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comicgeekscomicgeek · 4 years

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Their Hero Academia – Chapter 62: Final Exam Part 4: Short Essay

Presenting the next raw and unedited chapter of my on-going, next-gen, My Hero Academia fic, Their Hero Academia! Please note, this chapter may undergo more extensive editing before it gets posted to AO3/FF.net, as there’s a lot of fight scenes that may need clarity editing.

Earlier chapters can be found here

The last blast of her Jetpack brought Sora to the ground, where some of her classmates, including Toshi, were waiting. Ordinarily, she might remove her helmet in order to have a clearer conversation or to wipe the sweat from her brown, but with a potential sniper on the loose, it seemed an undue risk. Instead, she used her tongue to adjust the small straw on the helmet’s right cheek and sipped from the juice it offered.

Satisfied with that, she tapped the side of her helmet and activated the communicator. “This is Jet-Red,” she announced. “I spotted nothing on my sweep of the western sector and have returned to base camp.”

Her brother’s voice quickly followed. “Jet-Blue responding,” he said. “Eastern sector air sweep is complete. No sign of any additional civilians or the Villains. They appear to have gone to ground.”

“Slyde here, nothing on the ground sweep of the north sector either,” Haimawari reported. “Heading back home.”

“You’re listening to Channel Stick ‘Em Up,” came Sero’s voice. “Nothing on my aerial view either. Where the hell are they? I didn’t expect to be playing Hide the Villain today. Totally unfair! Midoriya, I thought you said they were coming for us!”

Kirishima-Bakugo’s voice cut in. She was up on the roof of the civilian defense shelter with Kaminari, Aoyama, Izumi, and Shinso. Their ranged fighters, who could rain firepower down on any attackers or more easily shoot Raptor out of the air if it came to it. “Cut the chatter, you damn sorry excuse for a tape dispenser!”

“Okay,” Toshi said, his communicator filled with static. She’d done what she could to repair it, but it had gotten very damaged when he’d smacked into the building. Hopefully, her patch job would hold. “When you guys get back, we’ll brainstorm a new plan. With Shadow-Thief, they could be anywhere.”

As he clicked off the communicator, Toshi let out a sigh. “So much for that plan.” He was discouraged, she could tell. It had been nearly thirty minutes since they had regrouped and he had dispatched the speedier and more mobile members of the class to look for where the Villains might be coming from and they had nothing to show for it.

So many times, she and her classmates looked to him for direction. They always had. Toshi had always been the one looking out for all of them, even when they were small, making sure everyone was getting along, making sure everyone’s needs were met. With the fate of everyone’s passing being tied to this exam, it was little wonder he seemed to be feeling that even more strongly.

“When one hypothesis fails,” she said, “you must select another.” Slightly cautiously, she put her hands on his shoulders. He didn’t flinch away from the contact, which was good. Since they had last talked about it, he had been getting better about not being as anxious when they touched. “We believe in you, Toshi. And we will figure this out.”

Toshi nodded. “Okay, yeah, you’re right. Thanks, Sora.”

“Of course,” she said. “One of the requirements of being your girlfriend is supporting you in your endeavors.” She’d been reading excessively on “how to be a good girlfriend” on the internet. Much of the advice was contradictory and confusing, but she was attempting to sort through it all. If need be, there were more experienced sources of advice within the class as well. “Also, I am as invested in our success as a class as anyone.”

Above, she could hear Shinso’s sonar scream, sent out at regular intervals per Toshi’s directions, sweeping in a wide arc from west to east. The noise would probably let any Villains know they were being watched, but it was better than being caught completely unawares.

“I think I saw something this time!” Shinso reported. “Just a blip though. Like when Shadow-Thief was doing her shadow thing! Big group though… I think she’s moving all of them!”

“It looks like your hypothesis was correct after all,” Sora told Toshi. “Your time scale was merely inaccurate.”

Time scale… time scale… That had to be important…

Oh no.

Sora looked up and tracked the position of the sun in the sky, relative to where it had been early. Her eyes darted to the buildings across the street, where long shadows were starting to draw. Of course. The Villains had waited until they had opportunity to use the shadows to their advantage.

“Aoyama!” she shouted. “We need as much light as you can muster! Across the street! Now!”

But it was too late. The shadows across the street rippled as four figures began to rise out of it. The same Villains Shinso had identified before. Jawbreaker. Raptor. Kamuy. Shadow-Thief.

There was no time. The Villains were here.

“Okay, everybody!” Toshi called out. “Just like we planned it! Let’s take these guys down!”

***

Shinso, Todoroki, Aoyama, Kaminari, and Kirishima-Bakugo were still on the roof, ready to rain their firepower down from above. Tensei Iida, Sero, and Haimawari were still out in the field, heading back to the basecamp. On the ground, that left Midoriya, Sora Iida, Koda, Sato, Ojiro, Mineta, Tokoyami, and Daisuke. He’d been tense, waiting for the moment when the Villains appeared. He was strong, he knew. He was no Deku, of course, but still powerfully built. In training, he was used to be being able to take care of most simulated opponents with just a few blows.

