NBA: Start by torturing Jordan and add points to upgrade

After a two-day break, the players from both teams finally gathered at the Charlotte Spectrum Center. More than 18000 fans rushed into the arena to cheer for their teams, especially for the teams that were making their first appearance in the Finals. There were also countless fans who couldn't buy tickets and waited outside the arena hoping to cheer for their teams from across the arena.

This is the first time in Bobcats history, and indeed in all of Charlotte history, that a team has reached the NBA Finals, and it is also the first time they have played the Finals at home.

The entire city seemed to be ignited by the match, with excited fans celebrating and parading everywhere in the streets, freely expressing their passion and support for the team.

The team was completely outmatched by the Mavericks in the first two games, and being down 0-2 did not bother the fans at all, nor did it cause them to lose confidence or feel that their team was doomed.

Firstly, it's because they have absolute confidence in their own team and almost blindly worship it.

Secondly, and most importantly: our team has encountered this situation in the last two rounds, and our opponents in the previous two rounds were also teams with 60 wins. So what? How are you, the Mavericks, any better than them? Why should we be afraid when it comes to you?
Especially, and more importantly: if the Bobcats can pull off another comeback this time, the pivotal Game 5 of this series will be played in Charlotte.

We have an additional advantage in this series!

What's there to be afraid of!
We are very confident!

When fans are so confident, it's naturally even less likely that the players will feel insecure or disappointed!

They will only be more confident and determined than the fans!
After all, the Larry O'Brien Trophy will be handed directly to the Bobcats players!

The Bobcats players have shown absolute confidence in their pursuit of the championship.

"This game is extremely important!" Miller said with a smile before the game started. "Especially for the Bobcats, they have once again fallen into adversity, and this time I won't even say it's a desperate situation."

"This is the third time in this playoffs that they have fallen behind and been completely dominated by their opponents. Can the Bobcats create a miracle and turn the game around this time?"

Jackson said, "I don't know if they can turn the game around, but I suspect they're doing it on purpose. Do they have to get beaten up first before they can unleash their fighting power? Otherwise, how could they have turned the game around in two rounds and then fallen into this situation again in the third round?"

Miller said, "In any case, their ability to withstand pressure is really strong. They never seem to be nervous or afraid, they are not worried about going against the wind or being overwhelmed by their opponents."

"Tonight, we'll see if they really need to get beaten up before they can unleash their full strength and fighting power."

Jackson said, "That's right. In addition to the significance of the game itself, there is another important hidden story behind tonight's game: will James be affected by the crazy rumors circulating these past few days?"

"Will his mentality change? Can he maintain the same mentality and form as in the previous matches and keep his aggressiveness?"

Miller said, "I have to say, Lin is really too bad! His words, 'Dirk has finally found his Pippen, and he's happy for Dirk,' were really a direct attack on the heart! That one sentence could easily have caused infighting within the Mavericks."

"Let's see if the Mavericks players are selfless and mature enough!"

On the field, the starting players from both sides have already taken to the field, ready to start the match.

Neither side changed their starting lineup tonight, sticking to their usual five-man combination on the field.

The referee glanced at his watch and then signaled for Yao Ming and Haywood to come to the center circle; the game was about to begin!

"Dudu!"

With a whistle, the referee tossed the ball into the air, and both centers jumped simultaneously. The taller Yao Ming once again defeated his opponent, who was known for his superior physical attributes, to secure the first offensive possession for the Bobcats that night.

Rose received the ball and immediately accelerated to the maximum speed, rushing to the frontcourt.

After arriving at the frontcourt, he glanced at Stevenson in front of him, paused and then did a crossover dribble, before accelerating again and dashing past Stevenson in the blink of an eye, heading straight for the basket!
Stevenson's trademark is his physical strength and ability to fight, but he was truly powerless against someone like Ross who was so fast that it was impossible to react.

Rose drove to the basket in the blink of an eye, exploiting the Mavericks' slow interior movement and inability to keep up with his speed, and attacking their lack of physical strength in the paint.

Just as Rose drove to the basket and got up to make a layup, a huge figure descended from the sky and slapped the ball onto the backboard from behind.

LeBron James, the epitome of human chasing blocks!

The Mavericks' interior defense is slow, but LeBron James is fast!
LeBron James has amazing physical attributes!

His chase-down blocks are an absolute nightmare for guards across the league when they're on the fast break. This guy has terrifying physical attributes, an amazing sense of smell for blocking shots, and his size is comparable to the pressure of some interior players. His chase-down blocks are truly impossible to defend against.

