บท 113: A True Brother.
LeBron's expression shifted instantly.
Back when Han had spoken up for him during that controversy, it had struck a chord. It felt like a "friend in need is a friend indeed" kind of moment.
But then his advisor, Maverick Carter, pointed out that Han's comments might have had a double meaning—mocking him in a subtle way. LeBron had snapped out of his sentimental thoughts right then.
It was also Carter who had advised him to maintain the demeanor of "The Chosen One." This would help keep him on a moral high ground over Han.
Carter had been his childhood friend and the smartest member of his team, the driving force behind "The Decision." So LeBron followed his advice to the letter.
During warmups, LeBron tested the waters with Han, thinking Carter's plan was working. But now, it was clear—Han had been playing him all along. He was never going to make things easy for him.
"We'll be opponents next season, no matter what. I'm looking forward to facing you," Han's challenging words at that press conference came back to him.
And that phrase, "I'll let you call for a screen," wasn't new either. Han had used it as trash talk against Paul Pierce when the Cavaliers played the Celtics.
It was a no-win situation—calling for a screen would be admitting weakness, but going one-on-one with Han wouldn't be easy either.
Back when he was with the Cavaliers, one of the main reasons he tried so hard to keep Han Sen on the team was because he didn't want to face his defense.
LeBron's mind raced through these thoughts in an instant, then he began scanning the court for an open teammate.
Han could only shake his head. "That's so you, LeBron…"
At this moment, he thought even Pierce had shown more guts than LeBron.
Still, the Grizzlies' defense remained solid, and LeBron struggled to find a good passing option.
Finally, Wade, the ever-reliable teammate, managed to slip away from Gay and move toward LeBron.
The latter's eyes, which had been filled with frustration, suddenly lit up.
Han felt a mix of annoyance and familiarity.
"Here we go again," he thought. LeBron's face always looked like this when he was about to pass the responsibility to someone else, just like back in Cleveland.
In his mind, Han could almost hear LeBron's voice echoing those infamous lines:
"You know, Han's my brother…"
"You know, Wade's my brother…"
This guy never fails to amaze, Han thought.
Gay couldn't keep up with Wade, and LeBron fired the ball over to him. But as the ball left his hands, a figure lunged forward.
Han had been waiting for this exact pass.
Why was it that when players like Nash or Rondo made similar passes, they were called "artistic," but when LeBron did it, people said he was avoiding responsibility?
Because LeBron's passes, like his pump-fake threes, were usually too easy to read.
Smack!
Han cut in from the side, intercepted the pass, and sprinted forward.
Wade, who was already reaching out to catch the ball, could only watch as Han made the steal. The move was so sudden that Wade had no time to react.
Han sped down the court and finished with a layup.
49-41!
Han had scored six consecutive points in the second half, with two steals from LeBron.
He wasn't just holding his own against the Big Three; he was outplaying them.
As they jogged back on defense, Han and LeBron crossed paths.
"I wasn't wrong when I called you a coward back then," Han said. "The league's so-called best player doesn't even have the courage to go one-on-one with someone ranked outside the top 100?"
Han's words didn't have any profanity, but they stung more than any insult could.
LeBron's expression remained unreadable, but on the very next possession, he drifted out of the Heat's offensive scheme. When Bosh passed him the ball, LeBron just stood there, letting it bounce out of bounds.
Bosh put his hands on his head in frustration, while LeBron stared vacantly before jogging back up the court.
Han shook his head in disappointment.
LeBron's mental fortitude was so fragile. How could someone like this be taken seriously as a rival? He didn't even have the nerve to back up his infamous "Not 7" proclamation!
Then again, if LeBron had strong mental resilience, he wouldn't have come to Miami in the first place.
Spoelstra saved LeBron once more by substituting him for Mike Miller at the next dead ball.
After LeBron was benched, the Heat played more smoothly under Wade and Bosh, though they couldn't close the gap like they had in the first half.
Hansen's scoring streak had sparked the Grizzlies' momentum.
By the 10-minute mark of the third quarter, the Grizzlies were up 67-57, a double-digit lead over the Heat.
