Chapter 769: Chapter 769

But now, Irving has become the biggest obstacle on the road to the Cavaliers dynasty.

After withdrawing his gaze, a determined look flashed in Hansen’s eyes.

Dominating the same era is a vague yet clear concept. Vague, because people in different divisions might never get the chance to face each other, like Jordan and Olajuwon; there’s always been a debate on who was more dominant at their peak as they never met in the finals.

Clear, in that the person who fights out of the same division dominates the others.

For example, in "history," the James fans love to say that he dominated the players of his era, meaning he dominated the East.

The way he did it, whether through teaming up or ending up with the runner-up instead of the championship, is another discussion entirely.

Defeating the Celtics is something Hansen must accomplish.

After the opening ceremony, both starting line-ups emerged.

Cavaliers: Hansen, Kuzma, Covington, TT, Jokic

Celtics: Irving, Bradley, Durant, Towns, Horford

Jokic jumped for the Cavaliers to secure possession, and Hansen immediately backed into the elbow area against Bradley for position.

Jokic held the ball at the top of the arc, creating space, then fed it inside.

After feigning a pass to Covington to push Durant back, Hansen turned around and pressed against Bradley, breaking through, and quickly headed towards the basket.

Stevens of course knew Bradley couldn’t defend Hansen one-on-one, so had already arranged the help defense.

Although Durant was pushed back, Towns quickly arrived for help under the basket, forming a front-and-back sandwich with Bradley.

However, a gaze from Hansen towards the space behind Towns made Towns reflexively look back.

It was in that fleeting moment that Hansen had already taken off early.

By the time Towns turned back, trying to stop Hansen was already too late, he could only raise his hands.

Hansen soared over Towns to complete the flying dunk.

Towns was still the same boy he always was, not a bit of change.

Turning back, Durant received the ball at a high position and screened with Horford, stopping sharply after the breakthrough and made a successful shot against Jokic.

Consuming Jokic has now become a surefire tactic for other teams against the Cavaliers.

Hansen continued to back into position against Bradley. Bradley tried to front but, like Huoledi, was firmly blocked by Hansen and couldn’t get through.

When Jokic passed the ball inside again, Hansen directly exerted force in the post-up, leaving Bradley no choice but to sink his center of gravity.

It was right when Bradley sank his center of gravity that Hansen used a fake move towards the baseline, spinning away to create space from Bradley, and then executed a fadeaway jump shot to score.

With the isolated offensive strategy clarified, the proportion of Hansen’s post-up attacks also increased.

Besides the lesser physical toll post-ups take, few other teams have perimeter players that can scale and match up against him.

As for Bradley and Huoledi, they’re already amongst the league’s top perimeter defenders, but struggle to leverage defensive prowess against Hansen in post-up situations.

Take this possession, Bradley may have leaped forward at the final moment, but with his center of gravity pressured by Hansen and having to guard against Hansen’s spins and bursts, along with his own physical limitations, it was mostly token defense.

Stevens stood up making a tactical gesture, Celtics moved forward, and Irving signaled while extending his hand, directly instructing Horford to move to the right three-point line for a pick-and-roll.

Horford twice attempted to make the pick-and-roll but failed both times; stopping Hansen wasn’t such an easy task.

Horford was attempting a third pick-and-roll, and despite not fully blocking, Irving was already making his move from the right on the breakthrough.

Irving seized the fleeting opportunity, although failed to finish on the attack.

For Hansen hadn’t been completely blocked, he managed to disrupt Irving from behind.

Irving’s shot, under a pinch from Jokic and Hansen, glanced off from the rim, and the Celtics came away fruitless on this attack.

But they had no intention of fighting for the offensive rebound, instead swiftly retreating to defend.

As Jokic secured the defensive rebound, the Cavaliers moved forward and setup their positions.

Hansen continued to back into position, yet this time Durant directly double-teamed him in advance.

But at this moment, Hansen made a spin towards the free-throw line direction, performing a cut to the basket without the ball.

Hansen’s cut took Bradley and Durant with him, leaving Jokic to send a pass to Covington on the baseline.

Before Durant managed to recover, Covington’s baseline three-point shot went up.

The trajectory was quite straight, but unfortunately it bounced in and then out.

Underneath TT and Towns were wildly boxing out.

Talking about the extra effect the JR incident had, it was a wake-up call for TT.

The Cavaliers don’t have the concept of Merit Basketball; if out of form for too long, anyone can be abandoned.

Especially now with the Cavaliers focusing on mismatched singles, the demands on role players are low.

If they can’t do what they’re supposed to, replacements are always ready.

While the two were boxing out, a figure soared within the paint.

It was Hansen cutting to the basket!

When the ball was slam-dunked into the basket, the crowd erupted into excitement.

Boston fans keenly felt that Hansen was different tonight.

Whether with or without the ball, Hansen’s goal tonight was sending the ball into the basket.

Celtics’ offense, Irving continued to run pick-and-rolls with Horford.

His attack threw his body against Jokic, eventually drawing a foul and earning himself two free throws.

Malone stood up to remind Jokic to be mindful of fouls.

Irving made both free throws.

Hansen was now playing pick-and-roll with Jokic.

Jokic led Bradley towards the basket, and Hansen faced Horford with a step-back three-point shot.

Accompanied by the crisp sound of ball meeting net, Hansen’s three-pointer made it as well.

His touch tonight is quite on point.

The Cavaliers came out with a perfect start.

Turning back, Irving persisted with pick-and-rolls alongside Horford.

Malone put his hand up to his chin.

Knowing full well the danger ahead, heading straight into the lion’s den isn’t Stevens’ coaching style.

Even if intending to draw two fouls on Jokic, it’s not that easy.

Celtics’ offense on this occasion failed to convert.

Although Jokic gave Irving space for the shot, Hansen chased from behind and blocked the ball.

But it was at that moment that Malone leapt up from the bench.

He already understood what Stevens wanted to do!

Hansen’s scoring drive was strong tonight, and his start was excellent.

Under such circumstances, regardless of how effective Irving and Horford’s pick-and-roll is, it consumes both Hansen and Jokic.

After all, with the Cavaliers’ current on-court lineup, Kuzma can’t defend Irving, while Covington needs to watch Durant; Irving can only be guarded by Hansen.

Stevens’ tactics aren’t aimed at winning in the moment, but view the game from an entirety angle.

Upon realizing this, Malone gazed over to the Celtics’ half court.

The youth showed an old fox’s cunningness.

He averted his gaze and turned, scanning Murray and JR on the roster, then signaled JR to the field.

Hansen’s offensive condition is good; the space on the field must be ensured to the utmost.

Balancing space with defense, JR is the definitive selection from the bench.

As JR was heading towards the technical table, Hansen played in the front court back against Bradley, spinning towards the basket from the free-throw line, and his make on the near-distance floater even drew a foul from Bradley.

With this successful attempt, the LED screen on site displayed Hansen’s stats for the night. Fınd the newest release on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝⚫𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖⚫𝕟𝕖𝕥

Hansen was 5 for 5, scoring 11 points!

Bear in mind, this match had been going for less than five minutes.

Something’s off, it’s way too intense tonight.

①: In 2007, the Celtics ranked last in the East, second to last in the league but were bumped to the fifth spot in the draft lottery, ultimately missing out on Durant.