After the timeout, the Heat no longer put out a weird lineup, but came up with the regular starting five lineup of Wade, Ray Allen, James, Lewis, and Bosh.
Now we need to chase points, and James starts to exert his strength.
With this lineup, Lewis plays the fourth position, and the purpose is very clear.
The first is of course to open up space. Although Lewis is no longer the brave man he once was, Protein's three-hit rate of 37.4% is actually above the standard. In the last two games of the Eastern Conference finals, he scored 13 points in the last game and 18 points in the penultimate game. He was one of the important contributors to the Heat's advancement to the finals.
One thing to say, although Lewis is old, on the big stage of the Finals, his role is actually much easier to use than the younger and perhaps more powerful Michael Beasley on the Heat's bench.
Secondly, Lewis's change to the fourth position undoubtedly greatly reduced James' physical consumption.
Although the highlight of Lewis's career was in the third position, his height of 2.08 meters still does not suffer at all when playing the fourth position. And after joining the Heat, his weight has increased compared with that of the Magic and Wizards.
Therefore, Aldridge can still handle it.
Returning to the third position, the ancient power in James seemed to be released, spurting out towards Batum, the pioneer of the Trail Blazers' perimeter defense.
During the Heat era, James was definitely the league's top offensive and defensive superstar, and he did not have the famous scene of "spreading both hands" to direct traffic.
On the offensive end, he completely destroyed Batum. With his extremely high basketball IQ and calm personality, James is always able to make the most correct judgment after a successful breakthrough.
After a few rounds, the Heat's lineup of one big and four small worked.
On the defensive end, James's ubiquitous defense gave Wang Zelin no chance to catch the ball in these rounds. Lillard tried to hand the ball to Wang Zelin several times, but failed.
The Heat's No. 6 defense is terrifying.
After a few more rounds, there were two minutes left before the end of the half, and it had become 43:40. The Blazers were in a difficult scoring situation, while the Heat were completely open.
In the transition between offense and defense, James blocked Batum's bottom plate in the low post, which made it difficult for him to exert his strength. As for the upper body, James held Batum's waist with one hand and just raised the other hand.
"Snapped!"
Wade passed the ball.
At the moment of catching the ball, James' back and hips exerted force at the same time, pushing Batum away. When Wang Zelin thought that James was going to rush to the basket and kill everyone, he hurriedly dropped Bosh and ran to the penalty area, but James didn't wait for a long time. .
Looking again, I saw that after Batum was out of position, James did not turn around and rush to the basket, but turned outside and shot a jumper...
"Uh-huh!"
The ball hit the basket.
43:42, only 1 point difference.
Beep beep beep! ! !
Terry Stotts called a timeout because he couldn't watch it anymore.
"Patrick, you go and replace Damien. KG, you go and replace LaMarcus."
In front of the Trail Blazers bench, coach Terry Stotts made substitution adjustments on the spot. Lillard, who has made 0 of 3 three-pointers so far in the second quarter and has a poor touch, has been replaced.
It is undeniable that among the young players after the 2010 draft, Lillard can definitely be ranked in the second tier in terms of strength, because in the first tier, his teammate Wang Zelin is in a league of his own.
Irving, Wall, Lillard, and Davis are undoubtedly young players with unlimited potential in the past three or four years, and they are very powerful right now.
But this so-called "power" is only measured among young players. When measured against players across the league, their strength is not enough to affect the trend of the entire game.
After all, not everyone is like Wang Zelin, who stepped into the realm of league superstars at a young age.
Only superstars have the tyranny to truly determine the trend of the game.
In other words, Lillard is still a little immature on the ultimate stage of the Finals. His current poor shooting rate of 2 out of 7 is the best proof.
Since Lillard has been unable to contribute on the offensive end, coach Terry Stotts simply replaced the defensive hero Beverley to strengthen the Trail Blazers' back line defense.
Replacing Garnett at the fourth position also means strengthening defense.
Beverley + Matthews + Batum + Garnett + Wang Zelin, this lineup is already the ceiling of the defensive system that the Trail Blazers can currently build.
Again, even though some old guys are struggling to survive in the regular season, once they get to the playoffs, these old guys will always burn the last bit of fuel in the tank and bring success to the outside world. The most dazzling fireworks show!
Back on the field.
