Basketball's No. 1 Anti-Fan

Chapter 400: Injecting the Winning Gene
Doncic lay on the ground for a long time before being pulled up by his teammates. After standing up, he was obviously a little depressed.

However, when the sideline ball was sent out, he was still actively running looking for opportunities to catch the ball.

Although he is the European version of the "Chosen One", his competitive spirit is much stronger than that of James.

Simply being competitive won't solve all problems, especially when you're not strong enough.

In the following time, Doncic was beaten by Hansen on both offense and defense, literally.

Some fans at the scene covered their eyes and couldn't bear to watch. They thought they had to pick on Han Sen when there were so many people to pick on.

However, the Cavaliers did not fall too far behind in the situation, because the offensive core of the Cavaliers was not Doncic, but Jokic.

Jokic did not hold the ball a lot at the top of the circle like he did in the Hansen era, but played more singles in the low post like in the opening game.

When the Kings used Sabonis to defend, Jokic used more footwork to attack. His footwork came from O'Neal, with the guidance of Yao Ming, and with his own top basketball IQ, he has reached perfection.

And when Lu replaced Stan on defense, Jokic became like O'Neal again, using his body to crush Stan, making Stan's physical fitness useless.

It is obvious that after three seasons of accelerated growth, Jokic has grown into the league's top center.

"Lu should know that he can't defend Nikola alone, just like my opponents wouldn't use that method to deal with me back then." O'Neal was generous with his praise for Jokic, his fan, and of course he didn't forget to brag about himself.

It doesn't feel out of place for this sentence to come from his mouth, after all, Lu and he played together on the Lakers.

But it is obvious that even if Lu knew this, he would not choose to use a double-team defense against Jokic because he has been with the Cavaliers for a longer time.

Jokic's dominance in the low post is not as strong as O'Neal's, but his passing ability is more than one level better than O'Neal.

After the first quarter, the two teams were tied at 30.

Hansen scored 16 points in the quarter and Jokic also scored 14 points.

This focal battle turned out to be a direct confrontation between the two founders of the Knight Dynasty.

During the substitute transition period of the second quarter, the main players on both sides were resting on the sidelines.

At this moment, Van Gundy became the person directing the game on the sidelines.

In other words, Van Gundy had been standing on the sidelines the entire time, but Lu sat next to Hansen at this time.

"We need to consume Nikola more in the next games." Lu's tactical level is not high, but he came from the Cavaliers and knows Jokic well enough.

In other words, the biggest problem the Cavaliers have encountered during their dynasty has always been Jokic's defense.

Opponents will use this to make tactical breakthroughs against the Cavaliers, and will also use the consumption of Jokic to reduce the Cavaliers' offensive firepower.

Previously, because of Hansen, the Cavaliers had a strong foundation, and those attacks could basically be easily resolved by them.

But now the Cavaliers are without Hanson, Murray is out for the season, and Doncic is still just a rookie, so this targeting will have an immediate effect.

Han Sen nodded, but said nothing.

There was nothing wrong with Lu's idea, but that was not what he was focusing on at the moment.

He looked up at the score, with a look of worry on his face.

Because the most effective way to consume Jokic is still his mismatched one-on-one play.

In other words, the ball possession will still be concentrated in his hands in the following games.

If he keeps playing like this, his teammates will become increasingly dependent on him, and he will not be able to win the championship.

The most important thing that Dean Smith taught Jordan in the NCAA was that only the team can be the ultimate winner.

Han Sen's experiences over the past few years have proven this point.

Lu was a considerate guy. Even though Han Sen didn't say it, he had known Han Sen for so long that he could guess what Han Sen was thinking.

This is indeed a very contradictory question.

The Kings rookies need this kind of high-level competition to grow, but training cannot guarantee victory in the game.

If it were an ordinary coach, he might follow Hansen's thinking at this time and give the rookies more training opportunities. After all, the season has just begun, and the Kings are not determined to win the championship this season, so they have to look at the long-term and not worry about the outcome of the next few games.