Strength was hardly everything. It was why he trained his reflexes and his senses to their utmost and why he tried to maximize the range and mobility his Extendo-Arms offered him. He doubted that he would ever be a particularly highly ranked Hero, he shied away from the spotlight too much for that without factoring in anything else, but he was determined to be an effective one.

But for the first time, when fighting that Kamuy woman, his strength had been useless. Worse than useless, it had been turned against him. She’d thrown all the strength of his punches right back at him. Not a feeling he relished, nor one he hoped to experience again.

There was barely a moment between the Villains appearing, Midoriya’s direction, and the move by both sides to attack. A barrage of ranged attacks flew forth first: focused laser beams from Aoyama, explosive-infused disks from Kirishima-Bakugo, electrical blasts from Kaminari, waves of sonic-force from Shinso, and gouts of flame from Todoroki. They had the desired effect and the Villains scattered, with Raptor taking to the air on a giant gust of wind, Kamuy going right, and Jawbreaker going left. Shadow-Thief vanished back into the shadows… something that probably wasn’t going to be good.

He saw Sora Iida jetting into the air to fight Raptor, with Tokoyami dispatching Frog-Shadow to fight alongside her. He saw Mineta firing those sticky balls from her horns, trying to tag Kamuy. And before him, he saw Jawbreaker.

The Villain was more massive than Midoriya had described him, now made of both stone and metal, blending unevenly across his form. Daisuke glanced briefly to his right and saw Midoriya, then nodded.

Daisuke was too tall to go low, but he darted this way and that, dodging out of the way of Jawbreaker’s fists. Even weighed down with the extra mass, the big Villain was fast. He swung his second set of arms high and his third set of arms low and extended them out as fast as he could, smacking the Villain with a series of rapid-fire blows. Again and again, like pistons, he fired his four fists out, smacking hard against metal and rock.

“Argh!” He let out a cry of pain as his fists bounced uselessly against the Villain’s hide, not even denting the metal or cracking the rock.

“Was that supposed to hurt?” Jawbreaker taunted. He launched a powerful blow, but Daisuke got all three of his right side-arms in place to block it. That blow hurt too, but not as bad as it would have if he’d taken it full on. He held his ground at least.

“Would have been nice if it had,” he said. “But I’m just the distraction.”

Midoriya’s gravity enhanced fist smashed into the side of Jawbreaker’s head, sending him flying. Daisuke would be lying if he said he didn’t envy the gravity-backed powers Midoriya could put behind his blows. They made his best triple-haymaker look like a love tap. Jawbreaker skipped like a stone across the street for a moment, before digging in his fingers to stop himself. When he was stable, he jaw opened wide and he took a huge bite out of the street, his scoop like jaw shoveling in cement. As he did, he got bigger still, patches of cement spreading across his body.

Midoriya gave him a concerned look. “You up for hitting him some more? We’ve got to get him closer to our ranged attackers.”

Daisuke shrugged. He was definitely going to have sore knuckles after this. “Might as well…”

***

Mika let out a whoop as her sticky balls successfully pinned Kamuy’s feet to the ground. “In your face, giant lady!” she taunted, making a face. The massive woman was struggling to free her feet, shooting daggers in her direction.

“Ah, maybe don’t taunt the giant woman, Mineta?” Sato suggested.

“Definitely not a good idea,” Ojiro agreed.

There was a non-zero chance they were right. At the end of the day, her balls were very sticky, but they weren’t the universal sealant. On the other hand, seeing the woman fume was so much fun!

“When I get out of here,” Kamuy growled, “I am going to send you to the glue-factory, horse girl!”

“Oh, whatever,” she said, waving a hand dismissively. “And I keep telling people, I’m a cow, now a horse!”

She pointed to Kamuy, turning her head to their snipers. “Todoroki! How about you show her how to chill?”

Above, Todoroki pointed and ice began to form around Kamuy. Mika wasn’t exactly sure on what her range was, but whatever it was, it was good. Being able to draw in heat and form ice just by pointing was a damn useful talent.

“Dammit,” Kamuy said. “Didn’t want to do this this early… Going to make you regret it, kid.” She seemed to shimmer for a second, then slammed a fist into the ground. The resultant shockwave rippled outward, blowing Mika, Ojiro, and Sato off their feet, and shattering both the her balls and Todoroki’s ice.

When Mika’s head stopped spinning, she could see Kamuy approaching her. She looked noticeably smaller, though still just as tall and still built like a truck. But noticeably less bulky all the same. She’d probably had to expend a lot of power to do that shockwave then.

Shinso had been surprisingly light on the details of Kamuy’s Quirk. She’d apparently only had a handful of public conflicts with Heroes before being imprisoned. But if they could get her to keep expending energy, maybe she’d run out?

She tried to prop herself up, but Kamuy was faster. The giant woman lifted her by her neck, squeezing just enough to hurt, but not so bad that she couldn’t breathe. Obviously, these guys weren’t allowed to kill them. No matter how much Aizawa had threatened to kick all their asses over the course of the term.

