? The Celtics' victory in New York did not win a reputation for Leon and his players, which may be related to the low preseason attention. In addition to the first game against New York at the Nassau Stadium, the second game against the Chicago Bulls was arranged at the Mohican Sun Arena, a medium-sized stadium with only 10,000 seats. This is Mohican. The home stadium of the Wolves Indoor Football Club, where the pre-season games are held here is cheap.

It was not until the third game went to New Jersey that the Celtics and the Nets played in the regular B stadium. Unfortunately, the Celtics played very badly in the first two games. The Celtics, who scored 131 points, faced the old enemy Nets. They only scored 91 points, and the Nets shattered with a fast break.

However, in the next four games, the Celtics continued their offensive style of high shots, high hits, and high rhythm. They averaged over 100 points per game in 7 preseason games and achieved a record of 5 wins and 2 losses. But this kind of achievement does not allow Leon to get a qualified evaluation. On the contrary, many media columns and experts have criticized Leon's seemingly wanton offensive tactics.

"This is a simple tactic brought by a basketball layman. He regards the basketball game as a sport of sprinting and shooting. Maybe he can achieve a certain degree of success in low-intensity games like preseason, but in the regular season they will hit. Broke the blood." The Boston Tribune column commented on the Celtics' preseason performance and the team's tactical system under Leon's command.

"Fox Leon's offensive tactics are the same as Rick Pitino's full-court defensive thinking, innocent and cute. This is B, no!" Sports Illustrated in a new season scan article B This satirizes Leon and his Celtics, thinking that the second fast break and fast shooting tactics pursued by the Celtics are the same as Pitino’s full-court pressing tactics. They may be unique, but they are complicated, The highly professional B will only prove to be too simple and easily cracked.

The few dissenting voices came from some media in New York, such as Leon’s friends. In the prospective column he wrote for SP, he pointed out that the Celtic offensive tactics system created by Fox-Leon is by no means a simple quick offense or a purely high-tempo game method. In fact, the Celtics have an offensive system. Strict rules and principles. It is a combination of the freedom of the triangle offense and the simplicity of the pick-and-roll offense. It has extraordinary creativity, but it has not really grown up yet.

As a known die-hard friend of Fox Leon in the circle, such an article will undoubtedly be considered a boast to a friend, and soon this kind of evaluation will be annihilated in a lot of discussions on more dramatic topics. For example, will this be the last season of Michael Jordan? For example, whether the Lakers led by the OK combination can complete their four consecutive championships? For example, whether the arrival of Mutombo will make the New Jersey Nets strong enough to compete with the West. Strongly contend, wait and so on.

A lonely old aristocratic Celtics who only reached the Eastern Conference Finals, a team of rookies and no strong insiders, would attract enough attention from the league?

And in this atmosphere of being looked down upon and not being watched, Leon and his Celtics are actively preparing for the first game of the regular season, which will be played by the Chicago Bulls at the North Shore Garden Plaza on October 30. The regular season.

……………………

The training camp has lasted for nearly three weeks, and the intensity of the team's training is getting stronger. However, most players have adapted to Leon’s admired 20-minute shooting training warm-up, as well as all kinds of weird training methods he didn't know where to come up with.

For example, he will ask the trainers to practice the whole team without the ball in tactical training, that is, there is no basketball in hand, all running empty-handed. The player assigned to hold the ball must simulate having the ball in his hand and shout the name of the receiver when passing the ball. Leon requires that such an offensive and defensive offense must be shot within 10 seconds. As for whether the player counts, does not score, or blocks the shot, Leon has the final say on the sidelines.

At first the whole team was puzzled, how to play without the ball? It is air. Air is received, air is cast, and air is capped.

After three days of training, the players discovered that this off-the-ball training method can only be played with Leon. He will constantly make scene judgments on the sidelines, a certain player is walking, a certain player is interrupted, a certain player misses a shot, should grab a rebound, and so on. Everyone must pay close attention to Leon's judgment. His judgment is based on the situation on the field and the technical moves of the players. If a player does not fully simulate the action with the ball, Leon will be found to make a judgment, which is likely to be a mistake.

For this, the players gave Leon a nickname, that is "Eagle Eye." This training method opened up Dave Cowens' eyes. He called this the "Eagle Eye Training System," this kind of training. The benefits are obvious, that is, the simulation and predictive abilities in the players' minds have been strengthened, the technical movements have been strengthened in the consciousness, and the extremely fast offensive and defensive speeds, and the propaganda passing makes the players must maintain a high level. concentrate.

In the first few days of training, many offenses could not be completed at all. The ball has just passed halftime, and the time has come before the player has passed it in his mind. Although there is no ball in hand, it seems that it can pass randomly, but everything can't escape Leon's eagle eyes. Once the ball is passed at random, Leon will judge the mistake.

When the training progressed to the 29th, one day before the official game, Leon led his team to start the last training camp without the ball simulation training.

