The Dome of the Alamodome in San Antonio.
Boston's veterans entered the visiting team's locker room half an hour early.
The first to speak was P.J. Brown. He took off his jacket halfway and then stopped, reached into the air to test it, silently pulled his knee pads up as high as possible, and looked back at the trainer who followed him in.
"Another upset than the previous two games."
The trainer remained silent. During the third and fourth games, the locker room was consistently cool, so cool that it made one's muscles tense, yet there was nothing wrong with it. Back then, they considered it a common problem with the old arena.
But today, this cold seeps into your bones.
Doc Rivers was the last to come in. He reached out and touched the metal door of the locker; it was cold. He then went to the shower and turned on the showerhead; the hose made a muffled sound for a while, but only cold water came out.
He stood there for a few seconds.
In the third game, the locker room was a bit chilly. In the fourth game, the warm-up time was shortened by ten minutes by the field staff under the pretext of "field maintenance." He remembered all of this, but didn't make a fuss. Playing away from home, these kinds of underhanded tactics are standard practice, and he could just tolerate it.
But now, he understood completely. Those lukewarm little actions in the previous two matches were just tests; tonight, that person planned to use every means to the fullest extent.
Popovich is so ruthless because he knows better than anyone the significance of tonight's game—it's the Spurs ' last home game. If they lose, they'll have to go to Boston with a 2-3 deficit for the final two games.
Doc Rivers walked back, called the trainer to his side, and lowered his voice.
"Thick towels, one for each person, cover yourselves as soon as you leave the field. Don't even think about using the showers."
He turned around, his gaze sweeping over the faces in the locker room.
"Tonight, both on and off the field, he will use every means to make us suffer. Don't fall for it. The more he tries to make us lose control, the calmer we need to be."
Before the game started, Popovich stopped the referee by the scorer's table. Holding a clipboard, he pointed at Boston's paint area and argued for almost a minute.
Shortly after Outlaw was substituted on at the start of the game, he made a low-post positioning move—and then the whistle blew.
Offensive foul.
He had performed this move repeatedly in the first four games, and it had never been called.
Outlaw glanced at the referee, didn't protest, and turned to run back to his own half. Popovich on the sidelines was unusually quiet, only nodding in the direction of the referee. Pierce, as he retreated to defend, passed by Outlaw, patted him on the back, and said nothing.
The whole team understood what that whistle meant.
In the first quarter, Popovich used the simplest tactic: feeding the ball to Tim Duncan for a low-post isolation play.
The Spurs ' signature move. But as soon as the ball reached Tim Duncan, Boston's defensive strategy was immediately deployed. P.J. Brown positioned himself behind Tim Duncan, both boxing out and pushing him outwards, forcing Tim Duncan's receiving point to move back a significant step. As soon as the ball arrived, Garnett rushed in from the weak side, using lateral movement to instantly close in on the low post. Meanwhile, Outlaw stepped back half a step, perfectly positioned on the most favorable passing line between Tim Duncan and Elie in the corner.
Three big guys surrounded Tim Duncan.
Tim Duncan managed a weak turnaround fadeaway under double-team pressure, Garnett's fingertips grazed the basketball. Missed.
PJ and Garnett exchanged a glance and nodded as they landed. They were becoming increasingly adept at using this defensive tactic that utilized quick lateral movements and rotations.
In the next possession, in the same spot, with the same three players, Tim Duncan received the ball and immediately passed it to the corner. But while the ball was still in the air, Garnett had already bounced out of the double team, laterally lunging at the receiver's face, and his shot was contested.
Tim Duncan frowned on the sidelines.
Popovich remained expressionless. His first move had been caught; that was normal. He sat down and opened his tactical board.
That night, Boston's offense was completely devoid of pretense; the core solution lay solely in the pick-and-roll between Gary Payton and Garnett.
With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Gary Payton had the ball at the top of the key, Garnett set a screen.
The two didn't exchange any gestures. In the instant of dismantling the defense, Gary Payton seized the gap and passed the ball with extreme decisiveness. Garnett received the ball and cut to the basket, jumping hard against Tim Duncan's help defense and putting the ball into the hoop.
In the transition between offense and defense, Garnett, on the defensive end, was the first to slide into the low post to complete the double team, and then immediately used lateral movement to extend to the perimeter to help defend. Meanwhile, Gary Payton firmly guarded the first passing line at the top of the arc.
On offense, it relies on the tacit coordination of two core players; on defense, it relies on extreme lateral movement and rotation. This system is being severely strained on both ends.
In the second quarter, Popovich changed his playing style.
Since forcing the ball in would result in a double team, the strategy is to play a high-low post game. Tim Duncan would position himself in the low post, while Robinson would move to the high post near the free-throw line. Whenever Tim Duncan was double-teamed, he would lob the ball to Robinson in the high post, allowing the former MVP to read the defense and finish the play.
This is the most orthodox way to break a double team.
It worked on the first try. Robinson received the ball high up, took a mid-range shot, and it swished through the net.
Popovich tapped on the whiteboard.
Thibodeau on the sidelines immediately stood up and shouted a word onto the field. It was a defensive signal, instructing Outlaw to stay in place and induce a pass, then start moving once the ball was out of his hands.
