NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 746 The Only MVP on Site

Jaylen Brown's defense isn't particularly outstanding, and because he considers himself a star, he's unwilling to put in much effort on defense, and he's unwilling to do the dirty work. To defend someone like Paul George, you need to physically challenge him, force him to drive, and make it difficult for him to get a shot off. If you give him that kind of space to shoot, his accuracy is very high.

The Celtics are on offense, and Tatum's three-point attempt misses!

Jia Fei grabbed the rebound, brought the ball over, and faced Smart's tight defense. He pulled the ball between his legs and then suddenly dribbled behind his back, using a huge stride to shake off his opponent. He drove straight to the basket, turned and got past Tatum, and slammed the ball in with a one-handed reverse dunk!

3:6, Jia Fei was extremely aggressive from the start!

The Celtics were on offense. Jaylen Brown set a screen and drove hard past Hartenstein, then passed to Lowe under the basket!

Jia Fei anticipated the play perfectly, successfully intercepting the ball from both the front and back, and then delivered a long pass from the quarter post to Bridges, who was making a quick run down the court!

Bridges catches the ball and completes a dunk!

3-8, the Clippers started the game with lightning speed, forcing the Celtics to call a timeout!

The Clippers' home crowd, Intuit Dome, erupted in cheers, with shouts of "MVP" echoing throughout the arena.

Without a doubt, the "MVP" that Clippers fans are talking about refers to Jia Fei, because apart from him, no one else on either team has an MVP award.

Kemba Walker was cheering on the sidelines, clapping enthusiastically for his good friend. He was still a bit unhappy with the Celtics' decision; he clearly had the ability to play but was traded away. In reality, the Celtics weren't necessarily better without him; although they made it to the Finals, he felt a sweep was inevitable.

Kemba Walker was certain that the two young stars couldn't beat Jia Fei. Forget the two young stars, even the Cosmic Warriors lost to him, so what are the two young stars compared to him?

“Teacher Su, if the Celtics don’t double-team Jia Fei, I feel like Smart alone might not be able to defend against him!” Wang Zixing said.

Su Qun nodded: "No one can defend Jia Fei one-on-one. The scene in the Western Conference Finals where the Suns double-teamed Jia Fei and he was riddled with arrows by the Clippers' shooters is still fresh in our minds. The risk of double-teaming is just too high."

The timeout is over and the game continues.

Smart dribbled the ball over and passed it to Horford in the low post!

Horford overpowered Grant in the low post and hit a turnaround hook shot!

5-8, the Celtics have finally scored again!

Jia Fei admires Horford a lot; to be in such good form at his age is truly impressive.

The Clippers were on offense, and Grant tried to answer with one, but Horford blocked it!

The Celtics launched a counterattack, with Jaylen Brown making a fast break down the court, shaking off Bridges and attempting a Euro-step layup—which was blocked out of bounds by Jia Fei's chase-down defense…

Jia Fei is everywhere!

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, watching from the sidelines, happily stood up and applauded. Jia Fei's play, where he "stalked the mantis from behind," was truly brilliant!

The Celtics were on offense in the frontcourt, and Horford continued to attack relentlessly in the low post. After being double-teamed, he passed the ball to Smart!

Smart's three-point attempt missed!

Harten slapped the ball away, but Jia Fei reacted quickly and intercepted it, delivering a behind-the-back pass...

The ball flew directly to the frontcourt, Bridges arrived in time, caught the ball, and dunked it into the basket!

This...this is possible??

The fans at the stadium were stunned; this shot... seemed familiar...

That's right, many fans have seen this ball; it came from Kukoc!

"Teacher Su, Jia Fei's pass was amazing! It was a stroke of genius!" Wang Zixing exclaimed in amazement.

Su Qun nodded in admiration: "That was truly a brilliant play; it was just a split-second reaction, amazing!"

The crowd erupted in cheers, with the big screen repeatedly replaying the slow-motion replay of Jia Fei's incredible pass. 99% of the credit for that play went to Jia Fei; Bridges simply put Jia Fei's magical pass into the basket!

5-10, the score difference isn't large, but everyone knows that the Celtics' offense has run into problems...

The logic is simple: if your two young stars can't beat the opponent and you can't defend them, how can you play? It's the same with the Timberwolves in the first round against the Clippers. If your two number one draft picks can't score offensively, how can you play?

Horford does have mismatches that he can exploit, but can you really rely on the 36-year-old Horford for the entire game?

Even during his time with the Hawks, Horford wasn't a player who could handle a lot of ball possession and be the team's primary scorer. Relying on him as the team's primary scorer limited the team's potential.

The Celtics' offensive struggles aren't solely due to their young stars (Jayson and Brown) being unable to overcome the George-Paul duo; a significant factor is the team's poor spacing. Lowry and Westbrook lack shooting ability, only capable of finishing plays; Smart, as the team's primary ball-handler, hasn't been effective in developing the offense, and his off-ball threat is minimal; Horford does possess some shooting ability, but he's merely a spacing player, not a sharpshooter, and many teams leave him open for three-pointers.

After playing for a while, the Celtics still couldn't get their offense going, so they had to make a personnel change, taking Lowe off and replacing him with White.

The Clippers snatched White from the Spurs, but after all the twists and turns, he ended up with the Celtics... It seems the Celtics truly love White.

With White on the court, the Celtics switched to a five-out formation, which immediately opened up their offensive space.

White is indeed outstanding, capable of both driving and passing, making him an excellent all-around player. His defense is underestimated; his defensive abilities are superb, in no way inferior to Smart's. In terms of overall contribution to the team, his contribution might even surpass Smart's.

But once White came on, the Celtics couldn't play their twin towers anymore. Tatum was pushed to the power forward position, and their rim protection and rebounding in the paint dropped.

The Clippers' five-forward lineup has a clear advantage in height and athleticism, putting significant pressure on the Celtics who rely on the aging Horford to protect the rim. Even in his prime, Horford wasn't a particularly strong rim protector; his strength lay in his versatility—he could do everything, a true all-rounder. In terms of rim protection alone, he wasn't even as good as a center like McGee, who lacks finesse.

Celtics coach Uduka had no choice but to sacrifice height for offense, since he couldn't defend against them anyway, so he might as well go all out on offense.

However, when facing the Clippers, who have the best defense in the league, it's an inherent imbalance to compete offensively with them. Your defense can't match theirs, so you need to be better offensively to match their offense.

The Celtics were dominated by the Clippers from the start of the first quarter, and the Clippers held them firmly in their grip.

The two young stars couldn't even make a ripple in the face of the Flying Pepper duo...

Tatum wanted to call on specific players, but looking around, all he saw were forwards over 2 meters tall, each with excellent defense, so he ended up having to go to Hartenstein. Jaylen Brown was even more frustrated; he realized he couldn't guard Jia Fei, couldn't defend Jia Fei and Paul George, and couldn't do anything...