Chapter 100: Completely Different
“Alley-oop to Whiteside…… Whoo!!!” The three TNT commentators all exclaimed, but they were all drowned out in the shouts of Miami fans.
"Do Addison and Whiteside plan to make Miami the new city of air connections? In the last four games, these two have teamed up for seven aerial dunks! "Kenny. Smith said with a smile, "Bosh is also very physical. The inside line guarded by Lefou, Miami people can choose to fly up and fight! ”
"Seriously, I don't understand what Coach Blatter thinks? He went so far as to put Tristan. Thompson, the only interior player on the Cavaliers who can jump, is on the bench?! "Charles. Barkley bluntly expressed his confusion, "Could it be that he is counting on Kevin. Can Love and 36-year-old Marion keep the Miamians at bay? Suppress Chris. Bosh and Hassan. Whiteside? They lag behind in all aspects, from height to reach to maneuverability! ”
Whiteside, who had a violent dunk, glared at Love viciously and ran back to the half court to give Addison a high-five. He still relies heavily on Addison's passing to score, and while the Chinese-American point guard has been telling Whiteside that he has individual offensive ability, a center that lacks confidence rarely tries it on the court.
Kevin. After Lefu came to the Cavaliers this season, his stats have shrunk significantly, and his shooting percentage is not ideal. He has just played more than 20 games, and many people have already put the hat of 'parallel import' on his head.
Loew himself can only express his helplessness about this, he is the absolute core of the Timberwolves, and the offensive first shot is the choice. When it comes to the Cavaliers, his ball handling and shooting are ranked behind James and Irving, and he will even be used as a floating turret on the outside many times.
What's even more terrifying is that the Cavaliers often use him as an interior defensive pillar, you must know that Love himself does not approve of his own defense! Slow footsteps can't prevent blocking and dismantling, the sense of co-defense is terrible, and he can't do almost anything on the defensive end except for low-post top defense!
He's good at offense and rebounding, not being used as a big man 3-and-D player......
But there is no way, the newly reorganized Cavaliers are still in the run-in stage, and even James and Irving are still balancing each other's ball-holding frequency. Kevin. Lefou? When these two cores are balanced, let's think about him again!
Carey. Owen took the serve, took it to the front court and took a look at the position of both the enemy and the enemy. At least Irving and James have reached a tacit understanding during this period of running-in, that is, the team's first offensive opportunity is handed over to the point guard.
Addison kept his center of gravity in a state where he could move as fast as he could. Irving and Kyrie playing in the preseason. Irving couldn't be different, and this guy has already proven his scoring prowess.
Owen, who was 100% committed, didn't bother with the matter of going head-to-head with Addison, and reached out to let Sean. Marion came over to cover, and he dribbled quickly to break through inside.
Bosh immediately switched gears, almost following Irving as a blocker, while Addison also got rid of Sean. Marion catches up. The Heat are equivalent to completely ignoring Sean. Marion, anyway, Marion has not had a three-point shot since he left Phoenix, and his three-point shooting rate in the past two years has not even been 25%. If he's going to cut to the basket and look for opportunities, don't forget that the Heat have Whiteside in the box.
Bosh's change of defense was very fast, Owen couldn't shake off the other party for a while, and he caught a glimpse of Addison having pounced, and he suddenly changed hands from behind his back and moved sideways, from facing Bosh to facing Bosh and Addison!
The Chinese point guard's footsteps paused, and he didn't know what Irving wanted to do. The Cavaliers point guard took advantage of the opponent's pause to suddenly pull the ball and turn, and turned to his right side with Addison, and rushed into the penalty area without hesitation.
Under the basket, Whiteside adjusted his position and prepared to defend Irving, who came in with the ball. Carey. Undeterred, Irving jumped up at Whiteside, his raised arm retracted inward, and then held the basketball with his left arm to avoid the center's block, and flicked the basketball towards the basket with his fingertips.
"Bang...... Swish!!! "The ball hit the rebound and crashed into the net.
"Drip !!" The referee blew the whistle and awarded the Heat a defensive foul.
Addison pressed Whiteside's arm as soon as the referee's whistle blew, and he raised his right hand high to signal to the referee that he had just committed a foul.
After all, he had just tried to block Kyrie from behind. Owen is also a possibility of a foul. The baseline referee took a look at the calm-looking Chinese rookie and accepted the gesture, signaling to the technical desk that the Heat's No. 7 foul had been fouled.
Addison has his own considerations, as he is a point guard and is fouled much less often than inside, and it is better to get a foul than Whiteside, the team's only interior defender, to get a foul at the beginning. And this is a Christmas game broadcast live in the United States, even if the referee team thinks about the flow of the game, they will tolerate Addison more in the following game time.
"Irving's offense is crazy enough, he is under the defensive pressure of the Heat's three people to play 2+1!" Sark. O'Neill was amazed by Owen's goal.
