In front of Spoelstra’s face, Hansen ran pick and roll with Guy once more.
James was sent again to face Hansen.
The jeering from the crowd grew louder.
This time, James played tighter defense, and Hansen abruptly cut to the right.
However, he did not break through immediately but quickly pulled back under his legs.
Because James was too close, and Hansen’s change of direction was both large and fast, it made James look as if he were being dragged along.
Then with a large change of direction, Hansen directly crossed him.
This move somewhat made a mockery of James.
Frustrated, James grabbed Hansen’s off-hand.
Since it was a significant move, the referee could not ignore it.
As the referee blew the whistle, Hansen did not stop his offensive action and continued to carry out the shot with his right hand.
Unexpectedly, his floater was too good, and with a bit of luck, the ball actually went in!
The crowd instantly erupted into cheers.
Hansen was amused as well.
Everyone has their moments of brilliance!
Turning around to see James frozen in place, he opened with a smile, "Keep it up, you almost stopped me!"
See, as a former teammate and James’s "good brother," Hansen was still primarily encouraging.
James didn’t react, much like he showed during the regular season, as long as he adopts the "I’m not listening" approach, he could ignore most trash talk.
Seeing this, Hansen didn’t go straight to the free-throw line but walked to the sideline first, suggesting to Spoelstra,
"You sure you don’t want to sub him out for a rest?"
It was genuinely a reminder, since in basketball you can only substitute players during dead balls.
James’s expression finally changed.
This was the trash talk Hansen used to spray at Pierce when he was still with the Cavaliers!
Hansen stepped up to the free-throw line.
The camera shifted to James, and ESPN depicted those so-called "Death’s Eyes" anew.
Hansen’s additional free throw went in, a personal run of 5 points, and the score was now 10-18.
The gap was nearly reaching double digits.
James took the ball in the frontcourt and signaled for everyone to clear out.
It looked like he was setting up to unleash a massive performance, like that in Game 6 against the Celtics!
Once his teammates cleared out, he dribbled to a spot two meters away from the three-point line and began to sprint.
It was difficult to play against Hansen, but he was still confident against Guy.
Guy didn’t think much and directly confronted him.
As James started his drive, he began to show his improved skills, attempting a wide spin after getting close to Guy.
The idea was good, as Guy couldn’t react in time.
However, the problem was James’s turning and ball-handling weren’t that good; he overran it, and during the turn, he flung the ball out of bounds like it was a discus...
The arena immediately burst into laughter.
So much for the legendary "Death’s Eyes," huh!
And the laughter soon turned into more jeering, Thᴇ link to the origɪn of this information rᴇsts ɪn 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥
As Hansen signaled to Guy again to come up for a pick and roll.
You see me as a good brother, but I just want to beat you!
This time, James tried to push Wade forward, but Guy used his brute brain to block Wade effectively this time.
The result was Wade couldn’t get through, James didn’t want to go through, and Hansen ended up open with the ball.
These free points, Hansen naturally wouldn’t decline and casually scored two more.
Hansen made a personal 7-0 run, pushing the gap straight into double digits!
Like the initial encounter during the regular season, Hansen was relentlessly exploiting James.
Spoelstra called a timeout.
He regretted it because he really couldn’t substitute during a live ball.
Right after the timeout call, James, with a look of exasperation, gestured to Wade.
The gesture meant Wade should have fought over the pick and roll instead of letting him switch since he had already failed defensively twice.
Hansen couldn’t contain himself.
Scared to defend, either missing threes or throwing turnovers in offense, and after playing nearly ten minutes, he still hadn’t scored.
He couldn’t resist walking up, and curiously asked James, "Brother, what do you do for a living?"