Chapter 736 [Accurate Triple-Double Was Hacked, and Had a Grudge Against the Backboard]
The Clippers got more rest time and sat back and watched. They originally had the home field advantage in the finals, and now more and more people are optimistic about them winning the championship.
The biggest advantage of the Clippers is that there are no injuries to the core players. Only Faried injured his right leg while rushing for an offensive rebound against the Spurs. He has now recovered and will not affect his performance.
The Cavaliers have suffered serious injuries.
When it comes to "mountain eagle" Chris Bosh, people will always more or less mention his thigh holding James. Ironically, today's Cavaliers care more about Bosh's thigh than ever before.
In the third game of the last round against the Raptors, Bosh strained his right leg and entered the injured list, which added more uncertainties to the playoffs. The Eastern Conference Finals is a bayonet fight, and Bosh's absence is tantamount to losing the chain in disguise.
Without Bosh's game, the Cavaliers' main inside line is paired with Varejao and Kenyon Martin. The former is a Hollywood actor who was delayed by basketball and height; the latter is a veteran whose condition has seriously declined. Because of his short stature, older age, multiple serious injuries and other reasons, his performance can only be said to be unsatisfactory.
Although Martin works very hard and comes to the court early every time to warm up and practice, and his shooting percentage in training is not low, he still struggles to face the Pacers' inside group.
The two sides battled to a 2-2 tie, and the crucial fifth game was played at the Cavaliers' home court.
The Cavaliers won a thrilling game in the fourth game. The whole team worked hard. James contributed 40 points, 18 rebounds, 9 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks, a near triple-double. He suffered leg cramps at the end of the quarter and still continued to play. Wade also recovered and scored 30 points and 9 assists. With 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Grant Hill, who came off the bench, contributed 14 points and 7 rebounds. The three led the team to a narrow victory of 101-99.
James forced a breakthrough in the last 11.3 seconds, causing David West to foul and made two free throws. Granger unfortunately missed the buzzer-beating three-pointer.
Everyone knows what it means to be 1-3 behind. The Cavaliers cannot afford to lose. Their victory depends on perseverance. Veteran Grant Hill faced off against Paul George, who had the physical fitness to participate in the dunk contest. He relied on his experience to defend his opponent and made 4 of 14 shots.
In Game 5, Bosh still did not play, and the Cavaliers lost the game 81-96 at home.
What broke out for the Pacers was backup shooting guard Jamal Crawford. He scored 35 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists. He made 11 of 18 shots, 6 of 11 three-pointers, and 7 of 7 free throws.
In Yang Rui's previous life, Crawford should have joined the Clippers. Now that the Clippers are not interested in him, he chose the Pacers, which became the X factor of the series. In the first two rounds of the playoffs, he performed relatively poorly, barely reaching 40% of his field goal percentage, but once he got sick, he was an All-Star.
James had 30 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. The Cavaliers cannot expect James to score 40 points every game and still lead the team. Others must step up.
It's a pity that Wade's performance was sluggish and disappointing. If Chalmers hadn't performed at a super level and scored 25 points and 5 assists, and Martin scored 16 points and 8 rebounds, the Cavaliers would have been slaughtered.
Wade was badly guarded by George. He made only 2 of 13 shots and 3 of 4 free throws. He only had 7 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist.
At this time, many people felt that the Cavaliers were going to be finished again. Even Yang Rui thought that the Clippers would face the Pacers in the finals.
On the Internet, many people complain that James can only brush up statistics and cannot lead the team to win. Even if he wins the regular season MVP again this season, his popularity has declined.
He averaged a near-triple-double per game and was hacked, and James' treatment was unprecedented. Durant also didn't win a championship, but he didn't have that much controversy.
The reason is simple. Durant's template back then was Nowitzki, and then McGrady. Since James was 16 years old, he has been regarded as the successor of Jordan and Magic. This is the gap.
the more you hope, the harder you fall. After James has collected all the regular season personal honors he can get, the road ahead of him is very narrow. If he doesn't win, he will fail.
