the rest, only noise

Chapter 118 Acting Coach Participation
Soon, Bill Fitch announced that he would no longer serve as the head coach of the Celtics due to family and physical reasons.

All four assistant coaches he recruited from college are also leaving the team.

Fitch's departure represents the end of an era, as he arrived in the waning days of the Celtics and, as he did in Cleveland, turned bad teams into great ones.

His dismissal represents the end of the Celtics' dark history in the late 70s, and the end of the early 80s in the struggle between top teams and championship teams.

Everyone knew the reason for his departure was a weak excuse.

Not long after, he got a brand new job in Houston.

There are always bad teams in the league who need him to save.

This is the end of his relationship with the Celtics, but the journey of the thousand-lost head coach has just begun.

What the media didn't expect was that the Celtics' acting coach was not KC Jones, who was expected by everyone, but an unusually low-key one in the past two years. The only news that came out of the circle was Louis, who spoke out for Asians during the All-Star Weekend due to improper arrangements by the league.

However, considering the current predicament of the Celtics, 3-0 behind, the media only regards Louis as a firefighting coach, because this season is over.

Louie's mood is not easy at all, because Auerbach listed a goal for him.

Whether he can continue in this position depends on whether he can accomplish Auerbach's goal.

His goal is simple, to win a game against the Bucks.

Regardless, bring the series back to Boston Garden.

Louis contacted a friend from Oracle and calculated the data he needed according to the formula he gave.

Louis wants accurate data, which is his philosophy. Although the data may not be correct, accurate data can definitely reflect the problems in some aspects of the team.

Therefore, he refers to these data as offensive and defensive elements.

For example, the effective field goal percentage/effective field goal percentage of the opponent under the team's defense, to understand the scoring efficiency of a team's (defensive) sports game; turnover rate/the opponent's turnover rate under the team's defense, to understand a team's ability to control mistakes/make mistakes; offensive/defensive rebound rate, to understand a team's ability to rush to grab offensive rebounds/protect backcourt rebounds;

These seemingly trivial points are enough to formulate a set of highly targeted strategies.

On May 1983, 5, at the Marriott Hotel in Milwaukee, Louie was about to start his first game as an acting coach.

If you can't win tonight, the dream of becoming a real head coach may come to naught.

Louie showed up in a sporty short-sleeve and jeans, much to the amusement of players accustomed to Bill Fitch's prim attire.

"You look like a college student with nothing to do at home," Isiah Thomas sneered.

"Compared to what I'm wearing, shouldn't you be more concerned about tonight's game?"

Louis pushes Thomas back in one sentence, letting him understand that the current situation does not allow him to smile.

"Actually, I'm surprised that you can play the game like this."

Louis looked at the members of this team, including Larry Bird, Sampson, Maxwell, Lambiel, Thomas, Angie, ML Carr, John Long, three All-Stars of the current season, in their prime, and four future All-Stars and quasi-All-Stars, all in their prime, how could they be humiliated by the Bucks?

"In order to understand the gap between us and the Bucks, I have a general understanding of each other's strength through statistics."

"Offensively, our effective field goal percentage is higher than the Bucks. However, you should not be happy, because we only rank eighth in the league in this data."

Louis easily mastered the main tone in the room, and he was the only voice.

"But the responsibility for this result lies with the coaching staff, so I don't blame you."

"We're better than them at hitting the offensive glass."

"We're also far better than them in terms of defensive rebound protection."

"The effective offense we create per 100 possessions (points + free throws + kills and draws) is also better than them."

"Although you didn't look like a team for a very long time, you still took the lead in many statistics." Louis said heavily, "But the energy you showed in the playoffs is another matter. Why are you two different teams? Is it because you can't do it, or do you really hate Coach Fitch so much?"

"Are you complaining about your ex?" Ranbir asked.

"No, I just want you to answer me, are you playing passively in order to let Coach Fitch go out? If so, he has already gone out now. I have a second question-do you, who have fulfilled your wish, still have the idea of ​​winning?"

Louis put his stats on the table: "If you still want to win, I will continue. If you don't want to win, I don't have to waste my time."

KC Jones did not expect that the first thing Louis came up with was not to maintain stability, but to confront the players.

Everyone looked at each other.

Bird, who had been silent for a long time, broke the silence: "Those who want to win stay here, and those who don't want to win leave."

Ten seconds passed, and no one left.

Louie laughed and said, "Since no one wants to leave, I take this as your answer. You still want to win."

"Since you want to win, we are on the same front. I know that many people are very worried about me. It doesn't matter. Just like I am very worried about your ability to win tonight. We don't trust each other, but you still have to strictly implement my orders."

Louis looked at the players seriously, especially Thomas: "I'm ugly, if someone doesn't obey my arrangement, I will replace him, and I won't use him anymore. I only want players who can move."

The veteran players have no doubts about Louie's ability.

This point has been proved as early as the 1981 Eastern Conference Finals.

"As I said earlier, we are ahead of the Bucks in many statistics, but they also have some statistics ahead of us."

Louis asked KC to send the data sheet to them: "I have explained the meaning of each data. What we need to pay attention to is that the Bucks rank second in the league in terms of restricting opponents' field goal percentage in the regular season, and they are the first in the league in the playoffs. However, we rank eighth in the league in the regular season, but in the playoffs, it is the worst performance of all teams participating in the playoffs."

"If you don't work hard on the defensive end because you want to drive away Coach Fitch, then from tonight, give me [-] points!"

"In addition, the Bucks are a very stable offensive team. Their offensive firepower is not on the same level as ours, but they can stably control their turnovers."

Louis emphasized: "In terms of error control, they ranked sixth in the league in the regular season and fourth in the playoffs. We also controlled well in the regular season, but in the playoffs, we were the second worst team in error control among all the teams participating in the playoffs."

"I don't want to say more about the specific reasons. Since Coach Fitch has become a thing of the past, please play tactics step by step, treat passing seriously, and reduce unnecessary mistakes."

The biggest difference between Louie and Fitch is that he is very pragmatic.

He will never get entangled in things that are irreparable, he will directly point out the problem and let you find a way to correct it.

"Rebounding should have been our advantage, but we faced the Bucks in three losses. They were better inside competitors in each game. I don't know if you are afraid of Bob Lanier's prehistoric big feet, or Dave Cowens sitting next to them. If it is the former, I can understand it. If it is the latter, it is unforgivable!"

"Of course, it is not ruled out that there is a problem with our lineup, so I want to adjust the starting lineup."

Louie had been babbling on and on for ten minutes, and it wasn't over yet, as if everything had just begun.

Now he has to adjust the starting lineup, which is also a sensitive matter.

He looks at Cedric Maxwell: "I'm hoping for better height and athleticism at the four."

Bill Fitch had an awkward fight with Maxwell last season over the starting issue.

This season, due to dissatisfaction with Sampson's increasingly outside style of play, the relationship between the two has deteriorated, so they no longer mention Sampson as the starter.

The result is that Sampson's performance is limited, and Maxwell has been repeatedly criticized by the media. Almost everyone thinks that Sampson is more suitable for starting than him.

Maxwell was silent for a few seconds.

"If I can win, I can go to the bench." Maxwell doesn't want to be seen as a selfish person.

"Okay!" Louis said with a satisfied smile, "This is a good start."

Ranbir was taken aback: "Just the beginning?"

"Yes, we still have a lot of mistakes to fix." Louis said lightly.

Fifteen minutes passed, and Louie was just getting started.

(End of this chapter)