Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 316 When the Jordan Rule Fails
2 to 2, the Cavaliers and the Heat will once again face off in a decisive battle.

The reason I say "again" is because the two teams have already experienced this once last season.

And at this time last year, also in Miami, the Heat defeated the Cavaliers and got the match point.

In that game, Hansen scored 51 points.

It is foreseeable that this game will be more intense than any other game in the series.

The Eastern Conference Finals has already reached a fever pitch. In comparison, the situation in the Western Conference Finals is clearer.

The Warriors won the Lakers' second home game, and the score has reached 3 to 1.

If nothing unexpected happens, the Warriors will be the first to enter the finals.

The Heat's chances of winning the championship are also increasing.

“We’ll get it done.”

During the off-season open training, when Riley was interviewed by reporters, he was confident about the upcoming decisive battle.

"Pat Riley's confident look is puzzling. No one on their team can handle Han Sen. I think they are likely to lose the decisive battle."

The media naturally also paid attention to this kind of focus battle, and O'Neal questioned Riley's remarks.

"I don't care what he says because he's been out of the league for so long, he doesn't understand basketball now."

When the time came for the decisive game, Riley responded to the former Heat player in front of reporters.

Riley is a "calculator" and a "devil", but he must not be the real "Godfather" because Michael Corleone would never treat his former friend like that.

On the night of the game, the American Airlines Arena was packed with fans and a large number of fans gathered outside the arena.

This year, Heat fans' desire for victory is no less than that of Cavaliers fans.

In fact, on the night the Cavaliers stayed at the hotel, the police arrested an extreme fan in the hotel who tried to pretend to be a ghost to scare the Cavaliers players.

This can't help but remind people of the Combs of the past. The lives of the people of Florida are always so different.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were announced one after another.

Heat: Dragic, Wade, Durant, Deng, Gasol

Cavaliers: Irving, JR, Hansen, Tucker, Jokic
Riley returned to the previous starting lineup, but after the opening, Wade faced off against Irving on the defensive end.

The Heat's offense is overflowing, and there is nothing wrong with Riley limiting Irving by sacrificing some of his offense to switch defense.

When Hansen broke through with the ball, he was triple-teamed for the first time. He passed the ball to Tucker in the corner, who made a three-pointer. The next time, he was fouled hard by West and sent to the free throw line.

Gradually, Riley's ultimate defensive strategy emerged: use Wade to limit Irving and use Jordan's rule to lock down Hansen.

As Malone began to find weaknesses in the Heat's defense, Riley began to do the same.

Compared to the Heat's multi-point offensive team style, the Cavaliers' one-star team is much easier to target.

Because it is essentially a tactic centered around super singles players. As long as two singles players are locked down, it will be difficult for the remaining players to compete with the Heat even if they can seize some opportunities.

Halfway through the game, the Heat were already leading the Cavaliers by nearly double digits, 16 to 8.

When the Cavaliers once again advanced to the frontcourt, the defensive shouts at the scene were deafening.

This is the first time in the series that the Heat have had such an advantageous start.

They have seen the championship beckoning to them.

Hansen asked Jokic to start playing off-ball pick-and-roll.

Irving's pass came at the right time. After receiving the ball, Hansen took a step inside, then stepped back and shot from outside the three-point line.

Hansen has a three-point talent, but he uses it more as an offensive threat.

Because long shots are the way to score that requires the most shooting feel, or in other words, the most luck-dependent shot.

As strong as Curry is this season, averaging 11+ three-pointers per game, his shooting percentage dropped by 5 percentage points in the playoffs.

In contrast, the stability of mid-range and breakthrough shots is much higher.

The essence of basketball is to put the ball into the basket, and of course the more efficient the means, the better.

But since Riley has already used the Jordan Rules, Hansen certainly needs to make some changes as well.

Han Sen's adjustment was very sudden. The Heat obviously had no time to react. Gasol didn't dare to rush forward, and his shot was hardly disturbed.

"Shh!"

Han Sen made his first three-pointer of the night with a swift move.

