The Whip of the God of Basketball

On game days, Dick Hart would wake up on time at 7:30 every morning. After a simple breakfast, he would get in his Opel car and head to the training hall to start his day's work. After coming to Boston last year, he moved here with his wife, Mary, and lived in a large apartment provided by Boston. Hart is 70 years old this year. He has been in the NBA as an assistant coach for 20 years since 1982. He has been in Eastern teams such as the Detroit Pistons, Charlotte Hornets, New York Knicks, and Indiana Pacers. Because only an Eastern Conference team with a defensive tradition will need a famous defensive expert like him.

Like the defensive style of the teams he has coached, Hart is a tough-tempered and no-nonsense guy, and when he was paired with another bad-tempered Rick Carlisle in Indiana, the two had a surprisingly good chemistry. After the Pacers fell apart in the Bird era, Hart was already in a semi-retired state, but Jim O'Brien's invitation began to make him decide to come out again to help the Celtics rebuild their defense.

Undoubtedly, the legendary history of the Celtics attracted Hart. After becoming a member of the Celtics, Hart would look up at the championship banner hanging on the training hall every day when he came to the training hall. On the night of the game, the retired jersey and the championship flag at the North Shore Garden will make Hart feel sacred and solemn. As early as when he was coaching in Pennsylvania, Hart was a Celtics fan. He liked to listen to Johnny Most's radio broadcast, and at the same time loved the glorious history of the Celtics.

So when O'Brien's call came, Hart said yes without hesitation. O'Brien is not only the son-in-law of his former coach Ramsey, but Hart almost watched O'Brien's basketball path go all the way to today. It is a matter of course for him to help O'Brien.

They also achieved success last season, a beautiful turnaround, bringing the team back to the playoffs and gaining a lot of hope. As an assistant coach, Hart also hopes that O'Brien can achieve a lot this season and lead the team to go further, so that O'Brien can also take a step closer to being an excellent and great coach. O'Brien has paid a lot for this day .

However, as the new season began, Hart felt that O'Brien was going further and further down a bad path.

When he drove to the training hall, some young players had already arrived here, Michael Reed, Arenas, Joe Johnson, Dalembert, Tony Batty and Paul Pierce, every Everyone is training hard. Arenas was shooting, Pierce was working on his back, and Dalembert was working on his legs in the weight room. Everyone is working very hard, but the arena still looks a little sluggish. This is not the feeling a young team should give people, but there is no way. Entering November, the Celtics have been losing.

"Good morning, Mr. Hart, take a look at the defensive training plan I made today. Is there anything wrong?" Hart just changed his clothes when he met Leon holding the training plan. He always came early and worked Do it quickly.

Hart looked through the training schedule roughly, nodded and said: "No problem, a good training plan...But maybe we should really practice zone defense today. I watched the video of a few games yesterday, and some balls The team started to use the zone defense in some periods, which is a good damage to the opponent's offensive rhythm, and we are a little behind."

Leon clamped the schedule and responded: "But O'Brien doesn't want to train the zone defense. He thinks that relying on pressing defense and one-on-one defense is enough. Today we will still train the defensive transfer of the strong and weak sides."

Hart originally wanted to continue chatting with Leon about defensive strategies for a while. Leon is a very talented assistant coach he has seen, a real genius-in terms of memory and understanding, and extremely strong work energy With his thirst for knowledge, Hart felt that the defensive experience he had accumulated for decades was about to be drained by Leon.

But thinking of the call from Auerbach he received last night, he lost his mood. Hart felt a little uneasy about the upcoming changes of the Celtics. But he calmed down after a while. After all, for an old man like him who has seen a lot and experienced too much, there is nothing particularly big.

Moments later, other players, coaching staff and staff arrived at the facility, including Dennis Rodman. Hart met O'Brien, who started putting on his jacket as the weather turned cooler. His complexion doesn't look too good. After entering November, the Celtics' record is 3 wins and 6 losses. In the last game, they lost to the Atlanta Hawks at home 87:98, with a gap of 9 points. They face the Toronto Raptors at home again tonight, and after such a poor start, a win, especially a home win, is very important. But O'Brien is not sure about winning the Raptors in this game.

