'I don't think we had a chance factor in winning, a lot of people looked down on us along the way, but now we're showing them that we deserve to win.' In the post-match interview for the second game, Antoine Walker showed great confidence in the face of reporters' questions. Indeed, they will be able to win two games in a row on the other side's road, and then they will return to their home stadium, and once Celtic win the third game, 3-0, they will almost reach the finals.

In the two games, Antoine Walker swept away the gloom of last year, averaging 21.5 points, 9 rebounds and 4 assists per game. Although he is a hippie smiling guy most of the time, as a top basketball player, he also has a desire to win and strong willpower.

"After taking advantage like that, how many games do you think the Celtics will end the series in?" Another reporter asked, this is really an extremely sensitive question, and the last person to answer this question directly Maddie has already been eliminated in the first round.

"I don't know, but I think at least seven." Walker snorted and didn't say anything big about what the Celtics would sweep, but he also revealed the confidence that he would knock out his opponent.

Leon was much calmer than the confidence of his players, and instead of saying that he was "thinking about the next round opponent" as he was in the first round, he said that Celtic's two victories had a certain element of luck.

"Also, there's no real difference between home and away in the playoffs, maybe home brings some benefits, but it also brings pressure." Leon said this when talking about the Celtics returning to their home stadium and the Celtics are unbeaten in the playoffs at home.

On the plane back to Boston from New Jersey, the atmosphere was relaxed and relaxed, and only experienced coaches like Sigfred and Cowens reminded players to be vigilant, and the Nets would not be beaten so easily. However, people are always like this, even if reason tells them that they should not relax, but the lack of personal experience and enough lessons is still easy for players to fall into overconfidence.

León is also a little apprehensive about this, but as a manager, he can't criticize the team when they are 2-0 up, and he can only hope that the players will not be carried away by the two wins and forget how hard they have prepared and worked hard to get back to win away from home.

After returning to Boston, Leon gave the players a day off, and then on the day of the game, the whole team had a group training, and the atmosphere was much more relaxed than the training in New York, after the training assistant coach Sigfried found Leon and said to him: "Fox, don't you think the players are a little too relaxed?" Even if we are 3-0 up in the playoffs, we must not relax, let alone that we are only 2-0, even if we return to the home field? ”

Sigfried's career with the Celtics began in the 1963-1964 season and ended in 1970, just at the end of the Celtics dynasty, with the end of the eight-game winning streak in 1967 and the last tiebreaker in Los Angeles in 1969.

Leon understood Sigfried's thoughts, and he said as he gathered his things, "I know Larry, but you've only learned these things after you've been through so much. We're just getting on the road, and you can't expect a bunch of drivers who have just gotten their licenses to know every pothole on the road like an old driver. And, they did a good job of Larry. ”

"The lessons of last year are still fresh ...... mind," Sigfried said, noting that Celtic also took a 2-1 lead last year before failing to win the next game.

Leon nodded, and there was a hint of concern in his heart, how a team deals with unexpected victories is also a sign of maturity. For those mature strong teams, whether away or at home, whether they are leading or falling behind, they can maintain a calm and stable mentality until the end of the series.

On the third game day, the North Shore Garden Arena was full, and Leon arrived two hours early, and he heard that Auerbach would be there to watch the game, but until the game started, he did not see the old man wearing sunglasses and crutches in the spectators.

The 2-0 lead not only made the Celtics players full of confidence, but also made Boston fans full of anticipation for the game, and many fans on the sidelines even raised the slogan "swap", which means that they hope that the Celtics can win two consecutive games at home and sweep the Nets out directly.

But the course of the game never happened as the fans expected, and the Nets, who had experienced two home defeats, burst out with tremendous energy, and they completely locked the Celtics offense with an airtight defense at the beginning of the game, Walker shot 1 of 6, Pierce shot 1 of 5, and the Celtics scored only 11 points in the first quarter, setting a record for the lowest score in a single quarter of the playoffs this season.

Although the Nets only scored 21 points, the pace of the game was already in the hands of the Nets.

As the so-called see the move, Leon is good at tactical moves, but the Nets did not make too many tactical changes, they purely rely on strong momentum and extraordinary defensive concentration to take the lead, this is a kind of attitude suppression, a kind of bottoming out, unless the Celtics can occupy an absolute advantage in strength and can bring down the momentum of the Nets in the game, so that their belief in the Jedi counterattack becomes the despair of Jedi death, otherwise no matter how Leon adjusts tactically, there is no way to turn the situation around.

Of course, Leon will not give up easily, he tried to increase the playing time of the substitute players, in the hope that the substitute players can improve the situation with passion and hard work on the court, but this time Leon made a mistake, Wang Zhizhi, Anderson and others not only did not improve the situation, but made the team's offense fall into a greater stagnation, at halftime, the Celtics actually trailed the Nets by 18 points. You know, the Nets are not known for their offense, and having so many leads only shows that the Celtics' offense is too poor.

As the clock ticked by, the fans holding the "swap" slogan quickly fell silent, and the Celtics worked hard to fill the hole in the second half, but they fell too far behind in the first half, and as long as the Nets didn't make mistakes, the Celtics didn't even have a chance to narrow the gap to within 10 points. At 86:72, the Celtics finally lost at home, and the dreams of the media and fans before the game were shattered.

Naturally, fans are looking at Game 4, and a win would give the Celtics a 3-1 lead, which is also a huge advantage and means they have one foot in the door of the Finals.

A defeat also taught the Celtics players a lesson, in the training after the third game, the overly lively, relaxed atmosphere disappeared, and the anxiety and tension before the big game were condensed on the faces of the players, which was a little abnormal compared to the previous excessive relaxation.

Leon still has a lot to learn about how to regulate the emotions of his players. Those tactics and theories are a piece of cake for his unforgettable mind, but the human heart, the most difficult thing to control and understand, is the fundamental test of a manager's ability.

Sure enough, in the fourth game, the scene fell into an unprecedented state of anxiety, and the two sides entered a terrible defensive battle, and the total points of the two teams combined at half time were just over 50 points. They fought until the last ten seconds and were tied, 61:61.

But Arenas made a fatal mistake in defense when he was out of position while defending Kidd, causing Kidd to easily go inside, Brown had to foul, and Kidd made a free throw, and although he only made one of two free throws, it was enough to kill the Celtics.

Leon laid out two plans A and B in the last attack, A was Pierce shot, B was Kerr shot, but both plans were unsuccessful, and it was PJ Brown who finally got the ball in the run, Brown turned over and missed a jumper, and the game was over, and the Nets scored again in Boston to equalize the score.

Heaven and hell, but in a moment. (To be continued.) )