But Lu is not an ordinary coach. He is well aware that Hansen is now under tremendous pressure from public opinion. If he loses too many times, all kinds of criticism from the outside world will inevitably come.

When Hansen was unsuccessful in his first season back with the Cavaliers, many people said that Hansen's previous success was due to the fact that the Grizzlies team itself was good enough.

If the same thing happens to the Kings, there will definitely be people who think that Hansen's success is inseparable from super rookies like Irving and Jokic.

"Han, I think Sacramento has imagined too much about the future. Compared to the future, I think the people on this team want to win in the present more." Lu said carefully.

His meaning was very clear. The Kings had lost too many times in the past and were numb to losing. What they needed most now was to win, no matter what method was used. They had to inject the winning gene into the team first before they could think about other things.

Han Sen looked at Lu for a while, then reached out and patted Lu on the shoulder.

Although he had great respect for Lu, it was more out of recognition of Lu's interpersonal skills.

However, some things can only be seen after putting people in that position.

Lu may not be a tactical coach like Malone, but he is good at learning and has a different perspective on problems.

After returning to the second quarter, the Kings made adjustments to the lineup, including Mitchell, Hield, Hansen, Tatum and Sabonis.

Because the main purpose of this section is to consume Jokic and attack, so Lu used Sabonis who has better offense and higher pick-and-roll quality.

Malone also quickly realized Lu's intention, but he did not follow Lu's intention to use a small lineup because that would follow the rhythm of the Kings.

But soon, he had to replace TT with JR, because the Kings adjusted their defense against Jokic after adjusting their lineup, and began to force the ball out of Jokic's hands, allowing other Cavaliers players to complete the shot.

Once others miss the shot, the Kings will quickly launch a defensive counterattack.

And when the game enters the defensive counterattack which is easier than positional warfare, the talents of the Kings' rookies can be more effectively demonstrated.

After all, fast breaks do not require too much reading of defense, nor do you need to consider tactical positioning. You only need to have fast break awareness and finishing ability to do it well. It is a relatively simple way to score.

However, as the game progressed, Malone's expression gradually became helpless, because he could not solve the problems that the opponents of the Cavaliers could not solve.

Han Sen plays one-on-one in a mismatched position. The reason why this tactic is unsolvable is not because the tactic is so unsolvable, but because the person who executes the tactic is Han Sen.

What the Kings didn't expect was that this tactic unexpectedly activated Mitchell.

Because as Hansen continued to score in singles, the Cavaliers' defense was inevitably tightened.

During this process, Mitchell fully demonstrated his scoring sense. He was always able to put himself in an open position by moving.

When Hansen passes the ball, he can handle it quickly, either shooting a three-pointer directly after receiving the ball, or using a fake three-pointer to trick the defense and get into the paint.

There is no need to expend a lot of energy thinking about how to get past the defense, nor is there any need to read the defense too much. By avoiding these weaknesses and only thinking about how to complete the finish, Mitchell has directly entered his comfort zone.

At the end of the first half, the Kings took a double-digit lead of 62-52.

Hansen scored 30 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists in the first half, and Mitchell also scored 11 points, but these were the only two players on the Kings who scored in double digits in the first half.

"I think even if the Dongda men's basketball team goes to the NBA, Han can lead them into the playoffs." At the end of the first half, Barkley couldn't help but start to make trouble.

After returning from the half-time break, Malone adjusted the Cavaliers' offensive tactics. Not only did he let JR replace TT in the starting lineup, but Jokic no longer appeared in the low post, but held the ball in the high post.

This change in position seems to be that Jokic has moved from back-to-frame to face-to-frame, giving him a better field of vision, but in fact it is a change in the entire tactical style of play.

When he plays with his back to the basket, Jokic is more likely to attack personally, but when he plays facing the basket, he is more likely to support the attack.

At this time, the Cavaliers' open-cut tactics and pick-and-roll three-point tactics can be put into operation.

The new players on the Kings side also exposed many problems on their defensive end, such as the players always subconsciously following the movement of the ball.

