On January 22, it snowed heavily in Boston, which made the visiting Milwaukee Bucks players feel at home, because Milwaukee was already covered in thick snow. Since January, a cold wave from Canada has been met with transpiration from the Great Lakes, which has shrouded the entire central region in white.

A few days ago, the Celtics were in the frozen Milwaukee, without Walker and Reed, they were lame both offensively and defensively, especially offensively, the Celtics, who lacked strong attack points and important shooting points on the outside, looked a little stretched tactically.

Since Walker missed the game due to injury, Leon has been thinking about all aspects. For example, tactics, the arrival of injuries made Leon feel that the Celtics' tactical system still lacked enough depth, and relied more on the unique abilities of some players in the team. For example, when he manages his emotions, he can clearly feel that when wins are mixed with defeats, the players' emotions are obviously not as strong as they were in the early part of the season.

Fortunately, the timely return of Reid and Walker gave Leon a clear idea of tonight's game, but injuries are unpredictable and inevitable, and Leon thinks he still has a lot of work to do. For example, how to deal with fatigue, how to deal with injuries, how to deal with the mental distress brought by the frequent exertion of the players, and the passion that passes as the season progresses, is a big enemy that young teams should be wary of.

The lights went out at around 7pm at North Shore Gardens and came back on after the national anthem was sung throughout the stadium, and that was how the Celtics' 42nd game of the season began. The number of 42 means that the team has completed half of the schedule and is starting to enter the second half of the season. They have gone through a skyrocketing start to the season, a steady start in the middle and a recent small twist and turn, and have done well overall.

Leon stood on the sidelines. Dressed in a well-dressed suit and spotlessly clean upper, he looked completely different from what he did all those years ago. He has become more and more like a coach who has been in the NBA for many years, and he seems stable and elegant. It's just that, if you look at his face up close, those slight scars on his nose and the corners of his eyes have not faded with the passage of time. On the contrary, some traces are deeper. This earned Leon the nickname Scarface.

Especially when the news about his criminal record was very loud some time ago, his nickname became even louder, and he was even admired by many fans for a time, thinking that a person with such a legendary experience should not be criticized but should be praised and praised for his inspiration and efforts.

So at tonight's North Shore Garden Arena, Leon glanced at the audience and could see some fans holding signs with stills from the movie "Scarface" on them. Then he drew a cigar on his lips to support and encourage Fox Leon, which also made Leon's heart a little warm. No matter what kind of doubts there are, there will always be sincere and enthusiastic fans who will pay attention to and support him, and sometimes he feels that this is a very happy place to be a coach or a player. Of course, the author of the negative press has now fallen into Leon's trap, and he's waiting for the time to close the net.

After a lot of cranky, the game had already started at the referee's whistle.

This is the second meeting between the Bucks and Celtics this season. It was also a week-long rematch, with the last defeat at the Bradley Center leaving Leon back at the hotel to watch a full three hours of footage of the game. He summed up three reasons why the team lost. First, the outside defense was pierced by the Bucks, allowing the opponent to shoot 50 percent from three-point range; Second, terrible mistakes, the Celtics, who have always been fluent in offense with fewer mistakes, inexplicably made 22 turnovers in this game; Thirdly, it is also a very hidden point. It's the team's average distance traveled.

The first two points are mistakes that many teams make, after all, a loose defense, lack of concentration and a lot of mistakes are inevitable in a long and tiring season, but the third point. Only a ghost eye like Fox Leon can see that the player's motivation to run has decreased.

As a coach who understands the importance of space, the decline was unbearable, but Leon didn't tell his players to run more before the game started, and if the verbal lessons were any good, the world wouldn't need the police and violent agencies.

Five minutes into the first quarter, the two sides tied 10:10, the Celtics' offensive speed was obviously not fast enough, Walker scored six points in a row, but the Bucks had back and forth, Ray Allen was in quite good shape, facing the returning Michael Reed, he continued to use the breakthrough to hit the middle throw or pull-up jump shot, and also scored eight points in a row. The other players were frozen in the snow and had not yet performed as well as they should.

Because the game went smoothly, there were no fouls and mistakes on both sides, and the two sides were deuced, and neither side called a timeout, so it quickly entered the official timeout, and both sides rested and adjusted.

Leon looked at the players who walked off the court, pointed to PJ Brown, who was panting, and said to him, "PJ, come down and rest for a while, Chris, you go up." With that, he pointed at Chris Anderson and motioned for him to take off his coat and get ready to play.

