NBA: Starting with Jokic template

Chapter 213: 03 Best Rookie Rematch, Anthony vs. James

After seven games and half a month of effort, the Western Conference Finals finally came to an end.

But at this time, the fighting in the east continued.

Just the day after the Thunder won Game 7.

In the East, the G6 game between the Heat and the Knicks officially started.

In the first four games, the two teams also tied 2:2.

In the decisive battle, the Heat defeated the Knicks 107:99 at Madison Square Garden, the home court of the Knicks, and took the lead.

Although Anthony scored 37 points and Stoudemire scored 22 points, it was still difficult to prevent the team from losing.

Although James and Wade scored a combined 62 points on the opposing team, the main reason for the Knicks' loss in the decisive battle was ultimately due to JR Smith's poor performance.

全场出战32分钟，打出了惊世骇俗的16投3中，以19%的命中率狂砍9分。

Now, they are facing their first life-and-death battle in the playoffs.

If they win, a tiebreaker will begin.

If you lose, you'll immediately get on a plane and go back to New York.

Anthony tried to calm himself.

This is his second time facing LeBron James' team in the playoffs, following last year.

Last season, he was swept 4:1 by the opposing team in the first round.

This also made him once again overshadowed by this talented classmate.

Now, this season, he finally defeated the opponent in the regular season and surpassed the opponent in the MVP ranking for the first time.

Carmelo Anthony never thought that LeBron James was better than him.

Although he was only a freshman at the time, he was able to lead Syracuse University to win the first NCAA championship in their team's history.

However, despite such an amazing performance, I did not get many shots among my peers.

Instead, all the attention was attracted by LeBron James, who was still in high school.

It seemed that everyone in the class of 03 was just there to serve as a foil for him.

Not only did he fail to get the top spot in that year's exam.

Moreover, in his rookie season, he led the team to a record of 43 wins and 39 losses and entered the playoffs. His personal statistics also averaged 21 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game. He won all the best rookie awards in the Western Conference for 6 months, but he didn't get the damn best rookie!

On the contrary, LeBron James next door played 20.9 points, 5.5 rebounds, 5.9 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.6 blocks, which is actually not as good as him.

Moreover, the Cavaliers only had a record of 35 wins and 47 losses that season, ranking ninth in the Eastern Conference and not even making the playoffs.

But the league gave him the best rookie award instead of himself!
Even sharing is possible!
But after winning all the Rookie of the Month awards in the Western Conference, he missed the final Rookie of the Year award!

In this game, he must defeat the Heat and prove that he is no weaker than LeBron James!
If I can beat James, or even beat the winner of the Western Conference Thunder and Spurs, and win the damn championship, I can become a star of another level!

Only in this way will the league pay more attention to me and put me in the MVP discussion next season!

In the player tunnel, Anthony sat and made final preparations.

In one minute, they will start the game.

He looked at JR Smith behind him, thinking of how he had played terribly in the previous game and how he had sincerely apologized to everyone in the locker room after the game.

But out of concern, he couldn't help but ask,
"JR, this game won't fall apart again."

"rest assured!"

JR made an OK gesture and said confidently,
"This game is definitely not a loss for the team. I also want to see the stage of the finals!"

Hearing JR's confidence, Anthony became even more nervous.

JR is as stable as ever.

It is to highlight the attribute of a nervous knife.

The more confident he is, the more he likes to take action.

And he just took action.

But whether it is a god or a ghost, it is impossible to tell before the game.

Anthony can only hope that JR can play at his expected level in this game.

After all, the opponent's opponent Dwyane Wade's level of offense and defense has dropped significantly after he injured his knee in the finals last season.

In these games, it was difficult to completely defend against JR.

"It's time to go, everyone!"

The team's head coach, Mike Woodson, clapped his hands and pointed to the end of the player tunnel.
"Let's go! Beat the Heat! Go back and play a game 7!"

"rush!"

Anthony ran into the court first.

After listening to the home team DJ introduce the Heat's starting lineup, the players from both teams stood in the middle of the court.

