Joe Johnson spent the last day of 2001 with his family in his hometown of Little Rock, Arkansas, and then ushered in the first day of 2002 at home with his mother's breakfast. Boston is half an American distance from Little Rock, but Johnson still wants to be able to celebrate a big year in basketball with his family.

Unlike many black players from single-parent families, Joe Johnson comes from a warm, cohesive family, and although he also had to deal with poverty, violence and drugs, his close family ties allowed him to have a better childhood. And his mother told him from an early age to be a low-key person, do things with a dull head, not be arrogant, and not be close to danger, which shaped Joe Johnson's low-key and steady personality, and even a little cold and cold. So when he was selected by the Celtics to come to the most racist city in the United States, Joe Johnson did not complain or be afraid, but silently waited for the opportunity to shine.

At breakfast, Johnson's mom, Diana, fried two eggs for him, warmed a glass of milk and a few slices of bread, and their family situation improved a lot since Johnson entered the NBA. Serving the milk, Diana hugged Johnson's head and gave him a big kiss, saying, "You're my pride, kid." "It's because of her son that Diana no longer has to work in that damn psychiatric hospital, where she was once injured by a patient, and that's when Joe Johnson vowed to play in the NBA and not let her mom do such a dangerous job.

In the face of his mother's praise, Johnson only smiled slightly, even to his relatives he is not very good at expressing his emotions, sometimes he is too reserved. In the short period of Paul Pearce's injury, Johnson took the opportunity to make the most of his skills on the offensive end, and it was clear that his offensive skills were honed during his time in Boston. He didn't like the city of Boston, racism aside, it was too cold, too wet, too cramped, too cold, too much frenzied, too much crazy screaming, and of course, too glorious and heavy history, all of which weighed on Johnson like a big shackle.

Among the three new rookies this year, Joe Johnson was originally the highest pick and was considered to have the best talent and skill, but after coming to Boston, Arenas undoubtedly stole Johnson's limelight, and the Celtics replaced Kenny Anderson, leaving a vacancy in the point guard position to give Arenas a chance, and veterans like Steve Kerr can only play off the bench. Especially after O'Brien's dismissal, Arenas gradually received the team's key development, coupled with his hard training and self-confident personality, he quickly made a name for himself in the game.

On the forward line, the Celtics have a core player Paul Pearce, and it happens that Pierce and Johnson are similar in terms of playing style, but Pierce's skill level and game experience are not known to be higher than Johnson. The team's other shooting guard, young Michael Reed, is off the beaten path, with super-fast shooting speed and increasingly good running ability, and his position with the Celtics is also becoming more and more secure, and Johnson has hardly many playing opportunities.

He chose to wait in silence and put 200 per cent effort into his daily training to be ready for the opportunity that could come at any time. On the night of the game against the Utah Jazz, when Paul Pierce was elbowed to the ground by Malone, Johnson had to admit that there was a trace of excitement and expectation in his heart at that time, hoping that Pierce could lie on the ground for a little longer, so that he might have more opportunities to play. Of course, this is just a flash of thought, Johnson is not the kind of person who gloates and builds his happiness on the pain of others, but he really wants to play too much.

Thinking of this, Johnson still felt a little ashamed, for the flash of thought at that time, he lowered his head and ate a piece of bread, drank a sip of milk, and felt that his mouth was sweet, just like in the past week. Although the team lost three of its four games on the road trip to the West, Johnson had a pretty good individual performance, scoring more than 15 points in all four games and scoring a career-high 19 points against the Clippers. Now his biggest wish is to break 20 points in a game, and he hopes that averaging 20 points per game can become his habit.

"Okay Mom, don't give me any more chicken cutlets, I don't eat any of these things. Pack up for me, I'll be flying back in two hours. Johnson stopped her when she saw that her mother was still giving her chicken cutlet. Fried chicken is Arkansas' most famous food, and although it has always been known to be unhealthy, most people can't resist the aroma and tenderness of fried chicken, especially Arkansas, which is simply addictive with Mexican hot sauce. Johnson used to be a big fan of fried chicken as well, but after becoming a professional basketball player, he was going to stay away from these things.

