The Whip of the God of Basketball

On the 7th, the Celtics will start their second home campaign in Boston. It is also a tough battle. Their opponent is the New Jersey Nets. Encountering opponents in last year's playoff semifinals and finals twice in a row is also a huge test for the Celtics. Once these two games are lost, the previous three big wins will be considered as bullying.

In fact, after the fourth game, many people believed that this Celtics had many weaknesses and was not as strong as it seemed on the surface and in the first three games.

Of course Leon was dismissive of this. In his mind, the Celtics had not yet exerted 100% of their strength. No matter how well Garnett integrated, there would be problems with the handling of some key details. The Pistons' game also exposed these problems. But that's how it is in the regular season. The earlier the problem is exposed, the better it will be for the team's growth.

In the locker room before the game started, Leon made two arrangements. First, on the offensive end, he decided to increase PJ Brown's role, especially PJ Brown's offensive participation in the mid-range and low post. The arrival of Garnett made everyone ignore that there is actually a solid center in the team who averages 12+10 per game. With the Eastern Conference generally weak, PJ Brown's offensive performance can greatly alleviate Garnett's problems. Offensive pressure.

The second point is about Arenas.

"I want to ask for everyone's opinions here. Tonight, I decided to let Gilbert be the team's first commander because he feels that he is a better point guard than Jason Kidd." Leon Said the locker room in front of everyone.

Everyone laughed when they heard it. Pierce put on his socks and said in a broken voice: "In terms of three-pointers, you are ten times better than Jason Kidd."

Arenas looked depressed. Yesterday he rashly agreed to Leon's proposal. However, without looking at the schedule before the game, how did he know that their next opponent was the New Jersey Nets and that he had to face Jason? - Kidd. In fact, in last season's competition, Arenas' personal performance was not bad, and he had an amazing performance in the Eastern Conference finals. But the premise is that he honestly plays according to the path set by Leon, advancing, passing the ball, making sudden points, and making cold arrows, which often have unexpected effects. But if he is like Kidd, who is responsible for sorting out the entire team's offense and controlling both offense and defense, Arenas is unsure.

In the last game against Billups, he was in trouble. Many times he had to force his own attack, because standing on the court and looking at nine constantly moving points, he did not have the kind of talent or the brain to calculate accurately. That pass that changed the game. He can't be a completely invisible man like Alston. He is almost like a Lamborghini.

"I will! I will organize the team's offense! I can also score and defend well. We will definitely lead in the first half!" Faced with the laughter of his teammates, Arenas became anxious. He is a A person who never admits defeat, he jumped up and said that he would do what a core defender should do.

Now everyone stopped laughing, they knew that Leon and Arenas didn't seem to be joking. Pierce has always liked Arenas' personality, his toughness and unwillingness to admit defeat, and Garnett did not object. Although he is the highest-paid superstar on the team, he knows that the real boss of the Celtics is Pierce and Leon.

In this way, Arenas, who had only served as a quick counterattack passer before, was promoted to the offensive coordinator of the Celtics. Facing Jason Kidd, he wanted to show the results of his summer training in front of the Boston people. .

………………

The regular season is different from the playoffs. Everyone is in an encounter. We will prepare before the game, but mainly we will make some general arrangements based on the experience of previous games and some videos, and will not focus too much on the details. carving.

The process of the game is also about both sides trying their best to display their own characteristics, with me taking the lead, and trying to outperform the other party with good performance. Like the Detroit Pistons, I don't have any characteristics. My characteristics are that you don't have any characteristics. There are still very few teams.

Compared with last season, the Nets' lineup has undergone some minor changes. They have retained the core lineup, the four-man combination of Kidd, Martin, Jefferson and Kittles, plus Collins. In other aspects, the first is that Mutombo did not play his due role and left New Jersey, replaced by Alonzo Mourning from Miami.

At this time, Mourning has begun to suffer from kidney disease. It is still unclear how much role he can play in the Nets and whether he will be like Mutombo last year. In short, seeing the Celtics spend a lot of money to acquire Garnett, The Nets have to take action no matter what.

They selected Kelly Korver in the second round of the draft, but quickly sold him to the 76ers; they added Damon Brown on the front line, but it didn't seem to be of much use.

By seven o'clock, the North Shore Garden has become a sea of ​​green.

After experiencing the frenzy and passion of the first game, Boston fans had been looking forward to this battle for a long time and could not contain their excitement. Naturally, the tickets were sold out early, and the fans were sitting in their seats waiting for the players to take the stage before the game officially started. This is rare in the NBA regular season. Many fans will go out to buy some food or souvenirs at the beginning of the game, and then come back to watch the game after the first quarter has progressed.

