Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 369: The Second Year of Bede, the Emperor’s Personal Expedition

Rose returned to the Cavaliers the next day and began rehabilitation treatment with the help of team doctors.

It was clear that he had given up on retiring.

Ma Long couldn't help but give Han Sen a thumbs up. It seemed that there was nothing in the world that Han Sen couldn't handle.

After dealing with the Rose issue, Malone also began training new tactics.

He won't be included in the game right away, it will take time.

Time flies and it is early December, and the first month of the new season has come to an end.

The Cavaliers played a total of 11 games in November and achieved a record of 15 wins and 10 losses.

Including the opening game, they now have an 11-5 record, behind the Celtics and Bucks, ranking third in the Eastern Conference.

The Bucks made a trade in early November in which they sent Greg Monroe, a future protected first-round pick and a second-round pick to the Suns in exchange for Eric Bledsoe.

After acquiring Lopez in the offseason, their roster was lacking a point guard of above-average quality, and they finally got him.

Bledsoe has averaged 20+4+6 per game for the Suns in the past two seasons. Although he is only 1 meters tall, he has explosive physical fitness, can break through and shoot, and is good at both offense and defense.

Thanks to these two trades, the Bucks have become a strong team in the Eastern Conference.

Behind the Cavaliers are the 76ers who are chasing closely.

The biggest improvement Butler brings to the 76ers is their performance in critical moments.

A group of newcomers need a 2-meter-tall veteran to lead them. This is not just talk.

This also made Embiid full of confidence.

“I feel like I’m the best player in the world.”

Just like Kuzma learned to wear the crown himself, Embiid also followed James' example and called himself the best in the world.

You can hardly say they didn't do it on purpose.

But Embiid has the confidence to say this.

He averaged 27.5 points, 13.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.9 blocks per game this season!

Remember, this is only his second season in the NBA.

And it's not surprising that he would say that, Kuzma is called "the next Hansen" because of his identity as a LeBron hater, and Embiid also has a similar title, but he is not a LeBron hater, but because of his big mouth.

Since entering the league in 2014, Embiid's actions on Twitter are no less impressive than those of Hansen.

As early as when he first entered the league in 2014, Embiid took the lead in launching an offensive against Kim Kardashian.

He also wanted to test the depth of the NBA's strongest defensive player, but unfortunately Kardashian had no interest in her little brother.

After that, he turned his target to Rihanna and continued to publicly express his love for her. The sentence "Rihanna is seriously considering Embiid's offer" made him popular on Twitter.

Rihanna also responded on Twitter, just like Scarlett Johansson did back then, saying that as long as Embiid makes the All-Star Game, she would consider dating him.

And based on his performance this year, Embiid's selection to the All-Star Game is basically a foregone conclusion.

With promotion, salary increase and marriage to a beautiful, rich and beautiful woman just around the corner, it would be inappropriate for him not to feel inflated.

When it came to December, Malone was finally ready to officially put the tactics he had been training for half a month into the game, and their first opponent in December was the 12ers.

Ma Long's thinking is the same as before. Tactics are only effective if they can stand the test of strong confrontations.

The game was played at the Cavaliers' home court, and the 76ers arrived in Cleveland the day before the game.

On this day, a report from NBC attracted strong attention from the outside world.

"I killed a lion when I was 6 years old. Han should be afraid of me."

This quote came from an interview when Embiid arrived in Cleveland for open training.

When the two teams played against each other, such verbal attacks broke out, and they came from Embiid, who is known for his big mouth, which greatly increased the highlights of the game.

As for Embiid's original words written in the report, "I hunted a lion when I was 6 years old and brought it back to the village to complete my coming-of-age ceremony. I never knew what fear was. If there was any fear, it was that my opponents were afraid of me," it doesn't seem so important, after all, they both studied journalism.

The Quicken Loans Arena was packed that night.

The media's journalistic coverage has got Cleveland fans excited tonight.

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

Cavaliers: Hansen, Korver, Covington, TT, Jokic
76ers: Simmons, Butler, Crowder, Saric, Embiid
Embiid jumped to win the ball for the 76ers, and he also backed up against TT in the high position at the beginning of the game.

After feeding the ball in, Simmons took Hansen through Embiid's back door, and then Embiid started a low-post back-to-the-basket shot amid the boos of Cleveland fans.

