The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon is also looking forward to meeting the San Antonio Spurs again, but he does not want it to be a Christmas game. In this noisy holiday, any game looks like an entertainment rather than a decent revenge.

In order to let the players have the awareness that "this is not a festival but a war", Leon had to repeatedly emphasize the importance of tomorrow night's game before, during and after training. He also played the video of last year's Finals during the video viewing session before the game, showing the moment when the Spurs defeated the Celtics in Game 6 to win the championship at the SBC Center - the game the Celtics lost. It was so neat and tidy that he put the crown on Tim Duncan's head with his own hands.

But when Leon arrived at the Boston Garden Arena on the night of the 25th, he knew that everything was over. It was decorated like a Christmas party, with Christmas hats, Christmas trees, balls, bells, and even Christmas ribbons hung in the Celtics locker room.

Leon ripped these things off and threw them into the trash can. The players seemed to be in high spirits and were playing around in the locker room. Since defeating the Lakers with absolute strength in Los Angeles, Leon can feel that the breath that the team has been holding back has been somewhat relaxed. Before a more violent storm arrives, the team will be in a relatively relaxed state mentally.

Leon knows that this is normal. A team cannot be tense throughout a long season. It is normal to have tension and relaxation, ups and downs. An excellent coach must be able to adjust the team's psychological state so that the team will not be too tight and collapse, nor will it be too loose and collapse.

"The timing is bad, the timing is bad..." Leon was distressed while smoking in the locker room. Playing at home against a stable and powerful opponent like the Spurs on Christmas Eve was not as beautiful as the fans imagined, and he could go all out for revenge. .

On the contrary, the Celtics will be under more pressure, while the Spurs can play more focused, just like the Celtics did in Los Angeles a few days ago.

Last year's match against the Spurs made Leon realize that this is a very stable and cold team, and no matter how fanatical the away team's atmosphere is, it cannot affect them. Last year, Celtics fans in Boston almost went crazy, but they ended up winning two games at North Shore Garden.

After smoking a cigarette, Leon put out the cigarette butt and came out of the bathroom. He saw Kevin Garnett sitting alone on a stool with his eyes closed and muttering something unknown. The other players are busy with their own things. Arenas is flipping his headphones, Dalembert is bandaging his feet layer by layer, Reid is reciting the Bible silently, and Pierce and Posey are receiving the news outside. Journalist's interview.

The Celtics locker room before the game is like this. Everyone will be busy with their own things, but once Leon calls for assembly, everyone will immediately gather together.

Leon walked over to Garnett and sat on a stool. There was still more than an hour before the game started, and Leon wanted to talk to Garnett.

"Do you have the habit of reading newspapers?" Leon asked Garnett, implying that there have been a lot of comments about Duncan and Garnett recently.

"No, I don't read the newspaper." Garnett replied, without opening his eyes. He seemed to be meditating.

"It's a good habit. It will save you a lot of trouble...but you look a little nervous, Kevin."

"No, I'm not nervous."

"You are nervous. When you are nervous, your left foot will shake slightly, rhythmically. I could feel it just now when I was standing there. The frequency of your shaking is exactly the frequency of your nervousness."

As soon as Leon said this, Garnett's slightly shaking left leg immediately stopped and his eyes opened. He glanced at Leon and walked away silently to take a shower in the bathroom.

It is impossible to say that outside public opinion has no impact on Garnett. Leon knows that Kevin Garnett and himself are completely two types of people. Leon is a person who thinks very thoroughly and clearly about everything. Negative public opinions from the outside world rarely interfere with him. On the contrary, he will find ways to take advantage of these things. Garnett is different. His contradictory and sensitive personality makes him quite strange when facing negative comments. Sometimes he is tolerant and generous, and sometimes he is petty.

Those harsh words sometimes made him angry and determined to prove it to others; sometimes they made him fall into an unextricable depression and loss. After coming to the Celtics, he almost never appeared in the second situation, that is, he was a little lost when playing against the Timberwolves, but he quickly came out of it and played a superstar in the recent period. Performance.

Seeing Garnett, Leon thought of Anderson, and also thought of the players under his command who were more worrying than the others. Suddenly he felt so tired. How could he have gathered such a group of guys who were not easy to worry about?

………………

The game starts at 7:30 in the evening. The Christmas Day game is broadcast live across the United States. The North Shore Garden Arena, the home of the Celtics, is packed with people. Almost one-third of the families in Boston will watch the game at home tonight.

Some fans on the sidelines showed their signs, "Welcome Spurs, you don't have a general, and we have an extra king."

Due to the retirement of David Robinson, the Spurs' twin-tower era has officially ended, and the inside line of this black army will be guarded by Tim Duncan alone.

Before the start of the game, the two sides were warming up on the court. Duncan looked quite relaxed, swaying and swaying, wandering around, chatting with the referee, talking to the technical table, and even playing with Leon. Hello.

This dull guy who has an expressionless face all year round and plays simple games is called "The-Big-Fundamental" by Americans. Everything about him looks calm, his face, his technical movements, his News, his words. But for such a player, people will always feel that he is unstoppable. It's a completely different feeling than facing Shaquille O'Neal.

He is a person who can have an impact in all aspects of the game, rather than just causing devastating nuclear damage on the offensive end like O'Neal. It is almost impossible to let Duncan attack without letting others play like he did against the Lakers. This is almost impossible for the Spurs. The system is destined to make it difficult to separate Duncan from others.

Leon thought about using the ultimate death defense lineup in the game, but in recent consecutive away games, he was summoned, and Anderson's problem caused the team's training to be in pieces. And that kind of defensive training requires a lot of players' mental energy, full concentration and constant review after training. Leon still has no absolute confidence in this defense at this time.

What he can rely on most now is the absolute strength of the Celtics. Also, he is confident that he will have the upper hand in the battle with Popovich, provided that the players can fully cooperate.

The referee tonight is bald Crawford. This referee who loves to steal the limelight has already started talking around with the ball, giving orders this and that. The game is about to start.

The starting lineups of both sides, the Celtics are still a stable five-man group, while the Spurs' starting lineup is Nesterovich, Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Parker and Bruce Bowen. After acquiring David Robinson and Stephen Jackson, Popovich found Nesterovich as a replacement and promoted Ginobili to the starting shooting guard position.

Garnett unexpectedly did not take photos of fans before the game. I don’t know if he forgot or something happened. During the warm-up just now, Garnett’s situation was completely different from Duncan. He kept frowning and focused on Do shooting drills.

The referee threw the ball into the air and the game began. The Spurs got the ball first, and Parker started the first offense with the ball.

The game had just started, and both sides were in a testing situation. Parker dribbled the ball across half court and reached near the three-point line. Duncan stepped forward and made a pick-and-roll. After the substitution, Garnett suddenly pounced on Parker. At this time, Parker made a smart move. He hit the ground and passed the ball to Duncan who came down after the pick-and-roll. Duncan caught the ball in his most familiar and comfortable position and hit a two-pointer.

The first point of the Christmas game came from a basic jump shot with great basic skills. This did not match the gorgeous and lively atmosphere of Christmas Eve at all.

Leon's mind was spinning rapidly. He knew that this game would be completely different from the Lakers, and he had to use his little brain.