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Chapter 122: Guarding the Crown! ( words guaranteed update per day, begging for monthly subscription!)
James, who had fully realized as early as the All-Star Weekend that he would never be able to coexist with Qin Yue, attached greater importance to this highly anticipated Cavaliers-Warriors battle than anyone else.

In order to prepare for this game, in the past four games, "Young James", who averaged nearly 40 minutes per game for the Cavaliers this season, only played a total of 120 minutes.

For this reason, many James fans are even worried, thinking that James' historical body has been eroded by injuries.

And the team's star players take the game very seriously.
It also means that the Cavaliers team cannot treat this Cavaliers-Warriors battle as just an ordinary regular season game.

Mo Williams practiced three-pointers before the game, vowing to provide considerable outside firepower support for His Majesty the King in the game.

Varejao and Gooden successively signed "military orders" at the Cavaliers' combat meeting, indicating their attitude that they would never be cowardly lizards on the court.

Pavlovich and Gibson said that as long as the king blows the horn, they will lead the way.

There is also Snow who promised to guard Davis, and Big Z who is willing to give his all for His Majesty the King.
Except for O'Neal, who was really useless when facing Qin Yue.

Not only was the entire Cavaliers team full of fighting spirit, but they also fully demonstrated to James what loyalty was.

On the evening of the 2th.

Oracle Arena.

When Qin Yue noticed the completely different mental outlook of the Cavaliers players during the pre-match warm-up, he couldn't help but wonder:
Who said that during the "Young James 1.0 era", James lacked helpers?
In order to avoid Qin Yue's confusion before the game, Kwame Brown answered, "It seems that your good brother said it himself. When he was interviewed by the media, he kept saying that he didn't have enough helpers around him."

So it was my little brother who said that himself?

That's fine.

Unlike the Cavaliers, who attached great importance to this game.

Tonight, except for Brown who returned to the starting lineup, the rest of the Warriors players, including Qin Yue, just treated this game as an ordinary regular season game.

As for the reason?

Head coach Mike Malone had made it clear enough before the game.

If the Warriors want to defend their title this year, they will have to play at least three rounds of the "Finals".

So in order to prepare for the upcoming playoffs, the Warriors cannot waste their precious physical energy in a regular season game.

On the court, shortly after the game started, the Cavaliers players noticed the Warriors players' extremely casual attitude towards the game.

James, who had a good shooting touch, made three of three shots at the start and hit a three-pointer that Artest defended with his eyes.

This was definitely the smoothest start for James in his career against Qin Yue.

In the first quarter, James made 9 of 6 shots, including 2 of 1 three-pointers and 4 of 2 free throws, except for being blocked once by the overly aggressive Kwame Brown.
James, who scored 15 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists for the Cavaliers in a single quarter, once thought that the Warriors were just so-so.

In the second quarter, Pavlovic and Gibson, who had promised to win the Cavaliers-Warriors battle for James before the game, each made a three-pointer for the Cavaliers.

These two three-pointers gave the Cavaliers, the dominant Eastern Conference leader at the time, a double-digit lead.

On the sidelines, O'Neal, who had been serving tea and water to his teammates, even joked with James: "If you keep playing like this, your good brother won't have to play in garbage time to get stats, right?"

Although when O'Neal teased Qin Yue, James always felt that he was accidentally hurt.
But on such a beautiful night, James obviously would not bother with the always humorous O'Neal.

At the end of the first half, the score was 71 to 50.

The Cavaliers' lead reached an astonishing 21 points.

Moreover, during the halftime break, James, who was interviewed by the host on the scene, also learned a record that made him very proud.

The Cavaliers are the only team this season that can lead the Warriors by more than 20 points at the end of the first half.

Did you hear that? The only one!
After a long run-in in the regular season, James has already seen the dawn of his comeback in this yet-to-be-finished season.

However, in an interview, James, who has always been humble, did not say anything final, but said: "You know, we are a team that still has flaws in the lineup and needs to continue to grow.

So I still can't believe that we were leading the Warriors, a super team, by 21 points at halftime.

It’s a testament to how hard we’ve worked every night since last year.”

Even though he was leading the Warriors by 21 points at halftime, he still felt that he lacked help and that he needed to grow.
Such a James can definitely be called "humble LeBron".

just
After the halftime break, James, who was ready to return with a big win, quickly felt the difference between the Warriors' first and second halves.

If we say that the Warriors in the first half were "slow cooking", they were not in a hurry even if they were far behind.

The Warriors who have entered the "burning fire" mode are undoubtedly the super team that James mentioned.

On the court, the Cavaliers' offensive round.

