The referee signaled Liu Xiu to touch the ball out of bounds, and the Cavaliers kicked the ball in the frontcourt.

The Cavaliers continued to attack with 9 seconds left. James ran to catch the ball from the outside and was interfered by Liu Xiu's physical combat.

James did not give up, turned around and ran inside. He caught the ball during the cut, but lost the sprint distance and entered the basket and was flanked by Liu Xiu and Millsap to stop the ball.

After glancing at the high post and seeing no teammates available to respond, James forced himself to throw the ball... It was tough!

Millsap grabbed the defensive rebound and James rushed to grab it. Millsap protected the ball and was not intercepted. After James stepped away, he gave the ball to Liu Xiu.

When Liu Xiu caught the ball, he praised Millsap, "He did a good job protecting the ball."

If the counterattack opportunity is gone, it's gone. With Snow and Larry Hughes, it's difficult for one person to rush the fast break.

And although James is not good defensively, he currently has no shortage of attitude and talent, and there is nothing wrong with Millsap's solid choices.

Liu Xiu advanced to the frontcourt and looked at the opponent's defense. Then he looked at his three teammates in the frontcourt. This offense was not easy to fight!

No one in the Cavaliers asked James, a super genius who is not yet 22 years old, to practice defense. James himself has never suffered a real loss and has no motivation to practice defense. There is a reason. James entered the NBA at the age of 18.

He is less than 22 years old now. At this age, the offense has not yet been developed, so there is no time to strengthen the defense.

The other is the defensive lineup of the Cavaliers. For the time being, there is no need for James to be very good in defense. He just needs to be able to follow the opponent's wing fixed-point shooter without losing his mind.

It doesn't matter if it's hard to attack, just defend!

Facing Larry Hughes's defense, Liu Xiu thought for a moment, raised his left hand and made an '8' sign.

Larry Hughes flashed a flash of confusion - did the Trail Blazers have this tactical gesture?

Fortunately, he has strong offensive reading ability and keen defensive sense. From the small movements of Liu Xiu's body, he can tell that Liu Xiu is still playing pick-and-roll!

The warden is so despicable!

Larry Hughes moved quickly and did not give Liu Xiu a chance to sneak attack.

Liu Xiu suddenly reached close range, jumped horizontally and made a step-over throw...missed!

Big Z protected the defensive rebound, and Liu Xiu clapped his hands and retreated quickly.

The shot just now was already the best offensive line he had found due to the improved defensive reading ability of "Prison Kill". Unfortunately, the step-and-throw shot was a little worse.

When retreating, Liu Xiu thought about finding time to learn this trick from Nash or Iverson. Parker was the strongest, but they and the Spurs had become mortal enemies...

The Cavaliers began to attack. Liu Xiu put aside his distracting thoughts and devoted himself to the iron-blooded defensive battle with the tough frontcourt trio!

In the next few rounds, Liu Xiu's shot was flying, and his performance was even worse than he expected. In the first half of the first quarter, he missed all 5 shots he took and failed to score a single point.

Fortunately, his teammates performed well. Ray Allen scored a counterattack layup, Kwame Brown had a tip-in, and Millsap had a catch-and-dunk. The Trail Blazers scored 6 points in the half quarter.

It only had 6 points but it still said it was okay because the Cavaliers only scored 6 points.

James took all 4 shots in the first half of the quarter!

Moreover, James' performance was worse than Liu Xiu's, and he made two mistakes!

James had 0 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 2 turnovers in the half quarter, and Liu Xiu had 0 points, 3 rebounds and 1 block in the half quarter.

However, some people remain iron-clad until they become iron-clad.

After returning from the official timeout, James took four more shots in the second half of the first quarter.

There is really nothing he can do about James taking 8 shots in a single quarter. The Trail Blazers defended very well.

With Liu Xiu here, there is no need for mid-range delay to defend James. Although Liu Xiu cannot carry James as hard as he did last season, he can slow down James' breakthrough speed and guide James' breakthrough direction. He can do it alone.

After that, the Trail Blazers did a very good job of cutting off the pass inside.

Throughout the first quarter, James made 1 of 8 shots, plus 1 of 2 free throws, scoring 3 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 turnovers.

On the other side, Liu Xiu also started with a straight iron. At the beginning, he was surrounded and suppressed by the opponent. He hit 7 irons in a row and once made 0 of 7 shots.

But after a while, when Big Z was replaced and the inside twin towers became Donyel Marshall and Drew Gooden, Liu Xiu started to score!

Liu made a breakthrough throw and issued a decisive command... Although he did not trigger the "Kobe Time", his confidence or paranoia in shooting was stronger.

Liu Xiu made 4 of 7 shots in the second half and scored 10 points in the second half. Rahim, who came on the bench, also seized the opportunity to grab 3 offensive rebounds in the second half and scored 4 points and 1 assist. The assist was for Ray Allen.

Made a three-pointer.

In half a quarter, the Trail Blazers scored 17-8.

After the first quarter, the Trail Blazers led the Cavaliers by 9 points 23-14!

…

Liu Xiu is strong and performs well, and the Cavaliers, from the coaching staff to the players, don't think there's anything wrong with him.

In the first 8 minutes, Liu Xiu was defended and made 0 of 7 shots. Under the defensive formation built around Big Z and Larry Hughes, Liu Xiu was consumed for 8 minutes. At this time, Big Z was replaced to rest. Is there anything wrong with that?

By this time, Liu Xiu’s touch should be almost exhausted, right?

In the next 4 minutes, Liu Xiu made 4 of 7 shots and scored 10 points. This was too much!

In the second quarter, Big Z still had to rest at the beginning, and the Cavaliers were full of worries about their defense.

Their worries became reality!

In the second quarter, although the Trail Blazers' offensive performance declined and was not as good as the last 4 minutes of the first quarter, it was much improved compared to the first half of the first quarter!

Fortunately, James performed well in this quarter. Although he only scored 1 goal out of 4 shots, he made 6 free throws in 10 minutes and made 4 of 6 free throws. He scored 6 points and 3 assists in the three quarters.

Damon Jones made 2 of 2 three-pointers in the half, plus 3 of 4 free throws to score 9 points. Big Z, who came on the scene in the second half of the second quarter, made 2 of 4 mid-range shots in the half, plus 2 of 4 free throws.

2 free throws and 6 points...

In the second quarter, the Cavaliers' disadvantage did not continue to expand. Instead, they narrowed the gap by 1 point, beating the Trail Blazers 25 to 24 in a single quarter.

But the TV commentators are saying that the Cavaliers took too many free throws in this quarter!

The Cavaliers made 15 free throws in a single quarter and scored 9 points from free throws alone.

The Trail Blazers only took 5 free throws in a single quarter and only relied on free throws to score 4 points.

After halftime, the Trail Blazers led the Cavaliers by 8 points 47-39!

The Cavaliers took more free throws in the second quarter, which is one of the reasons for their high score. There is also a more important reason - when James broke in and caused a foul, the Trail Blazers tightened their defense and Damon Jones and Big Z

You can make catch-and-shoot shots!

In the third quarter, when the Cavaliers' outside shooting was exhausted by the Trail Blazers, the bloody moment came...

James made 2 of 8 shots in the third quarter, including 1 of 5 three-pointers. He played 9 minutes in a single quarter and scored 5 points, 2 rebounds, 4 turnovers, and no assists. These 5 points were already more than half of the Cavaliers' scores in a single quarter!
Chapter completed!