One Guard

Chapter 776: Cleveland’s Honor

The finals were originally a contest between James and Irving and Yiyang and Wade, but now, it seems to be James alone against the Mavericks team led by Yiyang.

In the first game of the Finals, the rest of the Cavaliers performed mediocrely. Although Irving scored 23 points, his efficiency was average. James scored 44 points alone, but they still lost to the Mavericks. The Cavaliers had only one substitute player, Smith scored. In the first game, the Cavaliers were completely defeated.

Before the start of this game, Blatter came up with the idea of ​​playing five small lineups. In fantasy, everything is wonderful. Tristan's super defensive changes limited the opponent's performance. James used his physical advantage to beat Dirk, and then ignored Iguodala to score. Dellavedova locked up Yiyang, and Irving was freed to help James take away the victory...

However, what happened now was far from what Blatter had imagined. Irving couldn't free himself, and Dellavedova couldn't lock Yiyang down. At most, he could just let Yiyang spend more effort. James failed to defeat Dirk, but was defended by Iguodala and made only 11 of 35 shots. As for Tristan, he didn't show much force in assisting defense. Instead, he was weak in the ability to protect the frame, and the Mavericks took a lot of shots.

Even so, Blatter hopes things can turn around. He has James, the greatest player in the world! He has the power to turn bad things into magic. When Love was injured, he led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals. Even with Irving injured for two games, he still led the team to sweep the Hawks 4-0.

Now, Blatt is looking to James to create another miracle. But the rookie NBA coach certainly hasn’t heard a word of it. "No miracles will happen at the American Airlines Center Arena!"

So, there was that cold-blooded three-pointer that was almost ruthless. Yiyang knew that after the three-pointer was made, the Cavaliers were almost doomed. But there was still no expression on his face, as if the life and death of the Cavaliers could not touch Yiyang's heart at all.

In the Wood District, Yiyang knew one thing: never show mercy to your enemies. If the situation is reversed, it was James who made the three-pointer that marked the end of the game. He can't just be expressionless, but he will definitely make some exaggerated celebrations.

Comparing these two reactions, who is more cold-blooded?

25 points, three minutes. Let alone three minutes, even if you give the Cavaliers a whole quarter, they may not be able to score 25 points. Blatt replaced all the main players. He is full of expectations for this game. He also hopes that he can be like Cole, relying on five small lineups to dominate the league.

Cole led the Warriors to the Western Conference Finals for the first time as an NBA coach. Then Blatt will lead the team to win a championship in the NBA for the first time! After all, Cole was even one of Blatt's candidates for assistant coach that summer a year ago!

But the cruel facts left Blatter disheartened.

champion? No, he is even ready to return to Europe this summer. Blatter may not be able to get all the sky-high compensation of US$10 million over those three years.

Many people would be envious when they see NBA players and coaches becoming multi-millionaires. But this money is not something that can be obtained casually.

Seeing that Blatter had withdrawn all the main players, Carlisle was also very generous and replaced the first five players. Even the substitutes tried to select those who did not play often, and even let Marion, who had not appeared for a long time, come on to play a few games.

Before the game ended, James left the court early with his head hanging low. You don't know if he's disappointed in himself or this team. Originally leaving the Heat and returning to his hometown, James' biggest motivation was to unite to fight against Yiyang. But now, it’s not even easy to use the group-hugging technique...

120 to 109, in the second game of the finals, the point difference was reduced to double digits. Moreover, this was with the Mavericks almost playing their third unit in the final minutes.

In the last game, the Cavaliers only lost by 9 points at the last minute, and they still had excuses to comfort themselves. But today, facing the Mavericks' almost perfect defense, everyone knew that no one could stop the Cowboys headed by Yiyang from defending their title!

2-0, the Cleveland Cavaliers lost all two away games, and they will return to Cleveland with a huge disadvantage. If the situation does not change, James will have to watch the opponent win the O'Brien Cup at home for the second consecutive year.

The Dallas Mavericks will become the third team in the 21st century to win consecutive championships after the Los Angeles Lakers and Miami Heat!

Some even say that a dynasty belonging to the Yihe Mavericks is about to come!

※※※

Cleveland, if not for LeBron James, perhaps this city would not be known at all.

With dilapidated houses, graffiti everywhere, and a few streets in the city center, the first impression of Cleveland can indeed be described as dilapidated. According to Chinese standards, Cleveland should be classified as a third- and fourth-tier city.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Statistics, Cleveland's population in 2015 was approximately 385,000, barely ranking among the top 50 in the United States. Driving out from downtown Cleveland, you will enter another city in about ten minutes. For reference, the San Francisco-Oakland area where the Warriors are located has a population of approximately 4.6 million.

In economics, there is a special name for this type of city that was once glorious but is now declining - Rust Belt Cities.

Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Detroit, Buffalo and other cities have become rusty after their aura as industrial towns no longer existed. With fewer and fewer job opportunities and an increasing number of unemployed people, these cities are eagerly looking for their next exit.

Fortunately, Cleveland has found their outlet, and that is the sports industry! With the return of LeBron James, telling Clevelanders a touching story of "going home" who had to leave home due to unsatisfactory urban development will undoubtedly attract a large number of tourists to return. The brand effect of the entire city has also been continuously improved due to the sports industry.