Looking at Garnett's firm eyes, James frowned and couldn't help but think of the sad past of the Cavaliers.
snort!
Don't worry about him, he's just an old dog.
In the end, James quickly withdrew his gaze. Just as he said, Garnett is already an old dog and does not have even a few percent of the defensive skills he had in his prime.
Besides, it's not like Garnett never won during the Green Army period.
In fact, since winning the first championship trophy and the first FMVP trophy in his career, the nightmare of not having a championship can no longer affect James, and his heart has become infinitely stronger.
Well, let’s continue!
"Defend! Defend!"
James roared and urged the Heat players to quickly return to the defensive position.
At 10 minutes and 47 seconds of the second quarter, Wang Zelin asked for the ball in the low post, and Beverley quickly lobbed it in.
In the first offensive round after returning from the timeout, Beverley took advantage of Wang Zelin's powerful threat in the paint, used Wang Zelin as a human wall, got rid of Wade, broke into the penalty area, and fouled Bosh.
It was a pity on the free throw line. One of two free throws was made, but fortunately it helped the Blazers widen the point difference a little.
44:42.
In the subsequent defensive combination, Wang Zelin appeared on James' breakthrough route in time, causing the latter to decisively choose to distribute the ball.
As a result, with a bang, Beverley appeared out of nowhere, suddenly appeared in the middle of the passing route of Ray Allen and James, and successfully intercepted the ball.
Not long after Beverley came on the court, he made a wonderful steal on the defensive end.
"Return to defense!"
"Get off quickly!"
The head coaches of both teams stood up from their coaching chairs at the same time and shouted out in unison.
The scene suddenly fell into chaos.
In the quick counterattack after grabbing the ball, Beverley did not take the lead, nor blindly choose to rush to the basket. Instead, he played a pick-and-roll with Wang Zelin, cut in and passed back to Wang Zelin at the free throw line, and the latter took a decisive shot.
With a "swish" sound, Wang Zelin hit a two-pointer from the open mid-range.
"Key steal! Key goal! This defense and attack by Beverley and Wang Zelin shattered the Heat's dream of overtaking the team again."
At 46:42, the point difference started to widen.
The Rose Garden Arena, which had been suppressed for a long time, erupted with fierce and loud cheers. Countless Trail Blazers fans seemed to see the Heat being crushed by them again.
But in the next round, James did not play the trick of sudden points, but drove straight down and entered the Trail Blazers penalty area.
It can be seen that James wants to stand up, narrow the score between the two teams, and continue the rising morale of his teammates just now.
On the field, came the aerial performance part that the little emperor is most familiar with. If nothing else goes wrong, he will deliver a domineering smash!
But unexpectedly, it happened so suddenly.
As soon as James took two steps forward, he ran into a back-up defense from Wang Zelin. This time he did not choose to play a reasonable ball.
When does it need to be reasonable?
When does a hero need to step up and calm the situation?
James knew it clearly.
At this time, he must not choose to pass the ball. Once he chose to pass the ball, it meant that he chose to retreat in the direct confrontation with Wang Zelin.
Retreating is the behavior of the weak, and the strong never disdain it!
Stronger!
James made a quick choice.
"ah!!!"
James roared and exerted force with his feet again. The violent force caught Wang Zelin off guard for a moment, and he couldn't help but take half a step back.
It was this half-step that allowed James to see the dawn of breaking through the defense. He took a step with his right foot and watched Wang Zelin take off.
If Wang Zelin is successfully dunked, this dunk is very likely to become a classic scene during James' Heat period, enough to be remembered by countless James for a lifetime.
"grass!"
Wang Zelin also let out a loud roar, jumped up hard, and blocked James' heavy dunk with a bang.
Because Wang Zelin's right hand really touched it, the ball's falling trajectory changed. James could no longer control the ball in his hand, and finally hit the neck of the basket.
The ending is self-evident. The basketball bounced high. After landing, Wang Zelin quickly took off twice to protect the backboard.
James, who did not score a goal, entangled Wang Zelin and prevented the latter from advancing.
Wang Zelin didn't take credit and hit the ball quickly.
Beverley received the pass near the three-point line and passed it again without hesitation.
Finally, the ball went into the hands of Batum in the frontcourt.
