In the astonishment of countless fans, Adrian Ennis stepped up to mark LeBron James as they expected.
This arrangement of the Minnesota Timberwolves also left many people scratching their heads.
In their opinion, Andrew Wiggins can't defend LeBron, so can Adrian?
The two met each other, and LeBron began to pick up the basketball to test. Adrian stared at LeBron intently, constantly adjusting his body posture in front of him.
Suddenly, LeBron held the ball and accelerated towards the basket. Adrian was not shaken away by him, but stayed close to him.
The two reached the basket one after another. LeBron pushed Adrian away with his body and raised the basketball to shoot. Adrian failed to block LeBron, but his outstretched arm still interfered with LeBron's line of sight.
boom.
The basketball hit the rim and bounced out, and LeBron's shot was just a little bit close to being successful.
There was an uproar.
Many fans didn't expect Adrian to be able to defend LeBron's shot.
Of course, there are many fans who think this is just LeBron's own problem.
"Adrian's defense was of no use. It was LeBron's own shot that was deflected..."
"That's right. Even Wiggins can't limit LeBron, let alone a player like Adrian... There is still a gap between him and Wiggins. Their talents are visible to the naked eye. The difference comes out..."
"It's just an ordinary offensive mistake! LeBron will continue to score..."
On the court, after the rebound fell out, Gorgui Dieng tried to jump up and pick it off, but before he could regain his footing, Kevin Love jumped up first.
Snapped.
Love directly used his upper body strength to grab the rebound. After getting the ball, he tipped the ball under the basket.
Uh-huh.
The ball went in.
Without Dwight Howard, the Timberwolves' inside line is indeed much weaker than before. Fortunately, after so many games in the playoffs, the other players of the Timberwolves have a tacit understanding. Even if Howard is not here, they can maintain their best condition to play.
This is a qualitative improvement compared to the previous Timberwolves.
Timberwolves serve.
This time, LaVine quickly advanced with the ball and reached the two zones under the cover of Wiggins after halftime.
The Cavaliers reacted quickly. Love immediately stepped up to defend and blocked LaVine's layup route.
LaVine forcibly threw the ball, and the basketball bounced off the rim.
Seeing that the ball was about to fall into the hands of the Cavaliers again, Love jumped up immediately, but Adrian behind him refused to give up. The moment before Love got the basketball, Adrian slapped him. Wrestling the ball, he then smashed the ball in with a back-up dunk.
boom.
Adrian's performance boosted the Timberwolves' morale.
The game goes on.
In the rest of the first quarter, Zhao Feiyang, as the team's shooting guard, did not take too many shots. He was always trying his best to save energy. In the second half of the first quarter, he even switched to the No. 1 position. Let LaVine go to the second position to lead the breakthrough attack.
In addition, because of Adrian's good performance in the beginning, Zhao Feiyang also continued to hand over the ball to the wing position.
After being silent for so many games, Adrian finally played the best game of his career.
Even facing LeBron, the league's No. 1 player, his shooting percentage was not affected.
Not only that, in LeBron's defense, Adrian also shot two three-pointers from outside the three-point line. Although he was blocked by LeBron during a layup, Adrian was in the defense. He also stole LeBron once, which was a bit of a back-and-forth.
His talent is indeed not as good as Wiggins, but what is worse than Wiggins is that he refuses to give up. This spirit is simply perfect when reflected on defense.
Adrian never slacks off when marking LeBron. Even if he has been shaken, he will still cover up the defense immediately. Unless LeBron sends the ball into the basket, he will not stand still and watch.
From this point of view, he is much better than Wiggins, who will stand still and watch from time to time.
Wiggins had changed a lot of his "health-preserving style" when facing LeBron, but he still couldn't show his best attitude for a while.
Soon, the first quarter was over.
The two sides tied 27 to 31, with the Timberwolves trailing by 4 points.
The score difference is not big, and the situation is not as bad as they imagined. However, the outside world's disapproval of the Timberwolves continues.
"The Timberwolves performed pretty well today, at least in the first quarter. They cleverly used Adrian to replace Wiggins to mark LeBron... In terms of defensive concentration, Adrian's performance Definitely better than Wiggins..."
"That's right. This is also the main reason why they didn't pull away too much in the first quarter! However, Adrian's restrictions on LeBron are very limited. Now Zhao seizes every opportunity to save energy, and LeBron also sees it This problem, so in the second half of the first quarter, he reduced the number of singles and let Irving lead the team's offense..."
The host in charge of the live broadcast discussed the situation of the game with the commentator.
On the online live broadcast, countless fans also discussed the first quarter of the two sides.
The fans' discussion was obviously more emotional, especially the local fans in Cleveland. They didn't care that much about the actual situation of the game and only hoped that their team could successfully win the championship.
"You see? The Timberwolves can't beat us, so tonight is our victory night... It won't be long before we see the Cavaliers win the first championship in franchise history on TV. Champions, this will be our highlight moment..."
"The Timberwolves are still barely interesting! Even if they can limit Love and Irving, they can't stop LeBron... LeBron is not using his full strength now, and Adrian's defense is a complete joke... ..."
"After Dwight missed the game due to injury, the Timberwolves have entered a countdown...I am waiting for the team to win the championship tonight, and LeBron to win the Finals MVP..."
At the same time, Chinese fans also have different views on the performance of the two teams.
CCTV Sports specially launched a poll. What is very different from the previous support rate is that this time the two sides are almost one-sided.
The Minnesota Timberwolves' support dropped to 25 percent, while the Cleveland Cavaliers' support soared to 75 percent.
Many fans believe that the Cavaliers championship is a foregone conclusion! Even those die-hard fans who support Zhao Feiyang have been shaken!
