I'm not really a role player

Chapter 380 Mr. Key and Mr. Hip Pulling at the Critical Moment
In the second quarter of the game, Rivers still insisted on the established rotation strategy——

Under Curry, use Li Ke to lead a half-main and half-substitute lineup for a wave.

The result is this change, something went wrong.

Gentry knows the Bobcats well, including the rotation, and he knows that the Bobcats are used to using Li Ke as a substitute to play in the first half of the second quarter.

Last year was fine, even if Curry went down, in the bench lineup led by Li Ke, there were ball handlers like Captain Jack or Jamison to share the pressure.

But this year, the rotation has become:
Li Ke played as a guest point guard, shooting guard junior, small forward Tucker, power forward Channing Frye, and center Jordan Jr. played consecutively.

In this lineup, except for the younger brother who can play two shots with the ball, only Frye's long-range three-pointers are left.

The Cavaliers' response was very simple. Lebron played consecutive games, and the inside line was replaced by the giant Bo.

Add Pietrus and Caron Butler on the wings, and Eddie House at the point guard position.

For Li Ke's defense, Lebon continued to resist the front, and the flanks used flexible Pietrus and Caron Butler to help prevent harassment.

At the beginning of the second quarter, Li Ke continued to be stalked by Lebang, although occasionally he could find opportunities in post-up singles.

But the help defense of Pietrus and Caron Butler on the wing forced him to either shoot against the double-team or pass the ball out.

The younger brother received Li Ke's pass and hit two irons. Tucker received Li Ke's pass and made two three-pointers and made two three-pointers. Only Channing Frye received Li Ke's pass and made two three-pointers.

The Bobcats played hard and scored a lot, but the Cavaliers scored more.

Lebron can occasionally break through Li Ke's defense, and what's more important is Caron Butler, whose offense the juniors can't stop at all.

The wave giant is completely marginalized this time, even if he comes off the bench, it will be difficult for him to play.

After playing more than five minutes, the wave giants became more determined to jump out of the contract and leave Cleveland next summer.

The coach of the Cavaliers and other players began to cheer after more than five minutes.

Sure enough, the joys and sorrows of people are not the same!

In the second quarter of the game, Rivers called a timeout first, because the Cavaliers overtook the score in a wave.

By this time, Rivers realized that he had made a mistake in the formation of troops.

In the commentary seat, Kenny Smith has also been emphasizing: "If you have to find a shortcoming of the Bobcats, it must be Doc Rivers. It is really hard to imagine that the Bobcats will be replaced with such a rotation lineup in the second quarter. Couldn't he see how tight the Cavaliers' defense against Shelton was in the first quarter?"

"If Stephen Curry needs to rest, then at least, he must also have a role player who can attack with the ball to share Li Ke's pressure on the court, right?"

Rivers realized the problem belatedly, and he quickly made a substitution, replacing Sean Livingston and Channing Frye.

As a result, this change caused another problem.

Livingston is the second point guard for the Bobcats after the bearded Davis stretched his hips. After returning from a serious injury, he now has a stable mid-range shot like an old dog. He is one of the few Bobcats who can attack with the ball.

But the problem is that there was only one Frye who was a stable three-point shooter on the field, but he was replaced in the end.

Next, Li Ke made another breakthrough, and those who pulled the defense from the outside became Livingston who didn't have a three-pointer, the junior who had a three-pointer but was very unstable, and Tucker who had a three-pointer but only had an open three-pointer from the bottom corner.

Li Ke jumped and jumped, looking for teammates who could pass the ball. Before landing, he had nothing to do but threw the ball to the nearest teammate.

After a while, he heard the sound of iron hammering again and again.

More than two minutes later, the Bobcats fell behind to 7 points.

Rivers was forced to call his second consecutive timeout...

To be honest, even Li Ke didn't expect so many surprises in this Eastern Conference Finals.

The Bobcats' rotation has persisted for a season, and there have been no problems before.

but now……

It can only be said that the strength of the Cavaliers is indeed there, and they put a lot of pressure on the Bobcats.

Rivers has realized: They have to change the order of the rotation.

After a pause, Rivers hesitated for a while, and could only choose to switch back to Curry.

At the end of the third quarter, Curry re-emerged to save the family.

He went in and scored three three-pointers, and the Bobcats turned the situation back.

Halftime ends—

"61 to 60, the Bobcats at home lead by 1 point, this game is too anxious."

Perhaps, many fans thought that the Bobcats had various rotations in the first half and did not give their best.

But in fact, the Bobcats have been cornered by the Cavaliers, and had to overdraw their physical fitness in the first half.

