The Whip of the God of Basketball

"I'm sitting in the stands high up in the stands broadcasting tonight's game for you, the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2003-2004 NBA playoffs. Good evening, everyone. I'm Dick Stockton, and I'll be watching the Celtics with you all. Game against the Pacers. My guest on tonight's game is Steve Kerr, hello Kerr."

On game day night, T-NT commentator Dick Stockton, who was sitting courtside, imitated the classic commentary of Boston Celtics legendary commentator Johnny Most, kicking off the Eastern Conference Finals. His partner is former Celtics player Steve Kerr. After retiring, Kerr joined *** to start his commentary career. His experience playing for the Celtics made him tonight's Guest commentator.

After greeting the audience, Stockton asked: "Steve, seeing the Celtics now, do you regret your decision to retire in the summer?"

Cole has undoubtedly been asked this question many times. He smiled and said: "I lack a lot of things, but I don't seem to lack a championship ring." Indeed, the three consecutive championships with the Bulls left Cole without a championship. It's a pity, otherwise the fact that he left the Spurs to join the Celtics last year and finally lost to the Spurs in the finals would make people think about it for a lifetime.

"Let's stop talking and give you a prediction. Steve, let me talk about myself first. I think the Pacers have a chance to win the Celtics in the first game. The Celtics have rested for too long. This pair This is not necessarily a good thing for the team. Although the Pacers have played seven games, their players are very young, and the fierce battle with the Pistons has improved them. I believe they have the possibility to defeat the Celtics, possibility Very big." Before the game even started, Stockton dug a hole for himself. This legendary NBA commentator has broadcast countless NBA games and dug countless holes. Anyway, this one is not missing.

"If I hadn't been in the Celtics and hadn't played under Fox-Leon, I think I would hold the same view as you. Indeed, the Pacers' comeback in the semifinals was breathtaking, and as someone who has NBA players, I know what such an experience means to young people. However, I still believe that Fox Leon and his Celtics are a team that does not fight unprepared battles. , He never goes back on his word." As a former Celtics player, Cole sided with the Celtics without hesitation and praised Leon.

"Never break a promise, did Leon tell you that he owes you a championship?" Stockton joked. He knew that it was Leon who replaced Cole from the Spurs, and as a result, Cole lost the championship.

"Of course! He told me that he would pay me back in the future." Cole said. He still remembers that after the sixth game of the Finals, Leon hugged Cole with tears in his eyes and said this in his ear. Of course, Cole didn't take it all to heart.

The two of them were chatting here and there, but the game was about to start. Before the game, rap group Oscoste performed "the-way-you-move" and the U.S. national anthem at North Shore Gardens before the high-profile battle began.

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Before the game started, word had spread about the verbal dispute between Leon and Bird, but Leon was obviously not as confident and relaxed as he seemed to the outside world. In fact, any seemingly relaxed set-up and Any success comes from hard work and carefulness behind the scenes.

After returning to the locker room, Leon spent half an hour laying out in detail the tactics that the team would implement in the first half and how the players would respond to possible problems. Getting vaccinated in advance can help players calm down and get out of trouble when facing difficulties.

In terms of lineup arrangement, Leon made an extremely bold decision-let Michael Reid sit on the bench as a substitute, and put Laga Bell on the starting lineup as a shooting guard.

Changing the formation on the spot is a taboo for military strategists, especially since the Celtics are the dominant side with the right time, place and people. They should have remained unchanged in response to all changes, but he did this on the spot, which makes people feel very strange. .

"Look at the Celtics' starting lineup. Oh, they actually changed their lineup. P.J. Brown, Kevin Garnett, Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pierce. The starting shooting guard was replaced by LaL. Gabel!" Stockton was also surprised when he saw the Celtics lineup. He didn't expect anyone to change the starting lineup at the beginning of the Eastern Conference finals, and the Celtics did not report that Reid was injured. News of illness.

"This is indeed surprising, but as I said, he is a coach who does not fight unprepared battles. I believe he must have done a lot of thinking and work during this week's break to make such a decision. decision." Cole still supports Leon and the Celtics unconditionally.

Indeed, Leon has done a lot of preparation work. In fact, he had the idea as early as the middle of the season to let Laga Bell start and Reid as a substitute to improve the team's substitute players' lack of independent offensive ability. , making the two lineups of the team more balanced and the game connection smoother and more stable.