“No smartass remarks now, huh?” Kamuy asked, holding her at eye level. “You got me a little mad, but when I get mad, things get broken.” She raised Mika up a little higher, ready to give her a toss. “This is your last roundup, Hero.”

If she wasn’t about to get slammed into the pavement, Mika would really have appreciated the taunt. As far as those went, it was a good one. She kicked, ineffectively, slamming her hooves into Kamuy’s stomach. Of course, with her Quirk, it wasn’t doing much.

“You know,” Mika grunted, “you’re forgetting something…”

“Am I?” Kamuy’s lips pulled back in a sneer. “What’s that?”

“This close, I don’t gotta aim my balls. What goes up… comes down!”

She fired off a ball from her left horn and jerked her own head back. It didn’t go far, but it did distract Kamuy enough to look up. The ball smacked her right in the face. It wasn’t a big one, barely the size of a softball, but it did cover one eye and hit her with a pretty solid plop! The shock made her release Mika, who fell to the ground on her butt in an undignified heap.

Which was when Ojiro struck. Or at least, that’s what Mika assumed happened. Something struck Kamuy’s legs anyway, causing her to topple over backwards into a hole that definitely wasn’t there before.

“…What?”

“Sorry,” Sato said, suddenly at her side and offering her a hand up. She noticed he had some dirt on his face around his lips. The hole had to be his doing then. Beside him, Ojiro came back into view. “Didn’t mean for that to take so long.”

“Had to wait for a moment where we could actually do something,” Ojiro said. “Even if she didn’t see me, not much I could do unless she was off-balance.”

Mika waved it off. “Nah, you guys did good.”

Unfortunately, all it had bought them was a brief respite. Kamuy jumped out of the hole, landing with a solid thump.

She cracked her knuckles noisily. “You little Heroes used up your shot. Now it’s my turn.”

***

In the time between Tensei’s communication with the others and his arrival back at the civilian defense shelter, the scene had become a warzone. Below, he could see Shoji and Toshi fighting with Jawbreaker, with even Toshi’s gravity backed ricochet blows having little effect on the massive Villain. Haimawari arrived on the ground moments later, peppering Jawbreaker with his blasts, but he succeeded in only distracting him long enough to buy Toshi and Shoji a moment.

Also on the ground, Mineta, Sato, and Ojiro were dodging out of the way of Kamuy, mostly looking like they were trying to avoid giving her any additional power. Based upon his observation, she had decreased in overall mass by at least fifteen percent since his previous encounter with her. Tensei winced as Sato narrowly avoided another of the woman’s blows, but let out a sigh of relief as Takuma finally arrived on the scene, temporarily restraining Kamuy with his tape.

And in the air… Raptor was putting up a valiant fight against his sister and Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow. According to both Shinso and Takuma, the winged Villain could not actually “fly” like winged Heroes like Hawks or Kestrel, instead relying on his ability to generate powerful winds to keep himself aloft. It required a continuous expenditure and forced him to keep himself in motion, much like his and his sister’s Jetpack Quirks.

But Raptor’s wind blasts were enough to keep both of his attacks from reaching him. Tensei poured on his speed as he watched his sister fire the capture rope built into her gauntlet, but it too was buffeted by the winds and fell back harmlessly.

Fortunately, Raptor did not see him. With one final burst of speed, he came up on the Villain and swung out a fist for a high speed punch. It connected with a solid clang of armored fist on flesh, sending Raptor tumbling out of the air.

“Good to see you are safe, Little Brother!” Sora said, as they both jetted after the Villain, who was flapping his wings and calling up a gale to right himself.

“As I must remind you, I am a statistically insignificant amount of time younger than you!” he snapped back. “That appellation is highly inappropriate!”

“Hey, argue later!” Frog-Shadow shouted after them, being recalled by Tokoyami. “Sheesh, when I’m being the sensible one…”

A sharp blade of wind split the air between them, forcing both Tensei and his sister into evasive maneuvers. The familiar was right. It was hardly the time for arguments. Instead, it was time for…

Tensei turned his head slightly to look at his sister, who, seeming to have sensed his intent, was now looking at him. “Double Rocket Attack?” he asked.

“Double Rocket Attack!” Sora confirmed, confidently.

Both adjusted their flight paths so they were facing each other, then linked hands and fired an extra boost of speed through their Jetpacks. It sent them spinning and both stretched their legs out as far as they would go. Spinning around and around, Tensei’s legs smacked hard into Raptor, followed immediately by Sora’s, again and again.

“And make way for me!” Frog-Shadow shouted. Tensei and Sora backed off as, at what appeared to be Tokoyami’s direction, Frog-Shadow-swooped in and rushed Raptor, slamming into his mid-section, her arms and hands extending to grab his wings. Pinned, he seemed helpless as he slammed into the ground not far from Tokoyami.

Tensei touched down, Sora right behind him. “Is he subdued?” he asked.

“I am afraid not,” Tokoyami replied. “He is… struggling still.”

