After two days of rest, the Cavaliers headed to New Orleans for the NBA Finals opening game against the Pelicans.

The New Orleans arena was packed, and the viewership of major television networks reached its peak before the game.

Although the media believed that this year's Finals would not have much suspense, the league's pre-game promotion still made fans look forward to the game.

Not to say that the Cavaliers could eliminate the Pelicans, but if James could break the Pelicans' undefeated record, or score a 60+ triple-double in the playoffs, that would be enough to make him a god.

Moreover, with the Cavaliers' other players in such poor form, the Cavaliers have been a single-core team throughout the playoffs.

A single-core team playing against the Pelicans, who are a team-up, would be even more impressive than Nowitzki in 2011 if they won.

Although this possibility is not high, one must have dreams.

After the pre-game opening ceremony, the starting lineups of the two teams were released one after another.

The Pelicans side had their regular lineup: the four hard-working brothers plus Dedmon.

On the Cavaliers' side, Coach Lue put out a starting lineup that he had never used before.

The backcourt was Wade and Korver, the forwards were James and Love, and the center was Tristan Thompson.

This starting lineup was unexpected, but it was unanimously affirmed by the TNT Big Three on the commentary panel after it came out.

The Cavaliers' defense was already terrible. Even the Warriors couldn't defend against the Pelicans, so it was unrealistic to expect the Cavaliers to do so.

So, attacking was the only way out, and it had been proven in the past to be the only way to compete with the Pelicans.

It was also correct to start Thompson instead of Whiteside.

Whiteside's performance this year has declined a lot compared to last year, and he can't defend beyond the three-point line, which would be a disadvantage when matching up against Dedmon.

Thompson can defend out to the perimeter and also retreat back.

Although his ability to finish lobs is slightly weaker, his protection of rebounds is not bad.

In fact, not only the TNT Big Three, but even Tang Tian couldn't help but give Lue a thumbs up when he saw the Cavaliers' starting lineup.

Tactical genius online tonight!

The game was about to begin, and the starting players from both sides took the court one after another.

Tang Tian tossed magnesium powder at the technical table before taking the court, just like before.

The on-site photographer continued to give James the spotlight mischievously.

But this time, James looked relatively calm.

After all, it wasn't the first time he'd seen it, and he was used to it.

Amid the cheers of the fans, Davis tipped the ball back to the Pelicans' half, officially opening the curtain on the NBA Finals.

The Pelicans ran a Walker-Davis pick-and-roll right from the start.

Just like in the regular season, they were exploiting Love's defensive weakness.

Walker didn't disappoint. After being switched onto Love, he quickly broke into the paint and scored a layup for the Pelicans' first points.

Back on offense, James orchestrated at the frontcourt, guarded by Butler.

James chose to drive to the basket, and Davis quickly came to help defend.

James made a beautiful cross-court pass to Love in the corner.

Love shot a three-pointer.

"Clang!"

The basketball bounced off the rim.

Davis grabbed the defensive rebound.

The Pelicans immediately launched a fast break.

Walker received Tang Tian's long pass from the backcourt and quickly scored another 2 points with a layup.

The Pelicans were playing smoothly from the start.

It was clear that the previous series against the Warriors had brought out the Pelicans' best form.

In the Cavaliers' set offense, Wade dribbled to penetrate, defended one-on-one by Tang Tian.

This scene made some fans on the sidelines sigh.

When Tang Tian first entered the league and tried out for the Heat, it was Wade who examined Tang Tian in the end.

Time flies, and in the blink of an eye, 7 years have passed, and the two are facing each other again on the stage of the Finals.

Wade, who used to easily get past Tang Tian, was now completely unable to break through Tang Tian.

He dribbled to the free throw line with no chance at all, and could only dribble back to the three-point line and pass the ball back to James.

James continued to penetrate, and this time the Cavaliers had a tactical play on the weak side, with Korver running out for a catch-and-shoot opportunity.

James' pass was timely, but the Pelicans' switch defense was also fast.

The moment Korver caught the ball and shot, Davis' help defense was already there to interfere.

"Clang!"

Korver's three-pointer also failed to go in!

The Cavaliers wanted to go head-to-head with the Pelicans, but they failed to score on their first two offensive possessions!

The team's form was still a big problem!

Even if Lue put Korver, who had performed well before, into the starting lineup, it didn't seem to be of much use in the face of the Pelicans' defensive quality!

Back on the other end, Tang Tian broke through and passed to Butler, who hit a mid-range shot.

