Reggie Miller's evaluation of Li Kaiming made the entire commentary box lively. The three commentators discussed this topic with gusto for several minutes, and finally stopped when the game started.
The players from both sides took their positions, the referee took the ball and stood in the middle circle, and Bosh and Brac took their stances and prepared to take off.
With a whistle, the referee threw the ball vertically into the sky. As a lottery pick in the first year of the draft, Bosh's physical talent is naturally not comparable to that of a young second-round pick like Blatche. The powerful burst of power made Bosh Shi helped the Heat get the ball for the first attack.
The Wizards players were not surprised when the jump ball failed. They retreated to their own backcourt in an orderly manner and stood in position waiting for the Heat to attack.
Chalmers held the ball through half court. When he reached the frontcourt, he did not pass the ball directly to James. Instead, he called a pick-and-roll. Bosh went out to cover, and Li Kaiming also followed.
Chalmers accelerated to get rid of Hinrich who was stuck, and then broke through directly to the three-point line.
Li Kaiming kept his distance unhurriedly, keeping himself in position and avoiding being fouled by Chalmers.
Generally speaking, few teams specifically use pick-and-rolls to break through him when playing the Wizards. Spoelstra is a very tactically minded coach, and he should not make such low-level mistakes.
When something goes wrong, there must be something wrong, so Li Kaiming had to be careful that Chalmers was here to cause him a foul.
At this time, Chalmers looked at Li Kaiming, who was an arm's length away from him. He was surprised and a little anxious at the same time. He also deliberately slowed down a little, but Li Kaiming still didn't follow him.
In desperation, he had no choice but to lay up directly. If he waited any longer, Hinrich, who was following behind, would catch up!
Li Kaiming didn't lose his position, and there was Blatche under the basket. Not to mention Chalmers, even Wade at his peak would get a slap in the face!
Although Chalmers' layup was not blocked, it was still far away from the goal. Blatche easily protected the backboard and handed it to Hinrich to dribble to the frontcourt.
The Wizards are not in a hurry to directly use the triangle offense. After all, it is still early in this series. How can anyone start to attack immediately? Then your opponent will definitely doubt your IQ and ask loudly if you can play?
Blatche went up to set a screen for Hinrich, Haslem chose to squat inside, and Chalmers was blocked behind Hinrich.
So Hinrich started to play the trick of trying not to get in. Of course, this kind of rubbing is the same as the rubbing mentioned by some scumbags. He slid in after rubbing.
Hinrich used his body to block Chalmers and slowly moved to the free throw line.
At this time, Haslem did not dare to squat in the paint. After all, Hinrich is a guy with very good shooting skills. But after the screen, Brac stepped out and directly pushed Haslem to the basket. Hinrich created huge shooting space.
Hinrich made a direct throw and scored easily!
2 to 0! The Wizards win first!
When the Heat attacked, Chalmers reached the frontcourt and handed the ball to James. After all, James has been the core of the Heat's ball-holding and tactics since last season.
Leonard spread out his two ape-like long arms, stepped firmly on the three-point line, squatted slightly, and looked firmly.
When James looked at the paralyzed face in front of him, he was as big as the first and the second. He was already difficult to deal with last season. He also competed four times in the regular season this season, and it was even more difficult than last season!
Of course, James' golf IQ is still very high. In this case, he decisively chose to call Haslem inside to cover.
Haslem is a typical short center. Compared with those big centers, his advantage is that he moves quickly and can perform some defense changes.
But while there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. The defensive influence of a small body at the basket is naturally smaller than that of a large one, and it is also more difficult to catch the opponent when covering.
After two seasons of intensive training, Leonard's defensive skills are now among the best in the league, and it is natural to squeeze into screens.
Haslem doesn't completely block Leonard, but as long as James gives him a little space, he can take advantage and accelerate.
Breaking into the penalty area with the ball, James looked up and found a tower-like Blatche standing under the basket, followed by a facially paralyzed robot, but he had already rushed here, and there was nothing he could do if he didn't get up.
So James gritted his teeth and directly put the ball together for a three-step layup. Leonard next to him was elbowed away by him, and Blatche jumped up to protect the basket.
James jumped up and collided with Blatche. Before the ball was released, the referee at the bottom line had already blown the whistle!
beep!
The referee signaled Brac to block the foul!
Bracci felt extremely aggrieved, and he spread his hands towards the referee.
"What? Blocking? I stand straighter than my second brother who took sildenafil! You said I blocked?"
Seeing that Brachi was about to explode, Li Kaiming immediately went up and stopped him.
James went to the free throw line and made two free throws to tie 2-2.
The Wizards attacked, and when they reached the frontcourt, Li Kaiming and Blach took the initiative to cover Hinrich. Two tall men over 2.1 meters in height pinched each other on both sides, and Chalmers instantly felt that it was getting dark.
