Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 381: West Refusal

After finishing the first two games of the series, the Cavaliers and 76ers will move to Philadelphia for the next two games.

The 76ers' head coach Brown arranged for the team to fly back overnight on the night of Game 2.

He did this so that the players could start training early the next morning.

Trailing 0-2, they were like wounded prey cornered by the hunter. They had no time to lick their wounds, because if they did not fight back, only death would await them.

The next morning, the 76ers began their daily training.

However, after the training started, the players' training condition was surprisingly poor and they were absent-minded.

And halfway through the game, Butler simply quit and sat on the sidelines with an angry look on his face.

Although Embiid is the best player of the 76ers in terms of statistics, Butler is actually the leader of the 76ers both in terms of league status and team status.

So when Butler made this move, training was forced to be interrupted.

Brown was a little embarrassed at this time. He called the training early in the morning to make the players more urgent, but he didn't expect things to develop in this direction.

Although he knew Butler had a bad temper, he could only order Butler to come back and continue training.

But Butler's next reaction was something no one expected.

"Give up! These guys don't even want to train!"

The other members of the 76ers team thought Butler was protesting the training arranged by Brown, but they didn't expect that he was targeting them.

Butler didn't stop there: "Look at how frightened they are now. They just want this damn series to end soon!"

For a moment, the other members of the 76ers team felt like a knife was stabbed in the heart. They wanted to refute, but found that they could not open their mouths at all because what Butler said was true.

After being badly beaten in the first match and suffering two consecutive defeats, their psychological defenses have been broken.

"There's no way we can beat them" is what they are really thinking right now.

Brown couldn't help but frown at this moment.

He actually knew everything Butler said, and he could completely understand it.

After all, this team is mostly composed of young people.

Embiid and Saric are sophomores, Simmons is a freshman, and this is the first time this team has made the playoffs after going through so many years of "process."

The lack of game experience and the baptism of the playoffs are problems that the team cannot avoid.

Or rather, this is also part of their "process". With the experience of this season, they will become stronger next season.

But it's clear that Butler isn't one to believe in the "process" and just wants to win right away.

"I just don't understand. Aren't we only trailing 0-2? Haven't we lost a single home game? Why are everyone so scared?!"

Just as Brown was about to say something, Butler stood up, but he did not return to the court to continue training, but continued to curse there.

What is overlooked is that Butler had already been swept by the Cavaliers last season when he was with the Bulls.

The reason at that time was the conflict between Irving and Howard, and he was very unwilling to lose.

Now he had to go through that experience again, only in a different way, and he really couldn't bear it.

"Jimmy's right."

Butler was venting his emotions, but what was unexpected was that Brown took over his words directly at this time.

Butler, who hadn't finished speaking yet, was stuck at this moment.

"The series only starts when we win away from home. As long as we can defend the next two home games, everything will be different."

The team members looked at each other, but the expressions on their faces did not change much.

Everyone understands the logic, but the problem is that they suffered crushing defeats in their first two games.

If it is a narrow defeat, they may be able to make a comeback with the advantage of home court, just like they did in the first round against the Bucks.

But the current gap in strength between them cannot be narrowed by simply changing the competition venue.

"Boys, you are the most talented players I have ever seen. If Joel hadn't been injured, we would have made the playoffs last season."

However, Brown's next words made them focus their attention one after another.

"What's more, we now have Jimmy. We may not be able to beat Cleveland because of our youth, but we are not strong enough to not win a single game. Don't forget, we beat Milwaukee to get here."

After all, Brown is the head coach of the Spurs and has been there for many years. His words finally made the light that had disappeared in the eyes of the 76ers players reappear.

"Forget about the big score now, just treat the next game as the beginning of a series, and do your best to win and fight!"

Butler had already walked back to the training ground at this time because he could feel that the morale of the 76ers had returned.

"Fight! For the fans who have always supported us, fight! For yourselves!"

In Game 3, the Wachovia Center, which can accommodate 2 people, was packed.

Despite being down 0-2, the fans who had been with the 76ers through the "process" showed unprecedented support for the team when they saw the team finally experiencing a revival.

When the 76ers players stepped into the stadium and felt the fans' support as always, or even more fanatical, the confidence on their faces was even stronger than at the beginning of the series.

When the game started, Hansen quickly discovered the difference between the 76ers and G2.

On the 76ers side, the person who was mainly defending him tonight changed from Simmons to Butler.

Although it is impossible for Butler to really defend Hansen, the defensive pressure he can put on Hansen is obviously much greater than Simmons.

Moreover, Simmons switched directly to the power forward position and tangled with TT under the basket.

Although he has a disadvantage in terms of size, if he plays the power forward position on the defensive end, he can fully utilize his defensive mobility.

So this forms a new defensive chain: use Butler to prevent Hansen from breaking through to the basket as much as possible. Once he breaks through, Simmons will quickly assist and return to defense.

Although this will give TT some opportunities in the basket, it is impossible for the 76ers to be killed by TT in the basket.

The end result of this new defensive chain is that Hansen's offense will tend to be completed by back-to-back singles, which will reduce Hansen's scoring efficiency on the offensive end.

And as the game progressed, amid the cheers of Philadelphia fans, the 76ers began to show their desire for victory.

There was a time when he dived out of the court to save the ball and fell into the spectators, there was a time when he was dribbled past on defense but managed to block the shot from behind, there was even a heated argument after a failed defensive round.

The 76ers are conveying something called "struggle" or "growth" to their home fans.

When the third quarter ended, for the first time in the series, they and the Cavaliers were in a tie.

Even at the beginning of the fourth quarter, under Butler's leadership, they began to build a leading advantage. On the Cavaliers' bench, Han Sen was resting, and sweat continued to seep from his forehead.

