The longest river

Chapter 183 James Opens the Door to a New World
Because the Trail Blazers hadn't given any prior notice, Fratello was quite surprised when he saw Yang Shuai start at point guard.

This completely caught him off guard.

Having witnessed Yang Shuai's one-on-one match with Jim Jackson back then, he knew that Yang Shuai was a scorer.

However, this arrangement also gave him hope of winning tonight.

The Cavaliers' experience over the past two years can be described as "magical".

With the retirement of their original trio and the departure of Mark Price, the Cavaliers have entered a theoretical rebuilding phase.

However, the team managed to finish ninth in the Eastern Conference last season under the leadership of Trier Brandon.

When the management realized this wasn't working, they quickly sent Brandon away and signed Kemp to sell tickets.

As it turned out, the team's four draft picks this year—Derrick Anderson (13th overall), Brevin Knight (16th overall), Zydrunas Ilgauskas (20th overall), and Cedric Henderson (2nd overall, 16th overall)—three started and one played in the rotation, all of whom performed exceptionally well and earned the nickname "Cavaliers' Four Tigers" from the media.

The Cavaliers are currently fifth in the Eastern Conference and have a strong chance of making the playoffs.

Therefore, the Cavaliers essentially skipped the rebuilding phase and started their push for the playoffs again.

Winning is their primary goal at times like this, especially against a team like the Trail Blazers that is currently struggling.

The crowd in the stands were both surprised and incredibly curious.

They had never seen Yang Shuai play point guard before.

Meanwhile, thousands of miles away in Portland, Kenny Anderson, with a bottle of liquor and some snacks, watched the live broadcast with a smug look on his face.

Since the management is so protective of Yang Shuai, he wants to see just how badly the Trail Blazers will fare without him.

He burst out laughing, especially when he saw Yang Shuai starting at point guard.

Has Carlisle run out of ideas?
He wiped his mouth, picked up a piece of squid roll, and stuffed it into his mouth.

At that moment, he made up his mind that if the team suffered five consecutive losses, he would not return to the court unless Yang Shuai personally apologized to him.

At Gund Arena, Ilgauskas tipped the ball back to the Cavaliers' half of the court, and the game officially began.

Knight dribbled the ball forward, and Yang Shuai immediately began to press him intensely.

Knight is only 1.78 meters tall, but he has excellent speed and ball control skills, and his passing ability is also quite good.

Despite being pressured by Yang Shuai's defense, he still managed to get the ball steadily into Kemp's hands.

After receiving the ball, Kemp took a mid-range jump shot and made it easily.

Similar to Malone, Kemp was a rough guy in the early part of his career, and then, like Malone, he developed an incredibly accurate mid-range shot.

The SuperSonics only became a championship contender and made it to the Finals after he developed his skills.

During the Trail Blazers' offense, Yang Shuai brought the ball up the court and immediately called for a one-on-one play.

As Rondo said, with this height difference, there's no need to use any complicated tactics anymore.

Once Sabonis moved to the top of the key and cleared the strong side, Yang Shuai used his back to Knight to generate power, then turned and broke through.

Knight's physique was far inferior to Yang Shuai's. In order to hold Yang Shuai, he was forced to lower his center of gravity, and in the end, he still couldn't hold on and could only watch helplessly as Yang Shuai rolled over his face.

When Yang Shuai accelerated past Knight, coupled with the Trail Blazers' spacing system, the Cavaliers' attempts to help defend were too late.

"Oh!"

Yang Shuai leaped high and delivered a signature tomahawk dunk.

This drew cheers from the crowd.

James and his friends also cheered and screamed as usual.

Since switching to basketball, LeBron James has been practicing his jumping ability like crazy, hoping that one day he can dunk like Yang Shuai.

The Cavaliers are on offense, and Kemp continues to receive the ball in the low post.

This time, he faked out Grant with a mid-range shot and then drove into the paint with the ball.

Sabonis broke free from Ilgauskas's clutches and came over to help defend.

But he didn't have time.

Kemp's explosive power was too strong, and his speed was too fast; he rose from the ground almost instantly.

"Oh!"

When the sound of the rim exploding came through the loudspeakers, the entire stadium erupted in cheers.

The Cavaliers' $1 million investment was put to good use at this moment; as the league's most famous power forward, Kemp truly sold tickets.

In fact, the Timberwolves' decision to re-sign Garnett also had this factor in mind. In this era, ticket revenue is too important, and a star player with an attractive playing style is a guarantee of ticket revenue.

Both teams started with a powerful dunk each, and regardless of the outcome, the game was incredibly entertaining.

The Trail Blazers then allowed Williams to bring the ball up to half-court to reduce Yang Shuai's energy expenditure.

When they got to the frontcourt, Yang Shuai received the ball with his back to Knight, and the Cavaliers played the same tactic.

This time, after a brief confrontation with Yang Shuai, Knight took the initiative to leave the bench and then intercepted the ball from the side.

This tactic was used by Yang Shuai against Jordan in the final moments of Game 7 between the Pacers and the Bulls.

However, Knight did not succeed.

Yang Shuai would study the tactics manual while eating, and he also watched a lot of game videos.

He knew that Knight, although a rookie, was leading the league in steals with an average of 2.7 per game this season and had quick hands, so he had been on guard for a while.

Even when Knight made that sudden move, he actually turned around and left the other man behind.

Like Iverson, shorter players are basically a black hole on the defensive end, especially when matched up against players with strong scoring ability. Aside from that one risky steal, there aren't many options. Yang Shuai shook off Knight and continued his attack on the basket.

