The Whip of the God of Basketball

On November 20, the Celtics ushered in the New Jersey Nets at home, a crucial game.

After spending a happy and exciting day at the Mohegan Sun Casino on the 19th, Walker and his team returned to Boston overnight with Leon, and then the whole team trained on the morning of the 20th. Leon arrived at the training hall at nine o'clock in the morning as usual. This time he found that there were not many of them, and everyone came to the arena early. Including Walker and others who spent a day in the casino yesterday, they still arrived at the training hall on time. A good team training atmosphere can stimulate the morale and fighting enthusiasm of the whole team. When everyone is focused on training, even the laziest players will maintain a high degree of concentration during normal training time.

Leon knew that this was not only because of the ideological and political lessons he gave to the team's bosses yesterday, but also because their opponent tonight was the New Jersey Nets, which wiped out the Celtics in the Finals last year. dream team. Although Leon understands that last year's Celtics were far from reaching the level of the finals team, but seeing the finals stage after fifteen years is approaching, no one will give up the opportunity to regain glory, let alone Said that if they enter the finals, their opponent will be the Los Angeles Lakers.

The 2:4 defeat, Rodman's departure, and Auerbach's old body took a step closer to death. For the current Bostonians, the current New Jersey Nets are like the New York Knicks in the 1960s. The Washington Bullets in the 1970s and the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1980s were the biggest enemies in front of the same division. Perhaps there are many teams in the West that are stronger than the Nets, but in the real playoff contest, the Nets are the one that stands in the way.

Especially this summer, the Nets introduced Dikembe Mutombo, which enhanced their inside defensive strength. They undoubtedly want to go further in the new season, and their eyes are beyond the Boston Celtics, directly aiming at After losing the Western powers, he didn't pay attention to the Green Army at all. Leon felt this from the press conference before the game. On the afternoon of the 20th, when the two sides took turns in the North Shore Garden for an hour of public training and interviews, the head coach of the Nets, Byron Scott, kept talking. Their defensive and offensive changes this season have dismissed their opponents, the Celtics, only saying that they have made significant progress and may become a threat.

The Celtics' training was carried out after the Nets. Leon was mentioned most recently because of the team's two-game losing streak. Faltered, the 76ers were the overlord of the Eastern Conference in 2001, and the Bucks also competed with the 76ers in 2001. Now that they are going to meet the current Eastern Conference overlord, the Nets, it will naturally feel more ominous.

"We are well prepared. After the two-game losing streak, we have three days to rest. During these three days, I talked to some players, exchanged some views on future development with them, and solved some problems. I I think the two-game losing streak has passed, now is a new beginning, we will start from tonight's game and continue to move towards the goal." Leon is still very confident in this game, he has made very good preparations, And one thing he is sure is a big plus for the Celtics, that is, Mutombo's role after coming to the Nets is not as good as expected.

Although Dikembe Mutombo seemed to have played a very good role when the Nets defeated the Spurs in the previous games, but in the recent game against the Mavericks, Mutombo's declining state made him It's hard for him to keep up with the fast-paced game over long stretches. He is used to the 76ers' defensive strangle battles that rely on offensive rebounds and have a slow pace. It is not suitable for the Nets' high-intensity defense and offensive track and field team.

On the 20th, Leon spent almost three hours editing and watching the previous game video of the Nets. He was sure that Mutombo would be a breakthrough point. If Byron Scott continued to trust this Four-time Defensive Player of the Year.

…………………

The Celtic players, who had been away from the game for three days, stood on the parquet floor of the North Shore Garden again at 7:30 in the evening. They swept away the haze of the previous consecutive losses and regained their vigor and vitality. Two days of rest, and today's moderate-intensity training during the day made them look energetic. Leon once again made a regular starting lineup, Gemini, Arenas, Reid and Tony Batty. The main lineup against the Nets in the Eastern Conference Finals, one summer later, they are no longer what they were last season.

Jason Kidd was the first to experience this, finding himself facing Michael Reed after the opening game. Reed has undoubtedly become the defensive engineer of the Celtics' outside line this season. Wherever the strong points are blocked, he uses his first line of defense to serve as a barrier for the Celtics' relatively weak inside defense. Kidd can obviously feel the strong oppressive force from Reid. He almost completely gave up assisting defense and echoing in defense, and stared at Kidd completely one-on-one.