When people ask about Cleveland, they usually mention three things: The Cleveland Orchestra, which is one of the top three symphony orchestras in the world. Cleveland Hospital, one of the best medical institutions in the world. There is also the Cleveland Cavaliers. Why the Cleveland Cavaliers? Because they have LeBron James, he is an international component.

A very intuitive data is that if the Cavaliers play two finals at home, restaurants near the arena can earn two more months of revenue! Therefore, it is not unreasonable for James to be extremely popular in Cleveland. He is not only a symbol of this city, but also the "God of Wealth" of Clevelanders!

There are countless benefits that James has brought to the city of Cleveland, but there is one thing that James has not been able to bring to Cleveland until now. No, not the O'Brien Trophy, which seems too big a goal for the current Cavaliers. Clevelanders now only hope that James can bring the Cleveland Cavaliers their first NBA Finals victory!

James' rhetoric is still the same: Records are meant to be broken.

James said the same thing last season when the Heat were beaten 3-0 behind. As a result, he left Miami after the fourth game.

Therefore, fans no longer believe in James's remarks. Some media are even joking that James is already discussing with his manager about joining the Dallas Mavericks.

In everyone's eyes, the Cleveland Cavaliers are dead. In two games, the Dallas Mavericks will win the O'Brien Trophy.

But on June 9, the third quarter of Game 3 of the NBA Finals ended with Mozgov's dunk, helping the Cavaliers launch a 15-2 offensive climax. James and his teammates entered the final quarter with a 20-point lead!

"This is the Cavaliers' desperate counterattack! They vowed to reverse the situation in Cleveland!" Kenny Smith thought that today's game would only last two quarters and he could start chatting. But I didn't expect that the Cavaliers performed so well in the first half of the game!

James and Irving felt hot and hit frequently from beyond the three-point line. The Mavericks fell into an offensive bottleneck. Even Yiyang's shooting percentage in the first three quarters was only 33%. 33%, such a shooting rate may be common for other guards. But for someone like Yiyang who would criticize his poor performance if his shooting rate is less than 45%, a 33% shooting rate is almost unbelievable!

20 points difference, 12 minutes. Even in this era of more and more three-pointers, a 20-point difference is definitely a gap that is very difficult to catch up with.

But after the game, Yiyang was not in a hurry. His emotions infected his teammates. Seeing that Yiyang was still confident, others felt more at ease.

"Rick, I want to increase the number of individual singles in the second half." Yiyang did not speak to the coach in a commanding tone like James did. Yiyang's requests were mostly discussed with Carlisle.

Claire agreed to Yiyang's proposal without thinking. If there is anyone who can turn decay into magic, this person is definitely not Carlisle, but Yiyang!

So after the start of the fourth quarter, Yiyang started his personal attack mode. Throughout the finals, the Mavericks played team basketball. Because of the Cavaliers' performance in the first two games, there was no need for Yiyang to shoulder the responsibility of scoring, and the opponent fell.

But today, the Cavaliers were in excellent condition after returning to their home court, and the game became tricky. As the leader of the team, Yiyang must stand up and solve the problem!

Therefore, Cleveland fans saw Yiyang hit a chasing three-pointer as soon as he came up. After that, Yiyang took out everything in his arsenal.

Dazzling passing shots, three-pointers, pull-up jumpers, breakthrough pull-ups, strong dunks... Yiyang hit consecutive hits. Once, despite being blocked by James and Tristan, he still managed to score. Successful layup.

This guy, like other superstars, once he goes berserk, no one can stop him.

With 2 minutes and 45 seconds left in the game, Yiyang hit a three-pointer from Iguodala, and the Mavericks only trailed 80-81. Seeing that the game was about to be turned over, James would not allow things to end like this.

Cleveland's honor will be guarded by him! Records are meant to be broken, and this time, James is not just talking about it!

At the critical moment, Irving, who had mediocre performance in the first two games, stepped forward. Under Yiyang's strict defense, he magically hit a mid-range pull-up shot and caused a foul. He scored 3 points with a free throw! After that, he forced Yiyang to make a pass error. After James stole the ball, he rushed forward in one line. When he was still one step away from the three-point line, he made an emergency three-point long shot!

In order to save his energy today, James began to try more to solve problems with shooting. However, today, James' hand felt really hot. From outside the three-point line, he has taken 7 shots and has made 4 goals. With the efforts of Irving and James, the Cavaliers stabilized their position 87-80 with 1 minute and 44 seconds left in the game!

"With tenacious resistance, the Cavaliers did not let Yi turn the game over! I have to admit that Yi's performance in this quarter was already phenomenal! But unfortunately, LeBron and Irving played at their level!"

This game made all the fans in Quicken Loans Arena cheer and extremely excited. I thought the entire series was going to end like this, I thought the O'Brien Cup was about to be taken away by someone else. But now, there has been a turn for the better in the finals!

Until there were only 43 seconds left in the game, the Cavaliers still led by 14 points! Clevelanders are excited, they are ready for the Cavaliers' first victory in the history of the Finals! And James also officially sounded the clarion call to break the curse!

James doesn't believe that falling behind 2-0 means the Mavericks will definitely lose!

Everyone thought the game was over, but number one still said something to Carlisle.

"In the last 43 seconds, give me the ball!"

Tap the screen to use advanced tools Tip: You can use left and right keyboard keys to browse between chapters.

You'll Also Like