After the warm-up, players from both teams returned to the locker room.
This was just an ordinary game in the 82-game regular season. D'Antoni did not do any special mobilization before the game. After changing his jersey and shoes, Chen Yan and his teammates returned to the court along the tunnel.
After the short entrance ceremony, the starting players of both teams remained in the center of the field.
After the suspension, Raja Bell returned to the Suns' starting lineup. As the Suns' top perimeter defender, he will face the league's best small forward James tonight, and the pressure is quite high.
Cleveland Cavaliers starting lineup: Damon Jones, Larry Hughes, LeBron James, Gooden, Big Z Ilgauskas.
Tonight's game will be broadcast live across the United States, and NBA officials have specially made a gimmick of James vs. Chen Yan.
Now Chen Yan and James are not on the same level, but the league intends to praise him and create some topics for him as much as possible.
The media publicity and Chen Yan's explosive performance since the start of the game have made many fans look forward to this game.
Amid the expectations of the fans, the game officially begins!
The moment the game whistle sounded, Chen Yan and James' expressions suddenly became serious.
Top players have top competitiveness, and they will not bring their off-court sophistication into the game.
During the jump ball stage, Stoudemire was not focused enough and took off half a beat late.
Big Z gently pushed the ball into James' hands.
The Cavaliers got the first opportunity to attack.
James dribbled the ball with his left hand and made tactical gestures with his right hand, advancing the ball across half court unhurriedly.
At the top of the arc, James suddenly dealt the cards!
He hit the ground and passed the ball to Big Z.
James is not Kobe. His desire to attack is not that strong. He prefers to use passing games to connect the team.
After receiving the ball, Big Z turned around and hooked.
"Clang!"
The basketball hit the hoop.
Big Z's hand feels very soft, but my hands are still a little cold at the beginning.
The moment the sound of striking began, the sun's counterattack began!
Diaw grabbed the defensive rebound and went straight past Nash and Raja Bell to find Chen Yan who was running in front!
Diaw's passing skills are second to none, and the ball was given just right in advance.
Chen Yan could comfortably receive the pass without slowing down.
The Cavaliers player responsible for defending Chen Yan is Larry Hughes.
Larry Hughes was once the steal leader among first-defense players, but injuries in the past few seasons have left him somewhat unable to perform.
After catching the ball, Chen Yan accelerated and sprinted, leaving Larry Hughes behind.
The whole game was 1 versus 0!
Chen Yan did not miss this opportunity to perform, and smashed the Cavaliers' basket with an elegant and violent dunk with the back of his hands!
Seeing Chen Yan, a rookie, running wild on his own territory right from the start, James' face suddenly sank.
In the next offensive round, the little emperor went directly to the top of the key to get the ball!
James in the Cavaliers 1.0 era did not have the ability to play in the low post. Attacking the basket and making pull-up jump shots were his main ways of scoring.
Holding the ball one step beyond the three-point line, James summoned Gooden with a gesture.
You have to be prepared to defend 100-150 pick-and-rolls every game against James...
There is only one secret to guarding James well, and that is to stand directly in front of him no matter where you are.
Once James is given room to break through, he will be unstoppable.
As the league's top perimeter defender, Laga Bell understands this truth.
The moment Gooden mentioned the high position, Laga Bell started in advance and bypassed Gooden's wall.
However, he didn't expect that James would quickly make the next move, making a quick change of direction and once again using Gooden's cover to break through in the opposite direction!
Superstars can always change quickly according to their image on the court, and James is obviously such a player.
Before the defensive player arrived, James rushed into the penalty area and completed a signature tomahawk dunk!
James has not gained weight during this period, and his breakthrough dunks feel agile, light but powerful!
The next second there were screams in the stadium!
This dunk made Cavaliers fans excited all of a sudden!
After landing, James even looked at Chen Yan specifically, wanting to tell Chen Yan with his eyes that this was his territory!
But the embarrassing thing is that Chen Yan didn't notice James. As soon as Diaw took the baseline kick, Chen Yan had already run past half court.
A new round of blitzkrieg by the Sun has begun!
Nash dribbled the ball quickly and advanced to the logo position. When he passed the ball, he found Chen Yan.
