Both Link and LeBron James liked to play the pick-and-roll.
The playing style of both men involved looking for various pick-and-rolls.
This caused Shaquille O'Neal in the audience to grumble: "These two little guys want nothing more than to run tens of thousands of pick-and-rolls in a game; they're far too cunning!"
However, the content of their pick-and-rolls was completely different.
One focused primarily on driving to the basket after the pick.
The other focused primarily on shooting after the pick.
Yet, the vision and ability to read the game displayed by both men left the scouts on-site—and even Kobe Bryant, Shaquille O'Neal, Kevin Garnett, Jason Kidd, and oh, Kenyon Martin—unable to stop themselves from praising them.
After five minutes of play, both sides reached the first timeout with the score tied at 14-14.
On the benches, the coaches of both teams were adjusting strategies and feeding their players words of encouragement.
"This guy is hard to guard. Although his movements are simple, they are extremely practical—like a killer disguised as an ordinary person!!!" LeBron said in a low voice.
"Mm." The coach of the Miracle Boy nodded and turned to instruct the team's small forward to match up against Link on defense.
As the team's primary offensive threat, LeBron needed to conserve his Stamina. Link was constantly running pick-and-rolls with his teammates; besides needing high mental concentration, LeBron was also exceptionally drained by the physical contact while fighting through screens.
On the Dream Chasing Warriors Team's bench.
"Link, you must listen to me this time. This game is being broadcast nationwide across America; it will play a crucial role in whether you can enter the NBA in the future." The team's head coach, Chris Grant, decisively refused to let Link continue guarding LeBron.
This was extremely taxing on Link's Stamina. Furthermore, Link was the type who relied on jump shots to score; once his Stamina was over-depleted, it would have an even greater impact on his perimeter shooting.
Grant wanted to have Josh Smith primary-guard LeBron, but after seeing the somewhat unconfident look in Josh's eyes, he swallowed those words.
Josh Smith's lateral movement couldn't keep up with LeBron. Although his Block ability was strong, his defensive habits weren't good; the effect of him guarding LeBron one-on-one would likely be even worse.
Also, LeBron wasn't Ben Simmons; he had a shot.
LeBron's long-range two-pointer form was good, and his shooting percentage wasn't bad either. His playing style even had a bit of elegance; if you covered his face, you could even sense McGrady's elegance in LeBron.
"To stop LeBron, we must set up speed bumps for him. As long as we reduce his momentum, his lethality in the paint will naturally decrease," Link said slowly just as Grant was unsure who to send to guard LeBron.
"Matt..." Link suddenly called out toward the bench.
This future NBA reporter, Matt Babcock—who stood just over 180cm barefoot and weighed 86kg—was startled and subconsciously pointed at himself.
"I think you can do it." A bright smile suddenly appeared on Link's face.
"Link... don't make that kind of joke!"
"How could I possibly do it?"
As a 'nobody' in the training camp and a player there due to connections, Matt Babcock's only specialty was his Three-Point Shot. Additionally, he was quite smart on the defensive end, with good defensive positioning and awareness, but other than that, he was truly unremarkable.
At this moment, not just Babcock, but everyone looked at Link in unison, all thinking he was making a huge joke.
However, Babcock was still very grateful to Link; he felt that this friend he had just met a week ago wanted him to get some exposure in front of the national cameras.
"Matt, I think you can do it. Also, your task isn't to guard LeBron one-on-one, but to make him fall into our defensive trap..." Link explained his idea.
Didn't LeBron like to use pick-and-rolls to find mismatches?
Link would put the seemingly weak Matt Babcock right in front of him to see if he would take the bait.
As long as he dared to drive, the defense would immediately collapse inward.
After a brief moment of contemplation, Matt Babcock stood up with a determined expression and said, "I will do my absolute best!!!"
...
...
The timeout ended, and the game resumed.
Both sides changed their defensive strategies.
This caused Kobe Bryant in the audience to shake his head slightly.
Kobe was the type who liked to attack the opponent's strongest defensive point and guard the opponent's strongest offensive point. Of course, this referred to perimeter players.
But Link and LeBron chose to avoid each other. However, this was also a normal defensive strategy; head-to-head confrontations between stars usually happened during the crucial moments of a game.
When LeBron saw Matt Babcock guarding him, the corners of his mouth twitched. He didn't forget to point at Chris Grant on the bench, as if saying, "This is it?"
But Matt Babcock lowered his center of gravity, fully concentrated, and stared at LeBron with gritted teeth.
"I am Matt Babcock. Although I love basketball, my talent dictates that I can't go much further."
"But that doesn't mean I can't have beautiful and unforgettable moments in my basketball memories."
"Even if I'm just an insignificant little person, who the hell says a little person can't chase a basketball dream!"
Facing LeBron James, who was several sizes larger than him and even stronger than Link, Matt Babcock couldn't help but build himself up mentally.
It's just that competitive sports are cruel; spirit and willpower are vulnerable in the face of absolute willpower and talent.
As LeBron lowered his center of gravity and accelerated off the ground in a tank-like drive, Babcock was immediately bumped aside. However, his efforts weren't entirely in vain. Link appeared ahead on LeBron's drive path, forcing the latter to change direction; Link's long arms poked in just in time, forcing LeBron to gather the ball early to avoid it. His momentum was significantly sapped, making the final layup easy to predict, and it was contested by Bosh, who had rotated back to the paint, resulting in a miss.
"Good defense!" Kobe Bryant's eyes lit up in the audience, and he subconsciously clapped for this team defense by the Dream Chasing Warriors Team.
He hadn't expected to see such a sophisticated defensive scheme at a high school basketball game.
With Matt Babcock as the first line of defense and Link as the second, these two lines could drastically reduce LeBron's ability to attack the rim.
After two consecutive successful defensive stops, the high-IQ LeBron also saw the trick behind it.
To counter this, in the subsequent offensive rounds, after drawing Link's help defense, he passed the ball to the All-American five-star small forward in the corner. Unfortunately, the teammate's shooting was unstable, and the results were poor.
"Man, I don't know why, but I seem to see shadows of Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in them." Kenyon Martin said, looking at his teammate Jason Kidd.