The Whip of the God of Basketball

On April 16, 2003, the last game of the NBA regular season was played in Seattle. The SuperSonics defeated the Phoenix Suns 84:70 at home at Key Arena. After nearly five months and a total of 2,378 games, the long regular season finally came to an end. closed the curtain.

The San Antonio Spurs won the regular season championship with a record of 60 wins and 22 losses, seizing all home court advantage throughout the playoffs. A total of 16 playoff teams will start a more intense and cruel battle after about 3 to 4 days of rest. Starting from this season, the first round of the NBA playoffs will also adopt a best-of-seven format, which will be a greater test for the team's physical fitness and energy.

While the media and fans are waiting for the start of the playoffs and discussing the awards of the regular season, Fox Leon is leading his Celtics to conduct high-intensity training at the Waltham training facility. . For Leon, he doesn't care about the regular season awards, because basically the Celtics will not have the opportunity to get any awards. Although Fox-Leon once had the call to win the NBA's best head coach, but this season His various "evil" behaviors in the second half, as well as his decision to rest in the last game that caused the team to lose the first place in the Eastern Conference, have eliminated him from the list of candidates for the best coach.

Leon originally didn't have much interest in those awards. Maybe the players need these honors to gain bargaining chips for their next big contract, but for the coach, the only way to prove them is to lead the team to continuous victory, especially It’s about winning in the playoffs.

There were still two days left before Leon coached the first playoff game. Leon gave the team a day off on the first day after the regular season. The next day, the 18th, the team was in Waltham. Concentrate and start the last comprehensive and systematic training before the game. This time, Leon focused his training on physical fitness and defense. Leon handed over these tasks to Hess and Hart, while he stood silent on the sidelines.

Since Hess came to the team this season, the Celtics' physical fitness level has been steadily rising. They have never failed at critical moments due to physical problems. Their running and offensive rounds are also among the best in the league. . So Leon trusts physical training experts like Hess very much. Not to mention Hart, he is an absolutely trustworthy defensive master. All the details of the Celtics' defense are left to him to correct.

Leon himself is thinking about everything related to tomorrow's game. Yesterday, when the players were resting and relaxing, he found all the video clips related to the Philadelphia 76ers, went through them all, and then relied on his extraordinary memory ability to store important things in his mind. Now his eyes are staring at the Celtics team training, but what is shown in his mind is the scene of the Philadelphia 76ers and Celtics playing here.

Just when Leon was lost in thought, Dave Cowens walked up to Leon, handed it to Leon with a statistics sheet in his hand, and said: "Hey Fox, these are the recent games of the 76ers. The detailed statistics of the game have been processed, you can take a look."

Leon took over this data sheet. This is not a simple average player statistics, but a high-level data based on the game situation, victory and defeat results, and historical statistical results. This set of models was jointly built by Leon and Morey. Yes, quite complicated. Leon will find some clues from these data, and then combine the video and experience to formulate the team's battle plan.

"Fox, do you have any regrets that you didn't win Detroit in the last game, and ended up facing the 76ers in the first round instead of the Magic?" Cowens asked Leon in a relaxed tone.

If the Celtics get first place in the Eastern Conference, their first round matchup will be against the Orlando Magic, which has the largest record gap, rather than the Philadelphia 76ers, who have the smallest record gap. For the Celtics, the first round can be said to be a semifinal-level showdown.

Leon knew that Cowens' words were not malicious, he was just afraid that he would be too nervous. Although it was initially suspected that Cowens was a spare tire that Ainge brought in to replace him, it later became clear that he was just a pawn in Auerbach's testing path, and now, after experiencing the full efforts of the acting head coach, Cowens has fully recognized Leon's coaching level, and their cooperative relationship has become increasingly seamless.

Although Cowens' coaching skills are average, his advantage is that he has rich experience and knows all aspects of the joints. He is also a second-generation veteran of the Celtics and can speak everywhere. He is undoubtedly a very good work assistant. Leon knew what Cowens meant and said directly: "I know the outside world is not optimistic about us now, but I think this is a good thing. I think my players have learned how to win the game amid doubts."

