"You have to put the ball in my hands more."
"What's the use of giving it to you? How many points did you score in the first half?"
"If you don't give me the ball, how can I take a shot or score?"
"When I wasn't there, you took the shot, did you score?"
"Have you had enough trouble in the past few games? Isn't it obvious that the situation is now? If we play according to my style of play, we can win and enter the finals. If we play according to your style of play, we will only lose. Oh no, we have lost three games in a row, this will probably be the fourth game!"
At halftime, a heated argument broke out between LeBron James and Kyrie Irving in the Cavaliers locker room.
James believed that Irving had occupied the ball, while Irving felt that even if James had the ball, he would not be able to score points and lead the team to victory.
James certainly disagrees with Irving's statement, because with James as the core, they have reached the finals twice and gained a 2:0 lead in the series.
Just when James felt that Irving should have nothing to say, Irving retorted: "That's because I can help you with peace of mind, so I can enter the finals with you as the core. But according to this style of play, we can't win." to the championship. Even if we beat the Nets this time, can we beat the Clippers in the finals? Coach Cole has pointed out the way last season. LeBron, you should be an all-around support, a No. 4 position, I will hold the ball, so that we can achieve the best results. Now I hold the ball and act as the core, but we keep losing. It is not because I am not doing the core correctly, but because you are not willing to play support at all, or you are simply not willing to play support. Won't!"
Irving's words were a bit heartbreaking. His meaning was very clear. You James will be the core, and Irving will help you with peace of mind. Our results were good, but we couldn't beat the Clippers in the finals.
Irving is the core, and if you, James, can help with peace of mind, our ceiling will be higher. But the problem is that you are not willing to help with peace of mind at all, so you keep losing.
Therefore, losing is not a problem of Irving grabbing the ball, but a problem of James not playing well when he loses the ball.
James didn't know how Irving had the guts to say such things. He looked at the others. Everyone didn't speak and just watched the two arguing.
This situation couldn't be worse. It shows that there is no cohesion within the Cavaliers. Everyone is just working and playing, and has no interest in who is the boss and who has the ball.
If you like to quarrel, just quarrel. Anyway, when this season is over, the team will most likely fall apart. It is more important for us to pay close attention to where we will go for vacation and training in the summer, and where we will go to play next season.
At this time, Steve Kerr, as the head coach, stood up and stopped the two from continuing to argue, "Now is not the time to discuss these. If we lose the game, all arguments will be meaningless."
But Owen said: "No, it makes sense, this is a debate for the truth!"
Both Cole and James looked at Irving as if they were mentally retarded. Sometimes this guy's words make people wonder what is going on in his mind.
A person like this either has little brains, or he is really wise.
I don't know why, but Cole saw the shadow of Smart Min in Irving. That guy also often said some shocking words, which made people think that there was something wrong with this person's brain.
But Min Congda proved with facts that his idea was correct. At first, everyone thought his strategy of everyone having the ball was idiotic, but now they have built an extremely powerful Los Angeles Clippers.
A team that is competing for three consecutive championships feels like their road to the championship has just begun. For Cole, who has experienced the late dynasty, he knows how rare this is.
Therefore, faced with Irving's "nonsense", Cole was in a daze for a moment. Maybe Irving was right, and James and the Cavaliers were wrong?
Because Cole's transformation of James in the past two seasons has indeed failed. After James tried the "ball-controlling fourth position" for half a season, he still changed back to the core ball-holding style he was familiar with in the past.
Kerr was of course disappointed. He believed that James had not truly used all his talents. In order to create an image of himself surpassing Jordan and being the chosen one, he was not allowed to be a super auxiliary player. He must be all-round and have the ball. The player must be the absolute core of the team.
In fact, even Jordan is willing to be a green leaf in many games and a cog in an offensive tactical system.
Of course, it is too late to say this now. Just 15 minutes cannot bridge the torn contradiction between the team's Irving and James.
