The Whip of the God of Basketball

Arenas' confidence is directly proportional to the distance from the basket. Sometimes Leon wonders if he plays too much with Antoine Walker and has the urge to throw it away after halftime.

However, throwing three-pointers during counterattacks is one of the few behaviors that Leon does not restrict Arenas. Although sometimes this will cause harm to the team, the blow to the opponent is obviously greater than the damage to himself.

As soon as Derek Fisher came on the court, Arenas began to strengthen his offense. This was not Leon's instruction, but the consciousness of the Celtics players. They know that Fisher's appearance will bring certain loopholes to the Lakers' defense. Fisher is strong, active on defense, and is at the best age of a professional player. However, he has always had flaws when defending speed point guards. Arenas is not a speed point guard, but his speed, especially his shooting speed, is definitely fast enough.

With two consecutive three-pointers in the first quarter, Arenas almost shot through Jackson's heart, but Jackson still gritted his teeth and couldn't let Fisher go. On the one hand, he couldn't hit himself in the face so quickly, and on the other hand, he knew that the Lakers What really needs to be solved now is not the defensive problem, but the offensive problem.

Fisher's appearance and Malone's increased touch did gradually alleviate the Lakers' half-court offensive problems. Fox began to score, and Malone's mid-range also began to blossom. However, the good touch accumulated by the Celtics in the first half of the first quarter was obviously not used up. Arenas, Reid, and Pierce all used three-pointers to fight back against the Lakers.

The point difference was widened to about 6 points. The Lakers spent the entire first half trying to erase the 6-point difference. This was a problem that Arenas could solve with two three-pointers, but the Lakers' outside touch never improved. Open, they tried to find the feeling on the offensive end point by point.

But the Celtics' defense is like a quagmire. They pursue strict one-on-one defense and are not easily double-teamed, not easily mobilized, and not easily out of position. This is the best defensive method that players on the field can do without the guidance of a coach - focus on the person they are responsible for and ignore others.

At the end of the half, the score was 54:48, and the Celtics still maintained a 6-point lead.

Of course, this did not affect the joy of the Staples Center fans. After all, this was only the first half. After all, it was only the regular season. After all, many people came here to watch stars rather than basketball. After all, this is Los Angeles.

Leon was stopped by a female reporter for an interview before returning to the locker room. When asked what kind of targeted arrangements he had in the first half, Leon replied: "No, if you understand football, what will you find about me?" I didn’t do anything specific, I just told the players to play hard and try to win the game. Obviously they have done a good job so far.”

After that, Leon said goodbye and left the venue, returning to the player tunnel, leaving the female reporter facing the camera awkwardly.

Leon didn't want to waste too much time on interviews. He had a lot to do during the intermission.

Returning to the locker room, he immediately began analyzing with the players on the tactical whiteboard how to best respond to the triangle offense. At the same time, he reminded the players to reduce unnecessary cooperation in offense. Yes, Leon felt that sometimes the players had too much unnecessary cooperation.

More passes are not always better, especially since most of the Celtics players have strong independent offensive capabilities. Excessive passing of the ball requires reasonableness, but under the 24-second offensive limit, it will weaken the efficiency.

The Celtics have been practicing folding offense recently, and the players are becoming more and more aware of sharing and passing the ball. In the first half, when Leon had almost no planning, several players on the field passed the ball with great enthusiasm, so much so that they sometimes passed too many passes and pursued absolute offensive opportunities too much, and in the end the attack failed.

"Sometimes I have to tell you that it is difficult for you to make the best choice in 24 seconds. The time is really too short. So, if you have a chance, even if it is fleeting, you If you have confidence in your abilities, then you must seize the opportunity and attack decisively." Leon said to each player.

It is most effective to educate the players in the midfield after letting them experience a first half in which they make their own decisions. Everyone will combine their own feelings on the court with the coach's words to think about it.

