The Whip of the God of Basketball

Leon's worries were not superfluous.

On January 4, the Celtics, who ushered in the second guest from the Southeast, the Miami Heat, suffered a disastrous defeat at home. At 69:91, the Celtics didn't even score more than 70 points. The Heat's strangled defense made the Celtics completely lose their focus. The team suffered the worst defeat of the season.

After the game, head coach Carroll said at the press conference: "The team is in a very bad state. I can understand that there will always be one or two games every season where you feel that the team is so bad that it doesn't deserve to play. NBA, but the key point is how we should play in the future, how to learn from failures and lessons."

Leon sat next to Carroll in the press conference without saying a word. After the game against the Magic, the team continued to practice passing and second fast breaks. On the surface, it seemed that the training effect was fruitful. But in the middle of the game, the players seem to have entered a painful period of tactical transformation. The team's offensive rhythm was in a mess throughout the game. in what position.

Unfortunately, Leon and the Celtics didn't have much time to adjust. The next day after the game, the whole team will go to New York for a back-to-back game. On the bus to the away game, all the players were closing their eyes and resting their minds. Back-to-back games will consume a lot of energy, and last night's fiasco made everyone feel bad.

Leon's spirit is not bad. He is sitting in the front row holding a tactical manual in his hand and thinking about the tactical content. Sitting next to him is the team's video editor Jimmy Young, who is listening to music with big headphones. sleep well.

Since O'Brien resigned, Vogel left with O'Brien, so Jimmy Young became the team's only video editor. With short blond hair and a tall, lanky, funny-looking figure, Jimmy Young looked the quintessential Irishman.

The car was a bit bumpy on the road. In fact, the team could take a regional plane to New York. Although the distance between the two cities is not too far, since the 9/11 incident, anyone who travels to New York by plane has to weigh it.

So the Celtics also decided to take a car to New York like they did in the 1960s, so Yang was jolted awake while he was sleeping soundly. He rubbed his eyes, took off his earphones, looked at his watch, and found that he was still a short distance from New York. He couldn't fall asleep anymore, turned his head to look at Leon next to him, and found that he was still reading the tactical manual.

"Don't watch Fox, you won't get motion sickness?" Yang looked at Leon's serious look, and sometimes he still didn't understand that a tall, handsome and strong man like him wouldn't go to pick up girls to participate Party, staring at a few tactical manuals and massive videos every day. Yang is an excellent video editor, but he doesn't have much love for basketball itself. He just edits and collects the footage that the team needs based on his experience. This is the biggest difference between him and Vogel.

Hearing Jimmy's words, Leon turned his eyes away from the tactical manual, fell back on the backrest and closed his eyes to take a rest. He said, "I don't get motion sickness now, I get ball sickness."

Leon's "ball-sickness" made Jimmy laugh. He found that Leon was cold and serious on the surface, but sometimes he was quite humorous. After he finished laughing, he said to Leon: "Don't worry too much, everything has a process. Although I don't know much about tactics, Vogel does, but I know that a group of guys need to change their style of play to adapt to a new style. How hard it is to play, especially in the middle of the season. It's almost like breaking a straight guy, the sooner the better."

Leon didn't bother to pay attention to Jimmy's messy metaphors. He knew that Jimmy's words made sense, but it didn't help solve the problem. The most beneficial thing Leon learned from Auerbach is straight-line thinking, when there is a problem, solve it at all costs, and thinking is a straight line connecting these two points. As for other objective difficulties and subjective interferences that go around, they all need to be pierced by straight-line thinking.

"If there is any problem, why don't you discuss it? It's not a good habit to work behind closed doors by yourself." The head coach Carol, who was sitting on the other side of the aisle, said to Leon. Since the beginning of the new year, Carroll has handed over the team's offensive training to Leon. He himself puts more energy on the personal development of players and on-the-spot command, as well as all other complicated matters that the head coach has to face. .

"I think it is a correct choice for the team to focus on the second fast break, but in terms of formation, I think there are some minor problems. I have adjusted the traditional second fast break formation and shortened the distance between players. , reducing the three-point threat from the wing, the intention is to reduce the probability of players passing the ball and increase the chance of independent selection in the offense. But... I always feel that there are still some problems, but I can't tell where the problem is." Leon He is proficient in almost all tactical boards and running positions. At the beginning, when it was necessary to combine two different types of tactics, his lack of practical experience was exposed.

