The whistle blew in the sixth minute of the third quarter.
Adelman stood on the sidelines and calmly made a gesture.
Mark Price, Chris Mullin, Michael Finley, P.J. Brown, and Bo Outlaw rushed forward.
As the five men stood on the court, Lin Qi, sitting in the first row, slightly turned his head, his gaze crossing the center line and meeting George Carl's eyes not far away. Lin Qi's face was expressionless; he simply raised his coffee cup slightly towards the other man, as if in acknowledgment.
The Seattle SuperSonics also made tactical adjustments. Carl had great confidence in his bench depth, sending out veteran captain Nate McMillan, strong swingman Vincent Askew, veteran Craig Ehlo, and stretch big man Sam Perkins. This lineup had extremely high defensive toughness, and Carl intended to use a tenacious defense to cut off the Boston Celtics' second unit's ball movement.
Possession was given to Boston, and the ball was passed to Price.
The 32-year-old point guard dribbled at a leisurely pace. As he crossed the center line, the entire audience could clearly see the thick black braces wrapped around his knees. He really didn't look fast; in fact, he seemed a bit slow.
"Go up there! Don't let him pass the ball easily!" George Carl yelled from the sidelines.
Askew and Ehlo rushed forward to surround him. Askew used his strong body to block, while the experienced Ehlo tried to cut off his breakthrough route.
But just as the defense was about to close in, Price suddenly paused.
It wasn't a sudden acceleration, but rather an abrupt and unexpected shift from extreme speed to complete stillness. That instant change in rhythm caused the two Seattle SuperSonics players, who were charging at full speed, to lose their defensive balance. Askew and veteran Ehlo couldn't brake in time and collided awkwardly outside the three-point line, being completely outmaneuvered.
The next second, Price slipped sideways through the gap between the two.
The Seattle SuperSonics ' interior defense was forced to spread out, but Price kept his eyes fixed on the floor while his right wrist flicked precisely in a tiny space. The basketball seemed to have eyes, slipping under the defender's ribs.
Meanwhile, on the weak side, Chris Mullin had already completed a textbook off-ball movement in a very short time. He first used Bo Outlaw's off-ball screen to cut across, then took advantage of Sam Perkins' slow lateral movement, making a reverse cut to completely shake off the defender and land steadily in the corner. Catching the ball, jumping, and snapping his wrist, the entire shooting motion was completed in one smooth motion.
Swish! The three-pointer sealed the victory.
Looking back, the Seattle SuperSonics ' bench tried to create space for Perkins to shoot from the outside through McMillan's organization, but they were caught off guard by the Celtics' all-around switching defense and ultimately ended up missing a forced shot.
Price pushes the ball again.
This time, defensive stalwart Askew dared not blindly double-team him anymore, and could only step back half a step to block his passing lane. Price smiled slightly; he had no intention of passing at all. Using P.J. Brown's wide screen, he took a step to the side, stopped abruptly, jumped, and took a shot from mid-range.
The basketball arced perfectly through the net, making it 4-0.
In the next possession, Bo Outlaw and P.J. Brown repeatedly set screens for each other at the high post. Suddenly, the court had a fluidity ahead of its time—a rudimentary form of the fast-paced pick-and-roll reminiscent of the later Phoenix Suns, even incorporating a hint of budding half-court passing and cutting. Outlaw's screens were extremely solid, and the moment Price dribbled around him, the Seattle SuperSonics ' defensive formation was once again forced to switch.
Perkins had barely taken a step to try and delay when Price's bounce pass grazed past his feet. P.J. Brown, cutting to the basket, easily received the ball and calmly launched his shot from just inside the free-throw line, unguarded. Mid-range jumper, another basket, 6-0.
The Seattle SuperSonics ' defensive formation began to fall apart, while the Celtics ' offensive momentum was far from over. This time, Price didn't even call for a screen himself, but instead passed the ball directly to the wing.
23-year-old Michael Finley receives the ball. Facing veteran Craig Ehlo, who is closing in and whose footwork is starting to falter, Finley doesn't pass the ball. Instead, he displays his formidable one-on-one scoring ability. A powerful jab step creates space, followed by a drop in his shoulder, acceleration, and a powerful drive past the defense into the paint. He leaps high over the defender and slams the ball into the basket with one arm!