In the second half of the season, intentionally or unintentionally, the Celtics suffered a lot of negative press, and the players also suffered a lot of mental pressure. Taking this opportunity, Fox-Leon gathered the will of the whole team and greatly improved the quality of the team's will, which many people did not notice.

"I agree with you, but as a conservative old guy, I still think it is much safer to win first place in the Eastern Conference." Cowens said with a smile. After nearly two months of ups and downs, Cowen Si can understand the meaning of Leon's words.

While Leon was looking at the statistics in his hand, he was thinking about the difficulties that the Celtics would go through. His mind moved and he suddenly recited two lines of poetry: "Although it is hard work to search for thousands of pounds, you will only get gold after blowing all the sand..."

"What are you talking about again?" Cowens asked in a daze. He knew that Leon spoke Chinese, but he didn't know why Leon was so good at Chinese, because he heard Wang Zhizhi say that Leon's Chinese level might be better than his English.

"Nothing, the playoffs will be when our gold shines!"

……………………

Two days passed by in a flash. At 7:30 pm on April 20, the Boston Celtics ushered in their first game of the playoffs, playing against the Philadelphia 76ers at home.

Yesterday, the playoffs started in full swing. In the round of games that just ended, the Eastern Pacers defeated the visiting Hornets, the Nets easily defeated the Milwaukee Bucks at home, and in the Western Conference, the Mavericks and Kings defeated each other without suspense at home. Against the Trail Blazers and Jazz, the Spurs, the league's No. 1 team, unexpectedly lost to the Phoenix Suns in overtime at home. Marbury's magical three-pointer at the last moment gave the eighth-place Suns a glimmer of hope.

Just before the game between the Boston Celtics and the 76ers started, another game in the Eastern Conference had ended. The eighth-ranked Orlando Magic also defeated the first-place Detroit Pistons in the same conference on the road in their first game. Such a result caused an uproar in the public opinion. Both the top teams in the Eastern and Western Conferences failed in the first game of the first round of the playoffs, and the media had to start to hype and use gimmicks.

As for this series between the Celtics and the 76ers, the two old rivals in history are also favored by the Philadelphia 76ers, who do not have the advantage in the regular season.

Before the start of the series, the ESPN website conducted a prediction poll among netizens. As a result, 63% of the people believed that the 76ers would win this series, and the remaining 33% believed that the Celtics would win. , and the rest is a neutral.

But such a prediction cannot dampen the enthusiasm of Boston fans. Before seven o'clock, the North Shore Garden Arena was already full. By the time the game was about to start, the enthusiastic atmosphere seemed to completely overturn this small arena.

Reporters from various TV stations at the scene were holding microphones and cameras for pre-game interviews and commentary. Staff were working non-stop to prepare the competition venue. The lights were flickering on and off, and the on-site national anthem ceremony was also ready.

After the audience sang the national anthem, the away players entered the stadium, and then the lights went out, and the dazzling home players appeared one by one amid the DJ's high-pitched introduction. The Celtics' starting lineup is still the solid five, P.J. Brown, Antoine Walker, Paul Pierce, Michael Reed and Gilbert Arenas.

When Fox Leon was introduced, the lights in the audience came on again, and huge cheers and applause erupted. Ever since Leon lit up his victory cigar in Los Angeles, he has become the most popular sports player in Boston. Team head coach.

However, before the game, one of the reasons why many people were optimistic about the 76ers and looked down on the Celtics was that Fox-Leon's coaching experience was completely unable to compare with Larry Brown. In the finals, Larry Brown and Leon's light cavalry offensive tactics will definitely be defeated by the 76ers' tough defense.

Leon has also heard of this kind of rhetoric, and he dismissed it, because the person who said this definitely still had an impression of the Celtics at the beginning of the season, and he had no understanding of the current Celtics. The changes and progress that people undergo.

When the game was about to start, Leon called the players together in a circle. He said to everyone in a low and hoarse voice: "Some people say that we will die tough, so we will tell them today. What is toughness. Some people say that we will die from defense, then we have to tell them today what defense is. Some people say that we will die from experience, then we have to tell them that we have the most experience in history. The overall championship!"

"Go-celtcis!" everyone yelled.