Boston's TD Garden was packed to the rafters.

As one of the oldest teams in NBA history, the Celtics boasted some of the league's most loyal fans.

Even though the team had tanked while making it to the playoffs under Stevens' leadership last year, their momentum had been good since the start of this season, and fan support hadn't waned.

Moreover, the pre-game media hype had made this game even more of a spectacle.

If the Celtics could successfully unseat the Pelicans in this game, it would be an unprecedented boost to the team's morale.

*Stevens, look, the team you once looked down on has defeated the team you lead!*

Team general manager Danny Ainge was also at the game.

He looked radiant.

As a meritorious player for the team, after taking over the management, he first brought in the Big Three, raising the championship trophy again after 22 years.

Immediately afterwards, he made a decisive decision, quickly clearing them out after the Big Three grew old and obtaining a large number of high-quality draft picks.

Now the team was rebuilding while making the playoffs, and nothing could be better than that.

Especially tonight, with Stevens coaching under immense pressure, the Celtics had a good chance of winning.

Ending the opponent's 15-game winning streak during the rebuild, he would have even more confidence to recruit superstar players next summer when the salary cap skyrocketed.

After the two teams' players came onto the court, Celtics players came over to greet Stevens one after another.

From this, it could be seen that Stevens' coaching was still very popular.

Moreover, at the end of the opening ceremony, when Stevens was introduced, there was a lot of applause from the audience.

Despite Ainge's constant smears, the fans' eyes were still sharp, and they knew that Stevens had been bearing the burden for the past two years when the team was mired in the mud.

Ainge frowned slightly, but didn't pay much attention.

When the Celtics won the game, the fans would completely forget Stevens and turn to like McHale, who was also a meritorious player.

After the warm-up, the starting players from both sides took the court one after another.

The Pelicans still had their regular starting five.

Stevens was the same type of coach as Popovich in terms of rotation, using 9-10 players in a game, which allowed the main players to rest for a lot of time.

In addition, the team had been strong this season, and the main players played even less, so the Pelicans hadn't encountered any injuries so far.

On the Celtics side, the guards were Smart and Bradley, the forwards were Crowder and Amir Johnson, and the center was Sullinger.

This was an absolutely defensive lineup. The Celtics' average of 98.6 points allowed per game this season was largely due to this lineup.

Sullinger was a stocky center, and Davis easily outjumped him, giving the Pelicans the opportunity to attack first.

Jokic went to the frontcourt to coordinate at the high post, and the ball was given to Tang Tian, who made a cut.

The Celtics' defense was indeed good, and they immediately doubled down.

Tang Tian passed the ball to Ariza on the weak side, but Smart immediately rotated over to help defend.

The Pelicans' offense was still slightly lacking, and no tactical opportunity came out of this wave of tactics.

With little time left, Ariza's last-ditch layup under the basket was interfered with by Johnson.

The Celtics successfully defended the Pelicans' first offensive possession.

Ainge smiled in the stands.

He was right, the Pelicans' offense hadn't fully meshed yet, and the Celtics had a good chance if they played defense.

The Celtics' defense was excellent, but their own offense was also worrying.

Sullinger tried to score in the low post against Jokic, wanting to use his physical advantage to score, but Davis' help defense came very quickly. After he shot, he was met with a huge block, and Davis grabbed the rebound.

The Pelicans attacked to the frontcourt again, and Tang Tian took the initiative to ask for the ball.

When Stevens coached last season, the Celtics' offensive core was Isaiah Thomas.

If he was on the court, the Pelicans could easily exploit this defensive loophole.

But now Isaiah Thomas wasn't valued by McHale, and he wasn't even allowed to start, which greatly reduced their offensive strength, but greatly strengthened their defense.

With the Pelicans' unmeshed offensive system, it would be very difficult to play.

In other words, compared to when Stevens coached, this Celtics team was still made up of the same people, but the system had completely changed.

Stevens' coaching experience with the Celtics wouldn't help.

After Tang Tian held the ball, he signaled the others to spread out, and then asked Jokic to come to the three-point line to run a pick-and-roll.

Of the five people on the Celtics' court, the other four were fast and good at defense, and their defense could be connected as a whole.

But Sullinger was an exception.

This player, who was 2.06 meters tall but weighed 127 kilograms, was the Celtics' offensive core.

If it was in the last century or even the beginning of this century, such a stocky inside player would be very popular, like Charles Barkley and Elton Brand.

But McHale was obviously a bit outdated. In the small-ball era, this kind of inside player was a standard breakthrough point when encountering strong teams.

Jokic used his huge body to block Smart. After the pick, Tang Tian was mismatched against Sullinger.

He dribbled low and changed direction left and right. Sullinger was like a wine glass in the wind, ready to fall at any time.

After seeing Crowder on the right side coming to help defend, Tang Tian accelerated and passed Sullinger on the left side.

Davis pinned Johnson at this time, and Tang Tian broke through and scored with a one-handed dunk.

Tang Tian helped the Pelicans score first!

There was a commotion on the sidelines.

Ainge frowned as well.

He had worked with Stevens for two years and knew Stevens' coaching style relatively well.

Stevens was very strict in tactics.

Just like training an army, the first thing to do is to obey orders and have absolute execution.

This was also a major reason why the Celtics were able to make it to the playoffs last season with a group of role players.

But the Pelicans obviously didn't play Stevens' tactical play just now.

He glanced at Stevens.

Not only was Stevens not angry, but he also applauded.

This made him even more incredible. Had Stevens suddenly changed his nature when he arrived in New Orleans?

But he immediately realized that this wasn't the case.

Because in the next possession, the Pelicans relied on their strong defensive execution to defend against another wave of Celtics' offense.

Ainge was puzzled, but it was actually very simple.

Stevens and Tang Tian had already started contacting each other last season. The two of them were like Bo Ya and Zi Qi, kindred spirits, and Stevens greatly admired Tang Tian's tactical ability.

Even during the training camp at the beginning of the season, the two of them had privately communicated a lot on the matter of tactical systems.

So he wouldn't easily question Tang Tian's on-court judgment.

And although he was strict, he wasn't as overbearing as Popovich. He gave Tang Tian a lot of freedom on the court.

Or, to put it another way, Tang Tian was a privileged player in Stevens' tactical system.

Tang Tian had just used this privilege, using his own judgment to discern the Celtics' defensive weaknesses and change the offensive tactics, which proved to be effective.

So what Stevens would do was to applaud him.