Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 345 Hansen is killing Nike's future

When the matchup between Jokic and Howard went from being completely suppressed to exploding into each other, the situation on the court changed fundamentally.

Because the Bulls will not give Howard too many low-post singles opportunities, Hoiberg essentially just wants to use Jokic as a breakthrough point.

After the tactic failed, it was impossible for him to bet the team's offense on Howard's relatively inefficient inside offense.

Moreover, without a star-studded lineup, Howard's ability to handle the ball when faced with a double-team is also average.

But on the other hand, on the Cavaliers side, Hansen can safely feed the ball to Jokic, because Jokic's ball handling ability is much better than Howard.

At this time, Hansen no longer needs to keep holding the ball and playing like he did at the beginning of the game, but can put more energy into defending Irving.

Although it is a bit inappropriate to say this, but as the game progresses, this game has gradually become a stage for the Cavaliers to train Jokic.

Hoiberg sat on the bench, clenched his hands and said nothing.

In fact, the Bulls are capable of competing with the Cavaliers. They have already completed the running-in process after making their way up through the regular season.

But there are two masters in the team, and neither of them is willing to give in.

If you replace Phil Jackson with this kind of team, the result will be the same.

106 to 93, the Cavaliers finally defeated the Bulls by 13 points and won their first victory in the divisional semifinals.

At the Bulls' post-game press conference, a Cleveland reporter asked Irving if he would apologize for his previous remarks.

"If my remarks hurt anyone, I will certainly apologize, but before that, I need those fans who attacked me to apologize to me first. I brought a championship to this city, but they are ungrateful."

In addition to being himself, Irving is also a very assertive person.

"This is only the first game of the series. I've been in worse situations than this. We will try our best to fight for the next game. Even if we can't do it, we will defend our home court when we return to Chicago. We will always win."

And when talking about the series situation, he also showed firm confidence.

"I've said it before, Nikola can be an All-Star, but I'm saying it now, that's just the beginning."

In the Cavaliers' post-match press conference, Hansen also tried his best to praise Jokic.

Jokic scored 18 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists tonight. The statistics are not particularly impressive, and it can be seen that Howard still has great restrictions on him.

But what is more important than the data is the scene.

The fact that the second-year Jokic was able to go head-to-head with Howard, who was at the end of his peak, in the playoffs shows that his progress has been faster than in "history."

This will give the Cavaliers an extra layer of protection against the Celtics and Warriors later on.

"I agree with DW. Sacrifice and unnecessary sacrifice are two different concepts."

Hansen also publicly expressed his support for Wade, who played well tonight and scored 21 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

"Kyrie's confidence has always been his strength, but there won't be a Game 5 in the series."

When the reporter told Hansen about Irving's previous remarks, Hansen also gave a very positive response.

Just like Wade said, dissing former teammates is not a good choice, just like dissing the team you played for.

Han Sen wouldn't do that, but he would use his own way to make Owen face reality.

Two days later, the second game of the series continued in Cleveland.

The process of the game was different from G1 because Butler played much better than in G1. He is also the kind of player who performs better in the more critical moments of the game.

However, the problems between Irving and Howard have never been resolved. The two obviously dislike each other on the court, which makes the Bulls always give people a feeling that they are unable to exert their strength.

The Cavaliers also won another game with 116 to 105, and the series score was 2 to 0.

The two teams will then move to Chicago for the next match. If what Hansen said is true, they will not return to Cleveland for this series.

"Hansen is killing Nike's future."

Just before the series between the two sides continued, an article published by NBC attracted heated discussion from the outside world.

Nike sees Antetokounmpo and Irving as the future of the brand, but now Antetokounmpo has been swept by Hansen, and Irving is about to be the next.

Of course, athletes can use marketing to establish their image and gain popularity, but that is ultimately based on their performance on the field.

Packaging without a foundation in the competition field is like a castle in the air that will fall down at the slightest kick.

