Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 371 At first people thought it was just an ordinary Christmas battle
At breakfast time on match day, Hansen and his breakfast club members sat and chatted after finishing training.

Smith was the one who was talking the most at the table, and it was obvious that he was in a very good mood.

This is directly related to his current situation. He has successfully returned to the rotation, and the management has given up the idea of ​​trading him.

The main reason for this is naturally that with high-intensity training, his condition has recovered significantly.

Another minor reason is also related to the current playing style of the Cavaliers.

The tactic of mismatched singles is essentially the same as the triangle tactic, both of which are star singles tactics. The role players have to do nothing more than open up space and defend.

As long as JR is in good shape, his outside shooting is unmatched by Murray.

And he has the physical tools, and if he has the right attitude, his defense will be much better than Korver's.

"Boss, I think you are already stronger than Michael." He said to Hansen with a smile when they were chatting happily.

Before, he felt that Han Sen didn't speak up for him much, but later he learned that it was Han Sen who bought him a month of recovery time. His gratitude to Han Sen was like a torrent of water.

"It's only a matter of time before you surpass Michael." Wade also expressed his own point of view.

After all, Hansen has only completed the 9th year of his professional career. Even if he fails to lead the Cavaliers to complete the dynasty this season, winning two more after that will be a sure win.

Everyone knows that Jordan's six championships in six years and two dynasties were great, but Jordan's career was not limited to those six years.

In a horizontal comparison, Jordan only completed the first dynasty of his career in his 9th year.

What's more, Han Sen has now begun to refresh various historical lists, and even the highest score in a single game in the playoffs is already in his pocket.

Han Sen smiled and shook his head. What we want to chase is the highest mountain, not the longest river.
"We'll talk about this after we win the championship this year."

Among the TNT foursome, Smith's words are the most pertinent. Only those who dominate the players of their generation are qualified to compete for the best in history.

The Cavaliers' dynasty season is far more difficult than the Grizzlies', but that's just part of the process.

As long as he can do it, it will be a transcendence, and his future career will be the icing on the cake, and it will create new difficulties for future generations to pursue the best in history.

On the night of the game, the North Shore Garden Arena was packed.

When entering the stadium, Hansen could clearly feel the enthusiasm of the Boston fans.

It has only been two years since Towns was selected, and the Celtics' lineup and record have been getting better and better every year, and they are expected to win the championship this year.

And imagine that in 98, a team prevented Jordan from winning the championship. That would be the same as when Jordan led the Bulls to defeat the Lakers in 91. It was a process of defeating a legend and creating a new legend.

As long as they can stop the Cavaliers' dynasty this season, it will be equivalent to doing something similar, and the glory will belong to Boston again.

Against this backdrop, it’s hard not to be excited as a Boston fan.

And tonight's Christmas battle is a perfect start.

During the pre-game warm-up, the camera focused on Irving warming up on the court.

There were also cheers from the scene.

In fact, not only did Irving not cause any trouble after arriving in Boston this season, some of his remarks even earned him a lot of popularity here.

Especially last month, he made a statement that "I would rather be selected by Boston than Cleveland in 2011."

He then followed up with an explanation:
“I was drafted at a young age and needed a lot of guidance, needed a lot of nurturing, and you know if I had given myself a chance to be around people who knew more than me, who were smarter than me in some cases, who could learn more than I could, then I would have been able to be the best version of myself a little bit earlier.”

The meaning of his argument is very clear. When the Cavaliers selected him, the team did not have a veteran who could guide him. This made him unable to understand how to lead the team to victory despite his outstanding personal performance.

It was not until Han Sen arrived that he made significant progress and found the direction of his growth.

But if he was chosen by the Celtics, when Garnett, Pierce and Ray Allen were all there, he would grow as quickly as Rondo did and would become stronger than he is now.

There was nothing wrong with Irving's remarks, just like his previous statement that Chicago is more of a sports city than Cleveland, but they still succeeded in angering Cleveland fans again, because the Celtics only had the 25th pick in the first round that year, and it was impossible for them to select Irving, the favorite for the No. pick.

