Chapter 1 Who Will Win This Year's Championship?

"Reggie, who do you think will win this year's championship?"

Kenny Smith turned to Reggie Miller and asked on the commentary desk.

This time it was a joint commentary by ESPN and TNT, with five ace commentators sitting in a row.

Barkley and O'Neal were already "mortal enemies" because of their bet, so Smith turned to Miller and Breen, who were watching from the sidelines.

"Um...the Spurs."

After thinking for a while, Miller gave a somewhat unexpected answer.

O'Neal immediately rolled his eyes at Miller.

Miller laughed, but still gave his reasons.

"The Spurs' performance in the last game is the reason for my judgment. They overcame the physical difficulties, and after that, their experience will help them win the game."

"Mike, what do you think?"

Smith then asked Breen.

Breen's answer was different from Miller's; he supported the Heat.

"I think whether it's experience, physical strength, or anything else, this game is likely to go down to the decisive moment. I think LeBron will end the game at the last moment."

Although Breen wasn't a professional player like the other four, he had the longest commentary career of the five.

Having seen it all, his analysis was also very insightful.

James had, after all, boldly declared that he would bring the Heat their second championship in team history, and he would do everything in his power to do so.

While the five were talking eloquently, the starting lineups of both sides took to the court one after another.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Bosh tipped the ball back to the Heat's half, and the do-or-die Game 7 officially kicked off!

The Heat attacked the frontcourt, James ran off-ball, Bosh blocked Leonard, and after receiving the ball, he directly broke through Diaw.

Diaw couldn't hold on and dodged, and James scored with a one-handed dunk.

With a dunk right from the start, the atmosphere at American Airlines Arena instantly exploded.

The camera immediately focused on Popovich on the sidelines.

However, Popovich didn't seem as angry as expected, and his expression didn't fluctuate much.

This was the Spurs' strategy for this game.

If they couldn't defend, they wouldn't reach out; if they did, they would foul completely.

The Spurs attacked the frontcourt, with Parker organizing the offense, and the team played very patiently.

After 20 seconds, the Spurs created an opportunity through continuous ball movement, and Leonard caught the ball and shot a three-pointer from the outside.

"Swish!"

It went in.

There was a commotion among the fans on the sidelines.

The Spurs' smooth cooperation excited the Spurs' fans, but it was also too torturous for them.

It was like playing 2K; it took so long for one possession, which was really frustrating!

And the key was that they scored!

This old-fashioned style of play really wasn't as violent and spectacular as a star scoring.

The Heat's offense, Wade mismatched against Duncan, and took a fadeaway shot after backing him down.

The referee blew his whistle.

Duncan directly hugged Wade.

After hugging him, Duncan smiled and touched Wade's head.

James:?

However, Wade wasn't angry and walked to the free throw line.

Both free throws went in steadily, showing that he had adjusted his state very well for this game.

The Spurs attacked the frontcourt again, with patient tactical cooperation. Although Parker's shot didn't go in in the end, the 24 seconds also ran out.

The Heat played a fast break, and James' pass to Wade was knocked out of bounds by Tang Tian.

These first few possessions basically became the epitome of the first half of the game.

The Spurs' tactical execution was really high. Although the Heat frequently attacked the inside and scored a lot of points, the Spurs controlled their number of fouls very well.

Moreover, whenever they fouled, they did it completely, not giving you a chance to make an additional free throw.

On the offensive end, they also played the feeling of the 13-14 season Spurs, with smooth cooperation and extremely high offensive efficiency.

After the first half, as Breen predicted, the two sides tied at 55.

The two teams played an absolutely high-quality half.

"Be tougher! Remember what I said before, create their fouls!"

Spoelstra shouted at the Heat players in the locker room.

After the first half, the most fouls among the Spurs' starters were Diaw's 3, and everyone else had 2 or less.

This simply didn't meet his expectations.

In his opinion, this was also the reason why the Heat failed to pull away in the first half.

He was originally just standing behind the Heat's Big Three, quietly directing, but now, he couldn't care about that anymore.

"Yes, we must be tougher."

James took the initiative to stand up and agree.

When he said this, he also turned to look at Wade.

Obviously, Duncan's intimate gesture of touching Wade's head at the beginning made him very uncomfortable.

They were now opponents competing for the championship, and that kind of action shouldn't exist; if it did, it should be decisively rejected.

Back in the second half, neither side made adjustments to their starting lineups, and their tactics were similar to the first half.

The only difference was the physical confrontation. After the halftime break, their physical strength recovered, and every offense and defense was accompanied by the muffled sound of muscle collisions.

When it really came to this point, basketball games weren't necessarily less intense than football games.

The two sides continued to trade leads, and the situation on the court was extremely anxious.

In one of the Heat's attacks, James was mismatched against Tang Tian. He took three steps and then took another step to dunk.

Tang Tian didn't complain that the referee didn't blow the whistle and directly pulled James down.

James was very unhappy after being pulled down and directly甩开 Tang Tian's hand.

Because the arms of both sides were entangled, this action was a dangerous one for Tang Tian.

He directly held James' arm to prevent him from throwing it off, and the two quickly became entangled.

And neither of them let go. In the end, both of them started spewing trash talk, and the next second, a conflict was about to erupt.

Duncan and Wade came to their side in time and forcibly pulled the two apart.

James was still chattering, and even shook off Wade who was pulling him, looking very unhappy.

He had always been very restrained on the court, at most politely confronting people.

But the intense atmosphere of the do-or-die Game 7, as well as Wade being touched on the head, obviously made him lose control of his emotions.

He couldn't afford to lose this game.

Tang Tian also looked unhappy.

Every time James traveled, the referee turned a blind eye, but he had so much to say about his foul?

He didn't shove in the face, didn't kick the balls, and didn't grope, so why be so pretentious in a basketball game!

The game entered a timeout, and the referee needed to go to the scorer's table to watch the video replay to determine the final call.

Tang Tian then walked off the court to rest.

Just then, he noticed that Popovich was blinking at him repeatedly and gave him a thumbs up.

No matter what the situation, head coaches generally wouldn't encourage players to get into conflicts.

Popovich's actions were as cheeky as ever!