In the third quarter, it seemed that they wanted to prove that the fans were right. The all-main Bobcats exerted their strength and quickly took a double-digit lead.

But in the fourth quarter, Rivers was under pressure to give Curry and Li Ke more rest time. As a result, the lead quickly evaporated.

When Li Ke and Curry reappeared, the Bobcats' lead was only 4 points.

Then, Li Ke's breakthrough opened the hole and passed the ball to Curry.

But Curry, who reappeared, used a wave of triple irons to prove his instability.

The score was completely evened after the three consecutive irons.

"Wade goes to the hoop and makes a layup!"

"99 to 99, the Cavaliers evened the score!"

99 tie, the Bobcats had the ball, and Li Ke was expressionless.

He had thought that the knights were very strong, but he never thought that the knights would be so strong.

Curry is unstable, Matthews, Diaw, Jordan... this group of role players can only take care of one side at most.

"I can only rely on myself..."

Off the court, Rivers scratched his head, anxious.

It's useless to be anxious, he can only learn from Tyronn Lu now, and count on Li Ke to stand up and carry the whole team.

In the backcourt, Curry received the ball and controlled it to the frontcourt.

In the frontcourt, Dior did not catch the ball as usual, but made a sideways cross. Li Ke quickly rushed over the screen and caught the ball...

The moment he caught the ball, Li Ke rushed out without stopping.

On the other side, Lebron, who was around the screen, was too late, and Bosh, who was on the court in the fourth quarter, could only go up.

As a result, Li Ke resisted his defense, made an emergency stop and made a two-point shot.

Swish-!
Although Giant Bo stretched out his long arms and tried his best to interfere, he didn't put pressure on Li Ke, and there was no suspense about the goal being scored.

"Suppress him, Suppress him, Chris, Suppress him!"

Gentry yelled anxiously on the sidelines, and the giant Bo on the defensive end just took the blame.

The Cavaliers' offense, Li Ke withstood Lebron, but Wade used a pick-and-roll to switch to Dior, made a breakthrough, and made a layup.

101 to 101, the score continued to tie.

Rivers reacted at this time: "Boris can't stay!"

Soon, he called Tucker from the bench and was about to make a substitution.

At this time, Rivers' understanding is very straightforward, just one point——

The Bobcats' offense has reached the point where they can only rely on Li Ke, so it's better to replace Dior and Tucker to strengthen the defense.

Anyway, the offense is Li Ke's singles, and has nothing to do with others.

The substitution hadn't come yet, and on the offensive end, Li Ke changed his method again.

He received the ball from a high position, without any help from pick-and-rolls and screens, he made a fake shot, turned around and stepped back for a jumper.

Swish-!
"Again, Shelton's firing now, he's going two in a row, and the Bobcats are in the lead again."

The Cavaliers' offense was still Wade, who misplaced to find Diaw, rushed to the mid-range and hit a mid-range shot that was not disturbed.

Rivers couldn't stand it anymore, and decided to pause without thinking, just a short timeout, and replaced Tucker.

As soon as Tucker stepped up, the offense remained the same.

The difference is that Li Ke changed his position to catch the ball. This time, he appeared outside the three-point line at the top of the arc, facing Lebron.

Takes a probing step, wobbles a bit, and then suddenly pulls up from outside the three-point line.

Bang-dang-!
Even Li Ke, facing Lebron's defense, cannot guarantee that every goal will be scored.

But the turn around defense is very different. Li Ke switched to the fourth position, and now it is Tucker who is facing Lebron.

At the last moment of the game, Rivers' change of hand was unexpected by the Cavaliers.

Its function is very simple. It saves Li Ke's physical energy, and by the way, puts Li Ke in the position of auxiliary defense, so as to exert the real power of Dpoy this season.

In this first defense, Li Ke defended Dpoy's gold content.

"LeBron, facing PJ Tucker, he wants to try."

"A tough breakthrough, Tucker refused to give an inch, but he was pushed to the basket by LeBron."

"At the basket, LeBron forced a layup against the defense..."

The voice of the commentator paused, and the next second, his voice changed.

"Oh my God, it's Sheldon, he came out of nowhere and gave LeBron a heavy pot!"

The Time Warner Center cheered, the Cavaliers' offense returned without success, and the score was still tied.

The Bobcats immediately returned to the offensive end, and Li Ke continued to play singles.

Lebron's frontal defense continued to put pressure, and Li Ke asked for a cover.

But the quality of Tucker's screen is far inferior to Dior's screen.

Li Ke just got a space to sprint, and Le Bang quickly stepped up again.

Moreover, after Li Ke rushed to the three-point line in two or three steps, Bosh on one side let go of Tucker and killed him.

