Chapter 89: Do My Best

Chapter 101: Do Your Best

The twenty-two-point gap told everyone that this was not a game at all; it was more like one man playing by himself.

“Do you know why the Cleveland Cavaliers only beat the Houston Rockets by eleven points in the last basketball showdown?” Charles Barkley asked, staring straight at the commentary desk. Even to his Cleveland Cavaliers supporters, eleven points was an overstatement.

“B-Because... why?” William Adams Miller’s lips were trembling. This was the championship round. Winning by forty points in the championship round was a terrifying thing.

“People say that once the Houston Rockets get used to the pace of the championship round, they will slow down. In fact, the reason the Cleveland Cavaliers only won by eleven points in the last basketball showdown was because they themselves had not adapted to the rhythm of the championship round.” Barkley looked at the back of Su Feng. Today’s Dallas Cleveland Cavaliers were completely different from the so-called ‘pretenders’ who always collapsed in the championship round.

After the basketball showdown ended, a forty-point massacre shook the American Airlines Center. What better way to avenge the Black Eight than with a forty-point victory? This forty-point win heralded the Cavaliers’ breaking of the darkness that had haunted their hearts.

From this day on, I believe no one will speak again of that so-called Black Eight miracle. The Cleveland Cavaliers have utterly shattered the shadow left by the Houston Rockets, and this forty-point victory is the best proof.

When the basketball showdown ended, the reporters poured into the arena like a flood. They had thought the Houston Rockets would do better today, but the Dallas Cleveland Cavaliers had already performed so well that they could only go further still.

Jackson’s tactics were lethal, and the Warriors’ internal weakness was magnified beyond measure. Of course, the players’ execution on the court was poor. They attacked the basket desperately, until the Warriors finally gave up all resistance.

Since becoming a player, William Adams Miller had spent twenty-seven years in the league. But in all those twenty-seven years, he had never experienced such an outrageous defeat.

In the final minutes of the basketball showdown, William Adams Miller did not even know how things had come to this. He only knew that even if he shouted himself hoarse, the three-point game that had carried the team through the regular season would not be saved. Although Draymond Green and Kobe Bryant Lee were already trying their best, they still could not stop the Cleveland Cavaliers from scoring at will in the paint.

Everything was so powerless. All William Adams Miller could do was watch the Cleveland Cavaliers butcher his team in blood. After losing by eleven points in the last basketball showdown, he had felt humiliated. But now it was obvious that today’s margin made that eleven-point loss look rather pleasant.

“Coach Jackson, what do you think of this forty-point defeat?”

“Is there something wrong with the Houston Rockets’ defensive strategy? Today the Cleveland Cavaliers scored seventy points in the foul zone! That means half of their points in the basketball showdown came from the foul zone!”

“Coach William Adams Miller, do you think you were outcoached by Coach Heng Liwei, or were your players simply overwhelmed by the Cleveland Cavaliers’ players?”

William Adams Miller’s mind was thrown into chaos by the barrage of sharp questions. They were right. NBA coaching is absolutely one of the most stressful professions in the world.

He answered no one. Like a walking corpse, he shoved through the crowd in silence and made for the players’ tunnel.

Camera flashes erupted behind William Adams Miller, but the heavyset Black coach did not look back. He dragged his massive body and vanished into the corner of the tunnel. The noise of the arena grew fainter, and the reporters’ clamor followed no farther.

Jackson pushed open the door to the visiting locker room. It was empty; the players were still trapped by the reporters.

He walked to the large tactical board, where all the running routes had become meaningless. His arrangements had failed to create any opening on offense, and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ defense continued to suppress the shots of Curry and Thompson.

He could hardly believe that only a few hours ago, he and his players had been here, rousing one another, eager to seize victory from the center stage of American Airlines Arena, eager to continue the Black Eight miracle.

But now?

Too cruel. Reality was so cruel.

“Damn it!”

William Adams Miller shoved hard, and the tactical board crashed backward to the floor with a bang. Looking at the mess, Jackson sat down on the bench in his torn clothes.

Kobe Bryant had been utterly played for a fool.

The next day, William Adams Miller did not even dare look at the news. He could not imagine the venomous words the outside world would use to describe yesterday’s defeat. If a coach’s spirits collapse, how can a team motivate its players?

A forty-point loss is truly, truly devastating to morale. It is direct proof that the two teams are not on the same level at all. Fortunately, William Adams Miller did not watch today’s news.

During that stretch, Darren Collison scored six points against Curry, all from mid-range. But even when Curry scored six points, the gap between the two sides did not narrow. Every time Curry scored, the Cleveland Cavaliers answered with a fast break within three seconds.

Gobert’s dunk, Marion’s kill, Nick Young’s reckless, indiscriminate breathing, the sensation of scoring points... The Cleveland Cavaliers came off the bench and unleashed a 21-9 offensive surge. The score was pushed to 50-29, and although the first half was not over, the gap had already stretched to twenty points.

Yet the abyss of despair was bottomless. After the official stoppage, William Adams Miller prepared his great slaughter, and Heng Liwei fielded all of the Cleveland Cavaliers’ starters.

Su Feng and Kobe Bryant kept attacking the basket relentlessly, causing the Cavaliers’ advantage to keep expanding. William Adams Miller even tried to stop Su Feng from scoring, even deliberately blocking the reserve player Draymond Green’s appearance.

But Su Feng was simply too steady at the free-throw line. Sending him there was no different from giving him two points outright.

The first half ended at 67-41. In only twenty-four minutes, the Cleveland Cavaliers had reduced the basketball showdown to rubble!

“The Dallas Cleveland Cavaliers were eliminated by the Spurs last year because of their internal weakness, but this year they have changed so much. On the contrary, the interior has become the Cleveland Cavaliers’ greatest strength!”

