Coach, I don't want to retire yet

Chapter 543: The Boston Incident, Swearing at the Statue of Liberty!
The Celtics defeated the Knicks at home and stopped their decline.

Just when all the Boston fans were looking forward to whether the Celtics would rise again, on February 2, the Celtics played against the Nets at home. The opponent in this game was very weak, so this game became the first game that Leonard would play after joining the team.

"Kawhi's injury has completely healed. We can be 100% sure that Kawhi will play in tonight's game, and Kawhi will start!"

In the pre-game press conference, Celtics general manager Danny Ainge was very confident.

In an interview before the game, the Celtics general manager gave Leonard high praise.

"When Kawhi was in the Spurs, we were eager to get him. He stood out in the playoffs against the Lakers and showed his superstar potential and strength. He is one of the best players in the league and has all the elements to succeed. Larry Bird? No, no, no, Kawhi will not be Larry Bird. Kawhi will not be the next anyone. Neither Michael Jordan nor Larry Bird can define Kawhi. He will be the first himself!"

It can be seen that Danny Ainge really likes Leonard.

The whole world knows that the reason why Danny Ainge turned evil and formed the Big Three was because the league lost Durant, who was in the Celtics' hands.

Danny Ainge does have a soft spot for Durant-type players.

Kawhi Leonard is that type of player.

Leonard's ball-handling and breakthrough abilities are poor, but his defense is strong.

Both of them are excellent in singles offense.

Leonard was unable to fully utilize his one-on-one ability when he was in the Spurs or the Raptors.

On the Celtics, with Paul passing the ball to him and so many people creating space for him, Leonard can be himself.

In the Celtics, Leonard will become a real superstar!
Some people within the Celtics said that he was gambling by trading Gay, the Nets' draft pick and a future first-round pick for Leonard.

He doesn't think so. Leonard meets all his requirements and imaginations for this Celtics team.

He is looking forward to this game, Leonard will give him and the whole world a surprise!
Then, this game between the Celtics and the Nets almost turned into a scare for Danny Ainge!

Facing the Nets, who were so weak at home, the Celtics almost lost the game!

In this game, Leonard, who was highly expected, performed very averagely.

Well, it can't be said to be very average. In this game, Leonard made 10 of 8 shots and scored 20 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Judging from the statistics, it can be said that he is very Dio.

If you require Leonard to be an All-Star player, then these statistics and performances are really impressive.

But if you require Leonard to be a superstar, then this performance is very average.

Because, these scores of Leonard were not the stand-up singles that Danny Ainge and Celtics fans hoped for.

When the Celtics were in crisis, the person who stood up was Chris Paul.

Chris Paul didn't even pass the ball to Leonard, letting Leonard do the roll.

Paul was given special attention by the Nets in this game.

The defense on him was very tight.

However, in order to maintain his position as the team leader, he can pass the ball to Leonard, but he must not let Leonard play like Jordan in this game!

Performed well in the first game and led the team to victory?
Isn't this just adding more enemies to yourself?
Leonard can play, but the protagonist of every game needs to be Chris Paul.

In this game, Leonard scored 20 points, and his other statistics were also very impressive. The pressure on Paul was enormous.

This made Paul misjudge Leonard's strength.

In Paul's opinion, his strength is 94, and Leonard's strength should be around 92.

I didn’t expect that Leonard might have a strength of 95!
This made Paul very uncomfortable.

Originally, he wanted to play brotherly role with Leonard in this game.

Unexpectedly, the Nets' three-point shooting was so good in this game, and his own touch was so poor, he could only suppress Leonard.

Not to mention the Celtics professionals, even the Celtics fans could see that Paul deliberately suppressed Leonard in this game and almost caused the team to lose.

If it weren't for James's great performance as a substitute, the Celtics would have really lost the game.

After the game, Leonard was named the Player of the Game. The Celtics won and he was named the Player of the Game. Leonard should be happy, but no one saw a smile on his face.

at the post-match press conference.

When others asked him what it was like to be teammates with Paul, Leonard's answer was also very intriguing.

Even a fool knows that these reporters ask this question just to stir up trouble.

Leonard's answer really dumbfounded these reporters who were looking for trouble.

"I know what you want me to say. This game was not played by one person, but by the whole team. One person cannot be blamed, and one person cannot be praised."

