no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 249
On the first weekend of December, the Cavaliers' home game against the Bulls became the focus of the game.

This is not only a battle between two rival teams, because they are only half a game away on record, but also a battle for the top spot in the Eastern Conference.

Before the game, the media has begun to warm up with overwhelming reports.

But an interesting thing is that when the media were promoting and building momentum, for the first time they did not use the duel between James and Xu Yong as a gimmick.

Moreover, in the official game promotion photos provided by the league, the person standing in the C position of the Cavaliers turned out to be Nike's Irving.

Naturally, this inevitably led to another controversy among the Jamies on social media.

Although Irving's 24 points per game this season is a career high, James' 25.4 points per game is the Cavaliers' top scorer.

However, their arguments do not prevent media people from continuing to express their opinions.

"This is the first time LeBron has played against the Bulls since he became the spokesperson of Adidas. This will definitely be a very interesting game." Barkley was full of overtones in the game preview.

On the plane to Cleveland on game day, Thibodeau announced the team's activated roster.

Rose will not travel with the team to Cleveland due to right knee soreness, and the other inactive roster member is Justin Holiday.

When he heard the news, Jokic was stunned for a moment.

Originally, he thought that this spot must be his, but he did not expect that he would be on the activation list.

Although he was a little confused, there was still some expectation in his eyes.

Being on the active list does not necessarily mean you will play, but at least there is a chance.

When I arrived in Cleveland and took the bus from the airport to the hotel and passed the elevated highway, I could see a billboard erected on the roadside, which still had a picture of James on it.

This feeling, Xu Yong seems a bit like that of the late Eastern Han Dynasty. Although the "emperor" has lost the rights he should have had, it does not prevent him from still being the prefect of Luoyang.

After arriving in Cleveland, the players immediately began training.

The team members are very energetic. Not to mention Xu Yong, the Bulls have been disgusted by James' privileges in recent years. Now they finally don't have to be so angry anymore, so they have to hold back their energy.

Because it is an open training, there will be media interviews after the training.

As usual, Xu Yong was surrounded by a group of reporters.

And among this group of people, he also saw a very familiar figure, Windhorst.

Generally speaking, reporters with good reputations appear at the post-match press conference. Most of these pre-match interviews are with newcomers. It seems that this person is not having a good life now.

Xu Yong pretended not to see it and accepted questions from other reporters.

Windhorst wanted to speak several times, but was ignored by Xu Yong. Then other reporters immediately rushed to ask questions.

Later Windhorst couldn't help but reach out to wipe the sweat from his forehead. He was really sweating.

At the end of the interview, after seeing that Windhorst was still there, Xu Yong finally looked at this [old acquaintance].

"Xu, what do you think of another matchup with LeBron? We now know that the two teams are evenly matched." Windhorst asked quickly.

At this time, the reporters all looked at Xu Yong, because in this interview just now, Xu Yong did not mention James, and he pretended not to hear when a reporter asked about topics related to James.

"I think we need to focus on defending Kyrie (Irving). Derek can't play tonight. He will put pressure on our back line." Xu Yong replied.

Windhorst was stunned. Xu Yong answered seriously, but he didn't answer the question at all.

"Come here today."

But just when he was about to remind Xu Yong, Xu Yong had already signaled the end of the interview. As the reporters dispersed amid laughter, Windhorst could only see Xu Yong's back.

Obviously, Xu Yong guessed that he would ask James a question, and had no intention of answering it. He was just making fun of him.

Why were the reporters laughing just now?Just laughing at him.

He was so angry that he was itching his teeth, but just like Zhang Rang, the Shichang aide who finally threw himself into the Yellow River, when the authority of the so-called "emperor" was no longer there, he had no dignity at all.

That night, the game between the Cavaliers and Bulls kicked off at Quicken Loans Arena.

The arena was crowded, and many fans wore Cavaliers jerseys, the most of which belonged to James.

Needless to say, James' open letter when he returned to the Cavaliers was a bit touching. In Cleveland, as long as he never leaves, he will still be the king.

After the opening ceremony, both sides started the game.

