NBA Please Answer 2007

Chapter 30 The Lonely Knight
"Beep beep!"

The referee blows the whistle and the two sides are in position.

The jump ball was Zajunas-Ilgauskas and Bitrins, and as usual Bitrins failed another jump ball.

The 2-meter Zajunas Ilgauskas is one of the few "long men" in the league today. He is nearly ten centimeters taller than the average center, endowing him with extremely strong blocking and defensive capabilities.

Zajunas Ilgauskas, in the 1996 NBA Draft, Big Z was selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers at the 20th place in the first round. He was selected as an All-Star twice in 2003 and 2005.

Like his predecessor Sabonis, he is a typical center player in Europe. He has long-range attack ability, high basketball IQ, and can make reasonable use of physical confrontation. Big Z's comprehensiveness is due to his early training in Lithuania.

He played point guard as a teenager, then small forward before moving to center.The fly in the ointment is that his assist ability is far inferior to Sabonis, and his defensive ability is insufficient.

However, Big Z's defensive skills are still commendable, relying on his own experience on the court to make up for his own physical disadvantages. The only regret is that due to physical problems, his lateral movement and supplementary defense can be said to be more than enough, and his natural muscle type is also doomed.

In this Cavaliers team, Big Z can force the attack on the offensive end, and can also feint the opponent through realistic fake moves and score layups.

His low-post singles and high-post jump shots are the sharp weapons of the Cavaliers' offense. When the first offensive point - the little emperor James' offense was blocked, Big Z relied on his height and technical advantages to open up the team's offense.

It can be said that when James first joined the Cavaliers in 2003, Big Z was already the veteran of the team. He played in Cleveland for 7 seasons at that time, and Big Z was like a bosom brother, giving James meticulous care.

After the big Z jumped the ball successfully, he did not pass the ball to point guard Damon Jones, but passed it directly to the little emperor James.

The experience of the finals made James more prominent this season. Under his leadership, he won all the previous four games.

After holding the ball for halftime, James signaled his teammates to pull away, trying to break through and find the touch.After pushing Stephen Jackson with his back twice, James accelerated with his right foot, broke through to the left and threw Jackson away in an instant.

Under the hard work of Varejao and Big Z, James made an easy layup.

After scoring, James high-fived his teammates and signaled to return to defense. It can be seen that James is of a very high quality today.

"James breaking through Stephen is like breaking through an old lady. Is Stephen really defending?" Barkley exaggeratedly evaluated James' breakthrough.

Of course Stephen Jackson was defending, but in front of James' historical tank body, even though Stephen was resolute, he still seemed powerless.

And this is just the beginning.

The Warriors' offense cannot tear apart James' perimeter defense. Even if Baron Davis, Monta Ellis and Stephen Jackson are running wildly on the court, James can always help defend.

James caught a missed pass from Baron Davis and stole the fast break.

Running to the basket, the young body fell from the sky, and the basket made a loud noise under the force.

This is just a microcosm of the game. In the first quarter, under the tandem of James, Larry Hughes made a three-pointer and scored two points.

After that, James broke through and gave the ball to Varejao. The actor who was in his prime gave Al Harrington, who wanted to show off, a tough one, making two free throws and one.

The next time the Warriors attacked, Monta Ellis finally found a breakthrough and beat Larry Hughes 2+1 with tactics.

But then the Warriors fell into a scoring drought again, scoring only 18 points in the entire quarter, which made the old coach Nelson, who is famous for his offense, feel ashamed.

The Cavaliers seemed to have recognized Harrington's poor defense inside and repeatedly broke through.

With 1 minute left in the first quarter, Harrington had made two fouls, and the coach had to replace Pietrus.

After the break at the end of the first quarter, Li Zhi tidied up his jersey. Not surprisingly, it was time for the old man to change his game.

Sure enough, the old man clicked on Li Zhi's name, and Li Zhi entered the stage happily

"James, let me finish you!"

Li Zhi secretly said in his heart.

However, there is always a gap between reality and imagination. James shook hands with Li Zhi with a smile, but he didn't show any face when he attacked.

Even though Li Zhi used the Anthony experience card, he was still pushed back by James.

Many people think that Anthony's defense is poor, and it's still Anthony Jr., it's normal to be unable to stand up to James.

In fact, this is a wrong idea.

Anthony can rely on his tendons to run rampant in the NBA. Although his physical condition is not as good as James', it is similar.

After becoming famous, the reason why Anthony was criticized for his poor defense was mostly because of his attitude, and compared to players of the same level.

Generally speaking, Anthony's defense is above average.

Li Zhi still remembers a game between the Pistons and the Knicks in 12. Melon didn't feel good, but the opponent's shooting rate was below 30%, helping the team to win.

There was even a statistic in the previous life that Melon’s PER against small forwards was 12.8, James’ 12.7, Durant’s 10.5, and Pickle’s 12.0, so Durant’s defense against small forwards was the best, and Melo’s was the worst, but they were only 0.1 behind James.

Closer to home, Li Zhi felt so badly hurt by James, suddenly he had a flash of inspiration, and Li Zhi suddenly took a step back.

That means to prevent sudden attacks and not release shots. This is Li Zhi's strategy.

James' shooting, which was criticized when he entered the league, has improved a lot now, but it still cannot be used as a conventional weapon.

James' ultimate move is still to break through and organize the whole team.

James lost his balance due to Li Zhi's sudden unloading, barely took a few steps, and shot.

"哐", the basketball smashed out of the basket.

Al Harrington grabbed the rebound and ran forward. Baron Davis and Monta Ellis opened their hands for the ball after halftime.

Shi Lezhi's Al Harrington completely ignored the two and rushed straight to the empty basket.

"Boom!"

El Harrington slammed the ball hard into the basket, imagining Li Zhi's appearance.

From the huge cheers on the field, it can be seen how much he hates Li Zhi.

Baron Davis and Monta Ellis looked at Harrington hanging on the basket for a while, and they went up to ask Harrington for clarification, but Monta Ellis stopped him.

Li Zhi was also depressed for a while, why did he have such a teammate?

Coach Nelson saw this scene, asked for a timeout and replaced Harrington.

　A bit rushed, but this game is not the point, the highlight is after the All-Stars.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)