Leon's current strategy is very simple, the defensive end is to shrink with all his might, wrap Kobe, and let the Lakers shoot from the medium and long range. On the offensive end, if you can steal chickens, you can steal chickens, and if you can't steal chickens, you can rush to grab rebounds in the frontcourt.

Defending is both gambling and psychological warfare. The whole league knows that Phil Jackson likes to play this set, local high-intensity defense, partial abandonment, and completely disrupt the opponent's offensive rhythm. But few teams dare to play this trick against Phil Jackson's team, whether it's the Bulls or the Lakers, there are always a few role players who come out and give you a lethal blow when you feel like you can give him up.

Armstrong, Hawkins, Kerr, Hawley, there are always such lucky players under Jackson, which is both the ability of role players and the embodiment of Phil Jackson's unique team leading art.

But this year, it is difficult for the Lakers under Jackson to stand up with such a player, Kobe Bryant is stronger, O'Neal is still dominant, but this three-time champion has lost their sharpness and aggressiveness, and the state of role players is the best proof. That's why Leon dared to bet that when O'Neal wasn't on the floor, those role players would be out of shape and bet that they wouldn't be able to hit key three-pointers.

Phil Jackson was aware of this, and he struggled to get through the arguments, conflicts and inflated ego of his players all season, and when he saw that the margin was being chased to just five points, he called a timeout not to wake up the players, but to replace O'Neal on the court.

On the offensive end, since the departure of Hollis-Grant in 2001, O'Neal's pressure on the defensive end has increased dramatically, and neither Holly nor Fox can match Grant in backcourt rebounding protection and basket protection. Not to mention a bamboo pole like Samaki Walker, who is no match for the cunning Anderson.

"Fight according to our established strategy, pay attention to control, control emotions, control scales, and keep a calm and peaceful state of mind. I just want to tell you in this game, if one day you face an extremely strong opponent, please don't be afraid, calmly resist, so that you can die a better death. Leon said to the players at the timeout. For Leon's very turning words, Celtic's players have long been accustomed to it, automatically ignoring the behind, focusing on the front.

For this game, Leon is not unprepared and wants to give up directly, each of these young people on the bench before the game has been called to Leon to the front of the ear, if you want to play this game well, the Celtics must do every detail.

After the pause, the two sides continued to fight. After a few minutes of silence, the Stamp Center began to heat up again, and with O'Neal re-appearing, Lakers fans seemed to see the scene of the Celtics being destroyed again.

Derrick Fisher also replaced Shaw, he served the ball out of bounds to Bryant, and then returned to the court himself, Bryant passed back to Fisher, and this pass led O'Neal to get stuck on the inside.

It was still Durham Porter, he still couldn't stop O'Neal in the card position, Fisher easily hoisted the ball to O'Neal, O'Neal easily opened a path to the basket with his huge hips, and just as he was about to complete a hook shot, Durham Porter grabbed O'Neal's arm like a wrestler and pressed him down.

"Beep!" The referee's whistle blew and it was clear that Durham Porter had fouled the ball and O'Neal would be sent to the free throw line.

There was a boo from the audience, and for O'Neal, the giant, the free throw was his Achilles heel, and many teams had to resort to this somewhat despicable tactic in order to stop O'Neal from scoring under the basket.

Such behavior would undoubtedly make the game quite ugly, and no one wants to see that powerful shark team struggling from the basket and at the free throw line.

However, compared to the boos of the fans, Phil Jackson was really a little nervous, and his purpose in replacing O'Neal was to score as soon as possible to stabilize the situation, but now O'Neal is standing at the free throw line, and his power is only one-tenth of that of the basket. If he misses a free throw, then the Celtics' counterattack could potentially close the score even further, which would be terrible for the Lakers.

Sure enough, O'Neal lived up to expectations, missed two free throws, and the basketball looked like an ordinary volleyball in his big hands, and because of this, his fingers couldn't control where the ball went, and Chris Anderson's accurate position and Daillam Porter's strong position allowed Grant Long to get this rebound.

This time, the Celtics must launch a quick counterattack!

Alexander received a pass from Long, and he desperately rushed towards the Lakers' position, and then a beautiful ground-and-shoot ball passed to Williams, who was inserted from the right, and Williams received the ball to avoid Kobe's pursuit and make a rebound!