"Young James", who wanted to increase his scoring data to 30 points as soon as possible so that the world could praise his achievements, encountered Qin Yue's despicable and shameless defense the moment he broke into the Warriors' inside line.

Why are you so despicable?
Because if His Majesty hadn't elbowed Artest away, he would have already exhausted all his energy in the process of breaking through.
How could Qin Yue easily steal the fruit of victory called "crushing young James' basketball dream"?

The despicable Qin Yue ruthlessly destroyed James' attack with a slam dunk, and immediately launched a fast break, assisting Richardson to hit a three-pointer.

Then, Mo's jump shot missed under Davis' close defense.

The Warriors had the ball. After falling into the position, Artest received an assist from Qin Yue and missed a three-pointer from the corner.

Qin Yue cruelly took the basketball off Big Z's head with one arm.

Qin Yue, who grabbed the frontcourt rebound, wanted to launch a second attack himself, but the loud shouts from his teammates made Qin Yue notice Artest who was not guarded in the next second.

"Young James" who was trying to steal a fast break was caught by Qin Yue.

Looking at James, who just ran back from the Warriors' half court after Artest made a three-pointer, Qin Yue smiled and said, "Your fast break is as fast as lightning, and it's hard to defend against."

At this moment, knowing that Qin Yue was definitely not praising his "young Zhan", his face flushed.

In basketball games, forwards and guards with outstanding physical fitness must be ready for fast breaks at any time.

Can.
James' fast break just now was carried out before Artest completed his first shot.

Indeed, if Big Z protects the backcourt rebounds, he can immediately get an extremely easy scoring opportunity.

But once the Cavaliers lose control of the backcourt rebounds, they will instantly become four against five on the court.

In order to regain the advantage, "Young James" dribbled the ball across half court and immediately used the hesitation step, which was visibly a violation in Qin Yue's eyes, to attack the defense zone guarded by Artest.

As an advanced skill, the hesitation step can easily turn dribbling into a "handle", so when performing this skill, it also tests the user's wrist flexibility and explosiveness.

"Young James" has no problem with explosiveness, but his wrists are as stiff as if they were sealed with cement.

This made him almost "hold the ball" and pass through Artest's defense zone.

Qin Yue was shocked by this, but he knew that Artest would definitely not be able to defend against this high-end dribbling technique, so he was already prepared.

In order to prevent "Young James" from using his historical-level touch in the basket to put the basketball into the hoop, Qin Yue took the initiative to meet James' iron elbow that was used to clear the way, and used his arm span advantage to slap James' layup away in the air.

James' career finishing rate at the rim is over 70%.

Due to his outstanding physical talent and the protection of a star guard, ordinary inside players can hardly interfere with or block his attack. However, Qin Yue, who is more talented than James, can not only maintain his balance after a physical confrontation with James, but he can also use his enviable wingspan to give James a fatal blow.

The "young James" of this period is often helpless when encountering inside players with fast mobility and excellent arm span.

Qin Yue has both of these qualities.

And even if he failed to provide timely assistance, the Warriors still have Kwame Brown.

Therefore, as long as the Warriors take a slightly more normal defensive attitude, James is destined to go to the outside and gamble on his sometimes-effective shooting touch.

In the first half, James was in good form.

But in the second half, the Warriors' defense level continued to improve.
Throughout the third quarter, James only scored 6 points by making 3 of 3 free throws.

in front of the TV.

Cavaliers fans had already opened champagne to celebrate the victory.
They all fell silent after the third quarter.

Because the score board said 87 to 89.

The Warriors wiped out the lead the Cavaliers had built in the first half in just one quarter and overtook by two points.

On TNT, Barkley said, "This Warriors team's ability to chase points can only be described as crazy. In the history of the NBA, I have never seen a team play like them."

Entering the fourth quarter, it was clear that something was wrong with the Cavaliers players.

In competitive sports, once your advantage is eliminated by your opponent in a "flying dragon on the face" situation, no matter how outstanding an athlete you are, your mentality is bound to fluctuate.

The Warriors came from behind and became more and more courageous in the game. No matter how determined the Cavaliers were to win the game, with their mentality gradually unbalanced, they were unable to stop the Warriors' surging attack that was like a tsunami.

Qin Yue was replaced after playing only the first six minutes of the fourth quarter.

then
Looking at O'Neal who was still on the court during garbage time, Qin Yue complained: "Hurry up and score a few more points. This is your only chance to score in the game."

O'Neal didn't play much in this game.

Basically, Mike Brown would only replace Qin Yue when he was resting.

Although in the East, he is still the daunting big shark in limited playing time, but every time he faces Qin Yue.
O'Neal, whose legs age first as he gets older, will inevitably become that poor little dried fish.

The final score was 108 to 127.

