O'Neal, who Zack scoffed had fallen so far he was only backing up Big Z, wasn't even put on the court by Mike Brown until the last four minutes of the first quarter. But get this, in the Cavaliers' two previous regular season games, O'Neal was actually their starting center. Brown only opted to start Big Z tonight to try and stagger O'Neal's minutes from Zack's, especially after O'Neal's "stellar" performance against Zack in last season's Finals.
Without a doubt, this was a classic case of deliberately avoiding a strong opponent by trying to play at a different time. Zack, who had already turned the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse into a library before O'Neal even stepped on the court, had no intention of letting the former top center off the hook. "Now you even have to hide from me to play basketball?"
O'Neal stayed silent. On the court, the Cavaliers fans' nightmare continued. Even though LeBron James managed to score two points for the Cavs with a not-so-elegant, not-so-smooth fadeaway jumper on their next possession, Zack immediately countered with a textbook-perfect turnaround fadeaway right in James's face.
A perfect turnaround fadeaway should look graceful, fluid, and composed. To achieve that, an offensive player needs the right ball-handling skills and, during a quick turnaround, use their soft touch and powerful core strength to maintain their shooting form while gracefully dropping the ball through the net. It shouldn't be like contorting your body into an indescribable shape mid-air and reluctantly heaving the ball at the hoop like a discus thrower.
Admittedly, in basketball, if it goes in, it's a good shot. But the home fans, who desperately wanted James to lead the Cavaliers in showing the "nouveau riche" Warriors that their championship was just dumb luck, were absolutely devastated by the stark contrasts between James and Zack, play after play.
The Cavaliers fans' breakdown stemmed from Zack's effortless dominance over James. He expertly manipulated the Cavaliers' defense and, with ball-handling skills beyond imagination, managed to swish the ball from every angle and in every possible way. Tonight, Zack and James's on-court performances felt like a microcosm of Cleveland's sports history. The Warriors, who drafted the Messiah, took only one year to lift that championship trophy they hadn't touched in thirty-one years. And Cleveland? Their chosen one, who they had longed for, could only stand there, hands on hips, after failing on defense time and time again in front of Zack.
On TNT, Barkley diplomatically commented, "I know a lot of people hope the matchup between LeBron and the Messiah will become a great rivalry of our era. But given their current technical execution on the court, I think we still need to give LeBron more time."
More time? After enduring decades, why wouldn't Clevelanders be willing to wait a few more years? In 2003, when James, whose hype before entering the league already overshadowed many superstars, was drafted by the Cavaliers, many said no one knew what kind of pressure this 18-year-old carried on his shoulders. Because the high hopes Clevelanders placed on James were to reverse Cleveland's entire string of bad luck, to lead Cleveland's sports history out of its destiny of going from one failure to the next.
Undoubtedly, such widespread expectations were a crown in the true sense of the word. But after James unhesitatingly put on that crown, from the 2003-04 season to the 2006-07 season... even Zack, in his second career season, showed the world his growing dominance with the technical progress he had made.
But what about the chosen one, LeBron James?
On the court, it was a Cavaliers offensive possession. Looking at Zack, who was yelling at him, "Don't pass, shoot it yourself if you got the guts!", an increasingly agitated James forcefully elbowed Artest away, then ended the possession with a long-distance floater. Unfortunately, the next second, James's floater didn't go in.
Then, it was the Warriors' ball. James, whose dribbling space was cleared by Zack's powerful dribble-pound, had no answer for Zack's subsequent drag step. And his overly eager lunge forward only gave Zack another opportunity to unleash a hesitation move. This was a dribbling skill James had also used earlier when breaking through Artest's defense, but unlike James, who was clearly "carrying" the ball as he sprinted, Zack's hesitation move, even in slow motion, showed no violation whatsoever. This was the difference in ball-handling ability. Then, leaping vertically, Zack finished the possession with his signature mid-range jumper after a sudden stop.
At Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, as Cleveland's almost cursed sports history simultaneously flashed through every Cavaliers fan's mind, where were the fans who had held up banners attacking Zack before the game? They had no face left to keep holding them up. In competitive sports, you can't win a championship by just being bitter. Why are champions champions?
Wait a few more years for that great rivalry between James and Zack? Don't be ridiculous. As the backdrop to the Bulls dynasty, Cavaliers fans had seen Michael Jordan play back in the day. In his early career, Jordan truly couldn't get past Larry Bird no matter what. In his mid-career, Jordan did lead the Bulls to be repeatedly beaten by the Detroit Pistons. But when did Jordan ever feel so hopeless as he did now?
In front of Bird, Jordan's later dazzling offensive skills were already taking shape. The high scores he put up against the Celtics, and the content he displayed on the court, only made people feel... other teams besides the Bulls needed to be careful, because once Jordan developed, he would surely be unstoppable. As for being repeatedly beaten by the Pistons? On the court, Jordan had already used his constantly evolving offensive skills and increasingly polished mid-range and fadeaway shots to make Bulls fans feel that a championship was approaching, and to make them believe that the Windy City of Chicago would eventually see its roses bloom.
If this were James's first year in the league, then Cavaliers fans would never be as despairing as they were now. At Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, after the first quarter, the score was 36-21. Zack, shooting 7-of-9 from the field, including 1-of-2 from three-point range, and 4-of-4 from the free throw line, put on a brilliant scoring display that even Cavaliers fans couldn't fault, scoring 19 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal in the quarter for the Warriors. Just looking at the stat sheet, James also had 9 points, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists in the first quarter. But from the most direct on-site viewing, Cavaliers fans keenly felt the vast difference in technical presentation between James and Zack.
Perhaps on some previous nights, James might have looked a bit unpolished in front of some technically skilled opponents. But... Zack's "The Dunk" in Cleveland last season, and the story of him leading the Warriors to turn their fortunes around, which made Cleveland fans so envious, were destined to infinitely amplify James's technical flaws tonight. This was a classic "no comparison, no harm" game.
In the first half of the second quarter, to ensure his good brother wasn't having too tough a time, Zack, lounging on the Warriors' bench, didn't forget to threaten O'Neal, who dared to try and steal his good brother's staggered minutes. "If you even think about scoring a basket, I'm coming right back in!"
Hearing that, O'Neal, who was just about to post up, immediately pulled out to the high post to set a screen for James obediently. What a well-behaved little fish. Zack noticed that after last season's beatdown, O'Neal was even more obedient in front of him than some of the pretty girls he'd spent a good night with. This was also a manifestation of Zack's evolving on-court dominance, especially against an opponent like O'Neal, whom he completely nullified.
While Zack was resting on the bench, James, with the help of O'Neal's solid screens—the kind that would make Hardaway, Kobe, and Wade shed tears—quickly attacked Biedrins and Murphy for several possessions. At this point, on the Warriors' bench, Mike Malone, while massaging Zack's legs, said, "Now you see why I labeled this game 'irrelevant,' right?"
Zack nodded, "Mike, you really understand these Cleveland Cavaliers better than I do."
Actually, given the Warriors' defensive intensity tonight, even if the Cavaliers couldn't stop them, they could have tried to trade blows. But the biggest characteristic of "Cavs 1.0" was that even if they knew a tiger was on the mountain, they still had to go to that specific mountain. The 2006-07 Finals between the Spurs and Cavaliers was a classic example. In that series, whenever James touched the ball, all five Spurs players would immediately collapse into the paint. This insane collapsing defense, with the Warriors tonight choosing to ignore the perimeter and only plug the paint, was remarkably similar. In short, as long as enough players were piled into the paint, James, in this era, would automatically shed his "emperor's new clothes" of being "good at playmaking."
In the 2007 Finals, James averaged 6.8 assists but also a high of 5.8 turnovers. Aside from open three-point opportunities created by teammates running off screens, where James could still deliver the ball in time, the Spurs' one-trick pony strategy repeatedly forced James to endlessly hold the ball at the top of the arc, just watching, and then watching some more.