Bulls: Dellavedova, Butler, Xu Yong, West, Adams;

Cavaliers: Irving, JR, James, Love, Davis.

As the fans cheered, Davis returned the ball to half court, and the game officially began.

Irving came up and used Davis' pick-and-roll to break through to the basket and hit the board.

Although what Xu Yong said to Windhorst before the game did not answer the question, it was true. Dellavedova's mad-dog defense would have limited effect when faced with a defender like Irving who is good at breaking through.

Then when the offense and defense switched, Xu Yong discovered that the person guarding him was Love.

Originally, if James was guarding him, he would have to adjust his offensive strategy and attack more without the ball. After all, James can maximize his physical advantage when defending in the low post, but that did not happen.

Xu Yong looked at Love, who had become two people compared to his NCAA days, and decisively took the position in the low post.

Xu Yong caught the ball, but JR did not follow Butler through the back door, but suddenly launched a double attack on him.

This is obviously the tactical arrangement of Cavaliers coach Blatt.

Xu Yong didn't panic when he was pinched. After raising the ball above his head to protect it, he gave Love a counterattack, then jumped to the three-point line to get rid of the pinch, and then took advantage of the situation to shoot a fadeaway jumper.

Love's reaction speed was much faster after losing weight, and he rushed to interfere with him. JR also saw the right time to pounce on him.

But at this moment, Xu Yong suddenly threw the ball toward the basket.

Over there, Butler found that JR was not chasing him and stayed under the basket. After receiving Xu Yong's pass, he easily turned around and wiped the board to score.

What a tacit understanding formed through years of cooperation.

But looking back, Irving turned to the next worshiper and directly passed Delavandova cleanly.

Adams reacted quickly to the ball and shrank to the basket in advance and raised his hands to interfere. Upon seeing this, Irving jumped up in the air and slid with a lever before making a layup with a low hand.

Xu Yong couldn't help but want to applaud.

Let's not talk about how strong Irving's singles ability is, but it's really nice to play well.

And he scored 4 points in a row in the opening game. Although the second ball has the bonus of the [vertical take-off rule], Irving's state this season, if the team has more ball rights, he is still averaging 27 points per game.

Thinking of this, he then looked at James in front of him.

James hangs up on the offensive end and also hangs up on the defensive end, focusing on shopping.

Xu Yong continued to single out Love in the low post. This time JR did not trap him. After Xu Yong gave Love two hard back-up confrontations, he turned around and hit a fadeaway jumper towards the baseline.

Love was unable to exert any force immediately after Xu Yong's two confrontations, and when he pounced on him, he was no longer able to interfere.

This is also where Xu Yong is difficult to defend in low-post singles this season. Over the years, under the reinforcement of Grover, he has built a steel frame similar to Jordan's back then, and his confrontation ability is full. Not many people who sit in the same position can stand it. , even someone like Love, who can tolerate mismatches, cannot keep up with him.

It is no exaggeration to say that Xu Yong has completely replicated Jordan's low-post lethality, and it may even be higher, because his body type is that of a small forward. If he leans back, the opponent can only It will be more difficult to prevent.

And after retreating to the defensive end, Xu Yong smiled and said to James: "So what is your role on the court?"

Before, "It's the same with or without James" was just a joke from fans, but after tonight's game, this sentence couldn't be more appropriate.

James' face turned cold, but he didn't react.

"My fault, I forgot that you only play simple balls now." Xu Yong continued to output. The Bulls scored consecutively in the opening game, and James had no chance to play simple fast-break balls.

But James still didn't react. He was now simply a tortoise who had practiced Taoism for thousands of years, and he couldn't get enough of it.

At this moment, Irving's breakthrough caused West's thugs to get a chance to get to the free throw line.

Irving was truly possessed by a god tonight and could do anything.

Seeing this, Xu Yong called Butler and Dellavedova to him and explained a few words to them.

Xu Yong's low attack in the frontcourt was pinched and the ball was hit. Butler's three-point shot from the outside missed the point and hit the frame.

At this moment, Xu Yong saw a figure flying out of the three-point line.

After a closer look, it was clearly James. The speed was like all the breath he had been holding was used in this fast break.

