The Celtics' start to the game wasn't looking good.
On their third possession, He Xi Meng still wanted to find Carter, but Carter's pull-up jumper missed again. Could it be that he exerted too much effort in the regular season and hadn't recovered yet?
If this weren't the playoffs, He Xi Meng wouldn't have bothered with this at all. He would have continued to feed Carter the ball according to plan until Carter found his rhythm.
But since it was the playoffs, even the seasoned He Xi Meng dared not be careless.
Their opponents were the increasingly wily Kidd, and Pierce and Jefferson, who were gradually reaching their peak. If the Celtics were to underestimate them and spectacularly lose in the first round, it would be a joke!
After all, the watchful Kidd and Pierce would absolutely not mind adding a "black eight miracle" to their careers.
To take a step back, even if they didn't suffer an upset, losing the home-court advantage they had worked hard for all season would be a great pity for the Celtics.
Therefore, after Carter missed this shot and Diop grabbed the offensive rebound, He Xi Meng used a back cut. He pretended to head towards the three-point line to receive the ball, but instead, he spun and drove into the paint. To everyone's surprise, he received the ball hand-to-hand from Diop, faced Pierce, who was rotating back on defense, without any fear, leaped up, and with a powerful, extended-arm dunk, slammed it directly over Pierce!
Before coming to help on defense, Pierce had absolutely no idea that He Xi Meng would dunk so decisively!
Throughout the season, He Xi Meng's dunks had been few and far between. Most of the time, He Xi Meng would handle such situations with a floater after evading.
So, Pierce's first reaction was to rush forward and block He Xi Meng's layup, rather than contest his dunk.
As a result, He Xi Meng did the opposite, and dunked solidly over Pierce!
The Celtics fans in the arena were stunned after He Xi Meng completed the dunk.
"That's Xi Meng with the poster dunk?"
"Isn't that Carter's specialty?"
"Am I seeing things, number 4 and not number 15?"
The fans were stunned for half a second. After confirming that it was indeed Xi Meng, not Carter, who had dunked, they started cheering and raising their arms!
"Now that Xi Meng is dunking, this game should be a sure win!"
"Xi Meng is on fire, the Nets are going to kneel!"
"It's settled! With Xi Meng in this form, it'll be hard for the Celtics to lose!"
While cheering, the fans began to engage in some lighthearted banter. This was mainly because they hadn't seen He Xi Meng dunk in a formal game for a long time, especially such a spectacular one-handed dunk over an opponent.
On the court, Carter and Yao Ming were also quite surprised by He Xi Meng's choice. When they high-fived He Xi Meng, there were obvious smiles on their faces.
He Xi Meng himself was very nonchalant: "Just a small surprise, hoping to boost the team's morale!"
Turning around, Pierce, who had just been posterized by He Xi Meng, wanted to return the favor with a basket. He Xi Meng anticipated Pierce's move and, instead of playing a conventional defense, took a risky gamble and went for a steal!
This choice again caught Pierce by surprise!
Based on Pierce's understanding of He Xi Meng, He Xi Meng strongly disliked such aggressive, risk-taking defensive tactics. In He Xi Meng's philosophy, disruption was the key.
Pierce had expected He Xi Meng to choose a disruptive defense for this play. Therefore, he intended to drive to the basket against He Xi Meng, looking for an opportunity to dunk or at least finish with a strong layup.
However, the moment Pierce started to dribble, He Xi Meng chose to step aside, let him pass, and then swipe the ball from behind!
Caught off guard, Pierce was stripped of the ball by He Xi Meng.
After losing the ball, Pierce desperately chased back, but He Xi Meng's speed in transition was no less than Pierce's retreating speed.
Furthermore, He Xi Meng had no intention of attacking the basket. After observing the positioning of his teammates and opponents, He Xi Meng abandoned the idea of passing. As he pushed the ball to the three-point line, he pulled up and shot a transition three-pointer!
Swish! He Xi Meng's outside shot also went in!
"Wow! The strongest Xi Meng is back!"
The fans in the arena became even more jubilant!
He Xi Meng, who had been playing cautiously for nearly a season, was finally starting to display the prowess of the league's best three-point shooter once again!
This was the happiest news for the Celtics fans, and the most troublesome for the Nets fans.
In last season's playoffs, even with Carter not at his most ferocious, it was He Xi Meng who spearheaded the sweep that eliminated the Nets. This season, would the tragedy repeat itself?
Seeing He Xi Meng start to heat up, the Nets fans in New Jersey felt their hearts tighten.
Of course, the person who felt the approaching danger most directly was Kidd on the court!
As Kidd retreated on defense, he whispered a few words into Carter's ear, essentially telling Pierce to remain calm, reduce his isolation plays, and avoid directly provoking He Xi Meng.
"Do you want to beat the Celtics? If you do, you must rely on the strength of your teammates! How can you defeat the defending champions alone? We must be united!"
Reminded by Kidd, Pierce also regained his composure. He didn't insist on trading baskets with He Xi Meng. Instead, he handed the ball back to Kidd to control the Nets' overall direction.
With Kidd controlling the tempo, the Nets' unnecessary turnovers immediately decreased. Coupled with Pierce's hot shooting, even though He Xi Meng, who had been absent for a long time, showed strong offensive intent right from the start, the Nets didn't fall too far behind.
This was precisely the power of unity that Kidd had been emphasizing!
However, as the first quarter neared its end and both teams began to rotate their lineups, the gap started to show.
The Nets replaced Pierce, who had been aggressive in the first quarter, and Collins, who had been struggling on defense, with veterans Clifford Robinson and Jacque Vaughn, making a minor adjustment.
On the Celtics' side, head coach Kerr only kept He Xi Meng on the court to contain Kidd, while the other four players were substituted out.
Yao Ming, Diop, and Ariza needed rest, and Carter needed to come off the court to adjust his rhythm.
The players who came in were: Monta Ellis playing point guard, He Xi Meng shifting to shooting guard, Tony Allen at small forward guarding Jefferson, and David Lee guarding Clifford Robinson, with Perkins on Zydrunas Ilgauskas.
After Pierce left the court, Kidd wanted to use Jefferson as the Nets' primary scorer. Unexpectedly, although Tony Allen was shorter than Jefferson, his core strength was no weaker.
Under Tony Allen's interference, Jefferson missed all three of his shots. On the other hand, Monta Ellis, due to He Xi Meng's presence on the court, received considerable attention from the Nets, and Kidd was also drawn away by He Xi Meng, allowing Monta Ellis to gain significant shooting space.