On January 7, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the Boston Celtics visited the Madison Arena to challenge the New York Knicks, before this battle, the two teams had the same record, both 18 wins and 20 losses, ranking 10th and 11th in the East. As soon as the game came up, the Celtics took the lead, suppressing the opponent at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and once took a double-digit lead at the end of the half; however, entering the second half, the Knicks set off a ferocious counterattack under the leadership of Fournier, and Barrett, who did not feel good at shooting throughout the game, hammered out from outside the three-point line in the final moments to take the victory away.
Tatum was one of the few highlights of the game, scoring a team-high 36 points on 12-of-21 shooting in the 40 minutes of the game, in addition to six rebounds and nine assists, making the stats comprehensive and efficient. In the final moments of the game, he once staged a wonderful jump shot, but after Barrett completed the kill, it added a touch of sadness.
It should be noted that this is already the fifth defeat in the last seven games of the Greenshirts, and the team is currently only 11th in the East with 18 wins and 21 losses, and even the qualification for the play-offs is not available. Although this season's schedule is just nearly halfway through, the back-end is almost still there, but what to do to help the team out of the decline? In my opinion, the introduction of a third superstar is a necessary option.
As one of the league's most championship-winning teams, the Greenshirts, although they have failed to win the championship in the past few years, rarely miss the playoffs and even reach the Eastern Conference Finals for many consecutive years. Previously, Tatum and Brown, two tanhualangs, entered the league for the first time, inexperienced, and the team adhered to the strategy of "old and new", from Thomas Jr., Irving to Walker, all played the role of mentors for the two.
This season, the team sent Walker away and handed the ball all over to the double probing flower, but so far, brown and Tatum have not performed as expected by the team. On the one hand, because of injuries and epidemics, it is impossible to play at the same time for a lot of time, on the other hand, even if it is played at the same time, it is difficult to produce a good chemical reaction, coupled with the fact that the team always drops the chain at key moments, the data shows that the Celtics have played a total of 19 games in the key moments this season, with a record of only 7 wins and 12 losses, and even Tatum, who has always been rich in offensive means and solid technology, has rarely played well.
There is no doubt that the double probe flower will still be the cornerstone of the team for a long time to come, but the facts have also proved that the double probe flower alone is far from enough. In the post-Angie era, Stephens needs to take on more responsibility by bringing in a third star to help the team through the current crisis.