Chapter 541 Hemp Rope Breaks at the Thinnest Part

This guy is like a buffalo rushing out of the African savannah. There is no way to stop him from the front.

But... after all, it's Payton, the most experienced defender among the active players in the league.

Can't stop him? Then fall!

Payton gave up the idea of ​​leaning back to support his center of gravity. When he realized that he couldn't keep up with LeBron's movements, he chose to give his center of gravity to his body. His legs overcame the instinct of self-protection and fell back directly along the inertia of LeBron's rush.

Bang!

Payton fell heavily to the ground with a huge sound, and LeBron cursed in his heart.

The most direct contact, he could fully feel Payton's choice at this moment.

From a psychological perspective, this is definitely a fake fall, and LeBron really doesn't believe it. No matter how old Payton is, he can't stand still with such a little impact.

But from the action level, the opponent's legs did not move at all. He relied entirely on his body consciousness to predict his route, and then used his already perfect acting skills to complete the scene of being "bumped" by himself.

The ball should be whistled.

But...

Payton fell, but the referee's whistle did not sound.

—— Do what you should do, and I will take care of everything else, even if you are in a desperate situation! Remember, only the winner is worthy of talking about morality!

The night before the game, Phil Knight's phone call became very clear in LeBron's mind at this moment.

He understood...

The referee began to exert his strength, because of the capital outside the court, because of the guy who had gambled everything for Nike and himself for victory.

Shame? Guilt? Sorry?

How could I have those childish ideas!

A smile climbed up the corner of LeBron's mouth.

The real difference between himself and Jordan and Lin Dong lies in this.

Those stupid guys only know about competition and pure basketball. Perhaps it is precisely because of this concentration and purity that they can become the God of Basketball.

But in my world, there is more than just basketball... I am not pure enough.

But I understand human feelings, accidents, and capital and life!

I may never be the so-called God of Basketball in my life, but I can become the God of NBA!

Passed.

LeBron, who stepped over Payton in one step, did not stop, and the momentum of the impact was already formed.

But he was as fast as the wind, and he passed Chandler who was trying to assist from the side in one step, and the front court in front of him was empty.

At this time, LeBron was as unstoppable as a tiger coming down the mountain, and he jumped directly after stepping over the free throw line.

Boom!

The roaring dunk suddenly pulled the already silent Win Arena back to excitement.

——LeBron! LeBron! LeBron!

The long-lost deafening cheers finally resounded throughout the stadium at this moment, finally pulling these guys who were almost desperate back from the edge of collapse.

4:17, the Cavaliers finally broke the scoring drought.

Unfortunately...

Chandler rushed to the baseline and sent the ball. The Cavaliers were shut out for several minutes. Just after breaking the deadlock, coupled with the cheers from the whole stadium, even if the players did not celebrate, they were in a moment of relaxation. Chandler realized that he had to return to defense after serving the ball, but it was already half a step too late.

Chandler threw the ball to Payton who quickly responded. Kidd wanted to block it, but Payton had no intention of controlling the ball at all. He passed it directly to Iguodala, Iguodala passed it to Sakuragi Hanamichi, Sakuragi Hanamichi passed it to Lin Dong.

The supersonic ball transmission was completed in an instant, like a magic trick. Before the Cavaliers could come to their senses, the ball had passed half court to the front court.

Their defense seemed half a beat slower at this time. In a trance, it felt like all the Cavaliers were chasing the ball, but under the supersonic speed transmission, they could never catch up with the ball.

At this time, Artest was the closest to Lin Dong. The sudden super-fast rhythm obviously made him a little dazed. Perhaps seeing Lin Dong still standing two steps outside the three-point line, he subconsciously felt that Lin Dong would break through, but seeing Lin Dong just leaned forward slightly, Artest's already tense nerves retreated half a step back like a conditioned reflex. If he didn't pull away more than one and a half steps, he would not have the confidence to face Lin Dong's breakthrough.

But Lin Dong directly pulled up.

At this time, it was too late to defend, and Artest could only turn his head and look towards the basket in frustration.

Swish!

The basketball went into the net, 4:20!

The WIN Arena, which had just been jubilant, suddenly ushered in a wave of dead silence. It was thought that the Cavaliers' counterattack was coming, but it was unexpected that the score difference continued to widen.

