The Hawks and Pistons are both teams in the Central Division, so it can be seen that Atlanta is not very far from Detroit, and it only takes about two hours by flight. For the upcoming All-Star weekend, Brown generously gave all the Pistons players a holiday, but in order to support Big Ben, the only Pistons player selected as an All-Star, the old coach flew to Atlanta with the other four players of the Pistons starting lineup to cheer for Big Ben, and he also brought his head assistant coach Chang Wei.

With All-Star Weekend fast approaching, there are plenty of NBA stars at Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, and the dimly stardly starry Pistons support group is naturally hard to get a fan of local fans. However, they have long been accustomed to this kind of treatment, and in their hearts, the only people who are willing to support themselves at all costs are the local blue-collar workers in Detroit, and whether the other fans like it or not is not in their consideration at all, anyway, as long as they can win.

Here, Brown and the others enthusiastically participated in various basketball charity activities, and over there, Big Ben took makeup photos with other players who were selected for the All-Star Game. Even if he was selected as an All-Star as a starter, Big Ben still had little smile on his face, and when he pursed his lips and looked at the camera, one word flashed in everyone's hearts at the scene: fierce and evil.

Yes, as the representative of Detroit's blue-collar basketball, Big Ben has never been as pleasing as other stars, all he has to do is fan the opponent who dares to challenge him out of the air in every round, or use his big hands to collect all the round objects and make the Pistons' restricted area a copper wall. Big Ben has always been accustomed to talking with basketball, and even when he received the Best Defensive Player award before, he only showed a stiff smile.

After finally taking the makeup photo, Big Ben immediately fell into the circle of media reporters again, of course, many of them are ready to see the joke, in the history of the NBA, there are few pure defensive players like Big Ben to become an All-Star starter, and according to the former Eastern Conference coach and 76ers head coach Els, he will give Big Ben enough playing time.

In the face of the reporters' doubts and ridicule, Ben with the explosive head was still expressionless, he bowed his head slightly and muttered for a moment, picked up the microphone in front of him and said in a deep voice: "I know that the All-Star is a very entertaining event, and in your opinion, I am out of place on this stage, but since the fans have made me an All-Star starter in the East, I have to work hard to help the team win." ”

"Basketball isn't a game where you only have offense and no defense, and my team and I just don't put as much effort on the offensive end as other teams. If you look at our record, we're second in the East and we've beaten a lot of strong teams in the process, which just proves that defense can win games too. ”

"I'm very grateful to my head coach, Mr. Brown, for injecting the defensive DNA into our whole team. I used to have to be alone on the defensive end every time, but now I have teammates who are just as focused on defense. The reason why I'm standing here is inseparable from their efforts, you have to understand one thing, I represent our defensive basketball! ”

After saying that, Big Ben turned around and left, not giving the reporters a chance to continue asking questions. Looking at his distant back, the interview room, which was noisy like a vegetable market before, suddenly fell silent, everyone's eyes were full of awe, and many industry veterans even began to reflect on themselves: Is it true that a team that simply fights defense cannot succeed?

The video of Big Ben's interview was quickly released by the official, and Chang Wei keenly noticed that when Brown saw this video, the hands on his thighs unconsciously clenched into fists, and they trembled slightly, and it was obvious that Lao Shuai's heart was not calm. For a head coach, getting the approval of his players means that he is at least half of the way successful, not to mention that Brown is now literally bucking the tide of the league, and Big Ben's words have undoubtedly given him a shot of doping.

Sure enough, after Brown was excited for a while, he patted Chang Wei on the shoulder and said impassionedly: "Chang, I can now be sure that the Pistons' path is correct, we have every hope of winning a championship, I want everyone to see the effect of doing the best in any aspect, defensive basketball can also win the championship!" ”

The old man is worthy of being an old man talking about juvenile madness, and his hand strength is really big enough...... Chang Wei rubbed his shoulder that was patted, and said helplessly: "Coach, I have never doubted the importance of defense, but first of all, do we want to further improve the thickness of the bench?" Personally, I don't think I can make the main players fit for 48 minutes......"

Brown blushed and sneered: "That's right, yes, we need to strengthen the bench lineup, and we hope to get a good championship puzzle before this year's trade deadline, if not, we can only look forward to the draft!" ”

Chang Wei shrugged his shoulders and didn't speak, the team shouldn't be able to trade a good role player before the trade deadline, and those with a little strength may not be willing to play off the bench. As Brown said, it's better to look forward to the 2003 draft, with the Grizzlies' current poor record, it's not difficult to get a high pick, and with Chang Wei, it is impossible to let the team choose Mirisic like in the previous life, and the other high picks are a strong addition to the bench, no matter who they are.

Two days later, the All-Star Game started on time as scheduled, and I don't know what Els had in mind, but he did give Big Ben 25 minutes of playing time, which is a lot in the All-Star Game, after all, some of the All-Star benches can only get a few minutes. Big Ben played a Piston-style basketball as he said before the game, and although he only scored 2 points in the game, he grabbed the second-most 9 rebounds on the team, while also dishing out a game-high 5 blocks, and the two major centers in the West, Yao Ming and O'Neal, failed to take advantage of his defense.

What's more, Big Ben relied on his defense to conquer the fans in attendance, and although the East eventually lost 150-154 to the West, when Big Ben was substituted, almost the entire stadium spontaneously stood up to cheer for him, and there was a rare hint of blush on his dark face. For Big Ben and the Pistons, regardless of the outcome of this game, defensive basketball has really been shown in the flash, and while not too many teams are willing to take this path, it will also lead to success!