The rest is just noise

That night, Louis returned to the hotel and knocked on the doors of Thomas and Sampson. He wanted to know how the two men felt after being posed by reporters.

Sampson is relatively calm. After all, there are many aspects of his performance tonight that cannot be seen in the statistics.

Thomas acted candidly: "I won the game, why should I be sad? It's their business that they like Larry, why should I be angry? I went all out on the court, and there's no need to be sad if I tried my best. That's it."

Louis doesn't know Thomas, but he knows Thomas's old enemy Jordan.

Thomas did a lot of double-dealing things with Jordan, and this was just for Jordan, and there were many things Louis didn't understand. Therefore, he would not believe Thomas' one-sided words.

It's just that he refused to admit it, so Louis couldn't say more, so he just took it as what he said was the truth.

Back in the hotel room, Louis received a voice message from Auerbach.

"Congratulations on your win. I would like to know the details about this game. Please call me back as soon as possible."

Louis originally wanted to call Auerbach back, but the signal from here to Boston was very poor, so he could only reply to Auerbach by leaving a voice message.

The next day, the Celtics returned to Boston.

Being able to bring the game back to home is satisfying for some fans.

This turbulent season has left many people mentally and physically exhausted.

Before the new collective bargaining agreement is reached, many teams have already made plans not to play in the playoffs.

Later, the labor agreement was successfully reached. Although the season was able to continue, the damage caused to the team during the season was irreparable. Many teams performed far below expectations in the playoffs.

The Celtics are just one of them.

It can be said that this season is the most accidental, most influential, and relatively least competitive season since 1976.

Only the Philadelphia 76ers are ready for a championship run.

Favorites like the Celtics are falling apart long before the playoffs.

Louis immediately rushed to the general manager's office of the Greek Academy to report the situation to Auerbach.

It was already past twelve o'clock in the morning. When Louis arrived at Auerbach's office, the air conditioner was not even turned on. The old man was eating the newly delivered fried noodles and a bottle of beer.

Louis consciously took out a Coke from the refrigerator.

He was so thirsty that he opened it and drank it, but found that the taste was wrong.

"What's Pepsi?" Louis asked.

Auerbach gave him a blank look, "They're all Coca-Cola, and you're so picky!"

"Is that Pepsi for people to drink?" Louis only took a sip and put it back in the refrigerator.

"Damn, pay attention to the quality!" The fried noodles flew out of Auerbach's mouth, and the whole mouthful spurted out, "What do you mean you opened the bottle and took a sip and then put it back?"

Louis said: "The taste makes me want to vomit, but I'm not sure if others like it, so I just took a sip. I didn't eat anything in the morning, I brushed my teeth, and I don't have bad breath. I'm healthy and absolutely clean. Who knows?"

Can you dislike me?"

"If you don't drink it, throw it away. I don't need you to save money for me!"

When Auerbach saw Louis's virtue, he immediately felt that fried noodles and beer were not delicious.

"You asked me to report to you, but you didn't even give me a drink." Louis shook his head in disappointment, "Reed, do you have a good conscience?"

Auerbach picked up the chopsticks again.

"Stop talking nonsense, I'll eat what's mine, you say what's yours!"

Louis took the Coke out of the refrigerator and put it on the table. If he felt too thirsty later, he would take a few sips to deal with it.

"What do you want to know?" Louis asked.

"I want to know all the details of the game and your thoughts." Auerbach said decisively.

"There are no details to speak of. I can't think of any link that deserves attention." Louis said casually, "We can win because our execution ability has been greatly strengthened. The better they perform, the more it shows that Coach Fitch is there."

Sometimes, they deliberately do not contribute."

Auerbach knew this was the case.

At this time, he was not angry.

"It is the head coach's responsibility to set up the locker room and make the players willing to play for him. Bill messed up." Auerbach said decisively, "He brought it upon himself."

Louis smiled lightly and said: "Yes, I think so too. I can understand it logically, but from a professional attitude, this is unacceptable. They can't lose on purpose just because they hate Bill."

For Auerbach, Fitch's dismissal midway through get out of class was certainly an accident, but being able to help Louis get on the horse in advance was considered a right choice at the wrong time.

He watched last night's game, and he could see that the Celtics players trusted Louis and were basically able to implement his tactical intentions.

