The Whip of the God of Basketball

Tickets for the game between the Celtics and the Utah Jazz on the night of November 11 were sold out early. With the Celtics winning consecutive victories after the start of the season, the Boston basketball market, which had recovered in the past two years, reached its peak at an extremely fast speed. White-hot degree. Now the only thing preventing the Celtics from selling more tickets is the relatively small hall and too few seats in the North Shore Garden. As one of the smallest arenas in the league, the North Shore Garden can no longer accommodate the huge enthusiasm of Boston fans.

After a day off yesterday, the Celtics had two hours of closed training during the day today. Unlike the previous short-term training that focused on shooting, this time Leon asked Dick Hart and Siegfried Led the team to carry out defensive practice.

Compared with the immediate effect of offensive and shooting training, defensive training takes a long time and has slow results. Some NBA teams do not even conduct defensive training, and rely entirely on players to hone their defensive skills, accumulate defensive experience and cultivate defensive tacit understanding through games. Leon is a coach who pays attention to the effectiveness ratio. He believes that defensive training must be carried out, but it should not take up too much training time. It must be persistent and give the team defensive training sessions every once in a while.

Today, Hart gave the Celtics a defensive training lesson on how to block the back door, prevent back-running and air cuts. It just so happens that their opponent tonight is the team of the master of air-cutting back-running Jerry Sloan, the Utah Jazz.

The training session ended at noon. Leon went home and had a simple lunch. After calling Khomeinis who was still in school, he packed up and set off for the North Shore Garden.

When Leon arrived at the arena, there were still several hours before the start of the game. He first went to the team office area on the third floor of the arena. After the official start of the season, the office of the Celtics management moved from the headquarters building to the North Shore Garden Arena. Although it is a bit small, the office is very convenient in the arena.

"What can I do for you, Danny?" Leon met Danny Angie in the team president's office. Before the game, Angie sent a text message to Leon asking him to come, saying that he had something to discuss with him. .

"Sit down Leon, as the head coach of the team, I still need to talk to you about some things. You should remember the trade proposal I made in the summer, and now I may have to bring it up again." Angie sat in his president chair Go up, handed Leon a cup of coffee, and said to him.

Leon's heart tightened when he heard that. He knew what Angie was talking about. In the summer, Angie had always wanted to trade a reliable inside player for the Celtics, but Leon was still not interested in Angie's plan. At that time, Ainge hoped to send Eric Williams and Joe Johnson to get the powerful forward Ronnie Rodgers of the Suns. Leon believes that Rogers does not meet the requirements of his own team. He does not like this kind of nonsensical players. Leon always pursues "full size" when selecting players. The minimum point guard is 6 feet 3, and the shooting guard is the best. Shorter than 6-foot-5, small forward must be at least 6-foot-7, power forward must be at least 6-foot-9, and center must reach 6-foot-11. Rogers' style of play is a typical small forward's height and power forward's style of play, and what Leon needs is a small forward's style of play and a player with the height of a power forward.

"Is there a deal with Joe Johnson? I'm not defending Johnson, but if there is no suitable person, I will not agree to it. And the season has just started, the team is running quite well, and it has been winning. What a good time to trade." Leon said, taking a sip of coffee. The current atmosphere in the Celtics team is very good. Although Joe Johnson has a relatively dull personality, he gets along very well with other players as a rookie. A rash trade will undoubtedly destroy the team's chemical reaction.

"Recently, I have a better trading plan. Although it has just started to operate and everything is still as expected, this relationship is still quite solid. The other party's trading chips are also very good, and they also value Joe's potential. Of course you know, Every day in the NBA there is a possibility of a transaction, and perhaps only one of a hundred possibilities is actually realized. Relax and let the players focus on the game." Angie responded in a pretended relaxed voice Leon said.

Leon doesn’t listen to what Angie said. Angie’s words are correct, there may be only one kind of transaction in a hundred, but since Angie and Leon have a good relationship, it won’t be the one hundred kinds of transactions. Ninety-nine of the possibilities will not be realized, but the remaining transaction possibility that is likely to be realized.

Leon also knew that this was Angie's inoculation for himself. Some transactions may be completed in a short period of time, while others need to operate for a long time and have experienced many twists and turns. Judging from the current situation, the team has won consecutive games. The internal atmosphere is very good, and the team's weaknesses have not been fully exposed, so the transaction may not happen in a short period of time.