Seeing Chandler easily beat Haslem, Anthony immediately trotted forward and asked his teammates for the ball.

In this game, he not only wants to win the game at the American Airlines Center, but also wants to beat James in front of tens of thousands of Heat fans!

After receiving the basketball, he looked at James who was defending seriously in front of him.

Anthony seemed to recall the scene when the two of them first entered the league.

Who would have thought that this promising young team, which was once highly anticipated, has not won a championship even after 10 years of playing together.

And I am also competing with him for a spot in this year's finals.

Anthony pulled his mind away and immediately started a three-threat move. He then used his most familiar style of play to break through to the mid-range and made a quick stop and jump shot to score the first goal.

In the next round after Anthony scored the goal, at midcourt, James received the pass from Chalmers and took two steps back.

At the same time, he stretched out his left hand, clenched his fist, placed it to his mouth and blew into it twice.

Seeing this, Anthony knew that James was preparing to build up his strength for a breakthrough.

From outside the three-point line, he retreated to almost the center line, just to accumulate strength for himself so that he could speed up and pass him in one step.

If he was allowed to speed up and break through, even though Anthony thought he was strong, he couldn't help but feel a little scared.

He knew that the impact was no less than that of a tank, and he didn't want to be hit at the beginning, which would affect his performance throughout the game.

Seeing this, Anthony immediately took a few steps back and retreated to the free throw line.

Coming to this position is basically equivalent to letting James take a three-pointer.

James was stunned for a moment, then his expression changed slightly.

Anthony knows that his three-point shooting percentage this season has reached 40%, which is among the top levels in the league.

Even so, they still let him take the three-point shot, which really shows their disdain for him.

What? Do you really think I’m the same as my rookie season, with no basketball ability?
In this case, he gave up the idea of ​​accumulating strength to attack the basket and decided to take advantage of the situation.

Since you, Anthony, dare to let me go like this, I will definitely shoot you to death with a three-pointer!
Thinking of this, James took two big steps forward and came directly to the three-point line.

Then he immediately gathered the ball, took a look and shot directly.

Anthony's interference came late, but he didn't even turn his head and rushed straight to the front court. James was still wondering what Anthony was doing, but the next moment he reacted and his face looked a little ugly.

This was a performance that showed he didn't believe he could make a three-pointer at all. He rushed to the frontcourt and waited for Chandler to grab the rebound and pass it to him for a fast break!
damn it!
Seeing that Anthony had already run to the center line, James was in a dilemma as to whether to chase him or not. He stopped where he was for a moment.

Fortunately, this goal was finally scored under the attention of everyone, otherwise James would definitely be embarrassed today.

James returned to defense and couldn't help feeling fortunate.

If I can't even make an open three-pointer, then I'm not worthy of being the best player in the league in recent years.

"A smart-aleck."

When passing by Anthony, James couldn't help but curse.

Anthony just glanced at him and said nothing.

When the ball was passed to him again, Anthony ignored James who was defending him and shot a three-pointer.

With a swish, Anthony stepped back, pointing three fingers at his head in a head-exploding gesture, his eyes fixed on James.

He said silently,
"That's a three-point threat, kid."

Ah!
James was almost laughing because of Anthony.

Although he had been provoked by his opponents many times before, most of them were not even qualified to be compared with him.

He rarely takes it to heart.

But Anthony is different.

This guy has always been outshined by me since his debut.

Except for his best scoring, which often surpasses himself on the list, he is no match for himself in the rest.

And in this season.

He finally managed to hold on thanks to the collective performance of his teammates, and now he starts to think that they are better than himself?
He doesn't care if others provoke him.

But Anthony provoked him, and he had to respond back.

Moreover, after calculations with his sophisticated brain, he knew that they had a great chance of winning this game.

With the home-court advantage and the Big Three, even if he competes with Anthony for a few rounds, it will not affect the final result.

He immediately asked for the basketball and made a quick stop shot from outside the three-point line.