But in the end he didn't get this opportunity, because James started the fast break early, and West saw the basketball's placement and easily grabbed the offensive rebound.

Then this scene seemed very funny, because when James rushed through the midline, the Bulls directly had a 5-on-4 opportunity in the frontcourt.

After continuous passes, Adams scored two points under the basket.

"What?" Barkley's jaw dropped in shock.

O'Neal on the side had already begun to laugh.

Let’s not talk about anything else, the material for this issue’s [Five Big Embarrassments] is already available.

The camera was also shown to James. Apparently even his own photographer was shocked by James's actions.

However, the Cavaliers players did not react much to this scene. It is not that their understanding of basketball is different from others, but that after playing last season, they have become somewhat accustomed to James' style of play. This kind of fast break James It's impossible not to go down.

Of course, James' next operation is the most fascinating, because after he returned to the backcourt, he spread his hands towards Davis with a puzzled expression, obviously asking why he failed to protect the backcourt rebounds.

Xu Yong was stunned, but then he laughed. If he plays like this for another one or two seasons, Davis will directly start the health mode.

During the transition between offense and defense, the Bulls' defense changed. Xu Yong switched to guard in front of Irving, Butler guarded James, and Delavandova switched to JR.

This is what Xu Yong explained before. Originally, he wanted to stimulate James and let James attack with the ball, but that didn't work, so he chose to block the hole of the gun himself.

Irving saw the change in defense, but he was quite confident after scoring several goals in a row. He neither passed the ball nor called a pick-and-roll, but directly signaled for a single.

This choice can be said to be youthful and energetic, but it also shows that Irving's character is a positive and tough one.

And you have to know that Iverson's famous scene back then was to score by beating Jordan. If he could score by beating Xu Yong, it would be a repeat of a classic and he would definitely make headlines after the game.

The Cavaliers quickly opened up the space. Irving opened up his posture outside the three-point line at the top of the arc. Xu Yong also squatted down and took a defensive posture, concentrating on it.

The fans began to cheer.

Irving faced Xu Yong and suddenly bowed directly to Buddha, but Xu Yong's sliding step was perfect. His entire defensive posture did not change while sliding back. Irving's prayer had no effect.

Irving did not stop his hand, and immediately followed with continuous changes of direction in front of his body. During the whole process, the ball felt like it was stuck to his hand.

Just for this set of silky combos, there is nothing wrong with the official placing Irving in the C position.

But he still couldn't get past Xu Yong. Xu Yong used fast and fine sliding steps and constantly adjusted his defensive direction, never allowing Irving to find a good angle.

At this time, the scene began to buzz with excitement.

After Xu Yong has devoted more energy to the offensive end in the past two years, his presence on the defensive end is not as good as when he first entered the league.

But judging from the brief contact just now, Xu Yong only invested less, but his ability has not weakened at all.

Irving had no good chance and could only pull back to the three-point line.

At this time, Xu Yong did not press forward like he did against James, because Irving's movement control skills were so good that he had to keep a certain distance to guard against him.

He is not worried about Irving's shooting either. Because of his size advantage, even if Irving chooses to shoot, he can quickly pounce on him and interfere.

Sure enough, Irving chose to break through. After a crotch move, he quickly closed the distance with Xu Yong, and then changed hands behind his back to switch the ball to his left hand and go to the left.

This series of movement control skills was perfect, but he still couldn't get past Xu Yong. Xu Yong's sliding steps combined with puppy steps made his whole body move. He even had the energy to sweep in front of him with his right hand and compress Irving. dribbling space.

Irving still wanted to change direction, but Xu Yong gave him no chance and blocked his breakthrough route with a direct physical confrontation.

This confrontation was so powerful that Irving almost lost control of the ball. After regaining control of the ball, Irving quickly used his right foot as the pivot foot to turn and feint to shoot the free throw line. However, Xu Yong was still not passed by him, and in When Irving jumped up for the second time to take action, Xu Yong made accurate judgment and jumped up directly to give him a big hat.gif!

The scene was agitated, and many fans were stunned.

