The Whip of the God of Basketball

The Celtics started a fierce battle with the Jazz in Salt Lake City. The game started at 7pm in the U.S. Mountain Time. The entire game was fouled due to fierce physical confrontation. The referee's whistle sounded through the audience, all four quarters. In each quarter of the game, there were four free throws for both sides to foul at the end.

This has nothing to do with Karl Malone knocking down Pierce with a elbow five days ago. The Celtics were quite tough in the center of the triangle. Even Walker, who is usually joking and joking, showed 120% in the face of Malone. With ten hardness, he scored a game-high 31 points in the game. Malone has already kept up with Walker's small steps on the defensive end, and he has been directly passed by him to score inside. But Walker also couldn't prevent the 38-year-old Malone's machine-like and stable pick-and-rolls and mid-range jumpers. The two sides strangled until the final minutes of the game.

"There are still two minutes left! There is a gap of two points. You must play inside, you must play inside, use the opportunity of free throws to smooth the gap, and then guard them!" Carroll repeatedly emphasized during a timeout. They must attack inside, use breakthroughs or fouls to score. Now they are still two points away from the Jazz, with 2 minutes and 14 seconds left before the end of the game.

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

For the first time, Leon saw a tired look in the eyes of a rat in a training hall like Arenas. He faced Stockton again tonight. Arenas’ days were uncomfortable. He even ate in the third quarter. A technical foul because he can no longer stand being harassed by Stockton on offense. This makes Leon's premonition for the final development of the game not very good.

Sure enough, in the offense after the timeout, 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 tried his best to attack the inside, but his physical strength is no longer comparable to the first three quarters. , Finally fell into the three-second zone under the defense of Karl Malone, the ball slipped from his hand to the bottom line, the referee did not hesitate to blow the backcourt ball, the Jazz got the ball, the audience cheered, two points behind The Celtics' situation suddenly became worse.

Leon sat on the sidelines and watched Walker's breakthrough. When he started, Leon knew that his feet were a little weak, and the pick-and-roll between him and Arenas was really bad. The block was not strong. Stockton was very It was easy to squeeze through, and the inside cut was too anxious, and the ball was not securely received, so he had to adjust and forcibly attacked. As a result, he was squeezed by the strong Karl Malone and made a mistake. In the absence of Paul Pierce, Walker assumed most of the team's offensive responsibilities, and he was a bit tired.

　　Carroll stood on the sidelines and paced anxiously. If the Jazz succeeded in the next attack, the form would be bad. The veteran Stockton did not rush to launch a counterattack, but steadily held the ball for half the time. The Jazz dropped 1-4. Collins came over and made a screen for Donny Marshall. Marshall cut in with a standard UCLA-Cut. In the low position, Stockton did not hesitate to pass the ball to Marshall, then Collins cut outside, Stockton moved from the strong side to the weak side, Malone who was on the weak side suddenly started to cut into the basket, and Marshall made an inside pass. Give it to Malone. Malone resisted Potapenko with a strong back, and succeeded in reversing the basket with his left hand. The difference between the two sides was widened to four points.

"Everyone is a little tired." Dick Hart, who was sitting next to Leon, shook his head. As the team's defensive coach, he could see that there was no problem with the players' positions in the defense just now. The key is Fatigue made the players' attention insufficient, and the reaction was slow for half a beat, which gave the Jazz players a chance to launch tactics. Hart's defensive system emphasizes physical confrontation and rotation of the inside. 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 constant confrontation and away pressure make it difficult for players to stick to it, and the full-court press that has been running through the past few seasons has gradually ceased to be the mainstream defensive mode of the team.

"But those old guys seem to have spare capacity." Leon took Hart's words. He was talking about the Utah Jazz veterans, like Stockton and Malone, who have already played in this league. After nearly two decades, thousands of games, such high-intensity confrontations, seem to have no effect on their physical strength.

　　 "They are a lot easier on the offensive end. I guess they don't need to exert effort or thinking when they move." Hart said with a little helplessness. 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 is an ordinary UCLA 1-4 position to launch an air cut tactic. They have practiced countless times in training. Sloan does not even need to shout from the sidelines. The Jazz players are in Stockton. The key ball can be scored under command. In contrast, the Celtics, without Pierce, rely more on player talent in offense. Joe Johnson scored a career-high 16 points on 7 of 12 shots in tonight's game, but he still can’t make up for Pierce’s absence. The lack of tactics brought.

　　 And Leon also knows that the Celtics, who have too many young players, have tactical richness and quality, but the Jazz are not the same. This is also an important reason for the players' fatigue at the last moment.

When Walker missed a jumper from outside the three-point line again, and a long pass by Stockton launched a fast break, Malone was in the proper position like a train station on time. He received the pass and made an easy layup. After being pulled to six points, the center of the triangle fell into a sea of ​​cheers. Leon looked at the tired and desperate eyes of the players. He knew that the game was divided.

　　 The Celtics’ journey to the west has had a bad start.

　　……………………

After leaving Salt Lake City, the Celtics team did not have time to summarize, because their schedule was the worst away back-to-back, so they went to Salt Lake City Airport just after the game, 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 is slowly digested in his stomach, and he has to deal with tomorrow's game first.

The Suns did not usher in a new life like the Nets after the switch of their guards during the offseason. The team's record is tepid. Stephen Marbury still has good numbers, but it seems He can't let his teammates reach their full potential. However, on the night of the 27th, the Celtics still experienced a hard fight. Pierce’s continued absence made the team continue to attack weakly. Fortunately, the Suns were also in a dilemma. The two teams full of offensive talents, however Lack of a good enough offensive system and offensive combers performed a battle of iron to the audience. In the end, the Celtics lost the game with a two-point disadvantage of 83:85. Arenas, who scored 23 points in the game, missed a three-pointer at the last minute, making the team regretfully losing.

The suffering of the Celtics did not end. After a day of 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 ended up still Relying on Antoine Walker's key three-pointer in the second overtime and a steal by Arenas, defeating the Clippers by a narrow 110:108 two points, finally ushered in a difficult victory.

　　 But the joy of victory did not last long. The final battle of the Western Conference road trip, and the most powerful opponent, will be the Sacramento Kings. This is another terrible away game back-to-back. The Celtics hardly have much time to rest, so they set off directly from Los Angeles to Sacramento by bus. The Kings in the regular season can be said to have broken the game. They averaged more than 100 points per game and attacked like mercury. The team’s All-Star power forward Chris Webb ushered in the peak of his career this season. He has integrated with the entire Kings team. ~www.NovelMTL.com~ played the most beautiful offense on the West Coast.

Facing such a Kings team, the Celtics were beaten helpless on the night of the 30th. They once again faced an offensive team with a complete and beautiful system. The Kings passed so smoothly and gracefully. , The already exhausted Celtic player supported the half-time and was completely defeated by a 10-0 attack wave by the Kings in the third quarter. At 109:94, the Celtics recovered some points in the last garbage time, but they still can't change the fact that they lost in the Arco Arena.

This was the last game of the Celtics in 2001. On the way out of the court and back to the locker room, Leon looked at the tired and lost expressions of the players and deeply felt that a team lacking a good offensive system was playing How passive in the game. This put Leon into extreme contradictions. On the one hand, he hopes that players, especially young players, can grow freely, and then gradually put on the tactical reins that suit them. On the other hand, teams without a reasonable and effective offensive tactical system are very tiring, especially in the face of a high-intensity schedule such as two away games back to back, five days and four games, purely relying on simple tactical coordination and player talent to play, almost nothing The method has won consecutively.

Head coach Carol 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 will focus on tactics. , The training of new people can be on my shoulders."

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

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