The Whip of the God of Basketball

The Celtics had a fierce battle with the Jazz in Salt Lake City. The game started at 7:00 pm in the US Mountain Time. Due to fierce physical confrontation throughout the game, fouls continued. The referee's whistle rang through the audience. In every quarter of the game, there was a situation where both sides fouled four times and required free throws.

This has nothing to do with Karl Malone knocking Pierce down with an elbow five days ago. The Celtics players are quite tough in the center of the triangle. The hardness of ten, he scored a game-high 31 points in the game, Malone had already kept up with Walker's small steps on the defensive end, and was directly passed by him to score inside. But Walker also couldn't prevent the 38-year-old Malone's machine-like steady pick-and-roll roll and mid-range jumper, and the two sides kept strangling until the final minutes of the game.

"There are still two minutes left! There is still a gap of two points, we must hit the inside, we must hit the inside, use the opportunity of free throws to even out the gap, and then defend them!" Carroll repeatedly emphasized during a timeout It is necessary to attack inside and use breakthroughs or fouls to score. Now they still have a two-point gap with the Jazz, and there are 2 minutes and 14 seconds left before the end of the game.

Leon squatted aside and watched the young people panting heavily. The loud noise around him made Carol howl all night, and his voice was already hoarse. Now the five players on the Celtics field are Walker, Joe Johnson, Arenas, Reid and Potapanko. Leon can feel that everyone is a little tired. The high altitude and extremely intense competition in Salt Lake City The confrontation in the game and the noisy environment on the scene, each factor will quickly drain the physical strength of the players.

For the first time, Leon saw a tired look in the eyes of a mouse in the training hall like Arenas. He faced Stockton again tonight. Arenas had a hard time. He even ate A technical foul because he couldn't stand being harassed by Stockton on offense anymore. This made Leon's premonition of the final development of the game not very good.

Sure enough, in the offense after the timeout ended, Walker and Arenas completed a poor quality pick-and-roll. Walker did not get rid of the defense at all after receiving the ball, but he still rushed inside with all his strength, but his physical strength was not as good as the previous three quarters. , and finally fell in the three-second zone under the defense of Karl Malone. The ball slipped from his hands and fell out of the baseline. The referee blew the ball in the backcourt without hesitation. Things got worse for the Celtics.

Leon sat on the sidelines and watched Walker's breakthrough. When he started, Leon knew that his foot strength was a little insufficient, and his pick-and-roll with Arenas was really bad, the block was not strong, and Stockton was very weak. It was easy to squeeze through, and the inside cut was too anxious, and he didn't catch the ball steadily, so he had to adjust and force an attack, but was squeezed down by the strong Karl Malone and made a mistake. In the absence of Paul Pierce, Walker has assumed most of the team's offensive responsibilities, and he is a bit tired.

Carroll stood on the sidelines anxiously pacing up and down. If the Jazz succeeded in their next attack, the form would be bad. The old-fashioned Stockton did not rush to launch a counterattack, but steadily controlled the ball for halftime, the Jazz fell 1-4, Collins came over and made a screen for Donnie Marshall, and Marshall used a standard UCLA-Cut to cut in In the low post, Stockton passed the ball to Marshall without hesitation, then Collins cut outside, Stockton moved from the strong side to the weak side, Malone, who was originally on the weak side, suddenly started cutting to the basket, Marshall made an inside pass Leave it to Malone. Malone withstood Potapanko with his strong back, and made a layup with his left hand under the basket. The difference between the two sides widened to four points.

"Everyone is a little tired." Dick Hart, who was sitting next to Leon, shook his head and said. As the team's defensive coach, he could see that the players' positioning in the defense just now was not a big problem. The key is Fatigue made the players lack of concentration and slowed down their reactions by half a beat, which gave the Jazz players a chance to launch tactics. Hart's defensive system emphasizes physical confrontation and inside rotation. The problem is that the Celtics have never had a good inside defender. Fortunately, this young team has good defensive discipline and habits. The problem is that the constant confrontation and the pressure of the away game make it difficult for the players to persist, and the full-court press that has been running through the past few seasons is gradually no longer the team's mainstream defensive mode.

"But those old guys seem to have enough energy." Leon took Hart's words. He was talking about several veterans of the Utah Jazz, such as Stockton and Malone, who have already played in this league. For nearly twenty years, thousands of games, such high-intensity confrontation, seems to have no effect on their physical strength.