The Pelicans started with a 6-0 run against the Cavaliers!

The cheers at the scene were constant.

This was the Finals they were looking forward to.

Just like Zhu Yuanzhang of the Ming Dynasty defeated Chen Youliang, his greatest enemy, after which he swept through the Yuan Dynasty.

The Pelicans defeated the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, and playing against the Cavaliers, who were in poor form, in the Finals was like going through the motions!

James forced his way past Butler to the basket, and shot with Davis' help defense.

"Clang!"

The ball still didn't go in.

With the other Cavaliers players in poor form, the Pelicans could double-team James without restraint.

And unlike those teams in the East before, the Pelicans' combination of Butler and Davis on the front line was the strongest defensive combination in the league.

Even for James, it was by no means easy to force his way to score.

Davis grabbed the defensive rebound, and the Pelicans launched another fast break.

The Cavaliers' speed of retreat was really much worse than the Warriors.

This time it was Tang Tian, who received Walker's pass back, and dunked the ball into the basket with a windmill.

8-0.

The Pelicans were completely dominating the Cavaliers.

The Cavaliers' fans had completely disappeared from the online forums.

The Pelicans were really hanging the Cavaliers up to beat them.

Even James, whom they trusted the most, had no room to perform at all.

Wade wanted to use Thompson's pick-and-roll to find a mismatch, but Thompson couldn't stop Tang Tian at all.

Wade forced a shot and was almost blocked by Tang Tian, resulting in an air ball.

The rebound was grabbed by Tang Tian, and the Cavaliers' offense still failed to score!

There is no harm without comparison.

The Cavaliers struggled to get out of the East, and many people thought they would cause some trouble for the Pelicans, or even win a game.

But reality is cruel.

The Bucks were almost beaten to a pulp by the Pelicans in the regular season, and that was the Pelicans not going all out.

The Cavaliers only managed to fight their way out thanks to James' heroic performance. In front of the Pelicans, and the Pelicans going all out, they really didn't have much of a chance.

The Pelicans finally failed to score on one offensive possession, and back on the other end, James treated himself as a bomb and forced a shot against the defense of Davis and Butler, drawing a foul.

He shook his hands and walked to the free throw line, finally having a chance to score for the Cavaliers.

But perhaps because the previous confrontation was too intense, or perhaps because of a habit, his first free throw failed to go in.

Fortunately, the second free throw bounced in, and he finally broke the Cavaliers' scoring drought.

But immediately, Walker received a pass from Tang Tian and made a three-pointer.

11-1!

Only three minutes into the game, the Pelicans had already taken a double-digit lead!

Irresistible!

Coach Lue stood on the sidelines with a blank expression, his mouth open as if a ring had fallen out.

He had done all he could, but the gap between the two teams was the biggest in the past three years.

He was just a tactical genius, and it was really unrealistic to expect him to turn the tide.

The gap on the court was widening with an unstoppable trend.

The Cavaliers could only rely on James' sporadic scoring to maintain the score, and the support he received from others was very limited.

From the Cavaliers 1.0 era, James' teammates have always been the object of his fans' complaints.

Even after he went to the Heat, and returned to the Cavaliers in the 2.0 era, this situation did not change.

It seemed that his teammates were never good enough.

Now, this year's playoffs, his teammates are really not good.

After the first quarter, James scored 12 points in the quarter, but the Cavaliers were already 19-36, trailing the Pelicans by 17 points.

By the end of the first half, James had scored 20+ points in the half, but the Pelicans had already widened the gap to 25+.

The most direct feeling fans had after watching this half was that neither the Bucks nor the Cavaliers had much resistance in front of the Pelicans.

And this was all reasonable.

The other teams in the East besides these two were very limited in strength. The teams that broke through the division from here were really incomparable to the West.

The Pelicans widened the gap to 30+ in the third quarter, and also took the victory in advance.

In the end, they also easily defeated the Cavaliers with a score of 107-77, taking the first victory of the Finals.

James had the highest score for the Cavaliers with 27 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Besides him, only Clarkson and Whiteside scored in double figures.

On the other hand, six players on the Pelicans scored in double figures.

This was a game that lost suspense not long after the start.

"Before the game, I thought the Cavaliers still had a chance, but after one game, there was really no chance at all."

"There's no way, the other Cavaliers players are too bad. If you let Tang and LeBron switch positions, the result of the game would be the same!"

"Really can't carry them, LeBron, leave Cleveland, there is no hope here!"

