Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 263 James's Imaginary Self

The Cavaliers' consecutive dunks caused a stir at the scene and allowed everyone to see the momentum of this young team.

Being young has its disadvantages, but of course it also has its advantages. The key lies in who is leading the team.

After Thompson made the free throw, the score on the field came to 5 to 6.

The momentum brought by the Grizzlies' perfect start has been reversed by the Cavaliers.

However, the change in momentum did not affect the comparison of the two sides' inside strength.

The Black and White Bears were at their peak, and when Han Sen was fully committed to defense, they could compete with the Heat on offense.

Gasol Jr. held the ball in the high position and went straight past Hawes to the inside, where he shot the ball high into the rebound.

This kind of suppression in the interior also affected the offensive end.

When Irving and Hawes played a pick-and-roll and successfully passed the ball to Hawes, Hawes' three-point shot from the top of the arc failed to hit.

Gasol successfully protected the long rebound and the Grizzlies had a chance to regain the momentum.

Conley controlled the ball and advanced to the frontcourt and continued to pass the ball to Gasol Jr.

This was after realizing Gasol's advantage in the interior and preparing to use this as the main breakthrough point.

Han Sen continued to retreat and assist in defense.

Wiggins also used the same trick, cutting in from the middle and taking the pass from Gasol Jr. and then taking off into the air.

But how could the same move work continuously on Hansen?

This time, Hansen paid attention to Wiggins' movements and provided assistance in advance. He jumped almost at the same time as Wiggins.

Although Wiggins tried his best to raise the basketball in his hands, he did not gain an advantage in jumping height.

The ball in his hand was hit by Hansen, and the two wrestled in the air. Finally, Hansen blocked Wiggins' head with a bloody block, knocking him to the ground.

There was an uproar at the scene.

Guy couldn't help but cover his face after seeing this scene from a distance.

He felt that he should have warned the newcomer in advance that Hansen was not DPOY but was better than DPOY last season, and challenging him was just asking for trouble.

This block also boosted the morale of the Cavaliers again.

The Grizzlies sent a sideline ball, and Conley's mid-range shot was blocked by TT and went out of the frame.

Hawes also successfully protected the defensive rebound this time.

He then demonstrated his passing ability and immediately threw the ball to Han Sen on the outside.

The Cavaliers quickly launched a defensive counterattack, and Hansen quickly advanced after receiving the ball.

But the Grizzlies' outside defense was still quick.

When Hansen rushed to the basket, Wiggins and Gay both double-teamed him.

This is not a good opportunity.

Han Sen jumped up immediately.

Wiggins and Gay both jumped up. Although Han Sen was very strong, the two of them blocked his shooting angle, making it difficult for Han Sen to score.

But just after they jumped up, their eyes widened.

Because Han Sen actually turned around in the air, and threw the ball behind his head while turning.

When they turned their heads and looked, attracted by the ball, and saw Tucker who had just followed up the fast break to the corner three-point line, they realized that Hansen was going to pass the ball!

Tucker received the ball and was unguarded. He made a three-pointer after a slight adjustment.

"Shh!"

He hit the Cavaliers' first three-pointer of the night!

8 square meters.

The Cavaliers tied the score directly.

After Guy landed, he looked at Hansen with a wry smile.

Han Sen is still the same Han Sen, who is getting stronger every year.

However, after becoming an opponent from a teammate, he also experienced the feeling of powerlessness on the defensive end.

Although he was feeling emotional, Gay did not show any mercy when he turned around. He passed the ball to Gasol Jr., and his mid-range shot after receiving the ball helped the Grizzlies stabilize the situation.

No matter how talented Wiggins is, he is just a rookie. After Hansen left, Gay became the core of the Grizzlies' outside line.

Having experienced the baptism of the dynasty journey, he is now fully capable of taking on such a role.

Stan's previous ranking of Nike's three teams and the Cavaliers caused controversy, but there is nothing wrong with the Grizzlies ranking sixth.

However, Hansen soon responded again on the offensive end. He broke through Wiggins and went into the paint to score a quick layup.

Before, Hansen passed the ball to Thompson for an alley-oop, but Randolph didn't dare to retreat too completely, so he could only watch Hansen score.

Either let Han Sen score or let Han Sen assist. The Grizzlies have no idea how to deal with Han Sen now.

In other words, Hansen's performance in these few rounds made everyone at the scene realize one thing: Wiggins simply couldn't defend him.

This is completely different from when Hansen first came to the Grizzlies. When Hansen first came, he could directly compete with top scorers like Kobe and Durant.