The article even mentioned at the end that Nike's biggest decision mistake was allowing Irving to leave the Cavaliers.

If Irving continues to stay with the Cavaliers, Nike may not win, but it will definitely not lose.

Because the championship does not belong to one person, but to the entire team, Hansen's victory means Irving's victory.

But now, with Irving leaving the team and Jokic signing with UA, the Cavaliers have become a pure UA team.

Of course, Nike executives said they were not responsible.

Irving was a "traitor" when he was in the Cavaliers. As a Nike player who dared to say "no one wants to be teammates with James", he wanted to leave the Cavaliers. Could Nike stop him?
But in any case, this hotly debated article made the Bulls' prospects extremely pessimistic.

Hoiberg previously said that a team with DW, Butler, and Gasol cannot be considered a bad team. Then what kind of team should be considered if a team with a luxurious lineup like Irving, Butler, and Howard was swept in the end?

G3 of the series also became the most crucial game of the series at this time. If the Bulls won, they could save face for themselves and Nike, but if they lost, their morale would be completely gone and they would inevitably be swept.

The United Center for G3 was packed with people.

When Han Sen appeared at the scene and the camera turned to him, there were even a lot of boos.

What Irving said before was true. Because of Jordan's existence, the sports atmosphere in this city, especially basketball, has always been strong.

Hansen looked up and saw the No. 23 jersey hanging above the United Center, and couldn't help but recall the scene when he and Irving saw the Jordan statue.

In fact, Irving is not the only one who wants to be Jordan. Those who wear the No. 23 jersey, who doesn't want to be like Jordan?
But if Jordan was so easy to become, the statue would have been smashed by others long ago, and Hansen would not have been able to do it.

Irving will realize this.

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

There was no change on the Cavaliers, but on the Bulls side, Hoiberg took the initiative to change and replaced Gibson with Mirotic in the starting lineup.

The purpose of this adjustment was quickly revealed at the opening.

Hoiberg gave Howard more low-post singles tactics.

It is also at this time that we look at the Bulls' starting lineup: Irving, Sefolosha, Butler, and Mirotic, all of whom have three-point shooting range.

This means that the Bulls have a one-star and four-star lineup similar to the Magic's back then.

Hoiberg's adjustment was correct because Howard was the only advantage the Bulls had over Jokic.

What is surprising is that Irving seems to have no problem with this arrangement, and will look for opportunities to feed Howard the ball. If this is not a science fiction movie, then Hoiberg must have given Irving some medicine.

In fact, Hoiberg did give Irving something to eat, but it was not medicine, but a psychological strategy.

When a group has irreconcilable internal conflicts, the best approach is not to try to reconcile them, but to find an external enemy.

For Irving and Howard, the Cavaliers are that external enemy.

Hoiberg reminded them, especially Irving, of this.

In the current environment, if Irving is swept by Hansen, then his decision to leave will become the biggest joke of this season.

So what Irving is doing now is not a sacrifice, but a compromise.

As for Howard, this center with excellent shoulder width and cheetah-like cutting speed, who is very suitable for pick-and-roll, has always wanted to have a lot of singles opportunities in the low post like O'Neal.

Now that he has it, no problem can bother him.

In fact, his condition improved significantly as his confidence was restored.

Jokic's choice was very tough. He did not back down because of Howard's change. Instead, he confronted him even more forcefully.

Then, he picked up two fouls in the first quarter in a confrontation with Howard.

In the year when the Lakers won the campus championship in "history", the Lakers defeated the Nuggets in the series. There was a classic argument that Howard in his twilight years defended Jokic at his peak.

However, the reality is that Jokic was in foul trouble. Howard confronted Jokic, and Jokic responded in the same way. However, the inconsistent penalty standards cut Jokic's playing time into pieces, and he even dared not to make any confrontational moves later.

The only difference between tonight and that time is that the penalty standards are unified tonight, but the second-year Jokic still has a lot of room for improvement in controlling fouls, especially in this kind of high-confrontation game.