"Okay guys, this is the last off-ball simulation exercise in the training camp. This time we are going to be more inclined to actual combat, and the attack time is increased to 20 seconds. First of all, relax, everyone start to meditate, and remember the technical moves you trained today. , The problems found in the video of the game a few days ago, and some thoughts on the next game. Think about it, and the game will start in five minutes." The ball-free simulation training is always the last group event in a day’s training, Leon Players will meditate for five minutes.

Next, he will divide the team into two groups. Instead of dividing the Celtics into groups based on starters and substitutes as in normal training, he divides the Celtics into groups of experienced veterans and young people with vigor.

People like Pierce, Walker, Cole, Batty and others were all placed in the veteran group, while Arenas, Johnson, Wang Zhizhi, Anderson were placed in the young group. In the past ten days of training, the veteran group has maintained a complete victory over the young group, not only because the players in the veteran group are better, the key is that the players in the veteran group have more experience and the technical memory brought by years of training. Even if they don't have the ball in their hands, they can simulate the technical movements with the ball.

The younger group is different. In the first few days of training, they were destroyed by a large number of "mistakes" almost every day, and they could not even complete a decent virtual attack. Only in the last few days, the young group began to perform virtual exercises in a decent way. Relaxing the attack time to 20 seconds is obviously beneficial to the young team.

"The offense starts with the elderly, and then Steve." Because the jump ball is the most difficult to judge, there is no jump ball in the off-ball simulation training, and there is no rebound in the game. Whether the goal is scored or not depends on Leon's decision from the player's shooting state, as long as the attacking round ends.

Speaking of Leon threw the virtual ball to Steve Kerr, Kerr, as the oldest player on the team, played the best in simulation training without the ball. He could adapt well on the fourth day. Rules and lead the veteran group to use the rules to win consecutively.

But today his good fortune seemed to come to an end. The young team led by Arenas seemed bound to win. As soon as Arenas used active defense to get Leon's "steal" decision, he immediately took the "ball". Directly kill the frontcourt, and he pays careful attention to adjusting the rhythm of his steps and gestures. To prevent being blown away by Leon, he finally completed a beautiful "layup" and scored two points for the young group.

The subsequent game was extremely fierce. The big advantage of the off-ball simulation is that because there is no ball on the court, there is never a "people staring at the ball" situation. Everyone runs with people on the defensive end, and the physical confrontation is very strong. This undoubtedly gives the young group an advantage.

"Hess's physical training is effective, these little beasts. Everyone can go to the track team..." Standing on the sidelines, Dave Cowens watched the young people present for a ball that didn't exist. On the scene of fierce physical confrontation and fighting desperately, I can't help but sigh. The high-intensity, high-efficiency physical training brought by Denver's physical coach Hess was immediate, and even made Walker, who had not practiced systematically in the summer, lost 10 pounds. He looked more energetic.

"Young people always want to prove themselves. Regardless of whether the ball exists or not, as long as they have the ball in their hearts, they have the desire to win... Foul! Chris, you fouled!" Leon spoke to Cowens without forgetting. As a referee, Chris Anderson was awarded a blocking foul.

"Wang, you go. Replace Chris." Then, Leon replaced Wang Zhizhi, letting him replace Anderson, who had already fouled twice.

Such strange training will continue for the Celtics until the departure of Fox Leon.

…………………………

On the night of the 30th, the Bostonians finally ushered in the arrival of the regular season of the new season. Although the team did not receive much attention or even underestimated in the league, Celtics fans are full of expectations for Lizi's renewed Green Army. Tickets for the first game were sold out early, and there was a crowd of people at the subway station near the North Shore Garden Arena at six o'clock. They were all fans who came to watch the Celtics play the Chicago Bulls season opener tonight.

Leon and the players came to the locker room of the arena early to prepare for the tactical deployment before the game. Of course, it is indispensable to accept some media interviews first. Blakely, a reporter from S TV, won the exclusive right to interview before the game. He was allowed to enter the Celtics locker room to interview players or coaches.

As a veteran Celtic reporter, Blakely is known for breaking news on TV, and the Celtics are one of the most anticipated teams in league history. Most of these materials come from the Celtics' dressing. room. But in the interview, he first asked Antoine Walker a few questions, then interviewed Pierce and Arenas, and finally he left the opportunity to interview the coach to Celtic star Dave Cowens. Alone bypassed the head coach Fox Leon, and seemed to dismiss the rookie head coach.

No way, the profound historical background of the Celtics is destined to make small white papers like Leon a transparent person in the eyes of the media, and the fact that he is closer to the New York media also makes the Boston media circle quite criticize him. This time the Celtics played a whirlwind of offensive power in the preseason, but received no publicity. The local media, as well as some old Celtics, are waiting to see Leon's jokes.

The Chicago Bulls will be Leon's first touchstone.

"Okay guys, let's close the door and discuss the big bull slaughter plan tonight." After sending Blakely away, Leon knocked on the tactical board and said to everyone. To be continued.