The Fifth Point Guard

Returning to Cleveland with the home court advantage, STO, James and others are full of confidence in the upcoming battle at Tianwangshan.

James was still dissatisfied with the final call in Game 4 when speaking to the media.

"We could have come back with a score of 3-1, but some people obviously don't want to see that happen, especially in San Antonio, their home court. I think we can win Game 5, Then we go to their side with match points, and no matter what the result is, winning the next game will put us in a very favorable situation, otherwise we will be in a hard fight."

With the score tied at 2-2, everyone wanted to win the crucial fifth game.

This shows how intense this game will be.

Before the ball was even played, the media from the two places took the lead in starting the war.

San Antonio media:

"We have been suffering from unfair penalties in the away game, otherwise we would not have played so hard. I hope the referees in the fifth game can be fair and at least not call too biased, even though it is at home in Cleveland."

"The end of the fourth game was full of controversy, but even if the ball was given to the Cavaliers, could they really guarantee that they would score? Didn't Shentong's final three-pointer still miss? Besides, the first half of that game Part of the time, the referee made several calls that favored the Cavaliers.”

"Look at LeBron's dribbling and layups. He takes a step almost every minute. I hope the referees will pay attention to LeBron's steps."

Cleveland media:

"Shouldn't Bruce Bowen be sent off in every game? Look at his defense against Shentong. Almost every time he defends, his hand will be on Shentong's waist, and there are endless small moves that never stop."

"Malik Rose's defense against LeBron was not clean either. He kept hitting James' lower body with his knee. If you look carefully, you can definitely find that the league cannot allow these actions that harm players to occur."

"Tim Duncan was sitting on the bench laughing at 3:45 of the second quarter of Game 4. Did no one care?"

As for the fans from both sides, their speeches were earth-shattering and without any scruples.

Everyone knows the power of crazy fans.

There is no point in trying to reason with them.

But coming back to the game itself, everyone is setting their sights on June 20.

That night, there was a rare sudden heavy rain in Cleveland, but the bad weather could not stop the enthusiasm of the fans at all.

There was still a huge crowd outside Gund Arena.

Since the weather forecast did not report rain in the evening, many fans did not bring rain gear that day.

This can make a lot of money for surrounding supermarkets and convenience stores.

The atmosphere in the arena was hot.

The Cavaliers' starting lineup has not changed, but the Spurs have made changes.

They arranged Malik Rose into the starting lineup to play the small forward position, which was a change made for James.

Bowen was directly placed at the shooting guard position, mainly marking Shentong.

Manu Ginobili, who originally started, was placed on the bench by Popovich. It seems that Ginobili was intended to lead the second team and maintain the offensive power of the court.

In the first quarter, the Cavaliers, playing at home, burst out with amazing energy.

STO hit 3 three-pointers in the first quarter.

James even responded directly to the Spurs' changes on the court.

Didn't you use Rose on the field just to deal with me? Then I'll let you see if your wishful thinking works!

James, who was in the second position, had an extremely strong desire to attack in the first quarter. He faced Rose's defense very resolutely and went head-to-head, scoring 2+1 twice in a row.

James, who was taking a dominant step, completely ignored Rose's roar at the referee.

Rose: "The ball just took six damn steps. Isn't that a move?"

Referee: "You committed the foul first and your hand got stuck on him, so he could only lay up like this."

Rose: "Then the goal should be disallowed! Just let him take a free throw."

Referee: "The layup is a coherent action, there is no problem, it should be counted and a penalty added."

Rose: "Is his father David Stern? Are you going to defend him like this?"

Referee: "If you dare to say one more word, I will give you a technical foul immediately."

Ross: "Okay, I won't say it."

“Didi didi——!!!”

"Spurs player No. 31, technical foul!"

Ross: "."

At the end of the first half, the Cavaliers led 51-40.

Judging from the performance at halftime, the Cavaliers were obviously in better shape than the Spurs, and Popovich's thought-smart change of formation had the opposite effect.

James played more eye-catchingly in the second half.

