Because James, who had not yet bulked up during this period, possessed extremely explosive charging speed, so once he got moving on the court, he could easily make a breakthrough into the paint to deal damage to the opponent's interior defense.

As a one-on-one perimeter defense specialist, Pietrus did not have many means to handle James's quick start.

After all...

Standing at an actual height of only 196 cm, he was at a natural disadvantage in this matchup.

Plus, this season, there were only Kobe, James, and Iverson averaging over "30+" points per game in the NBA.

Therefore, failing to stop James at this moment does not mean that Pietrus's defense is not good enough.

Because you can't expect a player with an annual salary of only 1.91 million US Dollars to shut down the opponent's star player every game.

In fact, effectively limiting James depends on the Warriors' interior rotation.

In the paint, Qin Yue and Brown almost instantly helped on defense.

These two NBA first draft picks both have top-notch athletic talents, and in this lifetime, Qin Yue even stopped Brown's lofty weight-gain plans.

"You gain weight, who are you planning to deal with?"

"Shaq...Shaq or Yao?"

"With me here, would I let you face them alone?"

"Then if I don't gain weight...which direction should I develop this season?"

"Watch more videos of Ben Wallace's defense, learn his help defense awareness, and improve your defensive observation skills."

Qin Yue knew well that Brown's somewhat promising career in his memory was ruined by his later weight gain.

After gaining weight, lacking corresponding low-post skills made him turn into a sluggish defender on the defensive end.

On the court, James, being blocked by Qin Yue and Brown, had no choice but to pass.

This summer, James worked hard on a pull-up jumper with a high accuracy of 39.8% from long-range two-point spots.

Obviously, even with his usual shrewdness, he had not yet realized the efficiency improvement from optimizing shooting structure.

According to Qin Yue, even though early in his career James wasn't stable with threes...

Shooting this long two-pointer is not as good as trying a few "Bald Lion Cold Arrow" shots.

Of course, the reason James didn't dare to stop and chose to pass at this moment was mainly due to Qin Yue and Brown's perfect timing on help defense, leaving him no passing lanes into the interior.

James knew that his pull-up wasn't as smooth as Anthony's, so he decisively swung the ball to the perimeter to Hughes after encountering the double team.

At this time, the Warriors' zone defense power began to show.

Because after receiving the pass, with some hesitation...

Hughes, who didn't pass promptly, saw the Warriors fully getting back in position in the next second.

Hughes, not daring to take responsibility, is undoubtedly a weak link for this Cavaliers team.

Especially...

Instead of taking responsibility, Hughes passed the ball back to James at the next moment.

At this point, those unaware might think Hughes was expressing his loyalty to LBJ, but others know...

"Why didn't Hughes take the shot himself? LeBron doesn't have time to break the zone defense now." CCTV, Zhang Weiping said, looking speechless.

With no time to break the zone, LeBron was the first to assist the board tonight.

After Qin Yue personally grabbed this gift from nature, he quickly dribbled past half-court.

Helplessly, Hughes had to foul, patting his chest in apology to James.

Then, after the frontcourt inbound pass, it was the Warriors' offensive turn.

Faced with Gooden, Qin Yue didn't insist after receiving the ball at the top of the arc.

Because tonight, the Cavaliers were also defending with a zone.

Seeing this, after actively calling Davis over for a hand-off play, Qin Yue quickly moved to the right side of the court to set a screen for Richardson.

Through two consecutive screens...

Richardson, receiving the pass from the Big Beard himself, immediately relied on his breakthrough to draw the Cavaliers' defensive attention.

At this moment, CCTV's Zhang Weiping, as if assuming the Warriors on the court could hear him, urgently shouted: "Qin Yue is open!"

Of course, Richardson knew Qin Yue was open.

Even though in his entire career he averaged only 2.7 assists per game, in the NBA, which player can't execute a drive-and-kick?

Is a drive-and-kick such a sophisticated and surprising offensive technique?

On the perimeter, Qin Yue even had the time to light a cigarette before making the shot.

Swoosh——!

Coming back, it was the Cavaliers' turn to attack.

James, learning from previous experiences, handed the ball to Hughes for control.

Only when moving to the other side, using teammates' movements to keep Qin Yue and Brown on the opposite side, James actively signaled for the ball.

This evasive strategy is exactly James's forte.

Simultaneously, it's the invaluable experience taught by Michael Jordan starting from the Bulls era.

In fact, all true Jordan fans know that after being beaten by the "Bad Kids Legion" for several years, Jordan had long honed an invisible technique to always find the perfect one-on-one angle on the court.

With this play, James got a great opportunity to break through.

And after attacking the paint, he hit a floater.

Seeing this, Pietrus was very helpless, but Qin Yue went up and patted his back encouragingly: "You defended very well this time, and LeBron can't play like that all game...because he won't withstand it himself."

On the court, just as Qin Yue expected...

By the halfway mark of the first quarter, although James had scored 8 points for the Cavaliers through drives and free throws, due to exerting himself too much at the start, he turned invisible in the latter part of the first quarter.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.