The Whip of the God of Basketball

The TD North Shore Garden Arena was already full at around 6:30 p.m. Before the game started, Ashanti Douglas, who debuted in North America in 2002, sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" with a unique blues rhythm in front of 20,000 spectators. never fall". After cheers and fireworks, the Bostonians' new season began.

In the opening introduction, Leon was cheered by the fans as the head coach of the team. Leon waved to the fans calmly, but his eyes were looking for something.

"Come over to Gilbert!" Leon stood on the sidelines, beckoning to Arenas who was preparing to play before the game started.

Arenas tucked his shirt into his trousers, walked over to Leon and got down next to him. Now the noise in the arena has reached an order of magnitude, and he can't hear clearly if he doesn't get close to him.

"Tell me, what should I do if the opponent advances to the center line from the left and presses the defense." Leon asked loudly.

"Call the pick-and-roll, or transfer the ball to the top of the arc, cover the ball, and initiate tactics from two 45 degrees." Arenas quickly replied.

"When we counterattack quickly, we play two against three. There are people at the left corner and the right wing at 45 degrees. How do we distribute the ball?" Leon asked again.

"Left-handed dribble breaks through, distributes the ball to the bottom corner at the right time, regardless of the right wing's running position, he will follow up." Arenas continued to answer.

"The backcourt rebounded quickly and advanced from the right side. The inside support players did not catch up in time, and the bottom line screen couldn't be played. How to deal with it."

"Slow down, wait for the receiver, pass back, catch the ball again, speed up again, attack by yourself or pass to the corner man, and reorganize the attack."

"The last question, what should I do if the tactics fail?"

"Vote yourself!" Arenas gave Leon the last answer, and then Leon patted Arenas's butt and said, "If you still fail to vote, I will kill you, try to give it to Paul or Ann." Towan."

Then Arenas and his teammates stepped onto the field together, and the game was about to start.

…………………

"Boston Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls is about to start. Boston's North Shore Garden is in full swing...I think the lads in Chicago should be glad they're not playing in Boston Garden Square right now. I swear Garden Square's away locker room is bigger than Kentucky. Grandma Ni-Smith's cheese room is even worse." Charles Barkley, who was sitting in the commentary room of the TV station live broadcast, had already started raving before the game started.

Smith has long been used to Barkley's words, and he just responded lightly: "But it's been much better there recently, after all, you stuffed all the smoked cheese there into your stomach...Okay, let's see this Some highlights of the game. The Celtics, who reached the Eastern Conference finals last year, seemed to do nothing in the summer. Their biggest change was another coach, a guy who came out of nowhere more than two years ago, Fox Leon , Mysterious guy, it is said that he is the direct descendant of Auerbach... God, if he is the direct descendant of Auerbach, then I am the successor of Martin Luther King."

"Why don't you say you are John Smith's successor? Then you will own the entire General Motors Corporation." Barkley said strangely, John Smith is the chairman of General Motors.

Smith has long been accustomed to Barkley's gags, and he continued to analyze: "Instead, let's look at the Chicagoans. They got Jay Williams in the draft, and then they have a tall Tyson Chandler and a strong Eddie Curry, they look so talented, I think this is going to be the season that determines whether the Bulls can come back from Jordan's shadow, these young guys are going to make a difference."

Of course Barkley will not be of the same mind as Smith, he will definitely stand up and oppose, he who just dismissed the Celtics immediately became a supporter of the Celtics, he said: "The Celtics also have a group of young talents. , pierce and walker are in good shape, and arenas, redd, and johnson, who were underrated in the draft, have all proven to be talented lads. they will be even better this season, i'm not kidding you Kenny, as long as the celtics change coach in the middle of the season, like put Cowens on top... omg, can't believe Cowens is going to sit behind this guy named Leon as an assistant coach, Leon, Leon Ang, why does this name sound like the protagonist of a cartoon?"

Just when the two were bluffing and making noise, the game had already started. Leon sent Arenas, Reed, Pierce, Walker and Tony Batty as the starters, a very offensive lineup; and the Bulls Over there, their starters are Jalen Rose, Jay Williams, Trent Hassel, Tyson Chandler and Eddie Curry, a twin-tower lineup.

When the referee threw the ball into the air, the 2002-2003 NBA regular season kicked off with Chandler and Batty's jump ball. The 7-foot Chandler relied on his super bounce and wingspan. The ball was dialed in the air, Jay Williams got the ball, and the Bulls attacked.

Standing on the sidelines, Leon couldn't help feeling a little nervous. After all, this is the real regular season, which is completely different from the preseason. The pain of being a coach is that no matter what happens on the field, it's the players who ultimately decide everything. No matter what tricks you can come up with in your eyes and in your head, if the players don't work, it's all useless.

