warrior godfather

Chapter 399 I am the only one
June 5, Miami, American Airlines Center.

Zizizi!
The sharp rubbing sound of the non-slip soles and the wooden floor was clearly audible. The cheers and applause that should have completely covered up these noises disappeared, and the audience on the sidelines fell silent. Fans in white T-shirts, together with a large area of ​​vacant black chairs beside them, formed a frozen black and white photo.

At this time, G2 between the Heat and the Pacers has reached the final moment, but James, Wade, David West, Danny Granger and other stars of the two teams are not on the court.

brush!
Paul George broke through to the mid-range position, made an emergency stop and made a jump shot, then raised his hands high, and retreated to the backcourt with a laugh.

On the sidelines, James was sitting on the bench, staring at the triumphant Pacers rookie with an extremely gloomy expression. Wade was sitting next to him, also with a livid face, quietly watching the game on the court. , I am no longer in the mood to laugh and chat with James as usual.

Now there are only 2 minutes and 12 seconds left before the end of the game. At this critical moment, both James and Wade are sitting on the sidelines. Naturally, there is only one reason, that is, the game has already been divided, and there is no need for them to play.

The process of this game held at the Heat's home court was surprising. The Pacers quickly established a double-digit lead since the start. , The Pacers have led the Heat by 17 points, which completely lost the suspense of the game.

On the other hand, the Heat, the whole team seemed to go to the nightclub collectively the night before, partying all night, and the state was extremely poor, except that Chalmers scored 15 points, 10 assists and 25 rebounds efficiently, and Joel Anthony was efficient. Scoring 6 points, everyone else is in terrible shape.

James made 22 of 10 shots, 4 of 1 three-pointers, and 3 of 1 free throws. Although he scored 22 points and 7 rebounds, his efficiency was extremely low. He sent 3 assists and 4 turnovers. Hibbert blocked 5 shots , 3 of which were to block his shots. He had no achievements in personal offense and mobilizing his teammates, and his performance was a disaster.

But before he was replaced in the fourth quarter, he caught the Pacers' slack defense under the huge point difference and scored 8 points intermittently. Although he couldn't change the situation, it made his data look better all of a sudden. Many, with a fig leaf.

Wade's performance was even worse than him. He played 37 minutes and made 13 of 2 shots. He only scored 5 points, 5 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal, 2 blocks and 5 turnovers. Invisibility, either blacksmithing or mistakes, is the chief culprit for the Heat's loss.

The performance of others was also very bad. Battier played 23 minutes, 7 of 0 shots, 0 points, 0 assists and 3 rebounds. He did not contribute to the team on the offensive end, but he worked hard on defense, and scored 2 steals and 2 blocks. cover, but it is useless to the overall situation.

The Big Three have gone to the second, and the last one left, Bosh, simply didn't play.

In G1 between the Heat and the Pacers, although the Heat won in the end, Bosh scored 13 points efficiently, but was injured and left the field in the third quarter, which cast a heavy shadow on the Heat's victory.

After the game, the Heat announced Bosh's injury report. He suffered a muscle strain and will miss the Eastern Conference semifinals. If the Heat are not eliminated, Bosh can only come back at the end of the Eastern Conference Finals at the earliest.

As soon as this news came out, it was no less than a bolt from the blue for the Heat. The Heat's inside line was already weak, and it was supported by Bosh alone. Er. Anton and Haslem barely cope.

But in the eyes of the outside world, Bosh's injury and retirement will only cause some twists and turns for the Heat, but it will not affect the final result of the series.

After all, the Heat are a Big Three team, and the strongest James and Wade are still there. Although the Pacers performed amazingly in the regular season, they finally ranked third in the Eastern Conference and entered the playoffs. It has a lot of powerful players, but it lacks a superstar to lead the team. The biggest player in the team is Danny Granger, who was selected as an All-Star substitute once. Everyone else can't reach the star level. It is a completely civilian team. .

Facing such a civilian team, James and Wade are enough to lead the team to win the series and allow Bosh to recover from his injuries.

Before the start of G2, this was the general opinion of the outside world. Heat fans were also very optimistic. Even Pacers fans themselves still looked at their home team with a dog mentality. Even if Bosh was injured, he would miss the entire Eastern Conference semifinals. This round of the series is still pessimistic.

Fake!

James couldn't yell in front of the camera, he could only roar angrily in his heart to vent his dissatisfaction a little.

He could already imagine that after the game, with the triumphant "faces" of those people on the Internet, he would definitely receive a round of overwhelming ridicule, and those black people would never let this good opportunity pass by.

But fortunately, James is smart enough to score 20+ points before leaving the court. Otherwise, those sunspots will definitely say that he can't play without the Big Three, and with Wade "before the jade", he will definitely attract a lot of firepower.

James glanced at Wade indiscriminately, feeling a little relieved in his heart.

Although everyone is a brother, James clearly remembers how those black people abused and mocked him after the finals of last season. At that time, it seemed that the whole world was his enemy, and he dared not use any social media at all.

James quietly watched Heizi's remarks a few times, and saw the animation of him hitting Barea back and getting an offensive foul, being made mistakes by Kidd in a row, and falling behind Terry in both scoring and efficiency, which went viral on the Internet, and he felt his blood pressure rise. , furious, but in the face of the facts, but powerless to refute, can only see the heart to clean, anger into motivation, sweating in the training hall.

Meanwhile, Wade is treated like a tragic hero.

Wade finished one round of the Finals and was able to shoot 54.6%, averaging 26.5 points, 7 rebounds, 5.2 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. He was highly productive, efficient, and integrated offense and defense, which was comparable to Nowitzki's performance. But because of James' poor performance, he lost the championship and the FMVP that must be obtained after winning the championship, which makes people sigh.

