Of course, old Paul was getting on in years, but his playmaking remained an indispensable asset to the Celtics.
Until Tatum had fully developed, Paul would still play a significant role for the Celtics.
That was why Mazulla would rather sacrifice some height than grit his teeth and keep Paul in the starting lineup.
Although after the team acquired Derrick White in a trade, he had already started wondering whether to send Paul to the bench...
A whistle sounded in the home arena that night.
The battle between the Knicks and the Celtics officially began.
The opening tip-off was a contest between an undrafted player and a second-round pick.
As it happened, Kornet and Hartenstein had both entered the 2017 draft, making them just one year younger than Chen.
Well, before he knew it, Chen had become a senior to plenty of people~~
In a rather amusing turn of events, it was the second-round pick who ultimately gained a slight edge in athleticism during the opening tip-off.
Hartenstein successfully tipped the ball, and the Knicks launched their offense.
Josh Hart caught the ball and quickly brought it across half court. Then, from a spot just beyond the logo, he passed it straight to Chen Xi.
Chen Xi caught the ball at the left wing, turned, and started the offense.
He didn't rush into an isolation play.
As usual, he chose to try running a play with his teammates.
He waved Hartenstein over for a screen, then accelerated past it and drove down the middle into the three-point line. He gathered the ball quickly and made a shot fake, drawing the defense inward, then fired a cross-court pass to Ingles in the weak-side corner.
Joe Ingles caught the ball and took a three-point shot with a little space.
Dang!!
The ball