Chapter 684: Chapter 684

He left the Heat Team out of spite, to slap Riley in the face, but now it seems that’s impossible.

After finishing the game against the Bulls, the Cavaliers quickly headed to The West to start their Western road trip.

They consecutively defeated the Blazers, Clippers, and Lakers, returning to Cleveland with a four-game winning streak.

In Los Angeles, Hansen saw something interesting.

There were many street graffiti of Kobe in Los Angeles, but there were also quite a few graffiti mocking James, such as James’ crying face from back in the day and the scene where James was KO’d by Johnson.

Los Angeles is not just about elder fans; there are regular fans too.

The number of haters James accumulated by leaving the Lakers is probably equal to all he gained throughout his career combined.

It’s said that during the opening game, James was booed the entire night and flew out overnight after the game.

The Cavaliers’ next opponent is the Celtics.

And just before that game, Malone publicly announced something in the locker room.

Irving had already apologized to him for previously missing practice.

This means that Irving will play in the game against the Celtics.

Hansen knew that with Malone’s character, the chance of him making up the apology from Irving just to play against the Celtics is nonexistent.

The more likely reason is that the team’s recent winning streak made Irving feel threatened.

After all, winning isn’t scary; it’s embarrassing to miss out and win anyway.

If the team completes a full rotation and finds they can win without you, is your presence still that critical?

Of course, Irving might also want to play against the Celtics, especially after being embarrassed by Little Thomas in the opening game.

This game was played in Boston, and before it, Durant and Irving were chatting at mid-court, looking quite happy.

Their private relationship seems to be pretty good.

Malone was hell-bent on winning this game, too. As the defending champion, failing in any critical matchup would be like going home to sell sweet potatoes.

So, he assigned Hansen to guard Little Thomas right at the start of the game.

Strictly speaking, Hansen is no longer just a shooting guard; he should be considered an all-around swingman.

Because in a small lineup, he plays small forward and defends the opponent’s small forward.

Then he acts as a point guard in the one-star, four-shooters lineup on offense, and he can now even defend the opponent’s point guard.

He’s been juggling between the point guard, shooting guard, and small forward positions.

With Hansen guarding Little Thomas, Irving was freed up defensively, leading to his noticeably better performance on offense than in the previous game.

Especially in post-up plays against Little Thomas, when in rhythm, Little Thomas can’t defend him one-on-one; only by team help defense.

But the Cavaliers’ quick ball movement had the Celtics’ defense on their toes.

Stevens was forced to use a backup tactic: a pick-and-roll offense featuring Little Thomas and Durant.

This pick-and-roll was almost unsolvable.

However, Durant would do anything to win the championship this season.

Plus, Durant’s stamina has notably improved this season; he went toe-to-toe with Hansen at crunch time.

When both sides started double-teaming each other, the game felt like a repeat of the opening battle.

But this time, Irving responded to Little Thomas on offense. Googlᴇ search 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✶𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✶𝕟𝕖𝕥

The Cavaliers ultimately defeated the Celtics 126-122, avenging the opener.

Hansen scored 45 points, Irving 27, and Jokic 17 points, 15 rebounds, and 6 assists.

Durant had 40 points, Little Thomas 23, Towns 20 points and 10 rebounds, and Horford 9 points and 12 rebounds.

"With Kyrie healthy, we can beat any opponent."

In the post-game press conference, Malone also praised Irving’s performance.

This game demonstrated Irving’s value to the Cavaliers.

Though his off-court issues cause headaches, his on-court performance, especially in tough games , is quite significant.

The victory in this game, and Malone’s statements, eased the tense relationship between Irving and the Cavaliers.

As December set in, the Cavaliers’ record continued to improve steadily.

Irving has been the focus of external attention recently, but another equally important factor in the team’s victories during his DNP games was Jokic’s continued growth.

In the game against the Blazers, he achieved his first career 20+10, and he performed excellently in the game against the Lakers, scoring 24 points in three quarters.

That saying stands: as long as players have the ball, even role players can perform well, but the difference between role players and stars lies in their ceiling.

Jokic still has many issues, such as his foul control could be better; he has much room to improve on turnover control with increased ball control; including his three-point shooting decline, etc.

But that can’t overshadow the potential he’s shown, knowing it’s only his second year, yet he’s already shining like gold.

In the latest episode of TNT, O’Neal already compared Jokic with Hansen in his second year, claiming Jokic will become another Hansen and,

As time flew by to mid-December, and with fans eagerly anticipating, this year’s Christmas game was about to start.

This year’s Christmas game was held in Cleveland, and the Cavaliers had already started their promotions early.

On Christmas Eve, the Cavaliers organized an interaction event between players and fans at the Quicken Loans Arena.

Hansen, Irving, Jokic, these team’s core members, donned Santa hats and handed out Christmas gifts to fans on the first floor.

Among them, Jokic’s hefty build and quirky expressions made him look remarkably like... Santa’s grandson.

But do you think that’s all?

The most popular part of this on-site event wasn’t the Christmas gifts, but an interactive game called "Big Power Comes from Miracles."

It was a punching machine. When the punching force reached a certain value, it would knock down a cartoon figure with a crown, and you’d win tickets to the Christmas game.

Though these tickets weren’t the best seats, Cavaliers tickets this season have had an overflow demand despite the price increase, naturally drawing fans endlessly.

However, knocking down this cartoon figure wasn’t easy, and only a few managed to win tickets.

Once the gift-giving ended, Cavaliers players couldn’t resist trying it out themselves.

The surprise was that Jokic was the one who succeeded in the end.

But this highlighted another easy-to-overlook aspect of Jokic; although his perimeter defense isn’t great, his rookie-year low-post defense wasn’t bad.

The foundation for such capability is strength.

Jokic’s dynamic talent can be negligible, but his static talent is maxed out.

Jokic casually gave the ticket he won to a female fan next to him, who hugged Jokic excitedly, making the chunky guy blush.

Natalia, who had transferred schools to Cleveland during the offseason, was with Jokic for the activity.

Seeing Natalia’s gaze, Hansen knew that Jokic might suffer a bit on Christmas Eve.

After the Christmas Eve event, the next day, fans swarmed in and out of the Quicken Loans Arena.

The Christmas game proceeded as scheduled.

It’s worth noting that this was Hansen’s third consecutive Christmas game appearance since returning to Cleveland.

This kind of frequent appearance in high-profile battles reflects his current business value.

The Cavaliers fans at the venue, like in the past two years, gave their warmest ’welcome’ to James’ return.

Although James’ jersey was now a Warriors one instead of a Lakers, it didn’t affect their ’affection’ for James.

As Hansen once said, James is the one to bring a dynasty to the Cavaliers.