If the Cavaliers fail to reach the finals this year, the Big Three will most likely disintegrate early, but the Pacers seem to have no chance of reaching the finals.
In the sixth home game, Danny Granger only played 7 minutes before spraining his left knee on a breakthrough. He can't even walk, and he will definitely be reimbursed for this series. The disadvantage of Bosh's absence is suddenly wiped out.
Adelman made James a guest power forward and became the key to winning the game. He would attack with the ball, attract double teams and distribute the ball. He finally made a three-pointer from the outside.
If it were James last season, the Cavaliers would definitely lose this series. James has improved this season and has become an efficient post-up player. During the lockout, James trained very hard, mainly improving his back-up ability.
When he faced the Mavericks in the Finals last year, he hit the Mavericks point guard Barea once in the back and was called for a collision with the ball, so he was laughed at by the fans for a long time. James learned his shame and then became brave. He no longer regarded breakthroughs from the face frame as his only magic weapon. He became more comprehensive.
After Granger was absent, neither West nor George did a good enough job guarding James alone. His strong body can protect the basketball, and then use a quick turn to get rid of the opponent and wipe it into the basket.
The Pacers' offense is severely hampered. Granger is the team's top three-point shooter. He doesn't necessarily score many points. His role in shooting three-pointers is crucial. Without him, he has to rely on George Hill and Crawford. , the playoff accuracy is not good.
Inside Hibbert was also guarded by Varejao. Not only did he score less, he also did a poor job of protecting backcourt rebounds.
Relying on the performance of backup point guard Darren Collison, the score between the Pacers and the Cavaliers was tense until the last three minutes. At this time, the Pacers' lack of super scorers emerged again, and George, West, and Crawford took turns. Shoot the iron.
On the Cavaliers' side, James showed leadership qualities, scoring a mid-range shot, breaking through to attract double-teams and assist Chalmers to hit a three-pointer, sealing the victory.
105 to 98, total score 3 to 3.
In the tiebreaker of the Eastern Conference Finals, the Clippers coaching staff and players watched the game together in the arena and analyzed their opponents in the final.
Bosh is finally back. His injury has not healed yet, but the Cavaliers cannot afford to lose in this battle. If they lose, the season will be over. The Pacers are missing Granger and are not the strongest lineup.
The Cavaliers had the last laugh 100-87 and advanced to the finals for two consecutive years.
The Pacers lost inside. David West made 5 of 14 shots, 3 of 4 free throws, and only had 13 points and 6 rebounds. Hibbert performed even worse, shooting 3 of 10 from the field, no free throws, and scored 6 points and 8 rebounds.
Hibbert has a height of 218cm. He averages 31 minutes per game, but only 11.7 points and 3.3 free throws. He is worthy of praise for averaging 11.2 rebounds per game, including 4.1 offensive rebounds, and averaging 3 blocks per game.
Yang Rui turned off the TV and did not discuss tactics as he had said before the game. Instead, he stood in the middle of the court, yawned and said, "This is such a boring game. It's so ugly. I think you must have this too." So I won’t discuss tactics today. Let’s take a rest. We have a holiday tomorrow and we’ll talk about tactics in training the day after tomorrow.”
Everyone was stunned and thought he was joking. For a discussion before the finals, the atmosphere was simply too relaxed.
Yang Rui continued: "I'm not kidding, the Cavaliers are so bad. The only four people on the team who are good at shooting three-pointers are Chalmers, Miller, James, and Jones. James is also responsible for holding the ball and attacking the penalty area, guarding the other three. It's too simple. Inside, Bosh seems to have a grudge against rebounds, Varejao and Martin are poor offensively... Isn't it just fun to deal with them? Let's call it a night!"
I don't know who took the lead in applauding, but the players all followed suit, feeling relaxed and losing the sense of urgency before the war.
Yang Rui doesn't talk about tactics, but it boosts the confidence of the players.
PS: I wish everyone a happy Mid-Autumn Festival, a full moon, a round person, and everything goes well! By the way, please ask for guaranteed monthly tickets for double the period, thank you everyone!
Please remember the first domain name of this book: . The website for reading the mobile version of Three Leaders: