Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 380 What to do when you encounter a tiger

Unlike the Cavaliers who advanced easily, the 76ers won a thrilling victory after a six-game battle with the Bucks.

The most exciting one was the decisive battle, in which the 76ers defeated the Bucks 120-115 away from home.

恩比德贡献了30分15板6助攻的大号两双，阿德托昆博则回敬了37分14板5助攻2抢断2封盖。

Lopez developed his three-point shot when he was on the Magic last season. This season, he averaged 6.3 three-pointers per game for the Bucks and had a hit rate of 36.5%.

And because he has good low-post offensive ability, the 76ers can only use Embiid to defend him, but after this matchup, Lopez is equivalent to leaving the basket empty, and Antetokounmpo can attack the basket in various ways and is unstoppable.

But on the other hand, Saric, the power forward of the 76ers, lifted Antetokounmpo away from the basket, and Embiid also suppressed Lopez in the matchup.

The Bucks responded by using Bledsoe to move back and help defend, after all, Simmons has no outside shooting.

But the 76ers took advantage of this, with Simmons frequently cutting to the basket and dunking after receiving passes from Embiid.

Both sides took advantage of each other's weaknesses, and in the end, no one could defend the other, just like the situation in the entire series, the game was difficult to determine.

But it was Butler who ultimately won the game. He scored 27 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, and finished the game-winning shot against Antetokounmpo in the final moments.

After completing this buzzer-beater, the entire temperament of the 76ers changed. Back at home, they eliminated the Bucks with one game, which was also the only big win in the series.

After Game 6 of the first round, Embiid couldn't hide his excitement:
"We can beat any opponent, the sky is the limit for us."

It's not surprising that Embiid would say this. Although he has been selected as an All-Star, this is only his second season in his career and his first playoff trip.

The Bucks are a strong team. At the end of November, they suppressed the Cavaliers and ranked second in the Eastern Conference.

Now the 76ers have eliminated them 4-2, and they were defeated by a weak team. They look like a championship-level team.

If you want to win the championship, you have to defeat all your opponents to be successful.

But just like what he said before about killing a lion at the age of 6, he still doesn't understand journalism well enough.

We Can Beat the Cavaliers

Just as the media released this headline, the outside world felt that the person who said this was arrogant enough.

Combined with his previous remarks about "Han should be afraid of me", the character of an arrogant and conceited newcomer is about to emerge.

Embiid couldn't explain himself clearly at this time, and the Cavaliers were unlikely to help him explain, so the topic quickly became popular.

However, the Cavaliers do not take this series that seriously. For them, the next game against the Celtics is more important.

When the All-Star Game just ended, the Bucks were ranked third in the Eastern Conference. Hansen had thought about the situation where the Bucks and the Celtics met in the playoffs.

Because if Antetokounmpo and Irving meet in the playoffs, the famous scene of stepping on each other will passively emerge in his mind.

If Irving was really defeated, then the Cavaliers could be said to have already secured half of the championship this season.

Unfortunately, such a situation did not occur in the end. The Raptors, a regular season player, posed no threat to the Celtics, and a head-on confrontation was inevitable.

The Cavaliers have home-court advantage, with the first two games of the series played in Cleveland.

The Quicken Loans Arena was packed for G1.

The outside world is paying attention, and Cleveland fans are also expecting their team to teach Embiid, a young man who doesn't know his place, a lesson.

However, after the game started, it was the 76ers who took the lead.

Just like in the regular season, the 76ers opened the game with Embiid trying a low-post single play in the paint.

But what was different from that time was that after Simmons passed the ball, he did not go through Embiid's back door, but cut directly into the basket from the middle.

The benefit of doing this is not only that it prevents Hansen from stealing the ball from behind Embiid and in his blind spot, but it also creates an offensive threat, preventing Hansen from directly assisting Embiid.

This change in tactics also revealed the source of Embiid's previous confident remarks.

Competing with strong opponents will help people grow quickly.

Embiid also had a great touch tonight. After only 5 minutes of playing, he had already scored 5 points on 4 of 8 shots.