She was right. Frog-Shadow was strong, of course, but Raptor seemed to be a rather powerful Villain as well. And while she had pinned his wings enough to prevent them from use in flight, she could not grasp every feather… The tips of his wings snapped forward, hitting Frog-Shadow with focused and sharp blades of wind. The familiar let out a cry of alarm and pain one echoed by Tokoyami, and snapped back, allowing him to rise again. Raptor got back on his feet in an instant, wings spreading out behind him for another attack. They snapped forward, shooting out another blade of air. But it sailed over their heads.

“Ha!” Sora taunted. “You missed, Villain!”

Raptor simply sneered. “Did I?”

Tensei turned to look behind them, just in time to watch the wave of pressurized air slam into the roof of the civilian defense shelter, sending their classmates tumbling over the edge!

***

Koharu let out a sharp gasp as the members of Class 1-A who were on the roof were sent tumbling over the edge by the wind blast from Raptor. The girl with the white and red hair—Todoroki, she remembered now—reacted quickly though, forming an ice slide that brought them down to the ground chillily and probably uncomfortably, but all in one piece. The explosive girl, Kirishima-Bakugo, checked on Todoroki to make sure she was okay, but Todoroki pointed towards the fight. With that, the students who had been on the roof joined the fight proper.

“Still waiting on that answer, Kocho,” Aizawa said. “What would you do against these Villains?”

“Give the girl a break, Aizawa,” All Might said. “She wasn’t expecting to get challenged like that.”

“Heroes have to think on their feet,” Aizawa said. “If she can’t do that, she’s got no business joining my class.”

“She’s in the room, you two,” Vice-Principal Midnight reminded them.

“It’s, it’s okay,” Koharu said. “It’s a fair question.” On the screens, she watched as Kirishima-Bakugo hit Jawbreaker with a series of explosive-backed punches, giving Midoriya, Haimawari, and Shoji a brief respite. Even as he swatted her away, Shinso hit the Villain with a sonic blast of force.

“That the best you can do, kid?” Jawbreaker taunted, looming large over the small boy, who suddenly seemed even smaller in the moment. “You giving me the kid’s gloves treatment?”

There was a stillness in the room, a baited breath that told her this was a very important moment, even if she didn’t understand the context.

“Not… even… CLOSE!” Shinso made the word itself into a scream, hitting Jawbreaker with a much more powerful blast that knocked the Villain across the street.

“I knew he still had it in him!” Aizawa said, very nearly rising from his seat. Was he… proud? What was the story there? All Might and Midnight were much less restrained, letting out louder cheers.

“Ahem,” Aizawa said. “Back to the question.”

“Er, yes, sir,” Koharu said. “Jawbreaker… He’s got to see, right? So I’d probably try to blind him with my String Shot. I’m not strong enough to hurt him and he doesn’t look like he breathes, so I couldn’t use any of my scale powders, like my paralysis agent or my poison, so… I might be able to restrain him or at least keep him busy until somebody with a different Quirk comes along.”

Aizawa did not give her any indication as to whether or not that was the correct answer.

On the screens, the fights went on. Sero and Mineta combined their sticky Quirks to restrain Kamuy, setting up Kaminari and Todoroki to join the fight. Todoroki flicked a hand, sending out a wave of ice that covered her legs and temporarily immobilizing her, while Kaminari unleashed an electrical blast from her gauntlets. Kamuy jerked under the attack for a moment, but then began to laugh.

“Oh, yeah!” she cackled. “That’s the stuff!” She was growing larger and more muscular, breaking out of the ice easily.

“Oh, no fair!” Mineta shouted, dodging out of the way of Kamuy’s blows. “She can absorb energy too?! I know Shinso didn’t say that!”

“In his defense,” Aizawa said, seeming to come to the boy’s defense, “it didn’t come up much. All of her recorded battles were with Heroes with more physical Quirks.”

Koharu winced at Kamuy tagged Mineta with a heavy punch. The horned girl went flying, went down, and did not get up. Sero wrapped a strip of tape around her arm, but she flicked her arm and pulled him to her instead, smashing her other fist into his face with enough force to crack his helmet and drop him instantly.

“Um,” she said, feeling slightly bad watching 1-A get beat up like that. “Kamuy absorbs physical attacks. So I wouldn’t want to engage directly. But my scales would probably work. Keep her distracted, keep her fighting and breathing hard, and I could paralyze her or put her to sleep.”

Unfortunately, that wasn’t an option for the students fighting her. Powerful blows quickly took down Sato, the poor guy not getting a chance to do much now that she was powered up and enraged. Probably revenge for dropping the telephone pole on her. Kamuy turned her attention back to Kaminari and Todoroki, with Kaminari putting herself in front of the girl with the two-tone hair. Koharu watched as she plugged her Extension Cords into other parts of her uniform, opening panels that revealed lights and speakers. The resulting sound and light barrage stunned Kamuy for a moment, giving the girls a moment to retreat. In the resultant confusion, Koharu realized she’d lost track of Ojiro…

On another screen, the Heroes fighting Raptor were doing a little better than the rest. The glowing boy, Aoyama, had joined the Iida twins and Tokoyami, adding bolts of blinding light to the fight. With Raptor disoriented, the twins both jetted around him, firing some kind of capture line from their gauntlets, circling him several times to pin his wings. Tokoyami sent forth her frog thing again, and this time it let Raptor have it with a one-two punch that sent his head spinning, knocking the winged man down and out.

