The No.1 Anti-Fans in Basketball
Chapter 658 - 318: James Was Frightened

Chapter 658: Chapter 318: James Was Frightened

The day before the final match kicked off, the Cavaliers arrived in Los Angeles.

Malone didn’t schedule any team training for the day, instead giving the players a day off.

Of course, he also reminded the players not to wander around aimlessly, after all, this is Los Angeles, a place full of temptations.

Hansen chose to rest at the hotel, but found himself unable to fall asleep.

He went out, and invited Conningham to the Staples Center’s training gym with him.

Unexpectedly, before they even entered, they heard the sound of someone practicing inside.

As they went in, they discovered it was Kobe and his trainer practicing shooting there.

With their shirts soaked with sweat, they seemed to have been training for quite a while.

It seems Hansen wasn’t the only one who couldn’t sleep tonight.

Hansen didn’t go over to say hello, instead, he started practicing his shooting.

After he had practiced for a while and was resting on the sideline, Kobe took the initiative to walk over to him.

After a brief greeting, Kobe sat down to chat with him, like they were old friends who hadn’t seen each other for a long time.

This feeling made Hansen somewhat uncomfortable, as he had never been that close to Kobe.

On the contrary, as the league’s top Kobe critic, he criticized Kobe almost as much as James.

But it’s not incomprehensible, as there’s a saying in East University: "A man’s words are kind when he is about to die," and Kobe’s career countdown was about to end.

Moreover, in this year’s All-Star game, Hansen indirectly helped Kobe a bit.

"Kobe, you’d better be careful of LeBron!" Seeing Kobe’s goodwill, Hansen couldn’t help but remind him.

Kobe looked puzzled.

"DW back in the day was too kind-hearted, and as you saw, he was stripped of power by 8 points. You know, a tiger doesn’t change its stripes."

Is Kobe dumb? Of course not.

Even if his emotional intelligence wasn’t high when he was young, as he approached retirement he had experienced enough to discern an attempt at sowing discord at this level.

This kid Hansen may be the number one in the league, but he’s still full of schemes.

"I’ll keep a good eye on you," Kobe didn’t follow Hansen’s lead, but changed the topic instead.

"I’m different. I’ll keep an eye on LeBron. That guy won’t defend well unless he gets his stats."

Hansen’s words left Kobe totally speechless, realizing that Hansen never intended to have a proper conversation with him.

After exchanging a few more words, Kobe left the training gym first.

Hansen got up to continue his second round of training.

It wasn’t long before more people arrived at the gym.

This time, the arrivals surprised him quite a bit.

It turned out to be Williams and West.

Counting Conningham, who came with him earlier, their Old Cavaliers were all there.

"Couldn’t sleep, either?"

They nodded simultaneously.

The words James said before were tantamount to denying those years they spent competing for the championship during their time at the Cavaliers, essentially negating everyone on that team, so it’s no wonder they couldn’t sleep.

However, this turned out to be perfect, as pure shooting doesn’t achieve much; with them here, they could have a 2v2 match.

They had only just started playing a couple of rounds when more people arrived.

And the newcomer truly surprised Hansen.

Jokic actually initiated overtime work!

But he didn’t need to ask this guy for his reason; it must be because of his horse.

Hansen’s promised condition was the championship, and now that it’s so close, he has to strive for it.

Not long after that, Irving also showed up.

The thought of facing James excited him so much he couldn’t sleep.

Well, Malone’s intention was for the players not to be too tense, to face the finals with a relaxed mindset.

But now his good intentions were in vain.

On the day of the final opening match, not only the league official but the media hype reached its pinnacle.

The unexpected exit of the Warriors abruptly ended Cavaliers Warriors 2.0, but instead spawned the ultimate showdown between Team UA and Team Nike in the finals.

This wouldn’t just decide the fate of a championship, but also the shift of power in the league.

Their overwhelming promotion, along with Kobe’s last dance, set a new viewership record at the moment the finals arrived.

The grandpas at the Staples Center were unusually enthusiastic as well.

During pre-match warm-ups, besides the home team players, the cameras frequently focused on Hansen.

Though he hadn’t brought a championship to Cleveland yet, Hansen’s performance in these two playoffs with the Cavaliers was absolutely phenomenal, the kind that even Jordan would have to step aside.

How to restrict Hansen was the key to whether the Lakers could win the finals.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups for both teams were announced.

Cavaliers: Irving, Hansen, Tucker, TT, Jokic

Lakers: Deron, Kobe, James, Love, Mozgov

It must be said, the Lakers’ lineup is simply a "historically" enhanced version of the Cavaliers, making the Warriors’ loss not seem too unjustified.

Mozgov jumped for ball possession for the Lakers, and in their first offense, James executed a pick and roll with Mozgov to slam the ball home with power into the interior.

But coming back, Irving got past Deron, drove inside, and after forcing Mozgov to come up and guard, assisted TT in a basket underneath.

Five minutes into the game, the score was tied at 10.

After several rounds of playoff baptism, Jokic’s rim-protection ability has improved somewhat, but he still clearly struggles against the high-tech version of James.

However, on the Lakers’ side, Deron seemed awkward on the court too.

This Lakers lineup easily reminded people of the F4 back in the day, and the situation of Deron as the starting point guard was not just similar to Payton’s, it was identical.