NBA: Starting with the undercut by Parker and Bowen

The Utah Jazz defeated the San Antonio Spurs 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals, becoming the first team to advance to the NBA Finals.

On June 2nd, the entire Jazz team watched Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals together.

Similar to the Western Conference, the underdog Cleveland Cavaliers, after losing the first two games, won four straight to advance to the NBA Finals against the Jazz.

Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals left everyone on the Jazz stunned, with some players even beginning to question their own basketball philosophy.

The referee kept blowing his whistle, and there were over fifty fouls and over seventy free throws throughout the game.

骑士大佬勒布朗-詹姆斯全场11投3中，三分球队2中0，狂砍20分。

Yes, you are not mistaken!

LeBron James scored 20 points on 3-of-3 shooting.

In this game, he was awarded 19 free throws and made 14 of them.

Do you think James Harden's 27 points on 2-for-2 shooting was the first?

No! No! No!

Compared to LeBron James, the pioneer of data-driven basketball, all subsequent generations have only inherited, not created, anything related to data.

The most alarming thing is that the Cleveland Cavaliers got 46 free throws in this game, a full 19 more than the Detroit Pistons.

Even so, if Daniel Gibson hadn't stepped up off the bench and scored a whopping 31 points, the Cavaliers might have been dragged into a Game 7 by the Pistons.

Yang Lin hadn't had time to follow the Eastern Conference Finals before, but watching it today, he felt a strong sense of youth.

At this time, LeBron James was young and had not yet gone bald or had gray hair.

It's just his face!

Hmm... It'll be about the same as it will be twenty years from now.

It has to be said that LeBron James' high maintenance costs are well worth it; he looks like he's frozen in time.

Yang Lin was completely mesmerized by Game 6 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Whether in his previous life or this one, he has actually rarely watched Eastern Conference games.

At this time, the West was stronger than the East, and since he didn't have a favorite team, he naturally watched the more exciting Western Conference games.

During this period, his most vivid memory of the Cavaliers or LeBron James was the game in which Yao Ming blocked his shot.

LeBron James and the Cavaliers were just background figures; Yao Ming was truly outstanding back then.

However, in Game 6, Yang Lin felt that young James's skills were really rough, his offensive methods were limited, his shooting was inconsistent, and even his four-, five-, and six-step layups were not smooth enough.

Whether on offense or defense, their eyes are always on the ball. Offense requires holding the ball, and defense always unconsciously follows the ball, easily leaving their assigned defender behind.

But young LeBron James's physical attributes are truly explosive; he's strong, fast, and his drives are like those of a tank.

The following morning, the Jazz held a pre-Finals preparation meeting.

Jerry Sloan, who had always made decisions unilaterally, suddenly wanted to hear what the players had to say.

"Papa"

He clapped his hands and asked the players:

"Does anyone have any opinions about the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers? Share them, they might come in handy during the game!"

His words immediately startled the players.

What are you doing? This part wasn't included before!

Don't you guys make all the decisions and we just follow them?

The question came somewhat unexpectedly, and the players were clearly unprepared.

Therefore, everyone just glanced left and right, without any intention of expressing their own opinions.

As mentioned before.

Advancing to the Finals was a completely unexpected and delightful surprise for the Utah Jazz.

They are in the process of rebuilding, and based on their strength and team composition alone, they have absolutely no chance of breaking out of the Western Conference.

At that time, the Utah Jazz were a very disorganized team with little cohesion.

There are no absolute superstars on the field, and no experienced veterans in the locker room.

Deron Williams is the future of the team, but he's only in his second year and hasn't put up any impressive stats to impress his teammates in those two years.

Boozer, another core player in the team's tactics and their leading scorer, has made it difficult for him to earn the respect of his teammates due to his past traitorous behavior.

Kirilenko, the team's highest-paid player, is certainly good at defense, but his offense is really terrible. He's also a member of the Goose family and has absolutely no ability to connect with the team.

Derek Fisher is usually quite active and seems to want to be the locker room leader.

But those with real talent, such as Delon, Boozer, Kirilenko, and Okur, don't give him a second thought;

Those who paid him any attention didn't have much of a place in the team.

The reason this Jazz team is still doing well and hasn't fallen apart is entirely due to the authority of their veteran coach, Sloan.

Another point is that Salt Lake City really doesn't have much entertainment, so players can't even find a place to slack off.

During the team meeting, Yang Lin sat on the far side.

Seeing his teammates speechless, especially Deron Williams, the team's future star, who wanted to speak but hesitated and glanced at Sloan.

Yang Lin couldn't help but think to himself, "De Xiaopang was suppressed too much in the early stages!"

No wonder he was so persistent in falling out with the old general afterward.

Unable to tolerate his teammates any longer, Yang Lin said, "Um, can I say a few words?"

No one spoke for a while, and Sloan felt a little awkward.

At the same time, he vaguely sensed that he seemed to have too much control over the team, which made it impossible for the players to unite.

The players were just going to work, nothing more; they lacked any sense of unity or ambition to win.

With a multitude of thoughts running through his mind, Sloan considered changing the way he managed the team in the future.

Upon hearing Yang Lin speak, he smiled and replied, "Of course. Yang, tell me your thoughts on the finals."

Meeting everyone's gaze, Yang Lin grinned and said:

"I feel really lucky. I originally thought I would only play one season in the NBA, but I never thought I would have a chance to win a championship ring."

He glanced around at the Jazz players and smiled:

"Brothers! Are you ready? We're about to take the championship and bring Salt Lake City its first title."

Yang Lin's words, which were irrelevant to the competition and seemed like nonsense, still elicited a smile from Sloan.

