CHAPTER 1276: CHAPTER 404: BEAST AND THE THREE LITTLE PIGS

From ancient times to the present, very few players have cared so much about the disappointment of the fans, let alone bought newspaper space to publish an apology letter.

This behavior made Bay Area fans’ support for the Warriors reach its peak and made the Warriors players more eager for victory than ever before.

They all hoped Cleveland would become the turning point of the season, but as Charles Barkley said on the show: "The Cleveland Cavaliers are like an armored car, and so far all teams have been dealing with them using primitive spear-like firepower."

The Cavaliers haven’t faced too strong a challenge yet; the second loss to the Spurs was more because the Cavaliers’ offense was too terrible.

In other words, no team can truly threaten the Cavaliers’ defense.

With only 10 games played this season, the Cavaliers have already kept the opponent’s total score below 80 twice and only allowed opponents to score over 100 in three games.

At the game site, Coach Mike Brown, wearing glasses, watched the Warriors’ half-court like a creepy middle-aged single guy spying on a young woman.

If Doc Rivers lowered the threshold of NBA head coaches’ standards, then Mike Brown lowered the threshold of the NBA head coaches’ image.

NBA head coaches have always paid attention to their image, and this focus on image reached its peak under the influence of Pat Riley.

Even old-timers like Phil Jackson would dress up seriously before each game.

But Mike Brown, as a young coach only five years older than Roger, did not possess the steady brilliance of traditional coaches nor the dashing style of young coaches.

He always wore unattractive glasses, a dirty-looking gray suit. He had a belly that seemed ready to burst through his shirt, a face full of stubble, and held a shabby tactics manual.

However, it was this unkempt guy who transformed the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Before this season, he served as the Spurs’ defensive coach, responsible for collecting video analyses of games, and excelled at defense setups.

In Cleveland, he fully exerted what he was good at, turning Cleveland into a defensive iron army.

Now, Mike Brown was observing the Warriors’ half-court, checking whether the Warriors’ three-point shooting touch was sharp tonight.

He knew too well how to curb the Warriors; if the Warriors’ three-point shooting was not ideal today, he would have the team contract to lock down Roger.

Fortunately, during the warm-up phase today, most of the Warriors’ players’ three-point percentages were average — they could certainly shoot accurately, as players at the NBA level could not possibly continuously miss during practice, just as the President of the United States couldn’t possibly make rookie mistakes in a speech.

Yet most of the Warriors’ perimeter players found it hard today to hit multiple threes continuously, which was enough to show they had touch issues.

Maybe it was due to the long journey, maybe because of being unaccustomed to the refurbished Quicken Loans Arena.

In any case, Mike Brown deemed the Warriors’ threes untrustworthy tonight.

Except for Jason Richardson, everyone else’s touch was quite average.

He decided to boldly use a contraction double-team strategy, as for Jason Richardson, he couldn’t win the game alone.

Warm-up is over, the game is about to start, and the cheers from Cleveland fans have already heated the atmosphere.

LeBron James sat on the bench, his hands tightly held together.

Although he repeatedly emphasized that he would fulfill his promise this season, he still couldn’t help but feel worried.

After all, his opponent was one of the strongest basketball athletes of the age, and in the past two seasons, LBJ hadn’t come close to victory against Roger.

Michael Jordan’s saying again untimely started echoing: He is my curse, and also yours.

Mike Brown forcefully held LeBron James’s shoulders, stopping his wandering thoughts.

LBJ looked at that glasses-wearing heavyset guy, the head coach with firm gaze: "What do you think is the most romantic story in NBA history?"

"Huh?" LeBron James was puzzled by the question.

But Mike Brown did not really wait for number 23 to answer; he continued to speak on his own.

"I think it’s the story of the Detroit Pistons and another number 23. The Detroit Bad Boys used domineering defense and Chuck Daly’s Jordan Rules, crushing that solitary genius’s championship hopes outside, he suffered greatly, he once felt hopeless, but he persisted enduringly, without escaping or giving up. Eventually, the story ended like a fairy tale: in 1991 MJ swept away his nightmare, defeating the team he had to defeat, and began a brilliant story of dynasty and conquest."

"LeBron, if you want to succeed, want to create a legend like MJ, this is the team you must defeat," Mike Brown pointed at the Warriors, "Take them down, then we can take a historic step!"

Mike Brown was not the kind of coach adept at brewing up motivational speeches; he was more like a scholarly head coach. Compared to controlling the locker room, he excelled more in researching tactics themselves.

But on such a night, he felt compelled to say something to the young core.

LeBron James realized for the first time how much he trusted a coach.

Just last summer, he was still discussing "escaping Cleveland" with Rich Paul.

But now, look, look at what you have.