2008 was a very important year for the Celtics, in this year, the Green Army finally got their long-awaited championship trophy, Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen formed a big triumvirate also left a deep impression on us, they are also the youth of countless fans, in 08 they defeated the favorite Lakers 4-2 with an unstoppable momentum to win the championship, everyone expected the Green Army to complete the defense of the title in 09, however, the Green Army did not break out of the East in the playoffs the following year, and lost to the Magic in the Eastern Conference semifinals, in just one year, the Green Army Big Three changed so much, what happened at that time？
Garnett's defensive core played an obvious role, but he had no choice but to be reimbursed for the season due to injury
In fact, the Celtics team is the foundation of their defense, which is also the key to their ability to win, at that time all teams faced the Celtics' iron-blooded defense had to be frightened, after all, the team's big three can not only attack, defense is the top in the league, all have a very good single defense ability, the team also has a set of excellent defense and defense tactics, the most critical player in this defensive system is Garnett, he is the core of the whole set of defense and defense tactics, why Garnett? Because Garnett was the top interior defensive player in the NBA at that time, he had excellent movement speed and a wide defensive area, and he could quickly come from the inside to the outside to help defend, so that the opponent would be difficult to break through, and it would be very uncomfortable to play, and then the breakthrough player would choose to get the ball out, and it might cause mistakes in the process of playing, and the Green Army could quickly complete the counterattack and catch the opponent off guard.
The defensive bucket formation of Ray Allen, Pierce and Garnett played a huge role, and the Celtics' championship in '08 relied on this defensive system. However, in the 08-09 season, Garnett was unfortunately injured in the regular season, which led to the reimbursement of the entire season, which is undoubtedly a major blow to the Green Army, even if it can still achieve 62 wins in the regular season, but everyone with a discerning eye knows that the Celtics without Garnett will not go far in the playoffs, because in this era of "defense wins championships", the impact of the lack of defensive giants is very large, and the team's defensive strength has also dropped a lot.
The offensive ability was weakened by Garnett's absence and inability to make an effective high pick-and-roll
After talking about defense, let's take a look at the offense of the Green Army, at that time, the Green Army had the playmaker Rondo, the top three-point shooter Ray Allen and the "truth" Pierce, with Garnett's blocking and receiving ability, the Green Army's offensive ability is extremely strong, and often contributes to us in the game. And in this lineup, Rondo is not good at projection, and everyone else has excellent mid-range shooting ability, so their offense is often executed through blocking, and the team often likes to play positional offense, after all, they are the best at this, but Garnett's injury has frustrated this tried and tested tactic.
The Green Army's blocking and dismantling strategy should be the core Garnett's season reimbursement has led to them can only complete the offense through more individual singles, Rondo is more dependent on blocking and dismantling, which also greatly reduces the team's offensive ability, although the Green Army is not short of stars, Garnett's absence also has Pierce and others on top, so in the regular season, the Green Army still played a good result, 62 wins ranked second in the East. But in the playoffs, such an offensive method is also destined to be eliminated, looking at all the strong teams, all of them can win the championship with clear and diverse tactics, and without Garnett's Green Army, the offense is relatively single.
The magic system is clear, and there is nothing the Green Army can do
The Magic side is led by Howard, this season's Howard can be said to be the first-class celebrity in the league, who just achieved the achievement of the best defensive player in the regular season, and almost single-handedly supported the defense of the entire Magic team, averaging 20.6 points, 13.8 rebounds and 2.8 blocks per game in the regular season, which can be called the first center. With top shooters like Lewis on the perimeter, and Turkoglou is also good at organizing the team's offense, the Magic are completely worthy of the Greens on the lineup. From the defensive end, the Magic's lineup is mainly a tall, Gortat, Barty and others are all big men, and they also have good defensive ability, the main core is Howard, it can be said that all members of the Magic are defensive experts.
This kind of defense makes it difficult for the Green Army to break through, if Garnett is still there, then they can launch an offensive projection score through blocking, but unfortunately this Green Army does not have Garnett, so when playing with the Magic, it seems to be extremely struggling, but after all, the personal strength is still strong, and the Magic fought to tie seven, and finally lost to the Magic, and the championship team of the previous year fell in the second round of the playoffs.
In this series, none of the Celtics' three major players can average 20 points per game, the highest is Pierce, who averages only 18.9 points per game, Rondo 14.3 points, and Ray Allen 13.1 points.
Magic Lewis exploded
In this round of the series, the most eye-catching performance is undoubtedly Lewis, because it is the big baby Davis who replaces Garnett, and his movement speed is quite slow, so the Magic adopted a tactic against Davis, through blocking and pick-and-roll, let Lewis beat Davis alone, often successful, Lewis relied on this tactic, played the best playoff performance of his career, averaging 20.4 points per game, ranking first in the individual scores of both teams. Coupled with the Magic's group of shooters on the outside, the offense is crushing for the Celtics.
In fact, the 09 playoffs Celtics had a chance to defend their title, but unfortunately Garnett, the big core of their team, was reimbursed early due to injury, resulting in the lack of a big arm in the playoffs.