In this round, Irving used almost all of his movement control skills. Other defenders would have been shaken away, but Xu Yong was stunned to defend him, and used his size advantage to finally complete the block.

Irving failed to imitate Iverson, but became another scene for Xu Yong.

After the ball was blocked, the floor ball was snatched by Delavandova. Although his defensive ability was limited, his enthusiasm and consciousness were full of hard work.

After taking control of the ball, he threw the ball hard to Butler. Butler dunked the ball with both hands on the fast break, without giving James behind him a chance to catch up.After James failed to block the shot, he was a little annoyed and slammed the ball on the ground.

As a result, the ball disobeyed and bounced directly into James' right cheek. Butler looked on with a shocked expression. gif.

This scene happened to be captured by the photographer on the sidelines again, and O'Neal burst into laughter in the commentary box.

So far this season, his top five embarrassing materials have been relatively lacking. Unexpectedly, James came to the rescue in times of need. At tonight's pace, is he going to be able to do it all by himself?

After this episode passed, the pressure on the Cavaliers' offense suddenly became great.

Because Love is a role player and Davis does not have the offensive ability, the Cavaliers seem to be the Big Four, but only Irving and James can really hold the ball and launch offense in the backcourt.

After Irving's ball was blocked by Xu Yong, the Cavaliers were left with James.

At this time, Butler spat out trash talk towards James: "The senior is right, there is no difference between the Cavaliers with you and without you."

James became angry on the spot when he heard this. He was afraid that Xu Yongyong would leave, but could he still be afraid of Butler?
"This is the last time you disrespect me!" In a familiar words, James reached out to Irving to pass the ball.

Irving originally wanted to continue to play Xu Yong to regain the court, but when James asked for the ball, he had to give it to him.

He and Davis are actually in the same mood right now. They are both being patient with James, and they might explode one day.

After James got the ball, he dribbled twice with his hips, then accelerated and charged directly at Butler.

What kind of technology? There is no need for technology at all. He has no advantage against Xu Yong, but he has no advantage against Butler?

"Oh!"

There was a direct physical confrontation between the two. Butler was knocked back half a step, but was not completely knocked away.

Butler's growth path is the same as that of Xu Yong, but one thing is similar, that is, starting from the third year of his rookie year, he starts to gain muscle and increase confrontation, because without confrontation, your breakthrough power is limited.

Two years later, although he still can't hold James, it's not to the extent that he wanted to "consume" James as he said when he was a rookie.

James didn't completely knock Butler away, and suddenly became a little overwhelmed.

In addition to technical reasons, another very important reason is the referee's whistleblowing on his walking this season. In the past, when he encountered this kind of situation, he could just continue to take a step, but now he is afraid of being whistled again.

Upon seeing this, Butler started to cut the ball. James switched to his pivot foot to protect the ball and was directly forced to kill the ball.

The fans at the scene were also dumbfounded. What happened to James tonight?If you can't beat Xu Yong, you can't beat Butler? !
Irving tried to respond, but Xu Yong followed closely and waved his arms to interfere with the passing route between them.

Love tried to cut to the basket, but Adams reacted and blocked his path.

In the end, James had no choice but to forcefully take off and use his crab pose to complete a difficult shot.

God did not bless such an unappreciative shot. The basketball hit the front edge of the basket and hit the frame. Adams took off the defensive rebound. After seeing Xu Yong rushing forward, he immediately became an iconic quarterback. Shixin throws the ball and passes long.

Xu Yong caught the ball, accelerated to the frontcourt, and glided into the air when he reached the free throw line.

The doors of Cleveland Palace are always open!
"Oh!"

Xu Yong directly performed a gliding 360° turn and dunk.

After landing, Xu Yong felt good and made his iconic hand-opening celebration to the fans on the sidelines: Look, I was awesome just now, wasn't I?

Quicken Loans Arena is buzzing with excitement.

The two teams have similar records, and the Cavaliers' overall performance this year is much better than last season after running in. How come they were beaten like this just after they played against each other?

The photographer at the scene was very good at camera language and gave the camera to James on the court.

