Chapter 770: Chapter 770
Malone’s judgment was correct. When the offense and defense switched, JR switched to defending Irving, and the Celtics abandoned the 15 pick and roll.
Of course, they also didn’t run the 12 pick and roll. Stevens’ strategy was to exhaust both Hansen and Jokic, but if you know that it’s JR defending Irving, and Irving still insists on running the 12 pick and roll to match up against Hansen, that’s not strategic exhaustion, but purely asking for trouble.
Hansen was liberated on the defensive end, allowing him to fully exert himself offensively.
Moreover, in this quarter, the Cavaliers needed Hansen to continuously play isolation offense.
Even though the Celtics abandoned the 15 pick and roll, they did not give up on wearing down Jokic.
And they have the capability to do so.
Irving and Durant may not be stars who excel at both offense and defense, but their isolation ability is maxed out.
Unlike James, their shooting punishments are formidable, and with the outstanding pick-and-roll ability of Horford, Jokic cannot simply shrink back to guard the basket.
JR’s presence and Covington’s impact can indeed limit them to some extent, but it’s difficult to completely prevent them.
Jokic is heavily exhausted on the defensive end, which weakens the support he can provide to the team offensively.
However, Jokic’s strength lies in his ability to do many things on offense.
Can’t attack? Then organize the offense!
And this precisely set Hansen off into a scoring frenzy.
Because ball handling, whether with back to the basket or facing it, is a way of offense that easily attracts double-teams.
Even though Hansen, with his skills, has a chance to use an early spin move to get a shot, that kind of attack’s hit rate is hard to ensure.
So when Hansen feels the defensive pressure increasing, he switches to off-ball offense.
At this time, Jokic, standing with the ball at the three-point arc, becomes the best assisting machine.
He will pass the ball to Hansen at the best moment, and what Hansen has to do is to imitate what Curry does, using off-ball movement to lose Bradley. Then, after receiving the ball, complete the attack as quickly as possible.
"I must reiterate, during Hansen’s rookie season, he was one of the best off-ball shooters in the league." On the commentary bench, O’Neal, Hansen’s former teammate, confidently shared with his partners.
Of course, what he’s talking about is old news. Back then, Hansen was just a young player with a third-level three-point talent. Today’s Hansen has maxed out his capabilities in all aspects, and his off-ball ability is much stronger than before.
"Shaq, do you think Hansen and Joker, compared to you and Kobe back then, which duo is stronger?" Barkley took the chance to taunt O’Neal.
Because everyone can see that Hansen and Jokic are moving towards the trend of being the greatest duo in history.
But you can’t fault O’Neal; he quickly responded, smiling as he said, "Hansen and Joker are the most synchronized duo in history."
In terms of their performance on the court, at this time, it’s basically Hansen dealing damage and Jokic providing support — they display synergy and chemistry.
O’Neal’s response affirmed the other duo while saving face for himself, as everyone knows Kobe had a more independent style of play.
Even though he and O’Neal had moments of brilliant collaboration, there were also plenty of times where he ignored O’Neal for an isolation play.
At this time, far away in Thousand Oaks City, guiding rookies, Kobe suddenly sneezed.
Though they’re now 5=5, O’Neal is still in the commentator’s seat.
As they spoke, it had already reached the final play on the court.
Hansen and Jokic were both still on the court, and Malone had arranged for them to play the entire first quarter.
Jokic held the ball at the top of the arc, and the LED scoreboard displayed Hansen’s first quarter stats.
shots, 10 made, 2 out of 4 in three-pointers, 6 out of 6 free throws, 28 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist.
Hansen’s single-quarter score already set a new high for his career.
And now he has the chance to join the history books with 30+ points in a single quarter.
The Celtics’ players were vigorously chasing and blocking Hansen.
No one wants to become someone else’s backdrop.
Suddenly, Jokic drove towards the basket with the ball.
He hadn’t attacked much this quarter, but that doesn’t mean he wouldn’t when the opportunity arises.
His movement drew back some of the Celtics’ defensive focus.
Because his speed on the drive wasn’t fast, it gave the Celtics’ players enough time to defend him.
Especially since there were only a few seconds left in the game.
Jokic broke through to inside the free-throw line, with Olynyk already collapsing back to the basket and Durant and Smart also coming to help.
But at that moment, Jokic did something unexpected — he passed.
With just 3 seconds left in the game, he opted to throw the ball!
Last year’s Eastern Conference Finals, Hansen passed Jokic a pass called "trust," and now Jokic returned it!
However, as the camera followed the ball and fans saw who he was passing to, the exclamations turned to shouts of astonishment.
For as Jokic attracted some of the defense while holding the ball, Hansen took advantage of Dedmon’s screen and broke free for a three-pointer!
Catching the ball, shooting, buzzer sounds.
This shot was taken under an extreme condition.
But Hansen demonstrated his top-tier three-point ability, though he had no time to adjust, the path of the ball looked right from the release.
As the ball reached its apex and began to descend, excitement among the fans began to rise on the scene. For more chapters visıt 𝔫𝔬𝔳𝔢𝔩~𝔣𝔦𝔯𝔢~𝔫𝔢𝔱