On the morning of June 4th, the Trail Blazers, who had won 75 games in the regular season, had home court advantage throughout the playoffs this season. In addition, the Trail Blazers had won two games against the Cavaliers in the regular season, giving them an advantage.
The home court advantage, the advantage in regular season games, is where the Trail Blazers are generally favored!
When the finals started, the media and gambling websites made one-step predictions for this year's finals just like last year.
ESPN, which has always been the most authoritative and most watched, also gave their official prediction: Unlike the past two years of finals, this year they gave the Trail Blazers a probability of winning more than 80%!
This result surprised Trail Blazers fans.
Who doesn't know that LeBron James has always been treated like a biological son in ESPN's various poll predictions? Could it be that they have rebelled?
As soon as this prediction result came out, it exceeded the expectations of most fans.
…
After the morning training, after lunch time, the visiting team's training ground next door was also in full swing preparing for the game. The Trail Blazers, as in the past few days, finished the morning training and rested in the afternoon to wait for work.
At 18:00 in the evening, the ratings of major TV stations in the Rose Garden Arena and the Wuxi Bureau also reached their peak before the game.
Although there was a three or four-day break, the enthusiasm of the fans remained unabated and was even as high as ever.
If you have a good dish, don't be afraid of being late. Who doesn't want to miss this kind of peak showdown.
Different from the regular season games, although the Cavaliers' training this time was still open to the public, they refused data interviews after the training.
It can be seen that neither the Cavaliers management nor Tyronn Lue want to talk about the two losses to the Trail Blazers in the regular season.
This is also a good thing.
Avoid those messy pre-game wars of words. After experiencing the excitement of the Western Conference Finals tiebreaker and the Eastern Conference Finals G6, fans are also looking forward to seeing a more exciting showdown in the finals.
In the locker room before the game, players from both teams were making final preparations for the game.
Finally, the time came to 18:30, and after the pre-match lottery, players from both sides began to appear on the stage.
The regular lineup of the Trail Blazers, Lillard Barton, Connett Lee, Aldridge, Wang Zelin.
The Cavaliers also have the standard five, Irving, JR, James, TT, and Cousins.
There was a cutaway shot of Wang Zelin and James. Facing an opponent who had defeated him consecutively, James did not choose to throw away his powder before going on the court.
At least, he will never do this again until he defeats Wang Zelin and wins the championship for Cleveland.
Wang Zelin's expression looked the same as before, and he came to the middle circle to jump the ball.
Amid the cheers of the fans, Wang Zelin returned the ball to the Trail Blazers' half, officially kicking off the finals.
The Trail Blazers used the most profitable pick-and-roll as soon as they started. Just like the regular season, they exploited the Cavaliers' defensive weaknesses inside.
Encountered multiple double-teams at the basket, Wang Zelin passed the ball back to Lillard on the outside. Lillard received the ball and hit a three-pointer.
With a bang, the basketball hit the basket and flew out.
In the penalty area, Wang Zelin moved first to grab the rebound, took off the second time and put the ball into the basket.
The Trail Blazers opened the scoring.
"Beautiful!" Zhang Lili shouted excitedly.
On the sidelines, Coach Terry also waved his fist.
"Return to defense!"
Wang Zelin roared and led his teammates back to the backcourt.
Looking back, James organized the frontcourt, and the person guarding him was Button.
Compared with Connett Lee, who is 1.96 meters tall, Patton, who is 1.98 meters tall, obviously does not suffer so much.
However, in front of James, these two centimeters of cricket could not produce any qualitative change.
James chose to break through with the ball, and Wang Zelin looked for help in defense.
James made a beautiful cross pass to Cousins in the bottom corner, who made a three-pointer.
"Duang!"
The basketball hit the basket and both teams missed their first three-point attempts.
Wang Zelin collected and protected the backcourt rebound, and the Trail Blazers directly launched a defensive counterattack.
Lila received a long pass from Wang Zelin from the backcourt, drove all the way down, and completed a one-handed dunk.
The Trail Blazers started the game smoothly.
It can be seen that the seven fierce games against the Warriors in the last round successfully mobilized the entire state of the Trail Blazers.
In the Cavaliers' position battle, Irving broke through with the ball and Lillard defended alone.
One thing to say, you can tease Ou Shenxian for being brainless, but you can never question his strength.
What's more, at this stage, Irving is still partnering with James, and his performance is quite normal both on and off the court.
He rushed to the free throw line and pretended to lay up, but actually took a step back and shot a two-pointer.
Lillard's defensive interference is already in place, but...
"Whoosh!"
Relying on his personal hard-hitting ability, Irving helped the Cavaliers open the scoring.
2:4!
It's a bit suspicious of a fairy ball, but as long as it goes in, it's a good goal.
Fortunately, Lillard's psychological quality is strong enough and he did not feel any dissatisfaction because of being shot in the face.
Take the free throw from the backcourt and advance steadily to the frontcourt.
Wang Zelin just received the ball in the low post, Cousins and TT's defense was in place instantly, and Aldridge received the ball and made a mid-range shot.
6:2, the Trail Blazers started very efficiently, and it seemed that the Cavaliers were completely unable to stop their offense.
The home fans kept cheering, this was the finals they were looking forward to!
Turning around, James forced Button to go to the basket and took the shot despite Wang Zelin's help and interference.
"Duang!"
If the shot is short, hit the iron angrily.
Even for James, it is not easy to score strongly in front of Wang Zelin.
Aldridge protected the backboard, and the Trail Blazers were engaged in defensive counterattack.
Compared with the Warriors, the Cavaliers' retreat speed is really far behind.
Once they fail to score and give the opponent a chance to defend stably, except for positions 1, 2, and 3 that can return to defense in time, TT and Cousins are often several beats slower than the other three teammates.
And this little time is enough for the Blazers to complete their counterattack.
This time it was Connet Lee, who received Lillard's return pass and fired decisively from the top of the arc at the three-point line.
9:2!
The Trail Blazers got off to a rocky start at home, almost beating the Cavaliers.
The Cavaliers fans who were watching the live broadcast were completely silent. This start was completely different from what they expected!
Even my emperor, whom they trust most, has no room to perform at all.
Irving held the ball and tried to use Cousins' screen to find a mismatch, but Cousins could not stop Wang Zelin at all.
Irving made a sudden shot and was directly pinned on the backboard by Wang Zelin, marking his first block of the game.
Originally caught by Wang Zelin, the Cavaliers' offense still failed to score.
No comparison, no harm!
In any case, the Cavaliers have gone through many difficulties and obstacles before coming out of the Eastern Conference. Before the game, many people believed that the Cavaliers would not be able to cause some trouble to the Trail Blazers as predicted by ESPN, and might even be like the Warriors.
, played seven games against the Trail Blazers.
Ideal is full, the reality is very skinny.
When faced with the real finals encounter, the result exceeded countless people's expectations.