NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 252 A gentleman doesn't leave a grudge unavenged.

Hawks fans at Philips Arena harbor resentment towards the Heat. After all, it was this team that eliminated their home team last season.

The starting lineups of both teams came on the field, with Horford and Bosh preparing for the jump ball near the center circle.

The jump ball begins, and the Hawks gain possession of the first ball on offense.

Teague dribbled the ball over.

James Ennis, a second-year rookie, is guarding Jia Fei.

This isn't LeBron James, it's James Ennis, so they're not the same type of player. Ennis is 198cm tall, physically strong, and excels at defense.

However, being good at defense and being able to stop an opponent are not absolute. Just like Ben Wallace back in the day, a four-time Defensive Player of the Year, he still dominated Yao Ming and Shaquille O'Neal.

A superstar's offense often cannot be stopped by one person alone; it requires more team defense and also depends on his condition that day.

On the Hawks' first possession, Millspin was one-on-one with Shawn Williams in the low post, but his mid-range jump shot missed.

With Wade and the running man off the court, Bosh no longer stretched out to the three-point line to create offensive space for the two. He held the ball in the midcourt and isolated Horford, took a jab step and drove to the basket, but missed the jump shot!

Jia Feifei grabbed the rebound, brought the ball over, and faced Ennis's full-court defense. He made a crossover and drove hard, but Ennis couldn't keep up and pulled him down, quickly picking up his first personal foul!

The Hawks inbound the ball, Teague catches it and passes it to Jia Fei!

Jia Fei receives the ball, and Horford comes over to screen.

Jia Fei dribbled down the right flank and, facing the opponent's delay, chose to drive straight through!

The Heat opted for a double team attack, and Jia Fei, looking back, passed the ball to Horford!

Horford scores with a high-post jump shot!

The Hawks scored first! Jia Fei delivered the first assist of the game!

During the Heat's offense, facing Jia Fei's defense, Luol and others forced a back-to-the-basket move, but the opportunity was missed, so they passed the ball to Shawn Williams on the right side.

Shawn Williams passed the ball to Bosh, who caught it and made a jump shot, tying the game at 2-2!

Teague dribbles the ball over and passes it to Horford!

Horford and Jia Fei handed the ball to each other at the top of the key. The latter received the ball, changed direction, turned left, and cut in. Facing Bosh's help defense, he leaned on the opponent and made a high bank shot, scoring his first 2 points of the game!

That was a beautiful shot, and the crowd erupted in screams.

However, Luol Deng responded with a difficult jump shot, retaliating in kind!

Both teams started strong, making it unlikely that this game would be a sluggish affair like the Hawks' previous game against the Knicks.

Jia Fei still has the ball, facing Ennis, and signals to his teammates to spread out!

The Hawks' five-man outside shooting formation created a lot of space. Jia Feiqiang overpowered Ennis, holding the ball with his left hand, and after a dragging step, suddenly made a wide crossover!

Standing at 2 meters tall, the sheer scale of his crossover is truly breathtaking. Many have seen Iverson's crossover and Crawford's crossover, but Jia Fei's is far more dramatic than either of them!

Ennis was struggling to keep up, but he couldn't give up, so he kept pushing forward from behind.

Jia Fei swiftly drove into the paint, and before Bosh could even help defend, he had already slammed home a dunk!

4:6, Jia Fei scored 4 consecutive points, and the Hawks took the lead!

That was a beautiful shot! It was a one-on-one dunk, and Ennis had absolutely no chance against it!

Yu Jia exclaimed, "Jia Fei's offensive desire at the start of the game is really strong!"

Su Qun nodded: "I'm wondering when the Heat will start using double teams. They beat the Hawks in last season's Eastern Conference Finals by starting with double teams on Jia Fei."

The Heat are on offense, and the ball has been passed to Bosh in the high post.

Bosh hasn't had this much ball-handling and offensive possession in a long time. The last season he had this much ball-handling was back with the Raptors. I really miss those days; he was the team's core center back then.

Bosh had the ball against Horford, but he didn't have much of an advantage. Horford's defense was really solid and steady. He wasn't very aggressive, but he wasn't easily fooled by feints either. He had speed, strength, flexibility, and experience, making him very difficult to deal with.

Bosh was forced to take a difficult two-pointer, but the ball missed!

However, Shawn Williams grabbed the rebound under the basket and drew a foul from Mills.

Shawn Williams made both free throws, tying the game again!

Teague dribbled the ball over, and Jia Fei came out to receive it.

After receiving the ball, Jia Fei didn't hesitate at all. He immediately started his drive, made a crossover dribble near the free-throw line, and took a mid-range shot...

That shot missed!

However... after Jia Fei took the shot, he had already cut into the paint. Before Bosh could get the rebound, he used his height advantage to catch the rebound with both hands and dunk the ball over the opponent!

Wow—that was an explosive play! Jia Fei dunked over Bosh!

The Philips Arena erupted in cheers. Jia Fei's offensive desire was so strong from the start. Was this really the Jia Fei they knew? Wasn't he always playing so rationally?

Many fans speculate that Jia Fei played so aggressively tonight because the opponent was the Heat. He must want revenge, yes, that must be it.

A gentleman doesn't leave a grudge unavenged; Jia Fei seems to be a gentleman!

Jia Fei didn't care at all whether he was a gentleman or not, as long as he wasn't a eunuch or a drug addict!

During the Heat's offense, Luol Deng tried to post up against Jia Fei, but couldn't get past him. He then backed down and attempted a turnaround jump shot, but was blocked by a powerful block!

Jia Fei stole the ball and made a solo run down the court, forcing James Ennis to foul him again to slow him down!

Less than four minutes into the game, Ennis had already committed two fouls.

Coach Spoelstra had no choice but to bring in Chalmers and start a double-control game.

Yu Jia said, "Ennis committed two fouls. He really can't stop Jia Fei one-on-one!"

Su Qun nodded: "If it's really one-on-one, there aren't many players in this league who can stop Jia Fei. Superstars aren't so easy to contain."

After Chalmers entered the game, the Heat began to set up a zone defense.

The Heat's zone defense is one of their biggest weapons. The reason they didn't use it at the beginning was to see how the opponent's shooting touch was. Now that they're playing with two point guards, it's easy for the opponent to overpower them. So, setting up a zone defense can effectively avoid the problem of individual player defense.

But this zone defense only lasted a few rounds before the Hawks stopped using it. They had Horford at the free-throw line and increased Jia Fei's baseline runs, which Korver hit a three-pointer, so Coach Spoelstra gave up.

Indeed, zone defense is not very effective against a team with five foreign players.

In fact, during last season's Eastern Conference Finals, the Heat never dared to use zone defense for extended periods. At that time, the Hawks' five-outside lineup was playing exceptionally well, and using zone defense would inevitably leave open three-point shots. The Hawks are a team with a strong three-point shooting output and accuracy.

Fortunately, the Heat's outside shooting was quite good tonight, which prevented their opponents from widening the gap, even though their defense wasn't great.