Hansen played the entire first quarter and scored 20 points, setting a personal record for points in a single quarter, while also keeping Irving in check.
Jamison also struggled on offense due to Faried’s entanglement, and the Grizzlies fell behind before taking the lead, ending the first quarter with a double-digit lead over the Cavaliers.
The game looked like it was without suspense, but in the opening minutes of the second quarter, the Cavaliers clung to the point difference.
Thompson’s defense was tough, and he was very good at offensive rebounding. Coupled with the improved Conningham and Sessions from the perimeter, their bench strength turned out to be quite solid.
Hansen didn’t return to the game until there were 6 minutes left in the quarter. When he did, his performance didn’t drop, and he scored another 8 points, finishing the half with 28 points.
The Grizzlies were ahead 55 to 42 over the Cavaliers.
Although behind, the Cavaliers still had hope with the point difference.
Until the third quarter.
After the halftime break, Irving opened the Cavaliers’ counterattack with an outside three-pointer.
Then the Grizzlies struck back with a 15 to 3 run against the Cavaliers.
During this counterattack, Hansen contributed an outside three-pointer, two mid-range shots, and two assists.
With 2 minutes left in the quarter, Hansen was subbed out to rest.
At this moment, the LED screen once again displayed his stats for the night: 22 shots, 16 makes, 2 for 4 from three-point, 7 for 8 on free throws, 41 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 steals.
Last season, in his first return to Cleveland, Hansen had set his career scoring record with 43 points. This season, in his first visit back to Cleveland, he scored over 40 points in just three quarters. Quicken Loans Arena, where he once declared, "This is my home court," had become his lucky ground.
In the end, the Grizzlies easily defeated the Cavaliers away, with a score of 103 to 87, grabbing a nationally televised victory.
In the post-game press conference, Hansen followed Joerger in attendance.
"How do you rate Irving’s performance tonight?" asked a reporter from TNT. Tonight, Irving had a decent performance with 25 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists.
"He is a very talented player with a strong will to win, and I enjoy competing with him on the court."
Hansen threw punches on the court but still gave high praise to Irving after the game.
"Tonight you seemed very offensively aggressive. Is it related to Guy’s comments before the game?" The reporter’s follow-up question puzzled Hansen.
After finishing training, he went straight to the locker room and was unaware of what Guy had said.
"He said that you could score 40 points whenever you want," the reporter reminded.
Hansen laughed upon hearing this.
The current NBA is not the same as the era before he time-traveled. The NBA now plays at a slower offensive pace, with higher defensive intensity, more strategic play, and most importantly, with the offensive rebounds resulting in 24 seconds, there aren’t as many possessions.
So scoring 40 points in this era isn’t that easy.
Of course, if one disregards the team’s record, or if the teammates are really bad, one could shoot wildly like Kobe did to achieve it.
Against a team like the Cavaliers, he indeed could score 40 points if he wanted, but against strong teams like the Lakers, Spurs, or Heat, it would depend on the opponent’s defensive strategy and his shooting rhythm, so Guy was just showing off for him.
"Yes," Hansen nodded. He understood the rationale, but when given the opportunity to gather negative sentiment value, he wouldn’t pass it up.
At that moment, Joerger picked up the microphone in front of him and, with a smile, said, "In the fourth quarter, I asked Hansen if he wanted to go on the court, but he refused. I believe if he wanted, he could have easily scored 50 points tonight."
What’s called the best assist—Hollins certainly wouldn’t say something like that.
Whether or not they were capable, NBA coaches were just so-so, but the emotional value provided was very effective for a team’s atmosphere.
"As long as Han wants, he can score 50 points at any time."
Journalism skills came into play again, pushing Hansen to the top of the trending searches.
This earned him a considerable amount of negative sentiment value. Thıs content belongs to 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⚫𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⚫𝔫𝔢𝔱
"Padding his stats against a weak team is delusional," "Only Kobe is qualified to speak like that," "Youth can be vigorous, but not arrogant"...
Seeing this, Hansen immediately shared the news on his social media.
Although his focus now was on bringing "Uncle Drew" to its limit, and the shortened season left little time to train new talents, negative sentiment value was always welcome.
But it was while resharing the news that he noticed his Facebook followers had exceeded 3 million.
That wasn’t considered a "big V" status, but thinking back to when he only had the attention of his own small number of followers, he couldn’t help but be impressed.
Moreover, after scanning through, he found that many "big V" personalities had followed him, like Selena Gomez, Paris Hilton, Kim Kardashian...
It seemed the previous incident had spiraled beyond his expectations.
However, Hansen didn’t think a follow meant anything, since people often couldn’t resist their curiosity when they came across interesting news.
What really got him were the private messages. After checking them, he found one from Madonna.
And the content was quite explicit, roughly implying an invitation to "play" at her house.
Wasn’t Madonna 53 already? Still playing so hard?
As time reached February, due to the social media he reposted earlier, he faced more intense defense from opponents during games.
Was that bad for him?
Obviously not, as with the other talents exchanged previously, only high-intensity games could accelerate the improvement of his skills. Now he was eager for opponents to strictly guard him.