting an old acquaintance: "I've always liked it. Such competition. Walker and I have been acquaintances for seven years. I have known Walker a long time ago, and my family also knows his family, so when I was growing up in New Jersey and New York State, I have always been with him. He has such competition, and playing one-on-one with him will prove who is the best player. "
After the training, Irving, who made almost every shot, finally breathed a sigh of relief and took off the ball. Get rid of the baggage on your body. He took off his brand-new white and green shoes, quickly ran to the side of the court and handed the shoes to a young fan, and ran back to the locker room without any movement. The young fans who received Irving's sneakers seemed to have not yet come to their senses. Their eyes were dumbfounded and they kept playing with the shoes with their hands, seemingly exploring whether there was anything magical about the shoes worn by Irving.
Walker, the top player of the home team, had a smile on his face. He joked and laughed with the team's trainer from time to time while shooting. Walker, who suffered a concussion on his head, has not recovered, but he can move freely and practice dribbling and lateral jump shots from all angles on the court. After finding his aim and hitting consecutive mid-range step-back jumpers, Walker swayed his body happily.
At the beginning of the game, the Hornets faced the Green Army's tough defense and were unable to transfer the ball smoothly, and were immediately beaten 1:8. After returning from the timeout, Walker knew that he was responsible for scoring. He received a pass from his teammate and hit a two-pointer and a three-pointer directly at the top of the key, scoring five points in a row. Owen saw the situation and retaliated with fire. He took the same posture as in the shooting practice before the game. He shot steadily from the mid-range on the right waist and the ball went straight down the net. Many enthusiastic Celtics fans flew from Boston to Charlotte and occupied nearly a third of the arena. When Irving hit a difficult three-plus-one, the audience burst into applause and shouted "MVP! MVP!", giving people the feeling that the game was at the Celtics' home court.
While galloping on the offensive end and showing off his gorgeous skills, Irving also does not forget to create opportunities for his teammates. The pick-and-roll between him and teammate Horford was very effective, preventing defensive players from switching defenses immediately, and many times allowed Horford to seize open opportunities to shoot three-pointers. Horford made 4 of 6 three-pointers in this campaign. When Irving accepted the meal after the game, he also affirmed the efficient cooperation between him and Horford: "The high pick-and-roll we played is very effective. When I go straight to the basket, , can create some opportunities for teammates, allowing them to have open shots." Compared with Irving's bravery, Walker, who has not yet recovered from his injury, was slightly inferior after the opening. He has always been able to get to the basket with lightning speed and score. He seemed to be unable to find his form at the beginning. After getting the ball from the backcourt twice in the first quarter, he seemed to be less lion-like when he rushed to the basket like lightning. He was so powerful that one dribble went out of the sideline too hard, and the other time he made a mistake due to two dribbles.
Walker, who could not find his aim, was not as anxious as before when the ball failed to score. Instead, he patiently launched attacks in different ways and began to create opportunities for his teammates. In the first half, he used high pick-and-rolls twice to attract the defense of two Green Army players, and passed the ball to his unguarded teammate O'Bryant. The two mid-range shots landed steadily at the same position. In the first half, Walker and Irving were evenly matched in terms of assists, each scoring 4 assists.
However, the Celtics' young players hit three-pointers one after another, pushing the score to 20 points in the second quarter. As a leader, Walker stepped forward in the second half and put the burden of chasing points on his shoulders. He received passes from his teammates twice at the left waist and hit two three-pointers. Then he made another shot and passed to score 20 points. The score difference instantly reduced to 2 points.
Faced with the narrowing of the point difference, Greens head coach Stevens made an incredible decision: He benched Irving for six and a half minutes in the fourth quarter. Fortunately, through rookie Tatum's heroic performance in these six minutes, the Green Army expanded the point difference again.
On this point, the team’s main center praised the team’s role players for their outstanding performance at critical moments when Irving was on the bench in the post-match interview: “I think this is an improvement for many young players on our team. Confidence, a good opportunity to make key shots at crucial moments in the game and gain game experience. Tatum stepped up and the other players also stepped up, which is very important to us.
Irving himself found this incredible, but he still sat calmly on the bench, waiting for the coach's instructions, and finally returned to the court with more than five minutes left in the game. After the game, when asked by reporters what he thought about sitting on the bench in the fourth quarter, Irving sincerely expressed his opinion: "Patience is the best way to deal with this situation. This is a very big deal for me. A good learning experience. After coming to an environment like the Boston Celtics, I need to understand the wisdom of head coach Stevens and trust that the team can still win even if he lets me sit on the bench." p>
In the end, the Celtics had the last laugh. After the game, Irving was about to run all the way out of the tunnel and back to the locker room, but he stopped halfway, took off his jersey, and put it on the cap of a young Hornets fan on the sidelines.
The little fan, who was overwhelmed by the jersey, took the jersey from his head and was immediately excited and jumping around.