While the atmosphere in the New York Knicks' locker room is harmonious, the Boston Celtics' locker room is a completely different scene.
Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown sat together and talked and laughed, Gordon Hayward sat and chatted with teammate Marcus Trice, and the team's nominal star Kyrie Irving He was sitting in front of the locker playing with his mobile phone.
It seemed that the atmosphere in the locker room was not bad, at least no one was arguing, but in fact everyone was doing their own thing.
There was no communication between each other or any discussion about the game.
After the team's head coach Brad Stevens came in from outside the locker room, he couldn't help but sigh when he saw the team's situation. He stood there for a while before speaking, "Hey guys, come over here, I think we should get together!"
After these words were spoken, the players all listened. Whether it was Irving or Brown, they all moved closer to Stevens.
However, the seats they each chose were quite intriguing.
Brown sat with Tatum, Hayward sat with the others, and Irving still chose to sit on the far left. This divided state made Coach Stevens' face full of helplessness.
"Closer!"
"Frankly, I think we should be a unit! But now it seems that some of you don't seem to agree..."
"I know everyone has their own goals and interests, but before that, I hope each of you remember that you are wearing a Celtics jersey..."
"The name on the front of the clothes is far more important than the name on the back..."
Coach Stevens' words showed that the players' reaction was still not big.
"Coach Brad, you are right! I agree! But I think some people in the team are too selfish, and their goals are not consistent with the team... As a team leader, I I really want to tell these people that that is not a reason for you to indulge yourself..."
Uncharacteristically, Owen stood up and spoke.
His "leader" tone did not convince Brown and others. On the contrary, they quickly launched a "talking attack" on Irving.
"Kyrie, I admit that you are very good at talking! But leading a team does not rely on your words..."
"That's right! I remember last season there was always someone who accused his teammates of not working hard enough. It seemed like he still missed the days when he was with LeBron... Unfortunately, we are not LeBron, and we can't let people hug us... ."
The words of the two people immediately hit a sore spot in Owen's mind.
As a player, he doesn't like to be mentioned about some things in the past, even if they were the highlight moments of his career, but he still doesn't want to be mentioned, because everything is shrouded in LeBron's halo.
For Irving himself, winning the championship with his own strength is the script he hopes for.
"That's enough! Jason, Jaylen... I hope you take back your words!"
"I know you are dissatisfied with me... but do you have any outstanding results? Even if you are unhappy, please wait until you become an All-Star player, and please stop mocking me when you reach the finals. .....If not, then shut up..."
The quarrel between several people caused chaos in the locker room.
Coach Stevens originally hoped to guide the players to unite, but he not only failed to realize his idea, but also aroused conflicts between Irving, Brown and others.
They had had unpleasant quarrels from time to time at the beginning of the season, but they didn't expect it to break out under such circumstances today!
This really gives Coach Stevens a huge headache.
"enough!"
"Everyone shut up!"
At this time, the staff outside came to inform that the break was coming. Coach Stevens hurriedly took the players out of the locker room to prevent the matter from getting worse.
Beep.
The court timer sounded, and the second half between the New York Knicks and the Boston Celtics began.
After a period of rest, the Knicks once again sent out their main lineup, but the Celtics were completely different.
Coach Stevens knew that Irving, Brown and others could not coexist, so this time he temporarily let Irving sit on the team bench to rest, and replaced Brown and Tatum on the court.
call out.
The referee whistle sounded.
The Knicks serve.
Zhao Feiyang advanced with the ball again, and after halftime he gave the ball to Zach LaVine. LaVine singled out Brown, and the two faced each other. LaVine changed directions and dribbled away the latter and rushed to the left side of the basket.
Tatum on the flank came up in time to defend, and LaVine had no choice but to transfer the ball away.
Snapped.
The basketball was once again given to Zhao Feiyang. Instead of doing it himself, Zhao Feiyang gave the ball to Adrian.
After Adrian caught the ball, he raised the basketball and made a fake shot. Tatum immediately pounced on it. Adrian easily shook the opponent away, and when he dribbled the ball into the basket, Cousins in the paint was already ready.
Snapped.
Adrian threw an empty pass, and Cousins, who caught the ball, jumped up and dunked the ball in mid-air.
"Hey! DeMarcus! You owe me an alley-oop and a hundred dollars...don't forget..."
Adrian joked.
Cousins was in a good mood and shook his head in denial at Adrian.
"The air connection is no problem, but I can't remember the one hundred dollars..."
The Celtics fought back.
The ball passed half court, and Brown faced LaVine with the ball. With Tatum's pick and roll, Brown successfully dribbled the ball into the two zones.
By the time he caught the defender's attention outside the paint, Tatum had already detoured from the basket to the other side.
Snapped.
Brown threw a pass and the basketball passed through the crotches of two players and reached Tatum.
At this time, Tatum is facing an unguarded situation. As long as he takes an easy shot, he can throw the ball into the basket. But for some reason, Tatum was half a beat too slow when taking action. It was this moment that caused Zhao Feiyang, who had seen through the cooperation between him and Brown, to rush behind him.
When Tatum reacted and lifted the basketball, Zhao Feiyang jumped directly to his side and slapped the basketball.
Snapped.
Tatum suffered a big hit.
The whole audience exclaimed.
No one expected that Zhao Feiyang, who was more than half a head shorter than Tatum, would slap Tatum!
The basketball flew off the backboard and popped out.
Howard picked up the rebound and threw a long pass to LaVine, who sprinted with the ball. This time the person following him was Adrian, and the two reached the basket one after the other.
LaVine pretended to dunk to attract the opponent's attention, but actually threw the ball behind him when he got to the basket.
What he usually passed to Zhao Feiyang was passed to Adrian this time. What is surprising is that Adrian also jumped high like Zhao Feiyang and successfully caught the basketball thrown by LaVine. Dunk the ball with both hands.
The tacit understanding between the two is also very enviable by a group of Knicks teammates!