Riley didn't react, forcing Hansen to take a long shot, which was half the battle for the Heat's defense.

And Durant quickly responded with a mid-range shot.

Because Irving was restricted by Wade, Malone had replaced Tucker on the defensive end to defend Durant.

Durant proved one thing with his actions, that he is now the second best player in the league after Hansen.

Han Sen could indeed limit his performance, and he couldn't even score as many points as Han Sen, but no one else could handle him except Han Sen.

And this is also the kind of situation he is best at. He doesn't have to worry about defense or organization. He just needs to concentrate on wielding the Grim Reaper's scythe.

Hansen continued to set pick-and-roll with Jokic in the frontcourt, but this time Deng bypassed Jokic's pick-and-roll.

It seems that Han Sen needs to give this kid some special training in pick-and-roll this summer.

Other European white bears have basic skills in pick-and-roll, but this guy is a special case.

After receiving the ball, Hansen did not play one-on-one against Deng directly, but signaled Jokic to go to the three-point line again and then passed the ball to him.

Then he started to cut in.

Deng followed Han Sen and retreated, but Han Sen suddenly turned around and ran back to the three-point line.

Jokic's basketball IQ is indeed high. He was originally holding the ball and preparing to pass it inside, but he quickly caught up with Hansen's rhythm. After the ball was passed, he passed it to Hansen and blocked Gasol who might rush out.

Han Sen received the ball, turned around and shot a three-pointer with little interference.

When the basketball went through the net again, Riley finally couldn't sit still anymore.

The essence of the Jordan Rule is to do everything possible to prevent the opponent from scoring, including but not limited to double-teaming and fouling.

Even when Jordan was at his peak, he would still be limited by this kind of defense.

But when Hansen made two consecutive three-pointers, Riley realized the biggest difference between Hansen and Jordan: Hansen can shoot three-pointers!
No, judging by his performance this season, he is not just able to do it, but is very good at it.

This expertise is not just about accurate shooting. Take Hansen's past two rounds as an example. He did not force shots after holding the ball and playing one-on-one, but was constantly looking for the best three-point shooting opportunities.

Long-range shots are definitely not as stable as mid-range shots and breakthrough shots, but Han Sen is trying his best to minimize that instability.

And this also captures the weakness of the Jordan Rule, because whether it is a double team or a foul, you first have to have reaction time.

But the three-point line is so large that it's hard to do that.

Unless all your players defend the three-point line, that will make your restricted area defense completely out of control.

Although Hansen didn't make every shot even with the best chances, when Hansen made his third three-pointer on his fourth try, Riley reached out and called a timeout.

During the timeout, this "devil" who had experienced countless ups and downs in the league, who always liked to wear a slicked-back hair, a neat suit, and dressed himself up like a "Godfather", felt as if the priest opposite him had pulled out a pistol and said to him, "Sir, times have changed."

Riley is certainly not like Barkley, who is unwilling to face the development of basketball and believes that "jump shots can't win championships." On the contrary, he is the first "prophet" to propose that basketball will eventually develop into five forwards.

But that doesn't mean he can accept the reality that Jordan can shoot three-pointers like Reggie Miller.

Every player has technical weaknesses, but Han Sen now makes it completely impossible for him to do anything about it.

After the timeout, Riley replaced Gasol with West.

This is a basketball ultimate lineup that is very close to the "five outsiders" in his mind, but it was not his intention to put it up.

Because when the Cavaliers' offense advanced to the frontcourt, the Heat players all defended one step inside the three-point line.

Following Curry this season, Hansen became the second person to enjoy this defensive treatment.

Before Hansen could reach out, Jokic cut to the basket immediately after the pick-and-roll.

Han Sen's hand shook and the ball came into his hands. He dribbled the ball and performed a two-handed dunk.

After the dunk, he was there shouting excitedly:
"My horse!"

It can be seen that Jokic really wants that horse.

Riley stood on the sidelines, holding his chin with his hand and looking more serious than ever.

Jokic is not strong, at least now he can't even rank in this level of confrontation.

