Chapter 1154 1153. Poor Man's Version of "Love James and Wade" Combination

Playing with James makes Liu Mang more and more excited.

Mainly because this guy is improving so fast!

Pressure brings motivation. James was forced to move forward because of the pressure from Liu Mang, because other opponents targeted him for one more step to layup, and because the league forced his layup to be limited to four steps, which gave other opponents the opportunity to target him.

In addition to shamelessly taking advantage of the league's favoritism and not being firm enough to start the peak group mode, James is indeed not bad from other angles. Whether it is deliberately to create a good image or for other reasons, James has done very well in his professional attitude, training efforts, and interpersonal relationships since the beginning of his career. Later, he got used to it and has always maintained this basketball attitude and way of dealing with people.

In the original time and space, Kobe was the most favorite star for basketball fans born in the 70s, 80s, and 90s after his retirement. In the future, James will also become the most cherished star for those born in the 80s and 90s. There is no one better. Kobe and James represent the memories of fans of that era.

At this stage, fans and the media have been promoting the fight between Liu Mang and James, and the competition between Kobe and James for the first place in American basketball. However, both Kobe and Liu Mang have a good relationship with James.

The main reason is that the three of them are the same type of people, and the goal of the three is to become the strongest.

Since the beginning of the season, James has become less tolerant of him because of the layup rules. His strength has been "restricted" for a time. In fact, it is more like returning to his normal level. One more step to layup and the referee's unscrupulous decision to let him take several more steps will definitely limit his playing style using the rules. But a genius is a genius. After all, he is the only one in the NBA who is used to taking one more step. He has gradually used the four-step layup better and better. After fifty or sixty games, James has regained his ability rating of 93!

"LeBron James, ability rating 93, offense 92, defense 84, passing 86, rebounding 82, three-pointers 79, mid-range shots 61, layups 94, speed 92, strength 90..."

Liu Mang looked at James who was dancing with Prince. What a terrible guy!

True talent is visible to the naked eye!

Just told him that he should strengthen his skills, and he really became stronger, and his three-point shooting is close to the first-class!

Thinking that this guy will shoot farther and farther from the three-pointer in the future... Liu Mang feels that the strongest opponent in the future is really this guy.

He is only 21 years old... He will probably be a superstar next season, which is simply terrifying!

Liu Mang still has a little expectation for the terrifying James...

For James, playing against the Hawks... is a happy and frustrating thing.

He is very excited to play against Liu Mang, and always wants to counterattack Liu Mang. Moreover, he can learn a lot from Liu Mang and McGrady by watching their playing methods.

Learn Liu Mang's understanding of tactics and learn how McGrady uses his talents.

However, what was frustrating was that Liu Mang was more excited to see him, and he pushed him to death every time. It was too difficult to win. The Hawks might relax when playing against many teams, but when playing against the team with the top five picks in the 2003 generation, since they did not take the Nuggets seriously and lost once due to fatigue, they were like chicken blood when they met the team led by the top five picks in the 2003 generation.

So, James's idea now is...

Why not dance!

James initially refused to attract popularity and make money by relying on the title of "Dancing King", but now, he feels the increase in off-court income

Even Prince relies on square dancing. His off-court income in the past two years has reached more than 7 million US dollars, which is higher than his 1 million US dollars in sneaker endorsements and first-round pick contract income combined!

And... it is certain that Prince's future contract will not be higher than the off-court income brought by square dancing.

James is very jealous. For the time being, from the commercial perspective of basketball, he doesn't need to consider competing with Liu Mang. He can't compete at all. In the United States, James' popularity may be similar to Liu Mang's, slightly better than Kobe, but his reputation is not very good. Nike will not increase James' endorsement fee for Liu Mang's face. Nike didn't understand why Liu Mang insisted on 90 million plus 1 US dollar for endorsement fees, but James understood after signing the contract. Uncle West had anticipated James' endorsement fee and wanted to make Liu Mang the highest endorsement fee in the basketball world.

It seems unimportant, but it is very important for Liu Mang's commercial endorsement. Liu Mang almost has the highest endorsement fee for the brands he endorses with other stars, just because Nike started it.

In terms of sneakers, if James doesn't win an MVP or a championship, it will be difficult for him to surpass Liu Mang. On the contrary, after James became the King of Bliss Dance this year, he has more endorsements and his sneakers are selling better...

Unlike fans in other places who are promoting the confrontation between Liu Mang and James, fans in Atlanta and Cleveland get along very harmoniously. Hawks fans like James very much, mainly because the Hawks basically have one more win when they meet this guy's team...

