Chapter 1 The Opening

The opening possessions became a microcosm of the two teams' first quarter.

Perhaps due to Woj's earlier report, James didn't seem to have a strong desire to attack early on, and the rest of the Cavaliers were somewhat out of sync.

The Pelicans, on the other hand, were the opposite, welcoming a new lead assistant coach and showing great stability and form.

As a result, after the first quarter, the Pelicans were already leading the Cavaliers by a whopping 15 points, 34-19.

This was a real beatdown.

At the start of the second quarter, Blatt actively sought change, bringing Irving in early to lead the team.

The Cavaliers' bench included JR Smith, Thaddeus Young, and Tristan Thompson, a truly luxurious lineup.

Irving played exceptionally well during this stretch, leading the team on a 10-2 run with his drives and shots, immediately cutting the deficit to single digits.

He was under immense pressure playing alongside James, and he seemed to be using this as a way to show that he could play even better without James.

The cameraman mischievously focused on James.

Winning isn't scary, it's awkward for whoever's missing; chasing points isn't scary, it's awkward for whoever's not on the court!

Sure enough, when James looked up and saw his image on the LED screen, he frowned, looking displeased.

Cavaliers assistant coach Tyronn Lue, keenly observant, quickly walked to Blatt and whispered in his ear.

Blatt turned around, called James over, and re-substituted him into the game.

After James re-entered the game, his desire to attack clearly intensified, repeatedly forcing his way past Aminu to score, further narrowing the gap for the Cavaliers.

Stevens reacted quickly, gradually substituting his starters back into the game.

The situation on the court fell into a stalemate, with the score fluctuating between 5 and 7 points.

In the last possession of the first half, James broke through for a three-step layup, squeezing through the double-team of Davis and Bojan after his third step, and scoring at the buzzer.

At the end of the first half, the Cavaliers had narrowed the score to 46-50.

James had 13 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists in the second quarter, a very impressive performance.

During halftime, both teams returned to the locker room one after another.

Stevens was in the locker room at this time discussing tactics for the second half with Brown.

"Mike, you have a better understanding of LeBron's technique, tell me what you think."

Stevens was always happy to discuss tactics with people, and he took the initiative to ask Brown for his opinion.

His use of Davis to defend James in the first half wasn't very effective, as Davis was, after all, an inside player, and there was a gap in speed between him and James.

"LeBron is currently at his peak, and it's difficult to defend him one-on-one. Our strategy should be to exhaust him more, forcing him into scoring areas he doesn't like."

Brown was indeed James' mentor, and while he may not have been as good as Stevens at defensive tactics, when it came to defending against James, he was second to none in the league.

During the following time, Brown spoke about some specific defensive details, including that although James had the ability to shoot from the outside, he didn't like to do it. Although he attacked with his right hand in the game, he was actually left-handed and still preferred to break through to the left.

After listening, Stevens felt that the Pelicans really struck gold by signing Brown.

With the Cavaliers as the Pelicans' hypothetical opponent in the Finals, having Brown would make limiting James twice as effective.

Back in the second half, the Pelicans made a starting change, with Aminu replacing Bojan as the team's starting small forward.

This was also a very obvious signal to strengthen the defense against the Cavaliers, or rather, James.

Back in the second half, the Cavaliers attacked first, with James dribbling the ball from the backcourt, and Aminu pressing him tightly in the frontcourt.

However, James was, after all, James, and Aminu's tight press didn't work. He still used his personal ability to bring the ball to the half-court.

James dribbled to the arc at the frontcourt to organize the offense, and Aminu's defensive stance was relatively behind at this time.

After observing his teammates for a while and seeing that there was no opportunity, James shot from beyond the three-point line himself.

"Swish!"

He continued his excellent touch from the second quarter, hitting a three-pointer from the outside.

The point difference was only 1 point.

There was a stir in the arena.

"He needs to stand a little further forward, LeBron's outside shooting ability now is not what it was in Cavaliers 1.0."

Smith analyzed from the commentary booth.

"If you stand further forward, he will break through you, he is LeBron!"

Barkley said immediately.

Tang Tian, Curry, and James are all top-notch players with triple-threat ability right now, and it's really hard to limit them with one-on-one defense.

"Maintain the defensive strategy!"

Stevens stood up at this time and shouted to the players, having adopted Brown's advice, he chose to trust it.

For the Pelicans' offense, Tang Tian used Davis' pick-and-roll to catch the ball and shoot a three-pointer.

"Swish!"

Equally clean, he immediately returned a three-pointer to James!

James had been strong since the second quarter, but in fact, Tang Tian's performance from the start to the present had been very eye-catching.

After this three-pointer went in, his personal score had reached a game-high 22 points.

James continued to dribble the ball forward from the backcourt, and Aminu continued to press him tightly.

Blatt, the famous European coach on the sidelines, quickly realized something and signaled Irving to meet the ball and share the defensive pressure on James.

But James didn't give the ball to Irving, but signaled Irving to go back, and dribbled the ball past the half-court himself.

The big reason he chose to leave the Heat besides the Heat having no future was Spoelstra.

Spoelstra's desire for control was much stronger than Brown's back then, which made him feel uncomfortable.

Now Blatt also has a tendency to develop in this direction, and he directly chose to ignore it.

Tyronn Lue hesitated to speak on the sidelines. He knew how to read faces very well during his time with the Clippers, and he could guess what James was thinking.

However, Blatt was also a stubborn coach, and he wasn't good at giving advice, so he chose to remain silent.

Blatt was uncomfortable being ignored, but the other party was James, so he could only hold it in and pretend that nothing had happened.

James continued to organize at the arc, and Aminu still gave him a step.

After Bojan was off the court, the Pelicans' defensive intensity had obviously improved, but the others still didn't have good scoring opportunities.

James glanced at Aminu in front of him and chose to break through on the left side.

Aminu took the left side of the breakthrough route early, forcing him to the right.

James' left-side breakthrough eventually turned into a layup in the middle, Jokic stood his ground under the basket, and James' shot ultimately failed to hit.

During the scramble for the rebound, the ball was touched out of bounds by Mozgov, and the Cavaliers' offense failed to score.

James glanced at the Pelicans' bench as he retreated on defense.

Stevens was communicating with Brown at this time.

Perhaps noticing James' gaze, Brown looked up, and the two made eye contact.

James felt the gaze of his mentor.