The Whip of the God of Basketball

At the end of February, Larry Brown could sense that the Detroit Pistons were on the right track. Since the important trade before the end of the trade period, the Pistons, who welcomed Rasheed Wallace, finally have the last piece of the puzzle to become a super team, a perfect piece of the puzzle.

Rasheed Wallace, the power forward from Portland, has always been ranked lower than the four forwards, but in Brown's mind, he is the most suitable candidate for his team. He doesn't need the ball offensively, he can go inside and outside, and he has the unique skill of a fadeaway shot. In defense, one-on-one defense is one of the best in the league. He is tough and entangled, with enough height, wingspan, and strength to be able to defend almost all insiders in the league.

His weaknesses are lack of focus on the offensive end, lack of desire to score, average defensive ability, and average backcourt rebounding ability. However, these weaknesses can be well compensated in the Pistons. On the offensive end, he does not need to bear the burden of scoring, and there is no need for him to force himself at critical moments. On the defensive end, he and the other Wallace are seamlessly connected. Wallace has strong defense capabilities and super backcourt rebounding skills. All can fill Rashid's vacancy.

It's the perfect addition, the perfect deal. Of course, in Brown's view, the only imperfection is that the Boston Celtics received a future draft pick from the Atlanta Hawks in this transaction.

The Hawks have really done their best this season. Stephen Jackson was unable to compete and was given to the Pacers. They traded Wallace and then traded him to the Pistons. They also gave the Celtics a draft pick. It can be said that the Eastern Conference was established. three super teams.

Brown doesn't know what else a team like the Celtics needs draft picks for. He only knows that whether he and the Detroiters can achieve a breakthrough this season depends on whether they can get past the Bostonians. History is always surprisingly similar. The Pistons who wanted to rise in the late 1980s faced the same problem. They had to cross the Celtics. The difference is that now the Pistons and Celtics are on the same starting line.

Starting in March, Brown worked hard to adjust the new lineup and new tactics. He first stabilized the starting lineup, Ben Wallace, Rasheed Wallace, Tayshaun Prince, Richard Hamilton. , this will become the unstoppable starting five under Larry Brown.

Tactically, his first priority is offense, so that Rasheed Wallace's offensive ability can help the team as soon as possible. Then in March, Larry Brown began to unleash the Pistons' defensive energy to the extreme.

On March 4, against the Portland Trail Blazers, they won in an away game, 83:68; on March 6, in an away game, the Denver Nuggets successfully defeated them, 97:66; on March 7, in back-to-back away games against the Seattle SuperSonics , 86:65, and strangled again; on March 10, they returned to their home court, 98:65, and kept their opponents' scoring below 70 points for four consecutive games, which shocked the league for a while.

Four days later, still at the Palace of Auburn Hills, at 87:69, the Detroit Pistons used steel-like defense to cripple the 76ers without Allen Iverson. None of the 76ers' starting five players could score more than 10 points. .

Their record of continuously suppressing their opponents by less than 70 points ended in New Jersey. On March 18, New Jersey defeated the Nets. There was no suspense at the end of the game, but the Nets still did not give up and chose to continue attacking because they had already scored 69 points. point! At the last moment, the Nets relied on forced fouls to get to the free throw line and hit two free throws, allowing the Pistons to continuously suppress their opponents' record of less than 70 points.

Even so, the Detroit Pistons' performance on the defensive end is still shocking. Larry Brown finally feels that the ultimate defense he has been pursuing for 20 years has finally arrived.

He still remembers that when he first coached, he liked to wear colorful plaid suits and changeable offensive tactics. As time went by, he began to pursue "playing the game the right way", although he never won a championship in the league. , but he still persisted. In 2001, he led the 76ers who played the right way and the free-spirited Iverson to the Finals, but were torn apart with dignity by the ferocious Los Angeles Lakers.

Now, he felt that he was close again, closer than that time in 2001, and what stood in front of him was another behemoth-the Boston Celtics.

The Pistons ended their March schedule with a record of 11 wins in 14 games. After the trade, their rapid rise attracted the attention of the league, so their game against the Indiana Pacers on April 4 became the focus of national attention. Only defensive teams in the same conference will start their last battle before the playoffs. The two teams are currently ranked 2nd and 3rd in the Eastern Conference.

And judging from the current situation, this will also be the final ranking after the regular season. They will most likely meet in a brutal springboard battle in the Eastern Conference semifinals, so Larry Brown and the Pistons attach great importance to this game. .

Since suppressing their opponents below 70 points in five consecutive games, the Pistons no longer pursue the ultimate goal of lowering their opponents' points in subsequent games, so the points lost have increased. But on the night of April 4th, in Auburn Hills, they would show no mercy.

As expected, this game was extremely brutal and ugly. The final score of the two teams did not exceed 140 points. Stephen Jackson was sent off for two technical fouls and Rasheed Wallace was sent off for two technical fouls. Jermaine O'Neal left the game with six fouls, Tayshaun Pulis had five fouls, and Ben Wallace had five fouls.

This ugly defensive battle ended with the Pistons 77:63. They once again suppressed their opponent's score below 70 points. Only Ron Artest scored more than 10 points for the Pacers. The team's shooting percentage was only 30 percent.

A Larry Brown-style victory, a Detroit Pistons-style victory. However, after the game, Larry Brown seemed quite low-key and calm. He said in the post-game interview: "The real challenge is far from coming. , we still have the playoffs and stronger opponents."

Larry Brown's caution is justified, because in two weeks, in the season finale, the Detroit Pistons will travel to Boston to challenge the Eastern Conference king, the Celtics. Brown knows that this will be the best and last chance to test the quality of the team in the regular season, and confidence will be built in this game.

On the other hand, Fox-Leon is also thinking about how to dispel the illusion that the now arrogant Detroiters think they can compete with the Celtics.