Chapter 1012 1011. The Two with the Best Talents

At 6:40 pm on November 1st, the two sides of the battle tonight began to enter the Philips Arena.

A rising star who is booed wherever he plays away is LeBron James.

At this stage, fans who like James like him very much and protect him, but those who don't like him don't like him very much, even hate him.

Mainly because the treatment is too much!

He is only in his third year and has never played in the playoffs to prove himself, but he is treated better than the old superstars in the league. The league's excessive praise of James has indeed made James quickly become a popular new star in the American sports world and gained a large number of fans, but it also made James have a large number of black fans too early.

Generally speaking, a third-year new star who is not yet 21 years old and plays well is more tolerant of fans.

But James was caught between flattery and attack early on.

Some media advocated that James would reach the top this year and surpass Liu Mang and McGrady, and came to this conclusion from James' average of 34 points in the first two games.

As soon as this argument came out, James encountered a lot of criticism again.

Look, even the Hawks fans were offended.

Liu Mang didn't change his expression when he saw James being booed. He is really a calm old boy. It's good to be old. He is really naughty.

The Cavaliers played very well at the beginning of this year. Compared with last year, they have made great progress. The Hawks naturally attach great importance to them. Among the four consecutive home opponents at the beginning, the Hawks pay the most attention to the Cavaliers instead of the 76ers and the Nuggets.

For such a rising team, it is unknown how far they can rise. We can only watch their performance throughout the season.

The first match with the Cavaliers in the new season, the Hawks made targeted tactical training yesterday morning and the afternoon before yesterday for the Cavaliers' opening game. The game won by 23 points 100 to 77.

Liu Mang looked at the strength of the Cavaliers' players in the new season.

Zydrunas Ilgauskas, ability rating 82, has mid-range shooting and certain low-post singles ability.

Drew Gooden, with an ability rating of 79, also has mid-range shots, has a certain ability to face the basket and singles, and is fierce in rebounding.

Eric Snow, with an ability rating of 78, is weak in offense but strong in defense, and his defensive rating is a highlight, reaching 85.

Donyell Marshall, with an ability rating of 77, is still a high-quality role player at the age of 32, is good at three-point shooting, has an 87 three-point rating, is excellent in rebounding, and has no passing ability.

Damon Jones, with an ability rating of 73, is good at three-point shooting, and has a three-point rating of 85, but does not have many other abilities, and is degenerating rapidly. He is only 30 years old, but his strength has begun to plummet. His ability rating has fallen from 78 last season to 73.

Andre Varejao, with an ability rating of 74, is excellent in rebounding and has a positive style of play.

Ronald Murray, ability rating 78, no shooting ability, good breakthrough, the Sonics didn't get Francis before the main point guard, which was considered a bankruptcy version of Francis. He was a second-round pick in 2002. In the 03-04 season before Francis went to the Sonics, he averaged 12+3+4 per game in his second year, but with Francis, he sat on the bench for almost a season last season. The Sonics didn't want him when his rookie contract ended, and the Cavaliers signed him with a minimum salary. He performed well in the first two games of the season.

In addition to these people, there are also forwards who can shoot, such as Alexander Pavlovic and Luke Jackson.

In addition to trading Larry Hughes, a swingman with no shooting ability and getting him at the maximum salary, so that James and Larry Hughes have some overlapping positions, the Cavaliers' goal is very clear, to arrange a lot of shooters around James, as well as a group of defensive players, and build a team around James.

At this stage, the incompatibility between Larry Hughes and James has not been exposed. After looking at the Cavaliers' lineup, Liu Mang understood why the Cavaliers played so well in the first two games, mainly because... Larry Hughes was injured.

The Wizards accepted a second-round draft pick to help Larry Hughes go to the Cavaliers. In addition to the fact that Larry Hughes is a completely free agent and the trade is at least a little reward, the Wizards did not want to keep this player who followed Jordan to the Wizards. There is also injury. Larry Hughes' right elbow joint is seriously injured. He is also tough enough to go for treatment after the playoffs.

