Basketball System: Hate Makes Me Unstoppable

The Cavaliers' consecutive dunks electrified the arena, showcasing the energy and fire of this young team.

Youth has its drawbacks, but it also brings advantages—especially depending on who's leading the team.

After Thompson hit the and-one free throw, the score stood at 5–6.

The Grizzlies' strong start had been effectively countered by the Cavaliers, but the shift in momentum didn't alter the clear disparity in interior strength between the two teams.

In their prime, the "Black and White Bears" duo could hold their own against the Miami Heat's offense when Han Sen went all-in on defense.

Marc Gasol, holding the ball at the high post, easily blew past Spencer Hawes, charging into the paint and finishing with a high-arcing bank shot that kissed the glass.

This interior dominance impacted the game on both ends.

When Kyrie Irving ran a pick-and-pop with Hawes and kicked the ball out to him, Hawes' three-point attempt from the top of the arc clanked off the rim.

Marc Gasol grabbed the long rebound, giving the Grizzlies another chance to regain control.

As Mike Conley brought the ball up the court, he passed it back to Gasol, recognizing the mismatch in the paint. This was their go-to strategy—capitalizing on Marc's interior advantage.

Han Sen sagged into the paint to assist.

Andrew Wiggins, once again cutting down the middle, leapt to receive a pass from Gasol for an aerial finish.

But the same trick wouldn't work twice on Han Sen.

This time, he anticipated Wiggins' movement and rotated early, jumping almost simultaneously with the rookie.

Despite Wiggins' best efforts to elevate the ball, he couldn't out-jump Han Sen.

The ball in Wiggins' hand was swatted, and the mid-air battle ended with Han sending the rookie crashing to the floor with a thunderous block.

The crowd erupted in astonishment.

Rudy Gay, watching from a distance, couldn't help but cover his face.

He felt he should've warned the rookie earlier: challenging Han Sen, the near-Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) last season, was asking for humiliation.

This block reinvigorated the Cavaliers' morale.

After the Grizzlies inbounded, Conley's mid-range jumper was heavily contested by Tristan Thompson, causing it to fall short.

Hawes secured the defensive rebound and quickly displayed his passing ability, launching an outlet pass to Han Sen on the perimeter.

The Cavaliers executed a swift fast break.

Han Sen caught the pass and surged forward, but the Grizzlies' transition defense was just as fast.

As Han attacked the rim, both Wiggins and Gay converged to double-team him.

It wasn't an ideal scoring opportunity.

Han Sen jumped anyway.

Both Wiggins and Gay followed suit, believing they'd sealed off his shooting angles. Scoring seemed improbable.

But just as they rose, their eyes widened in disbelief.

Han Sen twisted mid-air, spinning as he flung the ball behind his head.

Following the ball's trajectory, they turned to see P.J. Tucker, who had trailed the play and was now wide open at the corner three.

Tucker caught the ball, set his feet, and fired.

Swish!

Tucker drained the Cavaliers' first three-pointer of the night, tying the game at 8–8.

Rudy Gay landed, looking at Han Sen with a wry smile.

Han Sen was still the same—a force who got better every year.

But as an opponent instead of a teammate, Gay now fully experienced the helplessness Han inflicted on defenders.

Gay shrugged it off and responded with a handoff play with Gasol, hitting a smooth mid-range jumper to steady the Grizzlies.

Though Wiggins had undeniable talent, he was still just a rookie. With Han Sen gone, Gay had become the focal point of the Grizzlies' perimeter offense.

Having been tempered by the Grizzlies' dynasty run, Gay was more than ready for the role.

Criticism had sparked over Stan's Nike rankings, but placing the Grizzlies sixth wasn't unwarranted.

Yet Han Sen wasn't done showcasing his dominance.

On the next possession, he blew past Wiggins for a quick layup. Zach Randolph couldn't fully commit to help defense without leaving Thompson open for an alley-oop. It was a pick-your-poison situation: let Han score or let him assist.