Rose also fell into James's trap right from the start, with James blocking his sure-fire layup.

"We'll see, Pippen!" Rose turned to look at James and immediately launched into a trash talk.

James remained unmoved, neither changing his expression nor responding. Instead, he gestured for his teammates to hurry up and dribbled the ball slowly across the court.

"The Bobcats' first offensive play was clearly planned. Lin had Rose go fast, to drive to the basket, to exploit the Mavericks' slow interior speed. I think the Bobcats will be pushing the pace like crazy all night, completely outpacing them," Miller quickly began his analysis after James' block.

"But they certainly didn't expect James to come out with such a frightening defensive stance right from the start, hitting them with a chase-down block right off the bat," Jackson continued. "It seems James wasn't affected by the comments at all!"

In the first possession, the Mavericks also employed their signature offensive strategy.

James initiated a pick-and-roll at the top of the key, and Nowitzki set a screen for him.

One of these two players possesses an incredibly wide field of vision, along with immense impact and the ability to tear apart defenses; the other, while having average physical attributes, has a shooting range that covers the entire half of the court without any blind spots.

The compatibility between the two of them when it comes to pick-and-roll is so good that it's no exaggeration to say they're the best in the league right now!
However, this time the situation was a bit special, and even James himself was taken aback.

Because after the pick-and-roll, he was completely left open!

Hayward and Boozer both chased after Nowitzki.

LeBron James! The league's top star has somehow been given a huge amount of space that even he feels uneasy about.

James even spent a fraction of a second considering whether there was a conspiracy involved. Then he suddenly took off and charged towards the paint.

With such a large gap, what kind of conspiracy could they possibly have? Could they possibly scatter nails on the road?

As it turned out, scattering nails was impossible, but DeRozan's help defense arrived swiftly. He immediately stood in front of James, preventing him from charging forward. However, all DeRozan could do was slightly reduce James's momentum.

If he could have stopped James, he wouldn't have suffered psychological trauma from James's beatings later on.

However, James did not force a drive against him. Instead, after a collision, he passed the ball to Butler on the other side, who was being selectively left out by DeRozan. Butler caught the ball outside the three-point line, pulled up and shot.

"Boom!"

Unfortunately, Butler, who shot 40% from three-point range in the first two games of the series, missed his first wide-open three-pointer tonight.

Yao Ming grabbed the rebound, glanced at the ball, and immediately passed it to Rose, who was preparing for a fast break. Rose received the ball and accelerated wildly without hesitation, pushing the ball back to the frontcourt in the blink of an eye.

These two rounds make it easy to determine the Bobcats' offensive strategy for this game.

fast!
Even with Yao Ming and Carlos Boozer as their two inside players, they still need to push the pace to the extreme from the very beginning of the game!
“I can understand the Lynx’s strategy, but shouldn’t they do it when the Twin Towers are out of the game, waiting for them to go down?” Miller found it hard to understand Lin Tian’s reasoning.

"But if the twin towers on this side go down, the Mavericks will probably switch to a smaller lineup. The Mavericks also have a versatile swingman like Marion who can play the 4 or even the 5 position. Johnson isn't the type to be slow to react."

Miller quickly said, "If you substitute the twin towers, he'll bring on Marion! That's why Odom didn't perform well in the first two games."

“In previous matches, Odom mainly relied on opponents who were faster than him but shorter, and taller than him but slower, giving him a significant advantage in his matchups. But now that he's matched up against Marion, who is almost always at the same level as him, Odom's advantages have completely vanished!”

"Lin must know now that playing like this is a waste of Yao and Boozer's offensive abilities, but on the other hand, he can also wear down the Mavericks' Nowitzki."

"This kind of play is like hurting the enemy 1000 while losing 800 of your own! Lin has chosen a path of attrition against the Mavericks in this game! Let's see if Lin's move will work!"

"After all, although the Mavericks' interior defense is slow, their perimeter trio is just as fast and defensively capable!"

Rose stormed to the frontcourt like lightning. This time, he hadn't learned his lesson at all. He didn't care that he had just been blocked, and once again aggressively invaded the Mavericks' interior.

Stevenson was no match for Rose's speed, and he could only look back and hope that his teammates could catch up with him.

Unfortunately, although James tried his best to chase and defend, he couldn't catch up with Rose this time.

After all, it's impossible for James to make a chase-down block on every fast break, right?
It would be a miracle if he could do something that even Lin Tian couldn't.

After Rose's layup opened the scoring for the game, both teams quickly got into the game and started scoring frequently, preventing the scoring drought from lasting too long.

The Bobcats played according to Lin Tian's pre-game plan. On offense, Rose pushed the ball, and Hayward and DeRozan followed up, looking for opportunities in transition and fast breaks. They hoped to exhaust Nowitzki and Haywood's stamina.

On the defensive end, they double-teamed Nowitzki, guarded James one-on-one, and tried to prevent him from getting open shots.

Regardless of the Mavericks' pre-game strategy, once the game started, James, lured by the Bobcats, began to dominate, often being one-on-one guarded and even left open at times.

He would rush to the basket whenever he had the chance to challenge Yao Ming's defense, and occasionally he would take a shot directly after getting an open opportunity.

However, his shooting touch wasn't exceptional tonight, and his attempts at mid-to-long range weren't very effective.

Then, less than 5 minutes into the game, Lin Tian made the first substitution. He replaced his twin towers in the paint with Odom and Williams, two players with the size of a power forward and the agility of a small forward. These two are the type that are generally not very effective against speed-type small forwards, but they can be effective against power-type small forwards or skill-type power forwards from time to time.

That would be a perfect match for Nowitzki and James!
Actively reduce the playing time of the twin towers, fully increase the speed, and compete with the Mavericks in terms of firepower and mobility!
After acquiring these two players, the Bobcats' offense became immediately effective. Odom's passing and drive-the-ball abilities greatly helped the Bobcats. He grabbed two defensive rebounds and immediately passed the ball to the team to quickly advance the ball. Both times, the offense was launched during the transition between offense and defense, resulting in points.

But they only managed to launch a counterattack in those two rounds.

Because Johnson's changes were really quick. Less than a minute after Lin Tian put on this mini-inside duo, he also made substitutions, replacing Stevenson and Haywood with Marion and Terry.

You play mini-five, I'll play too!

Once these two players entered the game, the Mavericks' mobility and speed immediately improved, along with their shooting range and offensive capabilities.

Just by talking about his ball-handling and offensive abilities, Terry is definitely All-Star caliber. Although Marion's glory days are over and his shooting touch is far from what it used to be, he is still a top-notch cutter and pick-and-roll specialist.

When he ran pick-and-rolls with James, his speed made him unpredictable. When James ran pick-and-rolls with Nowitzki, Marion's ghostly movement and accurate floaters near the basket after receiving the ball were equally unpredictable.

After these two players entered the game, the Mavericks immediately turned the tide. They had just been slightly outmatched by the Bobcats, but they quickly caught up, and the two sides began another fierce back-and-forth battle.

Throughout the first quarter, both coaches displayed a remarkably high level of skill. When one coach substituted a center, the other did the same; when one coach brought in a highly mobile forward, the other did the same. The targeted adjustments made by the two coaches in the latter part of the first quarter were also memorable.

For example, if Lin Tian brings in Jeremy Lin to increase the ball-handling options, the other side will immediately substitute Barea to use his speed to exploit Jeremy Lin's average lateral movement.

For example, as soon as Johnson picked up veteran Peja, Lin Tian immediately had DeRozan sit on him for several games in a row, taking advantage of Peja's age and slow movement.

The two sides traded blows, keeping the commentators thoroughly entertained. They all agreed that this match showcased the peak performance of both teams, with players and coaches giving their best and the game being evenly matched!
At the end of the first quarter, the Bobcats, playing at home, still held the advantage, scoring 35 points and leading the Mavericks by 4 points going into the second quarter.

"The Bobcats played really well tonight! The whole team was on the go, constantly launching counterattacks by taking advantage of their multiple ball-handling points, multiple playmakers, and multiple players who can advance the ball. Their efficiency was quite high, and they also scored a lot of points through offensive and defensive transitions."

Miller quickly analyzed during the break: "Lin has met his match! The Mavericks' roster is truly without any weaknesses. Let's look forward to how the Bobcats will turn the game around."

Jackson added, "I think the most exciting part of the first quarter was James's resurgence. His performance in the first quarter was simply perfect! From scoring to passing to defense, if it weren't for his two chase-down blocks, the Bobcats would have had 40 points by now!"

"Of course, James performed quite well in the first half of the first two games, but he always seemed to struggle in the second half. So what about tonight? Can James maintain his amazing performance throughout the entire game? Let's wait and see!" (End of Chapter)