Unless Irving himself insists on going to the Celtics and drops to the 25th pick, or the Celtics pay a lot of chips to get the No. pick to select Irving, but neither of these two things is likely to happen.

Of course, that doesn't stop him from being popular with Boston fans.

After all, that passage made them feel that Irving and the Celtics had met too late.

Moreover, Durant also said something similar last year when he decided to join the Celtics①, which is a case of "birds of a feather flock together".

Han Sen had just finished warming up at this time. When he looked up and saw Owen on the large LED screen, he felt as if he was in another world.

You have to know that a year ago Irving was still a player of the Cavaliers. At that time, they joined hands to play against the Warriors in the Christmas game.

But now, Irving has become the biggest obstacle standing in the way of the Cavaliers dynasty.

After looking away, a determined look flashed in Han Sen's eyes.

Dominating the same era is a vague and clear concept. It is vague because people from different divisions may not have the opportunity to play against each other. For example, there has always been controversy over who was more dominant at their peak between Jordan and Olajuwon, two people who never played against each other in the finals.

The clarity lies in the fact that the person who fights out of the same area will dominate the others.

For example, in "History", James fans like to say that James dominated the players of the same class, which means that he dominated the Eastern Conference.

As for whether they used a group approach, or whether they ended up getting the runner-up instead of the championship, that is another topic for discussion.

Defeating the Celtics is what Hansen must do.

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

Cavaliers: Hansen, Kuzma, Covington, TT, Jokic
Celtics: Irving, Bradley, Durant, Towns, Horford
Jokic jumped to get the ball for the Cavaliers, and Hansen immediately got in position with his back to Bradley in the elbow area.

Jokic held the ball at the top of the arc to create space, and then passed the ball.

After passing the ball to Covington to force Durant back, Hansen directly pressed Bradley to break through and then quickly rushed to the basket.

Stevens certainly knew that Bradley couldn't defend Hansen one-on-one, so he had already made arrangements for help defense.

Although Durant was forced to retreat, Towns quickly came to assist in defense under the basket, and he and Bradley formed a double team from the front and back.

However, Han Sen's gaze behind Tangs made Tangs subconsciously look back.

In the blink of an eye, Han Sen had already jumped.

By the time Tangs turned around, it was too late to stop Hansen and he could only raise his hands.

Hansen completed a gliding dunk in the air over Towns.

Towns is still the same young man as before, without any change.

Looking back, Durant received the ball in the high position and set a pick-and-roll with Horford, then he broke through Jokic and made a quick stop shot.

Consuming Jokic has now become a must-have tactic for other teams against the Cavaliers.

Hansen continued to position himself with his back against Bradley. Bradley tried to go around, but like Holiday, he was blocked by Hansen and couldn't get around.

When Jokic passed the ball to him again, Hansen directly made a back-to-the-basket shot, and Bradley had to lower his center of gravity.

At the moment when Bradley's center of gravity sank, Hansen faked a turn to the baseline, turned around to distance himself from Bradley, and then made a fadeaway jump shot. After clarifying the mismatch singles tactics, Hansen's back-to-the-rim attack ratio also increased.

Apart from the fact that back-to-the-basket plays consume relatively less physical energy, there are actually not many outside players on other teams who are big enough to play against him.

Players like Bradley and Holiday are already top-notch perimeter defenders in the league, but it is difficult for them to show their defensive strength when defending Hansen with his back to the basket.

For example, in this round, although Bradley also rushed forward at the last moment, he was pressed down by Hansen's center of gravity, and he had to be wary of Hansen's turning and breaking through, as well as his own size problem, so it was basically just symbolic defense.

Stevens stood up and made a tactical gesture. After the Celtics advanced to the frontcourt, Irving stretched out his hand to signal, and directly let Horford pull to the right three-point line to do a pick-and-roll.

Horford failed in two consecutive pick-and-roll attempts. It is not easy to block Hansen.

However, Horford was still trying the third pick-and-roll, and before Horford could completely block it, Irving had already changed direction and launched a breakthrough from the right.

Irving seized the fleeting opportunity, but his attack failed to score.

Because Han Sen was not completely blocked, he had enough time to interfere with Owen from behind.

