Game experience truly helps players. After Jeff Green's injury, Ibaka got a chance to start.
Although he couldn't help the team on offense, Ibaka was growing rapidly on defense.
Perhaps Kayce's [Defense Core] badge allowed Ibaka to realize his talent early. In this game, Ibaka clearly had a huge advantage in his matchup against Cavaliers' rookie JJ Hickson.
The two were similar in height and weight, but in the first few minutes of the game, Ibaka completely suppressed his opponent with his excellent physical talent. Hickson failed to convert several easy baskets under the rim.
The Cavaliers attacked. LeBron James once again used O'Neal's screen to shake off Durant's defense and drive straight to the paint. Facing the double-team of Kostić and Ibaka, he passed the ball again to Hickson under the basket.
The latter hesitated for a moment upon receiving the ball, which allowed Ibaka to recover on defense and easily interfere with Hickson's shot. Kostić then successfully secured the defensive rebound.
After about 5 minutes of the 1st quarter, the score was 14:7, with the Thunder easily leading by 7 points.
Thanks to Ibaka's excellent defensive performance, he successfully suppressed James's tank-like drives. Aside from the opening three-pointer, O'Neal scored the remaining 4 points in the paint.
On the Thunder's side, everyone was already almost in 'Brave' mode. Russell's high-post screen-and-roll jump shot, Durant's catch-and-shoot pull-up mid-range after a screen, and Kostić's easy baskets under the rim all went in.
Noticing that the Cavaliers had all quickly retreated on defense, Russell slowly dribbled the ball across half-court, giving his teammates a simple tactical hand signal, indicating that this possession would be a low-post play for Kayce.
The Thunder players immediately started to move. Durant slowly shifted from the right baseline to the top of the arc, while Kayce and Ibaka executed a cross-screen on the baseline, then moved to the mid-post to receive the ball.
Once Kayce successfully received the ball, Russell quickly ran along the baseline around Kayce to draw away his defender. Everyone cleared one side, leaving ample one-on-one space for Kayce.
Facing Anthony Parker's defense, Kayce attacked face-up. After a triple threat, he dropped the ball with his left hand, then dribbled between his legs and quickly executed a front-of-the-body crossover.
He paused slightly, leaned his body back, and at the same time, extended his right hand, faking a gather. This small 'Byron Scott' move easily faked Anthony Parker into the air.
Noticing his opponent was faked, Kayce accelerated with the ball in his left hand, easily blew past the defender, and without waiting for Hickson to come over for help defense, quickly laid it up with his left hand.
"Swish!" The one-handed layup went in.
"Oh!!!"
The audience at Quicken Loans Arena collectively gasped. Kayce's change of pace to shake off his defender and easily lay it up was fluid and beautiful, a completely different style of play from LeBron James.
LeBron James noticed that the team's deficit had already reached 9 points and was about to hit double digits. He immediately felt a bit anxious. After crossing half-court, he drove straight to the basket, using Hickson's screen.
He no longer passed the ball. After an aerial contest with the help-defender Ibaka, he subtly avoided the block with his right hand and banked the layup in.
"Ah!!!"
Seeing the team's star player score again, the home fans immediately erupted in huge cheers. They had to respond; they couldn't let Kayce keep showing off.
After scoring, LeBron James retreated on defense while raising both hands to further hype up the atmosphere.
"Defense! Defense! Defense!"
When the Thunder attacked, the Quicken Loans Arena audience also got fired up, starting to help the home team defend with their shouts.
But Russell was completely unaffected. After a high-post screen-and-roll with Kostić, he pulled up for a jump shot near the free-throw line.
"Swish!" The mid-range shot went in easily.
"Screech!"
Head Coach Mike Brown immediately called a timeout. While O'Neal was impeccable on offense, he truly couldn't move his legs on defense when facing screens. The Cavaliers made a substitution first.
After the timeout, Coach Brooks began to give everyone a pep talk:
"Nenad, hold on for two more minutes, then we'll rotate. Byron, you need to be ready to come in soon and focus on rebounding. Kayce, keep this offensive rhythm."
"Tomorrow we can go back to Oklahoma City and rest for a few days, guys, hang in there!"
In the previous game against the Grizzlies, Kostić was truly exhausted.
The ones with the best stamina were Kayce and Russell. Durant didn't have much defensive pressure in the 1st quarter and took it easy on offense, so his stamina wasn't a big issue.
"I still like playing against Eastern Conference teams, except for the Boston Celtics. I'm kind of looking forward to James's expression after losing!"
Durant took a sip of water and whispered to Kayce with a gloating expression.
"Maybe he's already used to losing to us. After all, we won the last time we played!"
Kayce didn't care about James's performance. After all, the Eastern Conference Cavaliers weren't their rivals, so he just casually said.