"They are much more relaxed on the offensive end. I guess they don't need to exert force and think when they are running." Hart said a little helplessly. Stockton and Malone have been working together for nearly 20 years, and Sloan has also worked hard in Salt Lake City for 16 years. It can be said that Sloan knows everything here, including their tactics. The Jazz's offense just now was an ordinary UCLA 1-4 position to launch an air cut tactic. They had already practiced it countless times in training. Sloan didn't even need to shout from the sidelines. The key ball can be scored under the command. In contrast, the Celtics without Pierce rely more on the talent of the players in their offense. Joe Johnson scored a career-high 16 points on 7 of 12 shots in tonight's game, but he still couldn't make up for Pierce's absence lack of tactics.

And Leon also knows that the Celtics, who have too many young players, are far from the Jazz in terms of tactical richness and quality. This is also an important reason why the players fell into fatigue at the last moment.

When Walker missed another jumper from outside the three-point line and was caught by a long pass from Stockton to launch a fast break, Malone was in the right position like a punctual train station, received the pass and made an easy layup. Being pulled to six points, the center of the triangle fell into a sea of ​​cheers. Looking at the tired and desperate eyes of the players, Leon knew that the game had already been won.

The Celtics' trip to the West is off to a bad start.

…………………

After leaving Salt Lake City, the Celtics team did not have time to summarize, because their schedule was the worst back-to-back away game, so they went to Salt Lake City Airport just after the game ended, flew to Arizona, and prepared to start tomorrow. Phoenix game. Leon can only save the video of the game first, so that the bitter fruit of failure can be slowly digested in his stomach. He has to deal with tomorrow's game first.

After the Suns experienced the exchange of the head guard in the offseason, they did not usher in a new life like the Nets. The team's record is tepid. Stephen Marbury still has beautiful data, but it seems He doesn't allow his teammates to reach their full potential. However, on the night of the 27th, the Celtics still experienced a bitter battle. The continued absence of Pierce made the team continue to be weak offensively. Lacking a good enough offensive system and offensive groomers, they staged an iron fight to the audience. In the end, the Celtics lost the game with a two-point disadvantage of 83:85 in the away game. Arenas, who scored 23 points in the game, missed a three-point lore at the last moment, which made the team regret the defeat.

The suffering of the Celtics did not end. After a day's rest, they went to Los Angeles on the 29th. Fortunately, their opponent was the Los Angeles Clippers instead of the Los Angeles Lakers. The two sides fought hard for two overtimes. The Celtics finally Relying on Antoine Walker's key three-pointer in the second overtime and a steal by Arenas, they defeated the Clippers by a narrow margin of 110:108 and finally ushered in a difficult victory.

But the joy of victory did not last long. The last battle of the Western Conference road trip, and the most powerful opponent, will be the Sacramento Kings. This was another bad back-to-back away game. The Celtics had almost no time to rest, and they took the bus directly from Los Angeles to Sacramento. The king's regular season this season can be described as unstoppable. They averaged more than 100 points per game, and the offense is like mercury. The team's all-star power forward Chris Webber ushered in the peak of his career this season. He is integrated with the entire Kings team. , played the most beautiful offense on the West Coast.

Facing such a Kings team, the Celtics were beaten helplessly in the game on the night of the 30th. They once again faced an offensive team with a complete and beautiful system. The Kings pass is so smooth and beautiful , the already exhausted Celtics players held on for halftime, and were completely defeated by a 10:0 attack wave from the Kings in the third quarter. At 109:94, the Celtics saved some points in the final garbage time, but they still couldn't change the fact that they were defeated in Arco Arena.

This was the Celtics' last game in 2001. On the way out of the court and back to the locker room, Leon looked at the players' exhausted and frustrated expressions, and deeply felt that a team lacking a good offensive system was in danger. How passive in the game. This put Leon into an extreme contradiction. On the one hand, he hopes that players, especially young players, can grow freely, and then gradually put the tactical reins that suit them on them. On the other hand, a team without a reasonable and effective offensive tactical system plays very tiring games, especially in the face of two back-to-back away games, such a high-intensity schedule of four games in five days, purely relying on simple tactical coordination and player talent to play, almost no Way to win consecutively.

The head coach Carroll seemed to see Leon's troubles. On the way back to the hotel, Carroll said to Leon: "I know what you are thinking about Leon. In the future, you can focus on tactics in training." , The matter of cultivating newcomers can be resisted on my shoulders."

"But you are the head coach, you have more questions..."

"So what does it matter! Do the right thing, for Auerbach..."