It seemed like the Heat were going to mess up their opening game.
In the stands, Pat Riley stroked his chin, lost in thought.
During the preseason, he had sensed something was off. It wasn't so much the Heat's problem as it was LeBron's.
LeBron's status as the league's top player was debatable, but he shouldn't be this bad.
Ultimately, it came down to his uniqueness as a superstar.
Most superstars could adapt to a team, but you had to build the team around LeBron for him to excel.
That wasn't something that could be solved in the short term.
His gaze shifted to Han Sen, who was resting.
Back when he had considered drafting Han but failed to pick him, the young player's growth had been astounding.
Riley couldn't help but wonder if things would have been better if he had traded Beasley for a lottery pick, drafted Han, then signed Wade and Bosh this summer while strengthening the frontcourt.
At the end of the third quarter, the Grizzlies maintained a 72-62 lead.
In other games, a 10-point deficit wouldn't be much, but for a slow-paced team like the Grizzlies, it was a substantial advantage.
At the start of the fourth quarter, Hollins immediately sent Gay back in.
Coincidentally, the Heat also sent LeBron back on the court.
Han admired Spoelstra for this. He was still a young coach, yet his abilities were already impressive.
Then he stood up and approached Hollins, requesting to play at the start of the fourth quarter.
Breaking the rotation wasn't something coaches liked, but Han's reasoning convinced Hollins.
"If we can extend the lead to 15 or more, the fourth quarter will be garbage time."
Beating the Big Three into garbage time?
It sounded tempting.
As the fourth quarter began, both teams' players took the court.
Seeing Han come off the bench, Spoelstra quickly called back Ilgauskas and put Bosh in early.
The Grizzlies lineup: West, Han, Gay, James Johnson, and Haddadi.
The Heat lineup: Chalmers, Miller, LeBron, Haslem, and Bosh.
The Grizzlies attacked first.
West organized the offense, Gay broke past Haslem, but his pull-up jumper was disrupted by Bosh and missed.
Bosh's defense was underrated—he could hold his own against Randolph in the post and was just a bit slower than Garnett in help defense.
The Heat had a chance to close the gap.
LeBron reached the frontcourt and found Han Sen defending him... Wait, wasn't Han a shooting guard?!
He had a bad feeling as soon as he saw Han start the fourth quarter.
It turned out Han wasn't even pretending to hide his intentions this time.
When cornered, even a rabbit would bite. LeBron couldn't tolerate this.
If he couldn't score with the ball, did that mean… he couldn't score off the ball either?!
Using Bosh's screen, LeBron cut to the basket and pointed upward, signaling for an alley-oop from Chalmers. LeBron finished with a powerful slam.
The Heat's lineup had great spacing, and LeBron's off-ball movement was hard to defend.
After landing, LeBron flexed his biceps and roared at the camera.
Gay's next drive into the paint resulted in a steal by LeBron.
Han's presence disrupted the previous [mutual padding] pattern, and that alley-oop helped LeBron regain some confidence.
However, just as LeBron prepared to drive forward after the steal, a shadow passed by, and the ball was gone.
After being dunked on, Han had kept his eyes on LeBron.
The steal came from his deep understanding of LeBron.
After securing the steal, he darted to the basket. Seeing Bosh coming over to help, he tossed the ball toward the rim.
Gay, who had been lingering in the paint, leaped up and finished with a one-handed alley-oop slam.
The play electrified the crowd.
In terms of vertical leap and wingspan, Gay was superior to LeBron, which was precisely what made a dunk visually stunning.
After being stripped earlier, Gay was thrilled to make such an impactful play the very next moment.
He ran over to Han and enthusiastically bumped chests with him.
LeBron was left stunned.
Just when he was getting into rhythm, it was him again—damned Han Sen!
The Heat's possession saw Bosh holding the ball at the high post. Suddenly, he spun and charged towards the basket, scoring an and-one over Haddadi, who was rotating to help on defense.
After the basket, Bosh let out his signature roar.
The crowd's fallen energy instantly surged back.
