(The previous chapter was actually written in the tone of Cthulhu, so the author’s middle name is “Phillips” because the founder of Cthulhu was still Howard Phillips Loveclough. Previous Chapter Chapter The name was inspired by Lovecraft's novella "The Shadow over Innsmouth", also known as "The Shadow over Innsmouth", which depicts the immortal fish-men who believe in Dagon in the deep sea. Because this article is 50,000 words long. The novella, and the content is about describing monsters in the ocean, so I can't imitate the entire article. I just used the style and description to quote certain fragments, such as the last paragraph at the end, the paragraph about the jewelry ring in the middle, etc. . Skillful, fun and entertaining, hereby explain.)
The finals between the Cavaliers and Clippers came to G6. This was a battle that determined the fate of the championship.
This year's finals can be said to have had ups and downs, replicating the drama of the Heat versus the Mavericks in 2006 and the Trail Blazers versus the Philadelphia 76ers in 1977.
Trailing 0:2, the Clippers returned to their home court in Los Angeles, tied three games in a row, and came to Cleveland with a 3:2 score to win their first championship in team history.
The Quicken Loans Center, home of the Cavaliers, was still full tonight, and the unfavorable situation of falling behind 2:3 did not dampen the enthusiasm of Cleveland fans.
They believed their King could win this and take the series into a tiebreaker.
In 2012, the Finals still adopted the 2:3:2 format, and the Clippers had already played three home games.
The final two games will be played in Cleveland, so tonight will be their best chance to win.
Once it gets dragged into the tiebreaker, it will be very, very dangerous.
It can be said that the Clippers made it all the way to the finals, which is both unexpected and expected.
In the Western Conference Finals, the seemingly powerful Los Angeles Lakers showed their age.
Kobe Bryant's fatal decline at critical moments and the failure of Phil Jackson's triangle offensive system allowed them to hand over the scepter of the King of Los Angeles.
The Clippers ascended to the Western Conference championship throne for the first time and reached the finals in history.
The Cavaliers entered the finals again with a strong belief in winning the championship, and were once very, very close to the championship.
However, in just one week, James and the Cavaliers experienced three consecutive nightmares in Los Angeles.
Especially in the third game, the last three black minutes still make James and Cavaliers fans feel uncomfortable.
There were still a few minutes left before the start of the G6 game. LeBron James stood on the court after dusting off his powder. Closing his eyes, he could still recall the scene in the final moments of G3. They were so close to 3:0.
They originally led by 10 points in the last three minutes, but Harden hit a key 3+1 to narrow the difference to 6 points.
Then James succeeded in a layup, and Curry counterattacked and hit another three-pointer. The Clippers' three-pointer that had been strong for the whole game suddenly picked up.
Then Irving broke through for a layup and drew a foul. He went to the free throw line and made one of two free throws, still leading by 6 points.
Because the Clippers recovered with a three-pointer, the Cavaliers' defense had to expand outwards. Randolph found an opportunity to catch the ball and made a layup. Camby also caused a foul and made an extra free throw!
The ball was controversial. The Cavaliers protested that Camby did not foul, but the referee still gave a free throw.
The extra free throw was made, only 3 points away.
Afterwards, James passed the ball to Green, but Green missed the three-pointer.
With 26 seconds left in the game, the Clippers must complete this offense quickly.
Curry held the ball and pretended to shoot a three-pointer, but he drove to the basket and threw it high to Gasol for an alley-oop.
With 15 seconds left in the game, the Clippers were 98:99, only 1 point behind the Cavaliers.
But the initiative is still in the hands of the Cavaliers. Mike Brown called a timeout and the Clippers will definitely implement foul tactics.
Sure enough, after the timeout, the Clippers fouled James who caught the ball, and James stood on the free throw line.
This may be the most important free throw of James' career.
As a result, the first free throw was missed, but the second free throw was made. The Cavaliers still led by 2 points.
They were only 11 seconds away from the championship.
After these 11 seconds, the Cavaliers will lead the Clippers 3-0.
The Clippers will then have no power to resist.
James will bring the Cleveland Cavaliers their first championship trophy in team history.
James will also officially enter the ranks of historical super giants. He is only 27 years old and still has a lot of time to improve his statistics and historical status.