"What are your plans next?"

Auerbach wanted to know what Louis' next plans were.

"I will try my best to win Game 5, but I believe the Bucks will win this series." Louis said lightly.

Auerbach was dissatisfied: "You can win two games, you can win four games, why do you say such depressing words?"

"Because I took over a team full of contradictions, I didn't have time to transform them, so I had to adopt a bold strategy to win. This can work for one or two games, but as the series progresses, the Bucks' habit of

Teams with a solid defense will show their fangs." Louis said calmly, "They only need to give us everything they have to beat us in one game to go to the conference finals and meet the Phillies, and we need to win four games."

Auerbach understood what Louis meant.

It is indeed too difficult to win four life-and-death battles in a row.

Louis took over temporarily. He had no time to build his own system and no chance to instill his game philosophy into the players. Strictly speaking, the Celtics still played Fitch's style, but Louis cleverly adjusted the play on both ends of the offense and defense.

Law.

"It seems that Bill resigned a little late." Auerbach said a cold joke.

Louis took a sip of Coke. The sugary Pepsi was unbearable to him.

"I still can't drink this shit!" Louis put the almost full bottle of Pepsi into the trash can.

Auerbach asked another question: "You said there are many conflicts within the team, what do you mean?"

"White celebrities are admired by millions, but black celebrities are jealous but don't say a word. Reporters take all this for granted, and it is hard to say whether our white celebrities will realize this. Although I reminded him, that

Hillbillies are so difficult to deal with."

Although Louis didn't directly name the person, his words were no different from reading someone's ID number.

"You mean Larry and Isiah?"

"You're so smart, Reed!"

Auerbach heard Louis' mockery and snorted: "This kind of contradiction is not a specialty of the Celtics, nor is it a specialty of your generation. Russell and Kuz (Cousy) also came here like this back then; Hondo

, the big red-haired guys, JJ (Jojo White) and Paul (Silas) also came here this way.”

"Even teams that win championships are not immune to this problem. This is not a specialty of ours. This is a social problem in the United States since ancient times." Auerbach reminded, "This is not something you and I can solve, do you understand?"

"Isn't it right?"

"What's wrong?"

"If Larry is a racist who opens his mouth and shuts up, then this really cannot be solved." Louis said seriously, "But he is not, he is just a country bumpkin who thinks highly of himself and has low self-esteem and is sensitive. He doesn't like it.

The spotlight, but how can the great white hope not have the spotlight? I just want him to enjoy the spotlight while letting his teammates, especially those who always have a racial string, feel proud."

Auerbach was very worried about Louis. He said cautiously: "Promise me not to say those sensitive words outside."

"Thank you for reminding."

How could Louis not know how sensitive the racial chord is? He doesn't even use the word "black" outside. Shouldn't the correct term be "African-American"? Look at how politically correct this is.

"I'm not optimistic that you can handle this. Russell has brought us 11 championships, but before he publicly announced his application to own a gun, someone would still open his door and shit on his bed; Kurtz

Before retiring, the media always ignored Russell's contribution and regarded white people including Kuz as the soul of the team." Auerbach said slowly, "This is why I like those unassuming players.

This is the kind of person who can tolerate being ignored by the media."

"Unfortunately, Isiah Thomas is not that kind of person, and even Cedric Maxwell is not that kind of person."

"So what you have to do is appease them, not irritate them."

Auerbach spoke earnestly, he wanted Louis to know how difficult it was.

He felt that Louis was not an American, so he couldn't understand.

But Louis has been in the United States since he was a child. As a British-Chinese at the bottom of the discrimination chain, he understands better than anyone how the tumor-like virus of racial discrimination divides American society.

This is a stubborn disease inherent in a country of immigrants, and he has no intention of going against the grain.

"I'm not interested in being a nanny, nor do I want them to self-destruct." Louis put a smile on his face and said seriously and unquestionably, "I just want this team to become what it should be.

"

Auerbach's eyes could see through the minds of countless people, but he could never see what Louis was thinking.

Not this time either.

But he saw a young man who was full of energy and ambition, and he thought he could change the problems that had existed since black people entered the league.

Auerbach breathed out, "Then let's go and do it, let me see what this team should be like."