The Cavaliers trailed the Nets by 5 points in the first half, and the point difference was not big. If the whole team worked together in the second half, they could win the game.
But I'm afraid it's already difficult.
At the end of the halftime break, the players left the locker room and reappeared. Irving also said: "Our team has fallen behind in terms of play style. Don't you read NBA-batman's articles? Pick-and-roll, air-cut, switch defense, we play It’s too bulky and that’s not the direction basketball is going to go!”
After that, Irving left the locker room and ran toward the court.
Cole thought to himself, it turns out that this kid is still a loyal fan of NBA-Batman.
Indeed, some of NBA-Batman's tactical articles have many fans among the league's coaches and players because of their professionalism and forward-looking nature.
To be honest, most NBA players don't know how to read books or articles to understand tactics. For some players, it's better to let them die than to read books.
Their understanding of tactics comes from training, the coach's dictation, muscle memory formed through repeated practice, and the more they play, they will naturally feel it.
For example, when running tactics, I may not have thought about the next step in my mind, but when I see the person holding the ball walking in my direction, I know in my heart that I must either go up to cover or walk away to give him space.
Or if a teammate makes some moves or passes and a gap appears in a certain direction, he will naturally run in the direction of the gap and play more balls. This is all part of the basic skills.
As for the team's tactical strategy, the overall style of play, style, and direction are not issues that players need to consider, especially not star players. Generally, bench players are unable to play and sit next to the coach and speculate.
It stands to reason that it is a good thing that a young star like Irving is willing to read NBA-Batman articles and study seriously.
But Cole always feels that he seems to have learned something wrong?
Just like a person who has insufficient internal strength to read profound classics, wouldn't that mean he will become obsessed with it?
Cole shook his head. He was almost tortured by the Cavaliers, Irving, and James.
The blame lies with this piece of shit Smart. Back then, he pulled himself from the position of TV commentator to be an assistant coach, but later refused to let him become the head coach.
After that, he fired himself midway, and was introduced to Cleveland, a loser who was a loser, as the head coach, and then he had to take care of two weird players, James and Irving.
Both of them are men with their own systems. One has his own public opinion and tactical system, and the other has his own brainstorming system. No one else can get close to him! Let alone control them.
Cole's only gain in the past two years is that financially, the Cavaliers' contract, the Clippers' contract, the TV station contract, termination compensation, etc., he really got a lot of money.
After thinking about it, I still fell for Smart's trick. Fortunately, Cole's contract is only for one year. If the team cannot reach the finals this year, he should get out.
This may also be Min Congda's biggest miscalculation. He thought he would assign a master of field control to James, but he did not expect that such a coach would not be suitable for James at all.
James is suitable for that kind of dog-licking, chicken-soup type coach. Everything is dominated by James. The coach does a good job in the deployment and psychological work of others, so that everyone can work for him with peace of mind.
James needs a prime minister, not a true mentor.
Returning to the game in the third quarter, the Cavaliers were already a little uninterested in the game, but the game had to continue.
The Cavaliers are not without hope. Everything is possible on the basketball court, and sometimes reversal can happen in a split second.
A team that is on the verge of breaking up or collapsing may be brought back to life due to the opponent's mistakes, suicide attempts, or someone from one's own team being born to save the team and the series.
This is also the charm of competitive sports. It is like a war. A victory can solve all problems and cover up all the broken places.
James understood this, so he did not give up, but began to go all out in the third quarter to attack - not only for the team, but also for his own reputation.
At halftime, he had only scored 4 points. What if he lost the game by single digits?
But the Nets responded well. Kidd defended James alone in the 2011 Finals and knew James's weakness: shooting.
This weakness is quite fatal for a star. James' shooting percentage is actually very good, quite good, but he has relatively high requirements on shot selection, rhythm and feeling.
Therefore, Kidd asked Pierce to interfere with James' shooting rhythm and destroy his shooting feeling from the first quarter. James hardly took any shots in the first half.
Pierce also suffered a loss in 2012 and knows that once James' shooting feeling comes out, he is unstoppable, so he must suppress his shooting feeling.
