Chapter 771: Chapter 771

With a crisp sound, the basketball went into the net.

Hansen threw himself onto yet another historical list.

At this moment, the Cavaliers’ bench erupted in excitement.

Because Hansen’s stats had been displayed on the LED screen earlier, even without holding a stat sheet like James during the game, they knew Hansen scored 30+ in a single quarter.

The crowd was all in a frenzy as well.

The earlier inexplicable tension was gradually becoming tangible.

By the end of the first quarter, the Cavaliers led the Celtics by 11 points, 40 to 29.

"This is one of the greatest scoring exhibitions in history!"

Barkley had already started using his first Hansen fan account in the commentary booth.

Hansen’s scoring explosiveness is strong, having recorded over ten instances of scoring 20+ in a quarter, but reaching 30+ is on a completely different level.

It’s the kind of thing that surprises you when you look it up.

In the entire history of the NBA, even considering the ancient eras, there have only been eight players to score 30+ in a single quarter: Chamberlain, George Gervin, Jordan, Maxwell, Kobe, Anthony, Love, Klay Thompson.

Hansen now became the ninth.

Fans on social media started to get excited.

30+ in a single quarter, doesn’t that mean... 120+ for the whole game?!

Clearly, basketball isn’t a simple math problem.

Most players who have scored 30+ in a single quarter don’t score very high for the entire game.

Take Klay Thompson, who scored a record 37 points in a quarter but only 52 points for the entire game;

Love scored 34 in a quarter but 40 total points;

Anthony scored 33 in a quarter and 45 for the whole game;

Because such high-scoring bursts inevitably lead to rapid energy depletion, which isn’t something you can recover from instantly.

Moreover, opponents will surely target you crazily in the following game, making it exponentially harder to continue scoring.

And there’s one last point: such explosive scoring can easily penetrate the opponent in one swift motion.

Like Kobe’s famous 62-point game, where he scored 30 points in the third quarter against the Mavericks, effectively ending the game early.

While Hansen is very strong, he can’t avoid these issues either.

In the second quarter, he didn’t return until 7 minutes remained, scoring only 8 points in that quarter.

The Celtics were in excellent form in this quarter, and by halftime, the teams were tied at 64.

Boston fans in the crowd heaved a sigh of relief as the quarter ended.

Had Hansen scored another 20+ in the second quarter, they might have had to follow James’ fans’ lead and call the police.

Now, seeing Hansen only scored 39 points by halftime, it was something they could accept.

Strategically, Irving and Durant took turns exhausting Jokic on the offensive end, leaving Hansen to fend for himself, a strategy Stevens executed very successfully tonight.

As the game resumed after the half, Boston fans grew increasingly enthusiastic.

They were already sensing victory.

The third quarter started with the Celtics on the attack first, Durant continued to switch matchups targeting Jokic.

However, the Cavaliers’ defense adjusted, with Jokic sinking deep and Covington providing interference from the side on Durant.

Clearly, Malone was trying to minimize Jokic’s defensive efforts, giving up some mid-range opportunities as a result.

But Durant didn’t shoot; instead, he dribbled to the basket, challenging Jokic directly.

Durant eventually succeeded with a large sweeping layup, drawing Jokic’s third personal foul on defense.

Malone furrowed his brows.

His concern wasn’t just this game, but the playoff matchups between the two teams.

Basketball is not just about offense; no matter how impressive Jokic’s offensive performance, it can’t cover his defensive weaknesses, which will be an obstacle to becoming a greater player.

Durant made both free throws, giving the Celtics the opening score of the second half.

Hansen and Jokic attempted a pick-and-roll at the frontcourt, with Jokic sinking into the low post, positioning himself against Bradley.

The adjustments made by the Cavaliers on defense and changes on offense indicated Malone didn’t want Hansen to play like he did in the first quarter.

Bradley couldn’t stop Jokic, and the Celtics’ defense started to collapse inward.

At this moment, while posting up and spinning, Jokic once again passed the ball out.

The fans’ eyes followed the ball and soon found the receiver.

Bradley was fast, but Hansen needed some effort to shake him off; however, mis-matching against Horford, Hansen’s cuts on reverse runs were hard for Horford to follow. Newest update provıded by 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝕟𝕖𝕥

Moreover, Hansen opted for a clean strategy, raising his hand for a mid-range shot right after receiving the ball, not giving the Celtics any opportunity to help defend.

But Stevens wasn’t panicking because Hansen was 3 for 8 in the second quarter, indicating an average touch.

With a crisp sound, Hansen sank a mid-range jumper smoothly.

You’d think Hansen’s second-quarter form was off when in fact, it was a symptom of severe energy depletion.

Irving, on the opposite end, ran a pick-and-roll with Horford, continuing to wear down Jokic.

This time, though, Jokic kept his hands up without reaching, and although Irving made a difficult sideways layup, the intended purpose of wearing him down was not achieved.

Back on the other end, Jokic continued seeking mismatches, and due to Hansen’s threat, the Celtics didn’t give Jokic much pressure initially. Jokic seized the opportunity, turning around for an easy off-the-glass layup.

Having seen the first half, especially the second quarter, Malone knew the Celtics were on fire and couldn’t be defended fully, so he chose to sacrifice some defense and play offensively.

Judging from the few early possessions in the second half, it worked quite well.

However, as the third quarter progressed, Stevens began to sense something was off.

As before, Malone replaced TT with Kuzma in the third quarter as a starter.

Since the Celtics’ strategy was to exhaust Jokic, although Kuzma defended Towns, avoiding low post battles mitigated his defensive weaknesses.

Offensively, Kuzma, as usual, could spread the floor completely, and with Jokic operating in the low post, the Celtics’ defense became conflicted.

Most importantly, it was still about Hansen.

Hansen’s shot attempts in the third quarter weren’t as many as in the first, but his scoring didn’t decrease.

Because Hansen was playing "simple basketball" in this quarter.

After receiving the ball, he either decisively took the shot or attacked the rim to draw fouls.

After playing half the quarter, Hansen was 3 for 3 from the field and 4 for 4 from the line, scoring another 10 points.

This was also an adjustment in Hansen’s game strategy.

After the second quarter, he realized that playing to score explosively like in the first quarter had issues, as surpassing physical limits would undoubtedly affect future performance.

Especially in the second half; even if he could erupt with high scoring in the third quarter again, if the lead wasn’t extended, he’d certainly be out of energy by the deciding quarter.

So, in this quarter, Hansen, teaming up with Jokic for the main attack, tried to complete his shots in the most energy-efficient way.

Moreover, after halftime adjustments, his energy had mostly recovered, and his touch returned.

As the game continued, fans at the scene once again felt something was amiss.

Because even though Hansen was not the main focus of the Cavaliers’ offensive in this quarter, he was shooting without missing!

With 2 minutes left in the third quarter, Malone started the usual rotation, taking Hansen and Jokic out together for rest instead of having them play the entire quarter like before.

Of course, this was also related to the game situation.

The Celtics maintained aggressive firepower, and the score between them and the Cavaliers kept alternating throughout this quarter.

At this moment, the crowd once again erupted into a murmur.

Because the LED screen displayed Hansen’s stats for the quarter and the entire game.

Hansen was 7 for 7 and 9 for 9 from the line (including one technical free throw) in the third quarter, scoring 23 points.

By the end of the third quarter, Hansen’s personal data was 62 points, 6 rebounds, and 3 assists!

Now, Boston fans were truly ready to call the police!