This is sentiment.
Additionally, no one knows better than Mason how ruthless Gan's measures are to counter brutal basketball.
The massacre of the 1990 Finals is still vivid in memory, and Mason doesn't want to be the next Isiah Thomas.
This is rationality.
Mason toned down his actions, but the confrontation between the two sides remained intense.
It became so intense that both sides forgot whether they were playing basketball or wrestling at one point.
At the first timeout, Lewis said on the bench, "Is this a basketball game? They're hugging my waist all the time and trying to trip me up."
Beelman said, "You can hug their waist too and trip them up."
"I'm doing that, but I almost forgot how to shoot."
Excessive physical confrontation can make the offense feel sluggish, exactly the result the Heat want.
On the Heat's bench, Riley squatted on one leg, drawing tactics on the board nonstop.
