The game against the Wizards did not suffer much in the second half, the two sides still fought fiercely, a team with Michael Jordan will not have much problem in terms of fighting spirit, the problem of the Wizards is in the tactics. Jordan occupies too much tactical space, and in fact they have Richard Hamilton at the shooting guard position, an attacker with a superb off-ball movement. Because he Jordan moved to the small forward position, but Jordan, who is used to scoring guards, sometimes inevitably coincides with Hamilton, and when he asks for the ball in the waist position, it means that Hamilton's good at-the-line C&S has become an ornament.

So in the second half, when Carroll asked Pierce to devote 100% of his energy to defending Jordan, the Wizards fell into a bad offensive slump, Pierce constantly provoked Jordan, and Jordan still thought that he was the omnipotent God, he wanted to destroy Pierce with offense, but he didn't expect to destroy the Wizards. Because Jordan's several missed offenses gave the Celtics a quick chance to counterattack, Antoine Walker, who was dull in the half, seized the opportunity to score six points in a row, plus a three-pointer from Michael Reed, and the Celtics took advantage of a small 9-0 attack wave in the middle of the third quarter.

The Celtics never let that advantage slip out of their hands again, and it was only in the third quarter that Dennis Rodman, who appeared in Game 12 of the season in the first half of the game, stabilized the team's defense and offense. Steve Kerr also hit two three-pointers in the fourth season to extinguish the momentum of the Wizards' counterattack, and the two Jordan teammates, who contributed greatly to the Bulls' second three-game winning streak, used what they were good at to make the Wizards suffer another defeat. It seems that Michael's comeback, in addition to causing a public opinion earthquake and boosting the confidence of the post-911 nation, will have an impact on the NBA that is unlikely to be comparable to that of 1996.

Notably, Arenas scored a season-high 20 points in the second half with six points and five assists, and the Celtics look to be worth it in this summer's draft.

Washington was just the first stop on the long journey, and the Celtics then made a circle around the East Coast of the United States, heading to Miami, Orlando, New Jersey and Toronto, so by the time the Celtics returned to Boston after a five-trip trip, it was already December. They were given two days off to adjust, and the whole team was in a happy mood when they landed at Boston Airport, as they won the road trip!

This was an encouraging result that was beyond everyone's expectations. When John Carroll stepped off the plane, he was chased by a large number of media reporters, who had once looked down on him, and now came to get a little advice with their spears and barrels, trying to find out what kind of magic Carroll could make the Celtics achieve in such a short period of time.

Carroll, who had just ascended to the throne a few days earlier and had flown to Washington in a hurry in Boston without even a press conference, replaced O'Brien as Boston's new savior in a matter of days. No matter how much a city has the so-called "heritage" in competitive sports, the truth that the winner is king will never be erased.

Carol was a little uncomfortable with this kind of treatment for a while, and he answered the reporters' questions hesitantly, but the uncontrollable smile on his face still made him look bright. In his fragmented answers, he repeatedly said, "My assistant coaches have helped me a lot, and without them we wouldn't have gotten through this difficult period and achieved this result." ”

Carroll was of course referring to Leon, who has been the team's regulator during this road trip, and Carroll, who has been with the Celtics for five years but has not been able to match the prestige that Leon has built up more than a year after his arrival. Although Carroll has a lot of head coaching experience in the NCAA, being a head coach for college students and being a head coach for professional players are two completely different jobs. Carroll hasn't adapted to the position yet, and many times he's still too gentle, making players think he's a bully. Leon is completely different, the team's biggest thorn Dennis Rodman has been punched by him, Paul Pierce has had a fatal relationship with him, coupled with his scary face and a fist as big as a hamburger, every time the players don't perform well and are stared at by Leon coldly, they will have the idea of "will this guy in the head with a punch" in their heads.

And Leon is very supportive of Carroll, he began to have more say in the daily training and game process, but he also respected Carroll's identity as the head coach, and Carroll also gave Leon more power. This mutual cooperation and cooperation allowed Carroll to successfully go through the transition period of the new coach, and won capital for himself with a beautiful record answer, and Boston's voice questioning the change of head coach was suddenly much quieter.

"What has changed about Celtic in recent games? Coach Carroll said that you have helped the team a lot since you became a tactical coach. A reporter from CSSNE set his sights on Leon to get a piece of the story from him. Leon ignored the reporter completely, and just walked forward with his head bored, until he was about to get on the bus, and Leon did not say a word. Just as the reporter was about to give up, Leonse gave him a note and said: "It has my phone number on it, you can call me for an interview if you have the opportunity, I don't have the heart to be interviewed right now." ”

After saying that, Leon got on the bus, sat down in his place and continued to meditate. This also became a habit for Leon in the future, and when he thought about a problem, he would refuse all interviews, and if he wanted to be interviewed, he could call afterwards. At this time, Leon was thinking about only one problem, and that was how to get Chris Anderson to his hands.

Accepting a gift from the Spurs in Texas in the summer, the Celtics were the first to reach out to Chris Anderson, and Leon also wanted the team to sign Anderson as a free agent. But then Leon participated in the planning of the draft and went to Los Angeles for training, but the matter was delayed. Then the Celtics faced the problem that their roster was overstocked, and there was no place left for Anderson after cutting some short-term contract workers. And after arguing with Angie over the choice of Arenas, Leon had to back down on the issue of signing Anderson, but this time it was not Angie who came out to oppose it, but the Celtics' group of old guys, including Cousy and White, and their reason was that "Rodman alone has reached the Boston ceiling, and he can't have another one." ”

In the summer, the Development League was officially established, and on November 1, the 2001 Development League Draft was held in New York, and Leon, as a member of the Development League Scouting Group, provided basic player information to all Development League teams, and Chris Anderson received a very good evaluation and was successfully elected as the top pick in the first NBDL draft. It was the Fayetteville Patriots who picked him, and after being picked to play two games for the Patriots, the Denver Nuggets signed Anderson and offered him a one-year base salary contract.

So, if Leon wants to get Anderson, the only way is to trade with the Nuggets. But it really doesn't make sense to launch a trade for a base salary player, and the only way is to secretly cross Chen Cang, on the one hand, launch a mutually beneficial trade with the Nuggets, and then bring Anderson to Boston. Luckily, Danny Ainge was supportive of Leon in his attitude towards signing Anderson, especially after Arenas played a five-game winning streak, and those "Celtic styles, traditions" have long been forgotten by Angie, he is not the kind of person who is rigid and dogmatic, since Leon sees people accurately, then listen to him.

The question is how to initiate this transaction, the Diggers are in the rebuilding team, after the glory of the Black Eight Miracle in the 90s, this highland team has not come out of the quagmire of the fish belly, the team's trades and signings are quite frequent, and the team has been in a relatively turbulent state. Their situation this season is very similar to that of the Celtics, who have been on a losing streak again this season after a rebound in the team's results last season, and the current manager Dan Iseer is already in jeopardy, and it is likely that O'Brien will follow in the footsteps of another manager who will be stepping down quickly.

After returning to Boston, Carroll gave the players a day off during the two-day break, while Leon rushed to the team's headquarters to negotiate a trade with Angie and Wallace. Two days later, the Denver Nuggets travel to Boston to take on the Celtics, and Leon hopes that Anderson will be wearing the Green Shirts when the game starts that day.