Ultimately, James was forced to choose a close-range pull-up jumper.
But with Diaw's desperate interference, James's pull-up jumper was very awkward, and the ball bounced off the rim as expected.
Drew Gooden wanted to fight for the rebound, but Marcin Gortat immediately blocked his path, creating an opportunity for Yao Ming to grab the defensive rebound.
After Yao Ming got the ball, he didn't rush to pass. Instead, he took a beat, and only after the Cavaliers retreated did he leisurely pass the ball to He Xi Meng.
After He Xi Meng brought the ball past half court, he continued to try to lob the ball to Yao Ming in the paint, and the Cavaliers still chose to double-team him.
Yao Ming passed the ball back to Carter on the perimeter. Carter faced Larry Hughes, drove in one step, and directly turned for a fadeaway jumper!
This shot was relatively simple for Carter, but extremely decisive.
The ball swished through the net, and Carter scored two points.
In the previous series, Carter's shooting touch wasn't very good. I don't know if it was because he played too fiercely in the regular season, but by the playoffs, his body had entered a state of fatigue.
Therefore, in the previous series, He Xi Meng unknowingly shouldered a considerable scoring burden, giving Carter a chance to rest.
By rights, Carter should have recovered his shooting touch in this series and shown the MVP form he displayed in the regular season!
James's fast break was unsuccessful, and he was scored on by Carter. If it were an ordinary player, they would be even angrier. But James wasn't. He instead calmed down, no longer asking for the ball from Snow. Instead, he kept moving, and after Snow drove to attack the Celtics' defense, he accelerated, used a back cut to shake off Diaw, and then called for his teammates!
After Snow's drive, he passed the ball to Drew Gooden, who was cutting down the middle.
Drew Gooden was originally preparing to overpower Gortat, but upon hearing James's call, he immediately made a low-hand pass, sending the ball to James, who was cutting unimpeded on the other side!
This time, without Diaw's presence, James's driving speed was incredibly fast. Yao Ming struggled to recover but still couldn't block James. James drove all the way and finished with a one-handed dunk, scoring the Cavaliers' first points of the game!
The entire Celtics crowd couldn't help but let out a gasp.
Even the Boston fans, accustomed to Carter's dunks, had to admit that James's soaring dunk was extremely imposing.
Facing Yao Ming defending the paint, there aren't many perimeter players who dare to challenge and dunk in a half-court offense. James is one of them.
On the Celtics' third possession, Carter waved for the ball on the perimeter, seemingly wanting to return the favor with a dunk, but He Xi Meng shook his head, rejecting Carter's suggestion to go one-on-one against the Cavaliers. Instead, he called for a high-post screen from Yao Ming, appearing to want to execute a high-low play with Yao Ming.
The Cavaliers indeed focused their defensive attention on He Xi Meng and Yao Ming. He Xi Meng faked, and after breaking through, he didn't pass the ball back to Yao Ming, who was cutting down the middle. Instead, he made a no-look pass to Carter, who was making a deep cut to the corner!
Larry Hughes quickly turned to defend, but it was too late.
Carter caught the ball and shot, with a decisive stroke, sinking another corner three-pointer!
"Aren't three-pointers more worthwhile than dunks?"
As He Xi Meng jogged back on defense, he high-fived Carter and teased him.
"They are more worthwhile! But they lack that certain something." 138Reading.net
"Just tell me, isn't it satisfying?"
"It is!"
With Carter making two consecutive shots for 5 points, the Celtics successfully started with a 7:2 lead, giving the Cavaliers a stern warning.
Yao Ming and He Xi Meng hadn't even exerted much effort yet, and Carter was already showing red-hot shooting. This was the situation Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown least wanted to see.
But unfortunately, the situation he least wanted to see seemed to be gradually becoming a reality.
Seeing Carter's shooting touch restored, He Xi Meng naturally wouldn't miss this opportunity and continuously provided Carter with assists.
The key was that He Xi Meng's passes were never clumsy, never just tossing the ball into Carter's hands and walking away.
Before each offensive play, He Xi Meng patiently ran plays, either feigning a pass to Yao Ming inside or acting as if he was going to shoot... This was what troubled the Cavaliers the most.
Every fake by He Xi Meng looked like a real threat. This made the Cavaliers hesitant to shift their defensive focus to Carter. Because if their defensive concentration shifted to Carter, the Celtics' scoring threat wouldn't be limited to just Carter...
Thus, under He Xi Meng's facilitation, Carter repeatedly got easy shooting opportunities. By the end of the first quarter, Carter alone had scored 15 points!
On the Cavaliers' side, James also played very hard in the early stages, but he was constantly hampered.
He Xi Meng had Diaw replace Ariza to guard James, which was a stroke of genius!
In the regular season, the player guarding James for the Celtics was Ariza. Ariza's defensive ability was not weak, and he could even be considered one of the stronger perimeter players in the league. However, when facing James, Ariza's defense was very passive.
The main reason was not a lack of defensive skill, but a lack of defensive strength.
James possessed an elite level of core strength at the small forward position.
Ariza couldn't withstand James's drives and frequently suffered.
But Diaw was different!
After a season of experience, he had proven that he could capably serve as the Celtics' starting power forward. In the paint, he helped Yao Ming battle against the league's interior behemoths, so his core strength was formidable.
James's core strength was elite at the small forward position, but it dropped a tier at the power forward position.
Since Diaw could contend with the league's interior beasts, guarding James at the small forward position was not a difficult task.
What was even more remarkable was that Diaw was not yet plagued by weight issues, his flexibility at the power forward position was top-tier. Even if it dropped a tier at the small forward position, he could still utilize it sufficiently. Moreover, Diaw wasn't fighting alone.
Since he was dealing with the league's future number one player, He Xi Meng naturally wouldn't place all his hopes on Diaw alone.
The task He Xi Meng assigned to Diaw was to disrupt from the perimeter and slow him down at the mid-court line. Once he reached the interior, he could safely leave the help defense to Gortat and Yao Ming.
Diaw, possessing both strength and flexibility, severely hampered the effectiveness of James's drives and reduced his shooting percentage.
By the end of the first quarter, James had taken 10 shots from the field but only made 3 of them...