Chen Yan did not pause after receiving the ball, and directly accelerated towards the left!
The team's two consecutive losses made Chen Yan a little depressed. As soon as this game started, he showed a strong desire to attack!
Larry Hughes kept retreating, and Chen Yan's speed made him feel very pressured.
The moment he got close to Larry Hughes' body, Chen Yan suddenly lowered his center of gravity and made a change of direction!
Larry Hughes thought this was a good opportunity and cut directly towards Chen Yan's middle road!
Larry Hughes was the steal leader in the 2004-05 season. He was very confident in his ability to steal the ball, but he ignored Chen Yan's dribbling frequency!
"boom!"
Chen Yan took one step ahead of Larry Hughes and made a sudden change of direction the moment he chipped the ball!
Damn it!
Larry Hughes cursed secretly, knowing that he could no longer regain his focus.
After breaking through Larry Hughes' defense, Chen Yan flew and dunked, easily scoring two more points.
The score on the field was 4 to 2.
"Don't attack easily! Follow him!"
Cavaliers coach Mike Brown was very dissatisfied at this time. Gambling steals is the defensive method that the coach dislikes seeing the most.
"Two consecutive fast break dunks, Chen scored 4 points in a row at the beginning!" Barkley shouted in the TNT studio.
Kenny Smith on the side listened and nodded: "The fast break after the offensive and defensive transition is Chen's trump card. This season, Chen's fast break transition score ranks first in the league. His speed, explosive power, skills and footsteps can all help."
He scored easily on the fast pass!”
After being beaten for two consecutive fast breaks, the Cavaliers deliberately controlled the offensive rhythm.
If the Suns get high right from the start, this game will become very troublesome.
Damon Jones controlled the ball across half court and found James.
James passed the ball high to the big Z Ilgauskas inside.
Big Z didn't want the ball deep enough. He looked at his teammates' position and then returned the ball to James' hands.
As the Cavaliers continued to guide the ball, the attack time also passed quickly.
James accelerated, strode into the paint, and pushed the ball out.
Larry Hughes caught the ball from the corner with a three-pointer, but instead of taking a shot, he feinted and crossed directly inside.
James was speechless, because at this time, 4 or 5 players, including himself, had gathered inside, making it very crowded.
But Larry Hughes is such a typical player who loves breakthroughs and hates shooting. He averaged 41.4% field goal percentage per game and only 28.1% three-pointers.
He played well with the Wizards before, because he and Arenas have complementary styles, but his functions next to James seem to have some overlap. Both of them are players who are not so stable in their breakthrough shooting.
This is also the reason why Larry Hughes's scoring average has dropped from 22 points in the previous two seasons to 12.5 points now.
He can never be the Pippen next to James.
"boom!"
Outside the penalty area, Larry Hughes leaned on Chen Yan and missed the throw!
The ball hit the backboard and bounced out.
Stoudemire found Nash after protecting the defensive rebound.
Nash passed the ball to Chen Yan who was advancing at high speed!
"Oh! Chen is here again!"
"The lightning speed! What kind of dunk will he use to finish this time?"
Seeing Chen Yan riding through the half court, the two commentators from tnt also raised the volume of their commentary.
At this moment, the entire audience suddenly stood up!
It turned out that James was chasing him at high speed!
On the surface, this round is Chen Yan's frontcourt 1 vs 0, but in fact James is already quietly lurking behind him.
Fans love to watch James chasing the hat, the sensory stimulation is no less than a dunk!
When Chen Yan rushed into the three-point line, he also smelled a hint of danger behind him and glanced at James behind him with his peripheral vision.
But he didn't slow down, and after taking two steps, he quickly picked up the basket!
The home fans were delighted to see this scene.
Layup in front of James?
Doesn't this give him block data?
"boom!"
Sure enough, James' classic nailboard hat is here!
The whole audience cheered!
However, the next second, the referee's whistle suddenly sounded.
Interfering with the ball, the goal is valid!
James spread his hands with a look of disbelief on his face.
When I looked up and watched the slow-motion replay, I suddenly realized that the ball had touched the backboard before it was nailed to the board!
James shook his head. There was nothing to argue about. It was undoubtedly ball interference!
At this moment, Chen Yan, who was running past him, showed a strange smile.