On race days, Dick Hart wakes up at 7:30 a.m. every morning, and after a light breakfast, he's in his Opel car and head to the training gym to start the day's work. After coming to Boston last year, he moved with his wife, Mary, to live in one of the large apartments Boston has to offer. Hart is 70 years old this year and has been an assistant coach in the NBA for 20 years since 1982, and he has stayed with Eastern teams like the Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, New York Knicks, and Indiana Pacers. Because only Eastern teams with a defensive tradition will need a well-known defensive expert like him.

Like the defensive style he's coached with, Hart is a tough-tempered and serious guy who has a surprisingly good chemistry when Indiana is paired with another foul-tempered Rick Carlisle. Hart was already in semi-retirement after the Pacers fell apart during the Bird era, but an invitation from Jim O'Brien began to make him decide to come back and help the Celtics rebuild their defense.

Undoubtedly, the Celtics' storied history attracted Hart, and after becoming a member of the Celtics, every day he came to the training gym, Hart would look up at the championship flag hanging from the training gym. On game night, North Shore Garden's retired jerseys and championship flags will make Hart feel sacred and solemn. Back in Pennsylvania, Hart was a Celtics fan, enjoying listening to Johnny Moster's radio broadcasts while loving the Celtics' glorious history.

So when O'Brien's call came, Hart didn't hesitate to say yes. O'Brien is not only the son-in-law of his former coach Ramsay, Hart has almost watched O'Brien's basketball path all the way to today, and it is a matter of course that he helps O'Brien.

They were also successful last season, with a beautiful comeback that put the team back into the playoffs and a lot of hope. As an assistant coach, Hart also hopes that O'Brien can achieve a lot this season and lead the team to the next level, so that O'Brien can also take a step closer to being a good and great coach, and O'Brien has given a lot for this day.

However, as the new season began, Hart sensed that O'Brien was going further and further down a bad path.

By the time he drove to the training gym, some of the young players had arrived, Michael Reid, Arenas, Joe Johnson, Durham Porter, Tony Barty and Paul Pearce, everyone was training with their heads down. Arenas is shooting, Pierce is working on his back, and Dareham Porter is working on his leg strength in the power room. Everyone worked very hard, but it was still a bit dull in the arena, which is not the feeling that a young team should have, but there was no way, and going into November, the Celtics kept losing.

"Good morning, Mr. Hart, look at the defensive training plan I made today, is there anything wrong?" As soon as Hart got dressed, he met Leon with a training schedule, he always came early and did his job quickly.

Hart looked at the training schedule roughly, nodded and said, "No problem, good training plan...... But maybe we should really practice the joint defense today. I watched a couple of games yesterday and some teams started to use the joint defence at certain times, which was a good disruption to the opposition's attacking tempo and we were a little bit behind. ”

Leon clipped the schedule and responded: "But O'Brien doesn't want to train the joint defense, he thinks that relying on pressing defense and one-on-one is enough, and today we will still train the defensive transfer on the strong and weak side." ”

Hart originally wanted to continue to talk to Leon about defensive strategy for a while, Leon was a very talented assistant coach he had ever met, a real genius - in terms of memory and understanding, as well as extremely energetic work energy and intellectual curiosity, Hart felt that the little defensive experience he had accumulated over the decades was about to be squeezed out by Leon.

But the thought of the call he received from Auerbach last night made him lose his mood, and Hart felt a little apprehensive about the upcoming changes in the Celtics. But after a while, he calmed down, after all, for an old man like him who has seen a lot of experience on the court, there is no special big deal.

After a while, other players, members of the coaching staff and staff arrived at the training gym, including Dennis Rodman. Hart meets O'Brien, and as the weather cools down, O'Brien begins to put on his jacket. He doesn't look too good, and the Celtics have a 3-6 record heading into November, losing to the Atlanta Hawks by nine points at home, 87-98. They face the Toronto Raptors at home again tonight, and after such a terrible start, a win, especially a home win, is very important. But O'Brien wasn't sure about winning the Raptors in this game.

