If He Xi Meng could have been kept off the court, Kerr truly would have preferred to have him on the bench, treated as a treasured artifact!
Of course, that was impossible.
After all, the Cavaliers were not a pushover team; they were the Eastern Conference champions of the regular season! Champions, even just regular season champions, wouldn't have any busts.
On the Cavaliers' side, James had played from the opening tip until the end of the first half without a single second of rest.
It wasn't that James didn't want to rest, but that James dared not rest.
James worried that the moment he stepped off the court, the game would uncontrollably tilt towards the Celtics.
After his efforts, he had finally managed to create a balanced situation. If they fell behind... it would be incredibly difficult to catch up!
Therefore, James would rather slack off a bit on the court than take a proper rest.
And by the end of the first half, James, who hadn't rested for a second, began to show a hint of fatigue.
He Xi Meng, with a subtle smirk, precisely caught this hint of fatigue from James and signaled to Carter and Yao Ming, who were beside him.
The two immediately began to shift the ball towards He Xi Meng. After being quiet for half a game, He Xi Meng finally stepped up to stir things up!
He Xi Meng's first act of stirring things up was receiving a kick-out pass from Carter's drive. He Xi Meng faked a shot, intending to draw James into a jump, but James didn't fall for it and didn't leap.
He Xi Meng smoothly passed the ball back to Yao Ming in the post and then accelerated, cutting past James.
Yao Ming took a step after receiving the ball, appearing ready to force a drive. In reality, he made an no-look bounce pass, accurately returning it to the cutting He Xi Meng.
He Xi Meng caught the ball, drove for a layup, and shot quickly, using a time difference to avoid the direct block attempt from Zydrunas and the side-rear block attempt from James.
Moreover, the moment he landed, He Xi Meng skillfully avoided the impact from James behind him and turned to head back on defense.
During his return defense, He Xi Meng didn't forget to high-five Yao Ming and Carter in celebration.
For this play, the offense initiated from Carter. He Xi Meng was initially just an intermediate facilitator, and Yao Ming was supposed to be the final shooter.
However, during the execution of the play, He Xi Meng suddenly made his move, catching the Cavaliers off guard. Yao Ming also set a screen for He Xi Meng, allowing He Xi Meng to easily drive to the basket and score with a floater.
James was a bit bewildered: "Isn't it too early for clutch time? Is He Xi Meng ready to go already?"
Just as the Cavaliers were unsure if this was a genuine attack or a feint, on the second possession, He Xi Meng, taking advantage of a missed shot by the Cavaliers, turned and initiated an off-ball fast break.
Yao Ming grabbed the defensive rebound and passed it to Carter. Carter, taking He Xi Meng's place, delivered a half-court long pass.
He Xi Meng, in turn, took Carter's role and became the vanguard!
Although it was a minor adjustment, it caused a slight confusion in the Cavaliers' defense.
Just moments before, James had been considering an offensive rebound, but then he saw He Xi Meng already sprinting towards the frontcourt. James hesitated for a moment, then decided to go for the offensive rebound.
As a result, he didn't get the offensive rebound, and by the time he turned around, he couldn't catch up to He Xi Meng.
He Xi Meng received the ball in the frontcourt and, facing Pavlovic, who had come to help James with the defense, faked a drive to the inside. He feinted a change of direction, causing Pavlovic to retreat repeatedly. Then, He Xi Meng stopped abruptly, pulled the ball back to the three-point line, and calmly shot.
If James couldn't stop He Xi Meng, then Pavlovic certainly couldn't.
Pavlovic could only watch as the ball sailed over his head and precisely found its way into their own basket.
He Xi Meng scored 5 consecutive points, instantly breaking the balanced state between the two teams.
If the Cavaliers didn't mount a decent counterattack, the Celtics would start pulling away.
James hadn't even caught his breath yet. As he hesitated whether to take the ball and force a shot, Drew Gooden stepped up to help the "Little Emperor" shoulder the burden.
Drew Gooden used a light backdoor cut to shake off his defender, McGee, and then received a sharp pass from James. He executed a post-up pull-up jumper.
Although Drew Gooden's shooting form was a bit unusual, his accuracy was relatively stable.
Today, with Larry Hughes's shooting touch being off, it was Drew Gooden who stepped up to help the Cavaliers fill the scoring void.
However, since He Xi Meng had started to exert himself, he clearly wasn't going to stop there.
Before the end of the half, He Xi Meng wanted to widen the score as much as possible while James was still catching his breath.
Thus, after Drew Gooden made a mid-range jumper, He Xi Meng followed suit. During an off-ball run, he feinted a move towards the three-point line, but then unexpectedly cut inside, received a direct pass from Carter, and hit a mid-range pull-up jumper!
He Xi Meng changing his focus from three-pointers to two-pointers really made James unable to cope. And what was more frustrating was that James was able to keep up with He Xi Meng multiple times.
"Didn't you say your athleticism would decline after the injury? Where did that decline go?"
James was seething internally, his hands starting to lose control, wanting to initiate his own isolation play.
Drew Gooden was still actively moving, looking for shooting opportunities.
James suppressed his anger and passed the ball to Drew Gooden again.
Drew Gooden received the ball and eyed the basket, trying to draw a foul from McGee, who was chasing him. McGee didn't bite on the pump fake. Drew Gooden, lowering his head, tried to drive past him. McGee forcefully blocked him, and the referee called a foul.
And the moment the whistle blew, Drew Gooden still made a shooting motion and forced the ball towards the basket, successfully turning a common foul into a shooting foul.
McGee was unconvinced, especially by the shooting foul call! He angrily chased after the referee, explaining in his slightly accented English, but clearly, the referee wasn't buying it.
In terms of ferocity, there were countless people in the league more intimidating than McGee. The rookie "Polish Hammer" didn't have that kind of influence.
Drew Gooden went to the free-throw line. He calmly made the first shot, but the second bounced out.
McGee was the first to charge forward and fiercely grabbed the ball into his arms, somewhat salvaging a small loss for the team.
On the last possession before the end of the half, the Cavaliers thought the Celtics would play it safe and run out the remaining time.
Unexpectedly, He Xi Meng, who had possession of the ball, saw that James was positioned rather deep. Disregarding sportsmanship, he shot from the Logo area without waiting for the clock to expire...
After He Xi Meng's injury layoff, the league's silent Logo three-pointer finally reappeared in the arena!