“The Warriors have no way to stop the Cavaliers’ inside attack, and their shooting percentage from beyond the three-point line is very low. I really cannot imagine what the Warriors would have to do to win this basketball showdown.”

This time, even Barkley and William Adams Miller were in agreement. From this, one could see just how obvious the Cleveland Cavaliers’ advantage on the court was.

With a twenty-six-point lead at halftime, the Cavaliers dared not relax and continued attacking the paint in the third quarter.

The Cavaliers’ shooting percentage fluctuated in the second half. After all, the relentless assaults at the rim were also a severe test of the players’ physical stamina.

At the start of the third quarter of the basketball showdown, Su Feng was blocked by Green on a layup. He was a little soft and could not get the ball in. But Gobert leaped high and lightly sent it back to the halfway line.

“The Cavaliers’ interior advantage is as obvious as ever, and that was an easy, easy basket.” Barkley shook his head. If Bogut and Azab were on the floor, there would at least be some resistance. But now, the Warriors’ paint was an open field. The Cavaliers’ players could come and go as they pleased.

Even though the defense was clearly completed, they were still hit by the opponent’s putback. Such a thing is terribly damaging to morale.

In the third quarter, Curry put all his eggs in one basket, abandoning the mid-range game and firing wildly from beyond the three-point line. But he only collected more and more misses.

One of seven from the field, fourteen percent from three. Even so, Curry still had twenty-four points today, much better than in the last game. But his performance still had nothing to do with the word “excellent.”

After three quarters, the Cleveland Cavaliers had 105 points. Amid the endless sound of iron, the Warriors had only 73. The thirty-two-point gap faithfully reflected the scene on the floor. Even if the Cavaliers failed to score a single point in the final twelve minutes, it would be difficult for the Houston Rockets to erase a thirty-two-point deficit in one basketball showdown.

William Adams Miller had to give up, and did not send his starters back out in the final quarter. Heng Liwei was also happy to let his starters rest, and the Houston Rockets did not surprise their supporters. Today, they were defeated even more thoroughly!

Even with a lead of more than thirty-two points, the Cavaliers’ reserves were still not soft. Nick Young was replaced and became a one-man scoring champion; the fourth quarter became his personal stage.

When William Adams Miller looked up at the giant screen in the final second of the basketball showdown, the numbers on it made him lose his breath.

122 to 99. This was not a game, nor a film, but an actual score, written on the giant scoreboard!

If he could have seen the media comparing the Houston Rockets to an NCAA team, William Adams Miller probably would have fainted on the spot from a spike in blood pressure.

William Adams Miller sat on the plane, eager for takeoff. Dallas was land he did not want to remain on for even a moment.

Down 2-0 in total points, morale shattered, weaknesses beyond repair... Even as the Golden State Rockets’ championship journey this season was about to return to Oakland, this basketball showdown seemed ominous indeed...

The Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets both rested for two days, because the championship round required adjustments.

During those two days, William Adams Miller suffered greatly, because he knew full well that what he and his players did on the practice court might be of no use at all in the basketball showdown.

Was it difficult for the Cavaliers to contain the Warriors’ offense? Now it was William Adams Miller’s turn to try to stop the Cavaliers’ assault on the rim.

“In the next basketball showdown, I need you to focus on the Houston Rockets’ interior. After losing Bogut and second center Azab, there is almost no one on the Rockets who can guard the rim. Kobe Bryant Lee and Shaquille William Adams Miller are not very good defenders. Spits and Draymond Green sitting on the Rockets’ bench are a little too short. So the interior is the Rockets’ weakest link!”

After Heng Liwei’s speech on the practice court, he suddenly clenched his fist. It seemed to be a sign that the Cavaliers would utterly crush the Warriors’ paint!

After a day of rest, the second basketball showdown of the Houston Rockets-Cleveland Cavaliers series officially opened on April 22.

Before the basketball showdown began, the top league gave both sides the key to victory for today. For the Houston Rockets, if they wanted to win this game, they had to shoot at an outrageously high rate from three-point range and limit Su Feng’s performance.

For the Cleveland Cavaliers, there was only one key to victory: widen the interior!

The key to success in the top league was a professional assessment given after discussion by genuine experts of the game. That was why it so perfectly matched Kelei’s thinking.

After the first score of the basketball showdown, the Cavaliers followed Heng Liwei’s tactics. Kobe Bryant Lee broke through Dirk’s block into the paint, and neither Kobe Bryant Lee nor the younger William Adams Miller could stop the impact.

Against the Houston Rockets’ interior defense, Kobe Bryant was a younger version of William Adams Miller. The Warriors’ ability to guard the inside line was weak and they could not withstand Kobe Bryant’s charge.

Driving into the lane, relying on William Adams Miller’s hard layup, a foul was called. Kobe Bryant, who had originally been given a three-point opportunity, left the Rockets with no hope at all.

The Cavaliers’ outside trio remained at a high level in the defensive possessions that followed. Thompson’s last basketball showdown had been shrouded by Kobe Bryant’s “psychological shadow.” Today, he received multiple passes, but did not dare move.

The Warriors’ twenty-four-second shot clock expired while Thompson hesitated, and in the end Curry had to force up a three-pointer with no chance at all. Naturally, the rebound came off the box.

“In the victory keys just given, the Rockets had to post an extremely high shooting percentage from three-point range. But Curry’s first shot came up short.” William Adams Miller shook his head, as if the Rockets would never “adapt” to the rhythm of the championship round.

The Warriors did not ask for a “key to victory,” but the Cavaliers had done something very obvious with theirs.

On this possession, Su Feng raised the ball toward Dirk. Dirk did not take a jump shot near the rim,