Chapter 127: Whoever Dares To Stop My Team, I Will End Their Life!
Iavaroni’s adjustment was to sub out the inaccurate Josh Howard and bring in Trevor Ariza, who had a stunning performance in the second quarter.
However, after the timeout, the one who helped the team break the deadlock was Jason Kidd.
Kidd posted up Rondo in the low post, hit a post-up jump shot, and barely stopped the bleeding for the team.
But this was just a flash in the pan. The Celtics’ defensive intensity didn’t drop at all.
Kevin Garnett turned the inside upside down, grabbed consecutive offensive rebounds, and scored on the second chance. Paul Pierce also found his touch, hitting a three-pointer.
54 to 44.
The Grizzlies’ defensive line was already crumbling under the Celtics’ sustained pressure.
TD Garden turned into a surging green ocean, with waves of cheers rising higher and higher, boiling for the home team’s defensive feast.
The Celtics gave Xu Ling a harsh lesson in the cruelest way—he relied too much on shooting.
When a true playoff-level team starts going all-out with physical confrontation, even a historic shooter like Curry will see his shooting percentage fluctuate wildly, let alone him?
The physical confrontation in NCAA simply can’t compare.
Looking back at all his highlight performances from his rookie season so far—against Kobe’s Lakers, against LeBron James’s Cavaliers, and even the final five minutes of the All-Star Game—there’s one common point: the opponents either had only one or two defensive strong points, unable to effectively limit his pick-and-roll offense; or they simply had no decent defense at all.
Moreover, most teams don’t play all-out defense in the regular season.
But the playoff battlefield never messes around with you.
Being taught a lesson early by a top-tier powerhouse like the Celtics before stepping onto that brutal stage is far from a bad thing.
But does this growth have to come at the cost of a complete rout?
The Grizzlies haven’t locked in a playoff spot yet. If they suffer a crushing defeat to the Celtics right now, will the team’s already delicate morale collapse irreparably?
When Paul Pierce hit that three-pointer, the smugness on his face was undisguised. Recalling Xu Ling’s sharp words from the first half, he couldn’t help but roar: “It’s time to teach you this arrogant kid what respect really means!”
Now, the score was 54 to 44, with the Celtics leading by 10.
Ariza didn’t bring an immediate impact after checking in.
The Grizzlies couldn’t break the Celtics’ defense.
Were they going to fall here too? Just like the 22-game winning streak Rockets, just like the Hornets a few days ago—besides the Mavericks, was there really no team in the Western Conference that could beat the green team?
Xu Ling stood at the baseline, preparing to inbound.
He glanced at the scoreboard, then at Paul Pierce who was celebrating wildly, and then gave Kidd an almost imperceptible nod.
Kidd got the message.
He knew better than anyone that when ball-handling offense is completely shut down, the only way out is movement, relentless movement.
The Grizzlies inbounded from the baseline, Kidd dribbled across halfcourt, his rhythm still steady.
This time, Xu Ling didn’t linger on the wing waiting.
He suddenly accelerated, first faking a move to the corner to draw Paul Pierce’s follow, then making a sharp backdoor cut, using a solid screen set by Milicic at the top of the arc to drive straight into the paint.
This off-ball movement was extremely sudden, and Paul Pierce was solidly screened by Milicic.
Kendrick Perkins sensed the danger and immediately contracted to help defend under the basket.
But at the instant Xu Ling cut, Kidd’s bounce pass arrived like a precision-guided missile.
Xu Ling caught the ball and leaped without hesitation.
Perkins jumped up to block, but Xu Ling had clear contact in the air, leaning on Perkins, using his excellent core strength for a small layup, dodging the block and flipping the ball low off the glass.
The basketball went in off the glass!
54 to 46!
And the referee called a defensive foul on Perkins—this was an And One!
Finally, the green team’s iron wall was breached.
Perkins was still complaining to the referee that he didn’t make extra contact, but Xu Ling silently stepped to the free-throw line.
Then, Xu Ling hit the free throw.
54 to 47
Xu Ling got back on defense, ignoring Paul Pierce’s presence.
Paul Pierce’s face darkened as he shouted to his teammates: “Watch his off-ball movement! Don’t let that kid cut in so easily again!”
Momentum is a mysterious thing that influences both sides.
At the start of the second half, the Celtics’ suffocating defense had the Grizzlies bricking shots repeatedly. Now, Xu Ling broke their defense with off-ball movement, and when the Celtics came back on offense, they couldn’t answer.
