Spoelstra, seeing the situation, replaced Durant and pulled him off the court to calm down.
After returning to the bench, Durant’s emotions had not yet stabilized, and when he took the towel from Uncle Hao, he immediately threw it onto the floor.
Back then, when James was only able to resort to giving up defense and using fast breaks because of Hansen’s defense, he faced sneering and mocking from a lot of fans.
Durant was one of those "fans".
Due to his feud with James, he naturally used a burner account to go to the games.
But now, actually facing Hansen’s close defense, he realized that James’s struggle previously was not just because he was weak.
Ultimately, under Hansen’s SVIP-like close defense, Durant only managed 16 points from 17 shots, making only 6.
Among fans, there’s a term called "pure points", which refers to the average points scored excluding free throws.
Tonight, Durant only had 6 free throws and made 4 of them.
So, you can’t say Durant lacks scoring ability, because if the referees had been just a little stricter, he could have earned 10+ free throws and scored over 20 points.
What you could say is, ultimately, Durant is not Jordan; he doesn’t have the ability to break through any defense like Jordan did.
In comparison, the defensive skills Hansen displayed tonight were even more terrifying.
Since James has limited offensive skills, you can limit his shooting to control his scoring.
But when Durant wants to shoot, you can’t limit him, you just have to defend against him.
Hansen managed to defend so stiffly that Durant couldn’t reach 20 points!
"People always criticize the All-Star voting system for being unfair, but tonight’s game shows the dpoy selection is truly unreasonable," O’Neal remarked with a sigh at the end of the game.
His comment was not baseless, as he too had never won a dpoy in his career, just like Duncan.
You could say even someone like Camby managed to win it, how come they never did?
And now, Hansen, with his defensive capability, still lost out to Noah.
Not just Barkley, before the match ended, stars also continuously expressed their amazement on social media.
Kobe: Full-on defense, this is why we love basketball.
Anthony: This is crazy, Hansen not winning the dpoy is just like the year I didn’t win Rookie of the Year, it’s totally rigged!
Harden: Those who criticized me before, you should now see Hansen’s true strength.
Curry: Great, no words needed.
At the post-game press conference, Hansen was asked about the matchup against Durant.
Hansen walked through fire and came out unscathed, which left people gritting their teeth in frustration.
Just like how Hansen had previously bluffed countless times and succeeded, it left them angry yet helpless.
Especially when they asked him questions, Hansen’s responses were even more brutally frank.
"I already told Dave before that if I were to retire, I would become his assistant coach, but now it looks like that will have to wait a few more years." The source of this content ɪs 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚•𝙣𝙚𝙩
"Why did I say that? It’s a strategy. We need KD to go one-on-one more, it makes our defense simpler."
The good news is, it wasn’t just the reporters who were devastated, but also Durant, who missed tonight’s press conference.
What Hansen didn’t mention was that because of his trash talk, the Heat had received far fewer free throws tonight.
It was undoubtedly the most cost-effective trash talk in NBA history.
"Now we are only one victory away from our ultimate goal."
Of course, the real master of bluffing was still Hansen with his last statement.
Durant underperformed, and the Grizzlies, after taking down Game 4, had the major score at 3-1.
One more game, and the Grizzlies would be ranked alongside the Celtics, Bulls, and Lakers, truly making history!
The social media after Game 4 was as lively as the New Year celebrations.
"KD is really unfortunate, now fans will remember him forever, just like how fans mention Bird’s 19 points against Jordan."
"KD: Look, now I’m on par with Jordan, aren’t I?"
"The current king of provocation, Yellow Jordan, I think once Han wins this year’s championship, he will be the new number one player in the league!"
"Kobe fans, stop comparing Kobe to Han now, the only one who can compete with him is that man."
LeBron: "I once had a dynasty in front of me that I didn’t cherish. Now I just want to ask Han, do we still have a chance to do it again?"
"Bullshit, if it’s not my finals MVP championship, I don’t want it, even if Han and LeBron are still together, they can’t win it!"
"You are being too extreme, remember when Pippen only got 8 points in the finals, didn’t Jordan still lead him to win the championship? DW can’t do it doesn’t mean Han can’t!"
"Han: So why should I compete for the championship with LeBron? Am I after him because he looks like a gorilla, or because he can scream GiGiGi?"
Two days later, the finals return to Memphis.
This was also the first match point for the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies had a chance to win the championship on their home court.
In this game, Spoelstra adjusted the starting lineup again, using Ray Allen to replace Chalmers as a starter.
On the Grizzlies side, they still had Hansen guarding Durant.
There was nothing wrong with this decision, as Durant had been restricted in the previous game, and the Heat’s offense was substantially limited.
Hansen indeed did it, even Durant’s desire to attack tonight was not particularly strong.
The effect of Hansen speaking and it coming to pass from the last game was still evident.
However, it was at this moment, someone from the Heat stepped up.
Wade repeatedly broke through Guy to score right from the start.