The Whip of the God of Basketball

Joe Johnson spent the last day of 2001 with his family in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, and then ushered in the first day of 2002 with his mother's breakfast at home. Boston is half an American distance away from Little Rock, but Johnson still hopes to celebrate New Year's Eve with his family to commemorate his very important year in basketball.

Unlike many black players from single-parent families, Joe Johnson came from a warm and united family. Although he also had to face poverty, violence and drugs, the close family relationship allowed him to spend a better childhood. And his mother told him to be low-key, keep his head down, not to be arrogant, and not to get close to danger since he was a child. This shaped Joe Johnson's low-key and steady personality, even a little cold and cold. So when he was selected by the Celtics to come to the city with the most racial discrimination in the United States, Joe Johnson did not complain or fear, but silently waited for the opportunity, waiting for the opportunity to shine.

When eating breakfast, Johnson's mother Diana fried him two eggs, warmed a glass of milk and a few slices of bread. Since Johnson entered the NBA, their family situation has improved a lot. Serving the milk, Diana hugged Johnson's head and gave him a big kiss, saying, "You're my pride, kid." It's because of her son that now Diana doesn't have to stay there anymore. She worked in a mental hospital where she was once injured by a patient, and it was from then on that Joe Johnson vowed to enter the NBA to play and prevent his mother from engaging in such a dangerous job.

Faced with his mother's praise, Johnson just smiled slightly. He is not very good at expressing his emotions even to his relatives. Sometimes he is too restrained. During the short time Paul Pierce was injured, Johnson seized the opportunity to make full use of his offensive skills, and it is clear that his offensive skills have been honed during his time in Boston. He doesn't like the city of Boston, aside from racial discrimination, it's too cold, too humid, too small, with too many cold colors, too many crazy shouts, and of course, too glorious and heavy history here, all like A big shackle was on Johnson's body.

Among the three new rookies this year, Joe Johnson was originally the highest pick and was considered to have the best talent and skills. However, after coming to Boston, Arenas undoubtedly stole Johnson's limelight. The Celtics After Kenny Anderson was replaced, Arenas was left vacant at the point guard position, and a veteran like Steve Kerr could only play as a substitute. Especially after O'Brien dismissed get out of class, Arenas gradually got the team's key training, coupled with his hard training and self-confident character, he quickly made a name for himself in the game.

On the front and back line, the Celtics have a core player Paul Pierce, and it happens that Pierce and Johnson are similar in style of play, but Pierce's technical level and game experience are superior to Johnson's. And the team's other shooting guard, the young Michael Reed, is slanted forward, with super fast shooting speed and increasingly excellent running ability, and his position in the Celtics is becoming more and more stable. Johnson hardly got much chance to play.

He chose to wait silently, and spend 200% of his efforts in daily training, preparing for opportunities that may come at any time. On the night against the Utah Jazz, when Paul Pierce was elbowed to the ground by Malone, Johnson had to admit that there was a trace of excitement and expectation deep in his heart, hoping that Pierce could lie on the ground more For a while, so he may have more chances to play. Of course, this is just a momentary thought. Johnson is not the kind of person who gloats and bases his happiness on the pain of others, but he really wants to play.

Thinking of this, Johnson still felt a little ashamed. For his flashback at that time, he lowered his head and ate a piece of bread, took a sip of milk, and felt the sweetness in his mouth, just like it did in the past week. Although the team lost three of the four games in the Western Conference road trip, Johnson's personal performance was quite good, scoring more than 15 points in all four games, and scored a career-high 19 in the game against the Clippers. point. Now his biggest wish is to score more than 20 points in a game, and he hopes that averaging 20 points per game will become his habit.

"Okay mom, don't give me fried chicken chops anymore. I don't eat these things. Clean up for me. I'm going to fly back in two hours." Johnson saw that his mother was still frying for himself Chicken Pai's words stopped her. Fried chicken is the most famous food in Arkansas. Although it has always been known as unhealthy, most people still cannot resist the aroma and tender taste of fried chicken, especially the fried chicken in Arkansas, which is paired with Mexican hot sauce. People can't stop. Johnson was also a big fan of fried chicken, but after becoming a professional basketball player, he was moving away from the stuff.

