professional shooting guard

Chapter 296 The First Round of the Second Round ([-])
After finally getting rid of James, seeing Ibaka pounce again, James decisively chose to pass the ball.

Just as Ibaka hurried back, the ball was unexpectedly passed to the outside.

It seems that James also knows that Thompson is not in good shape this season, not to mention Thompson's lack of offensive ability.

James would rather choose Smith than hand the ball to Thompson.

The ball was in Smith's hands, and Zhang Zifeng rushed up.While protecting the ball, Smith is generally looking for a breakthrough.

Smith failed to break through after several attempts, and the ball was almost broken by Zhang Zifeng.

Seeing Owen running over, Smith quickly passed the ball.

Irving caught the ball and went inside, but Rondo's judgment was accurate and he got stuck in advance. Irving's breakthrough was unsuccessful.

Irving is best at fast breaks from defense to offense, and positional warfare is a bit worse.

After the ball circled on the outside, it returned to James.

Grant had already settled down, lowered his waist and waited.

Seeing that James was going to fight hard, Grant immediately prepared himself to meet him.

Behind Grant, Ibaka is watching, and Zhang Zifeng is on the side, ready to double-team at any time.

James suddenly accelerated, turned around, changed direction, and threw Grant away. As soon as he entered the penalty area, he jumped up and took off. He even grabbed the ball with one hand and made a tomahawk dunk posture.

Seeing James' actions, Ibaka was very angry, "Don't try to dunk in my territory!"

Ibaka rushed over and jumped up, his arms were as straight as possible, and he must give James a look.

Flying in the air, James saw Ibaka's block, and using his strong waist and abdomen, he stayed in the air, collected the ball, crunched his stomach, carried Ibaka, and hooked the ball to the basket with a lever.

Goal in, Cavaliers score.

"Damn, this guy is too strong. There is no way to put pressure on him!" Ibaka looked at the falling ball and shouted unwillingly.

Again and again, let this guy score the ball in front of him, even if it is not a dunk, Ibaka is very embarrassed.

The commentator Barkley shouted, "Sure enough, it is No.1 in the league. Even if it is double-teamed, even in front of Ibaka, James can still send the ball!"

Kenny Smith shook his head and said, "Although James performed very well, this is not what he wants to see. If James continues to play like this, the Cavaliers will be in trouble in the fourth quarter. Now the other players of the Cavaliers must Stand up, share the pressure with James, and give him time to rest!"

As long as the Cavaliers attack, the 76ers will definitely guard other players strictly, forcing them to pass the ball to James and let James play singles.

But if James plays alone, he will definitely be dealt with jointly by Grant and Ibaka. In terms of James' strength, although it is necessary to defeat the joint defense of the two, it can still be done.

But it would take a toll on his stamina.

Moreover, Grant and Ibaka are both excellent defensive players. If James wants to tear through their defense, it will not only seriously deplete his physical fitness, but also easily cause mistakes.Hit rate drops.

Grant is desperately entangled with James like a spider, and Ibaka is like a wolf. As long as James breaks through, he will rush out inside to supplement the defense at any time and attack the opponent.

The two are reasonable but still can't completely block James to death.

But it doesn't matter, they don't believe that under such a tough defense, James can hold on to the audience.

The 76ers are determined to exhaust James' physical strength.

"The rhythm of the game is not on the Cavaliers' side!" Seeing this, Kenny Smith said.

"Yes, Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue must deal with each other, otherwise the Cavaliers will be in danger!" Barkley shouted: "The 76ers haven't put out their lineup that is best at grabbing points yet!"

On the field, James made a shot under the interference of Ibaka and missed the shot.

Fortunately, the rebound was grabbed by Love of the Cavaliers. He avoided Noel's block at the basket and scored 2 points.

Brett Brown, who was standing on the sidelines, shouted angrily: "Pay attention to the protection of the rebound!"

At this time, the Cavaliers coach finally made a substitution.

Exit Smith, enter Korver.

Zhang Zifeng saw that the replacement of a shooter was to strengthen the offense?
But I won't let you mess with the 76ers' setup.

The game restarted, and the Cavaliers' strategy was to speed up the pace of the game, hoping to open up the outside line and reduce the burden on James.

James broke through the inside and then split the ball. As soon as Korver received the ball and wanted to jump up and shoot it, Zhang Zifeng was already entangled.

Korver is a sharp shooter, but his physical fitness is average, and his offensive ability with the ball is average. He is a pitcher who needs others to feed the ball and runs without the ball.

Zhang Zifeng firmly grasped Korver's weak offensive ability with the ball, and used his advantage in speed to constantly harass the opponent and not give Korver a chance to shoot.

Soon, Tyronn Lue discovered that the Korver he replaced hadn't played any role at all.

In terms of shooting, Zhang Zifeng did not lose to him at all.And compared to Zhang Zifeng, Korver's shot speed is not fast enough, and Zhang Zifeng is completely anxious to interfere with his shooting.

When returning to the defensive end, Zhang Zifeng didn't say that he ran without the ball to get rid of Korver again and again.Even in singles, Zhang Zifeng can beat Korver.

As an excellent point guard, Rondo saw that Korver's side was more of a defensive loophole than Irving's. He hit all the balls and handed them to Zhang Zifeng, letting him attack Korver's side.

After only two or three minutes of substitutions, Tyronn Lue saw that Korver was almost eaten by Zhang Zifeng. The offense did not help, and there was another big loophole in defense.

Tyronn Lue had no choice but to slap himself in the face, replacing Korver and replacing Smith.

As time passed, the 76ers took the lead thanks to Zhang Zifeng's outstanding performance, reaching 11 points when the point difference was the largest.

In the 9th minute of the second quarter, the head coach of the 76ers, Brett Brown, performed a personnel rotation to let the players take turns to rest.

Zhang Zifeng was off and replaced by Gerald Henderson.Compared with Nick Stauskas, the veteran is more trustworthy at this time.

Zhang Zifeng sat on a chair, wiped his face with a towel, and said to the coach, "Coach, I can play the whole game!"

Brett Brown said with a smile: "It's not the time to do our best yet, and we are still ahead, so rest more, the fourth quarter is when the victory will be determined!"

Zhang Zifeng looked at the game on the field, nodded and said, "Okay, I understand!"

The situation on the court at this moment is a bit delicate. The 76ers with Zhang Zifeng and without Zhang Zifeng are not exactly the same team.

After Zhang Zifeng left the field, the 76ers' offense was frustrated. The Cavaliers began to regain the situation point by point, and the rhythm fell into their control.

Especially after Zhang Zifeng left the field, Smith immediately became very active.He made 2 consecutive three-pointers to help the team narrow the point difference.

At this time, the first half ended, the score was 47-52, and the 76ers led by 5 points.

(End of this chapter)