"If you look at the half-time stats, we made 47 shots, we hit 19 of them, four of them three-pointers, 40 percent shooting, and we made 12 three-pointers to hit those four threes, and there were a lot of good shots, but unfortunately we didn't take them. The 47 shots showed that we had a decent offensive tempo and were not slowed down by the Portlanders, and the 40 percent of the shots showed that we were still too impatient. Look at our opponents, they made 45 shots but hit 23 shots, shooting over 50 percent, including three three-pointers, and they hit those three-pointers with six shots. What's our problem? First of all, I didn't prepare well, and I need to apologize here, and secondly, our rebounding control was a problem, although we weren't too far behind our opponents in terms of rebounding totals, six less, but we didn't protect some key rebounds. For example, in the middle of the second quarter, when we could have been on the rise, we lost two backcourt rebounds and let Bunch Wells sneak up on the basket, which hurt our morale. Also, don't let the Trail Blazers' style of play be compromised when it comes to foul control, they have some nasty big mouths and dirty hands on their team, and we need to fight them back with basketball. ”

At halftime in the Celtics locker room, Leon analyzed the current situation in front of the small whiteboard in combination with the statistics of the first half of the two sides. On the contrary, the Trail Blazers are in good shape, and they are mainly anti-away on the road, playing fiercely and aggressively, with a few thorns causing trouble off the court, but they are also intimidating on the court.

When Leon was in the locker room, he didn't like to use sensational speeches or long sentences to boost morale, as some coaches do, and he just calmly recounted the situation on the field and the solution to the problem, and he thought that if a team relied on the coach's beating to boost morale during the regular season. And then slamming on the pitch to save some of the situation, such a team will never really grow. Maybe his approach doesn't seem like a lot of passion, but he's training the current Celtics into a ruthless winning machine by word and deed.

Everyone listened very carefully, but no one spoke, because the first half was really bad and the atmosphere in the dressing room was not lively. There were less than five minutes left until the start of the second half. Everyone is ready to get back on the field. At this time, Leon erased the data sheet on the whiteboard with a boarder, and then suddenly said to PJ Brown: "Hey, PJ, if you start in the second half, do you have the confidence that Rashid Wallace will do it?" ”

Leon's questions were sudden, and in front of all the players, he rarely asked players such questions, preferring to pull them aside rather than ask questions in front of everyone. PJ-Brown was stunned for a moment. But he immediately got up from the stool with his mouth shut, frowned at Leon, and said in front of everyone, "I'm going to dry him up and not even find his way out of Boston!" ”

PJ Brown was completely suffocated throughout the first half, obviously he had a chance to play, but the head coach just pressed him and didn't use it, obviously the team needed a player like him the most, but he could only sit on the bench and stare dryly, and even Dave Cowens persuaded Leon to replace Brown. Leon still sat firmly on the Diaoyu Tai and did not let Brown play. Brown couldn't guess what the amazing manager was thinking, and the midfield was laid out lightly. There is no roar, no passion, no deafening speeches, just calm data analysis and specific tactical arrangements. He thought he was going to be forgotten, but he heard what he wanted to hear the most.

Leon just nodded at Brown's words, and then said, "They are guests after all." It's still up to them to find their way home, and all he has to do is find a way out of Boston. ”

……………………

At halftime, at the time of Auerbach's presence, there was never a cheerleader girl at the North Shore Garden Arena, so fans here couldn't see the ****** and the thighs that could be straddled high. You can only enjoy some music, normal dancing or basketball juggling. It's just that the Celtic fell behind in the first half and the fans didn't want to watch these performances, they just wanted the game to restart quickly and look forward to the team's counterattack.

The two sides returned to the court after 20 minutes, this time with PJ Brown taking off his sweatshirt and putting on his green No. 42 jersey and standing on the parquet floor of the North Shore Garden with his hands rubbed. The fans at the scene saw PJ Brown start in the second half, and began to slowly sound cheers, and the fans began to applaud and whistle, which made Brown, who was still menacing before, a little shy, and he was not really used to this new environment.

But when the game started at the referee's whistle, those cluttered thoughts disappeared completely, and the burden of trailing by 12 points at halftime left Brown completely unprepared to think about anything else, and now he just wanted to single-mindedly help the Celtics smooth out the margin and do it his way.

"Dave, why do you always work so hard when you're playing, like you won't be able to play tomorrow." Leon, who was sitting on the sidelines, asked Dave Cowens, who has a lot of coaching experience, is now Leon's best assistant, and Leon often asks him some questions, including Cowens' past experience playing in the NBA.

"Because, because I just thought, I might not be able to play tomorrow. I remember when I retired, there was a day when I suddenly didn't want to play, and I knew that day would come, so I would play hard until then. Cowens thought for a moment and replied aloud that the decibel level of the North Shore Gardens was quite high by now.

"So I think maybe PJ will feel like he might not be able to play, and then let him play, he will work harder." Leon told Cowens that he had been holding PJ Brown in the first half despite Cowens' persuasion, and now he gave Cowens an explanation.

Cowens didn't talk, and he didn't know if Leon's words were true or false, and his attention had returned to the game with Leon, with the Celtics taking the lead in attacking. Against the Trail Blazers' athletic, tall forward lineup, Arenas' breakthrough in the first half was contained, and Arenas' shortcomings in passing and vision doomed him to become an offensive master in positional warfare. Chaos and one-on-one are his destinations. At half-time, Leon told Arenas to be bold and confident, and to remain confident until he regains his touch.