The Clippers called a timeout, arranged their final offensive tactics, and sent out a three-guard lineup, but the ball was still in Curry's hands.
The Clippers used a lot of screens to create opportunities for Curry, and the Cavaliers guessed this and defended tightly.
As a result, Curry's throw after the breakthrough missed. There were still 5 seconds left before the end of the game. This missed shot almost declared the end of the series!
But at the most critical moment, PJ Tucker grabbed an offensive rebound and passed the ball to Derek Fisher at the top of the arc under the tight encirclement of the Cavaliers.
Fisher caught the ball and hit a three-pointer, helping the Clippers overtake the score!
101:100, this is the final score at the end of this game.
It was also from this game that the knight, who was just a stone's throw away from the championship, suddenly began to fall into the bottomless abyss...
James opened his eyes, and in just two seconds, the painful memories from a week ago still appeared in his mind.
If he could grab that rebound at that time, if Fisher didn't score the three-pointer.
It's a pity that there was no if. At that time, he did not stand in a reasonable position to grab rebounds, but thought that if he missed the ball, he could go on a fast break to seal the victory. As a result, everything became different.
"Beep!"
The referee blew the whistle to remind players from both sides to get into position, and the sixth game was about to begin.
The Cavaliers are not without a chance. Just like the Lakers in 2010, they lost Tianwangshan and returned to Los Angeles, but still won the championship in two consecutive games.
Including the 1994 Houston Rockets, the 2:3:2 finals format has various shortcomings, such as the key Tianwangshan game being played on the road, such as three consecutive away games being too long, and one week being enough to reverse the momentum, etc.
The advantage is that the last two home games are in the hands of the dominant team and they win the sixth game, just like they did against the Celtics in the semifinals.
This is what Cleveland fans are looking forward to. They are looking forward to James coming down to earth again and tearing apart the Clippers with his omnipotent personal offense.
But the Clippers and the aging Celtics are really different.
After the game started, the two sides jumped the ball in the middle circle.
The Cavaliers' starters are Robin Lopez, Shane Battier, James, Danny Green and Kyrie Irving.
The Clippers' starting lineup is Gasol, Randolph, P.J. Tucker, Curry and Harden.
Using PJ Tucker at the third position is one of the most important factors in the Clippers' series reversal.
Although PJ Tucker is only a false starter, he will be off the field after five minutes in the first quarter.
However, Tyronn Lue will let Tucker appear at critical moments because of his desperate defense and key offensive rebounds.
If it weren't for Tucker's desperate effort to grab the offensive rebound in the third game, the Clippers would have handed the championship to them.
Now Lu is using Tucker to allocate time to Nader, George and others depending on the situation.
James is indeed a very powerful forward, and his skills are more comprehensive than in 2011.
The Clippers have been figuring out how to defend James throughout the series, with Tucker, Leonard, George, Butler and others taking turns to start a battle against him.
Now they finally found some defensive tricks, and James' scores dropped from 37 points, 33 points, and then to 25 points, 28 points and 24 points, and never reached 30 points again.
Tucker can't restrain James when he comes up, but his hard-working style of play can inspire the whole team.
Especially to give an example to young people like Leonard and tell them that this king is not that scary.
The Cavaliers' starting lineup has also been adjusted. Antoine Jamison was put on the bench and Sean Battier was chosen to play power forward.
The purpose is to open up space and attack the Clippers.
In three games in Los Angeles, the Cavaliers have found that the Clippers are difficult to defend.
Rather than investing too many resources on the defensive end, which would only cost the Clippers two or three points, it would be better to score five or six more points on the offensive end.
Moreover, Battier's defense is not bad, and his three-pointers are a very important offensive weapon for the Cavaliers.
In the two games won, Battier and Mike Miller's three-pointers played a key role.
If that's the case, then let's have a big team and four small kids, give it a try, and have a bloody battle with the Clippers!
The Cavaliers took the lead in winning the ball and launching their first attack.
Kyrie Irving quickly broke through to the basket from the left and made a difficult throw, but missed.
Battier picked up the offensive rebound like a thief. This guy is indeed a player with high IQ and his positioning is very accurate.
Battier did not stick to the ball and immediately distributed the ball to James on the outside. James received the ball and shot a three-pointer directly.
Hit!
James made the first three-pointer of the game.
This bodes well for the Cavaliers and for James.