This is the first time a player on the team has publicly and solemnly proclaimed the championship slogan.

To achieve final victory, one must naturally possess the spirit to strive for it.

Hearing Yang Lin say this, and considering that Yang Lin's academic performance seemed quite good, far surpassing the group of roughnecks on the team, Sloan chimed in with a joke:

"Yang, what do you think our chances are of winning the final championship?"

"Eighty percent, at least seventy percent."

Yang Lin smiled, looking confident.

"If nothing unexpected happens, we should be able to lift the championship trophy in Salt Lake City by Game 6 at the latest (2-3-2 format in the Finals).

Yang Lin made a firm promise and provided specific dates to convince everyone that he wasn't just making things up.

"Oh?"

Yang Lin's assertion aroused everyone's curiosity.

"As we all know, since Michael Jordan retired, the league has always been dominated by the Western Conference and weaker than the Eastern Conference."

"In the past eight years, the West has won six championships. If it weren't for the referees, I feel that last year's champion would most likely have been Dallas, not Miami."

"For many years, the only truly strong team in the East was the Detroit Pistons. But clearly, they got screwed over this year."

"Two teams that have never won a championship have entered the Finals, which is obviously more in line with the league's publicity and hype."

"Cleveland is clearly not a strong team. They are in the weak Eastern Conference, and their record this year is only 50 wins."

"My God! We're fourth in the West, but our actual record is fifth, and we actually have home-court advantage in the Finals..."

Yang Lin's rambling analysis made the Jazz players feel that their team had a huge advantage, instantly boosting their confidence.

As for whether the players will become arrogant and complacent, that's a matter for head coach Sloan to decide.

Finally, Yang Lin turned to metaphysics.

"These past two days, the media has been saying that our entry into the finals was due to luck, but good luck won't always be on our side."

"This viewpoint is absolutely foolish."

"That's right! We were really lucky. In the second round, we faced the Golden State Warriors, who pulled off a Cinderella run, and in the Western Conference Finals, the San Antonio Spurs lost two key players to injury."

"Why can't luck always be on our side?"

"Haven't she always been on our side? Otherwise, why would our Finals opponent be Cleveland, and not Detroit?"

"Obviously, God wanted Utah to win the championship, and God wanted Salt Lake City to lift the championship trophy. The championship belongs to the Utah Jazz."

For some reason, the Jazz players felt a surge of excitement.

Everyone gathered together, raised their hands, and shouted, "The championship belongs to the Utah Jazz!"

Seeing the players' united spirit, the goal became clear.

Sloan, standing to the side, grinned and muttered to his teaching assistant Corbin beside him:

"Yang is really good! He's very suitable to be the leader of a team."

"But our key player in the backcourt is Deron Williams, what if they..." Corbin asked with a worried expression.

Sloan waved his hand dismissively, saying, "That's all for later. What we need to do now is take that damn Larry O'Brien Trophy."

"I don't want to make it to the finals three times and fail three times. Who knows when the next chance will come?"

"That's true." Corbin nodded in agreement.

After the players clarified their goals, the meeting continued, and Sloan asked everyone:

"What are your specific thoughts on the upcoming Finals against Cleveland?"

His question was directed at all the players, but his eyes were fixed on Yang Lin.

He finally understood that the Jazz players had been suppressed by him for too long, and at this moment, only Yang Lin, this rookie, could have some opinions of his own.

Yang Lin didn't mince words and said directly, "I won't go into the offense; we have our own tactical system. I have some ideas about defense."

"Tell me about it." Sloan nodded at him.

"After watching the Cavaliers' games, we can see that the Cavaliers are a one-man team. Their offense is completely dominated by LeBron James."

"He has explosive athleticism, and once he gets going, he's very difficult to stop. He has excellent vision and is a superb passer..."

"But he also has very obvious flaws. He can't play off-ball, his shooting is not consistent, and he doesn't have enough confidence in his shooting."

"When faced with defense, he prefers to rely on his drives and passes. He doesn't post up much; he prefers to face up..."

After rattling off a long string of words, Yang Lin licked his lips and continued:

"This is what I think: we should defend against his passing, let him shoot, and lure him into driving to the basket."

"When he has the ball up and faces the basket, he's guarded one-on-one by Deron Williams or Derrick Johnson. They're heavy but agile enough that LeBron can't use his clumsy back-to-the-basket moves to advance the ball."

"With someone interfering in front of him, he probably doesn't have enough confidence to pull up for a jump shot. In that case, he can only drive to the basket. Deron Williams and Derrick are agile enough to quickly recover even if they are driven past."

"When he gets inside, Carlos, Mehmet, or Andre, along with Deron or Derrick, cut off his passing lanes and force him to take the shot himself."

"With his scoring style and ability, he can't kill the game by himself."

Yang Lin recalled the defense against LeBron James and his team in later generations and gave a general idea.

He didn't know if his ideas would come to fruition, but that wasn't something he needed to worry about.

He was just giving the coaching staff a concept, an idea.

Okay! He also admitted that he came up with these ideas for his own benefit.

The Cavaliers are a team with a tall roster.

If he plays alongside Deron Williams or Derek Fisher, he will likely have to defend shooting guards or even LeBron James.

With his small physique, he doesn't want to face off against James on the defensive end.

Wouldn't it be smashed to pieces?

Better to die than to die, my fellow Daoist.

Since that was the case, he had no choice but to push the two chubby boys out.

After all, Fisher has a memorable moment of defending LeBron James one-on-one! He might even earn the nickname "The Mountain of Utah"!

Sloan pondered Yang Lin's suggestion for a moment.

Recalling the Cavaliers' games, I thought about it and realized that it might actually be feasible.