The Whip of the God of Basketball

"I don't think there was luck in our win. Many people looked down on us along the way, but now we have proven to them that we are qualified to win." In the interview after the second game, Antoine Walker He showed strong confidence when facing reporters' questions. Indeed, if they can win two games in a row on the other side's away road, they will return to their home court. Once the Celtics win the third game, 3:0, they will almost certainly advance to the finals.

In two games, Antoine Walker swept away the haze of last year, averaging 21.5 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Although the effect of Leon's tactical arrangements was in it, Walker's own hard work played a greater role. Although he is a playful and smiling guy most of the time, as a top basketball player, he also has the desire to win and strong willpower.

"After gaining such an advantage, how many games do you think the Celtics will end the series in?" Another reporter asked. This is really an extremely sensitive question. The last person to directly answer this question, Tracy McGrady, has already Got knocked out in the first round.

"I don't know, but I think at least seven games." Walker laughed, not saying that the Celtics would sweep, but he also revealed his confidence that he would eliminate his opponents.

Compared with the players' confidence, Leon is much calmer. He no longer said arrogantly like in the first round that he was "thinking about the next round of opponents." Instead, he said that the Celtics' two victories were due to a certain amount of luck. Element.

"Also, there is no essential difference between home and away games in the playoffs. Maybe the home game will bring some benefits, but it will also bring pressure." When talking about the Celtics returning to their home court next time, and the Celtics will return to their home court. Leon said this when the Celtics were undefeated in the home playoffs.

On the plane leaving New Jersey and returning to Boston, the atmosphere of the team was relaxed and comfortable. Only experienced coaches like Siegfried and Cowens reminded the players to stay vigilant. The Nets would not be defeated so easily. . But people are always like this. Even if reason tells them not to relax, the lack of personal experience and enough lessons can still easily make players fall into overconfidence.

Leon is also a little worried about this, but as the head coach, he cannot criticize the team when they have a 2:0 lead. He can only hope that the players will not be dazzled by two wins. I forgot how hard they prepared and worked hard to win on the road.

After returning to Boston, Leon gave the players a day off, and then the whole team conducted collective training on the day of the game. Compared with the training in New York, the atmosphere was much more relaxed. After the training, assistant coach Siegfer Reid found Leon and said to him: "Fox, don't you think the players are a little too relaxed? In the playoffs, we can never relax even if we are 3:0 ahead, let alone we are only 2:0, even if What about returning home?”

Siegfried's career with the Celtics began in the 1963-1964 season and ended in 1970, which happened to be the end of the Celtics dynasty, including the end of eight consecutive championships in 1967 and the last championship in 1969. In the tiebreaker in Los Angeles, it can be said that he has experienced the hard work of coming back to protect the championship at the end of the dynasty. He knows that if he wants to win the championship in the playoffs, he must walk on thin ice step by step.

Leon understood Siegfried's thoughts. While packing his things, he said: "I know Larry, but you only understand these truths after going through so much. We have just started on the road, you can't expect A group of drivers who have just gotten their driver's license know every pit on the road like an experienced driver. And they really do a good job Larry."

"The lessons of last year are still vivid in my mind..." Siegfried mentioned that the Celtics also achieved a 2:1 lead last year, but failed to win the next game.

Leon nodded, and there was a hint of worry in his heart. How a team handles unexpected victories is also a sign of maturity. For those mature strong teams, no matter whether they are away or at home, whether they are ahead or behind by a big score, they can maintain a peaceful and stable mentality until the end of the series.

On the day of the third game, the North Shore Garden Arena was full. Leon arrived here two hours early. He heard that Auerbach would be there to watch the game, but until the game started, he had no spectators on the sidelines. At the table, I saw the old man wearing sunglasses and leaning on a cane.

The 2:0 lead not only made the Celtics players confident, but also made Boston fans full of expectations for the game. Many fans on the sidelines even raised "swap" slogans, which means that they hope the Celtics can win in the game. They won two consecutive games at home and directly swept the Nets out of the game.

However, the progress of the game never happened according to the fans' expectations. The Nets, who had experienced two home defeats, burst out with huge energy. They used airtight defense to completely lock down the Celtics offense at the beginning of the game. Dead, Walker made 1 of 6 shots, Pierce made 1 of 5 shots, and the Celtics only scored 11 points in the first quarter, setting a record for the lowest score in a single quarter in the playoffs this season.

Although the Nets only scored 21 points, the rhythm of the game was already in their hands.

As the saying goes, Leon is good at tactical confrontation, but the Nets did not make many tactical changes. They purely relied on their strong momentum and extraordinary defensive concentration to take the lead. This is a kind of Suppression of attitude, a kind of bottoming out, unless the Celtics can take an absolute advantage in strength and overturn the momentum of the Nets in the game, turning their belief in a desperate counterattack into despair of death. Otherwise, no matter how Leon adjusts his tactics, there will be no way to reverse the situation.

Of course, Leon would not give up easily. He tried to increase the playing time of the substitute players in the hope that the substitute players could use passion and hard work to improve the situation. However, this time Leon made a mistake. The appearance of Wang Zhizhi, Anderson and others not only failed to improve the situation. , On the contrary, the team's offense fell into a greater stagnation. At halftime, the Celtics trailed the Nets by 18 points. You know, the Nets are not good at offense. Being so far ahead only shows that the Celtics' offense is too poor.

As time passed by, those fans holding "swap" slogans quickly became silent. The Celtics worked hard to fill the hole in the second half, but fell behind too much in the first half. As long as the Nets didn't make mistakes, Kyle The Specials didn't even have a chance to narrow the point difference to less than ten points. In the end, the Celtics lost by a big score at 86:72 at home, and the dreams of the media and fans before the game were shattered.

Naturally, the fans turned their attention to the fourth game. As long as they win the fourth game, the Celtics will take a 3:1 lead. This is also a huge advantage, which means that they have one foot in the championship. The door to the final.

A defeat also taught the Celtics players a lesson. In the training after the third game, the overly lively and relaxed atmosphere disappeared. What was condensed on the players' faces was the anxiety and tension before the war. , this is a bit abnormal compared to the excessive relaxation before.

Leon still has a lot to learn about how to regulate players' emotions. Those tactics and theories are simply a piece of cake for his photographic memory, but the human heart, the most difficult thing to control and understand, is the fundamental test of a head coach's ability.

Sure enough, in the fourth game, the scene fell into an unprecedented state of anxiety. The two sides entered a terrible defensive battle. The total score of the two teams in the half was just over 50 points. They fought until the last ten seconds and were still tied, 61:61.

But Arenas made a fatal mistake in defense. He lost his position when defending Kidd, which caused Kidd to easily get inside. Brown had to foul and Kidd made a free throw. Although he only made one of two free throws, this time enough points to kill the Celtics.

Leon arranged two plans A and B in the last attack. A was Pierce's shot and B was Cole's shot. However, both plans failed. The last person to get the ball during the movement was PJ- Brown, Brown missed a jump shot. At the end of the game, the Nets made another victory in Boston and evened the score.

Heaven and hell, only in a moment.