"Haha, Kayce is right. Maybe James really will get used to losing to us in the future. I want to play 82 games against the Cavaliers."
Russell also chuckled and added. With insufficient perimeter defensive pressure and weak interior rim protection, Russell completely came out of his slump in this game.
Returning from the timeout, the Cavaliers took O'Neal out and put in Anderson Varejão, increasing the mobility of their interior defense.
LeBron James also started to increase his outside shooting. After a screen-and-roll with Anderson Varejão, James pulled up for a jump shot from the left elbow of the free-throw line.
"Bang!" A hard miss.
After Durant secured the long rebound, the Thunder launched another fast break.
The first pass went to Russell, who received the ball, dribbled it across half-court, and immediately passed it to Kayce. At this point, although the Cavaliers had all retreated on defense, they hadn't set up their matchups properly.
Kayce received the ball with his left hand. Facing Anderson Varejão's defense, he executed an In and Out move with his left hand, directly accelerating past him and driving into the paint.
LeBron James quickly recovered on defense. Kayce didn't force the shot, simply made a drive-and-kick pass, finding Durant on the perimeter.
The latter received the ball and immediately drove. Noticing that Hickson's defense had retreated a big step, Durant dribbled with a crossover, pulled back, and shot a pull-up jump shot.
"Swish!" The long two-pointer went in steadily.
LeBron James stood at the free-throw line, took a deep breath, and calmly made both free throws.
But there wasn't much time left in the 1st quarter. The Thunder slowed down their offensive pace. Kayce signaled everyone to pass the ball patiently, also allowing Kostić to catch his breath.
After some simple perimeter passing, Russell and Ibaka ran a screen-and-roll. After shaking off Gibson's entanglement, Russell accelerated straight with the ball in his right hand, then suddenly executed a small spin move. After spinning to the basket, he scored a low-hand layup with his left hand.
Kayce smiled slightly as he watched Russell play better and better. After the [Organization Core] badge upgraded, the bonus it provided to Russell mainly focused on his finishing at the rim.
Russell's three-point percentage was currently only around 23%, but his finishing at the rim reached 63%.
This was already excellent data for a point guard. The media criticized him for this, not wanting to assist, but frequently attacking the rim. This point guard was too untraditional.
With 2 minutes and 12 seconds left in the 1st quarter, the Thunder also slowly brought in their rotation players, but this did not affect the team's offense, which still firmly controlled the pace of the game.
31:23, the visiting Thunder easily led by 8 points. In the latter half of the 1st quarter, both sides frequently went to the free-throw line, and the officiating in this game was still very favorable to the Cavaliers.
During the break, Head Coach Mike Brown scanned the players on the bench and sighed helplessly:
"The defensive resources aren't keeping up. It seems I'll have to use my trump card early!"
"LeBron, you'll start the 2nd quarter with the bench unit. Go all out to catch up, increase some outside shooting, and you must believe in yourselves, guys. If an opportunity arises, shoot decisively from beyond the arc!"
LeBron James nodded. His stamina was fine. Head Coach Mike Brown was right; he really should increase his outside shooting. After all, the Thunder were giving him the shot, and he needed to respond.
Meanwhile, on the Thunder's bench, the hyped-up Russell ignored Menor's resentful expression and directly told Coach Brooks:
"Coach, I feel great, and my stamina is fine. Let me play first in the 2nd quarter!"
Coach Brooks, who already favored short rotations, waved his hand and readily agreed to Russell's request:
"Byron, when you go in, pay attention to Collison's communication. You must protect the defensive rebounds well. We need to run our transition offense and try to secure the win!"
"I understand, Coach!"
Byron Mullens was a rookie from the same class as Kayce. Before this game, he only played in garbage time. This time, entering the regular rotation, he was very excited. He was finally going to escape the 'atmosphere group'!
When the 2nd quarter began, the Thunder immediately ran an up-the-line double screen cross-cut play. After Kayce received the ball at the left 45-degree angle outside the three-point line, LeBron James's defense also arrived quickly; his trailing defense ability was indeed commendable.
After receiving the ball, Kayce immediately executed a cross-step crossover. Noticing that LeBron James's defense was very tight, Kayce didn't choose to pull back directly. Instead, he quickly dribbled twice with his left hand before pulling the ball back, then swiftly changed direction between his legs with his right hand.
Lowering his center of gravity, he quickly dribbled the ball twice in place with his left hand, adjusted his footwork, and then changed direction between his legs again.
LeBron James was still faked out by Kayce's fluctuating rhythm. When Kayce accelerated and drove with the ball in his right hand, he had successfully gained half a step on his opponent.