Three points! The gap between the Celtics and Lakers narrowed to a three-pointer distance.

However, sometimes the farthest distance in the world is a ball distance, and after a foul on O'Neal, the Celtics did not continue to foul the foul, and O'Neal grabbed the frontcourt rebound in the offense and easily dunked it.

"Very good chance, why not keep fouling?" On the bench, Steve Cole couldn't help but ask.

"You can't let fouls be the norm to stop O'Neal, and today we had six people who couldn't play. Learn to control, don't be held back by the score, it's still early. Leon replied. At this point, he was already sitting on the bench, and as long as he kept the margin at about 5 points, the task of the first half was completed.

Sure enough, although the Celtics were never able to overtake or equalize, whether it was offensive or defensive, these young people played with a feeling, worked the court, and many goals that could not be scored or scored finally relied on falling to the ground to grab the ball and rushing to grab the rebounds in the front court to get a chance again. On the other hand, the Lakers are more and more dependent on O'Neal, and the Celtics players come to a deliberate foul from time to time to send O'Neal to the free throw line, disrupting the Lakers' offensive rhythm and preventing them from playing a continuous offensive climax.

The score remained tight until the end of the first half, with the Celtics trailing the Lakers by just four points at 54-50, and Leon patted the young man on the shoulder and accompanied them into the locker room.

……………………

In the VIP room, Stern was trying to get the sponsor representatives to end the game viewing tour early, and the Celtics clung to the score in the first half, and the scene was okay. But Stern knows that many times the weak team can still fight with the strong team in the first half, and in the second half, as soon as the strong team adjusts and exerts its strength, the score will be completely pulled apart.

The Lakers have always been masters in the third quarter, and they are very good at breaking down opponents in the third quarter and then killing opponents in the fourth quarter. In Stern's view, this game will be no exception, no matter how hard the Celtics fought in the first half, they still ended up four points behind. Now that you've enjoyed a good half, there's no need to watch a bad second half slaughter.

But it seems that the sponsor representatives watched the game with relish, obviously they are not completely ignorant of basketball, and they also know that the Celtics have pressed the main force to the bench, but they can chase all the way to only four points, and play back and forth with the Lakers in the second half of the second quarter.

"It's an interesting team, it's interesting, I used to think Celtic were a boring team. Who is that coach of theirs? Leon? The guy who fights on the court? Haha, funny guy. There were even representatives who commented on the Celtics and Fox Leon, and others agreed, and it was clear that everyone didn't want to leave early, but to watch the game.

Stern could only suppress the thoughts in his head, at this time he supported Fox Leon and the Celtics like never before, hoping that they could hold on in the second half, and it was okay to lose, not too ugly. That way, when Stern fines the Celtics tomorrow, the tone will be a little softer.

……………………

There was a cheerful atmosphere in the Celtic dressing room, and although they were four points behind, the players were like they had won, and everyone was talking and laughing. Chris Anderson has been praised by everyone for being embarrassed, he played too well in the first half, with 14 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocks, all of which set his half-court stats record.

With the main players resting, he unexpectedly became the core player of the team, although he did not attack on his own, but he used defense and rebounding to help the team move forward. In this half, Leon saw in him the shadow of Dennis Rodman, the man who influenced the team in every corner of the court, Chris Anderson's teacher.

But Leon didn't praise Anderson, he interrupted the conversation and said with a serious face: "Did we win?" Or are we ahead? As soon as Leon's words came out, everyone fell silent.

'I know, we played really well, everybody thought with our lineup we were going to be 20 points down at half-time and now we're four points down. If we lose this game, maybe we'll have a defeat that is still honorable, but I would say it's the result I hate the most. No failure is glorious, and the loser can accept shame and shame, but not pity. Because the former can make us introspective and strong, while the latter will only make us intoxicated with the good feeling of getting by. Tell me if you want to win. Leon asked as he turned to the players who came on the pitch.

Everyone looked at each other, and then nodded in unison.

"Okay, then I'll tell you, now we're four points down and we're going to have to come back in the second half, so it's not a time to be happy and relaxed, we have to be impatient and calm down! Everybody prick up your ears and I'm going to tell you what to do in the second half! ”

Leon pulled the tactical blank slate, and he had to take another gamble. (To be continued.) )