In the locker room, Kobe's expression was serious.

Before entering the league, James signed a seven-year, 90 million endorsement contract with Nike. Correspondingly, Kobe, who has completed the three consecutive championships, won a contract from Nike for only 5 years and 45 million. It is not that there are fewer contracts for Kobe, but that the contract for James is the second largest contract in Nike's history, second only to Michael Jordan!

This shows Nike's optimism about James, "the chosen one", translated into Chinese as "Son of Chosen"!

James did not disappoint Nike's expectations. He beat Anthony to win the best rookie in the first year, and was directly promoted to the ranks of first-tier stars in the league in the second year. The title of "Jordan successor" that Kobe himself wanted to get rid of is now covered by James.

All of this made Kobe uncomfortable! The reason is very simple. He is stronger than the opponent and he is less than the opponent. No one is happy!

"In addition to James, another player with certain independent offensive ability is Drew Guden, but he has always been in a state of unstable condition. Lamar, Guden is given to you. I don't want to see him get a simple chance to score in the three-second zone. At the same time, pay attention to more responses when attacking. The Cavaliers have a strong ability to make mistakes and counterattacks!"

"The Cavaliers usually use the double point guard tactic this season. If Snow faces you, he will definitely eat him at the low post. No problem, Kobe." Ke Yan looked at Kobe. This should be Kobe's favorite job.

"certainly!"

"If LeBron comes to defend you, it means that there are mistakes in the Cavaliers' defensive rotation system, and you need to handle the ball more rationally at that time." Ke Yan emphasized. Ke Yan did not have any discomfort when taking over the head coach's job, and he was familiar with it!

Although the Cavaliers' defensive efficiency is pretty good, it is really based on James' flying up and down and back-to-back defense.

Kobe didn't respond, why did TMD sensible? Isn't it all over to kill James?

"Caron, the task of defending James is mainly given to you. Unless he breaks into the three-second zone of the basket, Chris (Mim) will help you, you will only rely on you at other times. There is only one principle, preventing breakouts but not shooting. James' mid-range shooting percentage is only 42%, and outside the three-second zone, it is only 37%. I want you to force him to take action at mid-range and long distance. To do this, we will win half of this game."

At this stage, James' shooting is definitely his biggest weakness. The super impact power supported by the steel and iron bones is almost unstoppable. Even if the opponent adopts a defensive strategy of preventing breakouts but not shooting, and does not have enough external defensive power, he can't withstand his impact most of the time. On the Lakers' side, the wing power is pretty good, but it's hard to say whether he can withstand James.

But the Cavaliers have average overall strength, and investing more defensive resources in James will not cause an imbalance in defense in other points.

Ke Yan made sufficient arrangements for his coaching debut, and even so, he was still a little nervous deep inside.

After all, it was my first game as a head coach!

The Staples Center was full of all the venue, and the atmosphere inside was very hot, especially when the players on both sides appeared, the atmosphere on the scene reached a climax.

Ke Yan came to the coaching seat and happened to see Mike Brown not far away looking at him, smiled politely, and then walked over.

"Good luck, young man!" According to the age of the coach in the league, Mike Brown is now a young coach, but compared with Ke Yan... Ke Yan belongs to the "infant coach".

"We will definitely win this game!" Ke Yan smiled and said harshly.

"So too!" Mike Brown still smiled.

The game began with the referee's whistle. Ilgoskas beat Mime, McGinnis grabbed the ball, and after dribbling the ball over half the game, he handed it to James.

Butler gave James one step. With this step of space, James started to attack the inside line. Butler stuck his position, but was still broken through to the defense by James. This time, if anyone else was lying flat on the ground, he would at least lose balance. However, James adjusted back in one step, broke through the defense while stabilizing the center of gravity, carried Butler away, and scored at the close range.

It is said that James' score is not as beautiful as Kobe, but watching such explosive muscle collisions on the spot is still very exciting.

The Lakers attacked, Kobe fell to a low post and played singles on Snow. The latter was a backcourt player with good defensive ability in the league, but his height, size, and strength were all inferior to Kobe, who was swaying his figure at the forward guard. Kobe easily hit the middle distance after reaching the space.

The superstars of both sides hit the target in their best way. The difference is that James is one-stop ten, and Kobe obviously grasped the pain points of the Cavaliers' defense. If Snow defends alone, Kobe will definitely win him.

In the Cavaliers' positional battle, James and Ilgoskas played high pick-and-roll effects not very good, and the distance was not enough. James did not choose to rush straight to the inside, but dribble at the bottom corner to find a chance again. The Lakers' defense was organized in time, and there was little offensive time left. James forced a breakthrough and tried to compress the Lakers' defense and passed the ball, but failed to find a suitable ball-out route, so he could only force the ball to shoot.

Mim protected the backcourt rebounds, and after two steps, he handed the ball to Odom, who was responsible for the protection. The Lakers did not rush to attack, but chose to slow down the pace to fight the position.

Kobe received the ball from the low post on the right, faced Snow's defense, turned to the right and shot, smoothly widening the distance from Snow, but the shooting was off the basket.

Ilgoskas grabbed the backcourt rebound and launched a fast break as soon as possible. James forced himself into the inside and passed the ball to Guden. The latter deceived Odom with a fake move and scored a goal.

When the Lakers attacked, Kobe took the initiative to play pick-and-roll with Odom. Snow bypassed Odom and cooperated with Guden to attack Kobe. Kobe transferred the ball to the middle, and Odom made a direct move from outside the three-point line.

The Cavaliers served in the backcourt, and McGinnis slowly advanced after receiving the ball. He always felt something was wrong in the frontcourt. Suddenly, he saw James shouting something loudly in frontcourt. Before he could react, the basketball in his hand had been intercepted.

Just after Odom made a three-pointer, Butler, who was in the bottom corner, did not return to the backcourt as soon as possible, but hid in the crowd outside the field. When McGinnis's attention was at the Lakers' half, he suddenly came out from behind to complete the interception.

Speeding up and flashing past Ilgoskas, Butler scored easily with a dunk. (7:4)

The Lakers fans at the scene were excited. Such a creative goal-scoring method is really rare. The initiator Butler even slapped Kobe with high fives after returning to defense. This scene may not be selected into the top ten goals today, but will definitely be replayed when reviewing this season.

The Cavaliers attacked, and the outside passes were not found for several passes. James missed the jump shot from the middle distance with the cover. He threw Butler away half of his position by speed. However, the Lakers' defensive strategy today is very clear, just not let James enter the basket. Even if James shook Butler away from the ball, Odom, Kobe and even Meim had the same defensive strategy.

"Come here!"

Except for McGinnis, the Cavaliers' peripheral shooting was unstable and could not open up space for James' breakthrough. McBrown noticed the problem and called Pavlovic on the bench to replace him when the ball was dead.

Kobe continued to torture Snow on the offensive end. James stepped forward to make up for defense. Butler cut the basket at a gap and forced Ilgoskas to play. Although the ball failed, it caused Ilgoskas to foul. The Lakers expanded their lead, while the Cavaliers asked Ren Deren and took advantage of the opportunity to kill the ball to replace Pavlovic.

Pavlovic is a typical white shooter, with accurate shooting on the outside and good static confrontation, but he is good at the small forward, even when moving slowly in the small forward position, and his weakness of moving horizontally in the second position is completely exposed, not to mention that this game is against Kobe.

He may be able to improve the team's offense to a certain extent, but what is more certain is that the weakness of defense will be further amplified.
Chapter completed!