Chris Sheridan war in Boston:
Must've been the shoesposted: Friday, January 27, 2006
Surprisingly, the debuts of Ron Artest and Wally Szczerbiak in new uniforms happened simultaneously Friday night, and the effect they had on their new teams can best be told with a tale of each player's footwear.
In Szczerbiak's case, he barged into Doc Rivers' office 14 minutes before tipoff with his sneakers slung over his shoulder, telling the Celtics' coach he was gung ho to get going.
"He stared at me every freaking timeout," Rivers said.
Rivers had planned to keep Szczerbiak on the bench for the entire game, the tipoff coming less than 24 hours after he was acquired from Minnesota in a seven-player trade, but Szczerbiak's staredown forced Rivers to relent with 3 1-2 minutes left in the first half, and he was sure glad he did.
Szczerbiak was on the court to start the second half, and his eight points over the next six minutes on two 3-pointers and a 20-footer helped the Celtics take a lead they never relinquished in an 84-74 victory over Artest and the Sacramento Kings.
The other player acquired in Thursday night's trade, Michael Olowokandi, did not play.
"He didn't stare. He glanced," Rivers said.
Plenty of players were glancing down at Artest's feet after he donned a pair of the most beat-up sneakers ever seen on a basketball court. Artest said he had already worn the shoes for 16 or 17 games, turning them from white to black with the aid of a Sharpie and some spray paint.
"Can't wait to get into a new pair. I was slipping and sliding all over the place," Artest said.
That slipping and sliding took place after Artest knocked down his first three shots. He missed eight of his next nine before adding a meaningless 3-pointer in the final minute, helping pad a stat line that read 15 points, six rebounds, four steals and two assists. Despite those numbers, his impact on the outcome was as negligible as Szczerbiak's was significant.
"The thing that stood out immediately was the ball movement," Rivers said, going on to describe how Paul Pierce kept posting up on the same side of the court as Szczerbiak because he knew Szczerbiak's defender wouldn't dare drop down into a double-team.
Rivers also explained how Szczerbiak already knew several of Boston's plays from his days of reading scouting reports on the Celtics, and Szczerbiak even encouraged Rivers to run a play called "fist" that Minnesota had in its playbook but rarely ran for him.
The Celtics had said before the game that Szczerbiak and Olowokandi would only be in uniform because their travel clothes did not conform to the dress code, but Szczerbiak's staredown _ along with his immediate impact _ forced Rivers to open his post-game press conference by saying he had not meant to sound untruthful by insisting beforehand that Szczerbiak would not play.
Rivers was as psyched afterward as the crowd was when it got its first glimpse of Szczerbiak, and the coach's buoyant mood afterward was befitting of a man whose team had just been infused with short-term energy and long-term optimism.
"We gave more high-fives to each other tonight than we had all year combined," Rivers said before exiting the interview podium. It would be another 30 minutes before Artest stepped up to the same microphone. He was delayed in part because a clubhouse attendant had to be sent to the team bus to fetch Artest's beat-up sneakers.
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Ich konnte mich nur durch den Live-Ticker und ein paar Gamethreads klicken, denn es war kein Stream zu bekommen. Diese ewigen Rocketsstreams gehen mir zeitweilig auf die Nerven.... Artest spielt, dann sogar Wally und keiner kann's sehen :kotz:
Nunja, trotz der 24 Turnover (Pierce 7) muss sich einiges in der Boston Offense getan haben. Minnesota hatte niemals zwei gute Wingspieler (als Sprewell da war, war in der ersten Saison Wally verletzt und in der zweiten Saison war Spree.. na ihr wisst schon) mit denen sie Wally's Off-the-Ball-Spiel ausnutzen konnten. Ich hoffe, Doc weiß was er zu tun hat. Pierce wird es ihm danken.
Neben Wallys erstaunlichen Einfluss auf das erste Spiel beeindruckte mich vor allem Perk (der im 4. Vierteil aufgrund von unglaublich guter Leistung von Raef/Jeff frecherweise nicht mehr eingewechselt wurde..). Der Abgang von Blount ist addition by substraction at his best. Glaubt mir. Stabile Minuten für Perk, Al und Raef werden für ein viel besseres Spiel der drei sorgen. Abgelöst bei Foultrouble werden sie wohl von Veal und Gomes. Das ist ok. Wenn wirklich alle Stricke reißen und beide Center sitzen müssen, hat man noch Kandi und falls er rausfliegt, Jones in der D-League.