Even if it's Tian Ji horse racing, when your superior horse can't beat your opponent's medium horse, what can you do to win?
This was supposed to be a battle for the Cavaliers' reputation, but who could have imagined that James would be so embarrassed at the start.

However, James in the camera was talking to the referee emotionally at this time.

Only the fans sitting on the sidelines could hear what he was saying.

"He's spread out. Look, he's spread out!" James said while pointing at Xu Yong at the other end of the court.

Yes, he is talking about Xu Yong showing his hands.

He was criticized for showing his hands before, and Xu Yong should also be criticized. There can be no double standards.

The referee didn't react at first. It was only after James spread his hands to signal that he knew what he was talking about.

The referee's expression instantly became meaningful. Even if they were all showing their hands, would it be the same?

The way he spreads his hands shows that he is a thief, and your way of spreading his hands is completely questioning our judgment.

And what if Xu Yong shows his hand, he is No. 1 in the league, if he really shows his hand to me because of the penalty issue, I will immediately change the decision!
You have not seen the era of Jordan. As long as Jordan questions the referee's decision, the referee will change the decision.

This is "real.privilege (privilege)", but Jordan rarely uses it.

"No, no, you can't punish me like this, it's unfair."

Listening to James' nagging, the referee also looked helpless. People need to be self-aware.

Finally, after seeing the referee completely ignore him, James turned around and cursed.

"beep!"

The referee's whistle sounded immediately, giving James a technical foul.

The buzzing in your ears is already annoying enough, but it's also so harsh that it doesn't spoil you.

James was really angry now. He felt that he was being treated differently, and he was so angry that he wanted to go up to the referee. At this time, Love came to his side, and when he saw James' appearance, he stretched out his hand to stop him.

James immediately made a charging stance, surprising Love.

However, Love is also an honest man, and upon seeing this, he forcibly pulled James back to the bench.

The referee went to the technical table to confirm James' technical foul.

In addition to the fact that James' behavior just now is enough to call a technical foul, in fact, you have to say that the most depressing thing in the past few years has been the referee group.

They listened to the league's arrangements and turned a blind eye to James' moves. This would not make their salary a penny more, and they would have to be blasted by fans after the game; but if they didn't brag like that, they would have done it every minute. Will be unemployed.

Here, professional ethics and other things are simply a luxury. You can tell how uncomfortable they are.

So if there is a real counterattack, their reaction will be the biggest.

Xu Yong was walking towards his own half at this time. When he heard the referee's whistle, he was stunned for a moment. When he realized what happened, he smiled and shook his head.

The dominoes fell one after another, and James was peeled off layer by layer like an onion. When it was completely peeled away, you would find that there was actually nothing inside.

James was substituted after being whistled for a technical foul, and Blatt replaced Jefferson.

As a result, the Cavaliers were forced to let Love reorganize the offense.

And don’t tell me, Love mainly plays a plug-and-play role. After losing weight, his three-point threat and outside ball-handling threat have increased. His effect on holding the ball outside the three-point line is quite good. The Cavaliers’ The offense also opened up a lot.

Facts have proved that Xu Yong's previous words are not entirely accurate, because in this high-intensity game, the Cavaliers without James seem to be better.

At halftime, the Cavaliers trailed the Bulls by only 50 points, 60-10. However, in the third quarter, Xu Yong broke out and the Bulls directly opened the point difference to 20 points. In the last quarter, they fell directly. For garbage time.

It can be said that no one expected this result.

James only scored 8 points in the three quarters, which was completely unmatched by his season performance.

By the last quarter, Xu Yong and Butler were already talking and laughing on the bench.

When there were 6 minutes left in the game and the Bulls still maintained a more than 20-point lead, Thibodeau turned around and called Jokic at the end of the bench.

Jokic stood up for a moment, unable to hide the excitement in his eyes.

Xu Yong noticed Jokic, stopped him when he passed by, then reached out and gave him a high-five.

Of course, except for Xu Yong, no one else noticed the fat man who was stuffing his jersey into his shorts while walking towards the technical stage.

At this time, more than half of the fans in the arena had left, and no one was a masochist. The remaining fans were all focused on the Cavaliers half, because James was back on the court.