Irving's shot missed the basket due to the double-teaming of Jokic and Hansen, and the Celtics' attack was unsuccessful.

However, they had no intention of rushing for the frontcourt rebounds, but instead quickly retreated as soon as possible.

After Jokic grabbed the defensive rebound, the Cavaliers advanced to the frontcourt.

Hansen continued to position himself with his back to the basket, but this time Durant double-teamed him in advance.

But at this moment, Han Sen turned directly towards the free throw line and cut to the basket without the ball.

Hansen's cut directly took away Bradley and Durant, and Jokic looked at Hansen and passed the ball to Covington in the bottom corner.

Before Durant returned to defense, Covington took a three-pointer from the corner.

The trajectory of the ball was very straight, but unfortunately it bounced out after going in.

At this time, TT and Towns were frantically fighting for position under the basket.

If there is an additional impact brought about by the JR incident, it is that it serves as a warning to TT.

There is no such thing as meritorious basketball for the Cavaliers. If they are not in good shape, anyone can abandon them.

Especially the Cavaliers' current staggered one-on-one tactics do not require much from role players.

If you can't do what you are supposed to do, you can always look for alternatives.

Just as the two were blocking each other, a figure rose into the air from the penalty area.

That's Han Sen cutting into the basket!
"Oh!"

When the ball was tipped into the basket, there was a commotion at the scene.

Boston fans felt the difference from Hansen tonight.

Whether with the ball or without it, Han Sen was aiming to put the ball into the basket tonight.

On the Celtics' offense, Irving continued to play pick-and-roll with Horford.

In this attack, he threw his body onto Jokic, eventually causing Jokic to foul and getting two free throws.

Malone then stood up and reminded Jokic to pay attention to the foul.

Irving made two free throws.

This time, Hansen held the ball and played pick-and-roll with Jokic.

Jokic led Bradley to cut into the basket, and Hansen took a three-pointer facing Horford.

"Shh!"

With a crisp sound of the ball going into the net, Han Sen's three-pointer also hit the target.

He had a pretty good touch tonight.

9:4.

The Cavaliers got off to a perfect start.

Looking back, Irving continued to set pick-and-roll with Horford.

Malone put his hand to his chin at this time.

Knowing that there is a tiger in the mountain, but still going there, this is not Stevens' teaching style.

Even if you want to make Jokic commit two fouls, it is not that easy.

The Celtics' attack failed to score.

Although Jokic moved closer to give Irving space to shoot, Hansen blocked the ball from behind.

But at this moment, Malone suddenly stood up from the bench.

He already knew what Stevens was going to do!

Hansen had a strong desire to score tonight and was in very good shape at the start.

In this case, no matter how efficient Irving and Horford's pick-and-roll is, it will consume both Hansen and Jokic at the same time.

After all, with the Cavaliers' current lineup on the court, Kuzma cannot defend Irving, and Covington has to watch Durant, so Irving can only be defended by Hansen.

Stevens' tactics are not to determine the outcome of a single match, but to take the entire game into consideration.

Thinking of this, Malone couldn't help but look towards the Celtics' half.

This young man is very shrewd.

After he withdrew his gaze, he turned around, glanced at Murray and JR, and then signaled JR to go on the court.

Han Sen is in good offensive form now, so we must try our best to ensure as much offensive space as possible on the field.

As he needs to be able to both provide space and defend, JR is the perfect choice for the bench.

Here, JR was still walking towards the technical table. Hansen played against Bradley with his back to the basket in the frontcourt, then turned to the free throw line and rushed to the basket. He made another close-range jump shot and caused Bradley to hit his hand.

Right after he scored the goal, Han Sen's statistics for the night were displayed on the large LED screen at the scene.

Han Sen has now made all 5 shots and scored 11 points!
You have to know that the game has only been going on for less than 5 minutes.

Something was wrong. Something was extremely wrong tonight.

-Dividing line-

①: In 2007, the Celtics ranked last in the Eastern Conference and second to last in the league, but were squeezed to fifth place in the lottery and ultimately missed out on Durant.

(End of this chapter)