Haddadi dominated in Asian competitions, but it was clear that in the NBA, his paint protection was not on the same level as the "Black and White Bears" (Zach Randolph and Marc Gasol).
Moreover, Bosh had just joined the Heat and hadn't been required to practice three-pointers yet, so his scoring ability inside the paint was still top-tier in the league.
Bosh made the free throw, bringing the score to 74-67.
Spoelstra's in-game substitution adjustments were paying off.
Han then gave West a look.
West understood and set up a pick-and-roll with Haddadi on the offensive end to distract the Heat's defense. As he drove to the free-throw line, he passed the ball to the weak side at a 45-degree angle.
Over there, Han had already found a three-point opportunity, thanks to James Johnson's screen.
This was a shot Han had showcased during Grizzlies' training sessions, and now it appeared in an official game.
But just as Han was about to release the shot, a figure flew toward him.
This play was actually adapted from the Cavaliers' previous pass-and-cut strategy—how could LeBron not recognize it? He had just been stripped by Han, and now he was ready to make up for it with this block.
Han saw LeBron in mid-air.
Judging by normal speed, LeBron's block was going to reach Han.
Han sped up his shooting motion, aided by Grover's muscle conditioning training and the reinforcement brought by [Iron Body], allowing him to accomplish this.
Smack!
LeBron's hand struck Han's arm.
The referee's whistle blew promptly from the sideline.
Before LeBron could get the block, Han had already completed the shot.
LeBron's force was strong, causing Han to lose his balance in mid-air. He quickly slid backward upon landing to avoid injury.
Swish!
As he lay on the ground, he heard that familiar sound.
Thanks to Mike Brown!
Without Brown's intensive three-point shooting drills, even with all those enhancements, Han would have only avoided getting blocked on that play. But now, he made the shot!
The crowd erupted.
Bosh's and-one had reignited the Heat's morale, but Han's four-point play immediately extinguished it.
Gay and West quickly ran over to pull Han up.
It was a familiar scene, but this time, it had shifted from Cleveland to Memphis.
As Han got up, he glanced at LeBron with a smile and mouthed, "Thank you."
He then stepped up to the free-throw line and made the free throw despite the heavy distraction.
78-67, and the Grizzlies regained a double-digit lead.
Meanwhile, as Han was taking the free throw, Hollins substituted Marc Gasol for Haddadi.
With Gasol on the floor, the Grizzlies' interior defense significantly improved. Bosh attacked the rim again but failed to score.
On the other end, Gasol showcased his playmaking skills at the free-throw line, making a no-look bounce pass that assisted Johnson's backdoor cut for a basket.
The lead suddenly stretched to 13 points, heading towards garbage time in the fourth quarter.
"Let's go! Heat!"
The crowd, led by the announcer, was cheering for the home team.
It was the first game of the season, and the Heat were still working on their chemistry. Losing wasn't the worst thing, but if the peak Big Three were to get blown out into garbage time, it would be embarrassing.
However, with Gasol on the court and momentum building, scoring wasn't going to be easy for the Heat.
LeBron then repeated an old trick, signaling to Bosh and quickly cutting to the basket.
Bosh utilized his playmaking skills, making a bounce pass as soon as possible.
But before the ball reached LeBron's hands, Han once again darted in from the side and intercepted the pass.
Bosh's pass resembled Gasol's earlier one, but unlike Gasol's well-disguised move, Bosh's intent was too obvious.
And Han wasn't going to let the same tactic work twice.
After the steal, Han immediately passed the ball to West on the perimeter.
The former Cavaliers duo sprinted beyond the three-point line, one in front and one trailing.
At that moment, there was no Wade on the court, only Chalmers trying to guard West.
West quickly passed the ball behind him on the fast break, using the momentum to push Chalmers out of bounds.
Han caught the pass, with nothing behind him but photographers ready to snap a picture.
He knew what he had to do.
About a meter from the basket, he slowed down, twisted his body in mid-air, brought the ball from in front of him down, and then slammed it into the hoop with a windmill dunk.
Bang!
The flashbulbs went off as Han delivered the most spectacular windmill dunk of his career thus far, right in Miami's home arena.
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