“And him,” Koharu said, “I’d probably end up fighting in the air, which isn’t great, even if I can actually fly and he’s just blasting himself around. Because those winds could send anything I send at him back or somewhere else. I’m immune to my own scales, but other people wouldn’t be. Too risky. He’s tough… but I might have to risk trying to out-fly-fight him. He doesn’t look like he’s meant for fighting someone who can stay up in the air with him.”

“Good answers!” All Might told her. The compliment made her smile. “Two out of five down. Think they can pull it off?”

***

Kimiko was about to do something incredibly stupid. But Mineta and Kenta were down and nothing Todoroki or Kaminari were throwing at Kamuy was going anything to slow her down for more than a moment. Plus, there was the whole absorbing energy thing to deal with, which nullified Kaminari’s best attacks.

She’d gone invisible as soon as the woman had started swinging. It had kept her safe, but it wasn’t doing anybody else any good. Kimiko considered herself pretty good in a fight and she was a master of hitting things (as Kenta and Takuma could tell you), but against Kamuy…

Todoroki unleashed a blast of flame and that was what finally made Kamuy falter, dodging out of the way of the fire. Fire wasn’t really energy like Kaminari’s electricity was, so maybe she couldn’t absorb that? Over her shoulder, she could see the group that had been fighting Raptor rushing to join the last two ongoing fights. The Twins were jetting off to help Midoriya’s group, while Aoyama and Tokoyami were coming Kamuy’s direction.

Either way, she had an opening. It was time to do something stupid. Keeping herself invisible and silent, she took a running jump and landed on Kamuy’s back.

“What the hell?” Kamuy shouted, trying to reach back to dislodge her. But as muscular as she was, she didn’t have the flexibility to dislodge her, especially since she couldn’t see her. Her legs wrapped around Kamuy’s middle, Kimiko reached up and put her hands on Kamuy’s face and extended her Quirk. Normally, when she extended her Quirk over someone else, if she did it right, she could allow them to continue to see, even though light was no longer reaching their eyes. Some kind of layering thing, Doctor Izumi had said, where she wasn’t stopping all of it, just some of it.

But if she pushed it just right…

She couldn’t see it, but she could only imagine the horror show that was Kamuy’s eyes disappearing from her face. “I can’t see!” Kamuy screamed, thrashing this way and that to try shake Kimiko off, but she’d learned more than a few things from her dad about clinging like a monkey. “Gonna kill you, brat…!”

“Hit her now, guys!” Kimiko yelled. “Hit her now!”

“But, I can’t…” Kaminari started.

“It would not be safe…” Todoroki added.

Right. Dammit. Kaminari’s electricity and Todoroki’s fire would probably hurt her too. Her best idea yet in this fight and she hadn’t thought it all the way through!

“Then leave it to moi!” Aoyama called out. She could hear a faint sound, growing louder, a high pitched whine as he powered up his light to intense levels. “Blinding Dazzle Beam!” Focused on Kamuy, Kimiko couldn’t see him from her perch, but she could hear the sound of a powerful laser firing.

Tokokyami’s voice joined in. “Verdant Cross-Slash!”

“Here I go!”

Kimiko jumped off just in time to see the combination of Aoyama’s laser and Tokoyami’s Frog-Shadow strike Kamuy, taking the big woman completely off guard and knocking her down.

“All right!” Kaminari shouted, doing what Kimiko hoped was supposed to be a victory dance. “Go team! Take that, scary giant lady!”

“Um, Chihiro…” Todoroki began, looking behind Kaminari.

“Not now, Izumi, I’m doing my victory dance!”

“I really think you should listen,” Tokoyami said.

“And look behind you,” Aoyama added.

“And please stop dancing,” Kimiko said. “It’s just embarrassing. And really not the time…!”

“Okay, I don’t know what I’m expecting to see, but I’m going to turn around and… aw, dammit!”

Kamuy was getting right back up. She was steaming and shrinking a little, maybe using some of what she’d absorbed to keep herself going… but she was far from down. The giant woman clapped her hands together faster than the eye could follow, unleashing a massive shockwave.

Kimiko only had time to scream before everything went dark.

