Champion, please stay!

Chapter 180, Chapter 178: The Emperor is teaching his opponent how to play ball again.

Du Hong was ready to receive Curry's inbound pass and launch a fast break. After blocking James's passing lane, he looked back and was surprised to find that Curry had actually held off James!
He immediately lunged back up along the baseline!
James bumped into Durant a few times but couldn't budge him. Just as he was feeling bewildered, he saw Durant rushing in, quickly flipped over, jumped, and shot with his legs spread wide...

Curry immediately turned around and grabbed the rebound based on the posture of his waist, abdomen, and lower body.

The ball, flying towards the basket, was indeed wildly off course and hit the rim! He grabbed the rebound before Joe Smith could get around David Lee and drove straight up the court!

As they moved, Curry passed the ball to Duhon, who advanced past the center circle and then passed it out...

Yi Shui received the ball with his back to the baseline facing the basket, exerted force, and knocked Mo Williams out of the baseline with his buttocks. He jumped, spun in mid-air, and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!
James, who had just crossed the center line, saw this scene... This was exactly the picture he wanted!

But why?
Yi Di was sent flying with a single collision with Mo Buchuan, but King couldn't even budge a seemingly thinner elementary school student?

Delonte West received Mo Williams' serve and advanced the ball to the frontcourt.

At this moment, the fans in the stadium started chanting "KING" and "LeBron" wildly, all wanting to see James respond.

James decisively asked for the ball; of course he had to go for it. He wasn't afraid; he just felt that he hadn't been prepared for the previous offensive possession.

Receiving a pass from Delonte West, James faced Yi Shui's defense and continued to run a pick-and-roll with Mo Williams.

Curry showed a significant increase in defensive confidence this time, firmly executing the defensive strategy instructed by his leader.

James drove forward again after a screen... but was once again stopped in the low post by David Lee's drive up the middle and Curry's baseline block!

However, this time James was mentally prepared and knew it would be like this. After Duhon widened the distance again, he lowered his center of gravity and tried to ram into him... but he still couldn't move him!

After Curry withstood the back-to-the-basket move, he seized the opportunity to reach for the ball... and got poked!

But James was too big, and he managed to steal the ball from Curry.

At this moment, both Yi Shui and Du Hong pressed towards the baseline mid-range, leaving James with no choice but to turn and jump for a mid-range shot...

"bang"

Ironclad!

Birdman secured the defensive rebound and passed it to Duhon, initiating a fast break for the Knicks!

This time, the Cavaliers players retreated on defense in a timely manner. When Big Z saw that James' passing lanes to the high post and sideline were blocked by Yi Shui and Du Hong, he immediately called his teammates to retreat on defense.

Big Z cut inside, Delonte West blocked him on the wing, James chased after him... Yi Shui, the first to rush into the paint, had no chance to receive the ball.

But the elementary school students who followed behind were left empty!

Curry received a pass back from David Lee on the left side and launched a three-pointer...

The fans in the stadium stood up and booed, but that didn't stop the ball from going into the basket.

The Knicks have taken a 16-12 lead!
As the game switched between offense and defense, the fans immediately chanted "King" and "LeBron" at an even louder volume.

James wanted to let the two guards play for a while so he could calm down and think about what went wrong, but given the current situation, he couldn't just step in.

Seeing the opposing defense's positioning, he knew that if he drove in, he would be blocked in the low post, but he had no choice but to drive in!

However, this time after James drove to the low post, he didn't continue with his back to the basket. Instead, he grabbed the ball and stepped to the left. His footwork was blocked by David Lee, so he took two more steps, moved to the left side of the three-second zone, shook off Curry who was blocking his lower body, jumped, and floated the ball...

The referee didn't call a foul, but Birdman, who was coming down from the left side of the free-throw line, leaped high and slapped the ball that James had thrown out onto the backboard!

The ball bounced towards the middle, and Yi Shui won the ball in a contest with Joe Smith. Facing pressure, he passed the ball to Du Hong and made a quick run down the court!
Joe Smith's aggressive pressing created opportunities for the rest of the Cavaliers to retreat on defense, allowing the Cavaliers to establish good defensive positions and forcing the Knicks into a half-court game.

However, the Knicks didn't stop the ball, and the opponent's defensive formation remained intact, but there were many mismatches!
Duhon passed the ball to Curry, who then passed it to David Lee. David Lee received the ball on the left side of the three-second zone, took a step forward, and passed it towards the top of the arc.

Yi Shui circled around the three-point line to the top arc, stopped abruptly, turned and received the ball, drove through the middle, got past Delonte West who was chasing him, stopped abruptly a step outside the free-throw line, raised his hand... and faked out James who was rushing up from the wing!
After James flew past, Yi Shui rose again and hit a long two-point jump shot from the high post in front of the basket!

The Cavaliers called a timeout! The Knicks scored 4 consecutive baskets, giving the Cavaliers a 9-0 run!

The boos from the fans turned into curses. They didn't even know what they were cursing; they just wanted to vent their emotions by swearing.

Fans were bewildered as they watched the Knicks players pat Curry on the head.

James scored 6 points and 2 assists in the first 4 and a half minutes! He single-handedly carried the team's entire offense, dominating the opposing team!
Why did he suddenly become unable to score? And Curry is guarding him! He can't penetrate in the low post!
Meanwhile, James was complaining to the referee that David Lee had pulled his jersey during his layup attempt, which was why he got blocked by Birdman.

