Although they are both part of the Big Three, the Heat and Celtics are very different.

On the one hand, there is a gap in the quality of the Big Three. When the Celtics' Big Three were formed, they were slightly weaker than the Heat's Big Three in terms of age, strength, and reputation. The only real top star was Garnett.

Although there is no doubt about the strength of Pierce and Ray Allen, it is an indisputable fact that each had only two third-team honors before 2007.

However, in addition to the quality of the Big Three, there is another big difference between the two teams, and that is the strength of other players.

In order to form the Big Three, the Heat have paid a lot, so that the team has very few capable role players. In this regard, the Celtics are much better.

Although the Celtics sacrificed nearly half of the team to get Garnett, they left behind a young man with full potential.

Rajon Rondo.

As a player who grew up under the halo of the Big Three, there is no doubt about Rondo's strength. This season is the second season that he has been selected to the All-Star reserve team, and he has also been selected to the league's All-Defensive Team for three consecutive years.

At the position of point guard, there are very few people who can be better than him in terms of defense. I am afraid there are only a few people such as Jeremy Lin and Paul.

Curry already had a deep understanding of this in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Rivers' targeted defensive tactics are certainly very good, but the real direct reason for Curry's loss of quality is Rondo's extremely oppressive defense.

Unfortunately, the Heat do not have a strong defensive point guard like Rondo.

Mario Chalmers is already the best point guard the Heat can put in the starting position.

So theoretically speaking, the Heat cannot limit this point of Curry.

Of course, the Heat can also pit Wade against Curry and use Wade to limit Curry's performance, but compared to Rondo, Wade has to play the role of offensive terminator more often in the Heat, which is impossible.

Focus wholeheartedly on defense.

Therefore, when facing the Celtics, Wang Xiao focused on Paul George, but when facing the Heat, it was Curry's turn.

Before the game, Wang Xiao almost without hesitation chose long-range shooting as the tactical skill for this game. He wanted to maximize Curry's power.

The result was just as Wang Xiao expected.

Curry showed extremely strong offensive firepower at the beginning of the game.

Facing Chalmers' defense, Curry made three three-pointers in 5 minutes, stopping the Heat abruptly.

The suffocation of not being able to play in the Eastern Conference last season, the frustration of being targeted everywhere when playing against the Celtics, the sudden drop in defensive intensity of opposing players, and the bonus of long-range shooting skills...

All these factors combined have created Curry's extremely efficient offensive efficiency now.

After the timeout, the Heat chose to switch defense and let Wade mark Curry.

However, Wade's defense can only restrict Curry to a certain extent, but cannot completely lock him down. And with Harden coming off the bench, the Wizards began to focus on non-stop singles with Harden. Chalmers continued

It's hard to defend Curry, let alone Harden, who has a huge gap in height and weight.

Although the Heat's defense is among the best in the league, it is still inferior to the Celtics. More often, they rely on the outstanding personal abilities and mobility of the Big Three to drive defense.

While the back line was at a disadvantage, the two teams also struggled fiercely at the forward line.

Putting aside Bosh and Jamison, two power forwards with similar styles who tend to be face-up shooters, the duel between James and George at the small forward position can be said to have attracted the attention of most people.

"Damn, this rookie is getting tougher!"

Frowning and staring at Paul George in front of him, James thought to himself.

Compared with the regular season, after experiencing the series with the Celtics and the confrontation with All-Star small forwards such as Pierce and Anthony, George's skills have become more proficient and his defense has become more difficult.

In just a few minutes of fighting, James has already felt that George's defensive ability is already more difficult than that of Bulls small forward Luol Deng. What's even more troublesome is that George's offense has become extremely threatening.

Sex forced James to deal with it carefully.

"Isn't this guy's progress too great? How did that Chinese coach do it?"

While James secretly complained, George was also mentally active.

After playing against Anthony and Pierce in the playoffs, he realized more and more how powerful James was.

As a small forward, James is far less proficient in various offensive methods than Anthony and Pierce in terms of offensive skills, but his perfect combination of physical fitness, strength and basketball skills is unprecedented in the small forward position!

Just like what is described in Jin Yong's martial arts novels, it is unfair that the heavy sword has no sharp edge. When the power reaches a certain level, it can destroy any defense like a stone.

Every time James catches the ball, George basically knows that the opponent is definitely going to break through, but even if he knows and makes preparations in advance, he still can't prevent it.

It seemed that in front of him he was not a person at all, but an extremely arrogant beast!

"This monster..."

Rubbing his chest, which was sore from being hit by James in the previous confrontation, George secretly gritted his teeth and followed.

"No matter what, your opponent is me!"

…

In the first quarter of the game, the Wizards had the absolute initiative. Focusing on Chalmers' weakness, Curry and Harden both performed very well.

Curry scored 12 points in the first quarter, while Harden scored 9 points.

Relying on the two's efficient scoring, the score between the two teams reached 34:26 in the first quarter, with the Wizards leading by 8 points at home.

For the Heat, Wade scored 13 points and James scored 11 points. The two took almost all the Heat's scores in the first quarter. Among the rest of the Heat's starters, only Bosh hit a mid-range shot.

In the first quarter of the game between James and George, James obviously had the upper hand, because George only scored 7 points in the first quarter.

However, this situation was expected by Wang Xiao.

That is LeBron after all. James is someone who even at his peak George has never defeated in the playoffs.

As long as George can entangle James well on the court and consume the opponent's physical energy, it will be considered a successful defense.

In fact, teams that have defeated James basically do this.

In the 2014 Finals, he faced off against James and claimed to be able to restrain James. Leonard, who won the FMVP trophy, only averaged 17.8 points and 6 rebounds in the series. James, who was restrained by him, averaged 28 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4 assists per game.

.

In the 2015 Finals, Iguodala, who defeated Curry to win the FMVP trophy because of his defense against James, averaged only 16 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game, while James, who was guarded by him throughout the game, averaged 35.8 points, 13 rebounds and 8.8 assists per game.
Chapter completed!