Larry Hughes is not good at shooting, which does not affect his value.

James made great strides every year; Big Z reduced his salary to renew his contract, which gave the Cavaliers the opportunity to operate and obtained Larry Hughes' bird rights and maximum salary renewal; picked up Ronald Murray, a former Supersonics player who couldn't practice three-point shooting; although Drew Gooden didn't have much talent to dig, he started his rookie year with about 12+8, and has always had such data, but it is stable enough; the late lottery pick took Varejao from the Hawks to supplement the lack of inside players; the full middle class took forward Donyell Marshall, who once made 12 three-pointers in a single game, as the sixth man; signed Damon Jones, a high-quality three-point shooter who performed well in the regular season despite his poor playoff performance in the Heat last season...

The most important thing is that Liu Mang saw the Cavaliers' head coach, Mike Brown, who was a defensive assistant coach for Rick Carlisle last season...

When Liu Mang saw this coach, he knew that James's breakthrough era had begun.

Liu Mang didn't know how to describe Mike Brown's coaching ability, but his presence did help James form his own style.

James' team looks a bit like a team. Can we meet in the playoffs this year?

Liu Mang felt that he was getting more and more excited, and quickly suppressed his excitement: Why am I becoming more and more like Los Angeles? No, I have to calm down...

...

"Andre, how about playing with LeBron?" Liu Mang asked after hugging Varejao.

After the players of the two teams entered the court, the old players of the Hawks last season and Varejao of the Cavaliers hugged and greeted each other.

Although the fans at the scene were unhappy with the Cavaliers and James, they also gave Varejao some applause.

"LeBron is a good teammate. He is like Tracy. He will pass the ball to me when I have a chance." Varejao said that he was doing well.

Varejao came to the Cavaliers, whose inside line is relatively weak, and had stable playing time. In the first two games, he played more than 15 minutes. He was the first substitute of Big Z. James likes to pass the ball, and Varejao is also one of the beneficiaries. In the first two games, he scored 8 points and 4 rebounds in one game and 6 points and 6 rebounds in the other game, and all the points were scored by eating cakes.

Although Varejao didn't have many opportunities to play in the Hawks last season, McGrady still passed him a lot of balls last season. There was not much change in his playing style. With more playing time, his data was better. After all, his height and rebounding talent were there.

Liu Mang was happy to see that his old teammate was doing well. Although the relationship with Varejao was definitely far behind that of the original old teammate, after playing for a season and winning the championship together, the relationship was always deeper than playing for a season.

"Very good, it's good to have playing time. There are too many people in our team, and you have won the championship. Go out and play well to train yourself... Wait," Liu Mang wanted to encourage Varejao like a senior, but suddenly felt something was wrong and said angrily: "Andre, what do you mean? Tracy passed the ball to you, didn't I pass it?"

Varejao was so embarrassed. What impressed him most last season was McGrady's pass, the assist king!

At this time, Jason Terry came up and said, "Ace, I remember I looked at the analysis of our team's cooperation last season. Andre never received an assist from you, not even once."

"..." It was so embarrassing, Liu Mang forced a change of subject: "Andre, come on, come on, look, the boss is here, your championship ring..."

After a brief greeting, Hawks owner Price took out the championship ring engraved with Varejao's name, and Liu Mang helped Varejao put it on.

When Liu Mang put the ring on Varejao, he felt a gaze, turned around and saw that it was James.

Liu Mang made a V-sign with his left hand towards James, which seemed to be a greeting, but James understood!

This means two championship rings!

The game hasn't started yet, and the smoke has risen!

At this time, Valanciunas ran directly to the visiting team's locker room. Others gave their rings to the team staff to put in the closet, but Valanciunas was afraid that the ring would be stolen, so he ran to put it away himself...

...

...