For now, the Grizzlies seemed powerless against Han.

These sequences highlighted one glaring fact: Wiggins had no chance of guarding Han Sen.

This was a far cry from Han's early days with the Grizzlies when he immediately squared off against top-tier scorers like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Durant.

Wiggins, blessed with elite athleticism and defensive instincts, wasn't bad defensively. But drawing Han Sen in his NBA debut was pure bad luck, as Gay aptly put it.

The Grizzlies tried to respond with a pick-and-roll between Conley and Gasol. Using his speed, Conley darted past Hawes for a layup off the glass.

But before the ball could touch the backboard, Han Sen rotated back and delivered a chasedown block, pinning it against the glass.

Not even five minutes into the game, Han had already recorded two blocks.

The Cavaliers' bench went wild, and the TNT commentary team couldn't contain their excitement.

"If 2.9 steals and 1.5 blocks per game isn't enough to win DPOY, then just do it again—and do it better!" Charles Barkley shouted.

One thing was evident: the Cavaliers' defense was nowhere near the Grizzlies' level, especially in the paint.

Hawes' defensive struggles early on highlighted the gap between defensive stats and actual defensive impact.

This meant Han had to do even more defensively, making his presence even more pronounced.

"Michael Heisley made the dumbest decision. If it were me, I wouldn't trade Han Sen even with a gun to my head," Shaquille O'Neal jabbed.

Heisley, who had been ecstatic after Wiggins' earlier dunk, now looked deflated. Han's performance was systematically dismantling the Grizzlies' value—just as he'd promised when he got the championship ring:

"You'll regret not selling the team this summer."

Indeed, the Grizzlies' veterans were playing well, but it did nothing to boost the team's future. The rookies, Wiggins and Nerlens Noel, were the real key.

And Han wasn't done yet.

Following his block, Han grabbed the defensive rebound and initiated the fast break.

As he crossed the three-point line, his driving threat caused the Grizzlies to collapse toward him instinctively.

They had no choice—if they didn't converge, Han would waltz to the rim.

But what Han did next stunned them again.

With a one-handed fake as if driving, Han flung a cross-court pass from one baseline to the opposite corner.

This kind of pass—crossing the court and threading defenders—required elite vision and pinpoint accuracy.

Han delivered it perfectly. Tucker didn't even have to adjust his stance to catch the spinning pass.

Even with Gay's desperate closeout, Tucker released a smooth corner three.

Swish!

Another corner three from Tucker found the net, forcing Grizzlies head coach Dave Joerger to call a timeout.

If they couldn't address the Han Sen problem, the Grizzlies had no chance of stopping the Cavaliers' offense.

...

"Well done!" Mike Malone walked to the scorer's table and gave Han Sen a high-five, his face barely able to contain his excitement.

Four years ago, Han Sen was merely a 3-and-D player. Now, he's terrifyingly dominant!

After the timeout, Marc Gasol's low-post spin hook drew a shooting foul on Spencer Hawes. He hit both free throws, stabilizing the Grizzlies' lineup.

On defense, Joerger made an adjustment, moving Gasol's defensive positioning inside the free-throw line.

Gasol's rim protection was clearly a tier above Randolph's, but early in the game, he was stuck defending Hawes near the three-point line. Seeing Hawes struggling with his shooting, Joerger took a calculated gamble.

And it paid off. When Han Sen drove and kicked the ball to Hawes, the latter missed his second three-point attempt of the night.

On the other end, while helping on Randolph, Hawes picked up his second personal foul and was subbed out.

The arena erupted into cheers.

Less than half a quarter in, the Cavaliers' starting center was forced to the bench—a huge win for the Grizzlies.

But as soon as they saw the Cavaliers' substitute, the cheers faded.

Though not the flashiest of first-overall picks, Andrea Bargnani was certainly more recognizable than Hawes.

After all, he had once been the Raptors' franchise centerpiece.

The camera cut to Mike Malone, who looked calm and collected on the sideline.

"Why start Hawes when you've got Bargnani?"

