The Whip of the God of Basketball

Larry Bird watched the first half of the game between the Celtics and the Pacers sitting in his exclusive seat in the Conseco Arena. His expression was as flat as ever. For those who can take the scene of tens of thousands of fans coming here with equanimity, it is not a big deal for their team to fall behind in an ordinary regular season.

The years have left deep marks on the body of the former Celtic superstar. The once fluffy and golden hair has become sparse and lazy yellow-gray short hair. The originally full and powerful cheeks have swollen. The apples turned into balls of proofed dough. The sexy moustache he had in the past has long since disappeared. He is wearing a brown-gray coat with a navy blue round-neck underwear inside. Not as domineering as Jordan, or as friendly as a magician, who looks like a farmer on an Indiana corn farm.

If there is anything that has not changed much compared to the past, it is Bird's expression when he drags his cheeks to watch the game, always like a good student who concentrates on listening to lectures, for fear of missing any details in class.

But this is just an appearance. Bird has never been a person who is concentrating on the court. He will only devote himself to the game when he is on the court. Once he sits on the bench, his thoughts will wander wildly. Related, this is why among the basketball superstars who want to be coaches, Larry Bird can succeed and get the best coach.

He spent half his time tonight thinking about how to remove Isiah Thomas from the position of head coach of the Pacers. Although Thomas seems to be leading the team very well now, Bird does not think he can lead the Pacers to success in the playoffs. As early as two and a half years ago, he opposed Thomas as the Pacers coach, but the boss meant Make him unable to defy.

After two and a half seasons, the team has continued to improve in the regular season, but Bird believes that it is due to the team's operation. After all, signing O'Neal, getting Brad Miller and Ron Artest, can be compared with Thomas doesn't have much to do with it. The only thing that matters is that he cultivated O'Neal and promoted his growth.

But this is far from enough in Bird's view. He is tired of Thomas' iconic smile, as well as complex and changeable tactical routines. He doesn't like this kind of tactical construction at all, which makes players look like chess pieces. The same applies to various tactics, but ignores the training of players' technical and tactical abilities. Moreover, Thomas' tactics rely so heavily on low-post offenses, and many times those complicated runs turn into a simple turnaround jumper in the end, which is what makes Bird the most unbearable.

He misses the enthusiasm the Pacers put into playmaking when he was coach, with Rick Carlisle and Dick Hart as his right-hand men. They have a single-minded and stable tactical routine, and the experience and ingenuity of the players allow them to bring enough changes on the spot.

Now, Hart is sitting on the coaching bench of the Celtics and playing for his old club. Such scenes are common in the NBA. Once close teammates may face each other on the court. What else is impossible? But what surprised him was that during a timeout, he actually saw the head coach of the Celtics hand over the tactical board to Hart, and asked Hart to arrange tactics for the players, while the head coach himself Stand aside and watch.

This made Bird see some shadows of himself. When he was in the Pacers, he liked to hand over the right to explain tactics to assistant coaches, if the opponent could do better than him in certain details. Bird, who has been in the league for so many years, knows that the head coach who assigns the right to tactical arrangements to assistants like this seems to have no second home except Bird Bird. If there is one, it is the Celtics. People's "wild boy".

While good fans dubbed Leon "Scarface," Bird liked to call him "Wild Boy," because he was a guy who came out of nowhere and was picked up by Auerbach from a labor camp. After two years of cleansing and whitewashing, he was promoted to the position of head coach.

Bird admitted that he was jealous of this guy in his heart. He dedicated his entire career to the Celtics and brought incomparable brilliance, but in the end he was hung on the facade like a pennant to blow cold wind. He has never entered the core of the Celtics, and has never had the opportunity to encroach on the throne of the head coach, and now he is taken by such a guy.

Then he seems to be doing well. It is said that he is a data expert. He is very good at analyzing players' game data. He has a good memory and understands many tactics. However, what Bird hates the most is such a coach. A group of data experts who have emerged in recent years, with the help of computers and video tapes, want to use groups of numbers to deconstruct basketball games without playing a game.

In Bird's view, these people are a group of "whimsical little men who play with pen and paper", so Fox Leon's success can only be temporary and limited, just like Thomas, who can only play in the regular season. In such a lack of targeted game, relying on the talent and on-the-spot performance of the players to win part of the game, once it comes to the playoffs, they will only be beaten badly.

Thinking of this, Bird took his mind back and started thinking about how to get Thomas away and replace him with his favorite Rick Carlisle, who is now flourishing in the Pistons. It's ironic that a former Celtics general manager wants to send a former Pistons coach away and get a former Celtics coach who is now coaching in the Pistons.