It seems that James still refuses to admit defeat.

The ones left at this time are basically die-hard fans of the Cavaliers. Although they know that the game has entered garbage time, being able to watch James score some points is the only highlight of the remaining game.

No, as soon as the two sides made substitutions, James broke through Artest and performed a signature tomahawk dunk.

The emotions of the fans at the scene were ignited.

Thibodeau shook his head at this time. In this round, Jokic's movement speed was too slow and he did not form any effective defense against James. For such a player, he really didn't understand why Xu Yong valued him.

After completing the dunk and retreating to the defensive half, James also roared at the bench players around him to remind him of the defensive position.

He is serious about chasing points.

This also worked successfully. The Bulls had several players on the court at this time, including Hinrich, Ennis, Anderson, Prince, and Jokic. Their offensive capabilities were indeed limited.

Anderson finally made a surge with the ball, and then passed the ball to Jokic outside the three-point line.

Jokic has a three-point range, he takes the shot after catching the ball.

James flew forward and pounced. Of course, his pounce was fake, but he took advantage of the momentum and ran outside the three-point line to prepare for a fast break.

It's just that Jokic's next operation was completely unexpected.

He did not shoot a three-pointer directly, but in the middle of the shot, he stuffed the ball directly towards Anderson under the basket.

Anderson didn't react and almost let the ball fly out.

Fortunately, his wingspan was long enough, and he was able to catch the ball that went out.

At this time, the Cavaliers' bench players didn't react at all, because Jokic was just shooting. Who knew that he was passing the ball in the middle of the shot?

Anderson easily put the basket under the basket and scored two points.

Now O'Neal in the commentary box smiled again. It seemed that his previous hunch was right. James really came here to cover the five most embarrassing materials tonight, and this round echoed the one in the first quarter.

Xu Yong turned to Thibodeau and smiled, as if to say that this is the value Jokic can provide.

Thibodeau's reaction was average. For him, players who cannot defend well will never be able to play high-intensity games. As for the moment, garbage time performance does not have much reference value.

During the Cavaliers' offense, James continued to rush to the basket. This time Jokic shrank to the basket in advance, allowing James to take a mid-range shot.

James naturally doesn't know how to take shots from mid-range. He rises into the air and dunks directly across Jokic.

He has seen centers like Jokic too many times. He is fat and moves slowly, so his existence can be completely ignored.

It's just that the result of this confrontation disappointed him. Jokic's barrel-shaped body has gained a certain level of confrontation after a summer of hard training. He didn't knock Jokic away this time, but was instead himself. Was bounced back.

He reluctantly threw the ball in the air, but the ball bounced off the back of the basket and missed.

Jokic showed his characteristics, successfully predicted the ball's landing point, and then quickly reached out to pick off the rebound.

James had just fallen to the ground at this time.

Yes, the referee did not blow the whistle because Jokic stood outside the reasonable collision area early and did not jump, although he might not be able to jump.

Then the next second, Jokic once again performed his passing art, a quarterback-style long throw across the court.

Although his strength is stronger than that of Adams, the angle of the pass is much better than that of Adams. It can be said that he accurately pushed the ball into the hands of Ennis who was about to leave.

Ennis took the ball, took three steps to get to the basket, and it was a fast break dunk and a swing to the basket.

The scene was restless.

In the past, the Bulls' centers were all the pillars under the basket, but now all the Bulls' centers can make long passes from the backcourt?

Just after Ennis dunked, Xu Yong noticed a slight fluctuation in Thibodeau's eyes.

Jokic's pass just now impressed Thibodeau.

This is reasonable, because Thibodeau's system is a defensive counterattack system. "Defensive counterattack" can be one word, but it can also be separated into "defense" and "counterattack".

Jokic's defense is average, but his long pass after grabbing the rebound is a rare ability in the counterattack system.

Although Adams also has this ability now, he doesn't have it among the substitutes.

At this moment, James got up from the floor, took off his braces, looked up at the replay of the round on the LED screen, and saw that the onion had been peeled, and its original shape was revealed.

(End of this chapter)