Since the Heat's Wade, Lewis and Bosh returned to defense in time, it was obviously an irrational approach to get to the basket, so Batum chose to shoot a chasing three-pointer.
Such a bold approach instantly attracted everyone's attention. Trail Blazers fans were shouting "Go in! You must go in..." and Heat fans were praying "Don't go in! You can't go in!"
But obviously, Batum had a good touch on this ball. After the basketball drew a beautiful arc in the air, it fell steadily into the bag.
After scoring a three-pointer, the Trail Blazers went on a 6-0 spurt.
At 49:42, the Heat fell behind by 7 points.
I looked at the timer and saw that there were only 11 seconds left before the end of the first half.
Heat offense.
Another James breakthrough.
Wang Zelin once again made timely defense.
This is James passing the ball outward to Wade on the right three-point line.
Among the Heat's lineup, Wade's three-point ability is the most average. In this year's playoffs, Wade's three-point shooting percentage was 37.5%, which seems to be slightly higher than Liu Yuxi's 37.4%. However, if you compare the average output of the two, Lewis averaged 3.3 shots per game in the playoffs. , while Wade only averaged 1.2 shots per game.
Guard against whom?
Who to let go?
Needless to say.
After Wade caught the ball and looked at his matchup, Beverley shrank his defense, keeping his eyes on James, and let Wade go two meters away.
Being underestimated! ?
Staring hard at Trail Blazers No. 3, Wade jumped up and took the shot. Since you dare to let go, then I dare to vote...
Duang~
Of course, Wade still dares to strike.
Garnett jumped up and grabbed a rebound and passed it to Matthews. With 2.1 seconds left, Matthews ran all the way to the opposite logo area, rode a horse and shot an arrow, and shot a three-pointer.
Duang~
There was also a strike, and it seemed that Matthews' face was not that white.
Halftime ended and it was time to enter the intermission.
…
Visiting team locker room.
Looking around, the faces of the Heat players were all covered with frost. The atmosphere in the locker room was extremely dull, and there was a hint of gunpowder in the dullness. Just wait for the opportunity to come, and you can take action at the drop of a hat.
yes!
The score between the two teams is obviously only one point apart. As long as one more goal is scored, the Heat can achieve a lead.
But unexpectedly, the whole Heat team soon encountered the experience of ice and fire.
After changing two position players, the Blazers' overall defensive ability has skyrocketed. Coupled with Wang Zelin on the inside, a defensive system has been formed.
As for the Heat, not only did they lose their own rhythm, they were also quickly led into the gutter by their opponents.
Do the Heat still want to win?
Nonsense, of course I do!
But the problem is that Spoelstra has no other options, except for a few teams, such as the civilian Pistons at the beginning of the century, which won the championship with the lives of the three armed forces. Other championship teams since the 21st century have become more dependent on stars as they reach big occasions and critical moments.
Of course, this is understandable.
After all, no matter how sophisticated the tactics are, as long as he exists, there must be loopholes.
And what about the stars?
When they started to play stand-up singles and their touch became explosive, the opponent's basket was as wide as the ocean to them.
Once these people start to explode, it will be useless even if Jesus comes.
Therefore, after being immersed in the visiting team's locker room for a long time, everyone couldn't help but turn their attention to James.
Boss, life or death depends entirely on you!
…
…
In the third quarter, the game begins.
James continued to play. In the first offensive round, he went to the basket and caused a foul by Wang Zelin.
"I'm sorry..."
Wang Zelin almost spat out a mouthful of phlegm on James' face.
Because he could clearly feel that James came here to cause him fouls.
It happened that the old coin succeeded!
Next, I have to be careful.
After understanding James' targeted measures against him, the warning line in Wang Zelin's heart instantly lit up.
At the same time, he knows better that James is now at his wits end and can only rely on these means to let the Heat barely score. And he only needs to hold on for a while, and the Heat's death is not far away.
As time goes by, even if James is iron-clad, his efficiency will decline sooner or later.
At that time, he can be on full fire and let the game enter garbage time directly after the third quarter ends.
The victory in the first game of the finals belongs to him!
Several previous chapters were repeated, so I revised them again.
One more thing, as the title indicates, we decided to resign. I have been working as a customer service telephone collection company for two weeks, but it still feels too boring. After I finish handing over the cases on hand in the past two days, I will start coding with peace of mind.
