LeBron James, your house got robbed.

Chapter 97 The X Factor That Changed the Situation

Chen Shuo returned to the competition field after watching the live broadcast.

Thompson was in his own half of the court, running back and forth on both wings to shoot three-pointers, while Garnett stood under the basket to receive the ball.

The Cavaliers players gathered around to watch the spectacle.

Seeing Chen Shuo squeeze in, Lu Yu quickly made way and said, "KG and Klay bet a thousand dollars that he couldn't make 30 three-pointers in a row."

Chen Shuo's face darkened.

That's way too relaxed; they're not treating the other person like a human being at all.

I glanced at Paul; this guy was actually watching the show from the sidelines.

Left with no other option, Chen Shuo could only ask, "How many goals has he scored?"

As Thompson made another basket, Bass laughed and said, "If Klay makes three more baskets, he'll get a thousand dollars."

It feels so good.

Chen Shuo suddenly felt that a little gambling for fun wasn't necessarily a bad thing.

"3"

"2"

Thompson's last shot had a perfectly straight arc from the moment it left the ground; this super shooter seems to be on fire tonight.

*Snap!*

Garnett jumped lightly near the basket and gently pulled the ball back with his long arm.

The group burst into laughter immediately; they never expected to be able to play like this.

The bass immediately yelled at Garnett, "Hey, goaltending!"

The players immediately agreed.

Garnett swaggered over, his large head bobbing, and looked at Thompson: "Rookie, you win."

"Remember the force with which I passed you the ball, and kick their asses until they're pounded."

In contrast to the cheerful atmosphere among the knights, the atmosphere on the other side was much more serious.

The three leaders each had their own concerns, clearly influenced by the rumors.

Spoelstra noticed something was off with the team, but he was never a master of manipulation; he was more focused on tactical systems and player rotation.

Spoelstra couldn't just arbitrarily decide the status of the Heat's Big Three; it would require someone of Riley's caliber. Spoelstra had to rack his brains and focus on other aspects.

But with the Heat's current roster, there aren't many players he can rotate with.

DeShawn Stevens, the most important signing of the season, is out for the rest of the season.

James Posey and Juwan Howard were great fighters, but that was five or even ten years ago.

James Jones' three-point shooting percentage in the playoffs was less than 30%, making him unreliable.

The starting lineup includes JR Smith, who is a player with true playoff potential, while Haslem and Joel Anthony can only barely squeeze into the rotation.

However, the James system needs a lot of spacing on offense. Bringing in either Haslem or Joel Anthony would only make the Heat's already constipated offense even more difficult.

Moreover, the strong double-teaming and fast rotation system honed at the end of the season requires one big man and four small men to ensure that the center can step out to double-team and the forwards can rotate quickly.

The only thing that can be changed is the rotation order between Mike Miller and JR Smith.

Miller's three-point shooting is more consistent, and compared to JR's technical characteristics, he is better suited to creating space.

However, Miller's footwork was too slow on the defensive end, making it impossible for him to quickly rotate and cover for defenders.

JR's physical attributes are a perfect fit for the Heat's defensive system, but his defensive awareness and focus are hard to trust.

It would be great to have a forward who can shoot threes and also move around to help defend.

By using positioning and body movement to delay Thompson's shot by one or two seconds when he runs from the baseline, you can make his shot less smooth.

Spoelstra glanced at Riley, who stood calmly on the stage, wondering what Riley was up to.

Now that things have come to this, we have no choice but to fight a desperate battle.

As staff began clearing the field, players from both sides gradually approached the center line.

Chen Shuo immediately noticed the Heat's change in formation.

According to Chen Shuo, the Heat don't have many tricks up their sleeves.

After all, there are only so many people.

Chen Shuo designed this lineup specifically for this Heat team from the very beginning.

The Cavaliers' defensive formation not only counters James's ball-handling drives, but also effectively counters Wade's drives and long two-pointers.

If it goes wrong again, that would really be unacceptable.

The referee blew his whistle, and the match officially began.

Chandler jumps for possession, and Paul dribbles the ball up the court.

Chen Shuo is becoming increasingly confident in Paul.

As long as the ball is in Paul's hands, he's not afraid of the Heat launching a counterattack.

As usual, Paul initiated a pick-and-roll with Chandler, and Bosh quickly moved up to double-team Wade.

It seems the Heat are still determined to remove Paul from the roster.

Paul shielded the ball and retreated, searching for Garnett's position.

The Heat had clearly made preparations, with James sticking close to Garnett and preventing him from receiving the ball.

Wade suddenly made a move to steal the ball, and Paul, who had dropped the ball, used his body to block Wade, causing the ball to go out of bounds.

