Halfway through the second quarter, Lin Yu stood on the court again, facing a situation of being 4 points behind. In fact, strictly speaking, the situation on the court now is different from the situation when he left the court, inside and out.
7 points.
On the other side, LeBron James frowned and sat in the front row of the bench. He was a little unhappy. In the fourth game of the new season, counting the three games he had won before, he was always there.
The first half was full of fire.
But obviously, the effect is very average, and can even be described as terrible.
He was not playing very comfortably, and the team was not in shape. This game was pretty good, at least his own statistics were gorgeous, but the Cavaliers were still in a lagging position.
A certain data says it all: James's plus-minus value in this game is the lowest among the Cavaliers' starters, -4 points.
For someone like Lin Yu who left the game after the first half of the first quarter, his current plus/minus value is +3 points. And if Lin Yu can lead the team to overtake the score in the second half of the second quarter, his plus/minus value will be +3 points.
The value will be higher.
James' plus-minus value will not change much, but his ranking within the Cavaliers will become lower and lower.
Now, James has realized this. He realizes that in every game, his style of play in the first half is hurting the team.
"Perhaps, there are other ways to express dissatisfaction with the team's tactical arrangements..."
James was reflecting, but on the court, Lin Yu had already led the team and organized a counterattack very quickly.
Compared with James who never shoots and always falls into meaningless individual singles after fully controlling the ball, and then is blocked by the opponent's targeted defense, Lin Yu's singles ability with the ball is much worse.
However, he relied on his excellent mid-range and long-range shots to force his opponents to concentrate their resources in one place for defense.
For example, Lin Yu's first ball after coming on the court. He controlled the ball at the top of the arc. Michael Pietrus, who was guarding him, did not dare to neglect and left half a step of safety distance, but he was still passed by Lin Yu who was trying to break through.
Already.
After passing Michael Pietrus, Lin Yu was not taken care of by the Warriors' help in defense. He ended the attack with a pull-up jumper.
With a swish sound, the basketball went into the basket and two points were obtained!
"Since the start of the new season, China Lin's breakthroughs have improved by leaps and bounds. He can always perform sharp breakthroughs. This may be the reason why the Cavaliers' performance in the new season has not been affected by the departure of Rashard Lewis and Drew Gooden.
.”
Lin Yu's breakthrough helped the Cavaliers score 2 points, and the score gap was close to 2 points. Of course, Lin Yu's plus-minus value also changed from +3 to +5, which is widening the gap with James.
As for the subsequent offense and defense, the Warriors' offense did well and there were no problems, but there were many loopholes in the defense.
Lin Yu's long-range shots and sharp breakthroughs created countless threats. When faced with single defense, he could always score points in singles.
When faced with the help of defense, Lin Yu started passing the ball.
His passing was not bad either. If he were given the ball, he would have averaged six or seven assists per game in a season. Therefore, for a while, Lin Yu led the team alone and the Cavaliers were advancing rapidly.
Because there was no disadvantage on the court, Mike Brown simply did not pause or make any substitutions. Lin Yu led the substitute lineup and just finished the second half of the second quarter.
At halftime, the Cavaliers regained the lead.
"72:67. In a head-to-head battle, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors at home both scored high scores in half the game!"
"With China Lin's efforts of 23 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals in the half, the Cavaliers took a 5-point lead at the end of the half..."
Before leaving the infield of Oracle Arena, LeBron James once again paid attention to tonight's statistics board. He paid special attention to one statistic, the plus-minus value.
He himself lost 4 points when he was on the court, which was the lowest score among the Cavaliers.
In sharp contrast, Lin Yu won by 12 points on the court. In other words, if it were not for the loss of points when James was on the court, the Cavaliers would have taken a double-digit lead at this moment.
Except for James himself, not many people pay special attention to the plus-minus data. Especially, James' personal performance in this game was not bad.
He played more than 17 minutes and scored 18 points, second only to Lin Yu, plus 4 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
It can only be said that many times, the five basic statistics of points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks can be deceiving.
Even the high-end data such as plus/minus, Per value, WS, etc. advocated by many people can sometimes be deceptive.
As the head coach of the Cavaliers, Mike Brown has a deep understanding of this.
He can clearly feel that since the start of the new season, the Cavaliers have always played hard in the first half, with sluggish offense and difficulty in forming a tacit understanding on defense.
Although they had won two out of three games and took the lead in this game, the actual situation was not as optimistic as it appeared on the surface.
Mike Brown also knows very well why the Cavaliers are playing so hard——
When James controls the ball on the court, the Cavaliers have a hard time.
And after he replaced Lin Yu on the field and handed the ball to Lin Yu, the Cavaliers' offense immediately became normal. Compared with the top Cavaliers, the substitute lineup led by Lin Yu was only a little bit worse in facing a strong defense.
Ability to attack difficulties.
Although he knew it, Mike Brown had nothing to do. Like Lin Yu, he knew that the Cavaliers were James' team.
Fortunately, the Cavaliers were normal in the second half of the four games. In fact, because of Lin Yu's personal improvement in singles, James' slight improvement in long-range shooting, etc., the normal Cavaliers in the new season are even stronger than last year.
The same is true for this away game against the Warriors.
After the silent midfield, the second half of the game started. The Cavaliers, who returned to their normal state, started from the defensive end. Lin Yu and James joined forces to use various single defenses, assist defenses and supplementary defenses, almost completely blocking the Warriors.
Outside attack.
Then on the offensive end, without even using the pass-and-cut pick-and-roll offense they just developed in the new season, relying solely on James' breakout system to control the ball, the Cavaliers completely shattered the Warriors' vulnerable defense.
After that, the score gap continued to widen...
After three quarters, the Cavaliers took a double-digit lead. In the fourth quarter, for the upcoming away games, the Cavaliers rotated their main players back and forth to ensure the combat effectiveness on the field and ended the game easily.
"At the end of the game, the score was 127:108. Congratulations to the Cavaliers, they won their third victory in the Devils' consecutive away schedule!"
"This was a battle where both teams were attacking like crazy, but in the end, the Cavaliers, who found their defense in the second half, defeated the Warriors, who didn't know what defense was from the beginning to the end."
"China Lin was elected the best player of the game. He scored a season-high 42 points on 15 of 24 shots, plus 7 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals and 1 block!"
"He further expanded his lead on his way to the scoring crown!"
At the end of the game, Lin Yu's strategy of seizing the ball was successful again. After scoring 39 points, his average points per game had reached 34.25 points.
Perhaps, it won't be long before, in the eyes of fans and ball commentators outside Cleveland, the Cavaliers will be a team of James and Lin Yu.
By that time, Lin Yu's desired size will be achieved.
