You should cross the mountains like a brave man

Chapter 514 Imaginary Enemy

The Lakers simply defeated the Spurs. As for the Eastern Conference, the Celtics, who have played two consecutive tiebreakers, seem to be ready to usher in the third round.

They finished the first four games with the Pistons, who had reached the Eastern Conference finals for five consecutive years, with a big score of 2 to 2.

The regular season has played a general offensive in the regular season, but once it comes to the playoffs, the advantage no longer exists.

During the regular season, they can use their seasoned experience and fast-formed team tacit understanding to suppress other teams. In the playoffs, the intensity has increased. The Big Three, with an average age of 30, cannot cope with the oppression from the same division in perfect condition.

Don’t look at the teams in the East that look like mediocre teams that are vulnerable to a single blow. When it comes to fighting, almost every team can show the traditional art of the Eastern Conference playoffs: confrontation in case of indecision, hand-to-hand combat with weak offense, tactical failure is better than wrestling, rough, mean, bad, dirty, whatever words you want to apply to them.

Where did all this come from?

The answer, of course, is the Boston Celtics of the 60s.

When he couldn't beat the flashy Western Conference, Reid Auerbach always called a timeout and said, "Give me a dirty fight, you bastards!"

Because the Celtics under Auerbach achieved nine championships in ten years, everything they did was rationalized.

Those unworthy traditions have been passed down to this day, but they have harmed the current Celtics.

Even if they don't play the full seven, it will take at least six games to seal the win.

Six games, then the Lakers' vacation will be very long.

It can be as short as nine days and as long as eleven days.

Eleven days is enough for them to take a good rest.

However, from the perspective of preparations, the eleven-day offseason is a bit long.

The good state of playing against the Western powers before will not be preserved forever. It is possible that while resting, one's own state will be lost. This is by no means alarmist.

On the first day of June, Wei Xia participated in training normally.

He's had a lot of free time lately, seeing Elaine Trovis on dates almost every day outside of training.They talked about many things, about Wei Xia's generous statements in front of the media, about how he became a leper in the eyes of the media, about his views on current affairs and politics.

Also, Trovis's book, "A Physician's Guide to Leaving Career," which he's been preparing for years, is about to be released.

Trovis is famous for the drug scandal and suspected racial discrimination in Los Angeles. The drug scandal has been debated so far, but she has resigned from Angel Hospital in Los Angeles, and the dust has settled.Rumors of racial discrimination have been dispelled by the iron truth: Trovis and the Bryant family are very close personal friends.

As for Trovis's book, although it has not yet been published, it has been recognized by many authors and recommended by many media.

Amazon thinks this is a new book with the potential to be a blockbuster this quarter.

Then, in the past few days of training, there is generally no problem.

After training, Phil Jackson called Wei Xia into the coach's office.

Both Wei Xia and Jackson have a hard time accepting the fact that the relationship between them is not as tense as it used to be.

Even if Wei Xia doesn't want to believe it, there is an indisputable fact that he must admit.

During his months of controversy and persecution by public opinion, Jackson never made trouble for him, never put extra pressure on him.

When the coaching staff needed to stand up to help him support the situation, Jackson took the lead, as aggressive as protecting his own son.

Wei Xia once wanted to have a chat with Jackson, maybe the knot between them would be untied.

Then he gave up.

It's not that he doesn't want to reconcile with Jackson, he just thinks that Jackson's spur and restraint on him is an important reason for his progress.

He would never have progressed so fast without Phil Jackson.

He needs to continue to accept Zen master's constraints, discipline, inhuman high demands and competition indicators.Only in this way, he will not relax for a moment, and can fully realize his talent in the golden period of his sports career.

Jackson didn't mean anything, just gave him another book.

"Read it when you have time." Jackson pushed the book in front of Wei Xia.

"little Prince"

"I've read this book," Wei Xia said.

Jackson asked, "How old were you?"

"I don't remember, it should be before the seventh grade. I remember there was a fox in it." In Wei Xia's impression, this is a children's book.

Jackson said with a faint smile, "Then watch it again."

Wei Xia refused in his heart, but he still took the book.

"Is there any other order?" Wei Xia asked.

"Come back," Jackson said.

Wei Xia walked out of the office with the book.

This is the second time that Jackson asked Wei Xia to read. The first time was "Letter from a Strange Woman" two years ago.

Although the whole article is written about the ultimate secret of the woman who babbled all the time: secret love.But Wei Xia saw what Jackson wanted him to understand.

Consecrate silently.

Now what is he going to tell him through this book?What is the truth that cannot be said through the mouth, and people have to "research" and "enlighten" by themselves?
After Wei Xia came home, he didn't study for the first time.

