The Celtics still maintain their lead.
However, after Little Thomas’s offense was suppressed by Hansen, Stevens signaled, and Durant began to take over the offense.
"As a complement to the team’s tactical system", this might sound unimpressive, but it’s truly a top-tier integration ability.
Like James, who comes with his own system, needs teammates to cooperate, obviously doesn’t have this ability.
Even Kobe needs suitable tactics to unleash his offensive ability, but Durant can indiscriminately integrate into any system.
Or to put it simply, it’s a first-rate quick adaptation ability.
This requires top talent, and in the current league, only Hansen and Durant possess this.
Leonard and Anthony are only halfway there.
Durant received the ball, bumped against Tucker, then turned around sharply for a stop-and-pop shot. Official source ıs 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝘧𝙞𝙧𝙚✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
During the process, Tucker grabbed Durant’s hand, but it didn’t disrupt Durant’s shooting rhythm.
The referee’s whistle blew, yet Durant still scored steadily.
This season, Durant’s bulked-up physique hasn’t slowed him down much, but his scoring stability has improved significantly.
Upon landing, Durant turned around and glared viciously at Hansen, feeling more convinced that Hansen’s pre-game remarks were provocative.
However, Hansen’s reaction once again surprised him.
Because upon seeing his basket, Hansen gave him a thumbs-up, acknowledging his performance.
This made his planned shout get stuck in his throat.
Hansen just isn’t playing by the book tonight!
After Durant made the additional free throw, helping the Celtics maintain their lead, Hansen continued with the pick-and-roll with Jokic.
This was quite like "you play your game, I’ll play mine."
More importantly, the Cavaliers’ pick-and-roll was unstoppable to the Celtics.
With 4 minutes left in the quarter, the score was 25 to 21, with the Celtics leading.
Both teams started entering rotations at this time.
For the Cavaliers, Hansen and other starters gradually left the court, leaving Jokic to continue with "Timber vs. Horses."
Malone’s intent to develop Jokic this season was as clear as day to everyone.
On the Celtics’ side, veterans Ray Allen and Pierce both made appearances.
Upon seeing these two, Hansen’s memory seemed to suddenly rewind to six years ago.
Especially Pierce, his first major critic head, they were once fiercely competitive on the court back then.
But after the game started, he found Ray Allen in better form than Pierce.
This guy last played in the 2013-2014 season and after two seasons of rest, not only could he play, but he was also in form.
It can only be said that his style always had a place in the NBA, and he surely must have put in tremendous effort over the past summer.
Irving, troubled by fouls, posed a test for the Cavaliers in the last four minutes of the quarter.
Unexpectedly, the Cavaliers, as they played, managed to even up the score!
Malone was quite pleasantly surprised.
During this period without Irving and Hansen, the ball control for the Cavaliers fell mostly on Jokic.
In other words, Malone wanted to see if Jokic had the potential to be the main ball handler.
And the fact showed, Jokic had more than just potential.
This Timber vs. Horses strategy showed his Sombor equestrian champion as at least an average horse.
At the end of the first quarter, the trial score was 31 to 30, the Celtics lead by a slight margin.
In the second quarter, with nearly an entire shift on the bench in the first, Irving returned to the game.
Irving’s offensive desire was strong upon return, but his performance remained lackluster.
On one hand, the long rest cooled his touch, on the other hand, Smart was defending quite well.
As the 6th pick selected by the Celtics in 2014, Smart’s biggest trait is his defense; he is fast, tall, strong, passionate, like an enhanced version of Delavadova, restrained Irving in style.
Taking advantage of this transition period, the Celtics widened the gap to double digits.
When the main players returned for the second quarter, the Cavaliers continued with Hansen and Jokic’s pick-and-roll.
And after falling behind, Hansen began to increase his shooting ratio.
Pick-and-rolls are reciprocal, and with Jokic’s improved quality, scoring became easier for him.
Hansen scored 16 points in the quarter, and the Cavaliers managed to tie the score at halftime at 58.
Malone dares to train with matches because of having Hansen as a trump card.
Moreover, tonight is the team’s championship night, and Hansen’s desire to win was more than enough.
When the second half began, Malone deployed the usual small-ball lineup.
Stevens responded by subbing out Towns and bringing in Jay Crowder.
Crowder, the Celtics’ small forward last season, a 1.98m wing swingman, top-level 3D player like Bradley, could fully adapt to the role of power forward in such a lineup.
The Cavaliers couldn’t widen the gap this quarter.
The Celtics’ lineup was strong enough, and as the defending champions, the Cavaliers were inevitably studied and targeted.
The more this trump card is played, the easier it becomes for the opponents to target it.
At the end of the third quarter, the teams were tied at 85, entering the final quarter.
In this final quarter, Hansen and Durant once again staged a classic shooting duel.