"If only Isiah could go back to Detroit..." Bird thought to himself as the second half started, how he wished Thomas would go back to coach the Pistons and let Dumars put his good partner Sign back in exchange for Carlisle.

However, after the start of the second half of the game, Bird saw something different about the Pacers, more intense physical confrontation, and he did not hesitate to foul to pull down the breakthrough of the Celtics, and spared no effort to block the three-pointer. In the first few minutes of the third quarter, the Pacers allowed the Celtics to make 1 of 6 shots. It's just that the Pacers' own offense seems to have been disrupted, and they missed shots, and both sides kept hitting iron, and the scene was quite ugly.

Leon continued to stand on the sidelines to supervise the battle. He had expected that the first half relied too much on inside breakthroughs and three-pointers. He would definitely encounter resistance in the second half. In the case of inside strong attack points, it is very important to start the rhythm and switch. However, the Pacers were determined to play hand-to-hand combat, and did not give the Celtics a chance to accelerate. The full-court press and expanded defense made it difficult for the Celtics' accelerator Arenas to activate.

Perhaps the scene was too ugly, and the NBA officials couldn't stand it anymore. They gave an official timeout when the game went on for 4 minutes. During these 4 minutes, the Celtics scored a free throw and scored 3 points. The player scored two free throws and scored 5 points, and the point difference was only narrowed by 2 points.

"They are playing rugby! I wonder if the ball in my hand is round?" Arenas complained as soon as he got off the field. Before halftime, someone came over to double-team, and the double-team disappeared as soon as the ball was played. Arenas is not the kind of super ball master who can see the whole court. Under static conditions, his passing vision is limited to within 10 feet in a 60-degree radius in front of him. Under dynamic conditions, his ability to distribute the ball will be greatly enhanced.

Isiah Thomas is worthy of being a super point guard. He knows how to deal with young people like Arenas and how to disrupt his game rhythm, and his goal has been achieved. Leon put Steve Kerr after the timeout Kerr switched to the field, allowing the more experienced Kerr to sort out the team's offense.

However, Leon didn't expect that Steve Kerr's appearance almost turned into a super big fight.

After Cole came on the field, the Pacers' extended double-teams also lost their effect. Cole was not in a hurry to advance at all. He, Pierce and Reed could easily resolve the expanded double-teams with a few short passes in the backcourt. The Celtics Started trying to use the one-on-one abilities of Pierce and Walker to open up the situation. First, Pierce hit the jumper directly after receiving the ball at 45 degrees on the right, and then Walker took advantage of the Pacers' mistake to quickly counterattack for a layup.

At this time, the mood of both sides was already a bit bad. Jermaine O'Neal's foul was quite fierce, and Walker fell to the ground fiercely. Leon couldn't remember how many times this was the first time a Celtics player fell heavily in the half game He couldn't help but yelled at the referee, "Is this just an ordinary foul? Is this just an ordinary foul?"

Immediately afterwards, the Pacers' offensive center of gravity came to Ron Artest. He received the ball with his back at 45 degrees on the right. After coming down, the old trick was repeated, but this time Pierce was very tight. It was unexpected that Artest would fake Pierce away after turning around. As a result, Pierce couldn't control it and pressed on Artest.

Artest seemed to be in control. He held Pierce with his arms to prevent him from falling over. Pierce also patted Artest on the head, and the situation suddenly eased. Then at the time of the free throw, for some reason, Reggie Miller and Steve Kerr started bickering, just as Artest hit the second free throw to close the score and prepare to return to the defense. , Miller and Cole have already scolded near the three-second zone.

"You'd better shut up, or just wait for the fuck..." Facing Miller's endless trash talk, Cole was obviously angry. He didn't have much playing time in this game, but his relationship with Miller The grievances have a long history, starting from the Cole Bulls period in the 1990s. The famous "bow moment" in the 1994 season made Miller not polite to Cole when he met Cole on the court. So in just a few minutes of playing time, Miller has sprayed a ton of trash talk at Kerr.

And Cole's temper is obviously not very good tonight. The fierce confrontation, constant fouls, and the noise of the fans at the scene made every player of the Celtics tense up. People became irritable and irritable. restraint. Obviously, Miller made Kerr angry. The little man who dared to punch Jordan in practice pointed at Miller's nose and cursed.

The so-called fight when there is a disagreement, the two did not fight, but their arms and arms were already entangled. The referee's whistle sounded like a siren. This is the second time this has happened to both sides in this game. This has put a lot of pressure on the referee Willard and others. Obviously, they are still in control of the scale at the beginning of the game. has a problem.

