November 26, 1 PM, Boston Auerbach Training Center.
Last night at the charity gala at the Fairmont Hotel, the players enjoyed the festivities all night, but under the strict orders of the coaching staff, no one dared to drink too much. After sleeping in late this morning, all fifteen players appeared on time in the tactics video room on the first floor.
In four hours, the team bus will head to Logan International Airport to board a chartered flight to Michigan, where they will face the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills tomorrow night.
The projector beam shone on the screen, freezing the image on the Detroit Pistons ' previous game against the New Orleans Hornets.
Head coach Rick Carlisle tapped the three-second zone on the screen with a metal baton in his hand.
"Get your spirits up. We've had a 12-1 start to the regular season after a month, but tomorrow night in Detroit will be a tough game. You all know Larry Bird Brown's coaching style; his teams never slack off on defense."
"Over the past two weeks, the Pistons ' defensive efficiency has ranked among the top three in the league. Their perimeter players, Lindsey Hunter and Richard Hamilton, will push through the chase defense even if they're bruised and battered when faced with a screen. Once we initiate a pick-and-roll on the wing, they will close down the middle and force the ball handler towards the baseline corner. Meanwhile, their veteran centers, Clifford Robinson and Elden Campbell, will stay in the paint to protect the rim, while their weak-side defenders will decisively leave open our outside shooting areas and retreat to the paint to help defend."
Rick Carlisle turned off the projector, drew back the curtains, and let the afternoon sun stream into the room.
"In this afternoon's scrimmage, the Green Team will simulate the Pistons ' defense, which involves squeezing through screens and collapsing on the weak side. The White Team's task is to find a way to break down this formation. Everyone, get on the court and warm up. The game starts in twenty minutes!"
1:30 PM, main training ground.
After the basic running drills and warm-up, Rick Carlisle blew his whistle and divided the players into two groups.
The starting five wearing green training vests: Dwyane Wade, Raja Bell, Chris Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ben Wallace.
The second unit wearing white training vests: Tyronn Lue, Tayshaun Prince, Ron Artest, Rasheed Wallace, and Mehmet Okur.
Near the scorer's table, Gerald Wallace and Tyson Chandler Chandler, wearing white substitute vests, stood side-by-side outside the sideline awaiting their turn. Mutombo and Brian Scalabrine were slowly warming up on stationary bikes on the sidelines.
Gerald Wallace, standing by the sideline, had a towel draped around his neck, wiping sweat from his brows with both hands, his eyes fixed on the field.
The Celtics have been on a winning streak this month, and the locker room is filled with laughter and chatter, but Gerald is feeling a little uneasy.
Next summer, his rookie contract will enter the fourth year of team option negotiations. But in the current Boston forward line, Pierce, Artest, Prince, and Raja Bell have firmly secured their rotation positions. According to league rules, only twelve players can be activated per game. Excluding the injured Gary Payton, Gerald can only compete with Chandler and Scalabrine for the last two activated spots.
His biggest weakness is his inconsistent outside shooting, and his timing in half-court sets is always a beat too slow. In the past five games, he spent two of them sitting on the bench in a suit all night, and in the other three, he only played a total of eleven minutes in the final minutes of the fourth quarter.
" Gerald, go up and replace Tayshaun!"
Five minutes into the scrimmage, Rick Carlisle waved to the sidelines, "Go play shooting guard, run to the weak-side corner to create space, and pay attention to your coordination with Mehmet!"
Gerald perked up, grabbed the towel from his shoulder, threw it on the chair, and strode onto the pitch.
However, as soon as he ran to the right corner and stood still, his opponent Chris Paul Pierce, merely glanced back at him before taking three large steps back into the paint, stepping onto the edge of the three-second zone.
Pierce stood with his hands on his hips on the edge of the paint, yelling at Wade at the top of the key and Garnett at the free-throw line, " Dwyane, Kevin, guard your own men! Ignore the one in the corner, let him shoot, I'll handle the inside!"
Garnett glanced at the corner near the free-throw line and yelled, "Guard the paint! Push Tyronn Lue to the sideline on the perimeter, make him pass to the corner!"
On a White team bench offensive possession, Tyronn Lue drove into the paint using Okur's screen at the top of the arc. Pierce, who was supposed to be guarding Gerald in the corner, stepped over and blocked Lue's path, double-teaming him with Wade.
Tyronn Lue couldn't force his way through, so he could only look up and flick the ball to Gerald Wallace in the right corner.
As the basketball flew towards him, there was no space within three meters of Gerald. Pierce didn't even bother to pounce; he just stood a step outside the three-second line watching him and casually said, "Ben, get in position for the rebound; he can't score."
Gerald's face flushed slightly, his arm tightened after receiving the ball, and he jumped up and shot with a determined effort.
"Bang!"
The ball was thrown too fast, hitting the rim at the far end and bouncing off.
Ben Wallace grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Wade to initiate a fast break, where Garnett received the ball on the fast break and dunked it in.
Turning back, the white team launched another half-court attack.
According to Rick Carlisle's pre-match instructions, when Tyronn Lue had the ball on the left, Gerald on the right baseline should have moved up to a 45-degree angle to make a transition pass to Okur, who was bouncing outwards.
But after missing that shot, Gerald was still thinking about Pierce's position on defense, and he was a beat too slow to get going. By the time Okur bounced out and passed him the ball, Pierce was still backed up at the edge of the paint, leaving him wide open.
Gerald caught the ball, glanced at the basket, twitched his wrist but didn't dare to shoot again. He lowered his head and tried to dribble towards the basket, but ended up colliding with Okur who was cutting in. The basketball hit Okur's foot and rolled out of bounds.
"Beep!"
Rick Carlisle, standing on the sidelines, blew his whistle and tapped his clipboard with his pen, his face grim. " Gerald! I just moved you up to support Mehmet, and you were just standing in the corner taking a break? You were too scared to shoot when you had open looks, so why were you dribbling the ball into the crowd?"
"My bad, Coach, I saw inside..." Gerald swallowed hard and said in a low voice.
" Chris Paul deliberately ducked inside, waiting for you to crash into him, didn't you see that?" Rick Carlisle frowned, waved his hand, and turned to look at the white forward on the bicycle on the sidelines. " Brian, get down and warm up a bit. Gerald will come off later!"
When he heard Rick Carlisle call for Scalabrine to warm up, Gerald subconsciously glanced at his teammate on the sidelines who was taking off his training jacket, his lips pressed tightly together.
Rick Carlisle tossed the ball to Ben Wallace on the baseline and sternly added to the white team's reserves, "And you guys, it's one thing to miss the shot, but you let Kevin run ahead and dunk all by himself! Do you think Larry Bird Brown's team walks around on defense like that? If anyone dares to let the green team score an easy layup again, they'll be watching from the sidelines in a suit tomorrow in Detroit!"