PJ Brown and Chris Anderson are a little confused, this is the first official timeout, generally speaking, the first quarter will not be played until about the ninth minute, Chris Anderson will come off the bench, and depending on the opponent's situation, it depends on whether he replaces Brown or Walker. Sometimes Leon will also send Wang Zhizhi to hold Anderson on the bench all the time. Now Anderson replaced Brown so early, which made everyone a little confused.

Brown sat down heavily on the bench, glared and gulped water, and Dick Hart leaned in front of Leon and asked, "What's wrong Fox, it's not good to change the rotation order casually, it's not a playoff game...... PJ played hard. ”

Leon just nodded, Dick Hart was a good teacher for Leon in his first year of coaching, and the very experienced assistant coach gave Leon a lot of things beyond technique and command, which cannot be learned for a while by relying on knowledge and intelligence, because it is the accumulation of decades. For example, how to soothe the emotions of the players during the pause, how to deal with the referee more seriously, how to resist the interference of fans away from home, and other beneficial things have benefited León a lot in 41 games.

However, this time he had his considerations, and he still replaced PJ Brown with Chris Anderson early, which made the commentators on the sidelines a little surprised, how could a good starting center like PJ Brown suddenly be replaced off the court.

In terms of strength, Anderson is indeed a lot worse than Brown, first of all, on the defensive end, Anderson is of course not as good as Brown, he does not have Brown's steadiness and caution at all, he basically flies, and I saw him bounce around like a spring in the three-second zone. On the offensive end, it can't be compared, Brown has a very good mid-range, basically completely replacing the role of Tony Barty, and also has a certain low-post offensive ability, you can steal one if necessary, Anderson has basically no other effective offensive skills except for grabbing rebounds, dunks or rebounds.

However, the situation on the court has changed subtly, and the Bucks are still in a situation where Ray Allen alone supports the offensive situation, and only Sam Cassel has a slight recovery and throws one in the middle range. On the other hand, on the Celtics' side, Anderson didn't touch the ball a few times since he came on the court, but he was like a catfish stirring up the sardines, and his beautiful block and two rebounds in the front court created opportunities for his teammates.

What's more, when Anderson was on the court, no one thought about passing the ball to him, making the ball, and he didn't have the idea of attacking at all, just running, jumping, running, and jumping. That's the way it is in basketball, when one guy on the team is running, everyone else will run with him, not to mention that the Celtics are a team that has been rigorously trained by Leon, and the runs are all one ring after another.

Maybe some runs are meaningless, but when these meaningless runs are combined and accumulated, they often become meaningful and effective. Relying on a sudden surge of momentum, the Celtics went on a 20-12 run after the official timeout in the first quarter, and they suddenly resumed their high-speed offense of light riding and archery.

"Any idea why I replaced you?" At the end of the first quarter, Leon spoke to PJ Brown, at which point the score became 22:30.

PJ Brown looked a little embarrassed, he felt that Leon was criticizing him and targeting him, he pouted and thought for a while and said, "Maybe Chris is better suited to the team." ”

The other players also noticed the conversation between Leon and Brown, and Dick Hart tried to stop it, but he didn't know what to say, and it would be a big deal if the veteran players on the team got into an argument with the manager.

"No, PJ, you're the better one, you're a quick learner, you're very hard working and dedicated, you've been able to integrate our tactical routines well, and you've been on the inside when Walker was injured. I'll admit you're better than Chris, but there's one thing missing from you that Chris has and that thing is important, and that's passion. Leon patted PJ Brown on the shoulder and said that the break between the intermittent was almost over.

"I remember the last time against the Trail Blazers, you were guarding the team like a King Kong because I abandoned you throughout the first half and you wanted to prove something with your performance. But after a few sessions, you're back in the same routine as you were for ten years, dutiful but not emotional. But I thought, PJ, you should be more passionate than anybody else, because our goal is to win the championship. With that, the second quarter began, and Leon motioned for PJ Brown to play.

At the same time, Leon pointed at Michael Reed again and said, "Sit down Michael, you played enough in the first quarter, come down and adjust." ”

"It's okay, I don't want to rest too long." Reid was very hungry tonight and wanted to play.

"No, sit down and think about it, think about what you're going to do, and it's never too late to play." Leon said. Some people need to be more passionate, while others need to be calm.

Therefore, the head coach has to be like fire for a while and ice for a while, which may be like Leon's appearance, calm and Sven's appearance, but also can't hide the surging enthusiasm under the scars. (To be continued.) )