In the small ball era, centers are declining. Players like Davis and Towns are essentially power forwards. The only ones who can truly be called top centers are Jokic and Embiid.

2米13的身高2米28的臂展，再搭配127公斤的体重，恩比德看起来就是一个古典低位野兽。

But when he really started to play low-post one-on-one, the style suddenly changed.

After giving TT some resistance, he immediately turned around and made a turnaround jump shot.

The way he played was basically the same as Towns', so it's no wonder that he and Towns became the biggest enemies in "history".

TT made a fierce save on this ball, but the height difference allowed Embiid to ignore him and complete the shot.

The basketball fell into the pocket, and Embiid showed his top-notch soft touch as a big man.

The referee's whistle sounded at this time, and TT was called for a foul because he dived too hard.

After scoring the goal, Embiid smiled, then raised his hands and waved them inward, signaling for the audience to boo louder.

Although their playing styles are similar, Embiid's personality is much more extroverted than Towns.

Character determines destiny, which also destined his career achievements to be higher than Towns.

Embiid also made the free throw steadily, scoring 3 points in a row at the beginning.

Han Sen advanced to the front court, and that was when the new tactics began.

Hansen reached out and Jokic went for a three-point pick-and-roll.

This looked like the same pick-and-roll tactic as before, but the difference was that Jokic was blocking the opponent, and Hansen was not in a hurry to launch an attack, but dribbled the ball to create some distance.

Immediately afterwards, Jokic moved Simmons to the basket, and after reaching the low post, he began to ask for the ball with his back to the basket.

During the entire process, Korver and Covington remained in the two bottom corners, while TT was completely at the bottom.

This created two mismatch opportunities on the court, Hansen versus Embiid, and Jokic versus Simmons.

The Cavaliers' tactics went smoothly. Hansen observed the defense and then changed direction to break through Embiid and took a mid-range shot from the free throw line.

It was obvious that Embiid could not keep up with Hansen, and because of Jokic's offensive threat in the low post, the 76ers could not defend inside and could only rely on wing players to make up for it.

But Han Sen's attack was resolute, leaving them no time or opportunity to make up for it.

The only pity was that Han Sen's touch wasn't there at the beginning of the game and the ball hit the back edge of the basket and bounced out.

However, Jokic had already turned around and successfully tipped in Saric, which caused whistles and cheers from the audience. Saric was suppressed by Jokic and couldn't even jump.

Saric is a space-type power forward. With a weight of 100 kg, he is like a baby in front of Jokic, who weighs 120 kg.

The 76ers continued to use Embiid's low-post tactics, but this time Hansen suddenly turned around halfway after following Simmons and directly cut the ball from Embiid's hands.

The Cavaliers quickly launched a defensive counterattack, and Hansen used a phantom step to get past Butler and finish the game in a fast break.

"Han is far more terrifying than a lion!"

Barkley made a joke in the commentary booth.

The 76ers adjusted their offensive tactics, and Embiid began to play pick-and-roll tactics for Simmons, but Hansen completely let Simmons double-team Embiid.

When Simmons was drafted, he was called "the next James". Facts have proved that the media rarely understood the ball, because Simmons is really like James, he can't shoot, he can only attack the basket.

When Han Sen was defending, he just let him play on the outside.

Embiid was forced to stop the ball due to this double-team, but fortunately he was experienced this time and raised the ball above his head in advance, so he was not intercepted by Hansen again.

The 76ers' ball was dead, and Butler moved over to receive the ball. Embiid immediately set up a pick-and-roll wall on the spot, and Butler made a mid-range shot with his cover.

When Butler first came, there was a lot of friction between him and Embiid, but now it seems that they are getting along quite well.

5:4.

The competitiveness shown by the 76ers is indeed strong.

Hansen continued to play pick-and-roll with Jokic, and also created singles after a mismatch.

But the change is that after realizing that his touch at the beginning was not very good, he quickly broke through to the basket after the pick-and-roll.

Although it was no longer a mid-range shot, Hansen's dribbling center of gravity was low, which made his breakthrough speed very fast, and the 76ers' wing players still had no time to retreat.

At this time, Jokic turned around and blocked Saric in the opposite direction. Hansen broke into the three-second zone and jumped into the air for a violent slam dunk.

The Quicken Loans Arena was instantly boiling with many fans standing up and shouting excitedly.

They don't know about the Cavaliers' tactical adjustments, but what they can see is that the Cavaliers' positional offense tonight looks simpler than in the past, but also more efficient!