What is very rare is that James even succeeded in posting up Duncan under the basket.

Not to mention Malik Rose, even if JJ Barea is here, he will never be able to guard James.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the Cavaliers were almost certain to win.

No one thought that in the exciting finals battle at Tianwangshan, the Cavaliers could lead the Spurs by such a big score of 89-71.

But just as the game entered the second half of the fourth quarter, James' breakthrough in the frontcourt encountered a flagrant foul from a Spurs player.

At that time, James faced Rose's defense. He first stepped down and dribbled and used a crab step. Then, with a roar like a killing pig, he knocked Rose away and rushed into the paint.

Robert Horry, who had just come on as a substitute, suddenly rushed out from the side, almost with all his strength, and bumped into James from the side.

At this moment, James has just passed Rose and is exerting force on one foot, with his center of gravity unstable.

So when Horry rushed for a layup, James was knocked directly out of the baseline and fell heavily to the ground.

What's even more disturbing is that the slow motion shows that the moment Horry knocked down James, the latter's ankle and the floor showed an astonishing 90-degree angle!

James, who was knocked to the ground, looked very painful. He covered his ankles with his hands and rolled on the ground.

Horry raised his hands and looked at James struggling on the floor with a very innocent expression.

Before everyone could react, Shentong and Wagner had already rushed to Horry's side, and Shentong even pushed Horry staggering with a palm.

Horry, who almost fell down, looked back and saw that it was Shentong. He was unambiguous and immediately stepped forward to argue with Shentong, cursing.

Duncan quickly stepped in the middle to separate Horry and Shentong.

But across Duncan, Horry and Shentong were still greeting each other. Within a few rounds, Horry seemed to suddenly become angry and kept trying to bypass Duncan and rush towards Shentong.

After all, Shentong is a man from Zu'an, and there are not many opponents who can be Shentong's opponent.

At this time, the referee came forward and gave two consecutive technical fouls to Horry and Shentong, and the situation calmed down a little.

The Cavaliers' team doctor ran onto the court and came to James' side.

After checking James' ankle injury, the team doctor shook his head toward the coaching bench and made a stretcher gesture.

"How is LeBron?" Shentong asked anxiously.

The team doctor whispered: "The situation is not good. I'm afraid I need immediate surgery and I won't be able to play in the next games."

This news is undoubtedly a bolt from the blue for Shentong and the Cavaliers!

James' influence on the team is obvious, and his performance in this game was very good, maybe he can continue this state.

But now and in the next games, the Cavaliers will face a situation without James on the court.

This is very cruel to the young Cavaliers competing against the Spurs.

James was taken out on a stretcher and taken directly to the hospital.

Before leaving the court, James had scored 30 points, 9 rebounds and 8 assists, and was very hopeful of scoring a triple-double.

But heaven and hell were transformed in just a few seconds.

After discussion between the three referees on site and the rostrum, Horry was awarded a second-level flagrant foul and was ejected directly from the court.

Horry made no excuses, shook his head and left the court accompanied by Spurs staff.

As Horry walked toward the tunnel, Gund Arena was filled with deafening boos.

But there was an inexplicable expression on Popovich's face.

James' departure is indeed a huge blow to the Cavaliers' morale.

However, due to the huge point difference and too short remaining time, the Cavaliers still defeated the Spurs 102-94, rewriting the score to 3-2 and holding two match points.

The Cavaliers should have been very happy after winning the Battle of Tianwang Mountain, but James' injury cast a shadow on the team's championship prospects.

The Cavaliers without James are like a strong tiger that suddenly loses a foot, and the impact will be very big.

Moreover, losing a general at such a critical moment will also have a considerable impact on the morale of the Cavaliers.

After the game, the Cleveland media, including Cavaliers coach Paul Silas, used a very stern tone to denounce Robert Horry for his unethical foul.

Some media wrote: "He did it on purpose. They couldn't see that the Cavaliers had LeBron performing very well even with Shentong, which would cost them the chance to compete for the championship, so they looked for opportunities to destroy LeBron. As for Robert, he is just a little soldier. With or without him, it will have little impact on the Spurs, but without LeBron, the Cavaliers will be in trouble."