However, this time Kemp's help defense came in time.

In terms of offense alone, Kemp's playing style is very similar to Stoudemire's, but Kemp is stronger than Stoudemire in defense.

With a height of 2.06 meters and a wingspan of 2.19 meters, coupled with his excellent mobility and explosiveness, he is an underrated help defender in the paint.

Previously, the SuperSonics' strong defense wasn't just due to Payton; their forwards' help defense was also among the best in the league, with Kemp being a key figure in that.

Yang Shuai tried to shoot before Kemp could, but Kemp's shot was too fast, and the two crossed paths in mid-air.

Just then, a gasp of surprise rang out from the crowd.

It wasn't that Yang Shuai dunked over Kemp. With Kemp's physical attributes that even Jordan envied, it would have been almost impossible for Yang Shuai to dunk over him head-on like that.

Instead, Yang Shuai executed a beautiful waltz in the air, turning 360 degrees to bypass Kemp and pass the ball to Wallace on the baseline.

The Cavaliers exposed their lack of experience. Anderson instinctively tried to cover Grant, but ended up leaving Wallace, who posed a greater scoring threat, unattended.

Wallace received the ball and made a baseline jump shot with ease.

The gasps of surprise turned into applause.

Yang Shuai showcased his jumping ability and physical flexibility to the fullest extent with this play.

This is a play that could be included in today's top five goals.

Fratello frowned, not because of Yang Shuai's physical talent, but because of the passing ability Yang Shuai had shown.

When a person is gliding through the air, the ball they pass carries momentum, requiring a very high level of precision in both the angle and timing of the pass.

Not to mention that Yang Shuai can also read the Cavaliers' defensive rotations in the air and then pass the ball to Wallace.

He now understands why Yang Shuai dared to play against this point guard; he's evolved once again.

Realizing this, he couldn't help but feel a surge of emotion.

The Cavaliers missed out on Young twice, and it's uncertain whether he will have the opportunity to coach Young again in his lifetime.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out at the scene.

Kemp was double-teamed in the attacking third, and his pass went out of bounds due to a mistake.

Kemp is a well-rounded player with outstanding skills on both offense and defense, but his average score has consistently been below 20 points per game. The main reason for this is his poor ball-handling ability and his vulnerability to double-teams.

When he was with the SuperSonics, because the SuperSonics were a team that mainly played a defensive counter-attacking style, and with Payton supplying him with passes, his weakness could be minimized.

However, the Trail Blazers kept scoring in half-court sets tonight, leaving the Cavaliers with no chance for fast breaks. Moreover, it was already a miracle that Knight could even get the ball to Yang Shuai's hands under his defense.

In the Trail Blazers' frontcourt, when Yang Shuai received the ball, Knight tried to steal it and was called for a foul by the referee.

Frattlow then took the opportunity to call out to Bob Surra from behind.

Yang Shuai is no stranger to Sura; he faced off against him in his first preseason game in the NBA.

Sura has excellent jumping ability and strong defensive effort. Moreover, his current playing style is somewhat similar to Jalen Rose's, as he can switch between the PG/SG/SF positions.

The Cavaliers inbounded the ball from the sideline, and Yang Shuai received the ball and continued to signal for them to spread out.

After Rondo made that comment yesterday, he immediately had Ray Johnson get Jordan's game footage from the 88-89 season. After studying it, he discovered that Jordan's playing style was exactly what Rondo described.

Or to put it more directly, it's the ball-dominant style of play that Yang Shuai has seen in his past life: relying on strong individual offensive ability to draw double teams with one-on-one attacks, and then assisting teammates to score.

Therefore, Yang Shuai is also prepared to stick to that style of play tonight.

After creating space, he opted for a face-up drive to the basket.

Sura has the physicality to compete and is very aggressive on defense, making him difficult to back down.

He pulled his legs together, changed direction in front of his body, and then accelerated suddenly, Yang Shuai directly passed Sula.

Yang Shuai's 86-point breakthrough ability, coupled with his explosive power after muscle strengthening, was something Sura couldn't keep up with.

Kemp had to help defend again, but this time Anderson didn't help defend Grant.

Seeing this, Yang Shuai did not pass the ball directly. Instead, he slowed down and waited until he was close to Campra before looking at the basket and bouncing the ball to Grant.

Kemp thought Yang Shuai was going to pass the ball for an alley-oop, so he suddenly shifted his weight.

Although he wasn't thrown into the air, it was too late for him to lower his center of gravity by the time he realized Yang Shuai's movements.

He turned around and saw Grant receive the ball, dribble one step into the paint, and then violently smash the rim with both hands.

"Crack!"

In a fit of anger, Kenny Anderson bit into the squid roll in his mouth, but he bit his tongue too hard and jumped up in pain.

Yang Shuai has already provided 2 assists in 3 offensive possessions!
And there were no mistakes.

Point guard? It's that simple!
Fratello called a timeout immediately; the Trail Blazers' playing style tonight had completely surprised him.

Grant found Yang Shuai and they had a passionate chest bump.

The scene was in an uproar.

However, James in the stands stared wide-eyed.

The basketball education he receives now is no different from others, which requires players to perform their respective duties on the court: the point guard should organize the offense, and the small forward should defend and score.

However, watching Yang Shuai's playing style on the court now has refreshed his understanding of basketball.

If you type it like that, you can easily fill up the data column, right?

He felt like he had opened the door to a new world!
(End of this chapter)