In the morning coach meeting, O'Brien's face was serious. He rarely said a word and listened to other people's speeches, and then kept looking back at the video clips of the Raptors' recent games. "We should let Blount start. The data shows that when he and Walker are on the court at the same time, the opponent's inside scoring will decrease. We should make some changes." Vogel suggested to O'Brien while watching the video, Now he is O'Brien's most important deputy.

Hart shook his head after hearing this. Although he also acknowledged the role of data work in the formation of troops, he could not agree with such an arrangement that relied purely on a small amount of data and was divorced from the actual situation of the field. Hart looked at Leon, wondering if he would refute, but unexpectedly, Leon also nodded, with a noncommittal look.

Not to mention John Carroll, he has always been an unknown character in the coaching meeting. Seeing such a situation, Hart didn't bother to talk to O'Brien, and let him do everything.

Sure enough, in the evening game, O'Brien sent Mark Blunt to start instead of the more reliable Tony Batty. The result was that the old Hakeem Olajuwon scored 17 points in the paint , a new high for Big Dream this season. The Boston Celtics were beaten all the way by the Toronto Raptors under the noses of 20,000 spectators at home. They did not struggle in the end and lost another game at home.

After the game, O'Brien participated in the post-match press conference alone. The team's core Pierce and Walker refused to participate. What's even more strange is that the old Hart who used to be by O'Brien's side did not either. Instead of attending the press conference, he returned to the locker room with the players.

When the reporters finished their interviews and were asked out of the locker room, when O'Brien returned here, he found that something was wrong. The dull atmosphere that had shrouded the team since the morning training reappeared in the locker room, and The vibe seemed to be directed at O'Brien.

The young players sat in the front position, Arenas was the first to bear the brunt, next to Michael Reid, they stared directly at O'Brien face to face; while the old players sat in the back position, some frowning and not speaking, Some folded their hands on their chests and looked at O'Brien lightly. Pierce sat on the stool with his head bowed silently, while Antoine Walker was taking a shower in the bathroom. The sound of rushing water in the quiet locker room was very ear-piercing.

Old Hart stood by the tactical whiteboard, looking at O'Brien who was a little at a loss-he said three words to the players since he entered the locker room, but did not get a single response. O'Brien also turned his attention to Old Hart. Hart walked up to O'Brien, put his arms around his shoulders and whispered in his ear: "Sorry, you're-out (sorry, you're out)."

O'Brien stared at Hart with wide eyes, obviously asking what kind of ceremony this was. Hart pondered for a while and explained: "Last night, Arnold Auerbach called me. He said that the team's record did not meet expectations, and there were some problems with the team's construction. After consideration, the team will change the main team. coach."

Hart's words were simple but heart-wrenching, and O'Brien knew that saying such words from Hart's mouth meant that there was no room for turning around. It was not team manager Wallace who told him this, not president Danny Ainge, not honorary chairman Auerbach, but his right-hand man, who personally recruited assistant coaches, the old and prestigious Dick Hart, Aubrey Ryan knew that his short 2001-2002 season was over.

People betrayed relatives.

Everything came too fast, and just a few defeats made O'Brien, who was still Boston's savior in the summer, an outcast. O'Brien couldn't help but think of Pitino last year, who also resigned suddenly. At that time, he was the superior, and now he has reached the same situation as Pitino. This is the terrible NBA giants like a quagmire, and a big hand easily swept him out.

O'Brien felt humiliated, he glared at Hart, and asked in a slightly hoarse voice: "So this place will be handed over to you?"

After saying this, O'Brien regretted a little. He was dazzled by the sudden resignation, so much so that he felt that Hart had taken his head coach position, but Hart was not the kind of person who had a role in the head coach position. Ambitious man, he is 70 years old, he just loves basketball and Celtics to help him.

When Hart heard O'Brien's words, he withdrew his hand from his shoulder, pointed to a person beside him, and said in a no longer gentle tone: "The head coach who will replace you will not be me, It's him."

The person he pointed to was John Carroll who had been sitting by the door with a dazed expression.