Now Celtics fans don’t want to miss a second of their team’s games.

The players' debut ceremony was still shocking. In the darkness, the DJ shouted out the names of the Celtics' starting players, and the green laser lights illuminated the five starting players like future warriors.

Arenas was the first to appear among the five. He didn't look so relaxed. His lips were pursed tightly, his mind was thinking wildly, and his eyes were looking towards the other side of the net from time to time.

This is not Arenas' first game. This is his third season. He has already had experience in more than a hundred regular season games and dozens of playoff games. He has scored high scores and staged buzzer-beaters. Shows an overly big heart. This is the first time that Fox-Leon has given all the tasks of organizing the team's offense to his hands, and the opponent he faces is Jason Kidd.

Arenas has been dreaming about this day. He has such ambitions to become the next Isiah Thomas and the next Jerry West. Like a general, he commands the whole team most of the time and plays key roles in key moments. He always goes into battle personally and kills his opponents in the crowd with his sword. Judging from Leon's previous training of him, he feels that he is the next Mike Bibby, his senior brother at the University of Arizona.

Arenas used to be Bibby's substitute, but he hated being a substitute. He didn't want to always hide behind Bibby's broad shoulders. But now, he found that his shoulders were getting wider and his arms were getting stronger. His long-range three-pointers and his pull-up jumpers increasingly resemble Bibby's. Arenas doesn't want this. He feels that his firepower can be stronger, his passing can be more coquettish, and he can play more relaxedly instead of following the circle drawn by Leon.

In just a few minutes, countless thoughts rushed through Arenas's mind, and he still didn't feel relieved until the game started.

"Cheer up, boy, what are you thinking about? The game is about to begin!" Pierce saw Arenas's mind full of thoughts and stepped forward to give him a push, reminding him that the game was about to begin and don't think about messy things.

At the beginning of the game, PJ Brown won the ball. Pierce got the ball and handed it to Arenas immediately. It seems that the Celtics players will cooperate with Arenas tonight.

In a team, mutual humility between players is very important. There is only one ball, and there are only so many opportunities to take action. No matter how fast the pace is, it is impossible for everyone to have the same opportunity. As a team that has never produced a scoring champion in history, the Celtics have a tradition of selflessness and team spirit. Moreover, Pierce and Garnett are not players who value statistics. They are happy to play for Arenas tonight.

Arenas held the ball and passed halftime steadily. The opponent was Kidd. In the past two years, he has been able to compete with Kidd in the playoffs. It is undoubtedly the best to compete with such a master. Good growing fertilizer. Arenas is familiar with Kidd's defensive characteristics, solid pace and chassis, superior height and wingspan, outstanding strength and very powerful shot.

Arenas rarely turned his body sideways, with his butt tilted toward Kidd, observing the situation on the court like old-school point guard Mark Jackson. At the beginning, the Celtics played the most basic pick-and-cut tactics. They used two high-quality shields, Garnett and PJ, to cover Reid and Pierce. One cut inside and the other cut outside, while Pierce ran from the right side. Go to the left three-point line to receive the response, and Reed slides the baseline from the left to ambush in the bottom corner.

Blocking and cutting is the most basic tactic. The routine is extremely simple, but as long as the details are done well, opportunities can easily come out. In just one moment, the Celtics had three offensive opportunities. Brown cut inside, Garnett cut outside, and Reid slipped to the baseline.

It's just that the opportunities were fleeting. Brown didn't dare to hang him directly, and Reed didn't dare to go straight into the three-second zone when Kittles was staring at him. Garnett had a chance, but Martin posted quickly.

Arenas hesitated for a moment and handed the ball to Pierce. This was the connection link. It was equivalent to the failure of the first round of running tactics and restarting from Pierce's point.

Pierce received the ball without hesitation and immediately called for Garnett's pick-and-roll. After a simple single block, he hit a jumper from the right corner and scored the team's first point.

"Damn, I should have just called Kevin's pick-and-roll and shot! No... What's the difference between this and what Leon taught me..." Arenas was still thinking about it while returning to defense.

In a general offense, the rules Leon set for Arenas are - quick counterattack with two-way points, one in the middle and one side, no large-scale transfers, no lobs through people; positional offense, sudden points, singles It's up to you to choose the block, and adjust your shot selection according to your own feel and the situation on the court. At other times, you can either hand over the ball and circle, or squat at 45 degrees and wait for three-pointers.

Just by following this simple rule and adding some extra performances of his own, Arenas has gone through two seasons in the NBA. Today, he was suddenly asked to direct the offense, and he realized that his brain was not enough. It's not that he doesn't understand tactics, but the changes on the field are too fast and he can't react.

At this moment, Kidd showed him what it means to be a master point guard.