So before the start of the game, Leon asked Arenas those questions. In Leon's plan, the rhythm of Arenas in the first half of the game will be the key to the game. The offensive system Leon designed for the Celtics is a system that values ​​the ability of point guards, which is completely different from Phil Jackson's triangle offense. The triangle offense is just a part taken by Leon to stabilize the system structure and let the players focus on passing and positioning. He doesn't think the whole routine of the triangle offense is suitable for the current Celtics.

"The game started and the Bulls launched an offense. Jay Williams, Tyson...Michael Reid stole the ball! But the ball hit his foot and went out of bounds, what a pity." Kenny Smith has already entered the state and began to explain the game, Barkley, on the other hand, was sullen and didn't know what he was thinking.

On the first ball of the game, Michael Reid almost steals the pass from Williams to Chandler. The Bulls' offensive routine is also quite simple. The ball rushes, trying to tear the opponent's defense. But obviously the Bulls' formation is not good. Williams, Chandler and Hassell are too close together, which gave Reed a chance to steal the ball, but Reed dribbled the ball and hit his feet after grabbing the ball. No steals were formed.

"Michael's condition looks good." Leon had already sat down in his seat and said to Siegfried beside him. Siegfried took care of Reed the most in the training camp, because Reed was wearing the No. 20 jersey that Siegfried used to wear. He gave Reed a lot of experience and encouragement on the defensive end. It seems that he entered the game very early.

Then the Bulls sent a sideline ball to attack. Chandler asked for the ball in the low post, but Williams ignored him at all, although he overwhelmed Walker behind him. He transferred the ball to Rose, who was on the left side. Rose broke through the center with the ball, but halfway through the breakthrough, he passed the ball back to Williams, because Reed came up to help defend, and Williams immediately received the ball. Transfer the ball to Hassel, Hassel hit an open jumper, the Bulls scored first.

"Pretty good transfer of the ball, two points from the corner, it seems that the Celtics still have a lot of work to do on the defensive end." Kenny Smith felt that Reed's help defense was a bit arbitrary, and Pierce did not fully Out of position, and Hassell's shot isn't entirely negligible.

But Leon on the sidelines knew that his defensive strategy tonight was to let Hassell and Chandler go. Reid's choice was not wrong at all, and this two-point loss was acceptable.

Next, it depends on the Celtics' offense.

Walker quickly served the ball in the backcourt. After receiving the ball, Arenas did not dribble slowly across the half court, but rushed to the frontcourt quickly. The Bulls players were obviously caught off guard and rushed back to defend. Nas suddenly slowed down and passed the ball back to Batty. Batty received the ball without any hesitation, and then passed the ball back to Arenas as if hitting a wall. After receiving the ball, Arenas suddenly accelerated into the inside line. Both Dele and Curry rushed back to defend, but Arenas passed back to Walker who was keeping up. Walker caught the ball with his left hand and scored a dunk!

In 9 seconds, the Celtics completed the attack in 9 seconds. After the goal, Leon punched subconsciously, but he immediately retracted his fist. This was just the first goal.

"It's so fast..." Kenny Smith only had time to say the word, the Celtics' attack was too fast.

"What's going on? Stunned by the speed of the Celtics' offense? I said back in the preseason that the Celtics will surprise a lot of people offensively. They played against the Celtics in the first game. New York scored 147 points in the game! This is the highest score in a single stroke in snooker!" Barkley saw the Celtics attack like a wind, and he was resurrected.

At this time, the Bulls were still slowly attacking in positions, and there was no way they had a twin-tower lineup. This time it was Curry's turn to ask for the ball in the low post. Williams passed the ball this time, and Curry singled Barty in the low post. This rookie in 2001 has the nickname of Little Shark. He ran across the Chicago area with a weight of close to 300 pounds in high school. It was expected to be selected by the Bulls. For this reason, the Bulls did not hesitate to pay their No. 1 pick Elton Brand.

Facing Batty, who was not outstanding defensively, Curry pouted his buttocks and arched all the way in, and arched to a deep enough position before the help defense came up. He turned inside and hit a small hook, and the Bulls once again Leading, 4:2.

"Charles, I bet his ass is twice as big as yours." Smith couldn't help but said when he saw Curry's offense.

"You're insulting my ass. With a defense like Tony Barty's, I can push him all the way from the center line to the basket and give him a dunk." When it comes to his ass, Barkley won't admit defeat to anyone .

Just when the two were talking nonsense, the Celtics went to the frontcourt again.

Walker made a fast serve again, Arenas caught the ball and ran wildly. This time Reed was in front of him, and he passed the ball to Reed. Reed took the ball from the middle and went straight to the basket. The defender caught up and passed the ball to the left 45 degrees, and Paul Pierce had already caught up. Pierce pretended to be a three-pointer, flew up Rose who was following behind him, adjusted, aimed, and made a slow three-pointer!

"Shua!" The ball went in! Three-pointer!

A summer of hard training was not in vain, Pierce knew the moment the shot was made, the goal was going to be scored!

Leon off the field is no longer excited, because he knows that there will be many more goals like this.

"8 seconds." Leon calculated in his heart.