The rest is just noise

"Lu, in your opinion, how can these old guys be effective?"

Auerbach has been away from the front line for a long time, and he doesn't mind handing over the command to Louis.

The Legends Tournament was about to begin, but Louis was in a bit of trouble, and the celebrities all looked at him.

"I want to know which of you still maintains systematic training after retirement." Louis whispered, "I want to hear the truth."

Heinsohn said arrogantly: "At our level, we can beat them without training!"

"Okay, Tom, you're the substitute."

"Why!"

"You substitute!" Auerbach said fiercely, "I said so!"

Robertson said calmly: "I'll give you orders to hit you how you want."

Louie singled out the five guys who seemed to be in the best shape: Maravich, Robertson, Thurmond, Havlicek and Sam Jones.

"I think your physical strength is not as good as when you were young, so you should take your time and don't fight them too fast." Louis only drew two tactics, "Oscar, this routine should not be a problem for you."

Robertson said proudly: "I can hit with one hand."

Then, when the game started, Louis's expression was wonderful when he saw Pettit, with his big belly, defeating Thurmond with a wingspan of more than 2.4 meters in the jump ball.

Pettit hit the ball in the high post and Lou Hudson crossed.

Louis heard about Pettit's reputation, but when the opponent was playing, he was not even liquid. At this time, looking at Pettit's belly was like looking at Jokic. Pettit sent a hard shot

Sen's unexpected low-level penetrating pass.

Hudson almost missed the catch, not because of poor quality, but because he didn't expect it.

After getting the ball, Hudson turned around and made a jump shot, which contributed to the Western Conference Legends team.

The Eastern Legends followed Louis' arrangement and gave the ball to Thurmond in the low post.

In Louis' memory, when Thurmond came to the Cavaliers at the end of his career, he was already a pure blue-collar guy who only did defense and protecting rebounds. He didn't know what Thurmond's offensive level was, so he only asked him to provide support.

As a result, his level of coordination was average.

You can only rely on your teammates to move and give the ball away.

A support point without independent offensive threats, like Green dealing cards in a high position, is of little use.

As a result, those players who Louis thought were in good physical condition performed worse in the opening match.

Maravich is too humble. He has only retired a few years ago. He should have a good feel for the game, but he keeps passing the ball to his teammates.

"Am I worse than them?" Heinsohn said dissatisfiedly, "Besides, even if I'm a little worse, I still have something they don't have. I dare to risk my life on the field. Look at the performance of those old guys on the field.

What bullshit?”

Louis honestly handed over command.

Coaching the Legends team was not fun at all. He couldn't tell the status of these people.

1/3 of the way through the game, Louis suddenly felt that there was no point in holding a legendary match.

"They were all very good players when they were young. It's understandable that they can't play now that they're old," Louis said to Auerbach. "But if they play in this state, it's easy for fans to hate the older generation of players."

A misunderstanding occurred.”

Auerbach was very excited but it was hard to get angry. After all, it was a legendary game, and they were all old people who had retired for many years. No one really had expectations for their level, right?

But the Legends of the Western Conference play a fierce style and risk their lives to fight against each other. Why do the old comrades bully the old comrades like this?

Seeing that the score was about to be extended, Alex Hannum, the head coach of the Western Conference Legends and one of Auerbach's bitter rivals during the coaching era, laughed smugly.

"GTMD!"

Auerbach called a timeout and got furious.

"Even if it's an exhibition game, don't act like a sissy!" During the entire timeout, Auerbach didn't lay out a word of tactics.

Louis used the low-quality games during this period to see who the Eastern Legends really maintained their form.

Maravich has the best feel for the game, Jones has the most accurate shooting, Havlicek has the strongest stamina, and everyone else, including Robertson, who thinks highly of himself, is a rotten fish with a rusty body.

shrimp.

"Pete, be tougher!" Louie yelled at Maravich.

Maravich looked back at him. Last year he almost became an assistant coach for the Celtics. Now that it is rare to return to the game, he needs to impress a new generation of fans.

Back to the game, Maravich made a backhand layup first.

Dolph Schayes, whose belly is bigger than Pettit's, can only bluff.

Then, he fired a shot from a distance one step inside the right three-point line and hit the target.

Maravich consciously took over the game, and Connie Hawkins of the Western Conference Legends also flew up during the counterattack.

