"Your one-way-clogged muscle, let help you block the other end."
Hansen’s responses were logical and grounded, but you know how the dia reports things.
"Han says LeBron is just a role player."
Once that headline popped up, the verbal sparring filled to the brim in minutes.
The already much-anticipated Christmas showdown was now completely maxed out.
The Staples Center’s occupancy rate just exploded.
When Hansen erged from the player’s tunnel, the crowd greeted him with a chorus of boos.
He didn’t seem to care, instead glancing over at the Lakers’ side of the court.
Kobe and Love’s expressions were not very good.
Leaving aside how Wade and Bosh, his forr Heat teammates, might feel about Jas’s statents, even his current teammates Kobe and Love were finding it awkward.
Especially Kobe. Having already backed himself into a corner in creating a super team and being forced to declare this his final season, now Jas was saying they weren’t a super team, which effectively ant Kobe’s efforts were aningless, right?
Kobe’s retirent statents from before probably also ca out of so frustration with Jas’s occasional wild statents.
After the opening ceremony, the starting line-ups for both sides were unveiled sequentially.
Cavaliers: Irving, Hansen, Tucker, TT, Garnett
Lakers: Delavadova, Kobe, Jas, Love, Mozgov
Amid the cheers of the fans, Mozgov tipped the ball back into the Lakers’ half, and the ga officially began.
On the Lakers’ first offense, Jas and Mozgov did a pick-and-roll, then Jas burst straight in.
The Cavaliers’ strategy was to double-team, but Jas was much faster than expected—he slipped past the defenders and dashed into the paint to slam dunk with both hands, getting the Lakers off to a leading start.
Cavaliers’ first offense was initiated by Irving, but he failed to make the shot.
Delavadova might not be top-tier in defensive capability, but having played for the Cavaliers last season, he was very familiar with the Cavaliers’ strategies and Irving’s technical strengths.
Love secured the defensive rebound, and Hansen imdiately went to block Jas.
Both being from Cleveland, how could he not know Jas’s fast-break instincts?
But to his surprise, Jas, without the ball, shoved him away after their confrontation.
Love threw a long ball from the backcourt, and Jas—like a raging bull—charged forward and perford his signature tomahawk dunk.
Hansen, who chased from behind, ended up failing to catch him.
This Jas, could he be on sothing?
In fact, Hansen hadn’t paid much attention to Jas’s stats this season, and Jas’s personal offensive efficiency was at an all-ti high.
No matter the reason, Jas was playing the best season of his career.
After the dunk, Jas appeared quite excited, turning around to bulk up his biceps at Hansen in a display of strength with his celebration.
The weather cleared, the rain stopped, Jas felt like he was back on top!
The Staples Center fans were instantly ignited.
Lakers led 4-0, all points coming from Jas, coupled with Hansen’s pre-ga comnts about role players, the ho crowd was more enthusiastic than ever.
By the ti the Cavaliers advanced to their frontcourt again, defensive chants were already ringing from the stands.
Hansen took the ball outside the three-point line from Irving and faced a fully focused Kobe.
Hansen started with the ball in one hand, then made a drop step to force Kobe to press forward.
Having the [Blessing of Elentary Students] didn’t an Hansen would heavily shoot threes, but it certainly made him harder to defend.
It was by catching this shift in Kobe’s center of gravity that Hansen launched past him just before gathering the ball.
In a battle of masters, victory was determined in a flash.
Hansen didn’t give Kobe the chance to catch up, stopping abruptly near the free-throw line to attempt a jump shot.
Love, wary of Hansen’s passing, didn’t dare to lunge forward, and with little interference, Hansen’s shot went in smoothly, breaking the Cavaliers’ scoreless drought.
Turning back, Jas repeated his strategy and stord the interior line using a pick-and-roll again.
Garnett anticipated the play early, but was knocked aside by Jas when trying to confront him under the basket, allowing Jas to successfully score and draw a foul from Garnett.
Hansen was ready to help defend early, but his attempted block was dodged by Jas.
He was now certain that Jas was on "tech."
Because in terms of confrontation, speed or explosive power, Jas had improved by a notch compared to what Hansen rembered.
Forget that nonsense about knowing sha is followed by courage, or becoming a god from training hard in the sumr, he didn’t seem godly after being shaved previously.
However, Hansen didn’t really care, Jas on "tech" or not, it wasn’t unfair.
He signaled to Tucker that they’d switch defense next round, then he called Irving over:
"I don’t care how you do it, just take care of Matthew."
Jas made his additional free throw, scoring a quick 7 points at the start, with his state red-hot.
Irving dribbled up the court, signaling to TT for a pick-and-roll.
Using TT’s solid screen, he directly took a mid-range shot against Love and scored.
Love’s offensive ability was stronger than Bosh’s, but his defense was worse, especially his weak lateral movent which made him struggle a lot when facing pick-and-rolls.
During the Lakers’ offense, when Jas saw that Hansen switched to defend him, he didn’t give up the ball like before but instead called for a pick-and-roll with Mozgov.
Hansen chose to go around the pick, and seeing this, Jas took a mid-range shot after the screen.
The consecutive scoring bolstered Jas’s confidence, but this shot did not go in.
Performance enhancers only improve physical functions, they do not actually enhance basketball skills.
Just like Hansen’s system only increased his physical talent, he honed his skills all by himself.
TT grabbed the defensive rebound, then passed it to Hansen, who quickly pushed past the mid-court, then sent a long bounce pass to Irving on the other side.
Irving leaped for the layup, but at that mont Jas hustled back down the court, ready to deliver his signature chase-down block.
But Irving, sensing Jas behind him, gathered the ball in the air, adjusted, and in spite of being hit by Jas, completed a reverse layup.
Irving flew out of bounds, the referee’s whistle blew, and the basketball arced through a small parabola before dropping into the net.
Seeing the score, Irving sat on the ground, excitedly raising his fist in front of him.
Hansen went over and pulled Irving up, then patted him on the head.
Growth doesn’t happen in an instant; Irving’s improvent this season, including his confidence, was nurtured through ga after ga of ball distribution.
Irving hit his additional free throw, and the Cavaliers tied the score.
On the Lakers’ offense, seeing that Jas did not continue to ask for the ball, Hansen spoke up, "In the end, you still don’t dare to play one-on-one against ; what’s the point of what you’ve done?"
Translated: You’re on drugs and still won’t challenge ? So what if you took them!
As if enlightened by Hansen’s words, Jas once again asked for the ball.
This ti he did not call for a pick-and-roll but instead directly backed down Hansen to start a one-on-one.
Cheering from the fans started to fill the arena.
Jas daring to face Hansen head-on, that’s progress!
Jas’s strength was greater than Hansen anticipated and after a forceful post-up, he turned around faster than Hansen had imagined.
Amidst the cheering of the fans, Jas successfully maneuvered past Hansen towards the basket.
Garnett was collapsing to the basket, but Jas ignored him, knowing from a few earlier confrontations that Garnett couldn’t stop him.
He jumped early, pulling the ball high with his right hand, ready to perform another signature tomahawk dunk.
"Bang!"
However, just as he pulled the ball high, Hansen caught up from behind, leaped high, and emphatically swatted the ball out of bounds!
The arena erupted in amazent.
Hansen’s chase-down block was simply brutal.
After landing, Hansen, now having a good grasp of Jas’s current "strength," turned to Jas and spoke slowly:
"You’ll never win a championship."
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