While driving, he noticed Anderson Varejão had already retreated to defend the basket. He faked a shot and made a true pass, shaking off the defense and passing to Byron Mullens under the basket. The latter received the ball and easily put it into the hoop.
"Boo!"
The audience at Quicken Loans Arena immediately booed Kayce loudly. Kayce had put on an incredible show in this game, with a continuous stream of flashy moves, which caused some Cleveland fans to lose their composure.
"You should've dunked that, Bro!"
On the way back on defense, Kayce teased Byron Mullens, who had just entered the game, to help ease his tension.
"Uh, I didn't expect to get such an easy dunk opportunity. Thanks, Kayce!"
Byron Mullens was very grateful for Kayce's assist. Scoring right after coming on was definitely a wonderful start.
The Cavaliers attacked. LeBron James, whose anger was steadily rising, immediately initiated a pick-and-roll with Anderson Varejão after crossing half-court. Noticing that Kayce was also defending on the baseline, he went around the screen and, without hesitation, directly shot a jump shot from beyond the three-point line.
"Swish!" The three-pointer went through the net without touching the rim.
The Thunder were unaffected and quickly inbounded the ball. Russell dribbled quickly across half-court, paused slightly outside the three-point line, swiftly changed direction in front of his body, and drove into the restricted area with the ball in his left hand.
Javale Williams, who came off the bench, immediately retreated to defend the basket. Russell, however, faked a shot and made a true pass to Collison, who was unguarded. The latter received the ball and easily scored with a floater.
"Too fast! An inbound pass from the baseline allowed Westbrook to easily drive for a one-man fast break. The Cavaliers' perimeter defense needs to pay attention. They must defend first to catch up on the score. If this continues, the game will truly be over."
Yang Jian (Host) felt a bad premonition. Could the game be decided by halftime?
LeBron James was completely speechless. Gibson couldn't score or defend. He had to be benched for the next game!
In the first few minutes of the second quarter, the audience at Quicken Loans Arena grew increasingly disheartened. The arena had completely become a personal showcase for Kayce and Russell. The two played with increasing enthusiasm, with Kayce controlling the tempo and Russell solely focused on charging forward.
Russell, who was already hyped up, accelerated frantically on a fast break. After crossing half-court, he first used a left-hand crossover in front of his body to get past Javale Williams, then ignored Anderson Varejão under the basket, and the "Divine Russell" took flight.
His body was like a bent bow, delivering a powerful one-handed slam dunk!
"CRASH!" The fast break dunk was successful.
"Unbelievable! Westbrook's athleticism is truly incredible! The Cavaliers' perimeter defense really can't stop him. On fast breaks, they're already failing to match up. If they keep playing like this, the score difference will only get bigger and bigger!"
The audience at Quicken Loans Arena grew increasingly despondent. Their celebration was being crashed.
LeBron James had been driving and kicking in the previous few possessions, but the home team's basket seemed to have a lid on it, with all their perimeter shots clanking off the rim. In this possession, after a pick-and-roll with JJ Hickson, James decided to take it himself, once again attempting a jump shot from beyond the three-point line.
"BANG!" It was a brick!
Seeing Thabo Sefolosha grab the long rebound, the Thunder once again launched a furious fast break. James's mouth twitched. This game was truly going to be over!
The Cavaliers scrambled back on defense and finally managed to stop this fast break. Russell held the ball at the right 45-degree angle outside the three-point line and gave Kayce a look.
At this moment, Kayce feigned going up high to initiate a handoff, then suddenly back-cut along the baseline, shaking off LeBron James's defense. Russell also understood implicitly, and the pass arrived just as Kayce did.
Kayce received the ball, took one dribble, jumped off both feet, and, despite Anderson Varejão's block, delivered a powerful one-handed slam dunk!
"CRASH!" The ball went in, and the player flew.
Anderson Varejão, lying on the ground, had only one thought: "Why is it always me who gets hurt?"
"Oh!!!"
The audience at Quicken Loans Arena once again let out a huge gasp. Kayce's dunk had an incredibly strong visual impact. Watching the replay on the big screen, Kayce practically slammed the ball into the rim. That dunk was truly ferocious!
The Thunder's bench mob threw towels all over the floor, howling on the sidelines. Durant also made a gesture of cupping his ear, signaling the fans on the sidelines to keep booing.
"That was so cool! Kayce, you should enter the Slam Dunk Contest!"
Before Kayce could even show off after his dunk, he was bumped off balance by an excited Russell.
"Screech!"
Head Coach Mike Brown called a timeout. The game was already showing a one-sided trend, and he could only hope that when the starters returned, they could narrow the deficit a bit.
But unfortunately, in the subsequent play, the Cavaliers' perimeter shots continued to clank off the rim. They could only rely on O'Neal's post-ups and James's drives to stay in the game.
