Chapter 76: Half-Time 35 Points

One against three!

Wade Dong seemed to be telling the Heat with this play, "You can't stop me!"

Not even with the whole team.

In the next four minutes, every play by Wade Dong was extremely flashy, making all of the Heat's pre-game preparations useless.

The Heat couldn't adapt to Wade Dong's change in playing style.

39:25!

The first quarter ended with the Heat trailing the Suns by 14 points.

Wade Dong scored 16 points in the last four minutes alone, and he finished the first quarter with 23 points. Allen Iverson scored 9 points, and Grant Hill scored 7 points.

The Suns had only three players score, yet they led the Heat by 14 points.

"This isn't Wade Dong!"

Bosh was so angry he wanted to throw his towel. "This style of play is completely different from before, it's like he's a different person."

Spoelstra said, "We have to adapt to Wade Dong's changes. The Spurs and Lakers lost to the Suns because they couldn't adapt to Wade Dong's change in playing style."

"How the hell are we supposed to adapt...?"

Bosh was furious. In the last four minutes of the first quarter, he was still the main defender against Wade Dong, but Wade Dong left him completely disoriented.

How could he be Bosh's idol with this kind of performance?

The Suns were already used to Wade Dong suddenly changing his playing style.

Some players had noticed that Wade Dong's style in the last four minutes was similar to Kyrie Irving of the Cavaliers, but the young Kyrie Irving did not have Wade Dong's powerful scoring ability.

These moves were more like Kyrie Irving imitating Wade Dong.

...

At the start of the second quarter, Allen Iverson continued to rest on the bench, and Wade Dong also took a short two-minute break.

Steve Nash led the Suns on the court, which was the main lineup before Wade Dong and Allen Iverson joined the team.

This lineup was also quite powerful, at least keeping the score close and not letting the Heat catch up.

When Wade Dong and Allen Iverson returned to the court, Wade Dong went back to the power forward position, and his dream shake left the Heat's interior defense struggling.

Spoelstra immediately called a timeout! He brought in defensive specialist Shane Battier!

He assigned Battier to guard Wade Dong!

Wherever Wade Dong went, Battier followed. This was a tactic Spoelstra had planned in advance, and it was Battier's strength. Whenever there was a superstar on the opposing team, having Battier guard them one-on-one was the best strategy.

After Battier came on, his task was to follow Wade Dong wherever he went, even during the Heat's offense, he was still tightly guarding Wade Dong.

Battier had defended many top players in the league. Although he couldn't completely shut them down, his defense made it very difficult for them.

Wade Dong made a quick jump shot, and Battier's finger almost poked Wade Dong's eye.

"Swish!!!"

"Hehe~"

The sound of the ball going through the net and Wade Dong's cold laugh sounded almost simultaneously. He also had Battier's defensive skill package, so he understood Battier's defensive methods better than Battier himself.

Spoelstra's biggest mistake was having Battier guard Wade Dong one-on-one!

The Heat's overall shooting percentage was around 50%, but after Battier started guarding Wade Dong one-on-one, Wade Dong scored almost every time.

The lead kept growing!

"Swish!!!"

Wade Dong scored another mid-range jumper and shrugged, saying, "Change someone else. Your defensive moves might work on other stars, but they don't work on me."

Battier's defense made Wade Dong realize something. There were many good defenders in the league who weren't very famous. Wade Dong had always thought their skill packages were somewhat useless.

It seemed Wade Dong was wrong. Obtaining talent points wasn't difficult!

When he had enough talent points, he could exchange for an unlimited number of skill packages. Then he would understand all the players, and that's when he would truly be invincible.

The first half ended.

67:44!

The Suns led the Heat by 23 points.

This was the first time this postseason that the Heat trailed by more than 20 points at halftime.

...

Coach Zhang and Yujia had already arrived at the Finals venue, along with famous Chinese player Wang Dapeng.

During the halftime break, the three of them were chatting.

Yujia said, "In the first half, Wade Dong only missed one shot, making 16 out of 17 shots and scoring 35 points."

Wang Dapeng said, "Allen Iverson and Steve Nash drew the Heat's defense on the perimeter, especially in the second quarter. Spoelstra kept having Battier guard Wade Dong one-on-one, which didn't seem very effective."

Coach Zhang said, "Right, Wade Dong scored 12 points on 6-for-6 shooting in the second quarter."

Yujia said, "If Spoelstra doesn't change his tactics in the second half, Wade Dong's scoring will be heading towards 60 points."

Wang Dapeng said, "Actually, I've known Wade Dong for a long time. I even coached him."

Yujia said, "Really?"

Wang Dapeng said, "Back then, he was a CUBA player and won the Finals MVP four years in a row. At that time, I thought this player was extraordinary."

Coach Zhang said, "Will Wade Dong participate in this summer's London Olympics?"

Wang Dapeng said, "The Olympic roster hasn't been announced yet, but everyone hopes Wade Dong can participate. With Wade Dong, we will definitely make it to the quarterfinals this year."

...

In the Heat's locker room, the atmosphere was somewhat tense.

Battier was silent, having tried his best to defend Wade Dong, but Wade Dong gave him a strange feeling, as if Wade Dong could see through his defense!

This was very unusual. Normally, players would try to see through each other's offensive moves, but Wade Dong seemed to see through his defensive moves. That's why Wade Dong could score so easily against him.

Spoelstra looked at the first-half stats, "The Suns had eight players on the court, scoring a total of 67 points. Wade Dong alone scored 35 points, Allen Iverson scored 17 points, and Grant Hill scored 11 points. Besides these three, the other five players combined for only 4 points. So in the second half, we must limit Wade Dong's scoring to win the game."

"Coach."

James volunteered, "I'll defend Wade Dong in the second half."

"Good!"

Spoelstra looked at James, "You not only have to defend Wade Dong but also take on the responsibility of scoring."

In the first half, the Heat's Big Three were not in good form. Bosh struggled against Wade Dong, and James and Wade also didn't score much. The fan-favorite James-Wade duo didn't appear at all in the first half.

This was mainly due to the Suns players' defensive intensity.

When veterans like Allen Iverson and Grant Hill started playing all-out defense, the role players would work even harder. And because Wade Dong was carrying the offensive load, they were almost entirely focused on defense.