Leon knows that players have limited time to think. In addition to games and training, they spend a lot of time on entertainment, clubbing, playing games, and vacations. It is very difficult to expect them to learn tactics and basketball thinking. of. Then learning in the game is the best way.

"Of course, I must add, what I just said, except for Arenas, restrain your confidence. If you dare to throw three-pointers in the second half, I will let you go back to Boston and throw it again." Finally, Leon specially reminded.

Arenas originally listened very seriously, but he was not happy when he heard what Leon said. In the first half, his scoring was second only to Pierce, ranking second on the team. Several chasing three-pointers boosted morale. attack the opponent at the same time. It can be said that his performance in the first half may not be the best, but it is the most eye-catching.

"I can make it! I swear." Arenas said to Leon with a look of grievance. He didn't dare to show off his anger to Leon, so he could only pretend to be aggrieved.

"I know you can still score when needed, but in the second half our offensive focus will be on the inside, inside." Leon emphasized.

……………………

On the other side, in the locker room of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phil Jackson was furious. In his fifth year of coaching the Lakers, the top coach's temper became increasingly fierce. It's not that his personality has changed, but that in such a team that is growing day by day and has problems that are constantly emerging, sometimes he has to show more temper.

"Do you still want to defeat your opponent here? Do you understand the significance of this game? Or do you want that brat to light his damn cigar here again?" Jackson couldn't help but say. The players roared.

Although the Sharks single-handedly overturned the Celtics' inside line last year, the Celtics relied on their dribbling skills and the superb performance of their substitute players to overturn the Lakers in the away game. In the final stage, the scene of Fox-Leon lighting a victory cigar on the sidelines became a shame for the Lakers.

However, in tonight's game, Leon did not receive a single boo from the Los Angeles fans. On the contrary, many people cheered and applauded him. This is the difference between Los Angeles and other places. Here there is tolerance and generosity unique to metropolitan areas. They worship and praise heroes and do not mind whether they are opponents or enemies.

So they also have the only failed Finals MVP in NBA history.

Jackson undoubtedly didn't like this feeling. He enjoyed his own unique "low-key high-profile", but this time he felt the pressure from the opposite side, the Fox-Leon who was also good at making trouble.

He tried his best to encourage the players, and finally he pulled Kobe to talk to him alone for a while. Kobe's performance in the first half was not outstanding, even a little bad.

Returning to the game, the bright yellow floor of the Staples Center was dazzling, and the green of the Celtics was the annoying patina on the brass. What was even more annoying was that they were still leading.

Jackson knew that he had to counterattack as soon as possible and reverse the momentum and situation at the beginning of the third quarter.

The Celtics attacked, Pierce missed a mid-range jumper, O'Neal got the rebound and the Lakers counterattacked. This time, Kobe caught the ball and went directly from the backcourt to the basket, and then succeeded in a layup. He also caused a foul on Garnett and made an extra free throw.

Kobe seems to be recovering, which is good news for the Lakers.

Subsequently, Garnett faced Malone and missed a fadeaway jumper. P.J. Brown grabbed the offensive rebound and passed to Arenas. Arenas received the ball from the center and made a strong pass. Facing O'Neal's giant palm, he threw Hit the shot.

After Kobe hit another mid-range shot, the Celtics launched their second quick counterattack. Pierce received the ball and faked away Fox, and succeeded in a reverse layup from the baseline.

Kobe's touch is getting hotter and hotter, but there are always players on the Celtics who can rely on personal ability, plus a little coordination and some dribbling to put the ball into the basket.

As the game passed little by little in the third quarter, the point difference kept fluctuating around 6 points and never fell below four points. In other words, there was never a time when the Lakers had any hope of using an offensive round to equalize the score.

Jackson could no longer sit on the bench, and a fact he didn't want to believe slowly emerged in his mind: This Celtics team may have surpassed the Los Angeles Lakers in terms of overall talent and hard power.