On the night of May 11, 2005, at Madison Square Garden, the Cavaliers played a fluent offensive play in the third quarter, and after the empty McGinnis exploded, they fell into a scoring drought again as the game went by.

The director frequently focused his camera on Jeff Van Gundy on the sidelines, and the championship coach really stuck to the strategy of the last game.

Compared to the Knicks' bold shooting, the Cavaliers' three-point shooting was very cautious.

With only five turnovers at the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers were doing very well, not giving away more points, but they couldn't prevent their opponents from scoring.

After the start of the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers still showed no signs of collapsing, and they still rarely made mistakes.

Compared to the Nets in the first round, the Cavaliers' tactical execution was better, and the limited transition offense was converted into scoring.

Everything was as Van Gundy had emphasized before the game, but the Cavaliers were always behind.

At 76:90, with 5 minutes and 46 seconds left in the game, Van Gundy's timeout didn't make any difference.

For three minutes, the Cavaliers didn't score a point, and they couldn't take advantage of the opportunity to tie the score.

The Knicks' projection tonight gradually pulled their hips, and the game had a hint of anticlimacticism.

However, it is all up to the opponent, and the score difference always fluctuates around 10 points.

Strictly guard against Li You's three-point shot, and let go of Raga Bell, Prince, Fisher, and Barnes.

Regardless of D'Antoni's adjustments, the Cavaliers stuck to the 122 zone defense at the start of the second quarter.

This tactic, which can only be seen in high school leagues, works surprisingly well, and the outside line is being emptied.

Fortunately, in the last quarter, the Cavaliers pulled their own hips and seized the opportunity of these few minutes, and the difference returned to 14 points.

Taking advantage of Gasol's free throws, Van Gundy on the sidelines called James to his side and shouted loudly.

After a wave of 2-of-8 in the third quarter, Ilgoskas went on a 2-of-8 shooting run, and as the game progressed, his fitness dropped and his shooting percentage dropped further.

Although he never opened up the point difference, Li You on the court was in a good mood, he was not worried about the opponent's outburst, and he was even in the mood to ridicule Howard under the basket.

After being detained, the budding newcomer was a little silent, perhaps because he experienced the "treatment of a star player", and the smile on his face disappeared completely.

"You have to learn to respond with basketball, because the fans here are expecting your performance!"

Howard, who had just had a verbal altercation with the fans in the front row, heard Li You's words, and the corners of his eyes twitched slightly.

If he could respond, he would have started pretending to be X a long time ago, in fact, he is currently a blue-collar worker, except for grabbing rebounds and eating cakes under the basket.

In some rounds, Howard will also encounter Li You's up-and-line defense.

Every time he encountered such a situation, he could only hurriedly pass the ball to the outside, for fear of making another mistake if he was not careful.

In this case, Howard was naturally ridiculed by the New York fans continuously, and the missed free throws made the fans even more happy, and their interference played a role!

"You're scared, you can't wrap me up!"

Howard frowned, turned his head and shouted twice in the direction of Li You, the fans in the front row didn't hear what the newcomer said, but Kurt Thomas, who was closest to him, laughed.

Gasol, who was making free throws, didn't hold back, and the basketball bang knocked out of the frame

James, who was about to launch a fast break, watched Kurt Thomas grab the frontcourt rebound in front of Howard, and was immediately angry and cursed.

On the court, James rarely talks trash talk, and more often communicates with his teammates and directs positions.

Howard behaved like a bullied "little boy", speaking as if he had forgotten that he had become an NBA star, full of childishness.

One sentence made all his forced qualities gone, James was angry, and loudly reminded everyone to realign.

Li You, who re-received the ball in the logo position, was also very happy, and Howard's tough words really made him laugh.

The cheers resounded in the arena again, and although the Knicks failed to play the usual hearty offense as the game progressed, the fans didn't mind raising their voices as long as they could suppress their opponents.

James was a bit out of the defense at this point, and this kind of back-and-forth game was a great test of the players' patience.

Every time he chased within 10 points, James was full of hope, but it didn't take more than two rounds for the disappointment to come back to him.

Before it was time to give up, James didn't defend as calmly as before, and took the initiative to stick to Li You's side.

In the logo position, Li You, who was holding the ball in his right hand, first leaned on the defense and pretended to move sideways.