When playing against the Kings this season, Leon put Reed on the bench in the second half. As a result, Reed's outstanding performance in that game defeated the Kings in one fell swoop. However, after that, for the sake of the smooth progress of the regular season, Reid stayed in the starting lineup as usual. In some games, Leon would try to start Bell and Reid would play the super sixth man. Therefore, substituting Reid tonight is not without preparation, but has been prepared for a long time.

"This guy, let Reid substitute...Fuc-K..." Larry Bird, who was sitting in the audience watching the game, cursed in his heart, because he knew that before the game started, the Pacers also performed Changes in formation.

"Let's take a look at the Pacers' starting lineup... Oh, it's also changed... The starting lineup is Jerry Foster, Jermaine O'Neal, Ron Artest, Jamal Tinsley and Ray Jim Miller! In previous games, they used Stephen Jackson as the starting shooting guard, and now, Jackson is sitting on the bench! Did Fox Leon guess in advance that the Pacers were going to change their formation?" Seeing the Pacers Now Stockton will no longer think that the Celtics' starting lineup is nonsense. This is simply a prediction of the future!

"The Pacers really changed their formation? This must be Vogel's idea, this kid..." Leon looked at the Pacers' starting lineup and felt reassured, although he was not sure that the Pacers would definitely do so. Change of formation, but this is also within the scope of his consideration. Secondly, he knew that this must be Vogel's suggestion. O'Brien rarely made such risky decisions. On the contrary, Vogel, as a younger generation, had many ideas in his mind.

This season, after the Pacers introduced Jackson, their backcourt strength has greatly increased, but there have been conflicts over how to arrange the roles of Reggie Miller and Jackson. They have tried to play a smaller lineup and let O'Neal Jr. play center. He was a senior and a junior, and then he was beaten badly by the Celtics, and he was not used much after that. In the end, Miller showed his integrity and took the initiative to let Jackson start. He came on the bench to use his remaining heat. The result was very effective, and the Pacers reached 60 wins this season.

Now, they suddenly put Jackson on the bench, obviously with some ideas. It's just that someone with ideas met someone with more ideas. The Celtics followed suit and put Reid on the bench.

"We all want to give ourselves a backup plan, but I don't know which side is more cruel... This venue is really noisy. How can I endure it here for more than 40 years?" At this time, sitting in the stands on the other side, Dai Auerbach, wearing sunglasses, thought to himself that the noisy North Shore Garden Arena gave him a headache. In fact, the use of the sixth man began with Auerbach.

The ancestor who used the Super Sixth Man sat quietly on the sidelines and watched his disciples and grandchildren carry forward this method and compete with each other in wits and courage.

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The game started with a jump ball. PJ Brown held down Foster and passed the ball to Garnett. The Celtics got their first offensive right.

The Celtics often use two types of offense in the opening stage. One is Garnett's high post organization and jump shot, and the other is Arenas' breakthrough and distribution. One of these two offensive modes is sophisticated and holistic, and the other is simple and crude. , which one to use mainly depends on what kind of opponent you face. Against a team with strong defense like the Pacers, Leon always likes the second type, to be tough first and disrupt everything.

Sure enough, Arenas advanced quickly after getting the ball. Then facing Tinsley, he first turned his back and used his strength to open up the space. Then, with the help of Garnett's pick-and-roll, he passed by in one step and went directly from the center. Then he did not choose to go deep. Instead, he pulled up directly near the free throw line and shot a mid-range jumper. This is a good position and there is no interference with the ball.

The Celtics scored the first points.

On the Pacers' side, Reggie Miller received a pass from Tinsley and hit a 45-degree jumper from the right side. It seemed that both sides had a good start. The game did not go as people expected. It was a defensive battle from the beginning with no one scoring, and the score soon broke through to zero.

Looking back, Arenas made another successful breakthrough. This time he passed the ball to Pierce. Pierce received the ball and feinted, turned around with his back, stepped back, and hit a jump shot. Then the Pacers launched a quick counterattack. Jermaine O'Neal quickly got to the basket, avoided the defense of Garnett and Brown, and succeeded in a reverse layup with his left hand.

In the next few attacks, both sides had high shooting percentages, and the game was smooth as expected. This made Stockton couldn't help but say: "Have the two sides agreed not to defend too tightly and run slowly?"

In this way, there was no dead ball between the two sides in the first five minutes, and the score reached 14:13. The Celtics led by one point and had to enter an official timeout.

However, the storm is brewing in this initial calm.