In the next possession, Tim Duncan received the ball in the low post, and PJ and Garnett closed in as usual. Tim Duncan lobbed the ball to Robinson at the high post, and just as the ball left his hands, Outlaw moved. He moved laterally from Tim Duncan's side, and by the time Robinson received the ball and was about to shoot, Otero was already right in front of him.
Robinson's mid-range shot, aimed at Outlaw's hand, missed.
This is the essence of that defensive system. You might think that all three players are rushing towards Tim Duncan, leaving the receiving point open, but as soon as the ball is passed out, someone in the double team can always quickly rotate to him. Garnett can do it, Outlaw can do it, and PJ can do it too. Three big men who can move and read passes take turns doing the same thing.
Popovich was drawing up play after play on the sidelines, while Thibodeau, on the other side, used a word or a gesture to direct the rotation to where the play would go. Neither of them was looking at the other, but in this game, it was the two of them playing.
The soul of this system is Garnett.
He possesses both the physique of an inside player and the lateral quickness of an outside player. Usually, when a team double-teams, the weak side will always be open, but Garnett alone can use his huge defensive coverage to cut off two passing lanes at the same time. On the defensive end, he not only helps out himself, but also constantly shouts short commands, clearly arranging the positioning of everyone on the court.
But this system is too demanding. After finishing on the perimeter on defense, he has to immediately drop to the low post to handle the ball on offense. Midway through the second quarter, he missed a strong attack, and his feet visibly sank when he landed.
He bent down, quickly braced his knees with his hands, then straightened up and ran back to his half of the field.
Doc Rivers stood on the sidelines watching, not considering making any substitutions. On the bench, no one else could fill his position in this system.
With five minutes remaining in the second quarter, Boston paid the price on the defensive end.
In one defensive possession, Boston's interior defense was a fraction of a second too slow in order to cover the perimeter. Tim Duncan immediately found space under the basket, received the ball, and easily finished the play.
Seeing this, Doc Rivers on the sidelines quickly made a defensive decision: he would rather give Avery Johnson an open mid-range shot than give Tim Duncan any more space to operate in the paint.
Johnson viewed Doc Rivers's shot as the lesser of two evils. He decided to leave that spot open on the defensive end. But he didn't foresee how this rational choice based on probability would turn into a fatal mistake in the final quarter.
With four minutes remaining in the first half, Popovich called a timeout.
He keenly perceived Doc Rivers ' defensive preferences and immediately devised the most lethal tactical countermeasure of the night, giving the ball to Johnson was completely left open.
Johnson is relatively small and was not originally within the primary target range of Boston's interior defense. Now, he has become a blind spot that Doc Rivers deliberately abandoned in his defensive system.
After the timeout, Johnson received the ball on the left baseline, with no one guarding him three meters in front of him. Without hesitation, he jumped cleanly from mid-range and swished the ball into the net.
In the next round, it was him again. He jumped from the right elbow area and made the shot cleanly.
In the third round, at a 45-degree angle to the left, it hit again.
Three possessions, three open jump shots, all converted into points.
The roar of the Alamodome suddenly rose. Popovich found a structural weakness in Boston's defense. Once Tim Duncan received the ball deep in the paint, the price of the three players collapsing to surround him was the complete loss of their ability to cover a single point on the perimeter.
Doc Rivers strategically left Johnson, who was on fire, out tonight.
The Spurs capitalized on this to launch an offensive surge. With one minute remaining in the first half, the score was tied at 48.
After the timeout, Doc Rivers made no substitutions and didn't change his defensive strategy. He continued to leave that spot open. He was gambling that Johnson wouldn't be able to maintain that mid-range shooting percentage all night. He simply stood on the sidelines and gave Gary Payton a brief instruction.
On offense, the ball fell to Gary Payton, who was being guarded by Johnson.
Gary Payton didn't call for a screen or rush to pass the ball. He calmly dribbled and observed, seizing the moment when Johnson's defensive focus shifted, and with a sharp change of direction, he broke through and put the ball in the basket before David Robinson could get in to help defend.
The tactical intention is clear: since the Spurs are punishing the defense by exploiting Johnson's open shots, Boston will use Johnson as a breakthrough point on offense and respond with one-on-one attacks.
In the next possession, Gary Payton repeated the same tactic. He once again drove hard past Johnson, tearing through the defense, and then passed the ball to Pierce, who followed up for a layup.
Gary Payton, whose mouth has been spewing nonsense throughout the league for twelve years, has not uttered a single word since the start of the game.
In the last game, he did something that is extremely rare in his career: he relinquished possession of the ball. In this game, he did something equally rare: he remained silent.
The halftime whistle blew. Boston went into the locker room with a narrow two-point lead, 52-50.
Neither side could completely shake off their opponent. Popovich found a weakness in Boston's defense, but hadn't yet torn it into a fatal wound. Doc Rivers held onto a slight lead, but the defensive blind spot he deliberately exposed, along with Garnett's extreme overexertion on both ends of the court, remained a huge hidden danger.
In the second half, Popovich still had some tricks up his sleeve.