The Whip of the God of Basketball

After playing against the Nets, without getting any rest, the Celtics are about to start their away trip.

After starting the away trip, Leon continued his rest strategy. On the first stop on the road, Indiana, he benched Michael Redd. This kid is in the dangerous category in Reisert's report list. His left knee has been in bad condition. Reisert reminded that if he is not careful to protect it, Reed is likely to suffer a devastating injury to his left knee.

So knowing that the match against the Pacers would be a tough battle, Leon still put Reid on the injured list and asked him to protect his knees.

On the night of March 19, Leon was booed by tens of thousands of fans at the Conseco Arena. The fist fight at the Conseco Arena was still vivid in his mind. Those who came to watch the game that night Pacers fans will never forget that man in a suit who looked like a boxing champion, punching and kicking among a group of white and green men like no one else.

This is a shame in the history of Conseco Arena and the Pacers. This basketball state in the United States, this strong team with a tough and iron-blooded tradition, was conquered by the fist of a coach.

Leon acted very calmly in the face of the boos. He even waved to some fans, as if they were not booing him but cheering for him. It is precisely because of the arrival of Leon and the Celtics that the ticket prices for this game have been sky-high, and it is even harder to get a ticket for a seat near the Celtics bench.

Conseco Arena even deployed additional police officers near the Celtics bench to prevent extreme fans from rushing to the Celtics bench and attacking Fox-Leon. Of course, in the presence of security checks, rushing to the Celtics bench to attack Leon without weapons is basically not much different from committing suicide, so the police are arranged to prevent fans from thinking too hard.

The team is missing Michael Reed, and the Celtics are already quite stretched at the shooting guard position. Leon has to send Malik Siry, who has been on the bench for most of the season. This guy was accidentally A model ruined by injuries. However, after coming to the Celtics, he recovered well. He did not have to play for a long time, and with careful treatment off the court, he actually returned to about 70% of his peak state.

PJ Brown, who was rested in the last game, was obviously in good condition. The team attacked Brown at the beginning. Brown scored six points in a row. Arenas also hit a three-pointer, directly stopping the Pacers.

After that, the two sides fell into a struggle. Without Reid's outside containment and strong single defense, the Celtics' offense became much more difficult. Leon started Brown's singles in order to attract the shrinking defense and create more opportunities for the outside. Open space.

However, Jermaine O'Neal and Artest began to attack the inside with strong force, causing PJ Brown huge trouble. Malik Sealy soon began to suffer from not playing high-intensity games for a long time, and the defensive end began to After a missed opportunity, Reggie Miller seized the opportunity and scored two three-pointers. As a result, the lead at the beginning of the first quarter became the Celtics' only lead in the entire game.

Isiah Thomas didn't give Leon a chance this time, and he didn't dare to use some dirty tricks again. Leon's last fist scared him. He just asked players to repeatedly attack the inside, constantly fight for offensive rebounds, and create fouls for the Celtics.

The Celtics were called for 26 fouls in this game, and the Pacers made 30 free throws.

In this situation, even if the Celtics are all in order, it will be difficult to win the game. In the end, they lost in Conseco 99:84 with a gap of 15 points.

After losing the game, Leon made a shocking statement in the post-match interview. He said bluntly: "I think the league is using the whistle to find balance. They suffered a loss last time in Conseco. I beat their players. In the end, we won the game. The Pacers were definitely not convinced and had objections. So as you can see, they made 30 free throws. As long as you stand in the three-second zone and jump up with the ball in your hand, you will get a free throw. And we only have 13 free throws. Don't our players work hard and attack in the three-second zone? There are too many such balance whistles. I hope there will be no such whistles in the playoffs. "

As the saying goes, trouble comes from the mouth, and Leon's words received a stern warning from the league office and a fine of US$20,000. But these words once again put Leon on the headlines of sports pages.

Since that fight, Fox-Leon has become the new favorite of reporters from major sports media. As long as they interview him and explore him, there will be all kinds of eye-catching news. He went from being slightly famous at the beginning of the season to being famous now, not because of his skills and tactics, but because of all kinds of negative news and remarks. This has also led to Leon's technical and tactical abilities being ignored by many people, and he has become the Mark Cuban and Dennis Rodman of coaches.

