January 2, 2004, evening, New Garden.
In their first game of the new year, the Boston Celtics hosted the Dallas Mavericks.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, wearing a dark blue crewneck sweatshirt, sat in the first row next to the visiting team's bench. He hadn't stopped talking since the warm-up, constantly gesturing to the referees and his own players. For the past two weeks, rumors have been circulating that the Mavericks have been inquiring around for opportunities to strengthen their frontcourt, and Danny Ford and Antawn Jamison on the bench didn't look too happy.
In the nationally televised commentary booth, Al Michael, watching a familiar figure applying magnesium powder to his hands on the sidelines, raised his voice. "Ladies and gentlemen, Boston welcomes back an old friend tonight. After two months on the injury list, Gary Payton has finally shed his suit and donned the green number 20 jersey again. However, Hubie, Rick Carlisle is still fielding a starting lineup of Dwyane Wade, Raja Bell, Chris Paul Pierce, Kevin Garnett, and Ben Wallace tonight."
Hubie Brown glanced down at the stat sheet. "A very reasonable arrangement. Wade's performance in recent games has been remarkable, scoring 22 points and dishing out 8 assists in the Christmas Day game. Starting Gary Payton off the bench protects the veteran, controls his playing time, and allows the second unit to score. I'd really like to see how Boston allocates the playing time of these two guards tonight."
The referee tossed the basketball into the air, Garnett flicked it with Wade fingertips, and the game officially began.
The Dallas Mavericks fielded a starting lineup of Steve Nash, Michael Finley, Josh Howard, Anthony Kemba Walker, Dirk Nowitzki tonight. Don Nelson's strategy was straightforward: to compete with the Celtics on offense.
On the first possession of the game, Wade dribbled the ball up the court.
Facing Nash's defense, Wade remembered Gary Payton's instructions from the previous two days in practice: in the first phase of the game, establish your offensive threat.
Ben Wallace set a screen at the top of the key, Wade lowered his center of gravity, dropped his shoulders, and swept past Nash's left shoulder in one step.
After rushing to the free-throw line, Nowitzki immediately stepped forward under the basket, raising his arms to block the floater.
The moment Wade stepped into the free-throw line, he continued dribbling with his left hand, leaning his left shoulder back to firmly trap Nash, who was chasing after him, behind him using his back and hips.
With that extra lateral movement, Nowitzki, who had lunged forward, suddenly lost his balance and hesitated for half a second.
Taking advantage of Nowitzki's momentary pause, Wade took a step forward, jumped, and flicked his wrist. The basketball flew over Nowitzki's fingertips, grazed the backboard, and fell into the net. 2-0.
On the Celtics' bench, Gary Payton, chewing gum, crossed his legs and yelled at the players, "Yeah! Just use your butt to block that Canada kid and make him eat your dust!"
Ron Artest, sitting next to Payton, grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth. He turned to Gary Payton and grinned, " Gary, if you keep coaching him like this, Dwyane's going to play forty minutes a game. When you're on the bench waving a towel, remember to put in some effort!"
"Get out of here, Ron," Gary Payton slapped Artest on the back of the head. "I'm saving myself the trouble. When you learn to play with your brain, I'll teach you too."
Turning back, Nash dribbled the ball and launched a fast break, trying to catch Boston.
As soon as Wade crossed the mid-court line, he lowered his center of gravity and used his chest to block Nash's dribbling path, squeezing Nash all the way to the left sideline. Nash tried two crossovers but couldn't shake off the defender, and barely managed to pass the ball to Nowitzki at the high post. Garnett stepped in ahead of him to contest the shot, and Nowitzki caught the ball shakily, turning and shooting, but the shot bounced off the front of the rim.
Big Ben grabbed the defensive rebound under the basket and casually handed it to Wade.
Upon reaching the frontcourt, Wade looked at Nash, who was a size thinner than him, and extended his left hand to signal the team to spread out, then pushed Nash back to his left waist position.
"Look, Wade is backing down Nash," Hubie Brown laughed in the commentary booth. "This style of play is exactly like Gary Payton and Mark Jackson. Wade's size and strength have a huge advantage over Nash."
