Three minutes in, he had already committed two fouls, forcing Donovan to take him off and put Butler back in.
Fortunately, JB was an iron man too. The halftime break, plus these few minutes, had been enough.
After the Thunder's Big Three reunited, they still couldn't contain James on defense.
But they were fully capable of making up for it on offense.
Besides, if they couldn't contain him, so be it.
Let him shoot by himself. It didn't matter. They just had to cut off his passing lanes.
Donovan had always believed that as long as the Big Three were in normal form, there was no one in the League who could shoot the Thunder to death by himself.
Even Jordan couldn't do it! I said it!!
Time ticked away second by second.
James' stamina gradually began to run out as well.
The game slowly reached the final five minutes of the Fourth Quarter.
The Thunder led the Cavaliers 109–101, up by eight.
By then, James had already scored 43 points, grabbed 5 rebounds, and dished out 6 assists by himself.
But it was clearly still not enough.
Back on offense, James waited at the Top of the Key for Love's Pick-and-Roll.
After the screener held Butler in place, James quickly drove into the Mid-range. Then he stepped into a Euro Step, used a misdirection change of direction to slip past Little Sabonis, and finished the layup.
Yes, it was still four steps, but the referees definitely weren't going to call it.
Chen Xi had seen this kind of move more than once.
Standing near the Baseline, he faced the fans at courtside and made a traveling motion before giving an helpless smile.
The fans were very obliging, responding immediately with a chorus of deafening boos.
Of course, it was