Since Jackson didn't tell him when he'd finished reading it, but just let him read it, he decided to wait until he was bored to pass the time.

Rather than reading books, he prefers to study his opponents in the finals.

The Celtics and the Pistons are still tied, and Wei Xia always feels that the Celtics will win.

For no other reason, if the Celtics lose to the current Pistons, how bad is the East?
Therefore, he chose to watch the seventh game of the Celtics and Cavaliers semifinals.

Today in the 2007-08 season, there is a conclusion that Kobe, who won the MVP, is already the undisputed No.1 in the league.

So who is the second player in the league?

There is no doubt that it is 24-year-old LeBron James.

When Kobe gets old, he will be No.1.

Playing the tiebreaker with the second-best team in the world, the Celtics naturally had no idea, but Pierce stood up, scoring 41 points against LeBron James with 45 points.

Eight seconds before the end, the Cavaliers fouled Pierce.

95 is better than 92
The Celtics led the Cavaliers by 3 points.

In the North Shore Garden, there seems to be ghosts around.

Pierce's free throw hit the basket and looked like it was going to be missed. Before Cleveland could catch his breath, the ball slammed into the basket.

A strange smile appeared on Pierce's face.

That is the smile that has appeared countless times in the history of the Celtics team.

Wei Xia, who shuttles back and forth between the 60s and the contemporary era every night, knows what kind of smile it is.

Sam Jones laughed that way when he humiliated his opponent, and Bill Russell laughed that way when he uttered a mean trash-talk.Cedric Maxwell still laughed when he slit James Worthy's throat in the 1984 Finals.When they came from behind in the garden and killed the Lakers in Game [-], Larry Bird and the Cardinals were still smiling as they held the trophy.

In the history of the Celtics, for most of the period, there was always someone who could stand up to the number of superstars in the league, win, and then give a meaningful smile.

After staring at Pierce's smile for a long time, Wei Xia realized that the Celtics in the old days had achieved seven consecutive championships. He played for that great team every night, but in reality he wanted to play the Celtics in reverse?

Will he have a mess of passing the ball to opponents?
Wei Xia's thoughts were in chaos, and soon, the Celtics defeated the Pistons in the battle of Tianwangshan.

It can be said that it was the victory brought by Garnett and Ray Allen.

Let’s talk about Garnett first. When he met Rasheed Wallace and Antonio McDyess, one of the protagonists of the battle of fighting and retreating, his hands felt hot, and he was not limited to shooting with iron blood.

He made 16 shots and scored 33 points.

The other is Ray Allen, Wei Xia's key caretaker, and Jackson may let him guard against this person.

Against the Pistons, Allen's outside touch is simply tingling.

With a shooting rate of 6 out of 5, one of the tactics impressed Wei Xia.

A running teammate suddenly hangs a back screen in the middle. Ray Allen can use the screen to run out or not.

At the top of the arc, his three-point shooting percentage is 37%, 43.7% outside the left three-point line, and 43.8% outside the left bottom corner three-point line.

Against the Pistons, he rushed out of a forty-degree angle to the left, caught the ball and shot.

Where is the difficulty of cracking that tactic?

Wei Xia thinks it is unpredictability. Before the back screen appeared in the middle, everyone thought that the Celtics would honestly ask someone to catch the sideline ball and then organize the offense.As a result, suddenly someone stood up in the middle to cover the back—the most terrifying thing is that anyone can give Ray Allen a back screen in the middle—he immediately plugged and played, throwing off Tayshaun Prince (second defense) who was chasing him, and went straight out of the three-point line to take the ball, shot, and shot the ball as fast as lightning.

This tactic that only appeared once made Wei Xia terrified.

What's even more frightening is that the running tactics prepared by the Celtics for Ray Allen are not as simple as he thought.

Some use the inside containment force to create open spaces, some use passing to disrupt the opponent's defensive rotation, and some are like this round, with proper screens and Allen's superb running skills to complete efficient tactical offenses.

Pierce is a kaleidoscope offensive player, Garnett is all-round offensive and defensive, and Rondo, a second-year player, is undoubtedly one of the best commanders in the league.

Inside the collar are Kendrick Perkins and PJ Brown.

Jackpot substitute James Posey.

Reliable veteran Sam Cassell and combo guard Eddie House with convulsive attributes.

Wei Xia thinks like a coach. Against the Celtics, which point is their absolute advantage, which point is their absolute weakness, and which point needs to strive to create an advantage?

He was overwhelmed with these questions. It turned out that being a coach is not just sitting on the Diaoyutai like a Zen master. There are so many things to consider, which made him immediately give up the idea of ​​changing careers to become a coach after retiring.

(End of this chapter)