As Rasheed Wallace roared, Liu Mang was about to sprinkle magnesium powder in the air, and he saw James and Prince dancing after the lights came on!

James really didn't expect a good opening move, so he might as well dance. Recently, "NBA court dance" is popular in the United States. James saw "NBA court dance promotion ambassador" Prince and danced together.

Liu Mang looked at the magnesium powder in his hand and felt that he had pushed James to the edge!

After thinking about it, Liu Mang still sprinkled magnesium powder in the air and went on the court!

After James and Prince finished dancing, they looked at each other, and their eyes said: It's really a master.

Then they separated. Today, the two faced each other, and the smoke of the game started with dancing.

The Hawks sent out Liu Mang, McGrady, Prince, Rasheed Wallace, and Kwame Brown as the starting lineup, which was a very stable starting lineup.

On the Cavaliers side, Larry Hughes will not be able to return until January at the earliest. Eric Snow, Damon Jones, LeBron James, Drew Gooden, and Big Z will start.

Although the Cavaliers have back-to-back games, the season has just started. It is the first back-to-back game of the season, so it does not have much impact. The Cavaliers also want to win!

They have not won the Hawks once in two years, so of course they want to win.

However, the Hawks took the lead at the beginning. Kwame Brown easily won the jump ball over Big Z's head, and the Hawks attacked first.

Liu Mang received the jump ball and immediately passed it to McGrady, running quickly to the front court.

Play fast!

The Cavaliers' twin towers move slowly, but their positional defense is good. The Hawks do not want to be dragged into their rhythm by the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers, who only scored 100 points in a big win of 23 points, have become very good defensively after getting Mike Brown this season. This is mainly because James has studied with Eric Snow for a year and practiced as McGrady's singles opponent for more than a month. His defense has improved greatly and is close to first-class.

Although Snow is old and his stats have plummeted, his defensive efficiency has not declined. The main reason is that his offensive stats have declined because he has no ball in his hands.

Snow's defensive rating is 85, and James's is 84. It's just that Larry Hughes is missing, otherwise it would be one of the best perimeter defense teams among the 30 NBA teams.

When playing against such a team, you can't be dragged into a positional battle by them.

Liu Mang rushed to the frontcourt quickly, and just when he was about to approach the three-point line, Eric Snow suddenly pushed Liu Mang and retreated immediately. Liu Mang wanted to move sideways to find an open position, but was forced to stop!

McGrady was ready to lead the ball to pass the ball, but fortunately he had big hands and caught the ball, but he also stopped the ball more than a meter away from the three-point line on the right.

Rashed Wallace came out to meet McGrady. Liu Mang saw that the referee did not blow the whistle. Eric Snow's little move was too fast.

Liu Mang saw that the Cavaliers had anticipated that they wanted to play fast, so they forced them into a positional battle.

This Cavaliers team is completely different from the Cavaliers team of the previous two years. With Mike Brown, the defense has taken shape, that is, there is a basic system framework. It is no longer the team that James used to swing around.

Liu Mang was not in a hurry. He slowed down his pace and slowly moved to the top arc to meet. Rasheed Wallace blocked Gooden who was chasing him with his body sideways, passed the ball to Liu Mang, and immediately stood up to block Eric Snow who was chasing him.

At this time, Liu Mang suddenly accelerated, using Rasheed Wallace to block Snow and accelerate the breakthrough!

"Ding... Pick and Roll Master Level 5 is triggered. The host's speed will be +8 within two seconds of this breakthrough..."

Instantly accelerated, and soared to the limit. Gooden wanted to pull Liu Mang but it was too late! In addition, he wanted to steal the ball just now, but Rasheed Wallace was out of the three-point line, so there was a wide space in front of Liu Mang!

Liu Mang rushed into the free throw line, and Big Z rushed over. Being rushed in like this, Big Z did not dare to stay under the basket, as he was about to be dunked. He would rather be passed to Kwame Brown under the basket by Liu Mang.