"George and LeBron's contracts will expire this summer, and because of Whiteside and Love's contracts, the Cavaliers' salary will also explode."

"Yes, LeBron chose to return to Cleveland three years ago, and he has done his best for this city. Now it's time to do what he wants to do!"

"Go to Los Angeles or New York! My Emperor is almost 34 years old, he needs to go to a big city!"

……

And after just one game, James' fans on social media were already considering his next home for him.

But amid the cries of despair, some fans still had hope for the Cavaliers' later games.

A large part of this was due to Adam Silver.

Adam Silver wanted to stop the Pelicans, and now there was no other team besides the Cavaliers.

Like three years ago when they were down 1-3 but forcibly blew the series to 3-3, Adam Silver could completely do it even more ruthlessly.

On this point, these people and Adam Silver coincided.

Two days later, the second game of the Finals continued at the New Orleans Arena.

The result of the game was not much different from the first game.

The Pelicans dominated the Cavaliers throughout the game, and ultimately ended with a big win.

The referee help that those fans were expecting did not appear.

Also in this game, there were some not-so-small personnel changes in the league's top management.

The league's Chief Deputy Commissioner, Lynn Sok, resigned from his position and would go to work for the NFL.

Sok was Adam Silver's assistant and his top lieutenant.

This personnel change, coupled with the previous abnormal behavior of ESPN and the betting websites, and the referees who never went online.

All these factors mixed together, and even slow-reacting fans realized that Adam Silver had lost power.

And thinking about it carefully, this was also a reasonable thing.

Adam Silver's support rate after his comeback was not particularly high in the first place.

After the Pelicans let the NBA come to an end, those owners who originally supported him gradually regretted it because of profit issues.

Then, with the referee incident, the fans no longer supported him, and the Pelicans caused the betting websites to suffer heavy losses.

Adam Silver, who had only managed to come back by promising many benefits, could not deliver on any of them now.

It was basically a foregone conclusion that he would step down again after the end of the season.

If there were still people siding with him at this time, then they would really be kicked in the head by a donkey.

When a tree falls, the monkeys scatter; this is the same everywhere.

Three days later, the Pelicans headed to Cleveland, where they would face the Cavaliers in the third game of the Finals.

Despite the successive crushing defeats, the Cleveland fans' support for the Cavaliers remained.

Before the game, signs supporting the Cavaliers were everywhere on the streets, and Quicken Loans Arena was also packed to capacity during the game.

However, these off-court factors ultimately failed to help the Cavaliers.

These are useful when the two teams are close in strength.

But the difference in strength between the Cavaliers and the Pelicans was now too great.

In the end, the Pelicans once again defeated the Cavaliers by a large margin with a score of 110-88, rewriting the Finals score to 3-0.

After winning this game, they were only one step away from winning the championship without a single loss, from "four.four.four.four."

And the happiest at this time were those fans who had bought the Pelicans to win the championship without a single loss on the betting websites from the beginning. They could make a lot of money.

In their expectations, two days later, the fourth game of the Finals continued at Quicken Loans Arena.

Before this game, the Cleveland Plain Dealer continuously reported that team owner Dan Gilbert personally went to the training hall to cheer on the team.

James also gave a wonderful speech to the players after the training session.

Even coach Lue shouted out the words to fight for Cleveland's dignity.

Putting these messages together, one could feel that the Cavaliers were definitely not willing to be swept like this.

Quicken Loans Arena was still packed that night.

There was also a familiar figure in the stands on the sidelines, NBA President Adam Silver.

However, completely different from the last time he showed his face in Oakland, he looked extremely颓废, like a walking corpse.

It seemed that after losing power, his days were not good. He was pretending to be depressed before, but looking at his state now, he may really be depressed.

And his attendance this time was not because he wanted to come, but because the Pelicans were very likely to lift the championship trophy tonight and complete their dynasty.

As the league president, even if he has lost power, he is still the league president.

He cannot be absent from the championship award ceremony. As the league president, he must hand the championship trophy to the Pelicans.

Appearing with him was also Pelicans owner Gayle Benson.

However, completely different from Adam Silver's expression, Benson's face was rosy, spirited, and beaming with joy.

Since the Lakers in the early 2000s, no team has been able to complete a three-peat dynasty.

Including the previous Spurs, who fell short at the last step and failed.

But now the Pelicans have this opportunity, and it is basically a foregone conclusion.

ps: Late-night combined chapter, please support with monthly tickets, mwah (づ￣3￣)づ╭❤～