This all made him helplessly carried away with thoughts.
What if at first he had traded Beasley for a lottery pick to select Hansen, and then signed Wade and Bosh this summer, strengthened the inside line, wouldn’t the situation be much better now?
After three quarters, the Grizzlies still maintained a 10-point lead with 72 to 62.
A 10-point difference wouldn’t mean much in other games, but for a slow-paced team like the Grizzlies, that was already a huge lead.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Guy was put on the court by Hollins right away.
Similarly, on the Heat Team, James also geared up and rejoined.
At this time, Hansen truly admired Spoelstra, who was still a young coach at the time but already exceptionally capable.
Then, he stood up, took the initiative to find Hollins, and requested to be put on at the start of the fourth quarter too.
This kind of disruption to the rotation was not something that made coaches happy, but Hansen’s words managed to convince Hollins.
"If we can extend the lead to over 15 during this period, the fourth quarter would become garbage time."
Making the Big Three play during garbage time?
That sounded very tempting.
At the start of the fourth quarter, the players from both teams successively entered the court.
Seeing that Hansen was also substituted in, Spoelstra also called Ilgauskas back, putting Bosh on the court early.
Grizzlies: West, Hansen, Guy, James Johnson, Haddadi
Heat Team: Chalmers, Miller, James, Haslem, Bosh
The Grizzlies attacked first.
West handled the ball organization, Guy drove past Haslem, but his abrupt stop jump shot was thrown off by Bosh’s defensive interference.
Bosh’s defense was underestimated, he could go one on one with Randolph in the low post, and his help-defense speed was only slightly slower than top defenders like Garnett.
The Heat Team had an opportunity to close the gap.
James reached the frontcourt and saw that the person guarding him was Hansen...
No, aren’t you Hansen, the shooting guard?!
Actually, when he saw Hansen going on right at the start of the fourth quarter, he already had a bad feeling.
Unexpectedly, Hansen didn’t even pretend this time, he was blatantly out to get him. For more chapters visıt 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝓷𝓮𝓽
Even a cornered rabbit will bite, he really couldn’t stand it anymore.
Can’t beat you with the ball, could I not play without the ball?!
Using Bosh’s cover, James rushed towards the basket and then pointed to the empty hoop, Chalmers’s alley-oop pass immediately followed, and James completed the dunk.
The Heat Team lineup on the court allowed much space for offense, James’s off-ball play indeed wasn’t so easy to defend.
After landing, James roared at the camera, flexing his biceps.
Turning back, Guy drove into the paint but got the ball stolen by James.
Hansen’s appearance had disrupted the previous "mutual brushing" situation, and the recent alley-oop had bolstered James’s confidence, helping him find some rhythm.
But just as James headed fiercely forward after the steal, a figure brushed past him, and then the ball in his hand was gone.
Having just been dunked on, Hansen had kept his gaze locked on James.
This steal only indicated he understood James too well.
Upon making the steal, Hansen rushed to the basket, and seeing Bosh come to help, he too tossed the ball towards the empty hoop.
Guy, still in the paint from being dunked, leapt up like a spring from dry ground and completed the alley-oop dunk with one hand.
This alley-oop dunk was visually explosive, causing quite a stir in the venue.
In terms of pure jumping ability and wingspan, Guy outperformed James, and these were precisely the elements that affect the visual impact of a dunk.
Guy had just been stolen, yet here he was the next second catching an alley-oop, and he got extremely pumped.
He ran straight to Hansen and gave him an enthusiastic chest bump.
James was truly numbed.
Just when he was getting into the groove, it was Hansen again, that detestable Hansen!
For the Heat Team’s offense, Bosh handled the ball high, suddenly turned, and drove towards the basket, scoring a 2+1 against Haddadi who moved to help defend.
After scoring, Bosh unleashed his signature Dragon King roar.
The morale in the venue that had dropped was instantly revitalized.
Haddadi dominated the Asian courts, but clearly, on the NBA stage, his zone defense was absolutely not on the same level as the top black and white duo.