What they didn't expect was that this was just the start signal of the Sonics' general attack!

The Cavaliers' ball.

The Sonics continued to press the whole court. Artest passed the ball to Kidd from the baseline. Kidd's control of the ball was blocked. Although he barely controlled the ball through the midfield 8 seconds ago, Payton's obstructive defense had already broken up the Cavaliers' overall offense.

LeBron wanted to go forward to receive the ball, but his performance just now obviously made the Sonics more alert. Sakuragi Hanamichi was trying his best to stick to him at this time. Although it felt that he still didn't completely restrict LeBron, Sakuragi's defense was not completely aimed at LeBron.

This was the off-ball defense that he realized when he faced Kobe in the game against the Lakers. The main focus was on the passing route between Kidd and LeBron.

They were all top-level players, so it was impossible to block them, but with the Cavaliers trailing so far and morale so low, this level of obstacle was enough. Kidd didn't dare to pass the ball easily in the risk of being intercepted.

In the end, he still chose to attack O'Neal in the interior, but Chandler had already overcome his psychological barriers. As soon as the ball reached O'Neal's hand, he made an offensive gesture and then he committed a foul. He almost hung on O'Neal's arm.

The referee blew the whistle in time.

The shooting action came out, the ball was thrown out, and there were two free throws without a doubt.

But O'Neal was about to go crazy. How many years has it been? How many years has no one used the Hack-a-Shaq tactic? But he didn't expect to be sacrificed in this most crucial game, which was simply a matter of life and death.

Even though the target was Chandler, the boxing champion that he had always felt sorry for, O'Neal was really a little aggrieved: "You only have six fouls! Boxing champion!"

"It's okay, 12 points are enough." Chandler responded with a smile: "I just want to watch your free throws today. I'll get some fries to the bench to continue watching. There are still many 12 points there."

Fries, fries...

O'Neal was stunned and held back his anger.

At this time, he adjusted his mentality and made one of two free throws, barely recovering one point, 5:20.

The ball returned to the hands of the Supersonics.

At this time, the Cavaliers' change of formation can be seen.

LeBron defended Sakuragi Hanamichi alone, O'Neal defended Chandler alone under the basket, Kidd defended Payton, Artest defended Iguodala, leaving only Wade standing in front of Lin Dong.

Finally...is it my turn?

A faint smile hung on the corner of Lin Dong's mouth.

The various deductions before the war had already analyzed this game clearly.

LeBron + Wade's defense is not absolutely impossible for Lin Dong to break through, but mistakes are inevitable under the double-team, and the hit rate cannot be fully guaranteed.

So the best way is to make good use of the 4-on-3 of other players. Once the Cavaliers can't stand the 4-on-3 of the Supersonics and are forced to separate the defensive combination of LeBron and Wade, the Supersonics will enter the final stage.

Swish!

Just after passing the center line, Payton passed the ball to Lin Dong without hesitation.

And the next second, Wade appeared alone in front of Lin Dong.

One is already the undisputed new generation of basketball god in the league today, and the other is a rising superstar who claims to have Jordan's talent, even faster than Jordan!

LeBron may have taken away all the topics of the Cavaliers, and he has also been the leader of the Cavaliers, which is recognized by all Cavaliers fans.

But if you want to say who has the strongest single-player ability in the Cavaliers, it is undoubtedly the one in front of you: Dwyane Wade!

This is not the first time the two have played against each other. Compared with LeBron, Wade is more like the real enemy who has been entangled with Lin Dong since high school.

In the World Youth Championship, after LeBron was kicked out, he stood up and fought against Lin Dong at that time, at least he was able to compete with Lin Dong to a certain extent!

You can say that Lin Dong was still very immature at that time, far from the current strength and dominance, but looking at Lin Dong's entire career, there are only two people who can compete with him.

One is Jordan in the 2002 season, and the other is Wade in the World Youth Championship.

This season, Wade's data has reached an average of 32.8 points per game, and this is when the Cavaliers allocated a lot of ball rights to O'Neal and others. Wade's average number of shots per game is even less than 20 times, which can be called the team's top scoring machine, and his defense is also unique.

Although not tall enough, he is strong enough, and he is also strong and flexible. When the Cavaliers faced the Lakers several times this season, Wade was able to maintain the full-court offensive and defensive battle with Kobe without losing.