#their hero academia #my hero academia #fan fiction #fan fic #my writing #kimiko ojiro #daisuke shoji #tensei iida (THA)#sora iida #Koharu Kocho #shouta aizawa

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squaredcirclesirens · 6 years

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REVIEW: The Voyage To Brooklyn Begins

Rapid Results:

Lacey Evans defeated Dakota Kai with a Woman’s Right out of nowhere

Kairi Sane earned herself a championship opportunity against Shayna Baszler by defeating Nikki Cross and Candice LeRae in a triple threat match

The Rundown:

Lacey Evans kicks off the match by mocking Dakota Kai. Kai takes her down and tosses her with armdrags and a dropkick. She stayed one step ahead of Lacey and used her quickness to execute a series of kicks to Evans. She went for a boot in the corner, but Evans dodged the attack. She then tied Kai’s foot to the corner and nailed her with a swinging bronco buster. She humiliated Kai and pummeled her around. Dakota managed to hit Lacey with a kick, but upon doing it again, Evans dropped her to the canvas. She then tied her up and grinded her chin into Kai’s skull as she bent her back. Dakota tried to escape, but Lacey kicked her back down to the mat and wrenched her arms behind her back, then digging her knee into Kai’s spine. She mounted her for a pin, but Dakota kicked out. She brought Dakota to the ropes before tripping her and stomping on her. She flew over the ropes with a slingshot elbow, but Dakota was able to stay in it. Evans attempted a middle rope moonsault, but Kai rolled out of the way. She takes Lacey out with rapid fire kicks and nails her with her boot barrage in the corner. She continued her ambush of face washes by slamming her foot across Evans’s face numerous times. However, Lacey was able to drop Dakota to the canvas with a pumphandle slam. Dakota hit Lacey with a scorpion kick and went for her finisher, but Lacey tripped her to the canvas. She held onto Kai’s foot and Kai went for an enziguri, but Lacey ducked. Suddenly, she blasted Kai with the Woman’s Right and picked up the win! She harassed kai after the match by getting in her face.

In the main event of NXT, three determined faced off to earn a championship bout against Shayna Baszler at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn. Shayna Baszler joined commentary before the bell rang. Nikki Cross immediately lunged at Candice LeRae, who rolled her up. However, Kairi Sane rolled LeRae up moments later. Cross reciprocated the behavior by rolling Kairi up. They exchanged armdrags until Nikki took Kairi out with a crossbody. Kairi shoved Candice off the apron and sent chops against Cross’s chest. Nikki countered a Sliding D and spun Sane so that her head would connect with the ring post. Candice reentered the fray and took Cross down with a suicide dive. However, Nikki countered a second attempt and trapped her in the apron. She rubbed LeRae across the canvas and pulled her by her nose. She then applied a submission, but it was reversed into a pin. Cross brought Candice to the corner and stomped on her chest. She turned around and got wiped out with an Interceptor by Kairi Sane! Kairi turned her attention to LeRae and stomped on her body. She then locked in The Anchor but Nikki broke it up and leaped onto Kairi’s back. Candice knocked them over with a dropkick and ambushed Cross with chops. She then ran off the apron and took Sane out with a rolling cannonball. The crowd chanted “NXT” as Nikki slammed Candice on the metal ramp. Kairi took Nikki out with a flying elbow as the crowd chanted “This is Awesome’! Kairi climbed the ropes, but Cross prevented her from executing anything. Candice snuck in and slammed them with a tower of doom! Nikki and Candice went back and forth as Kairi joined them. All three exchanged blows until Candice took Nikki out with an enziguri. Sane nailed LeRae with a spinning backfist, but Candice took both competitors out with an flatliner & DDT combo. She nailed her lionsault on Kairi, but Nikki dragged her out of the ring and hit a neckbreaker from the apron. Nikki contorted Sane with back suplexes before bringing her to the corner, attempting to hit a neckbreaker. Candice entered and rolled Nikki up, but Cross escaped. Candice laid her out and landed on her with a lionsault. She was moments away from winning, but Kairi collided with an Insane Elbow! She covered Candice and earned a championship match at TakeOver!

NXTalk:

NXT was too bomb. The girls really delivered and showed the men how to put on a show.

Lacey vs Dakota was such good match and was given a lot of time, which I appreciate. Both women aren’t involved in the title picture and it was nice to see NXT give them a reasonable time slot to put the match together. As simple as it is, I love Lacey’s finisher. It looks impactful and she can execute it anytime during the match and it keeps people on their toes.

The triple threat was a classic. These three women put on a match that will leave an impression on NXT for a long time. It was flawless from beginning to end and the finish was incredible. I’m excited to see Kairi take the title from Shayna come TakeOver.

All in all, if you didn’t see NXT, you need to.

What did you think of NXT?

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#Candice LeRae #Dakota Kai #Kairi Sane #Lacey Evans #Nikki Cross #NXT #Review #Shayna Baszler #WWE #Reviews