"Why don't you go in the afternoon? Uncle and Uncle want to have dinner with you at noon! I have prepared a lot of dishes. Didn't you say that you will have a game in the evening and you will have training in the afternoon!" All mothers obviously do not want His own son left early, and Diana was no exception.

Johnson shook his head and said: "The coach of the team sent a text message last night, telling us that the training was brought forward to the morning of the 1st, so I must rush to Boston tonight and get a good night's sleep. Okay, mom, I'll wait later I got a big contract and will buy a big house where all the family can live together." Johnson hugged his mother.

Two hours later, Johnson got on the plane back to Boston. The text message last night was sent by Leon. In fact, NBA team coaches rarely send text messages to players to tell them to change the training time, especially the training time in advance. This is not a university, and the players under him are not students. Some veterans have families and have their own lives and work and rest. When the team decides to give them a vacation, it’s okay to call them back quickly with a text message. It's not that easy.

But Leon can do it, Johnson knows it, and sometimes he has to admit in his heart that he is a little intimidated by this unique assistant coach. is rarely wrong. This has formed a stereotype among the players-don't be against Fox Leon, against him means you have to make mistakes. Thinking of Leon with his arms around him, standing coldly on the sidelines and looking at everyone, Johnson felt a little shuddering.

"Damn, why does this guy give people such a feeling, in fact, he is quite nice..." Johnson couldn't help thinking.

…………………

On the morning of the 2nd, Leon arrived at the training hall early again. Originally, the team gave all players and staff a two-and-a-half-day vacation, allowing the players to return to Boston on the afternoon of the 2nd and go directly to the TD North Shore Garden for training. Participated in the first game of 2002 against the Orlando Magic. But a text message sent by Leon gathered everyone a long time ago, and no one objected or asked for leave. Even Dennis Rodman arrived at the training hall on time. Straight from the nightclub. "Although I smell like alcohol, I didn't actually drink much." Rodman also explained, and it seemed that he was indeed not drunk.

Joe Johnson arrived at the Boston airport at ten o'clock last night. After getting off the plane, he rushed back to his apartment to rest. He also got up early the next day to participate in training. When he arrived at the training hall, Arenas, Michael Reid And Paul Pierce has been in the arena for an hour of shooting practice.

Before the training started, Carroll held a small meeting for the players in the small conference room. He briefly described the team's training plan for today, gave instructions to the players, and then handed the podium to Leon.

Today Leon dressed very energetically. He picked up an oil-based pen and wrote a word on the whiteboard in the meeting room, "Habit (habit)". He said to everyone: "Everyone sees these five-letter words. Habit, habit is doing something repeatedly, such as our training. When everything becomes a habit, then everything is natural, no need to think, because it has become a part of our life. For example, I erase the 'H' With that said, Leon erased the letter H with an eraser.

"There is still 'a-bit' (some), if I erase 'A', we still have 'bit' (a bit), if I erase 'B', then 'it' (it) is still with us Together, this is the power of habits, they go with you, if you have bad habits, they will always destroy, if you have good habits, then you will benefit for life. Now, halfway through the season, I am watching all the time Every one of you. I am also learning, and I am also thinking. Today, Coach Carroll gave me the power to formulate a new and more reasonable training plan and tactical arrangement for the team. Then, I will make good habits , in the Celtics team culture, re-promoted."

As he said that, Leon took out a dozen training plans from the backpack behind him. This is a revised version of the plan he had previously rejected by O'Brien. Starting today, this training plan will accompany the Celtics. For many years, it has been continuously revised, added and deleted, using Fox-Leon's superb wisdom, meticulous observation and summarization ability, combined with the experience learned from many senior celebrities and various problems in actual combat training The way, eventually became an important page of the Celtics basketball culture. Leon took a major step toward writing his basketball bible.

"Today, our training will start with passing and fast breaks."