Kevin Garnett’s fadeaway jumper missed under Milicic’s interference. Xu Ling grabbed the defensive rebound.
Then, Xu Ling still didn’t take the ball, passing it to Kidd instead.
In the frontcourt, Xu Ling shuttled relentlessly between the baseline and the wing, using double screens from Warrick and Ariza to run from the strong side to the weak side. Ray Allen and Paul Pierce, responsible for help defense, were pulled dizzy by the continuous screens.
This was the moment! Xu Ling got a very brief open look at the right 45-degree angle.
Kidd’s pass arrived instantly.
Xu Ling caught the ball and rose for the shot.
Kevin Garnett sprinted to help defend, but he was a step late.
Swish!
In again!
54 to 50, the deficit down to 4 points.
Xu Ling scored 6 quick points with two clean off-ball possessions, rapidly closing the gap.
The Celtics were forced to call timeout.
“I thought after the finger wag, I wouldn’t be shocked by anything Eli does anymore,” Mike Breen said in surprise. “But this young man’s adjustment ability tonight has once again exceeded everyone’s imagination. When the Celtics shut down his ball-handling with their toughest defense, he immediately switched to off-ball mode and responded to the Celtics with the purest basketball IQ!”
The Celtics continued adjusting their defense.
This time, they made personnel changes.
Rivers first subbed out Ray Allen, who had been relatively quiet tonight—or put another way, the green team felt defense was more important now, so they were willing to bench Allen’s offense temporarily to bring in a better defender.
Their fourth-year guard Tony Allen jogged onto the court.
This player, who could only shine as a key rotation piece for now, was already somewhat known in the league as a recognized defensive expert.
Xu Ling glanced at him, of course knowing the Celtics had suddenly brought in this notorious defensive specialist for him.
But had this Tony Allen already become that great defender, just lacking playing time?
Xu Ling would know soon enough.
After the timeout, the Celtics scored on an inside aggressive attack by Kevin Garnett, 56 to 50.
Tony Allen’s defensive intensity hit Xu Ling from the first possession—a pure pressure.
Allen just bent low, arms outstretched, locking eyes with Xu Ling. Those eyes were like dark magnets, staring while searching for every subtle movement from his opponent.
The ball was still in Kidd’s hands.
Xu Ling tried to run his set play, curling from the weak side to the baseline and bursting off the screen—but as soon as he started, Allen bumped him hard.
Not a foul, but perfectly timed.
That force seemed to say: “Don’t think you can get around easily.”
So Kidd waved for the big to screen.
Milicic came up to set the screen, and Xu Ling shook free.
But Tony Allen’s footwork was insanely quick; he shadowed the screen and went over Milicic’s body.
By the moment Xu Ling got the ball again at the 45-degree angle, Tony Allen’s face was already in his face.
It could be said Allen’s defense succeeded—he shut down Xu Ling this possession—but the problem was with his teammates; the others didn’t run their routes properly, and Trevor Ariza on the weak side cut backdoor like a shadow assassin.
Kidd successfully threaded a pass to Ariza using Xu Ling’s gravity.
Ariza rose up strong for the score.
The bench celebrated for Ariza.
But Xu Ling observed Allen while retreating, and coincidentally, Allen was observing him too.
There was no exchange between them.
In just one possession, Xu Ling knew Tony Allen was the Celtics’ best perimeter defender—compared to him, Paul Pierce was just a paper tiger riding Kevin Garnett’s coattails.
Unfortunately, Tony Allen played for the Celtics, who had another Allen, and that Allen’s presence meant he had no chance to start.
This left a player with real defensive chops riding the bench most of the time.
However, subbing out Ray Allen also impacted their offense; the Celtics could no longer freely attack the inside.
Because their point guard Rajon Rondo was a disastrous shooter. As long as he didn’t have the ball, Kidd could ignore him. Now with Ray out and Tony in at shooting guard, this “teacher” Tony was great on defense but dismal on offense—don’t be fooled by his shooting percentage; it came mostly from easy buckets. His normal scoring level was like his 30% three-point shooting—unable to take pressure off the stars.
Kevin Garnett tried to isolate again, and Xu Ling instantly dropped to help defend inside.
Kevin Garnett passed back to Tony Allen, who bricked a three-pointer.