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placetobenation · 4 years

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SmackDown on Fox Episode #29 SmackDown Episode # 1,078 Orlando, FL – WWE Performance Center 4/17/20 We get an In Memory of Howard Finkel graphic on the screen and then go to the intro video. Once we get inside the PC the announcers hype up tonight’s loaded show. The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross make their way to the ring as it’s time once again for A Moment of Bliss. Nikki mentions that they are the first-ever two time WWE Women’s Tag Champs and they toast to that with their coffee cups. Alexa then introduces their guest for tonight which is the Universal Champion Braun Strowman. Alexa and Nikki toast Strowman for beating Goldberg and becoming the new Universal Champion and then they quickly move on to talking about Bray Wyatt. They talk about how Wyatt has multiple personalities and needs help, but with that said he is also cunning, brutal, & psychotic. Strowman says that Wyatt didn’t create him and he doesn’t owe Wyatt anything. Strowman talks about how Wyatt is able to get in your head but he’s not falling for those games. Bliss starts to ask her next question but Strowman interrupts her and asks if that is for him and as the camera pans over we see a present sitting in one of the corners of the ring. Alexa tries to tell Strowman that she didn’t get him a gift but Strowman isn’t buying it, but when he finally opens the box he sees the black sheep mask that he used to wear as part of the Wyatt Family. Strowman looks at the mask all confused and then we get the old Wyatt screen glitch thing and then see a still picture of Strowman wearing the mask, the laughter of Bray Wyatt echoes through the PC and Strowman is looking around confused as we go to break. I thought this segment did a good job of continuing to play on the history of Strowman and Wyatt without needing to have Wyatt there and also not having to have yet another edition of Firefly Funhouse. Later in the show, it will be announced that Strowman will defend his title against Bray Wyatt and not The Fiend at Money in the Bank, I have to imagine this because they want to stretch the feud of a couple of months so I would imagine he beats Wyatt easily which sets him up to face The Fiend at the next PPV after Money in the Bank. I wouldn’t doubt that WWE is hoping that after two or three months where Strowman faces Wyatt they can convince Reigns to come back to set up a match between the two of them for SummerSlam. It was nice to see Team Little Big together again as they are always a lot of fun together. We come back from break and it’s time for our first match of the night. Match #1: Sasha Banks w/ Bayley vs Tamina Snuka Bayley is on commentary for this match. As the bell rings Sasha tells Tamina to wait and she pulls out one of her shirts and gives it to Tamina, but unfortunately, it’s too small for Tamina as she wears an extra-large, this does not sit well with Tamina and as Sasha looks over toward Bayley she is slammed to the may by her hair. Tamina throws the shirt at Bayley who gladly takes it. Tamina sends Sasha into the ropes but Sasha comes back with an attempted crucifix rollup but ends up botching the move. Tamina grabs Sasha by the throat and goes to lift her up, but Sasha counters into a rollup for a 2 count. Tamina delivers a kick and a headbutt that sends Sasha crawling over to the corner. Tamina sends Sasha into the corner and Sasha springs off the bottom rope looking to catch Tamina in a headscissors, but Tamina catches her only for Sasha to grab the top rope so that Tamina can’t do any kind of offensive move and instead just backdrops her to the apron. Tamina delivers a back elbow that sends Sasha flying off the apron and to the floor as we go to commercial break. When we come back from commercial Tamina is in control as she is driving her shoulder into the midsection of Sasha. Tamina goes for an avalanche in the corner but Sasha is able to move out of the way and position herself on the apron where she delivers a knee to Tamina’s head. Sasha comes off the second turnbuckle with a diving Meteora that gets a 2 count. Sasha delivers some mounted punches and then follows up with a basement dropkick when Tamina tries to get to her feet. Sasha has Tamina against the ropes and delivers a kick to the head. Sasha locks in a chin lock as she grounds down Tamina. Tamina finally gets to her feet so Sasha jumps on her back, but Tamina slams her back against the turnbuckle to finally create distance between herself and Sasha. Tamina charges in once again and Sasha moves out of the way once again, Sasha charges at Tamina in the corner but Tamina catches her and lifts her over to the apron where Sasha delivers a knee. Sasha goes for a rope-assisted flatliner but Tamina doesn’t go down. Sasha rolls to the outside and Tamina goes out to get her, but Bayley causes a distraction which allows Sasha to shove Tamina into the ring post and then Sasha uses the apron to hit Tamina with a 619 from the floor. Sasha shoves Tamina into the ringside steps and then rolls back into the ring. Bayley gets up from the announce table and has her shoe in her hand as she goes over to Tamina, but before she can do anything Lacey Evans runs out and dives off the ring steps and hits a flying forearm on Bayley. Tamina gets back on her feet at ringside and Sasha tries for a baseball slide but Tamina side steps and hits Sasha with a big superkick. Tamina rolls Sasha back into the ring and hits another superkick and that is enough to finish off “The Boss”. Winner: Tamina Snuka via Pinfall Match Rating: **¼ After the match, Lacey Evans comes in the ring and raises Tamina’s hand. This match was a bit sloppy at the beginning but it picked up after that and became a decent match. Tamina was fine in the match and didn’t make any major mistakes and Sasha did a good job of making Tamina look good. Not really looking forward to Bayley vs Tamina at Money in the Bank, but I guess with the women’s Money in the Bank match and a possible women’s tag title match there weren’t many people to choose from. Jey Uso cuts a promo in the back talking about the triple threat match