Because in the past few games, the Clippers' forwards have begun to "hunt" defense against James.
The so-called hunting defense means that the defensive attention will be focused on James, but it will not get close to him, do not double-team, and keep a distance.
The so-called surrounding but not hitting, surrounding but not trapping, gives you space to shoot and shoot as you like, but does not allow you to break out or pass the ball casually.
When James feels good, he can still hit consecutive shots. Once he feels bad, he doesn't dare to shoot.
As a result, James' offensive power has greatly declined, and his scoring and assists have dropped. Naturally, the team cannot beat the Clippers.
For three consecutive games, James and the Cavaliers coaching staff failed to solve this problem.
The Clippers' "hunting" is very disciplined, and they don't simply let you vote and ignore it completely.
Once James feels good or breaks into the three-second zone, the defense will still keep up.
Originally, the Cavaliers could rely on Irving to break the game, but Irving was still too young and could not sustain his firepower at critical moments.
In fact, theoretically speaking, the Cavaliers' strength has been greatly improved compared to last season.
With Irving, Battier came, and Danny Green was developed.
However, they still struggled in the Eastern Conference playoffs, and were even almost defeated by the Celtics.
Playing against the Heat last season was all about controlling the situation, but this season the results and process are similar.
To put it bluntly, Irving's immaturity is one aspect.
On the other hand, it also shows that the upper limit of this system with James as the core is not very high in the playoffs.
Strong means very strong, especially in the regular season, but in the playoffs, there is no year that can stabilize all teams and cut the melons and vegetables all the way to the end.
Looking forward, some dominant teams in history often have basically no resistance from the beginning of the regular season to the end of the playoffs, and the process of winning the championship is quite easy and smooth.
For example, Philadelphia in 1983, the Celtics in 1986, the Bulls in 1991 and 1996, the Spurs in 1999, the Lakers in 2001, etc. None of their opponents had any decent resistance, and there was no suspense about who would win the championship.
From the regular season to the playoffs this year, James' lineup and strength are at their peak.
Just like in 2009 and 2010, he won the regular season MVP again and was crowned this award for the third time.
As a result, they were almost killed by the Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals, and were once again on the edge of the cliff in the finals.
The three-pointer at the beginning was an encouragement to himself. He really, really wanted to win this game.
The Clippers' first offense was slow and slow. Seeing the Cavaliers starting Battier at the fourth position, Randolph certainly wouldn't miss this opportunity. He reached the position in the low post through running positions, receiving the ball with his back. If you are strong, eat Shane.
Randolph is already familiar with the Cavaliers' defensive routines. He knows that if he goes to the baseline, Irving or Green will definitely come from behind to get the ball.
So Randolph turned inside and walked to the middle. He hit a small hook with his left hand and scored two points.
In the finals, Randolph averaged 19.8 points and 12.5 rebounds per game, including 3.7 offensive rebounds. He is still the Clippers' offensive anchor and the most stable scoring point.
Randolph's two points at the beginning seemed to set the tone for the Clippers in this game: We are not a three-point team that can only shoot three-pointers. Our inside line is also very strong. Please pay attention.
Subsequently, Irving missed an outside jumper, and the Clippers gave the ball to Gasol, who also failed to make a turnaround shot.
Coming back, Irving and James had a pick-and-roll in the high post. After the pick-and-roll, Irving passed the ball to James. James took the ball and rushed to the basket for a layup and scored two more points!
James scored 5 points in a row at the beginning, looking high-spirited and determined to win the game.
Min Congda was sitting in the audience behind the bench, with his arms folded across his chest and a serious expression - no, his expression could no longer be described as serious, but rather nervous.
The bags under his eyes were extremely swollen, and the dark circles made him look like there was a trace of madness hidden in his dullness and silence.
He sat upright on the sidelines, paying attention to the game on the court without blinking, praying for a miracle to happen in Cleveland.
"Yes, LeBron, these two shots were good. Come on, just like you did against the Celtics in the semifinals, use all your strength to reverse, reverse..."
James' performance at the beginning did feel a bit like the death glare of the Celtics in G6 in the semifinals.
After scoring five points in a row, he received a pass from Battier and broke through the middle for a dunk! Scored 7 points in a row!
Stopped the Clippers.
(End of chapter)
