O'Neal had barely finished speaking when Jokic received the ball from Love's throw, and the Pelicans launched a fast break.

Holiday received a long pass from Jokic in the backcourt and drew a defensive foul from Irving on the fast break, making both free throws.

Back on the other end, James drove to the basket again, but this time he shot under the double-team of Davis and Jokic, and the basketball bounced off the rim.

Davis secured the defensive rebound, and the Pelicans launched another fast break, with Tang Tian scoring another 2 points with a fast-break layup in the frontcourt.

6 to 0.

Lue's tactic of attacking the Pelicans' interior in the previous game had a miraculous effect, but with Davis's return, using this tactic again seemed a bit foolish.

This was also Lue's characteristic: a tactical genius, but not a great commander.

These few possessions became a microcosm of the Cavaliers' half.

They were like infantrymen wielding long sabers, launching a death charge towards the Pelicans' position under a hail of bullets.

The result was that not only did they fail to charge the position, but they lost their own position in the opponent's counterattack.

By the end of the first half, the Pelicans led the Cavaliers by a full 20 points, 60 to 40.

If James hadn't played the entire half, giving the Cavaliers some advantage with their substitutes in the first and second quarters, the point difference would have been even greater.

In the second half, the situation remained unchanged.

Lue didn't seem stubborn, but rather inflexible, and the Cavaliers continued this charge throughout the entire game.

As a result, the game was already over by the end of the third quarter.

In the end, the Pelicans defeated the Cavaliers 118 to 93 at home, tying the series score at 1 to 1.

Tang Tian played three quarters and easily got a triple-double of 23 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists.

James's pre-game fighting spirit ultimately turned into a sense of loneliness at the end of the game.

The process and result of this game were completely different from the first game.

Many media outlets and fans thought before the game that the Pelicans would win, but they definitely didn't expect them to win so easily.

"So the Pelicans really lost the first game because they were missing Davis..."

"A full squad just crushes them, so real..."

"This isn't the Cavaliers' fault, look at the Warriors next door. The Cavaliers grabbing a win while Davis was out is already a win."

"Feel bad for my Emperor, from heaven to hell in just three days, life is really a rollercoaster!"

"Speaking of which, I think Lue really sucks. Knowing that Davis is back and still charging inside, he just charged himself to death!"

"Lue is an idiot! Completely inflexible, the Cavaliers shouldn't have fired Blatt!"

"That's right, James didn't rest for a minute, how can they win playing like that!"

"Tsk! Speaking of which, the win in the last game was due to Lue's tactics, right? The wind has changed so drastically after just one game?"

"Winning is LeBron being awesome, losing is the coach being an idiot, isn't that standard operating procedure?"

"Too real, too real..."

...

One game sparked a huge wave of arguments among fans on social media.

However, it was clear that although only two games of the Finals had been played, the Cavaliers' chances of winning the championship were becoming less optimistic.

After the first two games, the two teams moved to Cleveland to welcome the next two games.

"We need to do some targeted defense against LeBron, like in the regular season."

Not long after arriving in Cleveland, Brown suggested to Stevens.

The Cavaliers won the opening game, which was equivalent to snatching home court advantage from the Pelicans.

If the Pelicans wanted to take it back, they had to win this game.

The result of the last game showed that the Pelicans' overall strength was stronger than the Cavaliers, but that was indeed related to Lue's inflexibility.

If Lue made tactical adjustments in this game, then the outcome would be hard to say.

Brown's suggestion, as James's former mentor, was to give the Pelicans a better chance of winning this crucial game.

Stevens adopted it. In the previous two games, Irving and Love had performed generally. Locking down James, the key point, would greatly increase the Pelicans' chances of winning.

After a three-day break, the third game of the Finals officially kicked off at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland.

In this game, Lue finally reacted and stopped the death charge towards the Pelicans' interior.

This change was good for the Cavaliers, but it was the most uncomfortable game James had had since entering the Finals.

Forcing him to the right, preventing breakthroughs, cutting off contact with teammates... The Pelicans' various extremely targeted defenses made James play very uncomfortably.

The Little Emperor had already cursed Brown, his former mentor, a hundred times in his heart.

But the game didn't fall apart, and after James was restricted, Irving played surprisingly well.

He frequently fired from the outside and also had a series of good plays driving to the basket for 2+1s.

And more importantly, when they arrived at the Cavaliers' home court, the referee bias became particularly obvious.

The Pelicans' defense was very tough, but many times this toughness was called as a foul.

Ariza and Holiday were both deeply affected by fouls, and their playing time was fragmented.

Relying on Irving's strong performance and the home court whistles, the Cavaliers still stalemated with the Pelicans despite James's poor performance.

Lue was emotionally excited on the sidelines.

According to NBA's official statistics, when the two teams in the playoffs tied 1-1, the team that won the third game had a 78% chance of winning the series.

If the Cavaliers could win this home game, their hopes of winning the championship would become very high.

At this moment, on the live stream, some fans had already started spraying.

The point they were spraying was naturally the referee's calls in the game.

The home court whistle was a bit too obvious, and had already revealed all the league's intentions.

Cleveland, this inspirational city, the inspirational story of James returning to the Cavaliers and leading the team to win the championship, the calls looked like they were trying to let the game follow the script!

Amidst a wave of curses, the fourth quarter quickly began.

It was in this quarter that all the spraying disappeared.

Not because the referee suddenly changed the scale of the calls, but because in this quarter, Tang Tian dominated the game.

In the last game, because they won easily, Tang Tian didn't play for long, which was a very good opportunity for him to recover.

You had to know that since the Western Conference Finals, he had been carrying the team non-stop. Not to mention his energy consumption, his physical functions were definitely fatigued.

But the last game allowed him to get sufficient rest, and this game he accumulated strength until the final quarter, and he finally ushered in an explosion.

Whether it was Smith's one-on-one defense, or James's one-on-one defense, or even the double or triple teams, Tang Tian was like entering an uninhabited area, asking for whatever he wanted.

Fans suddenly saw the Tang Tian from last season who scored 27 points in a single quarter against the Spurs, and this season scored a playoff single-game record of 66 points against the Warriors.

He also showed the fans one thing: James is very strong, but when it comes to scoring, the swingman is really still more awesome.

He made 11 of 12 shots in this quarter, scoring 25 points and 3 assists, leading the team to a 35-23 single quarter score and taking the game in one fell swoop.

The referee could call fouls on the Pelicans' defense, and could also not call fouls on the Cavaliers' players against Tang Tian, but they couldn't blow away the balls that Tang Tian made.

Because the ball, just went in.

In the end, Tang Tian scored 50 points, 5 rebounds, and 8 assists, helping the Pelicans defeat the Cavaliers 117 to 103, achieving a two-game winning streak while also rewriting the score to 2 to 1.

"25 points in a single quarter to kill the game, this is Tang Tian..."

This became the most common feeling of fans after the game.