The third game of the NBA Finals has officially begun.
Thirty-eight thousand people flooded into the Alamodome. For a basketball game, that's a huge, almost overwhelming number. When the players stood in the center circle to prepare for the jump ball, most were mentally prepared for a deafening roar from the home crowd.
But as the referee tossed the ball up and the opening whistle blew, the Boston players immediately sensed something was wrong... The sound here was completely different from any arena they were familiar with.
It could no longer be simply called "noisy"; it sounded more like the dull echo of a waterfall cascading down or the continuous roar of an airplane engine.
This is completely different from Madison Square Garden. At McGrady, the fans' insults are sharp and clear, each word hitting you like a physical blow, instantly igniting the players' fighting spirit. But at the Alamo, the shouts, screams, and boos of 38,000 people are completely shattered and blended by the massive dome structure, ultimately coalescing into a deep, resonant, and continuous underground noise.
This massive white noise lost its clear focus and stripped away all specific words. It simply pressed in from all directions like a tsunami, ruthlessly obliterating the penetrating power of all sounds and silently blurring the players' sense of space and direction on the field.
In the first offensive-defensive transition, Gary Payton, while retreating on defense, executed two swift lateral slides, precisely blocking Avery Johnson's path.
In that instant of close contact, Gary Payton lowered his head, instinctively wanting to hurl insults.
But in this arena where shouting from two or three meters apart wouldn't be enough to hear each other, the two veteran point guards' eyes briefly met, revealing a tacit understanding... They both knew that any verbal battles were meaningless here.
Johnson dribbled steadily, raised his left hand, and gave a tactical signal. In the midst of the commotion, language became completely ineffective, and the movement of possession depended entirely on this instantaneous body language.
With just over half of the first quarter gone, Boston's once-proud outside shooting went completely off target.
What's puzzling is that the missed shots aren't often hard-hitting ones against strong defenses, but rather wide-open looks created through tactical plays. Gary Payton drives and passes to Robert Horry in the corner, who gets plenty of space but misses. Garnett facilitates from the high post, Eddie Jones catches the ball at a 45-degree angle and jumps, but the shot bounces off the rim. Billups drives and passes back, Pierce stretches out at the top of the key, but the ball is too short.
Throughout the first quarter, the crisp sound of missed shots became the norm on Boston's offense. And in this long struggle, the two hard-fought field goals were actually extreme shots taken under high pressure.
One was Gary Payton, cornered in the paint, relentlessly guarded by Mario Elie, with no room to even jump, yet managing to twist his waist and throw a floater in the instant he almost lost his balance. The other was Garnett, near the free-throw line, his eyes completely covered by Tim Duncan's long arms, unable to see the basket at all, yet relying on his touch to throw a blind shot.
Sitting on the bench, Lin Qi frowned. He understood the tactical logic behind this contrast. High-intensity contact plays rely on honed muscle memory. But with an open shot, players have ample time to "aim."
But in the Alamodome, the bottomless void behind the backboard makes "aiming" itself the biggest trap. The more players rely on vision, the easier it is for them to be deceived by the lack of spatial references.
What truly troubled the coaching staff was the Spurs ' response. With six minutes left in the first quarter, Pierce received the ball on the right side, unleashed a powerful crossover dribble to shake off the defender, and drove straight into the paint.
In a standard defensive rotation, David Robinson, positioned under the basket, should immediately use a lateral slide to close the gap on the weak side, leaving Horry in the corner open. But the experienced veteran didn't move. He simply shrunk half a step into the paint, resolutely giving up the corner completely.
Pierce passes the ball to Horry, who catches it, bends his knee, and shoots... but misses again.
Lin Qi immediately realized that the Spurs were deliberately allowing the Celtics to take open shots.
Popovich knows this arena all too well. The Spurs have played here for six years and know how visiting shooters get disoriented. So he adopted a strategy that goes against conventional defensive instincts: deliberately giving up space on the perimeter and completely collapsing the defensive focus.
This is a tactical game based on the characteristics of the terrain.
With four minutes remaining in the first quarter, the score was 11-22, with the Spurs leading.
The continuous missed shots began to backfire on Boston's offensive system, and something even more fatal than "missing the shot" appeared in the players' shots... hesitation.
Another opportunity in the corner. When the ball reached Horry, the clutch shooter instinctively paused for half a second. In that brief hesitation, Sean Elliott, who had been positioned inside, immediately used his excellent lateral movement to quickly rotate and help defend. Horry missed his best shot window, forced to abruptly pull back in mid-air, hastily passing the ball, which ultimately resulted in a 24-second violation.
Head coach Doc Rivers looked grave. He strode to the scorer's table and called a timeout.
The atmosphere on the bench was incredibly tense. Doc Rivers stared at the players and said something.
"Stop throwing. Shoot inside."
This is one of the oldest rules in the world of basketball: when your outside shooting is cold, take the ball and drive into the paint where the physical battles are fiercest. Any coach in the world would make the same decision at this moment.
However, when the five Boston players took off their practice clothes and returned to the court, Lin Qi, who was standing in the back row of the visiting team's bench, suddenly felt a very uncomfortable, suffocating feeling, as if his throat was being choked.
Because he subconsciously looked up and gazed at the opposite half of the field.
Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich sat quietly on the bench with his arms crossed, seemingly waiting for something.
In the first possession after the timeout, Garnett dribbled the ball and made a strong run into the penalty area.
Robinson and Tim Duncan displayed defensive mobility that was extremely disproportionate to their height. The two almost simultaneously used quick lateral slides to collapse, instantly cutting off the driving lane. Garnett was forced to stop the ball while moving and barely managed to tip it out. Pierce, who followed up, got to the second bounce and jumped to prepare for a layup, but Tim Duncan, who was in position to help defend, used his wingspan advantage to smother the ball on the backboard.
In the next possession, Gary Payton drove to the free-throw line using a screen and passed the ball to Pierce on the weak side. Pierce received the ball and drove straight into the paint, attempting to use a pause to shake off Tim Duncan and finish with a layup. However, David Robinson had already moved to cover. He precisely positioned himself in Pierce's shooting path and swatted the ball out of bounds with one hand.
Beneath the dome, the continuous background noise generated by 38,000 people surged into an even heavier, more muffled roar with the two crisp and clean protective frames.
Lin Qi watched everything on the court with a blank expression from the sidelines.
This is the Spurs ' elaborate trap. Actively leaving the perimeter open is just the first step. When you can't find your rhythm on the outside, you have no choice but to force your way inside, where you'll be met by the most dominant Twin Towers of this era.
Boston's offense came to a complete standstill due to the Spurs ' well-coordinated defensive rotations.
At the end of the first quarter, the score was 25-13.