At halftime, the score was 63:49, with the Thunder, playing on the road, holding a 14-point lead.
During halftime, in the Thunder's locker room, everyone was smiling, with victory in sight. Winning this game would allow them to maintain their lead in the Western Conference and also return to Oklahoma City for a nice four-day rest.
"I think the Cavaliers have a mental problem. They're not even playing defense anymore! O'Neal doesn't even come up to defend the pick-and-roll!"
Durant hadn't expected this game to be so easy. In their previous encounter, the Thunder had won with great difficulty, but tonight's game had completely broken the opponent by halftime.
"After all, O'Neal is also a veteran. I hope the Cavaliers' perimeter shooting remains just as cold in the second half."
Kayce was also a bit surprised. After all, the Cavaliers had easily defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in their last game, and just a day later, their perimeter game had completely collapsed.
"Haha, maybe this is what Kayce often talks about as the conservation of good luck. After one good shooting night, the next will surely be cold. Our shooting percentage against the Grizzlies wasn't high, so it rebounded this game!"
"Great, we can finally get some good rest back in Oklahoma City. I'm starting to miss Ford Center."
After the second half began, the Cavaliers' perimeter shooting percentage still didn't improve. Although the Thunder also started missing shots, with a 14-point lead and Kayce, the 'metronome,' on the court, the Cavaliers were consistently unable to launch effective counterattacks.
LeBron James began to frequently attack the basket, but such performance could not reverse the Cavaliers' decline. After only struggling for a little over four minutes, and after Kayce sank another clutch shot, the Cavaliers completely collapsed.
Durant took advantage of the situation, scoring with both drives and outside shots. O'Neal even started to just watch the Thunder make layups.
Garbage time arrived earlier than expected. In the latter half of the third quarter, both teams had already tacitly started to pad their stats.
The game time quickly ran out, and ultimately, 114 to 100, the Thunder defeated the Cavaliers on the road, still leading the Los Angeles Lakers by one game and continuing to top the Western Conference.
Perhaps due to the frustrating loss, after the game, LeBron James directly turned and walked towards the player tunnel, seemingly wanting to express his dissatisfaction with the team through this action.
O'Neal, however, was not affected by the loss and happily embraced and greeted the Thunder players after the game.
"Kayce, you're truly outstanding. The All-Star game without your participation would definitely be a major loss! If I were 10 years younger and we partnered up, we could definitely easily win a championship!"
O'Neal found Kayce and, with a serious expression, began a session of mutual flattery.
"Haha, Shaq, I believe you. No one could stop a young Shark. You are a legend!"
Kayce immediately started with a barrage of praise, making O'Neal ecstatic. The more they flattered each other, the happier they became. O'Neal almost directly followed Kayce back to the Thunder's locker room, thinking, 'Little Cavaliers, it's not worth staying.'
Coach Brooks also breathed a sigh of relief. After four road games, with a record of 3 wins and 1 loss, they could now rest for four days and then play four consecutive home games, making the schedule much easier.
"Alright, lads, get a good night's rest. Tomorrow we can head back to Oklahoma City. After that, the team has a day off. Go home and relax!"
"Yay!!"
After returning to the hotel, Kayce first sent a message to Chapman. They needed to discuss the shoe contract issue tomorrow when they returned to Oklahoma City. After a quick wash, he immediately collapsed onto the soft big bed.
When he successfully posterized Anderson Varejão, he suddenly felt a sense of lightness in his body upon landing. Kayce thought that perhaps the [Posterizer] badge had upgraded. With this thought in mind, Kayce slowly drifted into sleep.
In the Dream Training Space, Kayce saw two prompts appear in the Achievement Room and immediately smiled slightly. Playing against the Cavaliers always yielded significant rewards.
Entering the Achievement Room, Kayce looked at the newly produced bronze badge in front of him. He lightly touched it to view its attributes:
Achievement Badge [Unlimited Takeoff]: 3 / 50
Increases the success rate of a player dunking or laying up from a greater takeoff distance.
With simple and direct attributes, Kayce felt that he could try a free-throw line dunk in a real game in the future. This badge was definitely a tool for showing off! He lightly touched the upgraded silver badge again:
Achievement Badge [Posterizer]: 6 / 500
Increases the chance of successfully dunking forcefully over a defender. Successfully dunking restores a small amount of stamina.
The attributes of the silver [Posterizer] badge had not changed, but its effect should have been enhanced. Fortunately, each poster dunk added a good amount of experience; otherwise, upgrading this badge would have been truly difficult.
Kayce saw a striking silver color filling the Achievement Room and immediately felt satisfied:
"Once I upgrade all my badges to silver, I should be able to say goodbye to the title of 'Bankrupt Jordan.' Thinking about it makes me a little excited!"