He played a mid-air pick-up that only a trapeze artist like Dr. J could do.

This is incredible considering his age.

Maravich fouled him, but he couldn't stop the basketball from hitting the basket.

Maravich continued to shoot from a distance, and he could see that none of these legends from his playing days, or his contemporaries, could now affect his shooting.

His long-range mid-range shot hit again.

The game started to feel like a feud. Lou Hudson, who had been teammates with Maravich during his playing days, also made a free throw line jumper.

Hudson was jealous of Maravich's sky-high rookie contract, and he was also envious that he was regarded as a savior by fans before he even played an NBA game. The two sides had some unpleasantness and eventually broke up. Maravich's frustration in the NBA

trip, Hudson's jealousy is to blame.

Maravich was surrounded and suppressed by the legends of the Western Conference.

This frees up Sam Jones on the wing.

Maravich is not only an attacker, but also an excellent organizer.

He intentionally uses his defensive gravity to create opportunities for teammates who can provide help.

Jones received his pass and hit a long-range mid-range shot that was as good as Maravich's.

"This bastard is still so accurate!" It can be seen from Auerbach's reaction that Jones was a player he relied on extremely much as a player.

In the second half, Auerbach played an extremely outrageous lineup.

Maravich, Jones, Heinsohn, Unseld, Thurmond.

Thurmond is now at a level where a jump ball cannot beat Pettitte;

Heinsohn has little use except for his rhetoric;

Unseld looked strong and mighty, but he was slow, defenseless, and unable to attack, making him a burden.

Louis despised Heinsohn very much, and soon after, he was slapped in the face.

Heinsohn made a floor-level skyhook at the free throw line. When the ball went out, his body was probably less than 10 centimeters above the ground.

He hit the skyhook and had no memorable moments after that.

In the second half of the game, the legends' winning mentality emerged.

Although his level was not good enough, he was ruthless and dared to fight. The game was like the finals of a community basketball game.

The game became real. Although there was a certain respect for the elderly players on defense, in this game, many future Hall of Fame players, including Barry and DeBusschere,

They both fought so hard that they had to leave the field to take oxygen. At the last moment of the game, both Auerbach and Hannum committed tactical fouls to compete for the ball.

When Maravich pushed Barry out of bounds for the ball, the commentator yelled unkindly: "Look! Even Pete Maravich is playing serious defense! God, I don't remember him before.

I used to defend carefully when I was in the army!"

At the last moment, the Eastern Legends trailed by 2 points.

They only have 6 seconds.

"Lu, draw a tactic for Pete!" Auerbach handed the tactic board to Louis.

Louis targeted Thurmond and Unseld. One was tall, one was short, one was strong, and one was thin. They were suitable for tactics.

"When Nate, Wes, and Pete start running, I need you two to suddenly pull up a wall at a 45-degree angle on the left to help him block people." Louis said simply. "Pete,

Once your defender is guarded, all you have to do when you catch the ball is aim well and kill them with a three-pointer!"

Auerbach's typical appropriationism: "This is a good idea, just do what Louis said!"

The timeout ended, and in the last six seconds, this low-level but extremely intense legendary match was about to come to an end.

The Legends Game and the All-Star Game fundamentally present two completely different styles: in the future, a group of players led by Jordan will put more emphasis on personal performance and play in the All-Star Game. And the old comrades in the Legend Game will

The style of the game is much more classical, with a textbook pick-and-roll layup, and the point guard calls out tactics before each ball is advanced. The attitude of these old men who have built the legendary foundation of the NBA towards the game is comparable to that of NCAA coaches.

.

Maravich started running, and the Western Legends knew that the Eastern Legends would only give the winning ball to Maravich or Jones.

Judging from Maravich's state, it must be him.

Old teammates and even old enemies.

Lou Hudson pursued Maravich with all his strength, but in the end, his desire to guard Maravich was shattered by the extremely solid screens of Unseld and Thurmond.

Maravich received the ball smoothly and moved it to the top of the arc. No one was there to defend him because he couldn't keep up with the speed.

Within a few seconds, Maravich drew a shot and hit a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the top of the arc!!!

"Tonight, Pete Maravich is a legend among legends!"

Louis breathed a sigh of relief. No matter who becomes the head coach next time, he will not come.

The state of these old guys is really like a roller coaster, not sure.

Auerbach lit his cigar with satisfaction and waved to Hannum who was not far away.