The Whip of the God of Basketball

"We have to slow down and find our own rhythm! Keep the efficient offense in the first quarter, don't be disrupted by the speed of the Celtics! Jay, you have to learn to control the scene, control the scene, here Unlike the NCAA, we're going to play faster, but we're not going to run around, you know what I mean, you get the rhythm." During the intermission, Bulls coach Bill Cartwright kept saying The players emphasized the need to find their own rhythm and hope that the team's point guard Jay Williams can control the team's offensive speed.

From the beginning of the second quarter, the Bulls were unconsciously driven faster and faster by the Celtics. The efficient positional offense that Cartwright hoped to see only lasted seven or eight rounds in the first quarter. Offense and defense were scrambled by the Celtics' speed. The reason why they have been keeping the score close or even leading is mainly relying on the offensive rebounds inside. At the end of the second quarter, once their rebounds could not be guaranteed, they were overtaken all of a sudden.

In the last three minutes of the second quarter, they were hit by the Celtics with an 11:2 shock wave, from one point ahead to eight points behind. They had hoped to maintain a weak lead at the end of the first half. In the second half, Cartwright, who relied on a more stable attack to attack the Celtics, had to face the need to catch up in the second half.

Cartwright replaced Bill Berry as the interim head coach of the Bulls last year. With the devastated Bulls, he slowly got on the right track and ended the 01-02 season with an acceptable result. In the new season, Cartwright has more ideas about the team. As the main center of the Bulls' first dynasty, he was also deeply influenced by Phil Jackson and the triangle offense. With the team having two potential insiders, Curry and Chandler, he hopes to create a positional warfare machine with the inside offense as the core and supplemented by the triangle offensive routine. Curry is the main attacker, Chandler is the main defense and support , in his opinion is quite a perfect match.

For the first game of the season, Cartwright also made a lot of preparations. According to the Celtics' preseason video, he believes that the Celtics play fast and have no inside defense. The Bulls think It will not be too difficult to crack. The only problem he needs to face is the fiery state of the twin stars Antoine Walker and Paul Pierce. Last year, many teams in the Eastern Conference fell under the powerful attacking power of the twin stars.

As for Fox Leon, a rookie coach, Cartwright has not paid much attention to him. Although he is also a rookie coach, he has played in the NBA as a player for more than ten years. He was the best player in the league. The team has won many championships as the main center forward, and he still has this confidence. Judging from the information of all parties, this Leon is an out-and-out rookie coach. Even though he is well-known in the scouting world, scouts and coaches have very different jobs. The Walters making Leon the head coach is nothing more than a compromise, a compromise for Auerbach.

Some of Leon's performances in the first half seemed to confirm the views of many people. Leon seldom called a timeout, and he didn't often coach the players on the sidelines. Instead, he always lowered his head and recorded something on a small piece of paper. The professional habits of a scout or assistant coach. Although Cartwright didn't notice this detail, but as the head coach of the Bulls, he also felt that this guy named Leon didn't seem to have a high sense of presence. pressure. There are indeed similar coaches in the league, such as Zen master Jackson, but Cartwright doesn't think Leon has such an immobile level. Maybe he is nervous and doesn't know what to do.

But during the intermission, sitting in the locker room and recalling the whole process of the first half, Cartwright felt that this guy named Fox Leon, from the beginning to the end, was like a rapier like a storm, although every time It's just a small cut on the bull's body, but when there are more and more cuts, the blood loss of the bull will also increase, until a certain critical point, the bull will collapse.

Cartwright felt that he was very lucky and experienced. He realized the strategy of the opposing coach, and he felt that he had found a way to crack it. Throughout the first half, Walker scored the most points for the Celtics, but the player who really played the best was Gilbert Arenas. The second-year point guard's performance in the first half makes people feel that he is a player who has only entered the league in his second season. His timing of handling the ball and distribution methods make people feel that he is a player in the league. A veteran who has been around for ten years.

So Cartwright decided to focus his defense against Arenas in the second half. He adjusted the defensive matchup, allowing Hassel, who had a better defense, to face Arenas, and released Jay Williams on the offensive end. , allowing him to spend more time sorting out the team's offense and reducing the pace of the game. Although Jay is also very young and just a rookie, Cartwright still has hope and trust in the best player in the United States. Williams' performance in the first half was quite brilliant.