His excellent touch, coupled with his huge size, makes him look like a giant that cannot be defended.

This touch also brought huge defensive pressure to TT. When Embiid continued to receive the ball in the low post and make shooting movements, TT basically got up at once.

After turning around and breaking into the basket for a dunk, Embiid opened his right hand and raised it behind his ear, making a "listening" celebration gesture to the Cleveland fans.

There was a lot of booing at the scene, but Han Sen laughed.

He has done this move many times before. Although Embiid's move doesn't look that forced and is even a little funny, it is completely understandable.

Because the representative of this action, Allen Iverson, is the totem of the 76ers.

After putting away his smile, Han Sen's expression turned serious.

He is used to watching game videos before games, so naturally he watched the game videos of the series between the 76ers and the Bucks.

After watching it, he was most impressed by Butler.

Butler's performance in the decisive battle was brilliant, but his other performances were relatively mediocre.

Perhaps due to his own physical limitations, it is difficult for Butler to maintain his outstanding performance, but the more crucial the game, the better his performance will be.

Moreover, he is a very competitive player, which leads to a result that although he cannot bring a team to the level of the championship, he will quickly improve the competitiveness of his team and turn it into a strong playoff team.

Although the 76ers are not their main opponent, if they fail to suppress them at the beginning and are dragged down by them in the series, the Cavaliers will suffer a lot even if they can win.

In this regard, they have a lot in common with the original Celtics team.

Therefore, Hansen must not let the 76ers see any hope, just like he did when he played against the Celtics in his rookie season.

The strategy Malone formulated before the game was the same as that of the Bucks, letting Jokic pull Embiid out of the three-second zone and then letting Hansen attack the basket.

After all, if Embiid is not in the penalty area, Saric's ability to protect the rim is almost non-existent.

The 76ers responded by having Butler and Crowder on the wings assist in defense under the basket.

These two players not only have excellent assisting defense capabilities, but also have good awareness, which allowed Hansen to choose more breakthrough passes at the beginning of the game.

However, the Cavaliers' outside shooting percentage tonight was average, and coupled with Embiid's ability to return to the basket to protect the rebounds, the Cavaliers' offense was not smooth.

But this time, Han Sen changed his fighting style and fought more resolutely.

Butler still assisted defense as before, but Hansen directly chose to jump step and hit the hook shot after confronting him.

Although Butler is a shooting guard of sufficient size compared to Holiday and Bradley, his arm span is a disadvantage. In the case of not having an advantage in the confrontation, he has no way to deal with Hansen's style of play. And when Hansen is really determined to attack, he can get the ball into the basket in more ways than just this one.

When Claude became the one to assist in defense in the next round, Hansen used his dream footwork, reset his pivot foot after dribbling the ball, made an abrupt stop, turned around and leaned back, then turned around and stepped up and down to shake off the opponent and score.

When Hansen scored consecutively and the 76ers had to double-team Hansen in advance, Hansen passed the ball to Jokic at the top of the arc, and then created scoring opportunities without the ball, just like he did before against the Celtics.

Faced with Han Sen's playing style, or in other words, faced with Han Sen's desire to score, the 76ers were helpless for a while.

In other words, if there was a way, the Celtics would not have allowed Hansen to score 86 points at the TD Garden, their home court.

Just as Pierce said, wearing the Celtics' uniform and being influenced by the Celtics' culture, the Celtics players will have a proud mentality.

They are the team with the most championships and the deepest history in the league.

But that night, Hansen crushed their arrogance in front of more than 20,000 Celtics fans at the TD Garden.

Now, it's the 76ers' turn to experience that feeling.

In the first quarter, Hansen contributed 25 points in a single quarter. Under his leadership, the Cavaliers, who were still behind in the first 5 minutes, led the 35ers by 22 points with 76 to 13 at the end of the first quarter.

"Embiid shouldn't have done that. He succeeded in angering Han."

ESPN's ace commentator Mike Breen found the root of the problem in the commentary booth.