"If you understand basketball and like to watch basketball games, you will notice the difference in the team's performance when he is on the court and when he is not on the court, which shows how important he is to the team. I don't think anyone underestimates him. If people really do this, then they just want to see players get high scores."

In this game, Paul scored 14 points and 12 assists. There is no problem with the statistics, but his shooting percentage is very poor, only 30%.

If we really have to find someone to blame for this game, Paul, as the current leader of the team, must be the one to blame.

But Leonard is defending Paul.

Is it really?

The San Antonio reporters at the scene and many reporters who know Leonard do not see it that way.

Because Leonard usually speaks very little, but this time, he said so much.

If someone who usually doesn't like to talk suddenly talks so much, you have to be careful about what he means.

"This sounds so familiar. Isn't this how Leonard evaluated Parker back then?!"

"When Parker performed poorly on the Spurs, Leonard defended Parker in the same way!"

"Every time Leonard said this, Parker would be very angry. Parker couldn't stand the fact that the veteran of his team was pointed at by a young player, even if it was so-called defense. And, is this defense?"

"Leonard's words to me feel more like sarcasm, satirizing Paul for knowing his importance to the team but being selfish and wanting to get high scores, because people like players who get high scores."

"Is this true? Is Leonard's words so sarcastic? Aren't Leonard and Durant two honest men in the NBA?"

"That's because you don't know Kawhi. I don't know Durant. You think he is an honest man, Kawhi Leonard. In fact, he may have secretly liked Parker's posts online. A Spurs player broke the news that he secretly saw Kawhi accidentally liked Parker's tweet on his phone!"

After Leonard spoke, the scene became lively.

However, no matter how the reporters asked, Leonard on the stage pretended not to hear them, and once again became the familiar, dull player who sat there in a daze, unable to utter a few words for a long time.

Then, whether Leonard's words in defense of Paul were a true defense or just sarcasm towards Paul became a hot topic in the entire NBA.

It has become the focus of discussion among all fans.

Originally, everyone thought that the Celtics’ infighting was coming to an end.

Unexpectedly, Leonard's arrival made the Celtics' internal strife even more heated and tense.

Because on the second day after the game with the Nets, during the team training, James took the initiative to run to Leonard's side, helping Leonard and passing the ball.

James acts like he considers himself as Leonard's younger brother.

Soon, Davis also ran over to train with Leonard.

Then, all the Celtics players at the scene were dumbfounded.

The flag on the city wall has changed?!
Leonard and Davis, James is standing aside!

In fact, the Celtics have thought about this possibility.

I just never thought that Davis, James, and Leonard seem to be led by him!

Generally, everyone thinks that it should be Leonard, while James should be more like Davis!
So, apart from not taking sides, Randolph is a free-spirited person in the team, just playing basketball.

Of the team's four biggest stars, three are on one side, while the one on the other side is the boss of the team!

Leonard clearly declared independence after playing one game, while Davis and James were still cheering for him.

This, of course, irritated Paul.

St. Paul also has a bad temper. It seems that after the last game, Leonard either supported him or criticized him for being a ball hog like Parker, selfish, not caring about the team's life and death, and only caring about his own score. Good guy, I didn't expect that you, a guy with thick eyebrows and big eyes, would be so bad!

Of course Paul couldn't stand this!

In the back-to-back game against the Pacers on February 2, the Celtics almost lost again.

General Paul George of the Pacers almost defeated the Celtics.

In the end, it was all thanks to Leonard who defended Paul George alone in the final moments, stole the ball and completed the buzzer-beating dunk.

Paul didn't pass the ball to Leonard at all in this game, but Leonard became the most crucial player for the Celtics to win.

In two consecutive games, Leonard's performance at critical moments showed that he is the most trustworthy player of the Celtics at critical moments!
The final result was that on the training ground, the number of Celtics players around Leonard gradually increased.

Paul was even more isolated.

He was already very unpopular because of the way he treated James before.

Now that the team seems to have a more reliable leader, Paul's position in the team will be difficult.

Paul was completely isolated.

James is still playing as a substitute, but when he is on the bench, he and Leonard cooperate very skillfully and tacitly.

In the game against the Pacers, the Kobe-Jan combination was trailing by ten points in the third quarter, but they worked together to quickly overcome the disadvantage in the first five minutes of the fourth quarter.

If Paul hadn't gone undercover again later, the Celtics would have won long ago.

