The final battle of the finals.
Target Center Arena.
The game between the two sides has already begun. After the opening, the Cleveland Cavaliers went against the norm and directly let Kyrie Irving and LeBron James dominate the court. The two no longer competed for the ball as before, but instead covered each other and cooperated on the court. .
This style of play does have a certain effect. Within a few minutes of the game, the Cavaliers led the Minnesota Timberwolves with efficient scoring performance.
On the field.
At 7 minutes and 11 seconds of the game, it was the Timberwolves' turn to counterattack.
It is still Zach LaVine who advances with the ball.
After dribbling the ball through half court, LaVine looked for an offensive opportunity at the top of the arc. Irving stretched out his hand to interfere with his dribbling. LaVine took his time and cleared the distance before giving the ball to Zhao Feiyang, who was open on the wing.
After Zhao Feiyang got the ball, he chose to play in singles. He suddenly launched an attack from the left. Before approaching the penalty area under the basket, Zhao Feiyang took a step ahead and avoided the interference of JR. Smith and made a pull-up jump shot.
Uh-huh.
The ball went in.
The Cavaliers fought back.
This time LeBron specifically stood outside the three-point line, seemingly anticipating the Timberwolves' attack. Therefore, the first time after the Timberwolves scored, he waved to Kevin Love under the basket. Love understood the idea and stood under the basket and quickly passed the ball with a long pass.
Snapped.
After getting the ball, LeBron sprinted wildly. With the support of his strong physical fitness, he faced two Timberwolves players at half court and dunked the ball into the basket.
boom.
The ball went in.
The Cavaliers are still in the lead.
After the first quarter of the game was over, the second quarter came quickly.
Unlike the first quarter, the second quarter no longer belonged to the Cavaliers, but began to belong to the Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves made a risky choice during the break. They replaced Andrew Wiggins and let Kevin Martin come to the court to use a three-back tactic to increase the team's outside long shots.
Such a change of formation also somewhat surprised the Cavaliers.
The fans watching the game on the sidelines were even more worried for their players.
Soon, the second quarter started.
As soon as the Cavaliers scored a counterattack, the Timberwolves gave away the ball. This time it is not just Zhao Feiyang who holds the ball, both LaVine and Martin have the opportunity to hold the ball.
Snapped.
The ball fell into LaVine's hands, and LaVine quickly dribbled the ball over.
After reaching the half court, he was stared at by Irving for close defense. LaVine did not force himself and transferred the ball to Zhao Feiyang on the wing. Zhao Feiyang dribbled the ball to attract other people's attention, pretended to break through and rushed into the two zones. In one second, the ball suddenly passed to Martin in the right corner.
Martin's choice was quite decisive. After receiving the basketball, he directly raised the basketball and shot a three-pointer.
Uh-huh.
The basketball fell steadily into the basket.
Once again it was the Cavaliers' turn to fight back.
On the Cavaliers side, Irving passed with the ball, but before halftime, LeBron was trying to get the ball on the wing again.
Irving frowned slightly and was a little unhappy about such a move. He deliberately slowed down to catch up with LaVine who was marking him, pretending not to see LeBron's move, but in fact, he seized the opportunity to lift the basketball and take action as soon as the half was over.
LaVine flew over and stretched out his hand to interfere, but unfortunately he failed to block Irving's shot.
Of course, Irving also failed to score in a hurry.
boom.
The basketball bounced straight away.
The rebound was grabbed by Dwight Howard after his comeback. Since he didn't play much time in the first quarter, he stayed on the court to help the team protect the penalty area in the second quarter.
After getting the rebound, Howard threw a long pass directly.
The one who caught the ball was Zhao Feiyang. He quickly started running towards the half court. When he reached the half court, Irving and JR Smith were already beside him.
Zhao Feiyang pretended to attract the attention of the two men, but in fact he made a sudden pass to the ground.
Snapped.
He threw the basketball into the hands of LaVine who rushed into the left corner.
LaVine took the basketball without hesitation and calmly threw the ball from the three-point line.
Uh-huh.
The ball went in.
A three-pointer fell firmly into the basket.
The Cavaliers are really powerless against this wave of outside output from the Timberwolves.
When the next time he went to organize an offense in the half court, LeBron no longer asked Irving for the ball, but stood in the bottom corner.
Irving broke through to the basket and failed to score. LeBron saw this and rushed forward decisively to grab the rebound and make a put-back dunk.
After scoring, LeBron was very happy. He turned around and wanted to give Irving a high-five, but found that Irving turned away and left without saying anything to him.
LeBron shook his head helplessly.
The Timberwolves are on offense again.
This time Zhao Feiyang dribbled the ball past half-court. Facing J.R. Smith's marking at half-court, he chose to shoot a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
Uh-huh.
When he faced JR's hand and threw the shot steadily into the basket, the fans present could not suppress their excitement and shouted.
Facts have proven that such tactics work.
Even if the Timberwolves' outside shooting percentage was not stable before, in this stable situation, such a choice is undoubtedly quite threatening.
Soon, the first half of the game came to an end.
In the expectation of Timberwolves fans, the Timberwolves finally caught up with the previous point difference through risky moves in the second quarter. Not only that, they also overtook the Cavaliers at the end of the half. There was great joy.
57 to 53.
The Timberwolves lead the Cavaliers by 4 points.
During halftime, players from both teams returned to their respective locker rooms. The program in the stadium was once again handed over to the girls of the cheerleading team, who performed hot dances for the audience to relax their tense nerves.
Major TV broadcasts also took the opportunity to insert advertisements. Both the American and Chinese media predicted the winning probability of the two teams at the same time.
In the United States, the support rates of both sides are basically equal, with the Cavaliers accounting for 51% and the Timberwolves accounting for 49%.
The support rate in China is obviously different.
Almost 85% of the fans support the Timberwolves to win the championship, while only 15% support the Cavaliers.
Such a one-sided support rate does not mean that there are fewer people who like the Big Three, but that Zhao Feiyang's previous performance was too dazzling. Now many fans who like other stars are standing behind him as a Chinese fan. Support him and hope he can win the championship to once again add glory to Chinese basketball.
"Zhao Feiyang must win! If he wins this time, he will immediately become a super star in the league... He will definitely be on an equal footing with people like Irving in the future..."
"That's right! Chinese players receive a lot of special treatment in the NBA. Now that he has reached that point, he must not retreat..."
"Zhao Feiyang can't lose! As long as you win, LeBron may join the Timberwolves next season. We are waiting for him to make the same choice as Durant..."
"If LeBron joins the Timberwolves, the championship next season will be either the Warriors or the Timberwolves. There will be absolutely no chance in the Eastern Conference..."