At the morning coach's meeting, O'Brien grimaced, listening to the rest of the world without saying a word, and then constantly rewatching video clips from the Raptors' last few games. "We should start Blunt and the stats show that when he and Walker are on the floor at the same time, the opposition scores less inside. We should make a change. As Vogel watched the footage, he suggested to O'Brien, who was now O'Brien's most important lieutenant.

Hart shook his head when he heard this, although he also acknowledged the role played by data work in the formation of troops, but he could not agree with this kind of arrangement that purely relied on a small amount of data and was divorced from the actual situation of the field. Hart looked at Leon, wondering if he would refute it, but Leon also nodded, looking noncommittal.

Not to mention John Carroll, who has always been an obscure character in coaching meetings, and Hart doesn't bother to talk to O'Brien about this situation, so let it all be.

Sure enough, in the evening's game, O'Brien sent Mark Blunt to start, instead of the more reliable Tony Barty, and the result was that the aging Hakeem Olajuwon scored 17 points on the inside, a new high for the boss this season. The Boston Celtics were pressed and beaten by the Toronto Raptors all the way under the noses of 20,000 spectators at home, and in the end they did not struggle to come, and lost another game at home.

After the game, O'Brien attended the post-game press conference alone, and the team's core Pierce and Walker both refused to attend, and what was even more strange was that Hart Sr., who used to be with O'Brien, did not attend the press conference and returned to the locker room with the players.

When O'Brien returned to the locker room after the reporters had been asked to finish their interviews, he noticed that something was wrong, and the dull atmosphere that had been hanging over the team since the morning training session had reappeared in the locker room, and it seemed to be directed at O'Brien.

The young players sat up front, with Arenas bearing the brunt of the attack, next to Michael Reid, who stared directly at O'Brien face to face; And the old players sat in the middle of the place, some frowned and did not speak, and some clasped their hands to their chests and looked at O'Brien lightly. Pierce sat on a stool with his head bowed and didn't speak, while Antoine Walker took a shower in the bathroom, and the sound of water in the quiet dressing room was harsh.

Hart Sr. stood at the whiteboard and looked at O'Brien, who was a little bewildered as he entered the dressing room, and had spoken three words to the players, but had not received a single response. O'Brien also turned his gaze to Old Hart, who walked up to O'Brien, put his arm around his shoulders and whispered in his ear, "Sorry, you're out." ”

O'Brien's eyes widened as he looked at Hart, apparently asking what kind of ritual it was. Hart pondered for a moment and explained: "Last night, Arnold Auerbach called me and he said that the team's record was not up to expectations, that there were some problems with the team's construction, and that after consideration, the team was going to change the manager. ”

Hart's words were simple but heartfelt, and O'Brien knew that such words coming out of Hart's mouth meant that there was no room for maneuver. It wasn't team manager Wallace, president Danny Ainge, or honorary chairman Auerbach who told him this, but his right-hand man, the elderly and prestigious Dick Hart, who personally recruited assistant coaches, and O'Brien knew that his short 2001-2002 season was over.

The rebellion and the separation.

It all came too quickly, and just a few defeats turned O'Brien, who was still Boston's savior in the summer, into an outgamer. O'Brien couldn't help but think of last year's Pitino, who also resigned abruptly, when he was in the top position, and now he is in the same situation as Pitino. This is the NBA giants who are as terrible as the quagmire, and a big hand easily sweeps him out of the house.

O'Brien felt humiliated, he glared at Hart and asked in a slightly hoarse voice, "So I'm going to leave it to you next?" ”

After saying this, O'Brien regretted it a little, he was so carried away by the sudden departure that he felt that Hart took away his head coach position, but Hart is not the kind of person who has ambitions in the head coach position, he is 70 years old, and he just loves basketball and loves the Celtics to help him.

Hart heard O'Brien's words, withdrew the hand on his shoulder, he pointed to a person next to him, and said in a tone that was no longer gentle: "It won't be me as the head coach who will replace you, but him." ”

The person he pointed to was none other than John Carroll, who had been sitting by the door with a blank expression.