Kurt Thomas deliberately mentioned the cover position at this time, came to the outside of the three-point line, and made a look like he was going to do a high post pick-and-roll.

It was still 131, Gasol stayed on the bottom right of the basket, both wings were all stretched, and as Kurt Thomas stood still, Lee You suddenly turned his back after blowing up the ball.

Howard realized that he had said the wrong thing, and he was extremely angry at this time, and he followed the chase defense, but he still remembered the coach's words, stepped on the three-point line, and did not give Li You a chance to shoot.

Kurt Thomas's cover was fake, and watching James chase after him, he immediately dismantled, twisted and moved, and finally stopped at the top of the arc.

James made a mistake in prediction, but he didn't expect that he could easily chase after the defense, and saw that Howard had appeared in the correct defensive position, so he simply adjusted his pace and followed behind Li You.

Seeing Howard move sideways during the march, Li You suddenly pushed the ball sharply and changed direction.

The basketball flew to the free-throw line as if it were out of control, and Howard, despite making the right defensive predictions, found himself out of reach

James didn't expect Li You to suddenly play a trick, so he could only follow his body's instinctive reaction and continue to chase defense

The second acceleration, Li You grabbed in front of Howard, regained control of the ball, vigorously exploded the ball on the free throw line, and then circled the ball with a big return.

While his body shook to the right front, Li You first went around Howard with one hand, and at the same time rushed up to the basket in three steps.

Seeing the basketball disappear in front of him, Howard hurriedly slid to the right back in an attempt to disrupt Lee's layup.

After a short break in the ball, Li You squeezed the ball to the basket with his right hand, and noticed that James, who was chasing after him, had jumped up to block and changed hands in the air for the second time.

In the exclamation of the fans, Li You briefly held the ball with his left hand in the air, dodged the block, and deftly threw the ball to the rebound!

At the same time as the referee blew the whistle, Kevin Harlan in the commentary bench also shouted:

“Lee！ Get inside！ ”

“OH——！ And a foul！ Clay——Lee！ ”

The basketball was played into the frame, and Madison Square Garden was boiling again, and the bells and whistles broke through, which made the fans excited.

Howard and James, who landed on the ground, looked at each other again, and both felt that the other party interfered with their own blocking, and secretly sulked while hearing Li You's ridicule:

"18 points! Looks like the game is over! ”

Li You, who stood on the free throw line, still had a teasing smile on his face, and Howard's words made his mood more and more beautiful.

The "happy basketball" in the regular season did not work in the playoffs, and James suddenly felt that Howard seemed to be a bad match for him, and Gasol, who had long hair and a beard on the opposite side, seemed to be a bigger man who was more suitable for him.

Lee Yoo-ga also stopped leading the defense after hitting the free throw, and the current point difference is enough to maintain until the end of the game.

On the commentary bench, Doug Collins seemed to be still reminiscing about Li You's beautiful attack in the previous round:

"In my opinion, Lee is the best ball handler in NBA history."

"His ability to combine the ball is sometimes beyond our imagination, how did Lee do that? It's incredible, he played his opponent under the defense of two big men. ”

At 76:94, looking at the widening margin again, Kevin Harlan also began to talk about topics outside the game:

"Excellent ball handling skills, in addition to talent, Lee also put in a lot of effort."

"I don't agree with Reggie Miller, Lee never let up on his demands on himself, and there's no doubt that he loves the sport a lot."

The Cavaliers' offense was getting faster and faster, with Eric Snow, who had just come off the bench, being released on the right wing.

When the opponent received James' pass, Li You didn't say much, and Eric Snow blossomed and finally helped the Cavaliers break the scoring drought.

Eric Snow is also an old opponent of Li You, when he was with the 76ers, Iverson defended and pulled his hips, and he helped the boss lead the defense.

At this time, after the Cavaliers became a two-guard lineup, Snow was once again responsible for defending Li You.

The constant troubles and excessive points difference forced Snow to take risks on defense and try to make mistakes.

Under the opponent's leading defense, close to the top of the arc, Li You suddenly slowed down, exploded the ball on the spot after a sharp stop, and then quickly pulled back his crotch.

Suddenly stopped, Snow was shaken backwards, and then stuck to the defense again.

Just changed to the left hand, Li You didn't expect the opponent to be so iron-headed, the crotch changed backwards to dodge the cut ball, and while leading the ball forward, he accelerated with his shoulders again.