上下半场判若两人的詹姆斯28投12中，其中三分球6投2中，罚球16罚9中，总计拿到了35分10篮板8助攻2抢断7失误。

同样上下半场判若两人的秦岳22投14中，其中三分球4投2中，罚球10罚9中，总计斩获了39分14篮板12助攻4封盖2抢断。

If we only look at the technical statistics, then James at least had a 40:60 game with Qin Yue.

But the Warriors, who were "cooling down" in the game, made every fan feel their terrifying dominance.

Baron Davis scored a total of 24 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists for the Warriors, but his performance was "average" if you only look at the statistics.

But in this game, the first-generation bearded man who was able to control himself freely scored 24 points for the Warriors, 19 of which were scored in the second half.

"Our entire team fell into a period of confusion in the second half. I think the loss of this game has nothing to do with LeBron. He was trying his best to take over the game at the time." After the game, Mike Brown excused James who was lost in the second half.

"LeBron has already taken 28 shots in the game. What else do you want him to do? He can't attack by himself in every round. We didn't seize the opportunities he passed to us." Mo Williams, who made 12 of 7 shots in the game, including 5 of 4 three-pointers, took the blame.

This is the legendary "Young James 1.0 era". All the pressure is on James. Is there no one who can share it with him?
In fact, if he had not been enjoying his time with the Warriors, Qin Yue would even want Mullin to trade him to the Cavaliers so that he could also be "tortured" by these Cavaliers "CBA teammates."

……

Farewell to the Knights with "Big Fire Collecting Juice".

The Warriors also faced tests from several strong teams in the final stages of the regular season.

Especially the two games against the Lakers at Oracle Arena.

The two fully-equipped teams played two high-quality offensive and defensive battles, which made all the fans excited.

In these two games, the Warriors and the Lakers won one game each, which means that the accounts that Kobe and Qin Yue had to settle remain at three.

However, even if the Lakers can continue to conquer Oracle Arena, Kobe will not be able to settle the account between him and Qin Yue.

after all
According to Kobe's previous logic
Only the games against the Warriors at the Staples Center are included in his account books.

However, the two games in which the Lakers and the Warriors each won one game each have added a lot of topics to talk about in their final regular season game on April 4.

"They want to end the regular season with a victory? Don't worry, we will never let them do that." When talking about the upcoming regular season finale with the Warriors, Monta Ellis, a "die-hard Kobe fan" of the Lakers, said angrily.

"They were just lucky in the last game at Staples. This time, I believe God will not favor them again." Odom, who was full of motivation to play against Qin Yue because of Khloe Kardashian, also made a harsh statement before the game, "Don't even think about doing whatever they want at Staples!"

In fact, before the regular season finale, the Warriors had already secured first place in the Western Conference and first place in the league.
So if possible, in Mike Malone's opinion, it would be wise to let the main players rest and selectively give up this regular season finale.

But Qin Yue said: "Many fans save money to watch me play a game. Since I am not suffering from any injuries, I will not accept a rest."

In his previous life, as a football fan, what Qin Yue hated most were those NBA stars who took rest at any time.

Perhaps, resting these stars can help them maintain better competitive form in the next games.

But when you finally find time to take a vacation just to watch your favorite star play a game, or when you save for months or even years just to catch a glimpse of your favorite star from afar, but he chooses to take a rest, how would you feel?
Qin Yue always treats everyone equally, even to himself.

So no matter how great the benefits of resting are, as long as he is not injured, Qin Yue will try his best to play in every game.

However, in response to Qin Yue's statement, Mike Malone looked puzzled and asked, "Apart from those people with ulterior motives, are you sure that Staples really has your supporters?"

Qin Yue nodded firmly: “Of course.”

Are Staples full of fans who hate themselves?
Qin Yue doesn’t think so.

At least those "insiders" who disguised themselves as Lakers fans and asked for autographs in the player tunnel after the game fully proved that the Staples Center is by no means a monolithic entity.

Moreover, since someone has accumulated 3 accounts with me.
Qin Yue naturally wanted to use a perfect closing performance to repay Kobe Bryant, who had always regarded him as a thorn in his side since his first "Goodnight, Los Angeles".

This is not just a competition on the basketball court.

It is also a war between Qin Yue and Kobe that he does not want to avoid.

For Qin Yue, who wants to become the undisputed GOAT of this era, as long as you want to fight, he will never refuse with such nonsensical reasons as "smart foot injury".

The more Qin Yue dislikes O'Neal, the less likely he is to understand O'Neal, and even less likely he is to want to become O'Neal.

——The crown must be forged through hard power and one battle after another.

No matter how gorgeous the crown is, it will eventually be shattered if it relies solely on a glorious past and marketing packaging.

……

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(End of this chapter)