The Pelicans’ offense, James continues to play pick-and-roll with Davis.
This time TT collapsed early to the basket, and Davis’ cut did not directly create an opportunity.
But right at this moment, James made a surprising choice. Instead of calling for Davis’ screen, he directly broke past Covington to the basket, causing Jokic’s defensive foul.
The foul call was somewhat forced.
But that’s not the point. The point is that Covington, the "James terminator," couldn’t keep up with James’ speed!
Is this...a new drug again?
Hansen recalled the feeling James gave him tonight, and connected it with the words James said this season, as well as his performance, making it hard not to draw such a conclusion.
However, all speculations are subjective judgments; the truth requires practical testing.
While James was taking free throws, Hansen greeted Covington.
James hit both free throws, making the score 2-6, with the Pelicans still holding the advantage.
Hansen dribbled the ball past half court and also continued to play pick-and-roll with Jokic, with Jokic still popping outside.
This time the Pelicans chose to double-team Hansen, but Hansen made a no-look behind-the-back pass to Jokic during his march.
Jokic, seeing Davis return to defense, made a convincing shot fake. After Davis jumped, he quickly dribbled down to break through.
His breakthrough speed was not fast, but it was smart enough.
After successfully starting the breakthrough, he used his hip to box out Davis, preventing Davis from returning to a frontal defense.
Additionally, his hand skill wasn’t just reflected in passing; he also had excellent ball control, allowing him to quickly approach the basket while boxing out Davis.
This eventually forced players near the paint to rotate over to defend him.
Just after reaching inside the free-throw line, with Jokic trapped by the front and rear defenses, he threw the ball high into the air.
While Jokic drew the Pelicans’ defensive attention, Hansen successfully positioned himself behind Huoledi.
The ball led the player, and Hansen soared into the air, grabbing the ball with one hand and executing a standing alley-oop dunk.
The crowd was in an uproar.
Slow motion showed that after Hansen jumped, his head was level with the rim, creating a visual impact full of excitement.
This scene reminded people of the thrilling dunk contest two years ago.
On the way back to defense, Hansen high-fived Jokic.
Although this was only the third season Hansen played with Jokic, not as long as with JR and TT, they were both players who could simplify the game, creating chemistry beyond imagination.
Especially after Jokic had a qualitative improvement in strength this season, it became even more apparent.
This was one of the reasons why the Cavaliers appeared to do well in record despite the internal and external troubles they faced this season.
Pick-and-roll is just a way of presenting tactics; the root is the strength and chemistry between them.
Back on defense, the Cavaliers made defensive adjustments, and Hansen was matched up against James.
Davis stepped up for the pick-and-roll, and Hansen used Little Dog Steps to go around back, but Davis was indeed fast, and he successfully blocked Hansen as he went around.
It was at this moment that James sped up to charge the inside line.
TT couldn’t keep up with James at all, but Hansen, after shaking off Davis, chased James from behind.
Before Hansen could block from behind, James broke through to the inside and slammed it with both hands.
This dunk instantly ignited the New Orleans arena.
After landing, James was also very excited, immediately turning around to make a "strong" gesture towards Hansen in celebration.
Hansen now could confirm that James was indeed on some new substance.
Last summer, besides the coronation, another hot news related to James was the ESPN report that James annually spends over a million US dollars on body maintenance.
Hansen had seen this news before crossing over, and his attitude at the time was skeptical.
But now as an NBA player in his 9th season, he could only say it’s pure nonsense.
Hyperbaric oxygen chamber, cryotherapy, those things have usage frequency, and the cost doesn’t reach the million-level.
Either it was exaggerated numbers for image-building or the money was spent elsewhere.
The Cavaliers’ offense, Hansen signaled Covington to come up for the pick-and-roll.
This time James did not push Huoledi but switched directly onto Hansen, looking eager to try.
The familiar scene made Hansen more certain of his previous judgment.
The fans in the stands began to stir things up.
A head-to-head confrontation between the self-proclaimed world’s best and the league’s best.
Hansen held the ball with one hand, making a stride while gathering the ball on the left for a breakthrough, moving swiftly.
Just when James was brimming with confidence, thinking he could now defend Hansen, Hansen suddenly changed direction to the right hand side and instantly lowered his center of gravity.
It was like a car suddenly changing gears; the ultra-low center of gravity allowed Hansen to accelerate again and shake off James completely. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝·𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖·𝕟𝕖𝕥
Hansen gave the Pelicans no chance for help defense. After breaking into the inside, he executed a swift gliding dunk.
The spectators were all stunned by this simple yet violently aesthetic move.
After swinging on the rim for a moment to dissipate force, Hansen turned around and shrugged at James.
World’s best, is this it?
James’ face showed anger.