"Why don't you leave in the afternoon? Uncle and uncle want to eat with you at noon! I've prepared a lot of dishes, didn't you say you'll have games in the evening and training in the afternoon? "All mothers obviously don't want their sons to leave early, and Diana is no exception.

Johnson shook his head and said, "The coach of the team texted us last night and told us that the training was advanced to the morning of the 1st, so I had to rush to Boston tonight and get a good night's sleep." Okay, Mom, when I get a big contract, I will buy a big house and let all my family live together. As he spoke, Johnson hugged his mom.

Two hours later, Johnson was on a plane back to Boston, and last night's text message was from Leon, in fact, in NBA teams coaches rarely text players to change their training schedules, especially early training times. It's not a university, the players aren't students, some of the veterans are family people with their own lives and routines, and when the team decides to give them a holiday, it's not so easy to get them back quickly with a text message.

But Leon can do it, Johnson knows it, and sometimes in the bottom of his heart he has to admit that he is a little afraid of this unique assistant coach, and he always puts on a "I can't be wrong" look, but the truth is that he really rarely gets wrong. This has led to a stereotype among the players that you don't go against Fox Leon and that going against him means you're going to make mistakes. Johnson shuddered at the thought of Leon standing coldly on the sidelines with his hands around and watching everyone.

"Damn, why does this guy feel like this, he's actually pretty nice......" Johnson couldn't help but think.

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On the morning of the 2nd, Leon arrived at the training hall early, and the team had given all the players and staff a two-and-a-half-day off, allowing the players to return to Boston on the afternoon of the 2nd, go directly to TD North Shore Garden to practice, and in the evening directly participate in the first game of 2002 against the Orlando Magic. But a text message from Leon gathered everyone half a day earlier, and no one objected or asked for leave, and even Dennis Rodman arrived at the training hall on point, although he was full of alcohol, and he looked straight out of the nightclub. "I smell of alcohol, but I don't really drink much." Rodman also explained, and it didn't look like he was drunk.

Joe Johnson arrived at Boston Airport at 10 p.m. last night, rushed back to his apartment to rest as soon as he got off the plane, and got up early the next day to come to practice, and when he arrived at the gym, Arenas, Michael Reed and Paul Pierce had already been in the gym for an hour of shooting practice.

Before the start of training, Carroll held a small meeting with the players in the small conference room, he briefly described the team's training plan for today, instructed the players, and then handed the podium to Leon.

Leon was in good spirits today, he picked up an oil-based pen and wrote a word, "Habit," on the whiteboard in the conference room, and he said to everyone: "You see these five letters of words, habits, habits are to do something repeatedly, like our training." When everything becomes a habit, then everything is natural and there is no need to think about it, because it has become a part of our life. For example, I erase the 'H'. With that, Leon erased the letter H with a boarder.

"There are still 'a-bits', if I erase the 'A', we still have the 'bit' (a little), if I erase the 'B', then the 'it' (it) is still with us, this is the power of habit, they are always with you, if you have bad habits, he will always follow and destroy, if there are good habits, then you will benefit for life. Now, halfway through the season, I'm watching each and every one of you all the time. I'm also learning, I'm also thinking, and today, Coach Carroll has given me the power to develop a new, more reasonable training plan and tactical arrangement for the team, so I want to make good habits flourish in the Celtics team culture. ”

As he spoke, Leon took out more than a dozen training plans from the backpack behind him, which was a revised version of the plan he had previously denied by O'Brien, from today on, this training program will accompany the Celtics players for many years, it has been constantly revised, added and deleted, using Fox Leon's superb wisdom, meticulous observation and summary ability, combined with the experience learned from many predecessors and various problem solving methods in actual training, and finally became an important page in the Celtics basketball culture. Leon took an important step in writing his basketball bible.

"Today, our training will start with passing and fast breaking."