The Whip of the God of Basketball

On the evening of December 31, the last day of 2002, the Boston Celtics ushered in their last opponent of the year, the Memphis Grizzlies, at North Shore Garden.

After Jerry West entered the Grizzlies, a series of changes began to appear on this young and weak team. This team lacking experience, background and cultural heritage is being watered by Jerry West's hard work. Under thrive. After a humiliating eight-game losing streak at the start of the season, West finally invited Hubie Brown to serve as the team's head coach. Although Brown's arrival did not turn stone into gold, it immediately turned the Grizzlies over. They suffered the worst 13-game losing streak in the league. Their record throughout November was a poor 2 wins and 14 losses, the lowest in the league.

After a nightmarish start to the season, Hubie Brown gradually took control of the situation. Their results slowly improved in December. Instead of a series of losing streaks, victories began to shine here. They even had A wave of four consecutive victories made people see the effect brought by the old coach. In the last game in December, they came all the way to Boston. In the previous game, they just defeated the Orlando Magic. It was a clean victory, which gave them the confidence to finish 02 The final battle of the year.

Before the start of the game, Leon saw a familiar face in the audience. It was Chris Wallace, the general manager of the Grizzlies who came to Boston with the team. As the current player development consultant of the Grizzlies, he rarely accompanied him. The team went out together, but this time he was in Boston, so he had to come back anyway.

Leon knew that he had to win this game, because the Celtics' first-round pick next season could be in the hands of the Grizzlies. The worse the Grizzlies' performance, the higher the Celtics' pick. The more likely Leon is to realize his plan. The only thing Leon wants to pray now is that the Grizzlies don't get the No. 1 lottery, and everything will be ruined. However, with the luck of the Grizzlies, it is not easy to get the No. 1 lottery.

Before the start of the game, Leon reported that the starting lineup was Dalembert, Walker, Pierce, Reid and Arenas. As a rookie, PJ-Brown has not been able to participate in the first game, and his name has not yet been included in the Celtics. Great list of Walters. So Brown sat on the bench in casual clothes, and this will be a good opportunity for him to watch Leon coach and the Celtics play.

The training in the morning was an eye-opener for Brown, so he wondered in his heart whether Leon would be the same as during training when he was commanding from the sidelines, constantly using shouts to adjust tactics, telling the players what they should do and what they should not do , so that he can control every player on the field just like playing a game.

But after the game really started, Brown discovered that, unlike those coaches who like to yell on the sidelines, Leon still stood or sat on the sidelines to watch the game quietly, rarely yelling at the players, and He doesn't get in a hurry with the referee, and doesn't even call a timeout very much, which is quite like the Zen master Phil Jackson. Contrary to the silence of the coach off the court, the communication between the Celtics players on the court resounded throughout the court, Paul Pierce's hoarse voice could be heard constantly, Arenas frowned and directed the players, and Antoine -Walker's exaggerated expression, when there are some small situations on the field, the players will form a circle to discuss.

Brown seldom saw such a strange coach coaching on the spot, but in the first quarter, the Celtics beat the Grizzlies with a 17:5 attack wave. The two-day rest gave the Celtics players plenty of physical strength and strength. Good touch, the moderate training in the morning kept the players in good condition. They made three of four three-pointers and caught the Grizzlies by surprise. This also forced Grizzlies coach Hubie Brown to call a timeout.

The players returned to the bench, and Brown wanted to see what kind of style the head coach was, but Leon asked, "How do you guys feel? Does it feel good? Are you in good shape? Do you have any questions?" Come out." Dalembert took a sip of water and said: "The arm of No. 16 on the opposite side is so long, it feels like his hand is always on my head."

Dalembert is facing up to Pau Gasol, the Spaniard with unusually long limbs, and now he is the core player of the Grizzlies, and Hubie Brown is developing tactical strategies for the Grizzlies around him. Leon also noticed that Gasol looks a little slow and soft, but he has an excellent sense of the ball and a very good sense of position. Similarly, their small forward Sean Battier doesn't look outstanding, but the details are quite in place. Many small things make Leon feel that this player and their coach must have worked hard .

"If you feel his arm is over your head, push him away with your ass," Leon said, and the short pause ended. For 20 seconds, Leon just communicated with the players briefly, let everyone take a break and drink, did not make any arrangements, and did not yell at the players to ask them to grab rebounds, strengthen defense, etc. This is the same as PJ- Brown's impression of the head coach is not the same at all.

The game continued. Due to the gap in strength and good state, the Celtics always maintained a lead of about 10 points over the Grizzlies. Until the end of the third quarter, Leon called a few times Timeout, he called a timeout often to make substitutions, then muttered a few words to the players on the field, and then drew a few times to the players on the tactical board to finish.

This made Brown feel that Leon's timeout was simply insincere.

At this moment, with 5 seconds left before the end of the third quarter, the Celtics had their last chance to attack in this quarter. They still led by 11 points. Leon called a 20-second timeout at this time. At this time, the players on the Celtics field were Cole, Reid, Anderson, Williams and Wang Zhizhi. Leon took out the tactical board and began to draw tactics on the board.

If Brown remembers correctly, this is the first time Leon has pulled out a tactical board in this game. After returning to the field after the timeout, Brown didn't know what tactics Leon could arrange for five seconds.

At this time, Wang Zhizhi walked to the baseline. It seemed that Leon was going to play a baseline ball instead of a sideline ball. He wanted to use a tactic of running all over the court. Wang Zhizhi served the ball, and Cole and Anderson made a cross screen near the center line. After the screen was completed, Cole ran towards the left side of the court. Wang Zhizhi passed the ball to Cole, and Cole quickly rushed along the left sideline. Grizzlies center Gasol began to double-team Cole. Kerr passed the ball to Williams who was standing outside the left three-point line in the gap.

At this time, Reid, who had been hiding on the right side of the court, had already relied on Anderson's cover near the center line, and rushed straight to the basket from the right side like a running back. When he reached the basket, the ball happened to be on Williams In the hands of Williams, Reid catches the ball and successfully dunks with both hands. After scoring two points, the Celtics opened the point difference to 13 points! The time left for the Grizzlies is only 0.6 seconds.

The Grizzlies threw the ball from the baseline to the basket in desperation. Naturally, the ball was not within the goal range. At the end of the third quarter, Leon and the players on the field clapped their hands one by one and said: "The ground is beautiful, but That Gasol is pretty smart, he saw some tricks, so he came to flank you, Steve."

Cole nodded and said, "Yes, a smart guy, but a bit slow and not very good at blocking."

After that, let everyone ignore it, and sit down on the bench next to Brown, allowing the players to drink water and chat, or several other assistant coaches will stand up and communicate with the players, Dick Hart still Some comments were made on the team's defense.

"This is your way of coaching? It's very interesting." Brown couldn't bear his curiosity about Leon and said. His tone with Leon was much more polite now.

"My players are very smart. Whether it is training or competition, they have a lot of opportunities to learn. I want to give them these opportunities. After all, it is the players who decide the outcome of the game on the court... What do you think? Get used to the atmosphere here, I may let you start as a substitute in the next game, and get used to it slowly." Leon said to Brown.

Brown nodded. He was also interested in playing under such a coach. In fact, he is very dissatisfied with this transaction. He likes New Orleans, likes the Hornets, and has a good relationship with his teammates. He is going to play there until he retires. But he didn't expect to be traded to the Celtics suddenly like this. He was unprepared. At this time, his wife and son were still in New Orleans, and he had no sense of belonging here.

But the experience on the first day made him feel that playing here might be a good choice.