On the evening of Dec. 31, the last day of 2002, the Boston Celtics hosted their final opponent of the year, the Memphis Grizzlies.

After Jerry West took over the Grizzlies, a series of changes began to appear in this young and weak team, a team that lacked experience, heritage and cultural heritage, and was thriving under the hard work of Jerry West. After a humiliating eight-game losing streak at the start of the season, West finally brought in Hubby Brown as the team's head coach. Although Brown's arrival didn't turn the stone into gold, and immediately turned the Grizzlies around, they suffered the worst 13-game losing streak in the league. Their record throughout November was a terrible 2-14 record, which is at the bottom of the league.

After a nightmare start to the season, Hubby Brown gradually took control, and in December their results slowly improved, no longer a string of consecutive defeats, and the victory began to shine here, and they even had a wave of four consecutive wins, which gave people a glimpse of the effect of the old manager. They travelled to Boston in their final game in December, where they had won the Orlando Magic in a clean and clean win that gave them the confidence to play the '02 finale.

Before the game, Leon saw a familiar face in the audience, it was Grizzlies general manager Chris Wallace, who came to Boston with the team.

Leon knew he had to win this game, because the Celtics' first-round pick next season could be held in the hands of the Grizzlies, and the worse the Grizzlies' results, the higher the pick the Celtics won, and the more likely Leon was to realize his plan. The only thing Leon has to pray for now is to hope that the Grizzlies don't draw the top pick. That would be all in vain, but with the luck of the grizzly bear, it will not be easy to get the champion sign.

Before the start of the game, Leon reported the starting lineup of Durham Porter, Walker, Pierce, Reed and Arenas, and PJ Brown has not been able to play in the first game as a rookie, and his name has not been included in the Celtics squad. So Brown sat on the bench in casual clothes. It will be a good opportunity for him to watch Leon coach play against Celtic.

The morning training was also an eye-opener for Brown, so he wondered in his heart whether Leon would be the same as he was in training when he was directing on the sidelines, constantly adjusting his tactics with shouts, telling the players what they should do and what not to do, so that he could control every player on the field just like playing a game.

But it wasn't until the game actually started that Brown found out. Unlike coaches who like to yell on the sidelines, Leon is more likely to stand or sit on the sidelines and watch the game quietly, rarely yelling at players, not rushing with the referee, and not even calling a timeout, quite in the style of Zen master Phil Jackson. Contrary to the silence of the coach off the court, the communication between the Celtics players on the court resounded throughout the court, and Paul Pearce's hoarse voice could be heard constantly. Arenas frowned and commanded the players, as well as Antoine Walker's exaggerated expression. When there are small situations on the pitch, the players will sit in a circle and discuss it.

Brown rarely sees such a strange coach on the spot, but in the first quarter of the game, the Celtics played a 17-5 attack wave from the Grizzlies, and the two-day break gave the Celtics players plenty of physical strength and good hand, and the moderate training in the morning made the players in good shape. They hit three of four three-pointers and caught the Grizzlies off guard. It also forced Grizzlies coach Hubby Brown to call a timeout.

As the players returned to the bench, Brown wanted to see what the manager's style was, only to hear Leon ask, "How are you feeling?" It feels good, right? Are you all okay? Speak up if there is a problem. Durham Potter took a sip and said, "The arm of No. 18 on the other side is so long, it feels like his hand is always on my head." “

Potter Dareham is played against Pau Gasol. The Spaniard, who has long limbs, is now a core player for the Grizzlies, and Hubby Brown is developing a tactical strategy around him for the Grizzlies. Leon also noticed that Gasol looked a little slow and soft, but he had an excellent ball sense and a very good positional sense. Similarly, their small forward Sean Battier doesn't look outstanding, but the details are quite well done, and there are many small things that make Leon feel that this player and their coach must have worked hard. "If you feel like his arm is on your head, then you push him away with your ass." Leon finished speaking, and the short timeout was over. For 20 seconds, Leon just communicated with the players slightly, let everyone rest and drink saliva, did not make any arrangements, and did not yell at the players to grab rebounds, strengthen defense, etc., which is not at all the same as the head coach in PJ Brown's impression.

The game continued, due to the difference in strength and good condition, the Celtics always maintained a lead of about 10 points against the Grizzlies, until the end of the third quarter, Leon called a few timeouts without seriousness, he called a timeout often for substitutions, and then muttered a few words to the players on the court, and then drew a few strokes on the tactical board to the players and it was over.

This made Brown feel that Leon's timeout was simply insincere.

At that point, with five seconds left before the end of the third quarter, the Celtics had their last offensive chance of the quarter, and they still had an 11-point lead, when Leon called a 20-second timeout. At this time, the players on the Celtics court were Kerr, Reed, Anderson, Williams and Wang Zhizhi, and Leon took out the strategy board and began to draw tactics on the board.

If Brown remembers correctly, this was the first time Leon pulled out a tactical board in this game. Back on the court after the timeout, for five seconds, Brown didn't know what tactics Leon could put up to play.

At this time, Wang Zhizhi walked to the bottom line, it seemed that Leon was going to have a baseline ball instead of a sideline ball, and he wanted to take a full-court running tactic. Wang Zhizhi served, Kerr and Anderson made a cross cover near the halfway, after the cover was completed, Kerr ran towards the left side of the court, Wang Zhizhi passed the ball to Cole, Kerr quickly rushed along the left sideline, and then the Grizzlies' center Gasol began to come up to wrap Kerr. Kerr passed the ball to Williams, who was standing outside the three-point line on the left side, in the middle of the gap.

At this time, Reed, who has been hiding on the right side of the court, has long relied on this Anderson's cover near the halfline, and rushed straight to the basket from the right side like a running forward, when he reached the basket, the ball was in Williams' hands, Williams made a through ball, Reed received the ball and dunked with both hands easily, and after scoring two points, the Celtics stretched the difference to 13 points! The Grizzlies have only a meagre 0.6 seconds left.

The Grizzlies players threw the ball from the baseline to the basket in despair, and naturally the ball was not within the range of the goal at all, and at the end of the third quarter, Leon and the players who came off the court high-fived one by one, and said: "It's nice to dry, but that Gasol is smart, he sees something famous, so come and pinch you, Steve." “

Cole nodded and said, "Yes, he's a smart guy, but it's a bit slow, and his blocking skills aren't very good." “

After that, everyone was left alone, and he sat on the bench next to Brown and let the players drink and chat, or a few other assistant coaches would stand up and talk to the players, and Dick Hart also had some suggestions for the team's defense. "That's how you coach? It's interesting. Brown couldn't resist his curiosity about Leon and accosted. Now he was much more polite to Leon.

'My players are smart, they have a lot of opportunities to learn, whether it's training or playing, and I'm going to give them those opportunities because it's the players who decide the game on the pitch...... What do you think? Get used to the atmosphere here, and I'll probably let you start as a substitute in the next game and get used to it. Leon said to Brown.

Brown nodded, and he was starting to get a little interested in playing under such a coach. In fact, he was very unhappy with the trade, he liked New Orleans, he liked the Hornets, he had a good relationship with his teammates, and he was ready to play there until he retired. But he didn't expect to be suddenly traded to the Celtics like this, unprepared, his wife and son were still in New Orleans at this time, and he had no sense of belonging here.

But the experience of the first day made him feel that playing here might be a good choice. (To be continued.) )