Game 3 of the Finals will go to San Antonio and be played at the Spurs' home court.
In addition, Game 4 was also held in San Antonio, so the Cavaliers rented an amateur basketball stadium in the Holy City as a training venue for the away game in the Finals.
At the same time, the Cavaliers who were still in Cleveland had packed their luggage and boarded the bus to the airport, preparing to fly to San Antonio.
Perhaps because of two consecutive wins, the atmosphere in the Cavaliers team is very relaxed. Everyone is talking and laughing, but they are not so optimistic. At least no one will say in front of reporters that the Cavaliers will win the championship.
The most optimistic person on the team is James. However, due to some of James' comments, Lin Yu is more inclined to think that this guy is too young and energetic.
After all, compared to his previous life, James in this time and space has not experienced any major setbacks.
It was smooth sailing for this guy as soon as he entered the league. In order to establish his status, the Cavaliers traded away Ricky Davis. In the selection of the best rookie, the league also unfairly ignored Carmel, who had similar statistics and a better record.
Ron Anthony.
Although he did not make the playoffs in the first two seasons of his career, once he entered the playoffs in the third season, he immediately received countless promotional resources from the league.
Originally, James was going to stay with the Cavaliers for eight years, but the arrival of Lin Yu directly brought about earth-shaking changes.
They swept all the way to the finals and now lead the Spurs with a total score of 2:0.
There is a lot of speculation from the outside world that the Cavaliers will once again sweep the Spurs, with a total score of 4:0 and a record of victory in the playoffs, creating history and winning the championship.
Therefore, after bidding farewell to the reporters in front of the training facility, James made a very excited announcement on the team's bus heading to the Cleveland Airport.
"Before going to San Antonio, we have to set a goal for ourselves. I think our goal should be to win the next two away games, sweep the Spurs and win the championship!"
No one in the entire Cavaliers stood up and told James that a sweep was impossible. Winning one of the two away games to gain match point was the most reasonable goal.
There were even a few James losers cheering, as if sweeping the Spurs was already their intended goal.
Lin Yu shook his head secretly, and he did not say anything, because interrupting James at this time was more like damaging the team's morale.
While the bus was driving, Lin Yu received a call from Danny Ferry.
Danny Ferry? This guy’s phone call? The league fine?
Lin Yu guessed, and then answered the phone: "Hello, Danny, where am I? Haha, you know, I'm on the bus to San Antonio."
Lin Yu waved his hand to silence the bus, and his voice when he answered the phone suddenly became clearly audible.
"Is the ticket issued? Haha, okay, thank you, Danny, I will pay attention to it. If something like this happens again next time, I will pay for it myself."
After hanging up the phone, James immediately patted Lin Yu on the shoulder: "A ticket? A ticket for criticizing the referee?"
"Yes, they fined me ten thousand dollars."
Lin Yu smiled and seemed to be in a good mood. The reason he was in a good mood was that he did not have to pay the $10,000 fine. Danny Ferry told Lin Yu that the team paid for it for him.
Saving these ten thousand dollars would be enough for him to do a lot of things.
"Did Danny (Ferry) also ask you to be more careful next time you speak?" Mike Brown intervened.
Lin Yu nodded, but Mike Brown shook his head and complained: "Danny, this guy, always only sees the petty profits in front of him. I think, Lin, you should speak out more, just like this time, even though you paid a fine,
But in the next game or even in all subsequent games, the referees’ penalty standards will be improved.”
"Because public opinion will put tremendous pressure on them."
Lin Yu smiled: "Yes, I think so too. If we can benefit from it, ten thousand dollars is nothing."
Mike Brown's words reminded Lin Yu that his criticism may have some unique effects, such as making the referee's penalty standards stricter.
So, when he went to San Antonio for the third game of the Finals, he did not use the highly random "Linsanity" feature, but tried to play a game with his own attributes.
But the process of the game was quite unexpected.
The referee has indeed changed the penalty scale. The scale has not become strict, but it is not as loose as before. What has changed is the penalty in certain special situations. For example, for some obvious pulling movements, the referee will immediately award a foul.
But if it is just some physical contact, such as a collision under the basket, the referee will turn a blind eye. Generally speaking, the penalty scale is still biased towards the Spurs.
Faced with such a scale, Lin Yu was not harmed, and there was not even a danger of harm, because Popovich was very smart. He adjusted the Spurs' defense, which directly made the rough moves in the first two games disappear.
It seems that the Cavaliers gained something from Lin Yu's critical remarks, but the Cavaliers lost the game in front of them, and there was no suspense about the loss.
It has nothing to do with Lin Yu. His performance was normal. He scored a Cavaliers-high 27 points on 10 of 21 shots, plus 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.
The problem was that James, who had promised to sweep the Spurs before the game, was defended by the Spurs. James only scored 13 points on 5 of 15 shots, and had another bad finals.
After the game, Marv Albert in the commentary box said bluntly: "After two bad performances, LeBron's state needs to be adjusted urgently. But the problem now is that even if the Cavaliers finally win the championship, LeBron James may have withdrawn from the game early.
FMVP is up for grabs.”
After losing the third game, Lin Yu noticed changes in James.
The youth is still there, but the energy is gone. LeBron James is acting very depressed. Lin Yu knows that all the burdens of this finals series have been placed on him.
James can no longer count on him, he must rely on himself to win the Spurs!
So, in the fourth game of the Finals in San Antonio, Lin Yu used the "Linsanity" feature to randomize his attributes.
The five choices given by the system are Tony Parker, Avery Johnson, Marco Belinelli, Gary Neal and Sean Marks.
Out of five choices, Lin Yu became the European Emperor and was directly chosen by random chance as Tony Parker.
Then, in the fourth game, with the help of peak Parker, Lin Yu made 11 of 20 shots and scored 29 points, 4 rebounds, 8 assists and 2 steals.
The Cavaliers still lost the game because James continued to go undercover and only scored 10 goals in 30 shots.
"So, the current situation is that Tony Parker doesn't work anymore. As for the Spurs as a whole, unless they give me George Gervin or peak Kawhi, no one else will work."
Compared with the original Lin Yu, Tony Parker did not widen the gap in quality. This is why even Tony Parker does not work.
The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that Manu Ginobili will not work, nor will Duncan and David Robinson, because they are not in the right position.
The only two famous Spurs players who are useful to Lin Yu are the iceman George Gervin and the peak Kawhi Leonard. One dominates the offense, and the other dominates the defense while also taking care of the offense.
"It's difficult, it's too difficult!"
Lin Yu felt that the hope of winning the finals was already slim.