A team that has completed a dynasty, even if it has lost its core players, their maturity is much better than a team like the Kings that has mostly rookies.

The Cavaliers are now like the Bulls after Jordan retired for the first time. Although they are no longer a favorite to win the championship, they are still one of the top teams in the Eastern Conference.

With this adjustment, the Cavaliers quickly narrowed the gap in the third quarter.

Lu also responded quickly, and his method of response was the same as in the first half, except that this time he replaced Sabonis.

Sabonis is more effective in defending Jokic with his back to the basket, but Stan would be more suitable in defending Jokic facing the basket, and Stan's movement speed allows him to better protect the restricted area on the defensive end.

As for the offensive end, Hansen still mainly uses mismatches to single out Jokic.

The two sides were evenly matched in this quarter.

At the end of the third quarter, Han Sen's personal score had reached 50 points.

In other words, he scored 20 points in this quarter alone!
If the first half of the game between the two teams was a duel between Hansen and Jokic, then it would not be an exaggeration to say that this quarter was Hansen against five alone.

Moreover, the Cavaliers also exposed an obvious problem in this quarter. With Hansen, Wade, Rose and others leaving the team one after another, Murray was ruled out for the season, and Doncic has not yet grown up, they can't find a second stable scoring point except Jokic.

This happened in the fourth quarter. As Jokic's physical strength declined, the Cavaliers' offensive efficiency also began to decline, and the Kings gradually took the initiative in the game.

In the end, the Kings defeated the Cavaliers 125-118 on the road to get off to a good start in the season.

约基奇得到41分18板11助攻的大号三双，东契奇则在自己NBA生涯的首秀里出场32分钟，16投5中得到10分8篮板4助攻。

韩森最终贡献了60分8板8助攻，米切尔19分3板3助攻，萨博尼斯13分10板4助攻，塔图姆8分3板。

"I have no regrets. This is a competitive game. I came to the NBA to win, not to make friends."

At the post-match press conference, reporters mentioned Doncic's jersey shaking action shortly after the start of the game, and Doncic continued to show his competitive spirit.

"We all know Han is the greatest player of this era, and it is not a wise choice to anger him."

But then Jokic gave a completely different explanation.

Provoking an opponent can make them impulsive and make wrong choices, but Hansen is clearly not in that category. Provoking Hansen will only make the game worse.

“Han has injected a winning gene into the team and we just beat the defending champions, and that’s the most important thing.”

When it came to the Kings' press conference, Lu emphasized the significance of the game, just as he had said to Hansen during the game.

"Yes, Han played a lot of time at the three position tonight, and his performance was perfect. This is the ability of the greatest player in history. When he plays the two position, he is the best shooting guard in the league. When he plays the three position, he is the best small forward in the league."

Of course, praise for Han Sen is essential.

Moreover, no one would think it is exaggerating. After all, if a player scores 60+ and almost a triple-double in the season opener, no matter how much you praise him, it would seem not enough.

"It's a strange feeling for me to ruin my own dynasty night once again."

When the microphone came into Han Sen's hands, he also mentioned his most intuitive feelings.

When the Cavaliers left Memphis and moved to Cleveland, their opening opponent was the Grizzlies.

"But the important thing for me is to win, we all know what this team has been through in the past and this is a great start."

Han Sen also emphasized the importance of winning the game like Lu.

"Will you continue to perform like this?" a reporter asked.

If it were someone else, they would be very happy to get 60 points, but they were not so surprised that Han Sen got this score. They were more curious about the next game.

"I came here to help this team win. If necessary, I will continue to do so." Han Sen agreed with Lu's idea and would naturally carry it out.

This moment caused a stir among the reporters.

They knew that with Han Sen's ability, if he really continued to play like that, he would not win the season's scoring title, but might become the league's all-time scoring title.

Kobe's average of 35.4 points per game that season was jaw-dropping, and Hansen is afraid that he will continue to increase this number.

Maybe even to another dimension.

(End of this chapter)