Snow first felt a tightness in his chest, leaned back, watched Li You bury his head and thrust, gritted his teeth and desperately slid to the left rear to try to continue the delay.

Leaning on the defense, Li You crushed and broke through, and everyone in the Cavaliers had just finished the defensive alignment, and as soon as they turned their heads, they saw that their teammates were completely out of position.

In the paint area directly in front of the basket, Li You closed the ball in advance, held the ball with one hand with his right hand, leaned on Snow, and threw the ball to the basket!

Eric Snow failed to make any defensive moves, and Howard couldn't touch the ball even though he jumped high, and the two ended up watching the basketball hollow into the net

At 79:96, it's time for the score to see-saw again.

McGinnis, who broke out in the third quarter, failed to continue his previous shooting touch, and after missing a three-point shot, the Knicks caught a chance to counterattack.

In the transition offense, Raja Bell also hit a three-pointer from the left corner, which made everyone in the Cavaliers breathe a sigh of relief.

The two sides went back and forth, but the score didn't move, until James forced a foul under the basket, and finally let the Cavaliers' score come to 80 points after hitting one of two free throws.

Ilgoskas was no longer able to run at this point, and the big man on the defensive end was getting slower and slower.

After completing a save and seeing Gasol move to the left flank, Ilgoskas dragged his heavy feet and followed the defense again.

Li You, who re-received the pass, did not wait for his teammates to stand still, and his body shook to the right before his left hand suddenly released the ball.

At the same time as deceiving Snow, Li You lowered his center of gravity, increased his stride, and squeezed the ball past Ilgoskas in the blink of an eye with the ball in his left hand.

The big man just turned around symbolically, bending over and pulling, and watched Li You rush to the bottom left of the basket and take off, hovering in the air, grabbing the ball with his right hand and smashing the buckle!

"Boom!" Breakthrough dunk success.

Despite playing nearly 39 minutes, Lee Woo's fitness did not seem to be affected in any way, and he repeatedly dunked in the second half, which made everyone in the Cavaliers despair.

Van Gundy called a timeout again, with 1 minute and 43 seconds left in the game, there was not enough time.

Li You, who walked to the bench, high-fived everyone in celebration, although he shot a little iron tonight, but the win still made everyone happy.

At 80:98, the Cavaliers made another substitution after a timeout, and after missing a three-point shot, the game was out of suspense.

In the final few rounds, James finally hit the first three-pointer of the game on the right wing.

Gooden and Stoudemire, who were back on the court, also scored back-to-back points under the basket.

As the final hum sounded, the score was fixed at 87:104, and the series score also came to 2:0.

Playing 45 minutes, James barely rested, 11-of-23, 1-of-4 from beyond the three-point line, 7-of-10 from the free throw line, 30 points, 6 rebounds, 10 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers.

Delivering a double-double, James was a little uncomfortable with the loss, and in his opinion, they could have had a chance to get an away win tonight.

The Cavaliers only had eight turnovers in the game, which was a terrible result, but Van Gundy was happy with the process.

After simply shaking hands with D'Antoni, Van Gundy couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as he listened to the happy shouts of the fans in his ears.

After entering the players' tunnel, sensing that everyone was silent, Van Gundy took the initiative to say to Thibodeau beside him:

"It's always going to be nights like this in the NBA, and we're doing a good job of limiting the opponent's three-point shots, and when we get back home, all we have to do is put the ball in the basket."

The Cavaliers' problem is that they can't shoot, and they don't have the Heat's dominance in the low post.

Van Gundy firmly believes that his tactical strategy is fine, but Thibodeau is not so optimistic, but at this time everyone needs encouragement, so he can only pretend to be relaxed and say:

'Yes, we've made it and when we get back at home, I'm sure the lads will respond!'

“.”

After the game, Madison Square Garden was still noisy, and Craig Sager noticed that Li You was in a good mood, and instead of talking about the data, he asked with a smile:

"I noticed that there seemed to be some issues with the Knicks' three-point shooting tonight."

"Lee, does this mean that the Cavaliers' tactics have started to work?"

In 40 minutes of play, Li You made 15 of 25 shots, 2 of 4 from beyond the three-point line, and 8 of 9 from the free throw line, scoring 40 points, 6 rebounds, 13 assists, 1 steal and 2 turnovers.

