Chapter 699: Chapter 699
After consecutive attacks were blocked by Hansen, Irving finally played it safe.
When the Bulls moved the offense to the frontcourt again, he quickly passed the ball to Butler.
Irving was determined, but it seemed like he wasn’t, like when Grand Korean official Yin announced nationwide martial law, but it felt like there was no martial law.
Butler used Big Gasol’s pick and roll to penetrate the three-second zone, then stopped and faked, drawing a defensive foul from Jokic.
Speaking of talent, Butler is relatively the least talented type among NBA stars, standing 2.01 meters tall with a wingspan of only 2.01 meters, and he doesn’t have explosive athletic ability.
His game feels like: unstable three-point shots, average driving ability, and only his mid-range game stands out, but due to lack of talent, it’s not top-notch.
However, there are reasons why he plays well.
First, he works hard. Because of his tragic childhood experience, where it’s a superstar norm for NBA players to grow up without a father, but Butler not only couldn’t find his father, he was also kicked out by his mother, a unique scenario, and without a kind-hearted family willing to take him in, he would most likely have ended up homeless.
It’s precisely that experience that made him give his all in basketball. If described proportionally, Butler’s talent is 80, but his effort is 99.
Secondly, his defense: he achieved the best he could in this area, which requires great diligence, earning 5 selections to the All-Defensive Second Team in ’history.’
Lastly, his basketball IQ: probably the only top-tier gift God gave him, allowing him to understand how to play good basketball and make the right decisions on the court.
Overall, he’s not a highly efficient player, but he excels in defense and can handle a certain amount of ball possession as a team-oriented star.
Indeed, the last similar Bulls player was Pippen.
The difference between them is that Butler’s talent isn’t as great as Pippen’s, but his heart is bigger.
If not for already having Jokic, trading for him to become the Cavaliers’ second-in-command would also be a great option.
With Irving locked down by Hansen, under Butler’s leadership, the Bulls played quite decently, not falling too far behind.
After playing for five minutes, the score was 12-15, with the Cavaliers leading.
And at this moment, the Cavaliers made a substitution adjustment, Malone replaced Wade and Tucker with JR and Covington.
This substitution came early, but afterward, it didn’t seem like the Cavaliers’ strength on the floor decreased much.
The depth brought by the previous trade began to show.
However, after this round of substitutions, the Cavaliers’ lineup on the court was: Hansen, JR, Covington, TT, Jokic.
There was no so-called point guard.
Or rather, Hansen played the role of the point guard.
A 2.01-meter-tall point guard looks a bit unusual, as previously only Magic was around this height.
But the live audience didn’t react too strongly, because during the half-month absence of Deron, the lineup with Powell on the court was similar.
It was also during that period that fans realized the Cavaliers didn’t necessarily need a true point guard.
After substitution, it was the Cavaliers’ offense.
Hansen started to run pick and roll with Jokic, and after Hansen’s pass, Jokic drove inside to assist TT with scoring.
After Wade went off, the spacing for the Cavaliers’ offense on the court suddenly expanded, putting the Bulls immediately into the defensive dilemma similar to what the Warriors faced in the Christmas game; whether to collapse the defense or not was hard to handle.
Because Hansen and Jokic’s ability to handle the ball is just too strong.
Additionally, on the defensive end, Covington’s role also became evident.
Because Covington is tall, his effect in one-on-one defense against guards isn’t necessarily stronger than Tucker, but his help defense is much stronger.
So the Cavaliers’ defensive strategy on Butler was for JR to defend from the front, and Covington to help from the wings.
As a former Bulls player, Covington was very familiar with Butler’s playing habits, and his long wingspan could greatly interfere with Butler’s passing routes.
Even if Butler managed to pass the ball, he could quickly retreat to defense.
And once the ball reached Mike Demott’s hands, there was basically no second option, only "shoot."
For the Cavaliers, that was equivalent to a successful defense.
When the game reached around 10 minutes, the Cavaliers had already pulled ahead to 26-18.
These five minutes of gameplay, in some way, reshaped fans’ understanding of basketball.
In the earliest basketball systems, the five players on the court each had their own roles; the point guard’s role was to organize the offense and get the ball securely to the team’s scoring points, which initially were usually inside players, then gradually shifted to wing players with the emergence of Jordan.
Then entering the early 2000s, as scoring point guards became more common, ball-dominant point guards also increased.
However, that was more about changes in ball possession; overall, point guards still needed to organize the team’s offense.
But the Cavaliers played completely differently these past five minutes.
Because they played simply enough.
Starting with a pick and roll, then it was Hansen or Jokic handling the ball, ending the possession. Chapters fırst released on 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩⁂𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢⁂𝔫𝔢𝔱
In this process, the weak side didn’t even need to run distraction tactics.
Even in this simplest playstyle, everyone was still doing what they were best at.
Because Hansen’s ability was strong enough, and Jokic’s ability to handle the ball was strong enough, it allowed the other three players on the court to just be ready to catch and shoot at any time.