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

James's dodge cleared a huge gap in front of Harden!

Just as Harden was about to easily take an open three-pointer, DeMarcus Cousins, who was guarding the paint and defending Capela, got impatient.

He could only grit his teeth, drag his heavy steps, and be forced to rush from the paint area to the three-point line to help defend and clean up the mess!

"Fuck! What is LeBron doing?!" Cousins ​​cursed inwardly.

Harden's eyes flashed with a hint of mockery as he faced Cousins, who was forced to switch onto him. This was an ATM delivered to his doorstep.

Continuous crossover dribbling, highly deceptive changes in rhythm.

Cousins' massive frame swayed from side to side with Harden's rhythm, and suddenly, Harden took a signature step back!

Cousins ​​rushed forward, but Harden not only retreated to the three-point line, but also, at the moment of jumping, deliberately extended his arms to meet Cousins's large hand that he couldn't retract in time!

"Snapped!"

"drop--!"

A foul on a three-point attempt! Harden calmly walked to the free-throw line and made all three!

"Fuck! He's faking it! He didn't even want to shoot!" Cousins ​​complained angrily to the referee, his bull-eye eyes wide, but the referee ignored him completely.

In the following rounds, Harden and Paul seemed to have figured out the Clippers' defensive weaknesses.

Whenever they call a pick-and-roll to target James, this "team leader" will do everything he can to avoid being switched!

He was either "blocked" by the referee or gesturing for his teammates to help defend, while he himself stayed firmly in the weak-side corner, guarding the non-offensive Luc Mbah a Moute, euphemistically called "guarding the baseline".

James's dodge meant that every time he was forced to rush to the perimeter to defend against a smaller player, it was the slow-moving Cousins ​​who ended up on the receiving end!

He drew a foul on a step-back three-pointer, drove to the basket for a floater, and made a bounce pass to Capela for an easy layup.

Cousins ​​was tormented on the defensive end, and his physical and mental strength were rapidly depleted.

Throughout this process, LeBron James, the Clippers' "team leader," acted like a dutiful "invisible man."

He would never easily step forward to help defend, let alone volunteer to switch onto Harden!

"I'm not going to guard that bearded player who's drawing fouls. If I get fouled or get faked out, my defensive efficiency stats won't look good," James thought to himself.

As for Cousins ​​getting riddled with holes? That's a problem of big men not being able to defend him properly, what does it have to do with me, a small forward?

The game remained close throughout, lasting until the final three minutes of the fourth quarter.

104 to 102! The Clippers are only leading by 2 points! The atmosphere on the court is extremely tense.

The Clippers are on offense, and James has the ball at the top of the key.

He glanced at the timer; there were 18 seconds left in the 24-second shot clock.

The player guarding James is Andre Iguodala, who has already frustrated him several times tonight.

Instead of calling for a screen, James held the ball with both hands and stood still, repeatedly making probing steps.

15 seconds... 12 seconds... 10 seconds...

Iguodala was like a statue, his center of gravity extremely low, completely ignoring any of James's feints.

With only 6 seconds left on the shot clock!

James knew that if he forced his way through under such intense pressure, he would most likely make a mistake or miss the shot, thus earning the reputation of "failing in crucial moments".

Just then, James caught a glimpse of DeMarcus Cousins ​​out of the corner of his eye. Cousins ​​was battling fiercely with Draymond Green in the paint, trying to gain control of the low post.

"DeMarcus, catch!"

There are 4 seconds left on the attack!

James threw the ball from beyond the three-point line towards Cousins, who was facing away from the basket!

"Snapped!"

Cousins ​​caught the ball with difficulty, and before he could adjust his balance, he looked up at the countdown timer on the backboard.

3 seconds!

Closely guarding him was Draymond Green, whose lower body was as solid as a rock, who made a lot of subtle moves and had a very high defensive IQ!

Behind Green, Capela had also retreated, forming an impenetrable double-team!

"Fuck!"

Cousins ​​cursed inwardly; time simply didn't allow him to pass the ball or make any low-post moves.

He had no choice but to grit his teeth and throw the ball toward the basket, despite being blocked by both Green and Capela!

"Clang!"

The basketball not only missed the target, but it also bounced off the backboard without even touching the front edge of the rim!

A weak and terrible shot!

Draymond Green grabbed the rebound, and the Rockets immediately launched a fast break! Paul received the pass and made a long pass to Iguodala, who easily made a layup!

104 to 104! A draw!

Meanwhile, in the Clippers' half of the court.

LeBron James, who had just successfully passed the buck, looked at Cousins' airball shot and instead of comforting him for the late pass, he spread his hands with an expression of extreme frustration and disbelief on his face!

James yelled at Cousins, "DeMarcus! What are you doing?! Why didn't you pass that ball?! You forced a shot over two men? You ruined our offense!"

His self-righteous demeanor made it seem as if he wasn't the one who had wasted 18 seconds of attack time and finally threw out that time bomb!

Hearing James's criticism, Cousins, who was already furious about being forced to clean up messes on the defensive end, exploded!

This hot-tempered interior behemoth stared at James with its bull-like eyes and roared back without backing down:

"You fucking blame me?!"

"On defense, you hid behind the referee's ass and pretended to be dead so I'd get beaten up! On offense, you dribbled like an idiot for a full eighteen seconds! Then with three seconds left, you threw me into a double team! Do you think I'm Jordan or Kobe?!"

Cousins' spittle almost landed on James' face. He pointed at James' nose and, in front of more than 10,000 fans and the nationally televised cameras, swore at him.

"Stop throwing those damn blame-shifting bombs at me! You coward!!!"