Chapter 686: Chapter 686
Hansen uses Jokic’s screen to break out and dismantle the bomb.
After receiving the ball, he feint a move and directly flew Pachulia, then takes the ball straight down to the basket.
Green comes over to assist in defense, Hansen performs an aerial waltz in front of Green, a 360-degree spin layup and scores.
After scoring, Hansen presses down his right hand towards the ground, making a "too small" celebration gesture towards Green.
The atmosphere at Quicken Loans Arena, which was just subdued, instantly surged back with energy.
Obviously, Hansen’s desire to play against the Warriors is the strongest of the season.
This is also reflected on the defensive end.
After retreating to the defensive end, the person he defends is James.
Attacking your defensive core, defending your offensive core—Hansen’s opening choice is quite forceful.
However, the Cavaliers are weaker than the Warriors in strength, so the opening game momentum is very important, especially when playing at home.
Of course, Hansen’s choice has another purpose: to fulfill the words he said to Kobe last season—to prevent James from scoring offensively so that James won’t defend well.
The Warriors’ offense shifts to Curry, Curry executes a quick three-point shot after a pick-and-roll with Pachulia.
This tactic is exactly like the Celtics against the Cavaliers in the opening game, targeting Jokic’s difficulty in defending against threes.
The difference is that Pachulia doesn’t have the same quality in pick-and-roll as Horford, so he wasn’t able to effectively block Irving.
But Curry still used the momentary delay to take his shot and hit the three-pointer.
Curry is aiming for back-to-back MVPs with this.
Hansen gets to the frontcourt and takes possession, initiating the strongest pick-and-roll with Jokic.
Jokic reads the Warriors’ strategy to trap Hansen and decisively pops out, forcing Thompson to switch to Jokic, while Hansen directly uses his speed to pass Pachulia and charge into the Warriors’ paint.
Although both are centers with few opportunities, compared to his predecessor Bo Gote, Pachulia lacks everything except being dirty.
Green comes over to assist in defense once again.
This time he’s wary of Hansen’s layup, contracting down the basket in advance.
But Hansen doesn’t choose a floater, instead, you retreat, I advance, directly grinding through Green to the basket, then jumps up intending to dunk.
Green stops Hansen with a foul upon seeing this.
He’s a smart person, he’s already figured out what Hansen wants to do.
Hansen heads to the free throw line.
Before shooting free throws, he catches up with Green.
"God doesn’t need to change numbers because you’re no longer wearing number 23."
This "old" reference is quite distant, so distant that it dates back to when Hansen was playing in the NCAA.
Back then, Green trash-talked Hansen, saying God wore number 23, not 17. Hansen’s reply was, "If God knew you were also wearing number 23, he’d definitely change his jersey number."
Green instinctively looked down at his number 35 jersey, then smiled it off as if nothing happened.
He’s clearly mentally prepared, knowing Hansen wouldn’t leave this out.
Green’s reaction slightly surprises Hansen, but he doesn’t stop.
After making the first free throw, he looks at Green and continues:
"You at number 23 were an All-Star, but you at number 35 are just a role player."
Upon hearing this, Green’s smile instantly disappears.
Hansen hits the second free throw.
After scoring, he continues to speak to Green:
"I wonder if you can stay on the Warriors until your contract expires."
Green, being a smart person, clearly hears the implied message in Hansen’s words.
He signed his contract with the Warriors in 2015, which expires in 2020, with a player option in 2019. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩•𝗳𝗂𝗋𝖾•𝕟𝕖𝕥
Theoretically, Green’s playing time with the Warriors is still quite long.
But he signed a 5-year, $85 million big contract with the Warriors; if he’s just a role player, the Warriors can certainly look for a more cost-effective replacement.
"Bro, he’s trying to stir things up."
Hansen’s words are said right in front of James, just like they were last season in front of Kobe, and James hurries to remind Green.
"I clearly understand, brother."
Green reassures James not to worry.
However, his thoughtful expression makes James uneasy.
James decides to make it so Hansen doesn’t have the energy to trash talk.
He takes possession... and calls for Green’s pick-and-roll.
He knows Pachulia can’t stop Hansen, and coincidentally uses this pick-and-roll to show Hansen what it means for brothers to work together.
Green’s pick-and-roll succeeds; although Hansen tries to squeeze through with Little Dog Steps, Green uses his movement to delay Hansen.
James is excited, he floors the throttle and speeds past TT.
But just as he launches his layup, he catches a glimpse of Hansen.
Instead of helping Green, Hansen chooses to double-team James!
This guy is really coming after him tonight—starting defense from the beginning has already been spotted.
Does he actually think... James can’t pass?!
James turns and loops, throwing the ball towards Green, who has already popped out to the three-point line.
But under Hansen’s interference, the pass angle isn’t good and it sends the ball straight towards Green’s feet.
Luckily Green reacts quickly, bends down in advance to catch the ball.
However, this also causes him to miss the best shooting opportunity.
In the NBA, regardless of passing or shooting, a chance can be missed in those few tenths of a second.
When Green picks up the ball and bends over to shoot, TT has already leaped out, causing interference in his shot.
Green’s three-pointer ends up bouncing off the rim, James tries to grab the rebound but can’t compete against Jokic, who bumps him out of the way—Jokic grabs the rebound.
Losing weight has many benefits, but it definitely has drawbacks too.
Moreover, a punch from Jokic’s strength can knock down a cartoon figure wearing a crown.
The Cavaliers quickly push for a defensive counterattack.
James still remains in the backcourt, gesturing to the referees indicating Jokic’s foul during the rebound, but the referees ignore him.
He might not have realized one thing yet—although the league isn’t officially the UA Alliance now, it’s no longer the Nike Alliance either.
James doesn’t return to defense, leaving the Cavaliers with a 3-on-2 on the frontcourt.
Green reacts quickly, retreating to his own free throw line first.
But down a man, he can’t cover everything, finally Hansen receives the pass from Irving and gets to deliver a violent dunk.
This time Green doesn’t even have a chance to foul.
The crowd erupts with cheers, they’ve already felt the kind of momentum the Cavaliers are displaying in the opening.
After landing, Hansen looks at Green and spreads his hands:
"Where’s your impact? You need to make an impact! LeBron won’t tolerate useless role players beside him!"
Green suddenly gets angry, luckily Curry reacts quickly, forcing himself into Green’s arms to push him back.
"He’s trying to provoke you, bro."
James finally returns to the backcourt, although he didn’t hear what Hansen said, he knows it’s definitely not something good.
Green is somewhat dumbfounded by James, like dude, get back to defense!
But considering off-court money-making with James, his words change to:
What kind of brotherly love from different fathers and mothers!
But after calming his emotions, Green also knows he can’t just keep being passive.
He turns his gaze to the Cavaliers’ half, after a while, he also finds a flaw in the Cavaliers.
The Warriors’ offense, James continues with Green on pick-and-roll, this time he breaks through ahead and successfully draws a foul from TT to earn two free throw opportunities.
While shooting free throws, Green gives James a nod, he doesn’t take his place at the free throw line but stands at the three-point line.
A power forward skipping rebounds to run to the three-point line, definitely doesn’t bode well.
Upon seeing this, Hansen does likewise and gives Tucker a nod.
Sure enough, Green directly walks over to Irving engaging in small talk:
"Kyrie, I think with your abilities, you should become the leader of a team, in Cleveland everything belongs to Han."
Compared to Hansen, Green’s words are much more direct.
As soon as he’s done speaking and sees Hansen approaching, Green promptly turns and slips away.
"If you believe his lies, you’d be the world’s dumbest fool," Hansen bluntly says.