But the key point is that the presence of Hansen and Irving diverted all the defensive attention of the Heat, and there was really no extra defense to use on him.

After all, he is a big center, and a big center with a high basketball IQ. He knows how to create the simplest scoring opportunities.

This was confirmed again in the next round.

Although West held off Jokic, Jokic turned around and made a layup after receiving the ball.

Although West's strenuous interference caused his first shot to miss, he easily tipped the ball in with his second shot.

If his character didn't allow it, Riley really couldn't help but scratch his slicked back hair.

He eventually signaled to the players on the court, and the Heat abandoned that defensive approach.

Just like he didn't mention tactics in the previous press conference, he would rather be defeated by Han Sen than watch a rookie wreak havoc in the interior.

Moreover, letting Hansen consume energy on the offensive end may not be a bad thing. As long as the Heat can keep the score deadlocked through offense, the situation in the final quarter will be different from the previous game.

There was nothing wrong with Riley's idea, but as the game progressed, he realized another problem: three points cost one more point than two points!
And because Hansen got into three-point shooting mode so smoothly, it allowed him to maintain a pretty good outside touch all night.

This also became the decisive factor in the Battle of Tianwang Mountain.

Although Riley did not continue to defend along the three-point line as before, he could not allow Hansen to shoot wildly from the outside.

Deng and Gasol will double-team Hansen immediately.

But this gave Jokic a chance to perform.

Because after the set of "Hansen is double-teamed on the outside → Hansen passes the ball to Jokic → Jokic breaks through and passes the ball to his open teammates" was put into operation, the Cavaliers' one-star team also vaguely turned into team basketball.

Riley sat on the sidelines without saying a word, but the more he did so, the more it showed how uneasy he was inside.

最终韩森全场三分球18中9，全场轰下45分10助攻，用一种非常库里式的方式带领骑士队以122比114击败热火队拿下了天王山之战。

This approach also made Riley lose his "Godfather" demeanor when facing reporters' questions after the game.

"You can tell me how I should defend Han."

Riley's gaffe was not unexpected.

After all, when Jordan's rules no longer work, what else can you ask him to do?
Forget about box-1, Casey has proven in previous games how unreliable that method is.

And after losing the crucial decisive battle, the Heat are already trailing 2-3, and the next game is in Cleveland.

If we are not careful, there will only be one game left before the Heat team disintegrates and Riley retires again.

"Pat Riley thought he was still in control, but he didn't understand that he never succeeded against Jordan."

O'Neal finally got some vent for himself after the game.

The Eastern Conference Finals were unexpected, and the Western Conference Finals were also unstable.

Because just after the decisive game between the Cavaliers and the Heat, the league announced the punishment against Green.

In the previous G4 game, Green was called for a technical foul because he expressed his dissatisfaction with James' hurdles and touched James' groin with his hand.

This wouldn't have been a big deal, but Green has had a bad temper this season and has been called for six technical fouls before. According to the rules, he would be automatically suspended if he was called for one more technical foul.

Of course, when things get to this point it all depends on the league's attitude, because things like technical fouls and flagrant fouls can be upgraded or downgraded, or even canceled, by the league after the game.

In the end, the league did not cancel the technical foul, which means Green will miss Game 5.

The very next day, the Warriors without Green not only lost the game, but also the inside player Bodog was unable to carry the team alone and was directly reimbursed for the season.

Han Sen felt the situation was becoming more and more familiar. Could it be that the Lakers were going to advance to the finals?

He wanted revenge on the Warriors, but now the Warriors might be absent?
As expected, whether it is a game or a series, we really cannot say the outcome is determined until the last moment.

A day later, Game 6 of the Cavaliers and Heat series kicked off in Cleveland.

The Quicken Loans Arena was bustling with activity that day.

The Big Three of TNT appeared in the commentary booth, and even the Cavaliers owner Gilbert came to the scene with his son.

Although this is only the divisional finals, defeating the Heat means completely disintegrating the previous peak Big Three Heat. Just thinking about this kind of thing is exciting.

(End of this chapter)