This prevents the Nets from launching their offense as they wish. Although Kidd's pass still has the ability to change the offensive situation on the field, Reed's defense like jellyfish makes Kidd's independent offensive threat discounted. For a point guard who has no offensive threat, it is unrealistic to rely solely on passing to drive offense. After all, this is not football, and a point guard is not a quarterback who only needs to pass the ball.

However, the scores of the two sides did not open in the first quarter. Because the Nets are also very good at dealing with the Celtics' ball, that is, choking the outside line, constant frontcourt delay and backcourt rotation double-teaming, Kenyon Martin is like a dog skin plaster, where it hurts, the Celtics The second quick counterattack of the team can't fight at all, and can only rely on the personal abilities of Walker and Pierce to score points.

Leon is also a headache on the sidelines. Arenas has fast advancing speed, strong shooting ability, and basic point guard passing ability. He can also learn a set of rules that he set for him, but as a point guard, he The offensive creativity is still far from enough. He is very good at creating shooting opportunities for himself, but he often turns a blind eye to some fleeting offensive opportunities. In contrast, Kidd on the opposite side is at the other extreme. His shooting ability is like a six-veined sword that is sometimes ineffective, but his passing is killing people without blood.

Leon has been in touch with basketball for less than three years. He has superhuman talent in tactics. Auerbach forbade him to learn tactics too early in order not to obliterate his keen sense of tactics on the basketball court. To be bound by those boxes and single lines. What Leon can be sure of is that Jason Kidd must have a similar talent. He may not have studied tactics seriously and systematically, but the continuous accumulation of experience and innate spirituality make him seem An ordinary first pass has the beauty of leveraging the entire tactical operation.

Fortunately for Leon, even though Kidd was able to send a wonderful pass, the Nets with a weak offensive layer were not able to tear through the Celtics' defense. The two sides fought for 24 minutes in the first half and tied. Into the second half. The turning point of the game was in the third quarter when Leon replaced Arenas with Joe Johnson.

Unexpectedly, this lineup is surprisingly effective against the Nets, especially on the offensive end. The Celtics have completely entered the one-on-one training mode, and several one-on-one players take turns to solve problems with singles. In terms of tactics, Leon is not the kind of academic school who loves running positions and air cuts. He loves efficiency. Any means that can score efficiently, whether it is subtle tactics or rough singles, can be the choice he needs.

Joe Johnson is exactly the player he needs right now. In the Eastern Conference finals last season, he had a brilliant performance, completely unafraid of Skiles and Kidd's defense. Tonight, when facing the Nets' defensive champion Skiles, he once again showed wonderful one-on-one skills. He kept in his mind what Leon said to him before the game, "There is nothing on the basketball court. One singles can’t solve it, if there is, then two.” He doesn’t need to worry about his teammates’ running positions, he only needs to focus on sending the ball to the basket, and he finds that he is very good at catching the ball.

Joe Johnson scored nine straight points in the third quarter, helping the Celtics to 11 and forcing Scott to replace Dikembe Mutombo while sending Jason Kidd to Joe - johnson.

Driven by Johnson, the morale of the Celtics players was high in the third quarter. All the players on the court showed everyone their offensive methods, such as breakthroughs, jump shots, dunks, three-pointers, and hooks. The two sides fell into a chaotic battle.

Scott is a coach with regular tactics and clear tactics, but Johnson's singles completely disrupted the Nets' routines and the Celtics' offense. It's a state of exchanging eight fists. In this state, the brave wins among the chaotic army. Mutombo, who is not good at chaotic warfare, did not get a chance to play again in the second half of the third quarter and the fourth quarter. The offensive enthusiasm was stimulated, and it was maintained until the fourth quarter. The Nets were hacked to death by the Celtics in the North Shore Garden. hatred.

But after the game, when he returned to the locker room, Joe Johnson, who played well, did not seem particularly excited. He silently entered the shower room and began to take a shower. He refused to be interviewed by reporters, and chose to leave after taking a shower and changing clothes. . Because the day he left Boston was getting closer and closer.