Jokic's departure was obviously fatal to the Cavaliers.

Because the Cavaliers' current style of play revolves around Hansen and Jokic's pick-and-roll.

This left Malone with only one option, to push TT to the five position and then substitute Wade early.

The Cavaliers returned to the one-star-four-shooting system, with scoring relying more on the personal abilities of Hansen and Wade, or three-point opportunities from breakthroughs.

This also exposed a weakness of the Cavaliers after the deal. Although the team's lineup depth increased, its tolerance for error decreased.

And unfortunately, the Cavaliers didn't have a good touch from the outside tonight.

JR and Covington couldn't put the ball into the basket.

In the 2015 playoff series between the Cavaliers and the Heat, the Cavaliers played an explosive game from the outside, and that victory was the key to their ability to drag the game into a seventh game.

In fact, even after Irving was injured in that series, the Cavaliers' ability to seize open spaces on the outside was still online.

That was also the basis for Hansen to break the playoff scoring record in the seventh game.

After all, no matter how strong you are, you can't always be alone against 1 on the court.

But bad luck doesn't always stay away from them, and they face a challenge tonight.

"This is a game for the people of Chicago, and God is on their side tonight." Kenny Smith sighed in the commentary booth.

About 7 minutes into the first quarter, the Cavaliers were trailing the Bulls 12-22.

Malone called a timeout.

He called Korver and Cunningham and prepared to replace a group of people to try.

The Cavaliers' morale was clearly low.

"I'll bring the game to when you guys get back."

It was at this time that Han Sen spoke a firm word to everyone.

Basketball is a five-person sport. All Han Sen can do is what he said, use his personal ability to stalemate the game, and then wait for his teammates to return.

Hansen is the backbone of the Cavaliers, and his words undoubtedly gave his teammates a reassurance.

When he came back from the break, Hansen's breakthrough became more determined.

The tear-drop talent that he just redeemed and trained to a bottleneck this season also provided him with more help.

Moreover, every attack of Han Sen was accompanied by a strong sense of individualism.

He would trash-talk Hoiberg on the sidelines after scoring.

"Your double team looks like an open spot to me."

He would also make a celebratory gesture to the fans on the scene after scoring a tough 2+1.

Hansen seemed to have turned into a manic blood warrior, wielding a big axe and madly harvesting in the herd of bulls.

The fans at the scene watched with bated breath. They seemed to see the No. 23 jersey hanging above the stadium returning to the court, but when they looked intently, the number 23 had become 77.

After the first quarter, Hansen scored 20 points in a single quarter, but unlike in the past, almost all of his points came from the restricted area.

The Bulls retreated, but they couldn't stop Hansen from scoring or causing damage.

A player's scoring stability always comes from this method, which is why Jordan rarely plays a bad game.

This situation continued in the second quarter.

Hansen got 18 free throws in the first half, which set a career record.

This meant that even though Jokic was in foul trouble and only shot 20% from three-point range in the first half, the Bulls were still only 46 points behind them at 51-5.

But all this changed fundamentally after returning in the second half.

As a Cavaliers team that plays a one-star and four-shooter system and has a group of shooters after the trade, they may perform poorly in the first half, but you can't expect them to not make a three-pointer throughout the game.

What's more, in the second half, Malone not only played a five-small lineup, but also put Korver and Cunningham, who were in better touch, into the starting lineup.

With Korver's consecutive three-pointers, the Cavaliers' outside firepower finally opened up.

This allowed the Cavaliers' one-star and four-shooting system to start to take effect, and the Cavaliers quickly reversed the score.

骑士队在第三节投进了7个三分球，单节打出了38比20的悬殊比分，也让他们在第三节结束时以84比71反过来领先了公牛队13分之多。

The outcome has basically been revealed at this point.

Barkley also repeated the headline of the article in the commentary booth:

"Han killed Nike's future!"

(End of this chapter)