Reggie Miller also arrived at the scene today, and when everyone received their rings from David Stern’s hands, they gathered at the center of the stage for a big group photo, some Pacers fans could no longer contain their excitement and cried out.
Reggie Miller waved to everyone again as he left the court, but didn’t say much, as Larry Bird was discussing his jersey retirement with him, and even if he had something to say, it would be more appropriate to wait for that moment.
Su Wan examined his first career championship ring.
Herbert Simon had spent millions on this batch of rings; in fact, at least $200,000 was spent on this championship ring alone.
The full diamonds on the ring were dazzling, and with the entire ring on his finger, Su Wan could clearly feel its weight, heavy and significant.
Just like its meaning to Su Wan, and to the whole of Indiana.
Amidst the cheers, the game finally began, and the Pistons players couldn’t wait to get on the court, eager to make a scene.
Looking at the spirited Pistons players, Su Wan couldn’t help but force a smile.
He also belatedly realized that not only was he suspended from the Pacers, but so was Foster, who was suspended for four games and also couldn’t play in the first three games of the regular season.
Jermaine O’Neal had successfully lost weight during the summer and now couldn’t hold his ground in the low post; if David Harrison could stand his ground in the paint, he wouldn’t have lost his starting position to Foster. The "French Magician" had jumping ability, but he was better at hustling for rebounds and couldn’t hold his ground under the basket either.
Faced with the "Double Ben" guarding the basket, the Pacers were going to have a tough time under the basket.
Once the game started, Su Wan realized that it wasn’t just the rebounds under the basket that were difficult.
It was also the offensive end.
Last season’s Pacers offense was mostly initiated from his position.
Without him, they could only have Jermaine O’Neal hold the ball under the basket to attract double teams.
But as mentioned earlier, Jermaine O’Neal had lost weight and simply couldn’t hold his ground to play one-on-one against either Ben Wallace or Rashid Wallace.
He now relied more on receiving the ball after a pick-and-roll, or fighting for "second-chance rebounds" under the basket.
Tinsley tried to run a few pick-and-rolls with him, but the Pistons had predicted Tinsley’s lack of shooting ability and didn’t switch at all, sticking to their own matchups even if they were late getting around the screens.
Tinsley couldn’t punish the Pistons for the open space he got during these moments, which only reinforced their commitment to their current defensive method.
Unable to do anything, Rick Carlisle had to try pick-and-rolls with Artest and Jermaine O’Neal, but the result...
Was even worse.
At the end of the first quarter, the Pacers trailed by 3 points on their home court with a score of 20 to 23.
Jermaine O’Neal and Artest had their first squabble since their feud had been resolved.
"After I set the screen for you, if you can’t break through, at least pass the ball to me. Why do you insist on forcing it? I was calling for you, but you just couldn’t hear."
"I wanted to pass, too. I was looking for you, but I just couldn’t find you."
"I was right on your right side. How could you possibly not see..."
"I seriously couldn’t see!"
...
Tinsley glanced at Su Wan: "With those two like this, I’m a lot more comfortable!"
He was really afraid that one day both of them would come out of the closet, what with the way they had been so touchy-feely recently.
Sometimes arguing can quickly eliminate conflicts, but some problems can’t be solved by arguments alone.
At the start of the second quarter, the pick-and-roll between Artest and Jermaine O’Neal was still underwhelming, and Rick Carlisle had to continue adjusting tactics, moving Artest to the two and clearing the small forward spot for Dior.
With this adjustment, the Pacers suddenly looked less chaotic on the court.
Furthermore, with Dior’s passing and orchestrating, Jermaine O’Neal started to frequently exert his power inside.
Rashid Wallace, at the age of 31, had a noticeable decline in athleticism, and Ben Wallace’s height meant that if he couldn’t establish his position in time against inside cuts by more athletic opponents, he could only watch as they scored repeatedly.
Even though he blocked Jermaine O’Neal with a great block during this period, he was not able to prevent Jermaine from continuously attacking the basket and scoring.
This was the smoothest passage of play for the Pacers offense.
The Indiana natives in the crowd, as well as the journalists on the sidelines, all formed a definite impression of Dior.
His silky passing movements and fluid tricks to get rid of defenders showed his brilliance.
And Rick Carlisle found that he was a very intelligent player; against Prince, he would try to overpower him, but when facing the slower-footed Rashid Wallace, he would immediately speed up to complete a breakthrough.
It was just that his various scoring methods were just familiar to him, not mastered.
Otherwise, his threat with the ball would definitely be much greater.
But, these "all-around forwards" who lacked ambition were like that: capable of everything, but not excelling in anything.
However, Philip Sanders, the Pistons’ newly appointed head coach, also had a big reputation. He helped Kevin Garnett grow step by step into a regular-season MVP, and Chauncey Billups’ transformation couldn’t have happened without his assistance either.
The Timberwolves’ "Western Conference Finals" journey in ’04 was also achieved under his coaching.
His wealth of experience allowed him to immediately spot the biggest problem with Dior, who was performing so well:
His lack of integration with the other Pacers players.
Many of his passes were based on standard tactical positioning.