CHAPTER 660: CHAPTER 319: LEBRON MUST UNDERSTAND THIS IS A MAN’S WAR

James avoided making eye contact with Kobe, instead turning his head to look at Scott standing on the sidelines.

Hansen is stirring up trouble, do something, coach!

Scott didn’t know that Hansen had met Kobe yesterday, so he was completely unprepared for Kobe’s reaction.

However, when he saw the look in James’ eyes, he immediately called for a timeout.

"Keep an eye on your man, this is the finals." Kobe walked over to James to remind him again.

"I’ve done my best, I can’t stop him." James didn’t want to argue with Kobe, but Hansen was right, that wasn’t the guy he was supposed to guard.

Listening to James’ words, Kobe’s eyes widened in disbelief.

James has played in three finals, how could he not act like it?

Is it a question of trying hard?

A season’s effort finally leads here, not to tell yourself, "I’ve done my best," that would be lying to yourself!

"How about you guard Irving?"

Kobe continued.

James’ face turned red, Kobe was still making things difficult for him; his matchup should be PJ Tucker!

"Matthew."

Finally, Scott interrupted the conversation between the two.

He called Delavadova from the bench.

Upon hearing his name, Deron walked straight to the end of the bench, not even bothering to listen to the play.

If you gave him another choice, he would never have come to Los Angeles.

He was promised a starting position and control of the ball, only to find out he was there to play as an off-ball point guard.

This was asking him to do something he was not good at, it would be a miracle if he performed well.

The previous round against the Warriors was the same experience; when they were down 1-3, both the LeBron and Kobe fans criticized him relentlessly.

Today seems like another day to swallow it.

Once Delavadova got on the court, the Lakers’ defensive issues were instantly resolved.

Though he’s not an all-around defensive guard, he certainly can’t guard guards like Hansen, who’s a size bigger than him.

But when you ask him to guard weaker guards in confrontation like Curry and Irving, his scrappy defense is quite effective.

The more important reason for bringing him in is that Kobe can switch back to guarding Hansen, and James can finally match up against his favorite, Tucker.

Standing at the corner, but nobody loves him.

A corner shooter like Tucker is precisely the type of player he’s best at defending.

In the first quarter with nine minutes in, the score was 25 to 23, with the Cavaliers leading by a slight margin.

Hansen was substituted out to rest, leaving the lineup as follows: Cavaliers: Irving, JR, Dunleavy, Conningham, TT;

Lakers: Deron, Jordan Clarkson, Richard Jefferson, Frye, Love

Deron came up and ran a pick-and-roll with Love, his signature dragging step breakthrough attracting Conningham to double-team, quickly passing to Frye, who nailed the three-pointer.

To give credit where it’s due, Deron has executed the pick-and-roll tactic very well as Sloan’s protégé.

This season, since he joined the Lakers, he’s nearly been criticized into retirement, but clearly, he still has something left in the tank.

By the end of the first quarter, the teams were tied at 30 points each.

The Cavaliers were in high spirits, while the Lakers, having just reversed the Warriors from a 1-3 deficit, were also in good form.

In the second quarter, both sides rotated further, with Irving and TT being replaced by Williams and Garnett for a rest.

On the Lakers’ side, Love was also taken out, but the substitute coming in was James.

High EQ: Scott wanted to help the Lakers build a lead during this substitution period;

Low EQ: James is once again adjusting his game time in the finals.

However, this season it wasn’t unexpected since after James started using technology, the biggest improvement was in his stamina.

Once James was on the court, Deron transitioned back to playing an off-ball point guard.

Fortunately, with Irving resting, his defensive weaknesses weren’t as pronounced.

Williams called for a pick-and-roll tactic, but it was somewhat surprising.

Because it wasn’t Garnett setting the pick, but Conningham.

You could interpret it as Conningham being a stretch big who could open up space by picking and popping.

But when the screen occurred, Williams directly faced off against James.

Seeing Williams, James couldn’t help but reminisce about the old days.

Speaking of which, Williams was the guard during the Cavaliers 1.0 era compatible with him.

However, while he was daydreaming, Williams slipped past him, drove into the lane, and scored with a bank shot.

Not only James, but even Frye under the basket didn’t expect James to be bypassed so cleanly.

Ah, no wait, it’s that Williams made such a decisive move, he didn’t even have time to help defend.

After Williams scored and shouted excitedly, it was then that James realized that Williams was capitalizing on a mismatch to score against him!

After turning to Frye, shrugging to indicate the blame for the play was on the other side, he looked toward Williams retreating on defense with a fierce gleam in his eyes.

Hansen beating him was one thing, but who did Williams think he was?

If it weren’t for him back then, would Williams have made his sole All-Star appearance?

Don’t really think you’re that important!

Back on the offensive end, James called for the ball and signaled Deron to set a pick for him.

A point guard setting a pick for a small forward, this topsy-turvy move even had Deron a bit dumbfounded.

However, after a slightly impatient second signal from James, he could only go over and set the pick.

Once mismatched against Williams, James began backing down with the ball.

James’ post-up game had matured somewhat, and the weight disadvantage left Williams unable to hold his ground.

In the blink of an eye, like a bulldozer, James pushed Williams to the side of the free-throw line.