Liu Mang threw the ball into the air, and Kwame Brown jumped high and scored two points with an alley-oop dunk.

Liu Mang and Rasheed Wallace high-fived. This ball relied on Rasheed Wallace's tacit pick-and-roll, which prevented the opponent's team defense from starting.

It mainly relied on Rasheed Wallace's ability to pass the three-pointer!

This style of play is very similar to Olajuwon's support style during his peak period with the Rockets, but it was more outside, all the way to the top arc.

The Cavaliers attacked, and James received the serve and advanced by himself, and another organizing forward was born.

James went to the frontcourt, and Liu Mang defended Snow, ready to assist at any time, and Prince was defending on James' side.

It is impossible to shoot from outside, James knows it very well, and he will accelerate and break through immediately when he reaches the three-point line!

The two inside players of the Cavaliers are stretched apart, and both of them have the ability to shoot.

Prince can't bear it. Except for a few people like Artest in the league, no one can stop James' breakthrough, so Prince has been ready for a long time, trying to press James to the right, not giving James the opportunity to hit the basket head-on.

After James crushed Prince and rushed to the free throw line, McGrady let go of Damon Jones to double-team James, and Liu Mang was also ready to defend Damon Jones, trying to play a high-speed rotation defense.

However, James didn't pass the ball, facing the double-team, he took three strong steps!

McGrady and Prince did a good job in defense, blocking the space for James to shoot. James' one step, two steps, and three steps, James' shooting space during the three steps was blocked by the two. As long as he threw it out, McGrady would have the confidence to give a big block. McGrady's knees were bent during practice, ready to nail the board at any time.

Just as James jumped up in the third step and McGrady also jumped up to block the shot, James' third step landed, bounced on the ground, and made a layup...

James made a three-step layup to avoid the defense and made a layup.

This...did I count wrong? McGrady and Prince were a little confused and looked at each other, or did the referee not see it?

The Cavaliers had already retreated, and McGrady and Prince didn't say anything.

The Hawks attacked, Liu Mang received the serve and passed it to McGrady. After McGrady advanced to the frontcourt, he saw James defending, and McGrady signaled Liu Mang to go to the mid-range.

Relatively speaking, it was easier for Liu Mang to play against Eric Snow than McGrady played against James. James was young and aggressive, and his defensive effect was better than Snow.

Liu Mang received the instruction and came to the left side of the free throw line, leaning against Eric Snow to ask for the ball.

McGrady passed the ball to Liu Mang, and Liu Mang backed up Eric Snow in the high post.

After Liu Mang received the ball, he grabbed it with one hand and pushed Eric Snow sideways. Eric Snow was very resilient and was once a member of the best defensive team. He had a good sense.

Liu Mang used his right foot as the axis and half turned to the right. Eric Snow felt a little awkward... Shouldn't ordinary people use their left foot as the axis?

Liu Mang handed the ball to his left hand, slapped it hard, and bounced it to the right. Just as Liu Mang was slapping the ball, Snow subconsciously rushed to the right, thinking that Liu Mang was going to break through from the left, but was completely shaken off!

Liu Mang made a mid-range shot from the front of the free throw line with a lateral jump step!

From the perspective of the onlookers, Snow's defense was completely misjudged, and they couldn't understand what Snow was thinking.

But Snow felt too awkward. Liu Mang's playing style was too weird and unreasonable!

Snow saw the weirdness at the beginning. Liu Mang was standing in a left-handed posture, but the left-handed back-to-back shot on the left side of the basket was still that kind of turning action, which made him feel even more awkward.

But what was even more awkward was that Liu Mang suddenly switched to a right-handed style of play, and Eric Snow was stunned.

He easily scored two more points. Liu Mang did not go head-to-head with the Cavaliers' defense, and did not give the opponent a chance to play team defense. He played a difficult offense.

Moreover, it was a difficult offense that only he could complete.

Attack and defense switched, and the Cavaliers attacked.

