NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 228: A near-perfect start.

Many players, throughout their championship-contending careers, have never reached the conference finals. Jia Fei doesn't have a ring yet, but he reached the NBA Finals with the Thunder in his rookie season and led his team to the conference finals in his third season. He's reached both the Eastern and Western Conference Finals. In his three-year career, he hasn't missed the playoffs, a feat many young players envy.

He is now an All-Star player in the league, and after defeating the Pacers, some media even believe that he is now a top 15 or even top 10 player in the league.

Jia Fei knew that things had to be done one step at a time, so he should just let himself develop stealthily and not try to force him to grow too fast.

The jump ball began, and Antić won against Bosh.

Chris Bosh is a really strange player. His official height is 211cm, a standard center height. He played power forward with the Raptors, but after joining the Heat, he's now playing center to create more offensive space for LeBron James and Dwyane Wade. But what's wrong with his height playing center? If he doesn't play center, is he supposed to play small forward like Dwyane Wade in Oklahoma City?

Bosh has a decent wingspan, a relatively small head, and is fast; theoretically, he should be a smaller version of Kevin Garnett! But he just happens to have a very, very long neck…

If you're the same height, but your neck is long and his is short, it's obvious that your shoulder height will be different. The person with the longer neck will look shorter.

This is why NBA rookie combine tests measure not only height and wingspan, but also vertical reach. It's probably for this reason; someone as tall as Bosh would have a significantly shorter vertical reach than someone of similar height and wingspan. He's 211cm, and the Running Man contestant is 203cm, yet when they stand together, their shoulders are about the same height…

Long necks are one thing, but even a 2-meter tall player like Ben Wallace can be a rebounding king. But after Bosh joined the Heat, he suddenly stopped rebounding, which is quite strange. Some LeBron haters or Bosh fans might argue that it's to create space, that Bosh is even standing at the three-point line! But the problem is, you're playing center on defense, and you can't even get defensive rebounds!

If you can't get offensive rebounds when you create space on offense, you shouldn't need to create space on defense either, right? If a center can't get rebounds, it's his own problem.

Bosh not only couldn't get rebounds, but he also couldn't get jump balls. Sure enough, Antić, who's practically a matchbox, beat him in the jump, and the Hawks got possession of the ball on the first possession.

Teague dribbled the ball over.

Antić came up to set a screen, and the Heat immediately double-teamed him!

Fortunately, this wasn't the first time Teague had encountered this kind of defensive treatment, and he successfully passed the ball to Jia Fei.

The one defending Jia Fei is truly the "King of Hands-Shrugs"—Running Man No. 1.

During that period, LeBron James was a top-tier wing defender in the league, that's a fact. But after joining the Heat, he gained weight and played the power forward position, so his weight is no longer what it was during his younger days. He's too strong now. He can hold his own in the paint, but he might struggle a bit when defending speedy players.

Facing the Running Man cast, Jia Fei took a probing step and then immediately changed direction to go to the middle!

Running Man's lateral movement was already average, and now that he has gained weight, his lateral movement has become even slower. So, when he defends against speedy players, he usually gives them a step, and if they get past him, he can use his speed to chase down and block them.

Jia Fei dribbled past the running man and drove to the vicinity of the free throw line, where he encountered a help defense from Bo Yibang!

Jia Fei passed the ball to Antić, who was open on the outside!

Antić raised his hand and took a three-pointer—but the ball missed!

Under the basket, Mi Shen had already blocked Haslem, who was guarding him, and Jia Fei and Bo Yibang rushed towards the rebound almost at the same time!

The fans in the stadium gasped in surprise as Jia Fei grabbed the rebound and scored the first basket of the game!

In the sports channel studio, commentator Yu Jia said, "Jia Fei grabbed the offensive rebound and scored two points under the basket, putting the Hawks up 2-0 against the Heat. Coach Zhang, what do you think of Jia Fei's play?"

Coach Zhang nodded: "Jia Fei played this ball very reasonably, and the finish was also excellent!"

The Heat are on offense, and Chalmers dribbles the ball across half-court.

While Chalmers was the point guard for the Heat, everyone knew that the team's true point guard was forward Dwyane Wade, whose jaw was quite large. During their primes, these two didn't need a true point guard; they were the point guards. The point guard on such a team simply had to get the ball across half-court, pass it around, and wait for a shot. Organizing the offense might happen once or twice, but that was it.

A-Tan comes out to receive the ball, and Jia Fei is in charge of defense.

Bosh came up to set a screen, and Jia Fei tried his best to squeeze through the screen.

This season, you can't easily give up three-pointers to Azkarov. He's not the same player he was with the Cavaliers anymore. Now, when he makes a three-pointer, you absolutely can't let him go easily.

Athan is very good at pick-and-roll plays; he has excellent passing vision and historic driving ability. He drove in, and the Hawks immediately collapsed the defense, so he passed the ball to Chalmers in the corner.

Chalmers' three-point attempt missed!

Bo Yiban was under the basket this time, but he couldn't even touch the ball.

Milwaukee collected the rebound and handed it to Teague to push the ball forward.

The Heat's defensive transition speed is very fast.

Once in the attacking third, Jia Fei and Korver made overlapping runs, creating opportunities with the help of Milner's off-the-ball screens!

Teague passed the ball to Jia Fei, who immediately shot a three-pointer – and it went straight into the pocket!

With a 5-0 lead, the Hawks started the game with Jia Fei scoring consecutive points, a perfect start.

Jia Fei scored consecutively, and his second basket was scored without even having the ball. He used the ball to receive a three-pointer, leaving the player who was mainly responsible for defending the drive but didn't like to talk to the player without the ball to complain that his teammates didn't switch on defense.

Jia Fei was laughing to himself. "Weren't you the one guarding against me? Why are you blaming your teammates?"

During a Heat offensive possession, Wade drove hard against Korver, drawing a foul from the latter.

The Hawks' defense has a problem with Korver. He can't guard either the fast-paced Korver or Wade. Even guarding Chalmers wouldn't work; Korver's speed isn't enough. In the previous two series, this weakness didn't become a major issue because opposing star wing players were mostly guarded by Jerami. Neither the Hawks' Mike Dunleavy nor the Pacers' Lance Stephenson are superstars, making it difficult to exploit him. But the Heat are different; James and Wade are both stars.

Wade stepped up to the free-throw line and made one of two shots, allowing Mills to grab the rebound again.

Korver received the ball and attempted a three-pointer for the Hawks, but missed!

But Antić got the long rebound!

Antić played a through ball to Jia Fei, who was cutting inside!

Jia Fei passes the ball to Mi Shen under the basket again!

Miguel's powerful drive drew a foul from Haslem!

In the sports channel studio, Coach Zhang exclaimed, "Wow, this guy is really patient! High low, this is what we call high and low position."

Mills stepped to the free-throw line and made both shots, giving the Hawks a perfect 7-1 start!

The Heat's running man made a passing error!

Jia Fei intercepted the ball and launched a counter-attack, passing to Korver on the right wing!

Korver unleashed a powerful three-pointer—and it went straight in!