From Control Freak to Strategist Coach Carlisle, 65, is still seeking self-breakthrough in the ultimate trial field

(Original article published on May 16, authored by David Aldridge of The Athletic website, the content of the article does not represent the translator's views)

The 65-year-old coach Carlisle is still seeking self-breakthroughs. He is still thinking about how to play against the world's top opponents at the highest level, just like his command of the Pacers' defense to try to limit Mitchell's offensive, and constantly improve his ability to control the overall situation. The passage of time forces this coach to change, as all those who perceive the changes of time will experience, today’s coach Carlisle is completely different from when he first took the Pistons’ coach 25 years ago.

In his second term as returning to the Pacers, with All-Star and national team member Halliburton as the core, Coach Carlisle is chasing his second NBA championship trophy after leading the Mavericks in 2011. With the Pacers eliminating the 64-win Cavaliers in five games in the second round of the Eastern Conference, the team advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the second consecutive year, and coach Carlisle was only eight games away from achieving his goal.

"If your life ambition is leadership and teaching, then the position of NBA head coach is the ultimate trial field." Coach Carlisle told The Athletic after the second round of the series G4. In that game, the Pacers scored 80 points in the first half and cracked the 3-2 joint defense system that left the team helpless 48 hours ago. The head coach sighed so much when he was interviewed in the office 25 minutes after the game.

"Everything in the game is at an extremely high level," said Coach Carlisle. "The competition is fierce enough. You have to learn from the mistakes you make, and you have to learn by observing the coaching of excellent coaches. I have studied coaches such as Popovich, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. I worked for Chuck Daly for two years and coached with Bill Fitch for three years. These people are elites among the elites, legendary coaches at the Hall of Fame level. You have to work hard to learn the insights you gain from working with these people and establish a relationship with them both teachers and friends."

The above coaches have won NBA championships, and except Fitch, there are at least two championship trophys. Coach Carlisle is trying to become the 15th coach in NBA history to win two championships. Only three coaches in the history of the league have led different teams to win championships: Phil Jackson (6 Bulls + 5 Lakers), Pat Riley (4 Lakers + 1 Heat in 2006) and Alex Hannum (1957-58 St. Louis Hawks and 76ers in 2066-67).

The game to eliminate the Cavaliers was Carlisle's 79th playoff victory in his coaching career, tied for 13th in history with Rick Adelman, only one game away from Lenny Wilkens and George Carl, 2 games behind KC Jones, who ranked 10th in history. Coach

Carlisle currently wins 993 regular season games and will become the 11th NBA coach with a win at the beginning of next season. If the Pacers win 50 again next season, he will surpass Rick Adelman (1042 regular season wins) to rise to 10th in the history of the coaching win list.

I think when I was the Pistons' coach, Coach Carlisle often had a stiff attitude towards players, management and the media. At that time, the Pistons and Pacers had a slow and cautious pace, and he would command almost every tactic on the sidelines, showing a strong desire for control. Although the coaching is still strict and harsh, Pacers center Turner said "he still yells a few times occasionally", but coach Carlisle has learned that collaboration is easier to achieve than confrontation.

Now, Coach Carlisle has learned to take the initiative to delegate power. Just as Larry Bird, when he was the Pacers coach in the late 1990s, entrusted the offensive system to Carlisle, who was then assistant coach (the late Dick Hart was responsible for the defense), now Carlisle also gives the coaching team full freedom. He only made strategic decisions like Bird, but when cracking the Cavaliers 3-2 joint defense system, the tactical master returned to his true nature and carefully adjusted the details in depth.

This is the stage for NBA coaches to show their top intelligence, their teams face the top players in the league, the top teams, and the tactical masters sitting on the opposite bench. While the competition intensity is overwhelming, preparation and on-site game must also reach the extreme, and coaches must solve problems that may end the team's season in real time.

Indeed, the Pacers played more aggressively in the second round of G4. They have strengthened the quality of cover and have more purposeful running. But more importantly, they mastered the tactical methods of cracking the Knight's long-arm defense, and accurately found and attacked weak areas behind the defense line and at the bottom line. In the first four defensive rounds of the Cavaliers playing 3-2 joint defense, the Pacers made three open three-pointers through large-scale transfers, and the fourth attack was completed by a short pick-and-roll cooperation, completely disintegrating the opponent's defense line. After this critical victory, Halliburton praised Coach Carlisle as a "genius in tactical adjustment." "I think he (Coach Carlisle) is like he has basketball ADHD," Turner said. "He always runs countless tactical ideas at the same time, which is very similar to us, so I can understand his way of thinking. He has a much better experience in the basketball world than me, but what really touched me was his Renaissance-style behavior off-court. He helped my career a lot and gave me unprecedented autonomy on the court." Coach Carlisle changed his coaching style in his first season in the late 2000s. The team started badly at the time, but Jason Kidd, as one of the most basketball-wise point guards in history, made Coach Carlisle realize that the stadium commander's understanding and decision-making ability of the game was no less than that of him. After letting Kidd take control of the game, the Mavericks finally won 50 wins and reached the semifinals of the division. ”

Coach Carlisle believes that it is a bit "far-fetched" to link flight hobbies with coaching, but the qualities of constantly debugging and solving complex situations in real time? The two are indeed the same. Whether it is a race or a flight, turning on autonomous driving usually only has a short breath. "What flight taught me is: when the route is biased, as my coach said, "fine-tuning can bring everything back on track." "Coach Carlisle said, "In basketball, life and coaching, normalizing the situation through minor adjustments is the key to solving the problem. ”

Original text: David Aldridge

Compiled by: Li Taibai