"Addison took the initiative to get a foul, and I swear the referee was absolutely trying to blow Whiteside for the foul just now! This guy got away with it! Barkley said with interest.
"Judging from the replay footage, it seems that anyone can blow for the foul this time...... But Addison was smart, and he took the blame for his teammates. Everyone knows that Whiteside is the most important thing on the defensive end of this game, and he must not be in foul trouble. "Kenny. Smith saw the thoughts of the Chinese rookie, and there was a bit of appreciation in his tone.
***
Carey. Irving stepped to the free-throw line and landed a free throw amid the Miami's boo. He smiled and spread his hands to Addison, "You didn't stop me, Add, or should I say...... You guys? ”
Whiteside stared at Irving's half-court figure with unkind eyes, and next time he must give this arrogant guy a big hat! Let him remember that no one is allowed to go wild in the forbidden area he guards!
Addison dribbled across half court and passed the ball to Wade. 'The Flash's opponent was Mike. Miller, the speed and degree of aging of the opponent is much more serious than Wade, and the 32-year-old Heat soul easily tore Miller's defense through the change of direction in front of the body after two consecutive virtual shakes.
Sean. Marion immediately stepped up to the plate, and his defensive awareness was still sharp. Wade passed the ball to Bosh who was in the air, but the 'Dragon King' missed the shot and hit the iron to pop up.
Whiteside, who has accumulated a lot of rage, overpowers Kevin. Lefu grabbed the offensive rebound, and Lefu reacted quickly, taking advantage of the situation and pushing behind Whiteside, not allowing him to easily attack again.
Whiteside, who had his back to him, hesitated, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw that Addison was cutting in from the top of the arc without Owen, and he immediately passed the ball over. The Chinese point guard received the pass in front of the free throw line, and Marion's help defense followed up. Addison was waiting for this when his right hand with the ball quickly struck the ball and bounced inside from his opponent's feet.
Chris, who has long had a tacit understanding. Bosh cut into place, ran to catch the basketball, and in Kevin. Lefu made an easy layup before turning around!
"Beautiful ground pass! Excellent air cut runs! I'm going to give the Heat the highest rating for this small-scale collaboration! Barkley snapped his fingers and smiled.
"From this ball, it can be seen that Addison and Irving are two very different styles of point guards. Shaq, if it were you, who would you prefer to partner with? "Kenny. Smith dug a hole for O'Neal in two sentences, which made many viewers who watched the live broadcast interested.
"If I was in my prime, I would have liked to partner with a point guard like Addison because he could get the ball to me at the right time; But later in my career, I'd rather have a partner like Irving. Because I wasn't that dominant on the court anymore, I needed a teammate who could be fireable on the offensive end. "O'Neill is such a shrewd man that neither side of his answer is offended.
But there are still some supporters of the Heat team who are not satisfied, and in their opinion, as long as Addison is willing, he can also burst out with strong offensive firepower, but Addison's style is just pass-and-control.
Offense and defense transitioned, this time Irving ran straight to the frontcourt, and LeBron. James took the baseline serve and dribbled across the halfcourt.
The chemistry between the two cores of the Cavaliers is still not very successful, and now the two can only divide the ball evenly in this way, ceding each other in order not to have a conflict.
James faces Ruhr. Deng's defense mustered up all the strength to break through directly, and the two sides had a tonnage gap of about 10 kilograms. Deng couldn't resist LBJ's breakthrough, so he could only try his best to limit while following the defense.
The British's hard restraint didn't do much, but at least it gave James some obstacles, as he broke through to the free-throw line and paused left and right. Hassan on the inside. Whiteside is eyeing this side, even with James' ability and physicality, he is lining himself in the Ruhr. Deng and Whiteside may not feel good under the bag.
Deng + Whiteside, this defensive strategy was coined by Spoelstra after summing up the Spurs' experience of knocking out LBJ twice in the Finals. If you want to limit James as much as possible, you need to have a wing player with excellent defensive ability, such as Bruce of the Spurs in '07. Bowen and last season's Finals Coui. Leonard, who can improve James' speed and block it at the first time; Secondly, there must be a basket protector in the restricted area and a strong interior line with strong defensive ability to cooperate with the wing players to exert maximum pressure on James, and the Spurs' powerful basket protection expert is Tim. Duncan.
Many people are saying that Leonard limited LBJ's play as much as possible in the finals, but in fact it was not the credit of Leonard alone, but he and Tim. Duncan, and the Spurs' entire defensive system, worked together...... to limit LeBron as much as possible. James.
The Heat don't have FMVP Cowie. Leonard, but they have Ruhl. Deng; No Tim. Duncan, but Hassan. Whiteside can barely do the same.
Spoelstra wants James to get a taste of what it feels like to be in the Finals, but whether he can achieve his goal depends on how the players play on the court.