Then, the Celtics’ defense once again pressured the Grizzlies into a stagnant offense.
They would have to solve it with isolation play after all.
Xu Ling cut out, got the ball, and spun into Tony Allen.
“Tony, lock down that bastard! He can’t score on you!”
Paul Pierce yelled loudly.
Tony Allen’s defense was undeniably outstanding, but with limited minutes for the Celtics, he sorely lacked experience against stars.
That was Xu Ling’s hope for breaking through.
Allen still stuck tight to Xu Ling, his defensive stance like high-intensity anaerobic exercise, yet extremely steady.
Xu Ling tried to create a rhythm change, faking slow then suddenly accelerating.
But Allen didn’t bite; he read the rhythm early, just stepping back slightly to cut off the path. But when he tried to slide laterally, he ran into Warrick’s screen.
Kevin Garnett’s help defense was arriving, but Xu Ling lobbed the ball into the air.
Milicic screened Perkins.
Under the basket, Trevor Ariza leaped up from nowhere for an alley-oop slam dunk.
“!#@￥@#%￥”
56 to 54
The teams were only 2 points apart.
With just minutes left in the third quarter, the Grizzlies closed in on the score again.
Tony Allen’s face was darkly grim.
He came in to lock down Xu Ling, but ended up as the background for the opponent’s offense in two straight possessions—this was a real blow for a defense-first player.
“My bad, Tony!” Kevin Garnett shouted to Allen on the way back, referring to his slow help, but Allen knew the root cause was getting caught in the screen, giving Xu Ling space to operate.
Celtics offense: Paul Pierce tried to isolate Ariza to get back in it, but his fadeaway jumper missed again under Ariza’s contest. Xu Ling secured the rebound, giving the Grizzlies a golden chance to take the lead.
Kidd calmly brought it over halfcourt, not rushing, and held up one finger.
Everyone understood the signal—give the ball to Xu Ling.
Xu Ling posted up outside the left three-point line, and Tony Allen immediately stuck to him like glue.
His defensive stance was even lower, eyes more ferocious, as if ready to devour Xu Ling alive.
“No tricks this time!” Allen muttered.
Facing Tony Allen who had just closed out, Xu Ling exploded with a crossover dribble full of explosiveness, switching the ball from right to left hand, body leaning dramatically, shoulders nearly parallel to the ground.
Tony Allen reacted lightning-fast, sliding to cut off the left. But in that instant of shifting weight, Xu Ling yanked the ball back with his left and spun right sharply.
This wasn’t pure speed, but rapid successive shakes.
Tony Allen’s balance was completely thrown by the sudden change of direction and spin; he tried to recover but couldn’t move, watching helplessly as Xu Ling blew past him into the paint.
Kevin Garnett and Perkins were both camped inside, but Xu Ling stopped outside the paint, pulled up for a close-range jump shot from the left 45-degree angle, banking it in.
56 to 56
Tied!
The commentator’s exclamations blended with the arena’s boos.
Under the watchful eyes of the Celtics coaching staff, Xu Ling retreated, and Rivers and Thibodeau had to admit this first-year rookie had cracked their defensive cage for him as best he could: he activated his teammates, used their feedback, and beat Tony Allen on offense.
Maybe Allen didn’t lose, but he definitely couldn’t stop Eli Xu tonight.
With two minutes left in the third, the Celtics urgently subbed Ray Allen back in, finally avoiding the offense-three-on-five embarrassment.
The sharpshooter lived up to it, hitting an outside shot right away to stem the bleeding.
Yet the double-digit lead from not long ago had vanished like a dream.
The third-quarter buzzer sounded, scoreboard frozen at 60 to 60.
The teams still clung tightly to the score; the Celtics failed to crush the opponent with their signature defense this quarter.
All the focus ultimately returned to Xu Ling.
His personal duel with Paul Pierce was no longer the point; what mattered was the outcome of this East-West showdown.
But for the Grizzlies, the playoff ticket mattered more.
They had to make the playoffs. Otherwise, the entire season’s efforts would be meaningless, and Xu Ling’s bold words would become fodder for Nike media mockery.
Called the greatest rookie since Tim Duncan, dubbed Adidas’s “Child of the Future,” compared to rookie Jordan—so leading the team to the playoffs was the bare minimum for all that hype.
Even Carmelo Anthony could do it—surely you can too?
So Xu Ling’s will was simple: whoever dares stop my team, I will end his career!
