The Godfather of Basketball

Back in Cleveland, before the day's daily practice, the Cavaliers held a regular meeting with the coaching staff.

"This Mavericks team is seriously underestimated. They are well-balanced on both ends of the offense and defense, and Rick's system is also very complete without obvious shortcomings. They are a standard champion team." Casey served in the Mavericks. After carefully analyzing the video for a period of time and watching the Western Conference Finals live, his conclusion is the most convincing.

"And the key is how to defend Dirk Nowitzki." Cassell went on to say.

"No one in our team can play against him. Since Anderson and Frye entered the playoffs, they have limited their playing time due to defensive problems. In fact, after entering the second round, we have been using a lineup of one big and four small. Now it will be really troublesome to face Dirk Nowitzki, who is in the hottest state." Mutombo went on to say that when he was a player, he relied on defense for food, and he also saw this aspect quite clearly.

"This year's Dirk has no flaws on the offensive end. Three-pointers, two-pointers, free throws, golden rooster independence, and even his seemingly lame breakthroughs are very lethal. It is really difficult to limit him." Dale Cu Li continued.

The assistant coaches all nodded one after another. Aldridge, Gasol and Ibaka are all top power forwards in the league, but they were blown up against Nowitzki. said.

Tang Tian was also thoughtful.

He suddenly realized that he had some impressions.

Looking at the data since the playoffs, Nowitzki met the gods and killed the gods, met the Buddha and wiped out the Buddha, and hit an average of 30 points per game with a 50% shooting rate.

Thinking back carefully about his previous life, Nowitzki seems to be inefficient because of his inaccurate performance in the last two games. In this state, he is really close to the existence of "invincible".

"And their head coach is Carlisle," Curry added.

A team equipped to meet the requirements of the championship, a head coach who can be called a tactical master.

In the two games of the regular season, the Cavaliers and Mavericks scored 1 to 1, which can explain some problems.

Although it is not as easy as the Cavaliers' promotion, but in the highly competitive West, they killed the Trail Blazers 4-2, swept the Lakers 4-0, and crushed the Thunder 4-1. The strength of the Mavericks since entering the playoffs is really no better than the Cavaliers how weak.

In a regular meeting, not many substantive things were discussed.

After the regular meeting was over, Tang Tian called Casey to his office alone.

"I'm going to start with Rasheed against Nowitzki."

"The only disadvantage of Dirk Nowitzki on the offensive end is speed. Rashid has rich experience, and they can indeed match up. However, Rashid's age and physical strength may not be able to play for a few minutes with the intensity of the finals." Casey analyzed.

"I know."

"Then what will happen after Rashid is off?" Casey knew that Tang Tian mentioned this, so he must have his own ideas.

"I'm going to let LeBron defend." Tang Tian continued.

Casey froze for a moment, then nodded.

James has a disadvantage in height, but he doesn't suffer from weight and speed. As long as he is not in a deep low position, the defensive effect is indeed the best, and having Wallace to cover the opening few minutes can save James a lot of energy.

Tang Tian didn't express his opinion at the regular meeting, it seemed that he already had a plan in mind.

"I'll go down and refine the plan." Casey continued.

"Well, call LeBron down to my office by the way."

Ten minutes later, James appeared in the coach's office.

The two haven't communicated a few times in a season, but they have been communicating continuously during this time.

"I guard Dirk? I'll get through it."

After hearing Tang Tian's request, James said without much hesitation.

In fact, during the playoffs last year, Tang Tian also let him take on the task of defending Garnett.

"This is not an easy task. Dirk is too lethal in the low post. You have to keep him out of the penalty area as much as possible, and if possible, limit the number of times he catches the ball." Tang Tian emphasized.

"I see."

"Well, for the specific details, I'll let Casey get back to you."

James got up to leave.

"LeBron, being able to defend Dirk is the key to the championship, and your performance on the defensive end will be decisive." Tang Tian exhorted.

"Coach, I know." James nodded and left the office.

Watching James leave, Tang Tian let out a long breath.

Under normal circumstances, teams seldom use their own team's core to defend the opponent's offensive core. In the previous rounds, Boozer and Garnett were actually Artest's main defense.

Now that James is going to defend Nowitzki, this is bound to have an impact on James' offensive end.

With the Foreman matter before, Tang Tian can't guarantee whether James will have an idea after finishing the finals.

From the end of the regional finals to the start of the finals, there were only 4 days in between.

Basically, two days of rest, plus one day of training, the finals will start.

Before the game started, the major media still predicted the outcome of the final.

The results were very similar to last year.

It's just that this time it's the Cavaliers who are absolutely optimistic.

90% of respondents believe that the Cavaliers will definitely win the championship.

5% chose to abstain.

The last 5% of people think that the only reason for the Mavericks to win the championship is that under American heroism, they expect Nowitzki to become that single-core hero.

Great disparity in contrast, but the Mavericks are very low-key.

Except for Cuban shouting a few times, "Dirk will not let the championship slip away again", the entire Mavericks team did not make any noise.

Nowitzki is very low-key, but Terry, Stevenson and the like are all big mouths. This kind of low-key must be required by Carlisle.

They regard themselves as the weak side and go all out for the game.

It just makes the game harder to play.

Of course it is more exciting.

The finals are already highly anticipated.

The Mavericks have no bright stars except Nowitzki, which is why they have been looked down upon, but they have been "dark horses" all the way, and now they are the only team to snipe the Cavaliers.

Whether it can be blacked out to the end will be known immediately.

Cleveland's fan sentiment is also unusually high.

Since the formation of the Big Three in the offseason, they have been looking forward to the team starting a wave of dynasty.

Now after a season of fighting, the team finally came to the finals.

If they win their opponents, they will win the second championship in team history and the first consecutive championship.

For a small town like Cleveland, that would be an extremely honorable event.

And judging from the current situation, this is a high-probability event, and it is impossible for them not to pay attention.

In the opening game of the finals, this small eastern city was already full of excitement. Arenas, bars, squares, as long as there were TV broadcasts, crowds had already gathered early.

Drinking beer and chatting, just waiting for the finals to kick off.

Huge momentum, even more than the NFL Super Bowl.

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