Hinrich easily broke through to the three-point line.
The Heat's two insiders also followed, because Li Kaiming was too much of a threat from the outside, so when Li Kaiming bounced outside after the pick-and-roll, Haslem and Bosh both rushed toward the outside.
At this time, Blatche turned around and by the time Haslem reacted to protect the basket, Hinrich had already thrown the ball high towards the basket.
Brachi, who took a big step, kicked off the ground, grabbed the basketball in the air with both hands, and then used his waist and abdomen to push the ball down!
boom!
The basket made a dull impact!
Blatche's alley-oop dunk was powerful and heavy. It seemed that he wanted to vent his anger at being called for an inexplicable foul just now!
4 to 2, Consol raised his arms in the commentary box, "With beautiful cooperation, Brac completed a very violent finish. It looked like he was going to pull the basket off!"
Next to them, Reggie Miller and Barkley both said at the same time that the key to the success of this offense was Li Kaiming's outside play!
Unknowingly, tNt's two gold medal commentators all turned into Li Kaiming...
The Heat served from the bottom line to the frontcourt, and the ball was passed to Wade on the outside. Due to knee injuries this season, Wade's performance has declined a lot compared to previous seasons, but even so, his breakthrough is still particularly sharp.
Bosh's screen wasn't even fully in place. Wade directly pushed the ball to change direction, and passed the ball through the gap with his low hand. After reaching the three-point line, he suddenly combined the ball with a fake move and swayed the pursuer. Thompson, then turned around and fell back from the mid-range!
Swish! The basketball hits the net!
Although Wade's three-point shooting accuracy is not high, his mid-range shooting is still very good. He is not as good as some players who rely on mid-range shooting, but he can be regarded as an above-average mid-range shot in the league.
The two sides once again tied at 4-4. The game showed a back-and-forth situation from the beginning, which was similar to what most media predicted before the start of the series.
The Wizards passed the ball to Li Kaiming with his back inside. The Heat's defense came very quickly. Haslem came from the baseline and James came from the top line. Looking at this posture, Spoelstra was preparing to take Li Kaiming. Wrap into rice dumplings!
Fortunately, Li Kaiming's passing vision is very outstanding. Although this kind of double team seems airtight, he can find loopholes as long as he moves.
He dribbled the ball and turned around and passed Bosh. Sure enough, there was a gap to pass the ball to Haslem's side. Li Kaiming didn't hesitate to hit the ball to him. Unexpectedly, he was directly hit by Bosh next to him. My feet were kicked off!
The referee signaled a violation, but a kick violation does not allow the offense to go directly to the free throw line, nor does it allow the defense to accumulate fouls. It even consumes the Wizards' offensive time, so this option is very cost-effective for the Heat.
Hinrich sent a sideline ball to Li Kaiming on the outside. When the Heat saw that Li Kaiming was going to play singles with the ball outside the three-point line, the entire formation immediately moved closer to Bosh, which was enough to show that the Heat valued Li Kaiming.
In this case, Li Kaiming would certainly not foolishly call for cover. Wouldn't that be equivalent to asking the opponent to double-team him?
So he dribbled the ball with both hands and changed direction to find a rhythm, and at the same time gradually approached the three-point line. When he was one step away from the three-point line, he suddenly hesitated with a suspended ball and made a forward movement of changing direction with the ball to break through.
Bosh thought that Li Kaiming was going to make a big change of direction, so he subconsciously took a step back. This opened up a huge space for Li Kaiming to shoot. He directly pulled up and shot a three-pointer. There were still 5 minutes left on the attack timer. Seconds later, his three-pointer crossed the arc and flew into the basket!
7 to 4!
"Lee hit it in his first shot, and it was a difficult three-pointer that was about to end in the attack time. It seems that he is in very good condition today. Coach Spoelstra is going to have a headache..." Reggie Miller said to the two colleagues next to him. Smiled a little.
Indeed, as he said, after Li Kaiming hit a three-pointer, the ravine in the middle of Spoelstra's brow next to the court became deeper...
What made him dissatisfied was that in addition to Li Kaiming's hot touch, more importantly, the Heat seemed unable to guard against the Wizards' offense, failing to guard them in the first three rounds!
Although the Wizards have begun to adopt a balanced offensive and defensive approach in the past two seasons, they are still an offense-driven team in the final analysis. If they cannot prevent the Wizards' offense or even reduce their shooting percentage, then this game The game is dangerous...
Both sides were in a tentative rhythm in the first quarter, and did not show their special skills, and the defense did not increase to a high level of intensity.
Therefore, the Wizards players played very comfortably in the first quarter and felt good on the outside. At the end of the first quarter, the Wizards led the Heat by 3 points 31 to 28!
At the beginning of the second quarter, after the probing session ended, both sides increased their defensive intensity almost at the same time, and the game instantly became intense...