Wade pushed in twice with his shoulder in the low post, and Nash was knocked back two steps. Finley on the weak side saw that things were not going well and was about to collapse to help defend when Wade suddenly turned around on the baseline, brushed past Nash, took a step and jumped into the air, and slammed the basketball into the basket with both hands.
In just five minutes of play, Wade switched between pick-and-rolls at the top of the key and post-up moves, scoring 9 points on 4-of-5 shooting, tearing apart the Mavericks ' defense.
On the sidelines, Don Nelson couldn't sit still any longer. He stood up and called a timeout, bringing in sixth man Antawn Jamison and center Danny Ford.
After the timeout, the Mavericks ' defensive formation noticeably shrank significantly into the paint. As soon as Wade got the ball across half-court, Finley and Josh Howard would be positioned on either side of the free-throw line, ready to double-team him.
Seeing the Mavericks ' defense collapse, Wade immediately stopped his one-on-one attacks and started running passes and cuts with his teammates.
In the sixth minute, Wade passed the ball from the top of the key to Garnett, who was moving up to the elbow area of the free-throw line. The moment he passed the ball, Wade pretended to run to the right corner, then suddenly pushed off the ground and changed direction, running straight to the basket while sticking close to Garnett's back.
Nash, who was chasing down the defense, and Finley, who was helping, were both drawn to Wade's cut to the basket, and both of them took two steps back towards the basket.
Garnett, positioned in the elbow area, turned and tossed the ball to Chris Paul Pierce, who was open at the left 45-degree angle. Pierce caught the ball with no one within three meters of him. He glanced down at the three-point line, calmly bent his knees, and jumped, sending the ball swishing through the net.
In the next possession, Boston executed Boston Pick-and-Roll. After setting a back screen for Big Ben Garnett popped out to the three-point line at the top of the arc. Wary of Garnett's shot, Nowitzki had no choice but to follow him out.
Only Ford, who had just entered the game, remained in the paint. Wade used a screen to drive into the middle, and Ben Wallace, who was cutting in, lowered his Big Ben half a step ahead, using his back and lower body to block Ford on the left side of the basket. Wade strode into the paint, jumped, and slammed the ball into the basket with one hand.
As Pierce retreated on defense, he ran backwards while laughing and complaining to Wade, " Dwyane, if we keep playing like this, I probably won't even break a sweat tonight."
Wade smiled and gave Pierce a high five.
With three minutes remaining in the first quarter, the score had widened to 28-14. Rick Carlisle made a bold move, sending in the second unit consisting of Gary Payton, Tyronn Lue, Ron Artest, Rasheed Wallace, and Mehmet Okur.
The 20,000 fans at the New Garden rose to their feet, and a thunderous cheer erupted from the stands. Gary Payton, chewing gum, waved his right hand toward the stands and slowly ran onto the court.
The Mavericks initially thought that Boston's substitution of their starters would give them a breather, but as soon as the Celtics' lineup was in place, Don Nelson on the sidelines frowned even more deeply.
Gary Payton received the ball in the backcourt and started muttering as he passed Nash: " Steve, I heard Mark is calling around trying to trade you for a center? I suggest you stop suffering here and pack your bags to go back to Boston and enjoy life."
Nash's head was throbbing from the noise. Just as he was about to press for the ball, Gary Payton shielded it with his body and passed it to Artest on the wing.
Artest received the ball and immediately backed down Antawn Jamison, shoving him in with his shoulder while grinning at Antawn Jamison: "Hey Antoine, I just bought a Dallas rap record yesterday. Can you get me some autographs from some artists before you get traded?"
Antawn Jamison was furious and was about to hit back when Artest leaned against him, turned, and drove the ball in with a backboard shot.
On the other hand, the Mavericks missed their shot. Tyronn Lue grabbed the long rebound, accelerated across the midcourt line, drove to the three-point line, drew the defense, and flicked his wrist to pass the ball to Gary Payton, who was following up at the left corner three-point line.
Sitting in the front row, Mark Cuban immediately jumped up and shouted, "Leave Gary open! His three-point shooting was terrible last season!"
Gary Payton received the ball at the bottom corner, his feet firmly planted on the floor, knees slightly bent, and he raised his hand to shoot using the momentum transmitted from his lower body.
The basketball went through the net cleanly.