February 13th, Friday evening.
The lights at the Staples Center in Los Angeles were on early in the morning. Although it was just the Rookie Challenge, a kind of appetizer for the All-Star Weekend, the arena was more than 90% full, with the first two rows packed with Hollywood stars, sneaker company executives, and accredited reporters.
The 2003 NBA Draft was hyped by the American media for more than half a year. In order to promote LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony, Nike not only rented three buildings on the exterior of Staples Center to hang huge posters, but also specially bought half of the advertising time on TNT's broadcast that night. In the half-hour pre-game warm-up program, the TV screen was filled with highlights of LeBron James ' fast break dunks and Anthony's game-winning shots, as if the second-year team tonight was just a human backdrop placed in the middle of the court for the "03 Golden Generation " to step on to rise to the top.
On the sideline, Gary Payton sat with his legs crossed on a soft chair in the first row, a bucket of popcorn in his hand, and whistled loudly at Dwyane Wade, who was stretching on the court.
" Dwyane!" Gary Payton yelled, "Remember what I told you on the plane! If that Cleveland kid puts a dagger on your head tonight, you'll be carrying my shoe bag for a month when we get back to Boston!"
Wade straightened up, gestured with his chin at Gary Payton, and casually tightened the laces of his silver and black Converse sneakers.
The atmosphere in front of the second-year team's bench was much more serious than in previous years.
Besides Wade and Tayshaun Prince from Boston, the core of this year's second-year team also includes Yao Ming from the New Jersey Nets, Amar'e Stoudamire from the Seattle SuperSonics, Jay Williams from the Chicago Bulls, and Caron Butler from the Miami Heat. These players from the 2002 draft class have been listening to the media hype up their rookies in newspapers and on television every day for the past three months, and they've been holding back their anger for a long time.
Before the jump ball, Wade gathered Yao Ming, Stoudamire, Prince, and Caron Butler near the center circle.
"Guys, those reporters outside are saying tonight's a coronation party for the rookies," Wade said, wiping his hands with the hem of his jersey. "Let them run the court twice in the first five minutes, then from the sixth minute onwards, we'll slow down the pace and play half-court. Tayshaun, you two lock down the perimeter with me. Yao and Amare, you two block the paint, don't let them get going easily."
Stoudamire chewed on his teething toy and stretched his shoulders. "It should have been done a long time ago. I have no interest in being the backdrop for a rookie's dunk."
Yao Ming smiled and nodded, "No problem, I'll take care of the area under the basket."
At exactly 6:00 PM, the referee tossed the ball into the air.
Stoudamire leaped high and passed the ball to Wade, officially starting the 2004 Rookie Challenge.
In the first four minutes, the game was indeed as exciting as Nike's PR team had hoped. Rookie point guard Kirk Hinrich stole the ball, LeBron James received it at midcourt, charging straight to the basket and finishing with a powerful one-handed tomahawk dunk before the retreating defenders could get into position. On the very next possession, LeBron James lobbed the ball high off the backboard during a fast break, and Carmelo Anthony caught it in the air and slammed it home with a two-handed dunk.
Hollywood stars in the stands stood up and applauded, while Kenny Smith, the commentator on TNT, shouted at the top of his lungs, "See that?! That's the talent of the 2003 class! The sophomores simply can't keep up with their transition speed!"
Charles Barkley, sitting next to him, curled his lip and adjusted his headset. " Kenny, don't jump to conclusions. I can dunk on an uncontested fast break too. Let's see how these rookies really are when the game is in half-court."
On the court, Wade received the inbound pass from Yao Ming at the baseline and made a hand gesture towards the rest of the second-year team.
The performance has now ended.
Wade steadily dribbled the ball up the court. Facing Hinrich, who was guarding him, he didn't rush to accelerate. Instead, he waited until Yao Ming and Stoudamire were both in the low post before calling for Stoudamire to move up and run a high pick-and-roll.
Chris Bosh, a rookie, switched onto the defensive assignment.
Facing Bosh, who had a height and wingspan advantage, Wade kept his center of gravity extremely low at the top of the arc, dribbling with his right hand very tightly, close to the lower edge of his knee. Bosh was wary of Wade's explosive first step and subconsciously took half a step back.
In that half-step opening, Wade suddenly stepped forward with his left foot, feinted a very realistic drive with his shoulder, and quickly pulled up the ball the instant Bosh shifted his weight backward, decisively launching a mid-range jumper from a step outside the free-throw line.
"Whoosh!"
The basketball went through the net cleanly.
Without any fancy setups or relying on teammates to feed him the ball from open spaces, he relied purely on his footwork and quick stops to overpower the defense.
Turning back, the first-year team launched an attack.
LeBron James held the ball at the top of the key, intending to accelerate straight to the basket like he did at the start of the game. But this time, the second-year team's defense was already perfectly positioned.
Tayshaun Prince spread his long arms at the top of the arc, while Wade was ready to help defend on the left side. Deep inside, Yao Ming stood firmly in the center of the paint, blocking the paint area like a wall.
LeBron James executed two consecutive crossover dribbles beyond the three-point line.
While LeBron James possesses explosive athleticism and charges like a heavy truck, his center of gravity was too high in his half-court, and he lacked finesse in changing direction. Prince completely ignored his shoulder fakes, consistently giving him a step and a half's distance and firmly blocking his path to the right. This was a detail clearly stated in the Celtics' scouting report: LeBron James' mid-range and long-range jump shots are currently extremely inconsistent; by blocking his driving routes and forcing him to stop abruptly outside the free-throw line, his threat is reduced by half.
LeBron James tried to force his way to the right, and Wade immediately pounced from the side, following Gary Payton's instructions, his left forearm subtly bracing against LeBron James ' side waist, while his right hand precisely cut down on James' high dribbling trajectory.
LeBron James couldn't protect the ball in time, his dribbling rhythm was disrupted, and he was forced to stop the ball at the top of the free throw line.
With Yao Ming guarding the paint and James unable to convert a mid-range jumper to break through the defense, and with only 5 seconds left on the shot clock, LeBron James had no choice but to jump and pass the ball to Carmelo Anthony, who was being closely guarded by Caron Butler at the left 45-degree angle.
Anthony received the ball with only 3 seconds left, his chest pressed against Butler's. Anthony didn't even have time to look at the basket, so he had to grit his teeth and dribble one step inside, forcing a turnaround fadeaway shot over Butler's block.
"Bang!"
The ball bounced off the front of the rim, Yao Ming easily grabbed the rebound. He then made a long pass directly to Wade had already crossed the mid-court line.
Wade received the ball and faced LeBron James retreating on defense. He suddenly slammed on the brakes while sprinting at high speed, used a large Europe step to shake off LeBron James's center of gravity, hung in the air to avoid the block, and then used his left hand to cleanly put the ball into the basket!
"Great shot!" Gary Payton, on the sidelines, grabbed a handful of popcorn and stuffed it into his mouth, yelling at the Nike executives' seats not far away, "See that? This is a proper half-court set play! Not a 100-meter sprint on the track!"
Barkley, in the commentary booth, laughed out loud without any restraint, "What did I just say? LeBron is indeed a monster in fast breaks, but once the sophomore team blocks the paint and doesn't give him any space to sprint, he simply can't put the ball in the basket on his own in half-court! He doesn't have a reliable mid-range pull-up jumper, nor does he have post-up footwork, so when double-teamed, he can only pass the problem to Carmelo!"