As for the reason? Of course, James at this stage, could only create for his teammates through simple drive-and-kick plays, which even Artest thought were too basic. Although, when teammates successfully got open, he would also, like Zack this season, press the pass button and happily collect an assist. But just as Zack wouldn't consider such assist stats as a reflection of his playmaking ability, these assist stats similarly couldn't prove James's playmaking ability. Playmaking is always about quickly breaking down defenses on the court, not about accumulating statistics through the team's tactical resource allocation. For example, tonight, Zack was breaking the Cavaliers' box-and-one defense like it was nothing.
In the latter half of the second quarter, until Zack re-entered the game, Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown was still puzzled. Why was the box-and-one defense he meticulously designed for the Cavaliers before the game so easily broken by the Warriors?
At Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, it was the Warriors' offensive possession. This time, Zack, directing his teammates to set up in a 1-2-2 formation, had barely settled at the top of the arc when he forced the Cavaliers' box-and-one to automatically morph into a 3-2 zone defense. This was different from Zack's 1-3-1 alignment to break the box-and-one in the first half. Since the Cavaliers' diamond-shaped box-and-one, when converted to a 3-2 zone, easily left players open on the baseline, Zack decisively changed the Warriors' strategy to break the box-and-one. He wanted to appease Kwame Brown, who had been running all quarter but only got a few rebounds, so he directly slammed the ball to the baseline from the top of the arc. In the Cavaliers' paint, Brown, after receiving the ball, threw down a powerful two-handed dunk and then furiously pounded his chest three times as he ran back on defense.
On the surface, Brown's chest-pounding was a show of toughness. Secretly, Zack knew very well that this guy was complaining to him. In the new season, with the Warriors' tactical framework changing, truthfully, the scoring statistics of the other four Warriors players on the court, to some extent, completely depended on Zack's discretion. Simply put, they could only get what Zack gave them. But if Zack didn't want to give it, they would just keep running back and forth. Zack felt that playing in Mike Malone's new system, he might even have to learn the skill of "balancing the ball." No wonder... in the future, Nikola Jokic only showed his hard-to-guard ability in necessary possessions, because playing in such a framework, even he had to cater to his teammates' emotions.
Meanwhile, on ESPN, Jeff Van Gundy analyzed the Warriors' recent offense for the fans: "Why can't the Cavaliers' box-and-one achieve the desired effect? The most important point is that they cannot limit the Messiah's reception at the free-throw line and the top of the arc." Then, Van Gundy paused and said, "The Messiah always makes his teammates position themselves early. This way, as long as he receives the ball at the free-throw line and the top of the arc, the Cavaliers' box-and-one will be forced to convert into a 2-3 zone or a 3-2 zone. And at this point, LeBron's defense against him will be ineffective. Because the Messiah, by receiving the ball in the middle, attracts the attention of two to three Cavaliers players all by himself."
Next to him, A. Smith said, "How should the Cavaliers adjust their defense?"
Van Gundy replied, "If the Cavaliers intend to use a box-and-one to limit the Warriors, they must find a player who can interfere with the Messiah's reception, at least to consume some of the Warriors' offensive time during his reception."
Smith said, "Isn't LeBron James's defense good enough tonight?"
Van Gundy gave a wry smile, "He's defending very hard, but his defensive positioning, and defensive awareness... In short, the defensive method he's employing, as it stands, simply cannot restrict the Messiah from receiving the ball."
In this game, James had been using a semi-fronting defensive strategy to pester Zack. The advantage of this defensive strategy was that James could adjust his subsequent defensive approach based on Zack's offense, but it couldn't prevent Zack from receiving the ball. Because Zack, with his height and long arms, could simply lean into James and provide passing lanes for his teammates. And this was also why Zack had been complaining earlier that James wasn't giving him enough intensity. Although from James's perspective, he was already practically trying to hack Zack with a knife, his incorrect defensive strategy allowed Zack to easily absorb his physicality and then initiate an offense.
