The Golden Age of Basketball

Many perimeter attackers have been shining, like Flash Wade and Demon Blade Ginobili, using swift or cunning breakthroughs to constantly assault the defense under the basket.

Now, many teams are forced to choose one out of two on defense: selecting either the basket or the perimeter, the center or the wings. An important reason is that these perimeter ball attackers have severely damaged the team’s defensive formation.

High-speed attacks to the basket can easily penetrate the defense if it’s not solid enough, forcing many coaches to stack defense in a certain direction or area, blocking any chances for perimeter attackers.

As for the open areas? Either rely on swift rotations to cover them or strategically abandon them entirely, letting the role players take the shot if they’re capable.

The Cavaliers have a young roster and try to rotate to cover the gaps at the wings when they choose to pack the middle. The Glory Team, being older, often strategically abandons certain areas, leaving them open for opponent shots, daring them to shoot and beat them.

Of course, shooters like Arenas aren’t dared to shoot, but James can be. Gan Guoyang primarily guards James, while focusing on the basket and rebounds. As long as James is outside the three-point line, he doesn’t care.

After Arenas scores consecutively, Glory organized a counterattack; Yao Ming scores with a hook shot, and Gan Guoyang assists Raja Bell in scoring a three-pointer.

The Cavaliers are playing very actively; Arenas misses the shot, Gooden fights for the offensive rebound and passes it to James, who charges forward with the ball!

This is one of his specialties; receiving a pass from a teammate while in motion and accelerating straight to the basket, few can stop him.

Although at the moment he received the ball, there was a suspicion of traveling, his speed often makes the referees overlook it. With the impact honed from playing football, he often finishes with a powerful dunk under the basket, thrilling the audience for quite a while.

This time, James used all his strength, relying on his speed and explosiveness to shake off Gan Guoyang, but he encountered Yao Ming under the basket.

Yao Ming shifted over, raised his right hand high, and slapped the ball out of James’s hand in mid-air—a beautiful block, with Gan Guoyang catching the ball.

Glory launched a counterattack, but unfortunately, Gerald Wallace wasn’t there, or it would be a dunk under the basket.

Bell’s layup was blocked by Chris Weber, the ball went out of bounds, and Glory retained possession.

At this point, Gan Guoyang stepped off for a rest, Porter swapped in veteran Oseola Harrington.

Though also from Georgetown, Harrington pales in comparison to predecessors like Ewing, Mourning, and Mutombo.

Having entered the NBA in 1996 and played for the Rockets, after bouncing around multiple teams, he joined Glory this season as a backup for the frontcourt.

His joining Glory is undoubtedly helped by relationships, as Ewing is not only a coach for the frontcourt but an assistant coach and the deputy head of personnel for the team.

Mutombo’s contract, Iverson’s trade, and signing Harrington all involved efforts from Ewing.

After all, these are Georgetown alumni or juniors, he certainly provides help when needed.

Now that Glory is facing some injury issues, Harrington’s role becomes important.

However, in LeBron James’ eyes, veterans like Harrington and Holi from the previous era aren’t impressive on defense.

As soon as Ah Gan stepped off, James immediately took the ball possession and attacking role from Arenas, dribbling strongly to the basket and scoring a layup for two points.

Yao Ming’s offensive efficiency declined, missing two shots, giving James the chance to forcefully attack and counter with layups.

He scored again and caused a foul by Harrington, although he missed the additional free throw, Iverson grabbed the ball, quickened the pace, rapidly driving to the basket for a layup but faced a trailing block by James.

This guy indeed has strong physical prowess; with Gan Guoyang off, it seemed he unlocked his potential, excellent both in offense and defense, running around the court like a monkey in the forest, making his presence strongly felt.

Gan Guoyang drank water on the sidelines, thinking this guy is very slippery, yet indeed smart, very good at seizing opportunities and finding gaps. His stats for this game probably won’t be bad.

But this is the regular season if they meet in the playoffs, Gan Guoyang definitely wouldn’t leave any room for him to show off.

To genuinely have presence, one must rely on their skills and capabilities like Michael, Olajuwon, and Kobe.

After Gan Guoyang rested for three minutes, he returned to the game in the last minute of the first quarter, and James stepped off for a rest.

Carl hadn’t instructed him to sub off yet; James just left the court himself and sat on the bench.

Carl glanced and said, alright, take your rest then. I was planning to have you guard Ah Gan one-on-one till the end of the first quarter.

In the first quarter, both teams ended up at 24:21, with Glory leading the Cavaliers by 3 points, overall maintaining a steady balance.

The Cavaliers’ offense and defense aren’t overly problematic, but there are two concentrated issues, giving Carl a headache: first is inadequate three-point shooting.

Glory’s defense in the first quarter gave Cavaliers many three-point shooting opportunities; that’s just their defensive strategy, crouching down defensively, selectively abandoning perimeter defense for more focus inside.

However, Cavaliers made only 2 out of 7 three-point attempts, had a low shooting percentage, and didn’t seize these chances.

Only Arenas scored one, and off the bench, Donyell Marshall scored another.

This situation was within Carl’s expectations, as the Cavaliers aren’t inherently strong three-point shooters.

Carl didn’t expect a three-point explosion, which might force Glory out of their shell to adjust their defensive strategy.

The second issue that troubles Carl is their defense, lacking blocking and protection on the wings.

Theoretically, this task should fall to LeBron James, but his defense works inconsistently.

When tasked to guard a ball handler one-on-one, James performs well; his physical prowess is evident.

Despite many technique flaws, ongoing training and continuous learning offer chances for improvement.

However, when the opponent doesn’t have the ball, requiring him to anticipate positioning based on opponent strategies, and catch them on the wings, it becomes different.

Carl finds it difficult to communicate such issues with players who haven’t attended college or been through systematic tactical training at university.

James seems to struggle to understand comprehensive defensive control from an overall perspective and coordination with teammates.

His defensive highlights are indeed spectacular: chasing blocks, assisting under the basket with big blocks on opponents, suddenly jumping out for steals, followed by a fast-break dunk. In highlight reels, these plays are impressive, and fans often cheer, thinking this guy defends brilliantly.

But from a coach’s standpoint, considering sustainable and stable evaluations, these highlights hide instances where he failed to cover players or lack coordination with teammates—especially during zone defense, where James seems lost at the wings, unsure what he’s doing or where he’s supposed to be.

This scenario is undoubtedly damaging to the team’s defense, yet Carl can’t realistically bench James; he must play.

Carl is stubborn and delves deeply into defensive details; he cannot tolerate any of his players being lost in the tactical scheme.

Especially with James, who possesses such good talents, his court awareness is very high. His offense and passing are great, proving his observational skills and basketball IQ are up to par.

He’s just biased, unwilling to invest significantly in defense, especially in the detailed actions not reflected in stats or featured in highlights.

Of course, Carl understands the importance of players like James to the team’s revenue; he doesn’t wish to conflict with James, so he assigns assistant coach Mike Brown to specifically guide James in defense.

Carl tasks Brown with providing nanny-level guidance, teaching James as if he’s a beginner who has no idea about defense and can’t understand defensive strategy diagrams, by guiding him step-by-step.

Even after half a season, Carl hasn’t witnessed any significant progress. Hence, in this game, Carl desires to use the match to train him, to let James enhance himself greatly, refreshing him mentally and technically by trial and practice.

Thus, during the intermission, Carl told James a famous line many coaches have said before.

"LeBron, in the second quarter and the second half, you play as the power forward and deal with Ah Gan."