For the Celtics, internal strife has escalated once again. This time, there is no way Danny Ainge will sit idly by.

This time, Danny Ainge did not talk to Leonard, but to Paul.

There was nothing wrong with his eyes, he admitted, and he may have underestimated Leonard.

Judging from Leonard's performance in these two games, he is really super and really strong!
He is more suitable to be the boss of the Celtics than Paul.

As a ruthless man who dared to propose a trade for Larry Bird, it was natural that he would not be gentle when talking to Paul.

Give Kawhi a hand.

Faced with Danny Ainge's proposal, Paul directly rejected it angrily.

He finally got rid of James and became the boss of the Celtics, and now he is helping Leonard?

Danny Ainge, do you know what you are talking about?
When I was dominating the Western Conference, Leonard was just a role player!

Leonard was never a genius!

In the NBA, talented players do look down on those non-talented players who rise.

Durant has despised Leonard more than once. Even though Leonard has shown his superstar strength, Durant has said many contemptuous words.

Why is this happening?

In the United States, truly talented players grow up competing with each other since childhood.

For example, Kobe and McGrady, Garnett, Hamilton and others, they have competed and grown up together since childhood, and their relationship is very special.

For example, Iguodala, James, Paul, Anthony and others.

With this kind of relationship, even if you don't realize your talent in the future, everyone will still respect you.

What the hell are you, Leonard?
In our world before, there was no such person as you!

In our previous world, you were just a nobody without even a name.

Therefore, in the NBA, those players who suddenly rise later, if they want to integrate into the circle of geniuses, they have to lick them, just like Wade licked James.

Wade was already the champion and FMVP at that time. If he wanted to integrate into that circle of geniuses, he had to lick them.

Leonard never licks, so naturally no one wants to play with him.

So Leonard is very strong, but his appeal in the NBA is very poor.

At the very least, Paul must feel that Leonard is not worthy of being his assistant.

A former unknown person is worthy of my help?

Paul would rather be second to Redick than to Leonard.

If that's the case, there's nothing we can do.

Paul was decisively sent to the shelf by Danny Ainge.

As the NBA's trade deadline approaches, unexpectedly, Chris Paul is put on the shelf!
This is Chris Paul!
Chris Paul did not give in to Danny Ainge.

You can trade as you like.

Even Chris Paul hasn't said where his next home will be.

Because with people like Danny Ainge, there's no point in saying anything.

Because of the trade for Chris Paul, Paul was completely DNP in the next game and did not play.

With Paul not playing, James became the team's starting point guard instead of Smart.

James, Leonard, Jeff Green, Randolph and Davis.

Jeff Green and James both started.

Many people originally thought that the Celtics would be in chaos again because of internal strife.

Unexpectedly, after Chris Paul was DNPed, the Celtics united as one and actually won all the way until February 2, before the All-Star Weekend!
During this period, the Celtics' best player was Leonard.

在这段时间，伦纳德可以场均31分6篮板3助攻2.5抢断，命中率高达55%！

Wow, what is Stuck Jordan? This data, that is the real Jordan!

With such a real Jordan, Celtics fans will never think about Chris Paul!
Now, Chris Paul, the former boss of the Celtics, is slowly being forgotten by the Celtics!
Of course, the entire league will definitely not forget Paul.

And as for James, he will definitely not forget Paul.

"LeBron, you are awesome!"

James smiled.

He didn't even show up, Paul, and the things that were taken from him must be exchanged back!

James was very happy that he could take back everything that belonged to him by himself, without relying on anyone else.

At this moment, someone was angry behind him.

"LeBron, I didn't expect that you were the one behind all this! Have you forgotten how you swore in front of the Statue of Liberty that you would always support me?!"

Even if James didn't turn around, he knew who the loser's voice belonged to.

The Statue of Liberty's swearing?

James actually laughed.

Turning around, James looked at Paul with a smile.

"If Chris wants to hear it again, we can go to the Statue of Liberty right now and I can swear again that I will always support Chris Paul as my boss, how about that?"

Paul was stunned when he saw the smile on James' face.

He had never seen such a shameless person in the world!
"Chris, this is all because of you. I originally just wanted to be your loyal subject. But don't worry, as long as you are in Celtic, I will not be the boss!"

Hahahaha...

James left happily with a big laugh.

The only one left was Paul, who was so disheveled that he was suffocating in the wind.

(End of this chapter)