Malone's expression betrayed no concern. In truth, whether it was Hawes or Bargnani, their primary role in the system was as floor-spacing bigs.

Starting Hawes was simply a nod to his youth and durability.

In fact, Malone had planned to sub Hawes out after his second missed three-pointer, foul or not.

When one cannon misfires, you roll out another.

The team had GM David Griffin to thank for acquiring such flexibility over the summer.

Randolph hit both free throws, bringing the score to 13–14. The Grizzlies regained the lead.

On the next possession, Han Sen brought the ball up. The Cavaliers adjusted their offensive alignment, moving Tucker from the weak-side corner to the strong-side corner and Kyrie to the weak side.

This reduced congestion on the weak side, giving open players better looks without immediate help defense.

Han Sen, palming the ball with one hand, sized up the floor. Once the spacing was right, he drove at Andrew Wiggins again.

Wiggins defended with everything he had. His intense focus and effort were evident in every movement.

But his determination was his undoing. Keeping up with Han Sen's pace but failing to coordinate his footwork, Wiggins bit on a crossover and fell to the floor.

As the No. 1 overall pick, Wiggins had plenty of motivation. His opening dunk spoke volumes about his drive.

Who wouldn't feel slighted being traded on draft night, even if it was for a player like Han Sen?

But motivation alone wasn't enough.

Han Sen wasn't LeBron. On defense, he locks you down. On offense, he doesn't need screens to obliterate you.

Effort meant nothing when the skill gap was this wide.

The Grizzlies' defense collapsed toward Han Sen again, as if he were a gravitational force.

Han Sen found Bargnani at the weak-side 45-degree angle and whipped him a pass.

Though both were stretch bigs, Bargnani had the experience Hawes lacked. Anticipating the offensive shift, he had already started positioning himself.

By the time he caught Han Sen's pass, Gasol didn't even bother closing out, opting instead to box out for a rebound.

It wasn't a lack of defensive effort—it was simple physics. He couldn't make it in time.

Bargnani had all the time he needed to set up his shot.

Swish!

The net snapped as Bargnani's three-pointer found its mark. The Grizzlies' players looked visibly deflated, and the arena buzzed with energy.

The Grizzlies had shown last postseason that their Achilles' heel was opponents' three-point shooting. Tonight, in just over a quarter, the Cavaliers had already hit three triples.

Hawes might've missed his shots, but someone else always had the hot hand in this system.

This is the beauty of the Cavs' one-star, four-shooters offense. A player like Han Sen demands double-teams, leaving it up to the shooters to punish the defense.

Bargnani then showed his defensive chops in the low post.

Drafted with a Dirk Nowitzki comparison, Bargnani's shooting never reached that echelon. Forced to bulk up, he transitioned to a stretch-five role.

Though added weight increased his injury risk, it also bolstered his low-post defense.

He stuffed Gasol's post move, deflected the shot, and corralled the loose ball.

Despite being a backup, Bargnani delivered a stellar performance.

More importantly, his three-pointer forced Gasol to defend further out, breaking down the Grizzlies' defensive structure.

With the paint now wide open, Han Sen capitalized, storming the lane for a vicious tomahawk slam.

Boom!

The deafening impact reverberated through the arena.

It was his second dunk of the quarter.

The LED scoreboard displayed Han Sen's stat line: 6 points, 4 assists, 2 blocks.

The Cavaliers had 18 points total, with every single basket tied to Han Sen.

"I'm wondering," Kenny Smith mused from the commentary booth, "did Han suppress his individual game while he was in Memphis?"

Han Sen's sacrifices for the Grizzlies were well-documented. His explosive final season stats were proof enough.

Even then, his usage rate wasn't particularly high.

But tonight, especially in this stretch, Han Sen was demonstrating the sheer terror of what happens when a team fully leans on him.

"I don't know the answer to that," Charles Barkley quipped, "but I'll tell you this much: This is how LeBron wishes he played!"

-End of Chapter-