He didn't shoot much from beyond the three-point line tonight, but the team's three-point shooting didn't decrease.

7 of 22, and the Knicks still shot more than 30% of their three-point shots.

"The zone defense did give us more shots, but we didn't convert them into points efficiently."

"Obviously, the opponent's defensive strategy tonight worked well, but I'm not worried about the team's projection."

"That's the Knicks' style of play, and all we have to do is believe in ourselves."

Li You knows that the opponent will adopt the same tactics in the subsequent games, so he naturally has to blow X confidently at this time.

Van Gundy is a start, and his big brother will most likely choose the same defensive strategy in the future.

If the Pistons advance, then the opponent is also a zone defense, and Larry Brown played that way last season, and this is the "culprit".

Li You, who answered the question confidently, affirmed the opponent's defensive strategy.

Craig Sager didn't expect Lee Woo to be so honest, and even took the initiative to say that this would indeed cause trouble to the team.

It wasn't until the end of the interview, when Lee Woo waved to the fans and walked to the players' tunnel, that the sound of discussion from the TNT staff brought Craig Saager back to his senses.

Remembering that most of Lee's scoring area tonight was concentrated near the paint area near the basket, Craig Sager interrupted the discussion:

"Let's go, maybe Lee is demonstrating to the opponent behind him, the defending champion is not a jumper."

On Thursday morning of the 12th, the Knicks departed for Cleveland.

The semi-finals are packed with a tight schedule, and G3 will officially kick off tomorrow night.

The Cavaliers, who flew back to Cleveland overnight, had limited room to adjust, and throughout the season, they relied on defense, which seemed to be out of action in this series.

On TNT's show, the trio didn't talk too much about last night's game, but it was LeBron James' remarks at the press conference that caught their attention.

James, who was present at the press conference after the game, was very confident when he was asked by a reporter if he would increase his mid-range back-to-back singles:

"The tactics of the past can't keep up with the rhythm of modern basketball."

"I'm not going to change myself, I prefer to play to my strengths, I'm always trying to cut down on mid-range jumpers, and that's not going to change."

"Maybe I'm not strong enough, I need to finish more under the basket or finish offense from beyond the three-point line."

"The game of basketball is evolving, we should look forward!"

The director helped the trio review the interview, and Charles Barkley was clearly and unceremoniously squirted:

"LeBron James' lame jumper is what the Cavaliers lost!"

"If he can respond from mid-range, maybe the Cavaliers have already got an away win."

"He should be humble enough to accept opinions, and not talk nonsense as a victor."

Kenny Smith didn't expect his partner to have such a big emotion, he could understand James's remarks, and at this time continued to play the good old guy and said:

"Obviously LeBron is imitating Lee, I don't think it's okay, basketball is all about putting the ball in the basket and learning from the best players of all time was the right decision."

Perhaps not wanting to see the game turn into a three-pointer and fast-break battle, Charles Barkley interrupted his partner:

"He's not Lee, LeBron is a striker, he shouldn't be trying to emulate a little man to play."

"Players should have the ability to think independently, not blindly imitate the winners."

"In that regard, I admire Kobe Bryant more for always sticking to his basketball philosophy."

Kenny Smith didn't expect that his partner, who had always liked to question Kobe, would change his tone, and at this time he also interrupted the other party and joked with a smile:

"If I'm not mistaken, Kobe Bryant has been imitating Michael Jordan."

“.”

Ernnie Johnson looked at Barkley and immediately laughed:

"Kenny was right, Lee changed modern basketball, and maybe LeBron made the right choice."

The unhappy Charles Barkley soon returned to his tough-guy theory in the studio:

"Big men deserve to score points under the basket", "Three-pointers are soft", "If I were in this era, I would be able to average 35 points per game".

The studio was soon filled with joy, and Kenny Smith made his partner break the defense with another sentence:

"Three-pointers helped Lee win 6 championships!"

“.”

Kobe, who is still in Los Angeles, met with the old man of KFC not long ago, and neither of them forgave each other, so they naturally broke up in the end.

Kobe Bryant, who was watching the TNT show at home, sulked secretly, thinking that a rookie like James had also entered the playoffs, so he could only curse secretly:

"Scholars won't succeed!."

(End of chapter)