Even the Heat fans were divided. Many Wade fans criticized James, thinking that he saw the hopelessness of FMVP and deliberately played poorly. He would rather lose the championship than win the championship without FMVP.

James fans fought against him to refute such remarks, but in the face of James' terrible performance, their justification and whitewashing seemed pale and powerless.

Of course James himself saw this kind of remarks, but he couldn't express it.

If someone said that James had gone all out in the finals, he would not believe it himself, but James definitely did not mean to play Wade on purpose. It would be too obvious to do so, and it would make him and Wade separate. The Heat are likely to It will fall apart.

And James doesn't have a single championship, and he still understands the truth of being safe before he cares about FMVP. It's better to have a bird in hand than a thousand birds in the forest. James can't work hard in front of the championship. It's not a place where he can do whatever he wants, but Pat Riley has been watching him closely behind him.

There is only one reason for James' performance like that, and that is that he is really not strong enough.

After entering the league, James was the darling of heaven, a super genius that everyone placed high hopes on. David Stern was also very optimistic about his talent, thinking that he had the potential to become the second Jordan, and he took good care of him.

James has been the darling of the league and the media since he overwhelmed Anthony to be elected as the best rookie. He has the most lenient whistle-blowing scale industry public opinion environment in the league.

Those who are favored have nothing to fear. In this environment, James gradually developed a self-respecting mentality. Just like his nickname, he really regarded himself as the "emperor" and thought that all this was justified. As it should be.

So in the first seven years of his career in the Cavaliers, James has never made more than 40% of his mid-range and long-range two-pointers in one year. How could the emperor practice shooting?As long as the emperor breaks through, he should score, whether it is a direct goal or a free throw, anyway, the emperor cannot return empty-handed.

It was also during the seven years in the Cavaliers that James practiced the unique skill of "Dragon's Eight Steps". Many times the referee stood in front of him, but turned a blind eye to his walking. Although every superstar has a superstar whistle, But James' superstar whistle is the only one in the league, to the point where Kobe cried when he heard it and Duncan was sad when he saw it.

But all this began to change after James chose to leave the Cavaliers and join the Heat.

The league still takes care of him, but it is not as blatant as before. His public opinion environment has also turned against him. From the media and fans, they generally question his decision to leave the Cavaliers, join the Heat, and form the Big Three. Many people think he is a soft egg.

In addition, Pat Riley is not a person who allows players to control the team. He controls the Heat with a strong and iron fist. No one can challenge his authority, not even the Big Three.

The heavy blows made James wake up from the dream of self-importance. He is no longer the "emperor". In the Heat, he is at best a "prince", and Wade is the "prince". There is a gap, but he is also a "prince" in name, only slightly inferior to Wade, and keeps pace with James.

At this time, James realized that the promise made by Pat Riley when he recruited him was very different from what he understood.

He thought that after he came to the Heat, he could do whatever he wanted like he did when he was in the Cavaliers, but in the Heat, Pat Riley might really make him the real team leader as promised, but he is absolutely impossible Interfering with the operations of Heat management.

After sobering up, James no longer indulged in whistle-blowing bonuses. He began to practice shooting crazily. 40%, 44.3%, further improved his face-to-frame offensive ability, and greatly increased the offensive threat.

He finally understood that in this alliance, one must speak with strength, and speak with his own strength.

However, James' skills are too rough. He relies on tank-style breakthroughs with his body all the year round. He has not mastered many skills, and even dribbles are a bit lame. Not to mention the back-up technique that takes a lot of time to hone.

After entering the league, he has never played post-up singles. In the finals last year, Carlisle seized his weakness and let Kidd and Barea, who were extremely stable in the bottom plate, defend him. Bogut was on the inside to protect the frame and blocked James. The breakthrough route forced him to score in the middle and long distances.

In this case, James was completely confused.

His three-pointers are very mediocre, and his shooting percentage has been maintained at the early 30% all year round. He can make two emergency shots, and his regular scoring methods are very unstable.

His mid-range shooting efficiency has improved a lot, but facing Kidd and Barea, who have a very low center of gravity, it is difficult for James to use the dribble to get rid of the defense of the two, unable to create shooting space, and his shooting speed has always been Unhappy, the efficiency of dry drawing is very low. After several attempts, it is difficult for him to score on Kidd and Barea.

In the end, James remembered the post-up singles.

But he doesn't know this technique at all, and he doesn't even use his trunk to exert force. He frequently pushes people with his elbows when he is on his back. Kidd and Barea made several offensive fouls, which is surprising.

In the end, the Heat also lost the finals because of James' poor performance.

In a Big Three team, if the biggest star among them lags behind Jason Terry on the field, it is impossible for this team to win.

But it is impossible for James to publicly admit that it was his rough skills and insufficient strength that caused the Heat to lose the championship. In that case, he would never want to compete with Wade for the position of the team boss.

And in the deepest part of James' heart, he was vaguely glad that the Heat lost the game.

No matter how poorly he played, the Heat lost the championship with Wade holding the ball as the main attack. In this way, the team must consider whether to make changes. Before James came to the Heat, Wade led the Heat to win the championship. If he wants to become the boss, he must experience a failure in order to shake Wade's position.

Later, James did get his wish.

This season, his tactical status has been greatly improved. He doesn't need to run a lot without the ball like last season. Wade took the initiative to make sacrifices to reduce the time of holding the ball and switch to off the ball. James successfully took the position.

Throughout the regular season, including the first round of the playoffs, James returned to his familiar style of play and played vigorously on the court, but today, the Heat will lose to the Pacers, losing home court advantage, and Bosh will also miss the entire second round the match of.

James is used to the overwhelming ridicule after the game, but if the Heat lose this round of the series, does it prove that he is not suitable to be the boss of the Heat?
(End of this chapter)