James continued to break through with the ball. The Hawks' defensive strategy did not change. Prince defended closely, and McGrady double-teamed, forcing James to pass the ball to Damon Jones. Then Liu Mang took the lead in defense, luring Damon Jones to pass the ball to Snow, and McGrady defended again. This defensive intention was to try to get the Cavaliers' ball to Snow, their player with the worst singles ability on the court.

However, James still chose to do it himself!

Prince was very close, and McGrady's defense was also timely. James still didn't pass the ball and continued to make a three-step layup.

Once again, he added a step and threw it out after landing. The ball hit the backboard and bounced into the basket, turned around and fell into the basket.

This time McGrady counted it carefully, and there was indeed an extra step!

And this time the baseline referee was right in front of him, but he didn't blow the whistle!

The Cavaliers immediately retreated and scored, so they wouldn't give the Hawks a chance to counterattack.

"His layup just now, was it a traveling foul?" McGrady went up and said to the referee.

"My whistle is for what I saw. I didn't see any traveling." The referee responded and signaled the Hawks to attack.

This statement is too infuriating, and the referee's meaning is too obvious!

"Are your eyes broken? It's such an obvious traveling." McGrady couldn't help but said angrily, and the referee's meaning was too infuriating.

"Beep..." The referee whistled and gave McGrady a technical foul!

McGrady was called for a technical foul!

Without hesitation, he gave him a technical foul directly!

Seeing that McGrady was about to rant again, unexpectedly, Rasheed Wallace came up and pulled McGrady away, dragging McGrady back to the bench.

The years of reading the Tao Te Ching were not in vain. Last season, Rasheed Wallace only had 7 technical fouls, only one-sixth of his peak period.

Coach Kruger immediately called a timeout, threw the tactical board directly to Liu Mang, and ran to the referee to argue. Sometimes, having a disciple who likes to grab the tactical board is really useful when encountering problems, and there is no need to worry about not being able to take care of both ends.

Coach Kruger went to argue with the referee.

The Cavaliers' technical foul free throws, the player's technical foul, the Cavaliers head coach can designate his own players to take free throws. The Cavaliers and the Lakers are a little similar. The most stable free thrower is... the center.

Big Z made a steady free throw, the Cavaliers 5 to 4, surpassing the Hawks by one point!

…

Liu Mang knew that James would use the league’s partiality to make himself play better. Otherwise, he would not have a very good shot, and his strength would be about the same as Wade last season. He would not be close to a superstar immediately, because the whistle, mainly because he did not blow the whistle for traveling, he rarely relied on the referee for free throws, mainly because the traveling was not blown, which greatly "improved" his layup.

But this was the first time for McGrady. Last season, there was an occasional whistle, but the number was small, and it was not so blatant. McGrady felt that he was at least one of the top five superstars in the league, and he was actually blown for a star. Of course, he had to complain, and then the referee said that, and he exploded all of a sudden.

McGrady was not angry about James, but the referee's whistle. If the referee didn't blow it like that, James would not play like that.

McGrady sat there and ignored everyone, and Liu Mang did not comfort him. What was there to comfort him about? He was just at a disadvantage!

"Tracy, come here, let's change the defensive strategy..." Liu Mang was very direct. When he encountered a problem, he would find a way to solve it.

Liu Mang took the tactical board, but did not draw it. He mainly arranged the defensive strategies he knew. Liu Mang did not change players. He did a good job in both offense and defense. This was an unexpected situation. It was too blatant!

In this case, let's do it! Use more fierce offense to blow them up!

It just so happened that Liu Mang knew how to deal with this. The Big Three of the Celtics in the original time and space had 10,000 ways...

...

After the timeout, the Hawks attacked, and McGrady took the initiative to ask Liu Mang for the ball.

Seeing McGrady's rare seriousness, Liu Mang passed the ball to McGrady after receiving the serve. McGrady pushed forward to the frontcourt, and Liu Mang went to the left 45-degree angle, where he was best at the fixed three-point position, to open up space.

