Keeping His Hot Hand, Dunking George to the Floor! "It's a pass!"
George reacted quickly, immediately anticipating Wade's intent. A glance out of the corner of his eye showed LeBron charging straight toward him.
He instinctively slid a step sideways, trying to cut him off and swipe the ball.
But he was still a little too late.
He failed to touch the ball, and LeBron, already at full speed, blew past him.
"I've got him!"
Chandler was fully prepared to defend beneath the basket.
He planted his feet, waiting for LeBron to charge in so he could jump with him.
Could the taller Chandler deliver a towering block on LeBron?
No.
Absolutely not.
The King, already charging at full speed, descended like a warrior from the heavens for a Slam dunk.
Boom!
LeBron powered through Chandler's defense and violently hammered the ball through the hoop.
The easy offense had helped LeBron find his touch, and he was now red-hot.
Even against the starters, he opened with a thunderous dunk, giving his team's morale another boost.
Knicks ball.
Curry brought the ball up. Just as he crossed half court, Wade suddenly lunged at him to apply pressure.
Curry hadn't expected it at all, but fortunately, his ballhandling was good enough.
He accelerated to the left, then smoothly whipped the ball behind his back into his right hand just as Wade lunged into his path.
His body flowed with the move, shifting his weight to the right as he gathered the ball and accelerated again.
Wade came up empty.
He hadn't expected to steal the ball from Curry that easily anyway.
It was more about intimidation, making Curry feel a sense of urgency.
Forcing him to attack under pressure would keep him from scoring comfortably.
That was the impact of defensive pressure.