In fact, Wiggins has excellent dynamic and static talents. Talent determines the defensive lower limit. Coupled with his defensive enthusiasm, his defense cannot be considered bad.

It's a pity that he faced Hansen in his first game of his career. Just like Guy said, this kid was a little too unlucky.

The Grizzlies responded quickly, with Conley holding the ball at the top of the arc, running a pick-and-roll with Gasol Jr., then using his speed advantage to get over Hawes and make a layup.

However, at the moment the ball touched the backboard, Hansen also retreated to the basket and directly blocked Conley's shot.

Less than five minutes into the game, Hansen had already blocked two shots!
This not only made the Cavaliers' bench crazy again, but also made the TNT Big Three in the commentary booth excited.

"If averaging 2.9 steals and 1.5 blocks per game is still not enough to make you elected DPOY, then try again and do better than before!" Barkley shouted there.

In fact, it can be clearly felt that the Cavaliers' defense is not on the same level as the Grizzlies, especially in the interior.

Hawes's defensive performance in the opening game fully illustrates the difference between defensive statistics and defensive ability.

But it is precisely because of that that Hansen needs to do more on the defensive end and his presence will be stronger.

"Michael Heisley did the stupidest thing. If it were me, I would not send Hansen away even if someone pointed a gun at my head." O'Neal was complaining about Heisley.

At this time, Heisley no longer had the excitement he had after Wiggins' dunk, because Hansen was constantly destroying the value of the Grizzlies with his performance, just as he said when he got the ring: "You will regret not selling the team in the summer."

Yes, the old guys of the Grizzlies are still performing well, but that doesn't increase the value of the Grizzlies. Rookies like Wiggins and Noel are the key.

And the destruction continues.

After completing the block, Hansen grabbed the defensive rebound, turned around and quickly advanced with the ball.

When he made a breakthrough after reaching the three-point line in the frontcourt, the Grizzlies' defensive players almost instinctively gathered towards him.

It's not that they lost their defensive judgment, but Hansen could easily break through Wiggins, and if they didn't do so, they could only watch Hansen score.

But what Han Sen did the next second made them open their eyes wide again.

Han Sen made a fake move of breaking through with the ball in one hand, and then threw the ball directly from one end of the half court to the bottom corner at the other end.

This kind of pass across the half court and through the defender is the most difficult, because you not only need to have a good enough vision, but also a good enough passing accuracy.

But Hansen not only successfully passed the ball, but also swung the ball so that Tucker didn't even have to bend down to catch it.

The biggest benefit of this is that when Gay reacted and rushed back immediately, he still failed to interfere with Tucker's shot.

"Shh!"

Tucker's three-pointer from the corner hit again.

Battier's three-pointer from the corner is the best in the league. Tucker shook his hand to show that he is also good at smoking in the corner!

This also forced Joerger to reach out and call a timeout.

If the defensive problem of Hansen cannot be solved, the Grizzlies will not be able to limit the offense of the Cavaliers.

"Well done!" Ma Long walked to the technical desk and high-fived Han Sen, his face filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Four years ago, Han Sen was just a 3D player, but now Han Sen is incredibly strong!
After the timeout, Gasol Jr.'s turnaround hook shot in the low post caused a foul by Hawes, and he made both free throws to help the Grizzlies stabilize their formation.

Then when he returned to the defensive end, Joerger showed his defensive adjustment. He adjusted Gasol's defensive position to inside the free throw line.

In terms of the ability to protect the restricted area, Gasol is obviously a level stronger than Randolph, but he was kept on the three-point line by Hawes after the opening.

Letting him shrink now is also a risk that Joerger took after seeing that Hawes was not in good form.

It turned out that his risk was worthwhile, because when Hansen suddenly passed the ball to Hawes, the latter's second three-point attempt tonight still ended in failure.

And looking back, when Hawes was helping defend Randolph, he received his second defensive foul of the night and was substituted out.

There was cheers from the fans at the scene.

Less than half a quarter into the game, the Cavaliers' starting center was forced to leave the game, which is definitely good news.

After all, no matter how strong Hansen is, he can't play in the interior, and if the interior is lost, the Cavaliers will be on the verge of collapse.

However, when they saw the substitute center coming on, the cheers gradually died down.

Although not well-known among the top picks, Bagnani is obviously much more famous than Hoyes.

After all, he was the team leader of the Raptors.

At this time, the camera also turned to the Cavaliers' head coach Mike Malone.

You have Bargnani but you let Hawes start?
Malone looks very calm in the camera.

In fact, whether it is Hoyes or Bargnani, their biggest role in the team's tactical system is the high artillery position.