This ball took too long to handle, which will definitely cause problems when facing a double-team.

The only player who was left open on the court just now was Chandler, but Paul couldn't pass to him when Chandler was cutting to the basket.

If Chandler moves up, he can receive the ball, but if Chandler receives the ball at a high position, it basically means that the offense needs to be reorganized, and ten or so seconds of offensive time are wasted.

Spoelstra's tactical ability is still outstanding. Since he can't shut down Paul, he continues to shut down Garnett, who is supporting Paul.

Taking advantage of the break in the inbound pass, Paul quickly gathered with his teammates and briefly discussed the situation.

Garnett inbounds the ball to Paul from the sideline.

Facing Wade, Paul didn't try to get Chandler to set a screen after receiving the ball. Instead, he set a screen with Garnett right there on the spot.

James decisively abandoned Garnett and pounced on Paul, joining Wade in double-teaming him. Paul sidestepped Wade, found an opening, and passed the ball to Garnett.

This play showcases Paul's most essential ability.

His ability to pass the ball in tight spaces and his control of timing are crucial. If James is even a second late in closing in, it will be difficult to get a shot off, and even if he does pass, the quality will be low, enough for James to get back in front of Garnett.

However, Garnett didn't have time to wait for an opportunity to run out on the weak side. He immediately took a step forward into the three-point line and launched a powerful jump shot right in front of the basket.

He made a clean two-pointer.

A high jump shot may be ruthless, but as long as it goes in, it's fine.

If someone else were to control this Garnett template, they would most likely dribble and drive straight to the basket. With such a wide running track in front of them, it would make Stoudemire, who is now retired and fishing at home, drool with envy.

What? You're saying there's Bosh in the paint? Little Tyrant dunks on Bosh.

In the following possessions, the Cavaliers began to focus on pick-and-roll plays between Paul and Garnett.

Because Garnett had to act as a screener, Paul faced a double team from James and Wade, which greatly increased the difficulty of Paul's passing and even forced him to commit a turnover.

Fortunately, Paul quickly intercepted the ball and cleared it out of bounds, preventing the turnover from becoming a fast break for the Heat.

Overall, the Cavaliers' offensive efficiency dropped compared to the previous game, but it was still acceptable.

Ultimately, the key to winning this game lay in defense. The Heat made it difficult for the Cavaliers to attack, while the Cavaliers completely shut down the Heat's offense.

James hesitated when driving to the basket, showing excessive apprehension towards the Cavaliers' two formidable interior defenders.

Later, he simply transformed into a point guard who focused on setting up the offense, relentlessly passing the ball to Wade in the low post and JR on the wing, attempting to break the deadlock through isolation plays.

Wade learned from his previous experience and stopped driving into the paint. Instead, he tried to solve the problem with a turnaround jumper, but unfortunately, his shooting touch was off.

JR Smith, however, capitalized on Garnett's mismatch, relentlessly pulling up three-pointers from the perimeter, unleashing explosive firepower and scoring 8 points in the quarter, keeping the score close throughout.

Unlike Miller, JR Smith possesses complete ball-handling ability. As long as he's in good form and can perform at his best, he can indeed dominate his matchup with three-pointers.

Looking at JR Chen Shuo gave me a headache.

Logically speaking, JR Smith, who hasn't become a 3-and-D player, shouldn't fit into James' system. Compared to Miller, he needs to have more ball possession.

Now James has handed over the ball and just stays on the court to distribute the ball and let his teammates take turns playing, making him a completely irresponsible GOAT.

The Cavaliers are finding it a bit difficult to counter James' twin-tower system.

In this lineup of one big man and four small men, James plays the power forward position, and on the defensive end, he is also guarding Garnett.

However, in their defensive design, the Cavaliers didn't have Garnett guard James; instead, they mistakenly guarded the opposing small forward.

That is, Miller from the last game, and JR Smith from this game.

The goal was to make Kawhi Leonard, a defensive stalwart, the first line of defense against LeBron James.

Chen Shuo didn't expect that the last game would be a test for the Heat to stick to their big man and small man strategy.

This game is the opposite; the Heat are testing whether the Cavaliers can continue to rely on their twin towers.

Until halftime, the Cavaliers maintained their twin towers strategy, which resulted in the Heat taking a 5-point lead.

JR maintained his hot streak, scoring 15 points by halftime.

Tyronn Lue probably doesn't believe that JR's matchup can erase the Cavaliers' overall advantage.

Unfortunately, Thompson was not in good form overall, and even his two back-to-the-basket shots against Chalmers failed to find the net.

Chen Shuo glanced at Spoelstra on the sidelines; this round, Spoelstra was one step ahead.

However, it's too early to talk about victory or defeat.