On the court, it was the Warriors' offensive possession again. Brown, who had feasted on two straight easy baskets, was satisfied, but on the wing, Artest kept giving Zack pitiful glances, silently begging: "Boss, it's gotta be my turn now, right?"
Zack ignored Artest because Brown's previous consecutive sneak attacks had completely disrupted the Cavaliers' defensive alignment. So, in an instant, Zack, with a drop step and a side turn, blew past James and quickly drove into the Cavaliers' paint with the ball. James, slowly realizing that playing like this would only make him his good brother's stepping stone, perfectly displayed his physical gifts in pursuit. He doggedly chased Zack and, at the moment Zack leaped into the air, slammed into him. James did this not for anything else, but for his crown. Even if it meant a foul, he didn't want Zack to easily complete the dunk. And this mid-air collision greatly shocked the live audience... because carrying Cleveland's young king, Zack seemed to hang in the air for a moment before violently slamming the ball into the hoop!
On TNT, Charles Barkley roared enthusiastically, "The Messiah won this battle of kings! He swung his Storm Axe and shattered LeBron James!!!"
Slam!
At Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, watching Zack complete another "The Dunk" in Cleveland, a flood of unpleasant memories instantly washed over the minds of the live audience. This was the second time the Chosen One had been reduced to Zack's backdrop in a direct confrontation. Cleveland, was it truly destined to only live in other people's stories?
After landing from the dunk, in the Cavaliers' paint, Zack immediately performed Carmelo Anthony's signature celebration: three fingers to the head! This was a promise Zack made to Anthony this summer. If he had a chance to dunk over James, he absolutely had to use this move to convey Melo's respect to James!
"LeBron has no idea what a tough time we're having in the West! It's time for this comfortable guy to feel the wrath of his brothers!"
At this moment, with Anthony's respect delivered, Zack didn't forget to pat James on the shoulder, as if encouraging him for that outstanding defense. But the next second, what Zack didn't know was... James's already aged face... had fallen into an unprecedented gloom.
James could completely accept the trash talk Zack threw at him on the court. Because sometimes, he would even use that trash talk to tell the media that whenever he and Zack stepped on the court, they would definitely give it their all. What James truly couldn't accept was Zack's endless assertiveness. Last year, after Zack completed "The Dunk," to quell the anger of the Cavaliers fans, James even took the initiative to de-escalate the situation afterward. Although James's intention to de-escalate was also to hope that people wouldn't overly mythologize that dunk where he was Zack's backdrop, James at the time also didn't want to see Cavaliers fans hating his good brother too much.
But why... why are you always so overbearing when playing against me? Last year's Christmas night, James was already depressed. Because when he was surrounded by Warriors fans in Oakland, his good brother didn't say a single word for him. He just kept scoring! Scoring! Scoring! It was the same today. Before the game, he provoked Cavaliers fans with that "0 and 1" talk, then showed off his damn skills in the first quarter, and after that dunk over him just now, the incredibly arrogant "three fingers to the head" celebration. James didn't understand, and couldn't comprehend, if Zack truly considered him a brother, then why was he always so aggressive on the court?
At halftime, the score was 68-49. With that disappointment toward Zack, and with the disheartened home fans, James returned to the locker room without saying a word. At this point, O'Neal, noticing James's change in mood, said with the wisdom of experience, "If you're feeling bad about your good brother's actions, I don't think you need to. He's always been ruthless when he's got the upper hand. I'm used to it."
Upon hearing this, James forced a wry smile, "I'm not sad about his actions. This is a game, and it's normal for him to go all out."
O'Neal then showed a "really, I don't believe it" expression and said, "I can understand brothers trash-talking each other occasionally, but his expression and celebration during that dunk just now, did he really treat you like a brother?"
James explained, "That's Melo's signature move. I think he must have some agreement with Melo."
O'Neal was puzzled, "You mean they're betting on you, your good brother?"
