CHAPTER 562: CHAPTER 276 GARNETT IS A BAD MAN - PART 2

Garnett truly talked trash, but he played with real passion on the court as well.

The Lakers threw in from the sideline, and James chose to post up Tucker. After turning around, he broke toward the basket but gave up the scoring opportunity close at hand when he saw Garnett coming to help defend, tossing the ball to Kobe on the outside.

When Kobe caught the ball, there were only 3 seconds left. Facing Hansen, he couldn’t make the shot when he tried to defuse the bomb.

The crowd stirred.

It was somewhat incredible that 39-year-old Garnett could still consistently defend against James.

However, clearly, the problem lay with James himself.

He might have been reminded of the old Celtics when he saw Garnett, or maybe he was unsettled by years of playing against Hansen, but he clearly lacked confidence.

Had he been more decisive, given tonight’s refereeing standards, the outcome would have been completely different.

Interestingly, after defusing the bomb, Kobe didn’t complain about James’s decision.

Kobe might talk a lot to James about defensive issues, but with this type of bomb defusing play, he would probably just feel he hadn’t seized the opportunity.

From this perspective, James and Kobe playing on the same team could indeed be considered a perfect match.

Hansen continued to run pick and rolls with Garnett, and this time the Lakers dared not leave Garnett open. Hansen decisively drove to the basket, getting past Mozgov with a layup and even drawing a foul from him.

Kobe was then visibly upset, pulling Mozgov aside to coach him.

His message was basically to either not commit the foul or to commit it harder, not giving Hansen a chance at a 2+1.

Why did Jordan receive so many flagrant fouls back in the day?

Because ordinary fouls basically didn’t achieve the tactical objective, only allowing Jordan to score while also getting to the free throw line.

Hansen was preparing for the additional free throw.

At that moment, James and Garnett, who was by his side, started chatting.

"You shouldn’t have gone to Cleveland; that got you a lot of criticism." James seemed to be showing concern for Garnett but was actually messing with his mindset, taking his trash talk up another notch.

"That’s your fault." Garnett simply bent over.

Under James’s perplexed gaze, the referee had already passed the ball to Hansen.

"If you were in Cleveland, I wouldn’t have gone there," Garnett said, catching James off guard.

Clang!

Hansen’s additional free throw missed.

Garnett’s trash talk had got to Hansen.

He took back his earlier words; Garnett really was a bad guy!

Fortunately, Garnett secured a good position and successfully grabbed the offensive rebound.

He wanted to make a second attempt at scoring, but lacking explosive power and with Frye having come to help defend, he could only pass the ball back to Hansen.

However, Hansen’s reaction was unexpected this time. He didn’t catch the ball but instead used a volleyball-style hit to send the passed ball toward the baseline to TT.

It was a display of extreme fingertip ball control.

The Lakers’ defenders were first drawn by Garnett, and now they rushed towards Hansen, leaving TT completely unmarked.

TT picked up the ball and went straight for a powerful two-handed dunk.

After landing, he excitedly roared, arms flexed, releasing all the excitement that Garnett had stirred up.

Suddenly, with Garnett’s entry, the Cavaliers had turned into a fiery team.

And this emotional change brought about a major shift in their defense.

The Cavaliers hadn’t been a very good defensive team this season, but now their defensive intensity on the court was maxed out.

This was the kind of value Garnett added beyond his abilities.

Mozgov’s screen brought Garnett once again in front of James.

James didn’t choose to drive but stopped abruptly for a mid-range shot.

Garnett lunged desperately outward, and although he couldn’t really block it, James’s shot was clearly too short, ending up with an airball!

TT fought hard to block Mozgov, and Hansen collected the defensive rebound under the basket.

After landing, he quickly pushed for a defensive counterattack.

Kobe led the defense against Hansen from the backcourt to the frontcourt.

As they approached the free-throw line, Hansen made a tray-style motion and presented the ball in front of Kobe.