When you are facing an orangutan, you can make some provocative gestures, because the orangutan will most likely just beat its chest in protest against you;

But if you still do that when facing a tiger, it means you just want to win the lottery earlier.

Of course, what Brin doesn't know is that even if Embiid doesn't do that move, Hansen will still do the same thing.

Just like you see, whether a tiger can survive or not does not depend on what you do, but on whether the tiger is hungry.

And before the second quarter started, the photographer captured a detailed picture on the Cavaliers bench.

After Malone finished arranging the tactics for the Cavaliers' substitutes, Hansen lectured them for a while and took the initiative to lead the way in cheering them on.

When the substitutes came on in the second quarter, the Cavaliers played with great enthusiasm.

The result was that in order to maintain the score difference, the 76ers had to let Butler stay on the bench to lead the team.

This is a slow death.

At the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers had extended their lead to nearly 20 points.

The last quarter of the game also became complete garbage time.

In the fourth quarter, the live camera frequently focused on Embiid who was sitting on the sidelines.

Embiid stared at the court blankly, the light in his eyes gone.

This change is completely understandable.

This is like a person who thinks he has become stronger, and he ambitiously finds the person who once beat him up, wanting to take revenge, but in the end he finds that nothing has changed, and he is beaten up again.

This experience is a huge blow to anyone.

Of course, this is what Han Sen wants to achieve.

Butler may have a tenacious heart for the game, but that doesn't mean the 76ers' young players have that quality.

Destroying the morale of the youngsters in G1 will make the entire series easier.

The Cavaliers finally won the 118ers 98-76 and got off to a good start.

At the post-match press conference, Hansen was asked by reporters about Embiid's pre-match remarks.

This time, Hansen did not tease Embiid like he did before, but instead affirmed him.

"We have to remember that Joel is only a second-year player, and he did what a leader should do."

The 76ers are still young as a team. Facing a team like the Cavaliers that has won two consecutive championships, most players will be nervous or even scared, resulting in poor performance.

Butler, or players with strong psychological qualities, are a minority after all, so as a leader it is understandable that he says something to increase the team's confidence.

Han Sen wanted to use his own experience as an example, but he swallowed the words back.

After all, he had already led the Grizzlies to the Western Conference Finals in his sophomore year.

Of course, more important than those, Hansen's starting point was that he didn't want to waste too much time in the series with the 76ers, so he knew he couldn't force Embiid into a corner.

If Embiid is really pushed into a rage and starts a fight like he did against Towns in "history", leading to a suspension or something, it would be a loss for the Cavaliers.

Or to put it another way, if the opponent can be killed with a basic attack, there is no need to force him to use his ultimate skill.

Two days later, Game 76 between the Cavaliers and 2ers continued in Cleveland.

There is one bad news and one good news for the Cavaliers in this game.

The bad news is that Han Sen's touch tonight was much worse than in G1. His offense relied more on breakthroughs and he took fewer shots.

The good news is that the Cavaliers' outside shooting is much better than in G1.

Combining these two pieces of news, the situation faced by the 76ers is even more difficult than in G1.

Because when Han Sen is in good form, he takes more shots and his hit rate fluctuates.

But if Han Sen breaks through, his hit rate will go up directly, and he will either score or cause damage.

Of course, the more crucial thing is that his teammates have a good touch from the outside, and Han Sen mostly passes the ball after breaking through.

This is also why the 76ers are in a more difficult situation.

Because after Malone realized this, he directly put Kuzma on the power forward position. The Cavaliers immediately picked up a star and the 76ers were distracted on the defensive end.

As a result, they who had lasted until the third quarter in the previous game were almost defeated in the first half of this game.

Obviously, Hansen's efforts in G1 worked. After the 76ers suffered a critical blow in G1, they couldn't recover for a while.

骑士队最终以115比89再次大胜76人队，大比分来到了2比0。

If nothing unexpected happens, they will be able to eliminate the 76ers in one go and advance to the divisional finals first.

(End of this chapter)