Seeing this, Li Ke made an emergency stop on the spot, raised his hand and shot before Bosh's help defense was in place.

Swish-!
"Chris, help defend faster!"

Poor Big Bo, he still has to take the blame.

The wave giant took the blame, and the Bobcats also took the lead. Next, the Cavaliers have the opportunity to tie the score.

But they failed to seize the opportunity, Tucker withstood Lebron head-on, Wade still used the pick-and-roll to find the wrong position, but after searching for a long time, he found Li Ke.

Despite Li Ke's defense, he still made a move.

But with a bang, the iron hit.

"Dwyane Wade tried to challenge Dpoy's defense and he failed!"

In the commentary seat, Barkley began to brag about Li Ke's defense again. Kenny Smith followed up with this sentence,

"After replacing PJ Tucker, the Bobcats' defensive strength has been raised to the highest level. They have defended the Cavaliers' offense twice in a row."

Jordan grabs the rebound, and Varejao loses to Jordan in the center-forward contest.

At this point in the game, Varejao only had 6 rebounds. Although part of the reason was that he had to give up rebounds to Le Bon and Wade, but more because he couldn't grab Jordan.

Moreover, Varejao is only protecting the frame, and Jordan can be regarded as the last link in the Bobcats' defensive system, and his status is far higher than that of Varejao.

It can only be said that in this era when centers are scarce, Varejao is still a good center.

And Jordan, has gradually grown into a top blue-collar.

With the rebound, the Bobcats counterattacked.

Li Ke received the ball and tried a counterattack.

The Cavaliers retreated quickly and did not give the Bobcats a chance to fight back.

So in the frontcourt, after turning into a positional battle, Li Ke saw that Lebang retreated completely, he paused outside the three-point line, and pulled it up directly!

"Beyond the three-point line, Sheldon suddenly scored a three-pointer!"

Swish-!
The crisp sound of net scraping proved that Li Ke won the bet, 108 to 103, and the lead of the Bobcats stretched to 5 points!
"With a difference of 5 points, the Cavaliers are in danger, they must score as soon as possible!"

At the critical moment, the Cavaliers' basketball began to fly around.

Billups controlled the ball to the frontcourt, and his first reaction was to find LeBon.

But at the top of the arc, Lebron tried to hit Tucker, which was a bit difficult.

He was inside the three-point line, threw the ball back to the outside line, and it was Wade who gave it.

Wade received the ball, a pick and roll, and met Li Ke again.

Even if Wade has a carry heart, he has to pass the ball.

Another pass, to Bosh.

So far in this game, the wave giant has felt for the first time that his team status is second only to Le Bon and Wade.

At this moment, he decided to show off his face-up singles and use a score to tell everyone that he is very important!
It's Matthews guarding him, so it's an opportunity for a mismatch.

But he took two steps forward against Matthews, just about to take the ball...

Snapped!
With a crisp sound, the basketball was shot off by Matthews' quick hands!
"Ohhhh! Wesley Matthews stole the ball!"

"The Lynx strikes back!"

Matthews took control of the ball and turning around was a counterattack.

On the Cavaliers' side, LeBron, Wade and Billups retreated immediately, but Boss stood in the backcourt and spread his hands. He really didn't want to take the blame!

But this attack was really his fault.

Looking back at the Bobcats' counterattack, Matthews' ball-handling assault attracted Wade's attention, and he followed up with a cross...

"Sheldon got the ball, LeBron had to watch out for his [-] and had to save it!"

Therefore, when Curry passed the crowd and only had to face Billups, Li Ke gave him a single-handed chance with a pass.

"Steph Curry catches the ball, Eurosteps Chauncey for a layup!"

"110 to 103, the score is further opened!"

The Cavaliers' offense, Tucker withstood Lebron, Lebron still passed the ball.

Wade received the ball, made a sudden one, encountered Li Ke's help defense, and also passed.

The third one to catch the ball was Big Bo. In the middle distance, he made a fake move and swayed a bit.

Then he passed the ball and threw the basketball to Billups.

Old Chauncey had a gloomy look on his face: I was just here to hold my legs as promised?

Although depressed, time is running out, so he can only jump up and score a three-pointer against Curry.

Bang-dang-!
The key is Chauncey, who is too old to save this knight.

The Bobcats grabbed the rebound and launched a counterattack.

Curry seemed to have found his touch from the fast break layup just now. During the counterattack, he caught the ball and made a chasing three-pointer.

Swish-!
"113 to 103, the Bobcats' lead has reached double digits!"

"The game lost its suspense..."

(End of this chapter)