Moreover, Bosh wasn’t required to practice three-point shooting when he first joined the Heat Team, so his inside scoring ability was still of top-league standard.
Bosh hit the free throw, bringing the scoreboard to 74 to 67.
Spoelstra’s on-the-fly substitution adjustments were taking effect.
Hansen gave West a look at that moment.
West understood perfectly. Once in the frontcourt, he ran a pick and roll with Haddadi to distract the Heat Team’s defense and passed the ball to the weak side at a 45-degree angle after breaking through to the free-throw line.
By then, Hansen had already found an opportunity for a three-pointer with the help of James Johnson.
This move, which Hansen had demonstrated during the internal training of the Grizzlies, had now made its debut in an official game.
However, just as Hansen was about to shoot, a figure leaped towards him.
This tactic, originally from the Cavaliers’ cut-and-pass plays, was all too familiar to James!
Having just been intercepted by Hansen, he seized this chance for a block to regain his face.
In midair, Hansen saw James.
James’s block demonstrated his full defensive capability, as he would have normally blocked Hansen under the usual speed.
Hansen quickened his shot pace. Grover’s muscle precision training and the enhancement from "Steel Bones" allowed him to do so.
James’s hand slammed down on Hansen’s arm.
The referee’s whistle blew immediately.
Just before James could hit him, Hansen had already completed his shot.
The force from James was substantial, causing Hansen to lose his balance in the air, and he quickly slid back upon landing to avoid injury.
At the moment he lay on the floor, a familiar sound reached his ears.
Thank heaven for Mike Brown!
Without his intensive three-point shooting training, Hansen might have only managed to avoid the block without making the basket. But now, he could even score!
The crowd was restless.
Bosh’s 2+1 had just reignited the Heat Team’s morale, but Hansen’s 3+1 immediately extinguished it.
Guy and West quickly ran over to help Hansen up.
A familiar scene, just shifted from Cleveland to Memphis.
Hansen stood up, smiled at James, and mouthed "Thank you."
Then he stepped to the free-throw line, shooting amidst great distraction and scored.
to 67, the Grizzlies regained a double-digit lead.
And while Hansen took the free throws, Hollins also substituted Haddadi with Little Gasol.
Once on the court, Little Gasol significantly strengthened the Grizzlies’ interior defense, and Bosh’s next attempt to attack the basket failed.
Moreover, on the return play, Little Gasol also demonstrated his facilitating prowess, making a no-look, bounce pass from the free-throw line to assist Johnson on a cut to score.
Suddenly, the score gap widened to 13 points, truly heading towards garbage time in the fourth quarter.
The host led the crowd in cheering for the home team.
It’s the first game of the season, and while the Heat Team was still meshing and a loss was unsightly, it wasn’t unacceptable.
However, having the prime Big Three enter garbage time would be a real face-loser.
But with Little Gasol’s entry and the current momentum, scoring against the Heat Team wasn’t so easy anymore.
James repeated his old trick, making eye contact with Bosh before quickly cutting to the basket.
Bosh also showed off his facilitating skills, passing the ball instantly.
But the ball was intercepted by Hansen before it reached James, as Bosh’s pass, unlike Little Gasol’s earlier covert one, was too obvious.
Moreover, with the same tactic, Hansen wasn’t going to miss intercepting a second time.
After the interception, Hansen immediately passed the ball to West on the perimeter.
The former Cavaliers duo sprinted out beyond the three-point line, one ahead of the other.
At that moment, there was no Wade on the court, only Chalmers leading the defense against West.
After speeding to the frontcourt, West sent the ball back, and as he did, he shoved Chalmers out of bounds.
Receiving the pass, Hansen found himself with clear space behind and photographers ready with their cameras in front.
He knew what he had to do.
Approaching the basket, he slowed down a meter away, took off while twisting his body, and began to windmill the basketball downward from the front of his body, then hammered it into the hoop.
The flashbulbs popped as Hansen at Miami’s home court, delivered the most spectacular windmill dunk of his career so far!