However, as the season progresses, once the team's state and record fluctuate, the Celtics are bound to take action, and the team's new owners will not watch the team do nothing. As the current president of the team, Angie must plan ahead and prepare a trading plan as soon as possible. When the team needs it, it can be implemented immediately to bring changes to the team. Now it seems that Angie is still very confident in the trading resources he currently has, otherwise he will not vent to Leon.

"If the trade is beneficial to the team, of course I support it, but if the trade is for the sake of trade, I still say the same thing. I will exercise my veto power as the head coach." Leon is quite tough on the issue of player trade, He insisted on his ideas and needs, which often made Angie very annoyed but helpless, because Auerbach was behind it.

But this time Angie seemed very confident. He drank the coffee in his cup and said to Leon: "Arnold also agrees with this transaction plan."

Hearing this, Leon fell silent, and of course Arnold was Auerbach. Just a few days ago, he "reported" Auerbach to Auerbach. In the game against the Lakers, Auerbach returned to Boston. After the game that day, Auerbach had a long talk with Auerbach and asked Auerbach "Respect" Leon's right to suggest. This incident made Angie a little hurt, but this time he called Auerbach to ask for his opinion, and he got Auerbach's approval, which is enough to show that the possibility of this transaction is very beneficial to the Celtics.

"Since this is the case, if the deal comes, I will not object, and of course I will not leak the news. These guys need a quiet and stable playing environment. They are doing a great job now." After Leon finished speaking, he and Ainge said goodbye, and it looked like Johnson's departure was inevitable.

Angie also nodded towards Leon, and said: "You have done a good job recently. There will be no major changes in the team in the short term, but you have to prepare early."

No matter what quarrel the two people have, they are still wholeheartedly for the good of the Celtics.

…………………

When it was game time in the evening, the North Shore Garden was full of people again. Leon was used to this noisy environment, and before the game started, he still calmly emphasized to the players the various issues that need to be paid attention to tonight.

"Man-to-man, tonight we are man-to-man, don't double-team easily, don't give up your opponent casually, if there is a misalignment, make a choice as soon as possible, change defense or find your defender. "Leon has been emphasizing defensive issues before the start of the game. The team offense that the Utah Jazz has always been good at makes Leon quite afraid.

In the defensive training in the morning, the main content of the Celtics' practice was how to switch defensive positions in a timely manner when the formation was torn apart by the opponent during one-on-one man-to-man defense. In the case of defense change. This defensive method has high requirements on the players' personal defensive awareness. Facing a relatively complex and sophisticated offensive system, it is also a strategy of "responding to all changes with the same".

It was only after the game really started that Leon realized that he seemed to have overestimated the Jazz's current offensive state. The Jazz, who used to rely on a skilled and efficient offensive system in the late 1990s and reached the finals consecutively with a lineup that was not outstanding, finally faltered a bit after Malone and Stockton continued to persist for five years.

In the first quarter, John Stockton made two turnovers, and the Celtics' quick counterattack caught the Jazz off guard. The Celtics' starting lineup is so good at jump shots. Arenas followed Leon's will in the first quarter and continued to take the initiative to attack, making Stockton, who has been running on the court for 20 years, feel that his body is about to be destroyed . This tough white guard who is good at small moves is like a broken car pulled by an old cow in front of the young, decisive, and powerful Arenas. With a pick-and-roll and a change of direction, Arenas can tear the Jazz's defense apart.

When Arenas pulled up to Stockton and hit a three-pointer as soon as halftime passed, the greatest assist player in NBA history knew that his career should be over.

Even in last season, Leon still remembers that Stockton and Malone still had a lot of energy, Malone was still rampaging inside, Stockton could sort out the team's offense and hit some key three-pointers, but In less than a year, the aging is so obvious on this team. Not only is the era of Jordan over, but the era of Utah Shuangsha will also end. The group of golden players who entered the NBA in the mid-1980s, after supporting the golden period of the NBA in the 1990s, and with the completion of the Lakers' three consecutive championships in the new century, are finally about to enter the pile of old papers in history.

114:95, with a gap of nearly 20 points, the Celtics slaughtered the Utah Jazz at home. Stockton scored 31 points and 7 assists, creating a new career scoring high.

The Celtics ushered in eight consecutive victories. Their next opponent will be the Dallas Mavericks, and Leon will usher in a wonderful opponent.