At 10:00 AM on December 20th, in the tactical meeting room on the first floor of the Boston Auerbach Training Center.
The projector in the conference room was lit, displaying a video of the Celtics' narrow victory over the Raptors in the previous game.
Head coach Rick Carlisle held a laser pointer, and the red dot landed on Ben Wallace near the free-throw line.
"For the past three weeks, the entire league has been using the same method to defend our starters," Rick Carlisle said, looking at Big Ben and Wade in the front row. "The opponents have figured out that Ben doesn't have a mid-range or long-range shot, so they simply leave him wide open and collapse their defense entirely into the paint. Whenever Dwyane drives to the basket, their centers resolutely drop back to defend. They'd rather give Dwyane a pull-up jumper near the free-throw line than not defend the rim. The day after tomorrow against the Nets, Byron Scott will definitely have Yao Ming camped in the paint, and Kirilenko and Brand Kevin and Chris Paul. When the opponents drop their defense to the baseline, clearly allowing you to shoot mid-range, if we can only punish them with pull-up jumpers and difficult floaters all night, our offense will become very monotonous."
Ben Wallace sat in a chair, arms crossed over his chest, lips tightly pressed together. For the past two weeks, he had been practicing his free throw line mid-range shot every night, but the more he tried to make it, the stiffer his movements became on the court.
Lin Qi stood up from the end of the conference table and walked to the tactical whiteboard.
The players and assistant coaches inside fell silent.
Everyone knows that the Boston Pick-and-Roll, which caused headaches for the entire league back then, was originally designed by the owner.
Lin Qi picked up a black marker and drew several tactical symbols in the three-second zone of the whiteboard.
Looking at the diagrams on the whiteboard, a name flashed through Lin Qi's mind...
Marcin Gortat.
This Polish center later developed a very practical screen-setting technique.
The core logic is simple: when the opponent chooses to leave Big Ben open, collapses their defense to protect the rim, and forces the ball handler to take pull-up mid-range shots with a deep defensive approach, it doesn't mean that mid-range shots are unusable. If Dwyane's outside shooting is on fire that day, he can naturally punish the opponent with mid-range shots.
However, if your shooting touch falters slightly, or if your opponent's defensive resources are clearly designed to target your mid-range shot, then your offense becomes less difficult to deal with when you only have the mid-range shot as your option.
"The core of the Boston Pick-and-Roll is using back screens and drives to stretch the defense," Lin Qi tapped the whiteboard with his pen. "But when opponents use deep post-ups to shut down drives, if Dwyane is forced to rely solely on mid-range shots, the offense will become passive. We need more options to break the deadlock."
"First, Dwyane has the ball, Big Ben sets a screen and cuts to the basket, Kevin sets a back screen and pops out, drawing Kirilenko's help defense attention to the perimeter and weak side. Second, when Dwyane drives, Big Ben cuts to the basket, positioning himself at the edge of Crash restricted area to screen Yao Ming behind him. This is a variation of the Boston Pick-and-Roll- roll."
Rick Carlisle's eyes lit up as he instantly grasped the trick. "The brilliance of this move lies in the referee's call. If the inside player actively pushes or bumps into a defender in the Crash area while boxing out, it's easy to be called an offensive foul. But if the movement is subtle, using the lower body to establish position beforehand, it looks like a normal rebounding and boxing out, and the referee often has a hard time defining its legality. This is equivalent to finding a legal gray area on the edge of the rules."
Lin Qi looked at Ben Wallace, his tone softening. "Ben, the day after tomorrow against the Nets, Kirilenko and Brand will be guarding Kevin and Chris Paul, they won't dare leave you open. When Dwyane drives to the basket using a screen, all you need to do is use your back and hips to box Yao Ming out behind you, about four feet from the rim."
"Remember, when boxing out, avoid any obvious pulling or aggressive Crash. Keep your center of gravity low and use your lower body to hold your ground. As long as you're in that position, the referee will see it as a standard post-up and box-out."
Big Ben blinked, mentally reviewing the arrows on the whiteboard. "So, when my mid-range shot isn't working, I can skip the shot and just use a rebounding stance to block the opposing center behind me, letting Dwyane finish the play?" Big Ben asked in a deep voice.
"Yes," Lin Qi tossed the pen into the pen holder, "If you're shooting well that day, the mid-range shot can still be a regular weapon. But if you're not shooting well or the opponent blocks out the middle, you can use your back to hold off a big guy in the paint for two seconds, and that'll be a piece of cake for you."
"What's so difficult about that!" Ben Wallace slapped his thigh. "As long as the referee treats this as normal positioning, I can not only hold someone off for two seconds, I can completely immobilize them!"
"Not just you," Lin Qi said, glancing around at the interior players. " Rasheed ( Wallace ), Tyson Chandler ( Chandler ), Mehmet ( Okur ), you guys need to practice this too. Whenever you face an opponent who prioritizes rim protection, this is one of your standard weapons."
Rick Carlisle added, "As long as you're in position before the center gets going, with your hands tucked in front of your chest and not pushing, that's a legal gray area. Once you have the center behind you, Dwyane is open when he drives into the paint. Whether he dunks, lays up, or floaters, it's all up to him. If the center goes around to defend Dwyane, he's wide open behind him. Dwyane can just toss the ball onto the rim, and you can turn and finish with an alley-oop."
The players in the locker room immediately understood. Chris Paul Pierce smiled and said, "That's brilliant. It adds another tactical solution. Combining a mid-range shot with baseline post-up positioning makes it impossible for the opponent to defend comfortably."
Wade rubbed his hands together. "As long as I can block them, I can drive in and shoot however I want."
"Go practice on the court," Lin Qi glanced at his watch, "Master the move. From now on, this will be Boston's exclusive ' Wallace screen'."
Big Ben grinned, the weight that had been pressing on his heart for the past two weeks finally lifted.
For the next two days, the Auerbach training center was completely closed for training.
Ben Wallace didn't completely give up practicing his mid-range shot, but he focused more on the details of physical battles in the paint.
In the subsequent training exercises, this tactic did not go smoothly at first.
Wade was used to receiving the ball on the way down the court, and Big Ben always started his run half a beat too early, either committing a foul prematurely or being outmaneuvered by the opponent when trying to box out.
Rick Carlisle had to stop training and work with them to fine-tune the details.
Wade began to learn to dribble with a lower center of gravity, observing the defender's weight shift for an extra half second, while Big Ben focused on boxing out his matchup.
After more than three hours of repeated practice, when Wade once again accelerated down the road after a screen, Big Ben perfectly lowered his waist and turned his body, using his back to firmly trap the defender behind him, and Wade took the opportunity to jump and complete the floater.
This perfect understanding gradually took shape through repeated confrontations.
Rasheed Wallace and Okur also did a few extra sets during training breaks.