Admittedly, no one still expects Wade to defend Lin Dong alone, but...

Consume him, stop him, mess up his rhythm, and lower his hit rate. If you only hope to do these, then it is still worth looking forward to.

"Come on!" Wade shouted.

Because of LeBron, he and Lin Dong can't be friends, but he still admires him deep in his heart. At this time, he has awakened his spirit.

Lin Dong smiled and controlled the ball and looked at him.

Wade's eyes were filled with a strong fighting spirit and fire, but Lin Dong's eyes were calm as water.

This guy may have been able to compete with him and even cause trouble for him on the defensive end, but now...

The calm eyes made Wade feel a little cold in his heart.

——Wade! Wade! Wade...

The noisy sound in the stadium involuntarily became smaller.

Perhaps it was the anticipation of the two people's upcoming duel, or perhaps it was the threat from Lin Dong's silent smile.

All the fans stared at the couple on the court at this time, and their hearts were in their throats involuntarily.

The two were one step apart at the top of the three-point arc, a fairly normal distance for defending against penetration and shooting, but the next second...

Huh!

Lin Dong stood up without hesitation.

3 points? Just shoot like that? !

Wade was also surprised. Although his physical condition had reflexively rushed towards Lin Dong, and his movements did not seem to be half a beat slower, but...

Not high enough!

193cm tall, 210cm wingspan, compared to Lin Dong's 201cm tall, 225cm wingspan, the difference is really not a little bit.

After all, Lin Dong is slightly better in burst and jumping. In addition, Wade's big hand just barely blocked Lin Dong's eyes, but the basketball had already slipped out of his hand.

Swish!

Hollow into the net, 3 points scored, 5:23!

Win Stadium is already so quiet that you can hear a pin drop.

This... everyone is looking forward to the super giant duel, just like this?

Eat it raw? !

Cavaliers' ball possession.

Under the blockade of Sakuragi Hanamichi, and Payton's interference with Kidd, LeBron could not catch the ball.

But Kidd didn't dare to lob the ball to the basket anymore. O'Neal was the Cavaliers' biggest support, but that guy was not in good shape now, and Chandler was determined to cut the Shark. If the ball was given to O'Neal, even if Chandler committed a three-foul, the Cavaliers would have gone straight to 20 points if they didn't score!

If the Sonics led by 20 points before the first quarter was halfway through, it would be really... morale would collapse in an instant. Even if Kidd himself was as stable as he was, it would be difficult to raise the fighting spirit to fight back.

But LeBron couldn't catch the ball, and Wade didn't have much chance. Kidd signaled Artest to come over for a pick-and-roll, and finally gave him a pretty good 3-point opportunity, and Kidd helped him block Iguodala who was chasing him.

After all, the cooperation between Andre and Payton is not as skillful as that between the master and apprentice pair of Payton and Sakuragi. The staggered blocking is actually somewhat suspicious of mobile pick-and-roll, but the home referee obviously cannot give Kidd a whistle at this time, and Artest gets the opportunity to pull up from the outside.

Unfortunately...

The Cavaliers were already in a state of collapse. Not only O'Neal did not play normally, but Artest was also under great psychological pressure. From the start to now, this is almost the first time he has touched the ball properly. With the pressure of the huge score difference, it would be a miracle if he could have a good feel.

Bang!

The basketball bounced up, and O'Neal finally played a little role, grabbing the rebound over Chandler and Sakuragi Hanamichi's heads.

Perhaps realizing that Chandler would still foul him, O'Neal did not choose to turn around and force the ball this time, but instead passed the ball out again and passed it to LeBron who was slipping to the right corner.

As the saying goes, a hemp rope breaks at its thinnest point. This baseline 3-pointer should have been easy for LeBron to get, but even a sharpshooter like Lin Dong would inevitably miss it. This open 3-pointer just didn't go in, and it bounced high on the right edge of the basket and went straight to the outside line.

Payton picked up the rebound and quickly advanced, and cooperated with Lin Dong. Relying on Lin Dong's jump to attract all the attention of Wade and Kidd, he threw a behind-the-back pass to Payton who also rushed into the free throw zone. Payton scored again from mid-range, 5:25!