In the second half, Mike Brown missed the playing time of Lin Yu and Larry Hughes.
But with such an allocation of playing time, LeBron James is the one who feels uncomfortable.
"LeBron rushed in and encountered the Rockets' flanking defense. He turned his head to look for an opportunity to pass the ball. Well, except for Damon Jones who was being stared at in the corner, everyone was crowded inside and there was no chance for the outside."
"He could only pass the ball to Zarunas, and Zarunas' inside single was so beautiful that the Lithuanian Tower swung past the Great Wall of China and scored the goal!"
"..."
"It was the Cavaliers' offense again. LeBron took the ball and broke through. The Rockets continued to attack, and after the attack, they passed the ball to find Larry Hughes on the outside."
"Larry Hughes' three-point shot!"
"It was a little off, the basketball hit the frame, and Yao got the rebound."
"..."
"The Cavaliers' offense, LeBron's breakthrough, pass outside, Larry Hughes receiving the ball, a wide open opportunity."
"He actually didn't take a shot. He chose to break through and shot against the defense from mid-range, but he didn't score!"
"..."
The third quarter lasted more than three minutes, and LeBron James was having a hard time. At this time, in the fourth season of his career, he had not yet developed a three-point long shot, and could only break through on the offensive end.
Larry Hughes can shoot three-pointers, but most of the time, his three-pointers are ridiculously wide.
Many of James' passes went unreturned, and no points were scored at all.
The Cavaliers' offense was very difficult, and the Rockets quickly overtook the score.
Mike Brown frowned. Without Lin Yu, he might not have been able to discover the incompatibility between Larry Hughes and James.
But now, Lin Yu and James played together for most of the first quarter and the last two minutes of the second quarter, compared to the time Larry Hughes played with James.
Mike Brown could only lament that without comparison there would be no harm.
Ignoring defense, the outside shooting that Lin Yu can provide is really important. The most accurate three-point season for Larry Hughes was last season. His three-point shooting rate just reached 36.8%, which is still not a lot of shots.
, averaging only 2.1 shots per game and hitting 0.8.
If he takes more shots, Larry Hughes' three-point shooting percentage will decline further.
On the other hand, Lin Yu averaged 3.2 three-pointers per game last season with the Celtics, and his three-point shooting percentage far exceeded 40%.
In the first game of the new season, Lin Yu had already made 4 three-pointers in the first half.
This kind of three-point firepower is completely unmatched by Larry Hughes, and the threat he creates from the outside is not at the same level.
Mike Brown shook his head and watched McGrady play in isolation and use a mid-range pull-up to extend the Rockets' lead to 7 points.
Mike Brown immediately called Lin Yu from the bench: "Lin, go to the technical table and replace Larry."
In the third quarter, Larry Hughes only played for about four minutes, and then was replaced by Lin Yu.
His experience in this game was really not good. His playing time was cut into bits and pieces. The only thing that could be considered a complete second quarter was that he was blocked by Sean Battier who came in from behind and made 1 of 3 shots.
middle.
When he is on the court, the Cavaliers will definitely lose points.
The regular season is different from the preseason. If the Cavaliers want to win, they must abandon Larry Hughes, who is not as effective as Lin Yu on the offensive end and whose defense has become shabby due to his poor physical condition.
Lin Yu reappeared. In the first round, he stood in the bottom corner, received a pass from James, and faked a shot past McGrady, who was returning to defend.
Then he patted the basketball, took a step laterally, and stepped on the three-point line to score a long two-pointer.
The Cavaliers' offense immediately changed. Compared to passing the ball to Larry Hughes outside the three-point line, LeBron James' passing ball to Lin Yu seemed much more decisive.
On the defensive end, Lin Yu failed to guard McGrady, who was already in full swing. McGrady used a pick-and-roll breakaway layup, once again widening the point difference to 7 points.
Immediately afterwards, on the offensive end, Lin Yu, who circled to the top of the arc, received the ball and directly engaged James in a hand-to-hand coordination.
It was like Lin Yu suddenly had a gravitational pull. Tracy McGrady and Shane Battier both jumped in front of Lin Yu, but missed the most critical LeBron James.