Anthony only defended symbolically and then immediately ran to the frontcourt.

He knew clearly that with James' shooting skills, there was no chance of this ball going in.

Sure enough, the next moment, in the noisy stadium, a clanging sound was particularly crisp and eye-catching.

"Tyson, pass it to me!"

Anthony ran to the front court while shouting behind him.

A moment later, a gust of wind blew towards his side. Even though Anthony didn't look deliberately, he knew that it was the ball passed by his teammate.

Anthony grabbed the basketball with both hands, took two steps along the three-point line, and ended the round with a slam dunk.

James behind him came late and slapped the backboard, shaking the entire basketball hoop.

"I'm not a defender, you can't just block my shot!"

After gaining the upper hand in consecutive 1v1s, Anthony became happy and continued to provoke James with a grin.

The provocation soon worked, and James continued to ask Chalmers for the ball with a dark face and a stiff tone.

Although the tone sounded unhappy, and James' three-point shooting level was not very good.

But firstly, considering that the opponent was the leader of the team, and also considering that the game had not been played for long and he had a hit rate of 50%, there was no reason for him not to pass the ball, so he had to pass the ball over with a cold face.

James followed suit and used the triple threat in front of Anthony.

But the stiff movement only made Anthony laugh.

Using triple threats on him, a master of triple threats, is like showing off one's sword in front of Guan Gong!
Anthony was quick-eyed and quick-handed, slapping the basketball down with one hand.

While James was still making moves, the basketball had already been brought to the frontcourt by Anthony.

When he turned around to chase, it was too late and he could only watch the opponent's second fast break dunk at the beginning of the game.

On the sidelines, Spoelstra's face turned black.

In this season's playoffs, we finally got everyone together as a team again, and everyone played very tactically.

But today, James seemed to have taken the wrong medicine and competed with the opponent's core player.

Although he has a good relationship with other players in the team and can manage them, he has no way to deal with James.

The two had already begun to show signs of discord last season, and things have gotten even more tense this season.

If it weren't for Riley's support, he would have been driven away by the other party long ago.

And James, as the team's biggest star, can't help but use him.

So the team fell into this strange stalemate.

It's obvious that as long as James is controlled, this quarter can be played normally.

But the head coach acted as if he didn't see anything and completely ignored James' actions on the court.

James's several attempts to challenge Anthony caused the team to fall behind by 6 points at lightning speed.

Seeing that he was going to do the same thing in this round, with a momentum that he would not stop until he defeated his opponent in a one-on-one duel, even a lot of Heat fans in the audience seats on the sidelines began to feel dissatisfied.

There was booing from the sidelines.

Anthony couldn't help laughing.
"Hey, LeBron, I'm the first time I've seen the home team fans booing me like this right after the promotion game started."

James' face turned black, and he gritted his teeth and said,
"They know nothing! Just watch me play! I will win in my own way!"

Anthony didn't say it, but when he heard James say that, his heart was filled with joy.

He wished that James would continue to argue with him like this.

I am a one-on-one player.

James is indeed an all-around player. His greatest characteristic is his rationality and he can make the most accurate judgments at any time.

But now, he gave up his greatest advantage and challenged himself? !

Isn't it beautiful!

In this round, Anthony gave James half a step back, giving him space to shoot.

James knew it was an open conspiracy, but he chose to take action without hesitation.

Compared to breaking through Anthony's first line of defense, with former best defensive player Tyson Chandler guarding the inside, the chances of an open mid-range shot are greater.

With a "ding!", Anthony ran again to ask for the ball.

This time, he saw James rushing towards him like a bull, and calculated that the distance was not enough for a direct dunk, so he simply adjusted his rhythm, made a fake move at the last moment, and successfully shook James off.

Looking at the other party's incredulous eyes, Anthony just smiled slightly and made another empty basket.

This time Spoelstra finally couldn't bear it anymore. If he allowed James to continue to act so unruly, there would be no need to play the game and he could just admit defeat!
(End of this chapter)