NBA: Magic Johnson opens the season, crowned MOP

If there is, it is in a dream... and since the old man can think of this step, there is naturally a way to crack it - fight a positional war on the offensive end, relying on Duncan's success rate of singles in the interior, and not giving the Heat any chance to counterattack defensively. Of course, the outside firepower support of Green, Parker, and Manu is also very necessary, because this will prevent the Heat from double-teaming Duncan unscrupulously.

On the defensive end, create a death front line combination of"Leonard + Joey + Green".

Aren't the Miami Heat also hoarding a bunch of guys with forward physiques to play as guards? Hey, my Spurs are following suit, and giving them a taste of their own medicine. If you block my outside firepower, I will make your star players James and Wade useless!

In fact, this is also the 11-year Mavericks head coach Kincaid... not Carlisle's strategy to defend James. The front line is Marion + Puerto Rico Mountain + Stevens, and the inside line also has Haywood and boxing champion Chandler ready to"catch gorillas" at any time, which created the"stain" of the deputy GOAT throughout his career."——8 points in a single game in the finals.

It's just that Leonard grew up too fast in 2014. He became a forward defender at the level of the best defensive player in his third year. Although he didn't completely lock James, he was the only one in the league who could limit the latter in the single defense process.

Take a set of data for comparison. In the first quarter of the finals G1, Leonard did not match up with James. James made 5 of 7 shots and shot a super high hit rate of 71%.

In the next three quarters, Leonard was all against James. James made 6 of 14 shots against Xiaoka, and his hit rate plummeted to 43%. It can be seen how much Xiaoka's big hands, wingspan, and defensive fighting spirit limit James!

After five games in the finals, when Leonard defended James, James could not receive the ball in 33% of the rounds when the Heat attacked, and when other players defended, it became 23%.

In addition to James, Leonard also limited the shooting rate of other Heat players to 28% when defending them, with only 5 of 18 shots in total. This shows how successful Leonard's defense against the Heat was in this round of the finals. He really blew up James and the entire Heat team on the defensive end!

Now Joey has obvious potential on both offense and defense, and can perform as well as Leonard. He even has the ability to be comparable to top stars such as Kobe and Nowitzki in key shots, which makes Popovich overjoyed.

This is why he spent a lot of money to select Joey and gave him a lot of playing time to pair Joey and Leonard as forwards.

Throughout the first quarter, the two teams went back and forth, neither giving in.

The score was 29:32, and the Heat led by three points!

The Spurs relied on excellent teamwork and the advantages of positional warfare tactics to limit the offensive firepower of the Heat to a certain extent.

The Heat's Big Three played the entire first quarter. Duncan and Parker of the Spurs both left the court early to rest. Joey and Manu came on the court together, and with the substitute lineup, they forced a 50-50 match with the Heat's Big Three.

Of course, this was naturally due to the important factor of Manu's"explosion".

I don't know why, but Manu gets excited every time he plays against a strong team, so the underdogs like the Hornets and Kings perform mediocrely.

Joey, on the other hand, performed well in the few minutes he faced James. Not only did he defend James' breakthrough twice in a row, but he also successfully scored a fast break over his head and Wade.

Before the game, a reporter interviewed him about his opinion on the performance of the Spurs' rookie No. 3 pick this year.

At that time, the deputy GOAT focused all his attention on the Spurs' GDP's old Big Three, and didn't take this No. 3 pick rookie seriously at all. The only interaction between the two was that Joey knocked Howard down in public at Staples a week ago, and James stood up and said a few"fair words".

However, the first quarter of today's game made James notice Joey's amazing control and organization ability on the court.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Joey and Leonard continued to play as forwards. Green, who had a poor touch in the first quarter, was replaced and Manu played in the backcourt.

The GDP Big Three combined, plus Joey and Leonard, two potential rookies.

James held the ball and played against Joey. There were no fancy dribbling moves and rhythm changes. He broke through with a strong right hand. Although Joey, who was blessed by the death coil, blocked it at the first time, he was still knocked open by a little space - that feeling... It was like a collision with a moving locomotive.

It was with this little space that James rushed to the free throw line and encountered Duncan's backup defense. He took the ball and took a step up. His body stretched into an extremely smooth posture in the air, and the headband on his head was directly flat against the rim! Bang

- bang!