And all this is not over. When the Celtics came to the next stop, Los Angeles, where they were preparing to challenge the team's old enemy and the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers, shocking news came out of the Celtics team. ——Fox-Leon decided to rest all the main players in this game.

……………………

David Stern has been in Los Angeles during this time. All major NBA sponsors have gathered in Los Angeles this week, where they will discuss new sponsorship contracts, sharing models and publicity with Stern in the next few years. ideas. Among them are old friends like Nike, Gatorade, and Adidas, as well as some new faces who want to join the big brand NBA. After all, the signing of a new television broadcast contract has made the cake a lot bigger.

Of course, a meeting in Los Angeles would not be complete without sponsors watching a basketball game at the Staples Center.

On March 21, the Boston Celtics will come to Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers. These two teams are the two greatest and most glorious teams in NBA history. They are also the two teams with the most entangled grudges and stories. This season The records of both teams are also good, and they are both at the top of the East and West divisions. Their games are not only full of fun to watch, but the gap in strength is not too big, which will not make the game one-sided.

So David Stern made arrangements in advance, and on the last day of the meeting, all sponsor leaders went to the Staples Center to watch the game and experience the infinite charm of the NBA.

Then on the afternoon of the 18th, the Bosh Celtics were conducting pre-game training. When Celtics coach Fox Leon was asked in an interview with reporters whether he would rest players in the game against the Lakers, Leon was very direct. Answer, "Yes, I will let the main players rest this time because they are very tired. Brown and Cole have leg pain, Walker has foot pain, Reid has hand pain, Arenas has back pain, and Pierce's scar hurts. And Playing against the defending champion is also a good opportunity for young people to exercise..."

Stern got the news while watching TV in his hotel room at night. This time it was his turn to have a headache. Not only did he have a headache, he also wanted to slap Fox Leon back from Los Angeles to Boston. An important game might have been completely ruined by Leon's rest.

"The-little-son-of-bitch! (This little bastard!)" Stern couldn't help but scolded Leon in his heart again. Now Leon has to be scolded like this by countless people every day.

Cursing in his heart, Stern had to solve this problem. He immediately picked up the phone in the room, took out the phone book from his briefcase, and dialed Danny Ainge's cell phone directly. He had to ask Kyle Special people exert pressure.

Ainge seemed surprised when he received Stern's call, because the NBA president will not easily call the personal phone number of the team general manager. He usually informs the general managers of each team through official channels through the league office. , or call everyone to New York for a meeting.

"Danny, tell your coach, that guy named Leon, and ask him to immediately take back his decision to rest. You have rested the main players for several consecutive games. What are you doing now? Let all the main players rest? What do you think the fans who come to the stadium are here to see? To see those role players whose combined salary is not as large as O'Neal's playing in the CBA? If the players are not injured, let them play, play!" Stern did not Kong exchanged greetings with Anji and directly asked him to call Leon and give up the decision to take a rest.

Angie was silent for a while and then said: "Oh, I'm not very clear about the decision he made, he didn't even tell me...I, you know, this guy doesn't really listen to me, and I warned him Don’t rest casually, but the list of players to play is decided by the head coach. As the team manager, you must also respect the coach’s arrangements. I also asked the boss, and the boss didn’t seem to have much opinion. You know, one of our bosses is considered His father-in-law, I can't take advantage of him there... And, the most important thing is that he only listens to Auerbach. If Auerbach speaks, he will definitely listen. I don't have much else to say. Method."

Angie first brushed aside all his responsibilities, and then moved out of Auerbach, letting Stern touch a soft nail and asking him to go to Auerbach to convince Leon? It was simply impossible. According to Auerbach's bad temper, as soon as Stern called, Auerbach would definitely pretend that he couldn't hear clearly and hang up the phone. Stern didn't want to make himself uncomfortable.

But as the president of the league, he cannot call Leon directly. This is against the regulations. The head coach only works for the team and is affiliated with the players union, unlike the team manager who is also under the jurisdiction of the league to a certain extent.

Stern hung up the phone, thought for a moment, and dialed another number, calling Adam Silva and asking him to come to his place.