The 76ers' head coach is Brett Brown, who is part of "The Process" and has been the 2013ers' head coach since 76.

The reason why he was not fired like Hinkie is because he is a typical Popovich-style coach and he has something in his head.

He had noticed the change in the Cavaliers' tactics and stood up from the bench and went to the sidelines to make tactical gestures on the court.

The 76ers continued to use Embiid's low-post tactics in the frontcourt, but this time the person feeding the ball changed from Simmons to Butler.

Although Butler's three-point shooting is not outstanding, it is much better than Simmons. This allows him to not have to go through the back door like Simmons after feeding the ball, but just stand in place to create space.

Embiid continued to back down TT, and this time he showed off his dream footwork, shaking off TT's defense and heading for the basket.

It is not known whether Embiid really killed a lion at the age of 6, but what is certain is that he started playing basketball when he was 16 years old. He then taught himself Olajuwon's dream footwork through videos. He also has a super soft touch and his basketball talent can be seen with the naked eye.

But his shot didn't go in because Hansen returned to the basket.

When Simmons didn't have the ball, he went to the weak side, but there was no space at all and he couldn't create space on the weak side.

The pick-and-roll between Simmons and Embiid with the ball can easily put Embiid into a double-team, and when Simmons doesn't have the ball... it's the same.

Embiid wanted to use his height to tip in the ball, but Hansen's bounce speed was much faster than his and he grabbed the defensive rebound right in front of him.

However, Hansen was in the interior, and the Cavaliers' current lineup could not launch a fast break, so both sides moved to the frontcourt again.

It was at this time that the 76ers' defense changed.

Originally, Embiid was defending Jokic for the 76ers, but now it was Saric who took over.

Embiid's defensive area is not as large as Davis', and he cannot return once he leaves the restricted area.

Especially since TT has no shooting range, Embiid can stay in the restricted area to play his restricted area defense ability.

This adjustment seemed fine, but Hansen immediately signaled to move away and let Jokic take position in the high position.

Embiid stayed in the penalty area, and the person defending Jokic became Saric.

Fans have already seen the scene of the two players confronting each other under the basket just now. This is a natural mismatch.

Hansen passed the ball in, and Jokic didn't rush to attack after getting the ball.

He held the ball with one hand above his head, then turned his head left and right to observe the 76ers' defensive formation.

He even waited two seconds before launching his attack.

These two seconds really show his basketball IQ, because the NBA has a defensive three-second rule, and Embiid cannot stay under the basket all the time.

These two seconds force Embiid to make a choice: move to his side to double-team him, or move to the other side to avoid the three-second defense.

After seeing Embiid move to the other side, Jokic directly confronted Saric, forcing the opponent to lower his center of gravity, and then used his elbow to open a path and break through.

At this time, Saric could no longer threaten Jokic, and Embiid was too late to come over, so Jokic easily scored a layup.

Brown's expression at this moment was somewhat helpless.

These two points of the Cavaliers are difficult to defend in themselves, and now the Cavaliers are also using mismatched one-on-ones, which simply leaves no way for the opponent to survive.

And the most important thing is that these two people are too good at handling the ball, and they can't be dealt with by simple double-teaming.

To put it in a less appropriate way, he would rather the Cavaliers had Embiid rather than Jokic.

Embiid moved to the high post on the left side and continued to receive the ball. This time he faced the basket and played one-on-one against TT, making a change of direction and a quick stop jump shot like a guard.

But this time his shot missed.

This center-guard-like style of play is difficult for opponents to defend because their shooting point is too high.

But this style of play requires a lot of touch.

Embiid and Towns can play like this because of their excellent touch, but this style of play is still inefficient compared to sending the ball to the basket like Jokic.

Brown did not adjust the defense back, and Hansen continued to pass the ball to Jokic.

This time Embiid chose to double-team Jokic. He approached from behind, trying to catch him off guard like Hansen did before.

Unfortunately, Jokic had already noticed him. After turning around and back to the basket, he raised the ball above his head with both hands and waited for Embiid to pounce on him.

Then, he steadily passed the ball to TT under the basket in the "double-team".

TT was unguarded under the basket and scored with a cathartic two-handed dunk.

Quicken Loans Arena was on fire once again.

5:10.

The Cavaliers began to pull away from the lead.

Although their style of play is simple, there is no solution.

(End of this chapter)