The second fast break emphasizes that the opponent has already returned to defense, but the defensive formation has not yet been formed, and the means of scoring directly and efficiently by using a fast attack. The second fast break is often complementary to the first fast break. When the first fast break is unsuccessful, use quick tactical coordination to beat the opponent when they are still looking for defensive objects and forming a defensive front.

Fast breaks and second fast breaks are the most common tactical scoring methods for any team, but few teams have elevated them to the level of team tactics, just like Pitino promoted the full-court press It is the same as the basic defensive strategy of the Celtics team. Leon saw that the current Celtics have too much talent in the backcourt, but they don't have a master who distributes the ball. Such a fast advance and second fast break is theoretically very suitable for the current Celtics.

The formation Leon just mentioned refers to the most commonly used offensive formation in the second fast break. Four players are arranged on both sides of the bottom corner and two 45-degree three-point lines. A big man is on one side low position. The core of this tactic is that the inside big man must use the fastest speed to insert into the enemy's heartland to become a containment force, and then the other four players must spread out on the outside to give each player enough space to attack. The tactical starting method is often that a player in the bottom corner uses a big man to cut inside to the other side, and at the same time the ball is transferred from the outside, and completes a strong and weak side conversion with the cutting player. After that, it is necessary to consider the next step according to the opponent's defense and the position of one's own players.

Generally speaking, the pass will not exceed three times, and the offense will be completed, because even if there is not enough space to run, you can directly play a single for a certain player.

Leon's transformation of this basic tactic is to pull the position of the weak-side bottom corner player inward, and the position of the weak-side 45-degree player inward, so that the original four players outside the three-point line become three-pointers. Two were outside the three-point line and two were near the three-point line. The advantage of this is that the distance between the inside support players and the weak-side players is shortened. Once the opponent double-teams, the possibility of making mistakes in large-scale transfer of the ball will be reduced. Moreover, Leon does not think that the team needs to ambush four three-point points on the outside. Appropriate internal pressure can enhance the team's impact on the inside and make up for the team's serious shortage of inside offensive capabilities.

The idea is very good, but there will always be various accidents in practice. At least from the perspective of the Celtics’ second fast break in the current two games, it still relies more on the individual performance of the players. The two points Leon emphasized This principle and the new offensive formation did not exert enough power.

After listening to Leon's words, Carol licked his lips and nodded, then shook his head, pursed his lips vigorously, and said with difficulty: "Your idea is very good, but... to be honest, I will give you I don't have any comments..." Carol's words made Jimmy, who was also listening attentively, burst out laughing. After laughing, he put on his earphones and started listening to music. In fact, he didn't understand what Leon said.

Of course Carol is not an idiot, but Leon's description is too abstract, and he still speaks vaguely in a few words. Only those who have a super abstract imagination and keep all the tactical plans and tactical changes in their minds can communicate with him. Leon communicates. Carroll's strength lies in discovering the individual technical ability of players, rather than studying tactics.

Seeing that Carol said this, Leon looked at Dick Hart on the other side. The old man closed his eyes and seemed to be asleep, and didn't want to get involved in the topic at all. He felt that without a tactical board and a video tape, he couldn't talk about tactics with Leon. He was so old that he still had such a strong abstract imagination. What's more, Leon's thinking is quick and quick, and Hart can't keep up.

At this time, Leon missed Vogel a little bit. Although he and Leon have always been at odds, and he is also a member of Pitino and O'Brien, he has always been unique in tactical study. Leon made a good deduction.

"But I know a guy who can definitely discuss this with you, and you can ask him for advice when you get a chance. Let me see the schedule ... In a few days, his team will be visiting Boston. At that time, you can study it carefully." Carroll looked at the schedule and said to Leon.

"That's right, I know who he is! Just ask him, he won't mind." Hart, who was pretending to be asleep, immediately jumped up when he heard Carol's words. He looked at the schedule and seemed I also know who Carol is talking about.