Seeing James and Prince dancing, the fans at the scene were all cheering.

On James' side, his management team hired a lot of dance teachers to help him design dance steps.

If a star wants to be popular, he needs a personality.

Kobe's character is "paranoid". Although Kobe himself doesn't know why his character has become popular, especially in overseas areas where his popularity is higher than Jordan's, it is popular, and his character is paranoid.

Liu Mang's character is "shameless". Liu Mang is very annoyed by this character, but he is closer to the behavior pattern of ordinary people and is loved by many fans. Of course, he is more controversial than Kobe and Jordan.

James's character at the beginning was "future king", but he became "crab" after playing for a long time. He is popular but not well-received. People who like him say that he will definitely have a good future when he is young, and those who don't like him will criticize him to death.

But now James has a new character, "Elysian Dance King", which is much more likable. He and his management team want to maintain this character until his popularity in basketball can surpass this character.

Moreover...

After getting used to this character, James thought it was pretty good...

Prince didn't have that much money to hire a dance teacher, so he mainly figured it out on his own. After James launched the new version of the dance steps of the Pure Land, Prince pestered Liu Mang and got some more dance moves.

Now the "dance king competition" between James and Prince has entered a white-hot stage.

As for who will become the king of kings in the end, it depends on future luck...

...

After a wave of awkward dancing, as Rasheed Wallace's roaring video ignited the already enthusiastic fans, the game between the Hawks and the Cavaliers officially began.

On the Hawks side, Rasheed Wallace was rested in the interior, McGrady was rested in the exterior, and Liu Mang, Prince, Horry, David Lee, and Kwame Brown started.

On the Cavaliers side, the starting lineup of Eric Snow, Larry Hughes, James, Gooden, and Big Z appeared.

The referee blew the whistle to start the game and threw the ball into the air. Kwame Brown won the jump ball again.

Liu Mang received the serve and advanced to the frontcourt. The Cavaliers' perimeter defense combination, which may be second only to the Hawks in the East, put a lot of pressure on him.

Snow, Larry Hughes, James, two quasi-first-class defensive masters and one top defensive master, this combination of defense is really amazing, barely a poor version of the James-Wade defensive combination.

After Liu Mang arrived at the frontcourt, facing Larry Hughes's close defense, he saw that Snow and James both pressed Prince and Horry to defend, not giving them a chance to receive the ball. He learned that the other team's "defensive assistant coach" Mike Brown had integrated the defensive style of the "James-Wade" defensive combination he created during the All-Star Weekend into their team.

After the All-Star Weekend, the Cavaliers' perimeter defense has improved. On the one hand, Larry Hughes has recovered better and has recovered to a defensive ability close to that of last season. On the other hand, the Cavaliers have implemented a pressure-type defense on the perimeter. In addition, with Big Z as the commanding height under the basket, the Cavaliers' defense has done very well. The overall defense efficiency of the league ranked 13th before the All-Star Weekend has been improved to the overall defense efficiency of the league ranked 9th in the more than one month after the All-Star Weekend.

Liu Mang dribbled to the right side of the top arc through a change of direction. Larry Hughes did not lose his position and defended very well. He stepped on the three-point line. Once Liu Mang wanted to retreat, he immediately pressed on him. He would rather Liu Mang break through than give Liu Mang space to throw a long three-pointer.

Larry Hughes did not play well in the Cavaliers, but he got so much money and played in a stronger team. He had more chances to win than in the Wizards. His efforts did not decrease, and he worked as hard as ever on the defensive end.

Facing Larry Hughes' defense, Liu Mang did not break through directly at first, but faced Larry Hughes' defense first and threw a three-pointer out of the blue. Unfortunately, Larry Hughes defended very well. He focused on defense and predicted that Liu Mang would shoot directly, and interfered well.

Liu Mang missed the three-pointer at the beginning. Big Z blocked Kwame Brown, and James went back to the basket to grab the defensive rebound.

James handed the ball to Snow, and the Cavaliers slowly advanced to the frontcourt.

For James, the current lineup is a limitation of his strength, too slow!

Snow is old, Gooden and Big Z are slow, even with the outside pressure defense, the Cavaliers can hardly fight back.

Fortunately, James has an All-Star-level outside teammate like Larry Hughes this season. Snow pushed the ball to the frontcourt and passed it to James. James passed the ball to Larry Hughes. Larry Hughes faced Horry's defense and broke through to the edge of the three-second zone to shoot and scored two points.

Hawks fans feel that Horry... is really a "BUG"!