The most important thing Arenas lacks is self-confidence, and the Celtics are confident that they have a total of one stone, and Arenas has eight fights. Walker and Pierce are in a fight, and the others are in a fight. Since Leon let himself throw, Arenas has the confidence to throw. Sure enough, just after half-time, he gave the ball to Antoine Walker, who responded at the triangle common point and Arenas slipped into a big circle to the bottom left corner.

It's a variation of the Celtics' Basket-cut tactic, using the point guard's inside cut to disrupt the opponent's defensive formation, and then the point guard abruptly turns back. Take advantage of the defensive formation confusion caused by all the pulls to find offensive opportunities. Arenas is already familiar with this routine under Leon's training, and anyway, this kind of movement does not seek to run out of space, he just needs a chance to make a move.

Sure enough, from the bottom corner to the left 45-degree outside the three-point line, Walker, who pretended to break through, passed the ball back to Arenas, who pulled up the ball and threw it. It doesn't matter that he didn't really throw off the defense.

"Bang!" The ball hit the front of the basket mercilessly, "damn it". Arenas frowned and cursed, he didn't feel good in the first half, and now he misses a shot, so he may not be able to continue to fire in the second half, after all, there are still twin stars on his head. Arenas was trying to get back on the defensive, only to see a tall, strong body inside grab the ball with a big pincer-like arm in a field of black-clad players.

It's PJ Brown. He struggled to grab the rebound, Arenas knew there was still play, he adjusted his position to the top of the arc that he knew most well, PJ Brown took the frontcourt rebound and hesitated a little to observe, and passed the ball to Arenas before the Portland defender pounced. This time, Arenas, who received the ball from outside the three-point line, did not miss the opportunity. The knife fell and a crisp three-point shot was hit.

After the goal, Arenas and PJ Brown high-fived each other, and Leon watched the ball from the sidelines and knew that it was entirely Brown's individual ability, and he has averaged 3 rebounds per game this season, which is quite a remarkable number, and he can often grab more than five frontcourt rebounds a game when he is in good shape. In the past, Leon has emphasized giving up frontcourt rebounding to ensure that the defense is retired, that is because the team's frontcourt rebounding ability is poor and there is no frontcourt rebounding strongman, with the addition of PJ Brown, Leon can try to make the frontcourt rebound, a very important and very simple and efficient thing, to arm the team's offense.

With a three-pointer, the difference between the two sides narrowed to nine points, and the Trail Blazers attacked, and Scott Pippen dribbled directly across the halfcourt. This is Pippen's third season with the Trail Blazers, and he's 37 years old, but he's still in good shape, and thanks to head coach Cheeks' trust, he's even better on the team than his stats. The Trail Blazers still follow the traditional route tactically, adept at using the low post to attract the pack, and then constantly create offensive opportunities by moving the ball and precise movement, which are two different routes from the Celtics' pursuit of speed and the use of cover to cause misalignment of time and space.

Pippen carefully observed the Celtics' defense, and he had the impression that the Celtics' interior line in the first half was paper-paste, and a simple cross-cutting combination or a strong play in the low post could be penetrated. He passed the ball to Bunch Wells and then started to move to the weak side, and then Wells used two passes to get the ball back into Pippen's hands, at which point the weak side had formed a link between Rashid Wallace and Pippen, who gave the ball to Rashid Wallace.

Rasheed Wallace had some demands in the first half, neither Antoine Walker nor Mark Blunt could resist his step-back straight-arm jumper, only this time he had to face PJ Brown.

"Come on, boy, attack, attack me." PJ-Brown yelled at Wallace with a glaring eye as he resisted Wallace. On weekdays, Wallace yells at the opponent and yells at the referee, and now PJ Brown yells at him, he is angry, and he dribbles to the top, but PJ Brown is not Blunt who is not so easy to push. Wallace's two feints didn't work, and finally he forced a step-back jumper, hit the iron with Brown's interference, Walker grabbed the rebound in the backcourt, and the Celtics' fast break was launched, and Michael Reed hit a mid-range shot from 18 feet in the bottom right corner, and the Celtics chased two more points.

The Trail Blazers players were a little impatient at this point, Pippen came up with the same routine, gave Wells, and then he went to the weak side, which was this time the ball didn't pass back to him, and Wells began to push Reed strong. Although Reed has broad shoulders and strong body, he is only in the third grade after all, where can he withstand the stick of Bunch-Wells, Wells pressed Reed and arched inward, until he arched to the basket, and just wanted to be strong, he found a huge figure covering him - it was PJ Brown.

Wells tried to get up, but was pressed down by Reed and Brown, and he fell to the ground, the ball rolled out of the line, and the referee awarded the Celtics the ball. Wells got up and immediately went to the referee to protest, and Rasheed Wallace also turned on the roaring mode towards the referee, but the referee was unmoved. At this time, the two looked back at the Celtics players, and saw PJ Brown with angry eyebrows, like a King Kong standing in the Celtics' three-second zone.

The Trail Blazers players know that they won't be so easy to bargain for there anymore. (To be continued.) )