James received the ball hand-to-hand and accelerated directly towards the unguarded basket.
With a bang and a dunk, the point difference narrowed to 5 points again.
After the dunk, James found Lin Yu and gave him a high-five to celebrate.
After Lin Yu came on the court, the Cavaliers' offense quickly improved. Lin Yu himself didn't score much, but LeBron James, who had gained a vast offensive space, seemed to be unable to stop the car and continuously broke through Sean Battier's defense.
Get points.
Soon, the Cavaliers took the lead again.
The intensity of this game obviously exceeded many people's expectations. The two teams went back and forth to take the lead and then lose the lead.
But there are also discerning people who can see that when the Cavaliers play Larry Hughes, even if they are leading, they will quickly fall behind.
When going up to Lin Yu, even if they are lagging behind, they will quickly take the lead.
Marv Albert in the ESPN commentary box got a special statistic: "In this game, China Lin's plus-minus value has reached +17 points. In other words, when he is on the court, the Cavaliers win by 17 points.
"
"Looking at Larry Hughes, his plus-minus value when he was on the court was only -14 points. In other words, one losing point and one filling point. China Lin who came off the bench wiped the ass of Larry Hughes's poor performance.
Already."
After three quarters, the Cavaliers had a 5-point lead.
Then in the fourth quarter, because the game was still in suspense, Larry Hughes was completely abandoned, and Mike Brown used the wing combination of Lin Yu and LeBron James to finish the rest of the game.
Relying on LeBron James' dominant offensive performance and Lin Yu's contributions on both offense and defense, the Cavaliers won this game with great difficulty.
"Larry Hughes, who made 5 of 12 shots and only scored 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists, compared to Lin Yu, who made 9 of 16 shots, 6 three-pointers, 25 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals.
, Mike Brown should make a choice, right China Lin, the Cavaliers can go further this season."
On the court side of Toyota Center, after the game, Lin Yu said hello to Dayao again, and then LeBron James put his arm around his shoulders and walked into the tunnel together.
"LeBron James specifically found China Lin and returned to the locker room with China Lin. He seemed to be using this unique way to express his requirements for the team's personnel. He seemed to be shouting: I don't want to
I need China Lin to play with Larry Hughes again!"
Mike Breen in the commentary box imitated the tone of LeBron James's interview, which made Marv Albert laugh.
However, generally speaking, the Cavaliers who won the game were in a good mood, and the locker room was full of laughter. Even Larry Hughes, who performed poorly in this game, felt happy after seeing his statistics after the game.
Showed a smile.
"5 of 12 shots, a shooting percentage of over 40%, 12 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 steal. How long have I been on the court? 15 minutes or 16 minutes? I am so efficient!"
In the last column of statistics, the plus-minus value of -14 is a bit shocking, but Larry Hughes ignored this somewhat special data, because in 2006, no media would spend special effort to count the plus-minus data.
Then, he saw Lin Yu's data, and at that moment, he felt tremendous pressure.
"When I lose the fat on my body, that Chinese guy will definitely not be my opponent!"
Lin Yu is not so obsessed with the starting position. In the opening game, he played for 37 minutes, which is already the absolute main playing time.
In fact, Lin Yu couldn't play for so long now. By the end of the game, he was exhausted. He was struggling on the offensive end, and then put his remaining energy on the defensive end.
As a result, he could have scored higher, but in the end he only reached 25 points.
"My physical attributes are still a bit poor. I have to find a way to improve my body."
Special training is a relatively stupid method of improvement.
The attribute abilities obtained by stealing stalks are faster and more effective. Therefore, Lin Yu searched his past life memories to get some stalks that could be stolen.
He noticed LeBron James, who was inviting him to a nightclub in Houston.
Suddenly I thought: "LeBron, who has the best bug-level body in NBA history, is a good target for stealing. He can't steal one, two or three, and he can't steal basketball from his hometown, so what else can he steal?"
That's right, it's Liubu Lang!
Lin Yu couldn't remember which year James completed the six-step layup. What he was sure of was that James had not yet completed this "achievement", which meant that Lin Yu still had a chance to steal the game.