The Whip of the God of Basketball

In Washington, Auerbach returned to his home after dinner at the China Doll restaurant. Today is Thursday, not a day for club parties. After his wife died, his life became monotonous. When she was there, the two would visit their daughter and granddaughter together, or walk around Washington together. Now, the club, the small garden at home, and the Chinese doll restaurant have become his main activities, and he has no energy to run around anymore.

Unless for the Celtics, or for Fox - Leon.

Some time ago, he made a special trip to Boston to fight for a separate signing conference for Rodman, and then moved up and down so that Leon could get a temporary assistant coach to exercise. It took a lot of effort to get it done. He contacted Paul Gaston, the owner of Boston, for Wycliffe Glosspack, who was currently very active in Boston's financial circles.

Gloss Peck and his father are building a basketball financial investment team, the goal is the Boston Celtics. At present, the strength of this financial investment group is still expanding, especially the addition of Steven Pagliuca has made their acquisition plan a big step ahead of schedule, and they have begun to enter the actual stage of team building and contacting sellers.

At this time, they need someone with enough weight to open up the way for them to acquire the Celtics, but Grosspike did not expect that Auerbach would condescend to be a middleman. The benefit that Auerbach got for this was that Paul Gaston put pressure on Pitino, hoping that he would not appear on the coaching bench in the preseason.

Such an action means a complete break with Pitino. Auerbach did not hope to let Pitino fall from the position of Celtics head coach so early. He originally wanted to keep Pitty No, let him stay with the Celtics for another half season to see the situation. If there is still no improvement, then Pitino himself will be embarrassed to sit in that position by then.

But Auerbach couldn't wait, because he felt that his physical condition was getting worse and worse. After his wife died, his daughter and son-in-law advised him to quit smoking, and the fans didn't give him cigars anymore, but he still couldn't give up this most of his life. Hobby. But in August, he felt uncomfortable in his heart. Over the past ten years, he had undergone several surgeries on his heart. Modern medicine has prolonged his life, but Auerbach knew that it would be difficult for him to bear it again. surgery.

Maybe he can live another five or six years, but who knows when he will lie in bed unable to move until he dies? If that happened, it would ruin his last attempt at a Celtic revival.

So he can't wait any longer, and he won't give Pitino another half a season. The time given to him is enough. Auerbach will use the fastest speed to train his successor, that is, Fox - Leon.

Scouting is a very good start. The most important thing for a coach is not to toss about those complicated tactics, but to know people and assign them well. A coach who is good at discovering and using players is always more powerful than those tactical madmen. Although Auerbach also knows that Leon has the potential to evolve into a tactical maniac, but he does not want him to embark on this path of no return for coaches with few successes. This is why he does not allow Leon to learn basketball tactics. His ability to learn is too strong.

After returning home, Auerbach wanted to light a cigar, but thinking about the doctor's advice, he still silently put the cigar into the box. In his large study room, there are many former honorary medals, photos and various cigars. They are all quietly lying in the cigar box, slowly brewing a refreshing fragrance.

After ten minutes of enduring in the seat, Auerbach couldn't resist digging out a "Dutch Master" and lit it with a cigar match. He thought tonight that the Celtics have gone to far away San Antonio, where the Celtics will experience back-to-back preseason games and challenge their opponents away. For the Celtics, it's a good fit for the new season, with back-to-backs, long-distance away games, and a very strong opponent, Tim Duncan and his Spurs.

Whenever he thinks of this name, Auerbach will feel a tingle in his heart. For this player, he made the Celtics give up their dignity as an old-school strong team, and set the worst regular season record in team history. In the end, he still failed to play David - The lottery draft system created by Stern continues to maintain the tradition of the team's history of no champion, and also lost the best chance for the team's revival.

Auerbach knew that what the Celtics had to face at this time was not only the weakness of the team, but also the heavy history and pressure from the league. Always one move away, always missing the slightest bit, in the struggle with the league president David Stern, after all, he was unable to resist the power of the league's capital, the progress of the times and the teasing of fate, making Boston's basketball The imperial dream is lost in history.

"I don't know if Leon has felt the power of Duncan. If he feels it, what will he think?" Auerbach recalled the shock and ecstasy when he saw Duncan, and he growled in his heart, "Then It is my second Russell, and I have never seen anyone more like Russell, no, he is better than Russell." Thinking of this, Auerbach took a deep breath of the cigarette and exhaled All are resentment and regret.

Meanwhile at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, the Boston Celtics are playing their second back-to-back preseason game.

They lost the first game at home, losing to the visiting Milwaukee Bucks by 11 points. The development is quite thorough, simple and decisive offensive routines, accurate outside shooting, let the Celtics who lack Pierce leak in all directions.

Reed found some feeling in the fourth quarter, but he didn't have the ability to turn the tide, and the performance of six points and one rebound didn't make Boston fans have any hope for him. I also knew that Leon could sense that what happened to Reed Small changes.

That change was on display at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio, where he got his start and hit his first 3-pointer on an NBA floor in the first quarter—a quick 45-degree left-hander. The shot, with a shooting posture like a trebuchet, let the ball smash into the basket abruptly.

"Ugly posture, but the effect is not bad." O'Brien's evaluation of Reid's shooting action is quite pertinent. But tonight, Leon's attention is not on Reed, this kid who has gradually matured no longer needs too much attention. No. attracted the past.

At this time, the game has reached the middle of the second quarter. No. 21 Tim Duncan was replaced by their head coach Popovich. It seems that he will not play again in the second quarter. Leon turned out his notebook It wrote: "Tim Duncan, expressionless, but full of emotion, can be seen from the small movements of the ball. The power is very strong, not easy to be noticed, the flexibility is unique, easy to be ignored. There are no technical dead ends, defense Positioning and judgment are very precise, almost no jitters, attack calmly, can use the body very well, feels extremely good, and is related to flexibility. You should be familiar with every detail of the tactics. Although I don’t know what the tactics are, I can see them. When it comes out, his running position selection is regular, if you show me two hours of video, I can sum it up."

After writing these words, Leon closed his notebook, and at the same time began to sit on the bench in a daze. He didn't have much interest in the next game. At this time, he was thinking, facing such a player, if there is no way to He brought his own team, so what method should be used to contain the team he leads.

Leon knew the history of Tim Duncan, his sophomore rookie championship and MVP in 1999, and Auerbach's abandonment of almost everything in order to select him.

When you really stand on the sidelines and observe Leon, you will realize that this is indeed a very powerful player, and Leon faintly feels that there are many, many things in him that he has not seen. Just relying on video or watching the game from the sidelines is an experience. If not, you have to lead the team, the players, and compete with this player on the field in person, to contain him or be broken by him, in order to feel the basketball-related things behind it.

This made Leon's heart feel like a thousand claws scratching his heart. The last player who made him feel similar was Kevin Garnett. I saw him in Minneapolis that time, even if I didn't watch him play, I just watched him. The body is also enough to make people itchy. After returning, Leon found a lot of Garnett's game videos from Vogel. He also felt that there were some things behind such players that could not be seen at a glance.

Leon was immersed in this kind of thinking until the end of the first half of the game, and during the intermission, there was a surprising news in the locker room that the Celtics coach and president Rick Pitty Nuo, announced in Boston that he would resign from all positions and terminate the contract with the Celtics. At the same time, he stated that he would not work in the NBA and work related to basketball, but would return to college basketball.

The Pitino era of the Celtics ended suddenly, and Leon didn't know how long he could be the "second temporary assistant coach".