Players from both sides gathered together again, but there were still a lot of persuasion, and both sides could restrain their anger. But there is one person who can't restrain himself, and that is Fox Leon. In his opinion, the Pacers players are a bit too bullying, making all kinds of fouls and swearing. He ran straight from his coaching area to the penalty area, squeezed into the crowd, pulled Steve Kerr away, and yelled at Miller: "What's-fucking-up! (What the fuck are they trying to do!) "

Few coaches will participate in player conflicts. After all, the coaches seem to be polite and old, and they will not be serious with the players. But Leon is considered young among the coaches. He was too angry tonight, and he wanted to protect his players too much. Just like the last time he faced the Bucks, he rushed to the front line again.

This time Miller is not Mason, his mouth is stinky enough, when he saw Leon approaching, he opened his mouth wide and shouted with a defiant expression on his face: "Who-are-you, tell-me-who-are- you? I-made-my-bones-when-you-were-going-out-with-cheerleaders! (Who are you, tell me who you are? You were playing with mud when I became famous!"

Leon is not a person who is good at fighting back verbally. He has always used precise and economical words, and he doesn't like to spout meaningless words. But Miller's words angered him. He knew that he was a rookie coach in the league, a three-none coach with no background, qualifications and experience. He was working hard, struggling and changing for this. And Miller, like a vicious woman, mocked his flaws with words.

The flames of anger spread to Leon's brain center, and then spread from the brain center to his fists, the pair of iron fists covered with calluses. After coming to this body, Leon did not pull down the boxing. He often skipped rope, Hit the punching bag for a body that's used to boxing.

Miller looked at Leon silent and did not respond, and felt a little proud in his heart. He thought that if he had no skills, he should not be a front guard, but as soon as this thought flashed in his mind, he felt a gust of wind blowing towards his face. When the blow came, a big fist quickly came into view, and Miller was so frightened that he didn't move. Fortunately the fist didn't hit him in the face, but went down to his collarbone and chest.

He only felt a tightness in his chest, and he took two steps back. The huge force made him almost unable to stand still, and he received two punches from Leon firmly in the front of his chest!

Leon punched so fast that no one stopped him, and perhaps no one thought that an NBA head coach would punch an opponent's player! But everything happened like this, and then everything fell into chaos. The Pacers players saw that the team's veteran Miller was still sitting still after being beaten, and they all rushed up.

Ron Artest rushed towards Leon, waving his right arm as if to punch Leon, but Pierce held Artest, and Leon couldn't control so much, and turned to Artest Two more punches, one on the neck and one on the chest, and with Pierce pulling behind him, Artest fell sideways.

Afterwards, Leon seemed to start a horsepower harvester. Although Cole hugged him tightly from behind, he couldn't stop the Pacers players from rushing here, and Leon came to fight one by one. With seven or eight arms, his straight punch is so fierce that those Pacers players can't get close! Several guys who tried to hug Leon's neck were covered by Leon's two uppercuts.

The referee was on the verge of collapse, blowing the whistle crazily outside, unable to enter the crowd at all, and the fans at the scene were also excited, some threw Coke and popcorn into the field in disorder.

At this time, Leon was surrounded by PJ-Brown, Dalembert and Wang Zhizhi, and no one was allowed to approach him, not because he was afraid that others would hurt him, but because he was afraid that he would hurt others.

Leon's originally meticulous hair was messed up, two more bloodstains appeared on his face, his suit was torn, his tie fell off, and one of his shoes fell off. But it was even worse for the Pacers. After Artest fell to the ground, he was pinned down by Pierce and never got up again. The others were all punched. It could be considered that Leon was merciful and didn't hit them on the chin, or they were really tall and still awake. Standing on the court, but his body and arms were severely beaten.

Fortunately, the Celtics players remained calm and restrained. After all, their coach did not suffer a loss and beat them up. pick.

Finally, the situation was finally under control. Isiah Thomas stood stunned on the sidelines. He had seen big scenes, but he had never seen such a scene. A coach picked a team and looked at the chicken feathers On the court, he can no longer smile.

As expected, Leon was sent off the field, escorted by PJ and Wang Zhizhi back to the locker room, before leaving, he still did not forget to yell at the Pacers bench: "A-group-of-coward ! (a bunch of cowards!)”

None of the Pacers players dared to speak back, for fear of being beaten.

And Bird, who was sitting in the exclusive position on the sidelines, remained motionless, but with a slight smile on his face, watching Leon's back disappearing from the passage, he shook his head slightly and said: "Interesting guy, interesting guy..."