LeBron James running away? He's going all in on Curry.

Chapter 51 The King's Fig Leaf and the Tragedy of 6 Points!

Four days passed in the blink of an eye.

After enjoying a "double physical training session" with Dilraba and Gulnazar on a luxury yacht on Lake Erie, Su Yang returned to the Quicken Loans Arena feeling refreshed.

Tonight, Game 1 of the 2012-2013 Eastern Conference Finals will take place here!

Cleveland Cavaliers vs. Miami Heat!

That night, Quicken Loans Arena was like a boiling, wine-red ocean, with more than 20,000 Cleveland fans holding signs that read "Sweep Away the Traitors" and "Crush Miami," pouring deafening roars into every corner of the arena.

Inside the VIP box, Su Yang held a wine glass, looking down at the two teams warming up below.

"David Stern's promise will be fulfilled tonight. Let me see what this exhausted defending champion team can do to withstand my steel torrent without the protection of their league sugar daddy."

"beep--!"

With a long whistle from the referee, the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals officially began!

Cavaliers starting lineup: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard, Anthony Davis, Marc Gasol.

Heat starting lineup: Chalmers, Wade, James, Battier, Bosh.

At center court, Anthony Davis, with his amazing wingspan and speed, easily passed the ball to Curry.

On the Cavaliers' first possession, Curry, with Gasol's screen at the top of the arc, faced Chalmers' chasing defense and, without hesitation, pulled up and shot from two steps away from the three-point line!

"Whoosh!"

A three-pointer swished through the net! The familiar barrage of three-pointers set the tone for the game right from the start.

It's the Heat's turn to attack.

Dwyane Wade held the ball on the perimeter, looking at Klay Thompson who was guarding him. Wade took a deep breath, lowered his center of gravity, and prepared to use his signature stealth step to break through the defense.

However, when he suddenly exerted force to start, the sharp, stabbing pain in his knees made his first step not only fail to unleash his usual lightning speed, but instead feel heavy and unsteady!

In the recent six-game hard-fought battle against the Pacers, Wade's knees, which were already suffering from fluid buildup, were pushed to their limits!

Without that abnormal explosiveness, Klay Thompson took a step to the side and easily blocked Wade's path of attack with his chest.

Wade had no choice but to grapple with the ball and throw it toward the basket during the challenge.

"Clang!" The shot missed.

The battle for the rebound began instantly!

Chris Bosh tried to establish position in the paint, but he found himself unable to hold his ground at all tonight!

Before the game, Su Yang gave Anthony Davis and Marc Gasol a firm order: Push Bosh to the perimeter!

Bosh is a power forward who relies on his rebounding instincts and positioning. When he was squeezed out of the sweet spot by Anthony Davis's exaggerated wingspan and Marc Gasol's size, his offensive threat was instantly reduced by more than half.

Even more ridiculous is that, in the Heat's tactical system, in order to give LeBron James a stellar stat sheet to compete for various honors, Bosh was often required to actively box out for rebounds in the defensive rebounding battle.

But today, Bosh, far from the basket, couldn't block anyone at all!

Su Yang, sitting in the private room, couldn't help but laugh as he watched Bosh reach out in vain, unable to touch anything, just a step inside the three-point line.

"This guy's height seems to be all in his neck. He has no lower body strength; once he's pushed out of the paint, how is he supposed to compete with Davis for rebounds with his head?"

Sure enough, with a "thud," Anthony Davis easily grabbed the rebound over Bosh's head and made a long pass to Kawhi Leonard who was running down the court!

Leonard slams home a two-handed dunk! 5-0!

The slow start made LeBron James frown, and he reached for the ball, ready to take over the game himself.

Facing Leonard, who was still two steps away from him, James gritted his teeth and smashed into the paint like a heavy bulldozer!

"Bang!"

Leonard was knocked back half a step, but his hands were still raised high, and his defensive move was so clean that there was not a single flaw.

James was secretly pleased, knowing that this kind of physical contact would usually result in a blocking foul.

But he waited in mid-air for a full second... and the referee's whistle was completely silent, as if it had been glued shut!

No privileged whistles! David Stern delivered on his promise!

James panicked in mid-air because, at the very moment he lost the protection of the whistle, the Cavaliers' "three-linkage defense" had already formed a tight net!

Facing him was Leonard, who wouldn't give an inch; to his side was Anthony Davis, who came over to help defend like Spider-Man; and directly in front of him was Marc Gasol's massive body, which blotted out the sky!

"Snapped!"

Anthony Davis burst out from the side and behind, slapping the basketball out of James' hands!

Volleyball block!