Prince went to the left corner, Rasheed Wallace was in the middle distance on the right baseline, and Kwame Brown was on the left side of the three-second zone.

The space was wide open, and McGrady squinted and stared at James dribbling.

He looked old and tough, so James didn't feel embarrassed. This was a good treatment he got, so why not take advantage of it.

James focused on defense, ready to let McGrady's super fast first three steps. As long as McGrady breaks through, he will use his body to hold him. This is his defensive strategy. As long as he holds McGrady to prevent him from rushing in directly, he can double-team him in the paint.

However, McGrady suddenly grabbed the ball while dribbling, straightened his bent waist, lifted the ball like a sword, and shot a three-pointer...

"Shua..."

After finding the rhythm for several seconds, McGrady shot a three-pointer!

7 to 5, the Hawks are leading by two points again!

After McGrady scored, he whistled lightly, glanced at James, and ran back to the backcourt with disdain in his eyes.

This look... the same look as two years ago! The kind of playful look when seeing a talented player!

James got angry, and after receiving the ball, he pushed forward to the frontcourt and continued to break through!

The Hawks' defense changed a little. When James squeezed Prince to break through, he found that Liu Mang had become the backup defender!

Just in time! James continued to take three steps, he was going to score over Liu Mang!

One step, two steps, three steps... After the third step, it became a jump step. After James jumped, he saw that Liu Mang and Prince were "shaken away", and jumped up to shoot...

"Snap"

"Bang"

The excited James who was going to score over Liu Mang didn't notice that someone rushed in from behind. McGrady seemed to be going to help defend Damon Jones, but he turned around and rushed into the three-second zone while running, and blocked the shot!

It was a very simple defense, just let the other Cavaliers players go and double-team James, but it was not a direct double-team, but a skillful double-team!

James can take one more step when making a layup, and can turn the third step into a jump step. This has become a foregone conclusion, and Liu Mang knows that the league will change the rules to make this a rule-based play in the future.

However, the Celtics have found a defense to deal with James's play and promoted it in the league. It takes time for others to learn this play, and there are also ways to deal with it. Not many people learn this play, and in the future James himself can only give up this play... Maybe it has something to do with face. James doesn't have face now.

McGrady grabbed the ball directly, which made Kwame Brown, who was watching from the left back, very envious.

McGrady grabbed the ball with one hand and looked at James, who was only 21 years old. The two performed very similarly when they were 21 years old. McGrady was also 21 years old when he won the Most Improved Player Award in the 00-01 season. They were both a little short of being superstars.

The two most talented outside players in history are now at odds with each other, and there is no friendship at all when they trained together in the summer.

James didn't want to steal the ball, and retreated immediately. He didn't think he was wrong, nor did he think he was mean, because the referee gave him the right to jump.

It's just... McGrady is too scary now!

McGrady pushed forward to the front court, and when he got to the three-point line, he shot a three-pointer directly against James' defense...

It was hit!

Two three-pointers in a row!

In the original time and space, McGrady and James played against each other in the Rockets period for a total of four years and 8 times. McGrady won 6 and lost 2. At that time, McGrady was still troubled by a back injury.

Although James has improved compared to last season, he is still a long way from his peak.

Encountering a healthy and furious McGrady, James seemed to see his rookie year, the Magic McGrady who scored 8 three-pointers in a row over him!

Even in another year, the gap between James and Liu Mang and McGrady this season may not be so big, but now, James has a clear gap with both of them.

"Keep going." McGrady said and turned back to defense.

McGrady and James are racing!

A player with the best talent in history combined with physical conditions and learning speed, a player with one of the best physical qualities in history, a high basketball IQ and hard training, a confrontation between the two most talented forwards and guards in history!

It’s just that Liu Mang feels… why is there another person stealing the limelight!

Please vote~ The next chapter will be around 12 o’clock, I will go home, eat, and continue writing.