At this moment, O'Neal noticed that James bit his thumb even harder. So, O'Neal, feeling that his life had been made miserable by Kobe, said meaningfully, "In my opinion, he and Kobe are basically the same kind of people. They're always self-centered. Look, after driving me out of Los Angeles, Kobe's now buddy-buddy with some pale-faced Spaniard (Pau Gasol). People like them, do they even care about brotherhood? They only care about themselves!"
Seeing this, although James thought O'Neal had a point, he didn't want to break ties with Zack and still defended him, saying, "Zack still cares about me. He often reviews the training videos I send him and points out my shortcomings."
O'Neal shrugged and spread his hands, "You're too naive, brother. You think he's pointing out your shortcomings? No, he's just like Kobe, he likes to get satisfaction by instructing others." After a pause, O'Neal said, "Don't believe me? Think about it, isn't he always arrogant when he's instructing you, treating you like a dog being trained?"
In the locker room, James suddenly froze.
"Bro, I've told you hundreds of times, don't keep carrying the ball with your hand when doing a hesitation move. It's easily called a violation by the refs."
"Bro, do you know what Melo and I think of your turnaround fadeaway? You look like a giant crab. Why can't you use your core strength to maintain balance?"
"Oh, bro, you know what? Any middle schooler's dribbling transitions are smoother than yours."
At Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, after halftime, the game resumed. In the third quarter, the live broadcast even caught several Cavaliers fans with tears welling up in their eyes. Again, if you don't understand Cleveland's tragic sports history, you'll never truly grasp how much damage Zack inflicted on Cavaliers fans in this game.
At the top of the arc, watching Zack smoothly receive the ball, James immediately used all his strength to stick to him. This was a defensive play that greatly satisfied Zack. Although he didn't know what had provoked James, after a powerful dribble-pound, Zack clearly increased his movement speed.
Thump, thump!
Using a drag step and a crossover dribble, Zack successfully froze James. Then, Zack immediately performed a perfect pull-up jumper right in front of the Chosen One. This was another heartbreaking scene for Cavaliers fans. If the two "The Dunks" had already proven that Zack's physical talent was superior to James's, then on this night, Zack's successive scores, achieved through his masterful ball-handling, were like a sharp knife carving into the hearts of all Cavaliers fans. Every one of Zack's technical moves was so mesmerizing. This was a sight Cavaliers fans had never seen from James. And what's more, this was only Zack's second professional season. But it was James's last year of his rookie contract.
For a moment, the fans in attendance even felt like they were witnessing the future... a future where only Cleveland failed, and everyone else succeeded.
Some fans at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse started leaving early. In the NBA, one game certainly doesn't represent everything. But "The Dunk" Zack completed in the first half, and the Chosen One constantly being his backdrop in the game, could represent a lot. Especially in the final moments of the third quarter, when Zack, just like Michael Jordan back in the day, shot that familiar "The Shot" from the same spot over James, even the Cavaliers fans who chose to stay in the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse couldn't help but fall into confusion.
After three quarters, the score was 99-74. Zack didn't play in the fourth quarter. James, on the other hand, led the Cavaliers' bench in a desperate comeback attempt in the fourth.
In the final quarter, on the Warriors' bench, looking at Zack pulling out a crown woven from olive branches from his training bag, Kwame Brown asked curiously, "What's this?"
"This is a crown Melo and I wove for LeBron this summer," Zack said. "Since our schedule has us visiting Cleveland first, Melo gave it to me."
Brown examined the crown, whose craftsmanship clearly still needed improvement, and said, "But is tonight the right time to give it to him?"
Zack smiled, "It's just a gift, just a small token from Melo and me."
Upon hearing this, Brown said, "I'm just afraid LeBron will think you're mocking him."
Zack shrugged, "How could he be that petty?"
Before being subbed out by Cavaliers head coach Mike Brown, James totaled 31 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 7 turnovers. Zack, who only played the first three quarters, had 45 points, 14 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 blocks, and 2 steals.