Silas also rarely expressed his dissatisfaction with Horry's foul in a reprimanding tone.

"I believe that when you lose, you have to lose with conviction, and when you win, you also have to win magnanimously. But the Spurs and their players obviously don't think so. I don't bother to speculate on the purpose of others doing this. But undoubtedly Robert's foul makes me feel sick. , he made the game ugly, such a person should not stay on the court and continue to play!"

Compared to the Cleveland Cavaliers' outrage, the Spurs are quite low-key.

Horry expressed his gratitude to James and the Cavaliers in a very sincere tone at the press conference.

"My foul was really not intentional. I just wanted to catch up with LeBron quickly and stop his offense, but I didn't expect that such a collision would knock him off the baseline so seriously. After all, he looked like a So strong. But no matter what, if I did anything to hurt LeBron and the Cavaliers, I sincerely apologize to everyone and will strictly regulate my words and deeds in future games. I accept all penalties from the league. "

After the game, the NBA quickly issued its punishment opinions for Horry.

Horry will be suspended for five games, which means that the key man will miss the rest of the series and will be suspended for the first few games of the regular season next year.

To be honest, this penalty is relatively severe, but it is not as harmful as the Cavaliers' lack of James.

Although the Cavaliers led by a big score of 3-2, people gradually began to be optimistic about the Spurs who were lagging behind by a big score.

That is, the Cavaliers who lost James cannot beat the Spurs who lost Horry.

Facts seem to support these people's views.

In Game 6, the Cavaliers had their last stand.

Wagner vowed before the game that other players will give 120% of their strength to make up for the vacancy left by LeBron James.

Silas also said that Reggie Miller's appearance can help the Cavaliers try a completely different style of play without James.

But reality slaps those who fantasize about the Cavaliers winning.

The Spurs pressed Shentong almost without any scruples, leaving Shentong with no shooting touch in this game.

Compared with STO, which has been struggling to find touch, the Spurs' GDP has made a collective effort.

Miller played well, but he was just a shooter and could not bear James' influence on the offensive and defensive ends.

The Cavaliers suffered their worst loss since the playoffs.

80-104.

A 24-point defeat.

Facing the post-game interview, Shentong, who only scored 19 points, first looked up to the sky and let out a long sigh, then smiled and said: "I can only say that we all seemed to be out of shape in this game. It can be seen that LeBron's absence made everyone feel nervous." With a certain psychological burden, although we have just experienced a heavy defeat, fortunately, the score is now 3-3. This is not the end of the world. We still have a chance, and for the last game, we will return to Cleveland. .”

The local San Antonio newspaper published a piece of news on the local sports official website 10 minutes after the game ended.

"The Spurs beat the Cavaliers, only one game away from the championship!" 》

Such a title obviously stung many people's nerves.

Originally people thought Silas would be very angry about this defeat, but at the post-game press conference, Silas was surprisingly calm.

"We're not ready to win a championship, but now we're only 3-3, there's still a chance, right?"

The results of James' injury were announced the day after the Game 6 loss.

The ankle required immediate surgery and the recovery period is expected to be three months.

This news completely dispelled the only glimmer of hope for some fans who had illusions.

To make matters worse, Big Z worked too hard in the last game and his head was concentrated by Duncan's elbow during the game. Although he only felt dizzy for a moment and insisted on finishing the game, during the post-game examination, , the team doctor discovered that Big Z had a concussion reaction and had to rest for a week and was unable to participate in the final battle.

Everything is going against the Cavaliers.

Even the local media in Cleveland began to be unfavorable about the Cavaliers' prospects of winning the championship.

Losing James, losing Big Z, and only two of the starting five were eliminated. How could the Cavaliers, whose book strength was not as good as that of the Spurs, win the championship?

When all kinds of news were overwhelming, the Cavaliers collectively chose silence.

But one day before the game, STO suddenly released an unexpected video on the Internet.