The 76ers played so unexpectedly tonight that even Han Sen was a little surprised.

This is just like in a war, where two armies are facing each other and two of their formations are broken, but in the third battle they are able to reorganize their formation and fight back, which is very rare.

The consequence of this was that in order to withstand the counterattack of the 76ers, Hansen's physical energy consumption in the first three quarters was far beyond plan.

It was not until 6 minutes into the final quarter that Malone arranged for Han Sen to continue playing.

At this time, the score on the field was 95 to 103, and the 76ers had an 8-point lead.

The camera turned to Embiid on the court.

Embiid's face was full of confidence and expectation at this time.

Experiencing this kind of counterattack game is a huge improvement in the players' mentality.

As Brown said, even if the 76ers ultimately failed to beat the Cavaliers in the series, with such experience, they will become extremely powerful in the future.

After Hansen came back, the 76ers continued to stick to their previous defensive strategy, and Butler also tried his best to limit Hansen's breakthrough.

However, Hansen did not choose to single out Butler as he did before, but instead reached out and called for a pick-and-roll from Jokic.

Just when the 76ers thought Hansen would wait for the mismatch and use the mismatch one-on-one tactics, Hansen suddenly changed direction and went to the other side, passing Embiid and attacking the basket.

Simmons quickly came to assist in defense, but Hansen did not pass the ball this time. Instead, he protected the ball and directly confronted Simmons before making a layup.

And when retreating, Han Sen also began to direct his teammates' defensive positions.

The 76ers want to defend their home court, and everyone can realize this by now.

But Han Sen knew that he must not let them do this, because if that happened, the series would inevitably become tense.

Hansen's exemplary role soon paid off. At least on the defensive end, the Cavaliers were much more motivated than before.

And Simmons's inability to shoot three-pointers is fatal enough.

Simmons took a total of 11 three-pointers in his rookie season, but his shooting percentage was 0%.

So when Han Sen was defending against him, he just kept three meters away.

If James is Big Green, then Simmons is Little James.

And Simmons' expression was confused when he was left open.

This is not the first time he has been left open like this. It can be said that since entering the playoffs, starting with the Bucks, he has been left open on the offensive end of the perimeter.

Embiid's shot in the low post was double-teamed by Hansen.

Simmons then cut to the basket, but Hansen put enough pressure on Embiid with the ball, so Embiid was unable to pass the ball and could only turn around and shoot at the baseline.

The basketball hit the rim and Simmons grabbed the rebound.

However, when he grabbed the rebound and attacked for the second time, Han Sen came back to defend and immediately seized the opportunity to block his shot.

Simmons was originally considered to have the ability to develop shooting in the draft report.

But the fundamental reason why Simmons didn't practice, or it can be said that he didn't work hard to practice, is because he felt that relying on his own talent was enough.

Everyone has a different personality. Some people come from privileged families and have never experienced hardship. Some even give up playing football just because the coach arranges them to play a position they don't want to play. It's unrealistic to expect such a player to become a training maniac.

However, Simmons, who relies heavily on his talent, was defeated when he met Hansen, who has full talent.

The Cavaliers made a fast break, and Wade received a pass from Hansen and made a layup.

The 8-point difference was reduced to 4 points in a blink of an eye.

At the critical moment, it was Butler who stood up for the 76ers. He and Embiid made a pick-and-roll and broke into the inside, shaking off Jokic and causing the latter to commit a hand foul. He then went to the free throw line and made both free throws.

And in the next round, when Jokic received the pass from Hansen after the pick-and-roll and scored two points against Butler, it was Butler again, and this time the same move caused TT to foul.

Butler made four consecutive free throws to help the 4ers stabilize their position.

The 76ers' mentality gradually stabilized.

Embiid even chased TT and blocked his shot while defending, then roared.

What you can feel is that the light in Embiid's eyes is stronger than ever before.

With 45 seconds left in the game, Butler's crucial shot went wide due to Hansen's assist.

Looking back, Covington failed to seize the open three-pointer opportunity to tie the game, but Jokic grabbed the frontcourt rebound and scored against Embiid's defense.

Embiid made a move on this ball, but the referee did not blow the whistle.

The league doesn't want the Cavaliers to continue winning the championship, and this detail will follow them throughout the season.

113:114.

With a 1-point difference and 26 seconds left, the 76ers called a timeout.

After the timeout, Hansen switched to Butler.

Butler was restricted by Hansen and couldn't catch the ball. The 76ers' ball was in Embiid's hands, and the Cavaliers chose to double-team him.

Simmons cut to the basket at this time, and Embiid saw the opportunity to pass the ball to him.

The cooperation on this ball was beautiful. After Simmons received the ball, Covington behind him had no time to chase and defend, and JR who came to assist in defense was not in place yet.

But at this moment, Simmons made a choice that no one expected when facing an empty basket.

He did not complete the shot that was so close, but after hesitating for a moment, he passed the ball to Claude on the outside.

This is the real Little James!
Claude got a good chance, but he didn't participate much in the offense in the final quarter and failed to seize this opportunity.

Jokic secured the defensive rebound and the Cavaliers called a timeout.

At this moment, the eyes of Philadelphia fans were filled with despair.

Although Crowder's three-pointer would have eliminated the suspense of the game, just like Covington missed the open shot before, the performance of role players in critical moments is highly uncertain.

If Simmons had scored that goal directly, the situation of leading by 3 points would have been completely different.

Because there are only 7.2 seconds left at this time. If the 76ers are leading by 3 points, they only need to defend 3 points and they will most likely win the game tonight.

But now, when facing Hansen's team, all their efforts throughout the night might be wasted.

(End of this chapter)