The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon had no idea that Crawford would give him such a big gift package. He just wanted to put pressure on Crawford and let this willful referee influence the game according to his temper at the last moment, and affect home games and attacks. This will definitely be beneficial for the stronger Celtics.

It's just that Crawford's willfulness exceeded Leon's imagination. Just because Duncan's smile touched Crawford's nerve somewhere, he punished Duncan like this.

The entire North Shore Garden was stunned. When Duncan left the tunnel, many fans asked his teammates whether Duncan was injured.

Of course, Popovich was going crazy with anger. He let Duncan play the entire third quarter. He started to recharge his batteries in the fourth quarter to prepare for a major counterattack in the fourth quarter. So far, the Celtics have only taken the lead. With 5 points, the Spurs have every chance to counterattack in the last 7 minutes. Now that Duncan is gone, the Spurs have to hope for a miracle if they want to come back. For the regular season, it is not a last-ditch game. The team's morale ebbs and flows very quickly.

Duncan, the Spurs' momentum has obviously gone down. It would be fine if Duncan was really punished for a technical foul, which can arouse the anger of the Spurs players; but leaving the court in such a way just makes people feel funny and confused. .

Of course, the Celtics would not miss such a good opportunity. Leon replaced all the main players in the middle of the fourth quarter, and the Celtics launched a general attack. Pierce and Garnett completely let go in the fourth quarter, and Garnett even hit consecutive fadeaway jumpers. Although the Spurs resisted tenaciously, Ginobi used two consecutive three-pointers to keep the Spurs alive. But without Duncan, they suffered comprehensive losses in rebounding and interior defense. At the critical moment, no one stepped forward to make the final decision in the interior.

On Christmas Eve, the Celtics gave Boston fans a victory with a less-than-perfect revenge game at North Shore Garden. Because of the joy of Christmas and the incredible situation of Duncan being sent off in the fourth quarter, the meaning of revenge in this game was also weakened a lot, and it took on a strong atmosphere of entertainment.

Leon didn't expect to test the players' willpower through this game. Anyway, after the game, everyone in the locker room was discussing how Duncan was sent off, and several people had already begun to watch the video replays seriously.

"If you have such enthusiasm in watching video replays after every game, we will not lose a game this season." Leon could only shake his head helplessly.

After the press conference, Leon hurried back home. He knew that tonight people's attention would be on Duncan and Crawford. Just as he wanted, he won the game and the cleanliness. He would go back early. Accompany Khomeinis and Anderson at home.

……………………

As Christmas ended, 2003 also came to an end. At the end of December, the Celtics began a short three-game road trip. However, the opponents were not strong. The Suns, Hawks and Warriors were in good shape. There is no opponent in front of anyone. However, the Celtics encountered some troubles when facing the Suns. Their forward Stoudemire's extremely impactful play caused a lot of trouble for the Celtics, whose static defense was slightly insufficient. .

In this game, the Celtics only defeated the Suns by 3 points. It seemed that this was a very potential opponent.

The games against the Warriors and Hawks were all fierce battles. Leon only used experimental death defense in a certain period of the game, which almost allowed the opponent to score no points in a short period of time. At other times, the players were allowed to play offensive coordination and develop. There is a tacit understanding, and more problems are solved through offense.

This is beneficial for the players to maintain their physical strength, find the rhythm and feel of the normal regular season games, and brush up data. Leon is also becoming more and more familiar with the balance of being a head coach.

With this situation, Leon and the Celtics crossed over from 2003 to 2004. This 2003, which was full of success, failure, passion, frustration, ebbs and flows, ended like this. .

On the last day of 2003, the Celtics faced the New Orleans Hornets at home. In this game, Joe Johnson showed off his power in the long-lost Boston Garden Arena, scoring a career-high 47 points to help the Hornets and the Celtics. The Celtics fought to the last minute.

In the last two attacks, the Celtics relied on Garnett's successful defense and Pierce's successful fouling to narrowly defeat the Hornets 101:99 with a 2-point advantage; before that, Johnson had already scored 8 points in a row. If he had been given an extra second for the last attack, it was still unclear who would win.

After the game, Joe Johnson waited for Leon at the entrance of the arena and asked him to go to a bar and restaurant he used to go to. Joe Johnson called Leon "Coach," just like he did two years ago.

"Today, I began to understand some of the things you said to me. Some of the things that have nothing to do with basketball, but just have to do with life." Johnson said to Leon.

The two got very drunk in the bar and did not leave until midnight. They spent the New Year's Eve of 2003 and 2004 together. In six months, as Johnson's rookie contract expires, he will make his own new choice and start his new basketball path. The New Orleans Hornets will also face a new fate.

On January 1, 2004, a new day in the new year, Leon received great good news from Los Angeles at home, of course from Khomeini. She called excitedly early in the morning, waking up the hungover Leon, who immediately woke up as soon as he received the call.

The news Khomeinis brought had nothing to do with basketball, but his case. On New Year's Eve, the Los Angeles police captured Boston's most wanted fugitive, who had been on the run, in a building in Santa Monica. The boss, James Bulger.

This was news that was beyond everyone's expectations and shocking. A gang boss who had been on the run for 10 years was caught. He escaped from Boston to Los Angeles. Many people thought he had gone abroad. Cuba or Bolivia, in fact he is still in the United States, under the nose of the FBI.

This is indeed good news for Leon, because it means that many details about Frank's case will become clear, especially the fact that Frank participated in the murder of Leon's father, which will completely reverse the situation. The previous deadlocked court situation will also be completely broken, and it will be difficult for the jury not to fall emotionally towards Leon. It is foreseeable that this lawsuit will come to an end.

By then, Leon will be free and he can devote himself fully to the remaining NBA season.

In 2003, everything ended, in 2004, a new beginning.