Fortunately for the Nets, James never found his shooting rhythm. At the beginning of the third quarter, he failed to hit an outside three-pointer.
The Nets' offense is methodical. Under the leadership of Kobe, they make good use of Kobe and Pierce's ability to solve problems one-on-one on the outside, and the success rate is one ball after another.
At the Barclays Center, the enthusiasm of Nets fans reached a boiling point. Every time the Nets attacked, they shouted desperately to cheer for the team, especially for Kobe.
Kobe played very unlike Kobe tonight, unlike the Kobe in the past. In the first three quarters, Kobe only took 9 shots and hit 4 goals. His shooting rate was still very Kobe, and he scored 11 points.
However, Kobe grabbed 8 rebounds, sent out 7 assists, and had 2 steals. This is very similar to him in the tiebreaker of the 2010 Finals. In order to win the game, he is willing to do anything, as long as it is beneficial to the team.
He also focused most of his energy on defense to defend Irving. After losing weight, his steps became more agile and flexible, and his physical fitness was much better than last season.
The Nets do not have the kind of power to defeat their opponents in one fell swoop. Kobe, Kidd, Pierce, and Garnett all know this, so even if they have the advantage, they are still calm, play very meticulously, and grasp every shot. If you have an offensive opportunity, even if you miss the shot, don't leave any holes for your opponent.
The 5-point advantage seemed to overwhelm the opponent, but in fact, if a certain round was not grasped well, the Cavaliers would make a little effort and the 5-point difference could be erased in an instant, just in a matter of seconds.
The core of the Nets are all old foxes who have become good. Pierce and Garnett have often played against James. They know that this man is still very scary. But I don't know what happened tonight. It was like dreaming back to 2010. James was on the court. The state gradually fell into a sleepwalking state again, just like the key Tianwangshan battle in the semifinals that year.
Everyone knew afterward that James injured his elbow at the time, but he didn't seem to be injured tonight. He might have been hurt.
On the contrary, it was Irving who was as excited as a chicken when facing Kobe. In the second half of the third quarter, Irving began to attack with the ball a lot, challenging Kobe one-on-one.
Irving's skills are indeed impressive. In his third grade, he has already shown amazing ability to control movement and can shoot quite well.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter of the Cavaliers, Irving relied on a strong three-pointer and a steal layup to even the score between the two sides!
However, Kobe immediately retaliated. He held the ball one-on-one in the middle and attacked Danny Green alone. He dribbled through and hit a pull-up jump shot.
For Kobe's key ball, he retained his energy for the whole game just to make the shot at this time. He didn't want to misfire at the critical moment like he did in the previous two seasons.
The two sides have entered a life-and-death duel. At this time, all tactics are ineffective. It is completely a competition between the players' willpower and personal abilities.
The two teams fought continuously and missed consecutively. The score remained at 80:78 for a long time.
When James missed another three-point shot, the Cavaliers missed another good opportunity to take the lead.
Pierce got the backcourt rebound and signaled to hold on. After halftime, he used a high pick-and-roll and cooperated with Garnett to get to the basket with the ball!
The layup caused Anderson's foul. Pierce went to the free throw line and made two free throws. The Nets regained the lead by 4 points, and the scene was filled with cheers.
It was getting closer and closer to the Nets entering the Finals for the third time. At this time, James rushed to the basket during the offense, collided hard with Garnett, and fell to the ground.
The referee called the ball out of bounds, and the Cavaliers still had the ball. Garnett lay on the ground and did a few push-ups. Although he didn't know what the use was, it seemed to boost morale.
But James fell to the ground and couldn't get up. Several teammates came over to check (excluding Irving) and pulled James up from the ground. James stretched and seemed to feel some discomfort.
Then he limped out of the player tunnel without even saying hello to his teammates or coaches. When he left, he took off his Cavaliers jersey, lowered his head, and slowly disappeared from the sight of the fans.
(End of chapter)