The 20,000 fans at Quicken Loans Arena roared like a tsunami!

"A clean block! LeBron is like he's stuck in a quagmire in the Cavaliers' paint!" the ESPN commentator roared.

This is just a microcosm of the entire match.

Without the whistleblower's calls and star privileges, James's driving threat has plummeted.

His prized physical dominance turned into painful missed shots and turnovers under the combined pressure of Leonard, Davis, and Gasol.

Wade's knee injury robbed him of his ability to tear apart defenses, and Bosh was completely outmaneuvered by Davis in the paint.

This Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals, which was originally expected to be a clash of titans, turned out to be even easier and more brutal than the regular season!

At halftime, the Cavaliers led the Heat 68-42, a full 26 points!

In the second half, the Cavaliers unleashed a barrage of three-pointers!

Curry, Klay, Middleton – if they have even the slightest open shot, the basketball will hurtle into the Heat's basket like a precision-guided cruise missile.

At the end of the third quarter, the point difference had reached a despairing 41 points!

Heat coach Erik Spoelstra looked ashen on the sidelines. He knew the game was lost, so before the start of the fourth quarter, he decisively substituted Wade and Bosh, whose knees were already giving out, and prepared to call it quits.

However, when he looked at the team's leader, indicating that LeBron James should also go off the court for a rest.

James, however, sat motionless on the bench with a dark expression.

Spoelstra was stunned, and so were all the commentators.

"We're down by more than 40 points; it's completely garbage time. Wade and Bosh are resting, so why is LeBron still on the court?!"

The commentator glanced at the stats in disbelief, then exclaimed in surprise, "My God... LeBron has only scored 8 points so far tonight!"

Yes, only a mere 8 points!

Facing the Cavaliers' "three iron chains" without the protection of biased referees, James played like he was sleepwalking tonight, making only 3 of 12 shots in the first three quarters and barely managing to score 8 points from free throws.

But deep in his heart, he was still thinking about the record that he regarded as a symbol of honor—scoring double digits in consecutive games!

If he scores 8 points tonight, he will not only lose the game, but Su Yang will also strip him bare of his underwear!

"I'm not leaving the field! Give me the ball!"

In the fourth quarter, trailing by a massive 41 points, James, like a raging beast, returned to the court with four substitute players!

Su Yang saw this scene from inside the private room and a mocking smile appeared on his lips.

"Want to rack up points during garbage time to maintain your minimum score? Okay, I'll grant your wish."

Su Yang picked up the secure phone and gave Byron Scott the order: "Take the starting lineup off the table. Put Beverley, Danny Green, and Middleton in!"

"Tell them, don't collapse the defense, let him drive! Leave him a path to the basket, but the perimeter defense must shut down the Heat's other four reserves!"

Su Yang's tactics are clear—let LeBron James rack up points by himself! But in return, you'll have to watch your team be nailed to the most humiliating spot in history!

In the fourth quarter, one of the most absurd moments in NBA playoff history occurred.

The Cavaliers' bench was like a pack of hungry wolves, relentlessly attacking the Heat's bench players from the perimeter, scoring like a storm on every possession.

Whenever James gets the ball and drives to the basket, the Cavaliers' interior defense will "just right" create a small opening, allowing him to score with difficulty.

"Whoosh!"

With three minutes left in the fourth quarter, James hit a mid-range jump shot over Middleton's signature defense.

10 points!

Finally, I've scored in double digits!

Then, he scored his 11th point of the night with a free throw in the next possession.

However, just as James was desperately racking up points during garbage time in an attempt to maintain his ridiculous record,

Because he completely disregarded the team's defensive system and only focused on his personal offense, the Heat's defense was torn apart by the Cavaliers' bench players!

The moment James' personal score reached 11 points on the big screen.

As if electrocuted, he turned to the bench and made a "substitution" gesture, then walked to the sidelines without looking back.

He can finally leave the field with a clear conscience, because his record has been preserved.

But he seemed to have forgotten to look up at the huge scoreboard hanging in the air above Quicken Loans Arena.

"drop--!"

When the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game, the whole world fell silent.

152 is more than 92!

60 points!!!

The Miami Heat, the defending champions, were crushed by the Cleveland Cavaliers by a record-breaking 60 points in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals!

"For the sake of those pitiful few points to save face, he watched helplessly as the team fell behind by 60 points..."

The ESPN commentator looked at number 6, who was sitting on the bench with a towel tightly covering his head, and his voice was full of disdain and shock.

"An 11-point defeat, plus a crushing 60-point loss."

"Tonight, LeBron James not only lost the dignity of the game, but also the most basic principles of being a team leader!"

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