The final score was 125-101.
After the game, while shaking hands with James, Zack used his other hand to place the crown woven from olive branches on the young king's head. At that moment... facing this sudden scene, James, who had been grumbling about Zack internally, visibly brightened up.
"Did you and Melo weave this together? Honestly, it's pretty badly made, but I love it."
Perhaps Zack was always aggressive on the court, but at least in James's eyes at that moment, he was definitely not the kind of person O'Neal described. Taking this memorable gift, James, his mood instantly uplifted, even complained to Zack, "You can't keep dunking over me. It's too bullying."
But good times didn't last. After exchanging pleasantries with Zack and returning to the locker room, O'Neal immediately gave his sharp critique of the crown Zack gave James: "Is he trying to tell you that since he's a champion now, he can crown you?"
Seeing this, although James didn't take O'Neal's words to heart, he quietly took off the crown from his head. No one knew what James was thinking at that moment. But at the post-game press conference, as reporters kept mentioning Zack, James's mood visibly worsened. Especially when Ira Berkow of The New York Times conveyed Zack's thoughts and feelings about the second "The Dunk" to James, James's face immediately darkened.
"The Messiah said it was a perfect dunk. As the person the Messiah dunked over at the time, what do you think about that?"
What else can I think? The next second, James gritted his teeth and said, "I defended as hard as I could, that's it. Next question."
"LeBron, you and the Messiah were both considered players who could change the fate of a team before being drafted. But he won a championship before you. How long do you think it will take for you to become a champion player like him?"
How should I know how long it will take? Can't you just ask the Cavaliers management when they'll find a real All-Star player to help me out? Suppressing the surge of emotions that instantly filled his chest, James said, "I believe I won't make Cavaliers fans wait too long. You know, I'm improving every season."
"LeBron, regarding the improvement you just mentioned, what do you think about the Messiah saying all your hesitation moves are violations and lack any skill?"
Crack... crack... crack.
In that instant, James distinctly heard the sound of his heart breaking. If James hadn't barely managed to pad his stats to "30+" in garbage time in this game... if the gap between his and Zack's on-court performance hadn't been so vast... if... In short, in James's eyes at this moment, this jab from Zack conveyed by the media wasn't funny at all; it completely broke his heart. James felt that, just as O'Neal said, his good brother didn't genuinely want to guide him, but rather just wanted to gain some kind of satisfaction from it.
"Those who understand basketball will naturally understand. As long as the referee doesn't blow the whistle, it proves that my hesitation move is standard, compliant, and within the rules." James practically forced himself to answer this question, suppressing the resentment in his chest.
However... before James could even catch his breath... a reporter at the scene raised a new question: "LeBron, the Messiah said he hopes you can recognize your fundamental shortcomings through this game and focus your next training on honing your skills rather than spending all your time in the weight room. What do you think about that?"
Here it comes again. Condescending. Arrogant. Just trying to prove that he's the only one who plays basketball, and you don't understand basketball at all, right? At the press conference, James took a deep breath and said, "I will seriously consider his advice, but you know, everyone has their own style of play. My dedication in the weight room is also proof of my desire to improve."
After the press conference, James threw the crown that Zack and Anthony had woven for him into his training bag. This night was definitely one of the most disheartening nights for James since entering the league.
Meanwhile, Zack and the Warriors, with this dominant victory in Cleveland, continued on to their next away game.
"Do you think LeBron will take your heartfelt advice?" On the plane, Brown looked at Zack and asked curiously.
Upon hearing this, Zack said, "I don't know, but I hope he understands my good intentions."
Brown sighed, "It's really tough on you, you know. I've never seen you showcase so many offensive skills to the world in one game. Tonight, you were simply an offensive encyclopedia."
Zack waved his hand and said, "Hold on, the offensive encyclopedia will always be my good brother Melo." After a pause, Zack added, "You know, I always prefer people to call me a comprehensively enhanced Michael Jordan."
Brown: "..."