The basket made a sound of being overwhelmed. James dunked the ball into the basket through Duncan at a height that exceeded the basket by a whole arm!

Duncan won the background board of the top ten goals*1!

The American Airlines Center erupted in thunderous cheers:

"Nice dunk, LeBron!"

"Oh oh oh....what a wonderful goal!"

"The best basketball player on the planet, LeBron James!"

"Superman...Superman!"

"……"

After James completed the amazing dunk over Duncan, he made a listening gesture and interacted with the fans, which caused another round of cheers.

Joey and Leonard walked over to pull Duncan up.——

"Sorry Tim, I……"

The former looked at James with a somewhat shocked look... However, it was this kind of crushing feeling! Joey's eyes were burning with fighting spirit!

In the next round, Joey received the ball at a 45-degree angle, and James pressed forward with a three-threat posture. James did not relax his defense.

Leonard came forward to screen and Joey controlled the ball and broke through to the right. James squeezed through the screen with his much stronger body than Leonard, pressed forward again, and stretched out his hand to steal the ball.

Joey's rhythm stopped suddenly and pulled the ball away.���James missed the ball and was about to continue defending when the ball in Joey's hand suddenly disappeared!

""Oh!"

There was a cry of surprise from the audience, and the sound of the basket being pulled came from behind.

James turned around, but saw that Leonard, who was still covering just now, was now hanging on the basket, and the basketball had just landed...

When did this happen?

Not only James, but also the other Heat players on the court were confused.

After seeing the replay on the electronic broadcast screen of the American Airlines Center, everyone suddenly realized.

It turned out that when Joey made a fake dribbling move just now, he immediately realized that this was a good opportunity for an open cut with his keen awareness of the ball transfer - Bosh had been pulled away by Duncan, Battier was guarding Manu who was ready to receive the ball at any time, and Ray Allen was guarding Parker in the bottom corner...

Just by looking at the basket, Leonard immediately understood what Joey meant, ran back to shake off Rashard Lewis, and went straight to the basket. Joey's pass also arrived at the right time. Bosh had no chance to return to defense, and could only watch Leonard dunk the ball into the basket.

"Hey Joey, good pass!"

Before the Spurs teammates had time to high-five, the"high EQ" deputy GOAT came up first, patted Joey's butt and said with a smile

"You're awesome, LeBron.……"

Joey replied with a wry smile.

"I'm going to get my revenge on the next ball, Joey, be careful.……"

"I hope you won't defend me like you defended Dwight!"

James thought he had made a very funny joke, but it made Joey very upset.

In the next ball, James fulfilled his"promise".

With Haslem's pick-and-roll, he went straight to the basket. He rushed forward like a tank, unstoppable!

"Whistle!"Hoop!"

The basket screamed again, and it was poor old Deng again!

He couldn't even jump up to block the shot, James had already rushed in front of him, and he could only awkwardly put his hand up in the hope of interfering with the shot.

Unfortunately, at his peak, James' physical fitness was definitely among the top three in history, whether it was jumping height, strength or speed, it was all top in history!

31:37, James scored a free throw

"Hey Tim, I'm sorry, but this is a game and I'm not going to hold back.……"

James looked at Duncan's bitter face, with an apologetic look on the surface, but a little bit of"revenge" in his heart!

You won my championship that year, and you told me"the future is yours"!

Joey narrowed his eyes slightly, as if he had discovered something.

In the second quarter, James dunked on him twice in a row. Popovich was worried about Duncan's condition and called a timeout.

"Joey!"

"Don't just walk around the court. I need you to be aggressive on defense. If you can't stop that guy's breakthrough, you'll have to commit a foul.……"

As soon as he got off the court, Popovich yelled at Joey with the tactical board. This was the first time he had used this attitude towards Joey since the start of the season.

The Spurs players gave Joey a look that said"you're screwed"

"Do you think you can be the best in the league just by playing a few good games?"

"What the team needs is your aggressive defense and comprehensive organization, not a casual attitude on the court!"

Pop continued to"educate" him, and at the same time, he was carefully observing Joey's expression.

Young people have some small problems of being hot-tempered, but this rookie seems to be...

Joey had no expression on his face, just drank half a bottle of energy drink in one gulp, nodded and said nothing.

People who are familiar with him know that he is actually in a state of anger when he is in this state.

"If you still do this, you won't have to play in the next game.……"