Chapter 758: Chapter 758
to 107, the Cavaliers swept away last season’s "decline" and secured an opening victory on championship night this year.
Hansen 34 points, 10 rebounds, 11 assists; Jokic 26 points, 11 rebounds, 6 assists; Ross 18 points, 3 assists; Wade 13 points, 3 rebounds; Dedmon 8 points, 7 rebounds.
Curry 27 points, 7 assists; Cousins 25 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists; Thompson 18 points; Miles 11 points; Green 9 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists.
"It was a tough night, but we showed determination in the game." Thɪs chapter is updated by 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝙛𝙞𝙧𝙚⚫𝙣𝙚𝙩
Malone summed up the team’s performance tonight in the post-game press conference.
The Cavaliers’ three-point shooting percentage was a miserable 25%, which can only be described as abysmal.
However, they grabbed 44 rebounds tonight, including 17 offensive boards, a number better than most games over the past two seasons.
After securing the first win, the Cavaliers went on to defeat the Hornets and the Wizards, achieving a three-game winning streak, but then lost to the Blazers, then defeated the Brooklyn Nets and Rockets consecutively, but subsequently lost to the Bucks.
After the first seven games, their record is 5 wins and 2 losses.
To many fans, the opening game was just a matter of bad form, but Malone knew it was a manifestation of the team’s current poor condition.
Scoring or missing shots was just the final act, but the part before the shot, creating better shooting opportunities, was the real issue the Cavaliers were facing.
It’s no exaggeration to say that, aside from the rare highlights from Ross and Dedmon, the Cavaliers are now relying on the strong points of Hansen and Jokic.
Moreover, the pressure they face now comes not just from within, but also from outside.
During last season’s Cavaliers championship award ceremony, Silva’s frown indicated he was not pleased to see the Cavaliers establishing a dynasty.
Since Hansen won the first championship with the Grizzlies in 2012, the UA series has monopolized all championships for the past six years.
Even from a market response perspective, UA has completely overshadowed Nike.
His principle is balance; he does not want to see Nike dominate, and naturally would not want to see UA head down that path either.
Besides, there is another somewhat contradictory starting point.
Hansen is the contemporary Jordan; he needs Hansen, but he does not want Hansen to actually surpass Jordan.
This has nothing to do with his personality, as there is no United States League President who would want an overseas player to become the league’s totem.
Therefore, the penalty environment the Cavaliers encounter this season is terrible.
And this kind of penalty situation has significantly improved compared to when Silva first became president. It’s not enforced throughout the game but comes at crucial moments.
The result is that unless the Cavaliers can gain a substantial advantage during regular time, it’s easy to encounter unfair calls at critical moments.
Even Hansen, who was prepared for this mentally, was somewhat caught off guard by this situation of internal worries and external threats.
It is under such circumstances that the Cavaliers will travel to New Orleans to challenge the Pelicans.
The Pelicans’ record this season is also 5 wins and 2 losses, but they have just achieved a four-game winning streak.
Their situation contrasts with the Cavaliers’; after losing the opener against the Rockets, they adjusted and gradually found their form.
James is averaging 30 points per game this season.
Whether or not he is "the best player in the world" is debatable, but this season his overall presence on the court is stronger than in the past few seasons.
Furthermore, the Pelicans rank second in free throw attempts this season, just behind the Celtics.
Yet even these are not the worst situations they face.
The day the Cavaliers were preparing to depart for New Orleans, the coaching staff received bad news.
Ross, during the previous game against the Bucks, suffered a left ankle sprain due to a malicious foul by Monroe. Ross initially thought it was no big deal, but after the examination, it was confirmed as a grade three sprain, meaning Ross will be out for at least a month.
And for Ross, mindset issues are worse than the injury itself.
This was the 24th injury Ross has faced in his 10 NBA seasons. Although he is only 29 years old and theoretically at the peak of his career, he can never reach that peak.
After a repeated cycle of injury → rebuilding confidence → injury, Ross is now mentally exhausted and is seriously considering retirement.
Everything goes smoothly when all is going right, and when things go wrong, nothing goes right. The Cavaliers’ dynasty-chasing season has just begun, and bad news keeps coming.
It seems even "God" can’t stand what Hansen has achieved and is increasing the difficulty level for the Cavaliers.
Due to the sudden occurrence, the Cavaliers hardly had time to show concern about Ross’s situation; they boarded the plane to New Orleans without the team’s sixth man.
On the plane, Malone and Lue talked all the way; this incident has completely disrupted the coaching staff’s tactical plans.
Later, Malone approached Hansen’s seat.
He came to ask Hansen about one thing; after hearing from Lue that Kuzma had joined Hansen’s Breakfast Club, he wanted to know if Kuzma was up to the task.
In other words, his current temporary plan in light of Ross’s sudden absence is to pull Wade from the starting lineup and let Korver step up.
But this would mean expanding the rotation on the front line.
Since joining the Breakfast Club, Hansen noticed that Kuzma’s level of effort was not inferior to his level of being a James skeptic.