Bang--!
The stadium erupted in cheers.
Four possessions: off-ball movement, pull-up jumpers, high pick-and-roll assists, and tough isolation plays by forwards.
Boston went on a 9-0 run in less than a minute and a half.
George Carl's clipboard hung in mid-air, his face completely grim. He had intended to use his team's tough defensive players to crush the Boston Celtics ' rotation, but instead, his own bench was completely dismantled by Boston's second unit.
Lin Qi sat on the sidelines, quietly watching this scene.
This is the bench system he built single-handedly during the summer, despite facing numerous doubts.
The starting lineup is responsible for suffocating the opponent's energy and patience with a stifling defense. The second lineup, on the other hand, does the exact opposite: clearing the penalty area, creating absolute space, and using a pure attacking rhythm to completely dismantle the opponent's defense.
Price is the tireless bearing in a precision machine, Mullin is the calm sniper, Finley is the spearhead of the attack, P.J. Brown is a tough wall with a solid mid-range shot, and Bo Outlaw is the energetic beast who fills all the dirty work details with flying saves, desperate blocks, and offensive rebounds.
In other teams, the bench players are used to run down the clock and give the starters a rest. But for the Celtics, this bench is meant to take the game.
Did you understand?
At the very edge of the Celtics' bench, Lin Qi turned his head and patted the 22-year-old next to him— Steve Nash.
Nash sat there, his eyes fixed on the back of the number 52 player on the court. He certainly longed to play, but at that moment, he realized he was watching a textbook demonstration of what it's all about.
Price is a top-notch living example.
How to use eye contact to deceive help defense, how to get the ball into an open space half a second before a pick-and-roll occurs, how to use changes in rhythm to deal with physically strong defenders... these are things you can't learn by watching videotapes.
Before the end of the third quarter, the point difference had unknowingly reached 12 points. Boston had completely taken control of the game's tempo.
In the post-match press conference, Rick Adelman, dressed in a suit, looked very gracious after the victory.
On the other side, facing a dense array of microphones, George Carl could only manage a helpless, bitter laugh.
"We originally planned to launch a counterattack during the transition period," the renowned coach said, loosening his tie, his tone full of frustration, "But in the end, we were worn down by their second unit's constant off-ball cuts and shots. They spread their offensive formation too wide, and we simply couldn't cover both ends."
"Coach Carl, who was the most difficult player for Boston to deal with tonight? Was it Mutombo or Garnett?" A reporter in the audience held up a recorder and pressed for an answer.
George Carl was silent for a moment, then uttered a name.
Mark Price.
"Before the game, I even thought his knee condition was only good enough for him to hand towels to the younger players in the locker room," George Carl shook his head. "But once he came on, the Celtics ' offense flowed like a movie."
"You think he's going to shoot, he passes; you think he's going to pass, he shoots. Just when you think you've finally shut him down, his ball has found a third teammate cutting in. That's hard to defend."
The next morning, local Boston media outlets featured this sentence as their front-page headline.
Price Time: The Celtics ' bench is becoming a nightmare for the entire league!
In the president's office for basketball operations, Lin Qi casually tossed the newspaper aside. On his desk lay the latest report that the data company had just delivered.
When Price, Mullin, and Finley are all on the court, the Boston Celtics score an astonishing 119.2 points per 100 possessions in half-court offense, with a net rating of an impressive +13.8.
Others might only see a former All-Star veteran experiencing a second spring, but Lin Qi saw the seamless benefits of a well-developed system.
Outside the window, the winter wind began to howl in Boston. The long and brutal regular season had only just begun.
Meanwhile, opponents across the league were still studying the impenetrable defense built by Mutombo and Garnett in the paint, and the perimeter defense's ability to contain them. They hadn't fully realized that just when they thought they had finally weathered the Boston Celtics ' high-intensity battle with their starters and could take a breather by substituting their key players...
That veteran point guard, his knees scarred and battered, will slowly rise from the Celtics ' bench with a calm smile.
Lin Qi leaned back in his leather chair, looking in the direction of the training hall, a faint smile appearing on his lips.
" Price Time..."
This is merely the first card he's played at the start of the year.