So it doesn't matter who starts. The reason why Hawes is used is because he is younger and more durable.

In fact, after Hawes missed his second three-pointer, Malone was ready to replace him even if he didn't get a second foul.

If one artillery battery doesn't work, then naturally we'll try another one.

This is thanks to Griffin's efforts this summer, which gave Malone enough room to display his talents.

Randolph made both free throws, the score came to 13 to 14, and the Grizzlies took the lead again.

Hansen directly advanced to the frontcourt with the ball. At this time, the Cavaliers' frontcourt position changed.

Tucker moved from the weak side corner to the strong side corner, while Irving moved to the weak side corner.

The benefit of this adjustment is that the number of players on the weak side is reduced, so when opportunities arise they will not be disrupted so quickly by help defense.

Hansen held the ball with one hand, and after the space was opened up, he dribbled past Wiggins again.

Wiggins defended very hard this time, and it can be seen from his eyes and body movements that he was holding back his strength.

But the result was that he wanted to defend Han Sen so much that his body followed Han Sen's rhythm but his feet did not, and he was knocked to the ground by Han Sen's change of direction!

In fact, if you ask Wiggins about his motivation for tonight's game, the dunk at the beginning can tell it all.

As the No. 1 pick, who would want to be used as a bargaining chip on draft night? Even if the trade target is Han Sen.

But obviously, wanting to do something and being able to do it are two different things.

Han Sen is not James. He can really lock you down on defense, and he can also overpower you on offense without any pick-and-roll.

At this time, your efforts are simply not worth mentioning in the face of the gap in strength.

The Grizzlies' defense was forced to converge on Hansen again, as if Hansen really had some kind of gravity.

At this moment, Hansen caught the position of Bargnani and threw the ball to the 45° angle on the weak side.

Although they are both artillery positions, Bargnani is a veteran who has played in the league for many years after all, and he has much more experience than Hawes.

After seeing the team's offensive position change, he consciously moved to a 45-degree angle, which not only opened up more offensive space for Hansen, but also gave him better shooting space when he received the ball.

In fact, after he received the pass from Hansen, Gasol Jr. gave up diving to defend and turned around to grab the rebound.

It's not that his willpower to defend has weakened, but that it's simply too late.

Bargnani had plenty of time to adjust his shot.

"Shh!"

The sound of the ball passing through the net rang out again. The Grizzlies players looked visibly frustrated, and the scene was restless.

The Grizzlies proved in last season's playoffs that what they fear most is their opponents' three-pointers, and the Cavaliers have already hit three three-pointers in more than half a quarter tonight!
Although all of Hoyes' outside shot attempts missed, there were always others who were in good form.

This is the Cavaliers' one-star and four-shooter system, an offensive point strong enough to attract double-teaming, and the rest is to let the people with a good touch take the shot.

And then Bargnani also demonstrated his defensive confrontation ability in the low post.

When he first entered the league, Bargnani's draft template was Nowitzki, but it was later proved that his shooting talent was far from that level, so he was forced to gain weight and transform into a high-altitude center.

Gaining weight has increased his chances of injury to some extent, but it has also given him better low-post defensive capabilities.

Not only did he block Gasol's attack, he also touched Gasol's shot and then successfully caught the falling basketball.

Although he was a substitute, Bargnani's performance after coming on was quite good.

What’s more important is that after making the three-pointer just now, even if Gasol didn’t want to, the defense had to stand further outside.

This prevented the Grizzlies' defense from shrinking when Hansen broke through.

Hansen seized the opportunity to advance into the inside, pulled the ball high and performed a tomahawk slam dunk.

"Oh!"

A huge muffled sound came through the loudspeaker, and the scene became restless.

This was his second dunk in this quarter!
Han Sen's stats for tonight were already shown on the large LED screen at the scene: 6 points, 4 assists, and 2 blocks.

The Cavaliers only scored a total of 18 points on the field, including the 3 three-pointers made by the Cavaliers, which means that every score of the Cavaliers was related to Hansen!
"I'm thinking about a question, did Han's previous time on the Grizzlies suppress his personal performance?" At this moment, Kenny Smith asked a thought-provoking question in the commentary booth.

Hansen's sacrifices in the Grizzlies were visible to the naked eye, and his explosive statistics in his last season with the Grizzlies were the best proof of this.

But even in the last season, Hansen's ball possession rate was actually not high.

But tonight, especially in the past period, Hansen fully demonstrated how terrible things would happen when the ball was concentrated on him alone.

"I don't know the answer to that question, but I would say this is how LeBron imagines himself playing!"

Barkley's life is not going well.

(End of this chapter)