As Kobe’s attention was drawn to the ball, Hansen then pulled it back and passed blindly to the other side.

Irving followed up, catching the ball and scoring with a layup.

to 9.

Following Garnett’s entry, the Cavaliers had gone on an 8-0 run.

The Lakers called a timeout.

The scene was in an uproar, not only because of the offensive surge the Cavaliers had just displayed but also because now the LED screen was replaying Hansen’s pass.

That control over the ball, they had seen it before in this arena.

And the person who made that move was called "Magic" Johnson!

Hansen already possessed extreme scoring ability, and now he could make passes of this caliber, how was one supposed to defend against that?

Were they really going to defend against Hansen like Byron Scott did against Jordan back in the day, trying to soften Hansen with gentle words?

When Hansen scored, say to Hansen, "Nice shot, Han"; when Hansen made a good pass, say to Hansen, "Nice pass, Han"?

After the timeout, James’s expression was extremely unpleasant.

Everyone’s attention was captured by Hansen’s recent pass, nobody noticed that during the timeout, Kobe had "encouraged" James in his own way on the bench.

After coming back on the court, James played noticeably more aggressively. He broke through Garnett and drew a foul from him.

Kobe walked up to him, pounded his chest in encouragement, and James’s confidence was visibly boosted.

James had two free throw opportunities.

"Kobe, are you planning to win us over with ten times the free throws?"

Hansen couldn’t hold back upon hearing this and burst out laughing.

Garnett’s remark was a double kill.

Kobe disdained winning by free throws the most; when the Lakers and Grizzlies played in the playoffs, even though the referees blatantly helped and it was 8 against 5, Kobe didn’t aim to draw fouls.

But James was the complete opposite; without the whistle, his performance suffered greatly.

So, this was an attack on Kobe and even more on James.

Damn, Garnett really was too wicked.

"Ding!"

James was clearly affected; his first free throw missed.

At that moment, Hansen spoke up:

"Kevin, ten times is impossible. They will blow a few insignificant balance calls in the fourth quarter. You know, not everyone watches the game."

This time it was Garnett’s turn to burst out laughing.

"Ding!"

James’s second free throw missed.

Two free throws missed, tantamount to a turnover.

Only then did Kobe realize that Garnett joining the Cavaliers brought not just a change in strength, or even morale, but that two trash-talking superstars had teamed up.

Their combined effort directly inflicted tons of psychological damage on their opponents.

Garnett defended the rebound under protection, the Cavaliers pushed a defensive counterattack, Hansen in a fast break delivered another beautiful pass, and although Irving missed the opportunity to shoot, Hansen followed up with a put-back.

In a blink, the gap between the teams had reached double digits.

Finally, Kobe couldn’t stand it anymore; he started to use picks and cuts, received the ball and broke through to the inside causing Garnett to commit a defensive foul.

At that time, the LED screen above drew attention to the foul count comparison for the night between the teams.

Counting these two free throws from Kobe, the Lakers had taken 10 free throws just in the first quarter.

In contrast, the Cavaliers had only one, the additional free throw Hansen had just missed.

Now it truly was 10 to 1!

"This is ridiculous! You can’t call like that. You’re making the Lakers players look like fools!" O’Neal, as a Lakers legend, was even getting upset from the commentary booth.

He could understand the referees’ bias tonight; after all, Nike’s hope in The West now rested on the Lakers.

But this bias was too much.

"You should make the referees wear Lakers jerseys and then just announce the Lakers as the winners," O’Neal continued to rant.

"They want to," Barkley chimed in.

"Believe me, they do want to, but the problem is that tonight’s Lakers can’t pull it off."

Barkley said, pointing at the scoreboard.

Before Kobe’s free throws, the Lakers were still down by 10 points.

Ten times the free throws yet down by 10 points; tonight’s Lakers were making history.

—Line break—

①: Garnett has started 1381 consecutive games, second only to Jabbar (1560) and Carl Malone (1443), ranking third in history.