The referee was speechless. The new rule allows you to take two steps after three large steps and then jump again, but it doesn't allow you to take three steps and jump on the fourth. He didn't call the call for what he saw, so why should he call the call for what he didn't see? It wouldn't be impossible against a different opponent... but this is against the Knicks!
Yi Shui, who was watching James complain from the sidelines, felt his basketball perspective was completely shattered. Shouldn't he be thinking about how to play at this moment? Shouldn't he be discussing how to respond with his teammates? What kind of move is it to run to the referee to complain?
Yi Shui didn't understand, so he decided to help King.

He said to James, "LeBron, you can't back down, so why bother? Backing down requires using your waist and legs to generate power backward, not upward like when you drive."

When breaking through the rim and generating upward force, you can apply power to your opponent using your upper body, but this isn't possible when facing away from them.

James's expression, which had been marked by a major setback, turned into one of astonishment. What was this guy thinking?
It didn't seem like sarcasm, but rather genuine advice.

The main reason was that Yi Shui's explanation was simple and detailed. Even James, who had never learned post-up moves, could tell that Yi Shui wasn't talking nonsense. He recalled his own post-up moves and realized that, just as Yi Shui said, when he used his post-up moves, he felt that the force wasn't being applied to Curry at all.

King: The backpack seems to have mentioned that Yi Shui dislikes opponents using techniques they are not good at and likes to give pointers to others... What kind of hobby is that?
Yi Shui's voice was quite loud, and his teammates heard it too. Curry turned around abruptly and glared at Yi Shui.

Elementary school student: Boss, what are you doing? I finally managed to block it! Do you really want me to die?
David Lee patted Curry on the head and laughed, "Don't worry, if James really listened to Big, he would definitely play worse. You can't learn a post-up move just by listening to one sentence. Even Big took several months before he dared to use it in a game."

The elementary school student leaned back, revealing a shocked expression reminiscent of Er Kang: The boss is really bad!
But he was still worried and asked, "James is so talented, what if he can learn it in no time? If he can post up and generate power, I definitely can't stop him, even if he doesn't have the skills, I still can't defend him."

David Lee recalled the early days of developing the back-to-the-basket move... and replied, "Then you do it like this..."

...

D'Antoni excitedly patted each of his players' shoulders in turn; he hadn't expected them to actually defend!

Cheeks was also questioning his life. He had great talent and high basketball IQ, and yet his defensive vision was so sharp?

Like Mark Jackson, he chose to believe what the management said: Yi Shui has intellectual problems and you have to go along with whatever they say.

There must be a problem! Otherwise, how are those of us with normal intelligence supposed to survive?
After praising the players' performance, D'Antoni made a lineup rotation, bringing on a combination of Curry, Q, Yi Shui, David Lee, and Swift.

After trailing 9-12 in the first four and a half minutes, we went on a 9-0 run in two minutes to take an 18-12 lead. Our morale was high, so we didn't need to force a fast break. We used the most balanced lineup for positional play and fast breaks!
Yi Shui saw that the opposing team had substituted Delonte West, Szczerbiak, James, Joe Smith, and Varejao.

This roster of role players is truly enviable... When the Cavaliers are forced to tank and dismantle their team, can we acquire a couple of them? These players might lose their all-around skills while playing for the Cavaliers, but their utility and obedience will definitely be very high!

After the timeout, the Cavaliers went on offense and inbounded the ball from the center line.

Amidst the cheers of the crowd, James received a pass from Delonte West and continued to call out Curry!

He just went to the player tunnel and tried it out against the air a couple of times. Sure enough, he was hitting upwards... The main problem is that he's never played like that before; he always drives to the basket.

During the timeout, Cheeks made some adjustments to his positioning based on Yi Shui's strategy for preventing point guarding.

James drove into the paint through the tunnel left by the Knicks and once again met Curry in the low post!
James backed down to protect the ball, lowered his center of gravity, adjusted his power direction, and slammed into the ball with all his might! He was going to knock Curry away! He was going to do a mid-air spin dunk like Yi Shui! He was going to avenge his previous defeat… “Eh eh eh eh eh…”

James missed!
Curry pulled the chair away! As James leaned forward, Curry stepped back two paces!

James cried out in alarm, waving his hands to try to steady himself, but he landed hard on his backside, the force of the impact sending him tumbling backward.

Fortunately, he knocked the bounced ball away as he swung his hand, and Curry, who was trying to get around to the basket, failed to grab it, and the ball flew high.

Delonte West got to the ball first at the breakaway and surged forward!
The Knicks had a wide-open shot in the middle, and Delonte West had a great opportunity, but there was someone doing a backflip under the basket, so he had to take a floater just inside the free-throw line... which was beyond his range!

The ball bounced off the rim and back, and Delonte West tried to steal it again, but Yi Shui pushed him away with his butt.

Yi Shui secured the defensive rebound and launched a counterattack down the middle!
Facing the retreating Joe Smith, Yi Shui drove straight to the basket, pushed past Joe Smith, and laid the ball in... and it went in!
The referee blew the whistle! The instant Yi Shui threw the ball out, Joe Smith's blocking hand slapped his arm!

随着易水加罚命中，尼克斯队的跨官方暂停高潮，来到了12比0！21比12领先骑士队9分！
(End of this chapter)