"Come on lads! Bring back what we lost in the first half!" Cartwright encouraged the players as half-time ended and the second half of the game awaited them.

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"I think the key player for the Celtics in the first half is Arenas. His distribution of the ball is really good. There is nothing particularly amazing or outstanding, but I am the only one who has played point guards in the league for many years and has scored goals. Only those who have been to the finals know that he handles the ball very well. I don’t know what kind of training he has done this summer. I have the impression that he was a fool who only knew about fast break and emergency stop jump shots last season. Of course his breakthrough It’s also very, very fast.” Kenny Smith commented on the performance of the Celtics in the first half before the start of the second half. There is no doubt that Arenas’ brilliant performance with 9 points, 6 assists and 2 steals has become the focus of the commentator. .

In fact, only Arenas knew in his heart that his performance in the first half was completely the result of following Leon's passing line rules and the quick reaction consciousness brought about by "Hawkeye off-the-ball training". Leon categorized the situation of handling the ball on the court into several types, and gave Arenas the safest choice for each situation, and asked him to keep these choices in mind and practice repeatedly in off-ball training. Therefore, in the first half, Arenas did not need to use his brain to play his limited passing creativity, and just follow the route given by Leon.

This kind of routine can't last the whole game. Once the opponent defends against it, everything will be over, but how could Leon be so stupid that he only used this trick?

The second half of the game has already started, the Celtics have the ball, and Arenas quickly crossed the half with the ball again. After touching Arenas, with the help of hand-check, Hassell will master Arenas' every move.

But instead of calling the pick-and-roll like in the first half, Arenas handed the ball to Paul Pierce who came to meet him, and Pierce got the ball at the top of the arc, facing Jaylen Rose, who had just received the ball and hadn't turned yet. When he came over, he saw that Rose's position was not very good from the corner of his eye, so Paul Pierce suddenly accelerated and broke through the middle at the moment he caught the ball and turned around. Then, before the opponent's defense came up, he shouldered Rose who was following up. A sideways half fadeaway jumper shot.

"Boom!" The ball hit the inside of the basket and bounced into the basket!

Seeing this goal, Cartwright, who was sitting off the court, couldn't help but feel tighter, wondering if the Celtics were going to change their offensive focus in the second half? Thinking of this, Cartwright suddenly panicked. Why did Pierce forget the defensive strategy that the midfielder had just arranged? Even if he only scored 6 points in the first half, he is still the core player of the Celtics' offense.

Cartwright still calmed down and watched the development of the game quietly.

However, when Paul Pierce scored 6 points in a row and hit 3 mid-range shots in the third quarter, Cartwright knew that a timeout had to be called! In the three offenses, the Celtics played all positional battles, all Pierce singles, and the thin Jaylen Rose was not enough for Pierce at all. This year Pierce is stronger, his back body, footwork and shooting are more skilled, and he has more experience.

In the summer, Pierce was as low-key as the Celtics. He silently renewed his contract with the Celtics and got a deserved maximum salary contract. Without complaint, without any hesitation, the contract was signed cleanly and without being involved in any free agent rumors.

This kind of low-key allows Pierce to focus more on improving his personal ability. The brink of life and death two years ago made him learn to cherish and focus. Compared with Antoine Walker's wandering around, Pierce has completed the spirit It's just that no one can see the higher evolution. After all, the season has just begun.

Cartwright called a short timeout of 20 seconds, the point difference between the two sides was widening, and the scene had already sounded the "MVP" call, and many fans held up the "The-truth" nameplate.

Leon is not a person who likes to chatter during timeouts. He always believes that the key to determining the outcome of a game lies in the preparation and training before the game. When pursuing on-the-spot command, there is no doubt that he is trying to make ends meet.

"You guys did a good job, that's the same sentence, focus, I will watch you, if you don't concentrate, I will make you suffer in training. Also, remember to give the ball to Paul...Paul, let them Understand, understand, what is the truth." This may be the most irresponsible timeout arrangement in history, but Leon knows that it will work.