happening later tonight and this sends us to commercial. We come back from commercial to an interview with Lacey Evans who says that Sasha got a taste of her own medicine at WrestleMania but now she plans on being wherever Sasha is and she won’t stop until the mission is complete. Match #2: Sheamus vs Denzel Dejournette Sheamus delivers a kick to the mid-section and sends Dejournette into the corner, Sheamus charges in but Dejournette catches him with a surprise schoolboy that doesn’t even get a 1 count. Dejournette goes for a rear waist lock, but Sheamus back elbows him and continues the barrage of elbows until Dejournette is completely helpless and then he starts delivering knees to the side of Dejournette’s head. Sheamus has words with the referee momentarily and then hits the Brogue Kick to pick up the win. Winner: Sheamus via Pinfall Match Rating: ** After the match Sheamus goes over to Michael Cole and yells at him for talking about Jeff Hardy during his matches both this week and last week, Sheamus tells Cole he will not be disrespected. Poor Denzel Dejournette just got a Grade A ass-kicking courtesy of the Celtic Warrior Sheamus, those elbows and knees looked brutal. So, based on what happened after the match it looks like we are getting a Sheamus vs Jeff Hardy feud which I could definitely get behind. We get another installment of the career retrospective of Jeff Hardy. We cut to the back where Carmella is aggravated at Dana Brooks for taking a Money in the Bank Qualifying match when they have a tag title match coming up next week. Dana tries to get Carmella to relax as she tells her that she can do both and walks off, but Carmella still isn’t happy with Dana’s decision. Naomi makes her way to the ring as we go to commercial break. We come back from break and are reminded that next week will be a celebration of Triple H’s 25 years in the WWE. In addition to the reminder about next week’s show, we get what has to be one of the main talking points coming out of this show which is that this year’s Money in the Bank matches will be completely different than any other in history as it looks like WWE are dipping back into the cinematic well once again as for this year’s match the participants will have to “Climb the Corporate Ladder” which means they will start on the floor level of WWE Headquarters and will fight their way through the building to get to the roof which is where the Money in the Bank briefcases will be hanging and then the first to grab the briefcase wins. I don’t know exactly how this will look but I am definitely interested in watching it and if it’s anywhere near as good as the Boneyard match or (to a lesser extent) the Firefly Funhouse match it should be a lot of fun to watch. Match #3: Naomi vs Dana Brooke (Money in the Bank Qualifying Match) Naomi gets a schoolgirl and crucifix pin right off the bat but Dana is able to kick out of both and then Naomi counters an O’Connor roll but Dana is able to kick out of that as well and then Naomi takes Dana down with a dropkick. Dana reverses a whip into the corner and Naomi tries to headscissor Dana but instead, she gets dumped to the outside. Dana wants to get a count out win, but Naomi gets back to her feet so Dana takes her back down with a baseball slide. Dana rolls Naomi back into the ring and goes for a cover but only gets a 2 count. Dana locks Naomi in a body scissors and talks trash to her until Naomi starts to elbow Dana so that she will break the hold, but Dana isn’t breaking it so Naomi bridges back trying to get a pin on Dana but she kicks out at 2. Naomi goes for another pinfall combination but Dana kicks out once again. Naomi comes back with a series of forearms and then Naomi counters an attempted Irish whip by landing a big kick to the head of Dana and she follows the first one up with a scorpion kick. Naomi hits the chuck kick on Dana but somehow Dana still has some fight left in her as she kicks out a 2. Naomi hits several more kicks and then runs off the ropes, but Dana catches her and lands the Brooketista Bomb but Naomi kicks out at the last second. Dana hits the handspring back elbow in the corner and then tries for the handspring splash, but Naomi gets her knees up. Dana slowly gets to her feet and when she does Naomi goes for the Rear View but Dana drops down and catches Naomi in a rollup but she kicks out at 2 once again. Naomi goes for another Rear View and this time it hits but that is still not enough to put Dana away. Naomi goes for the split-legged moonsault but there is no water in the pool as Dana rolls out of the way and then Dana catches Naomi out of nowhere with a sunset flip pin and that is enough to get the win in what could be considered an upset. Winner: Dana Brooke via Pinfall Match Rating: **¼ This was a shocker as you would expect Naomi to be in a ladder match. This was a decent match but nothing too special except for that sweet counter of the Rear View into a rollup. We see a video package covering everything that has happened between Sonya, Mandy, Ziggler, & Otis as we go to commercial. When we come back from commercial Sonya Deville makes her way to the ring. Sonya says she has been trying to get in touch with Mandy for two weeks but she keeps ignoring her so she has decided to offer up a public explanation because she wants to make things right with Mandy because she has never had someone like Mandy in her life. Sonya begs for Mandy to come out to the ring and after a minute of hesitation, Mandy finally makes her presence. Mandy says she doesn’t have anything to say after what Sonya did to her and Otis. Sonya says that over the past five years she has spent more time with Mandy than she has her own family and Mandy’s refusal to talk to her made her feel terrible. Sonya goes on to say that Mandy is the most selfish person she has ever met. Sonya goes on to say that this had nothing to do with Mandy or Otis; it was about her coming to the realization that once Mandy started being interested in Otis she was ready to kick her to the curb. Sonya states that Fire & Desire was always about Mandy and never about her as they came out to Mandy’s music, they blurred Sonya on the tron, and they had to push Mandy’s magazine covers. Sonya says that it was so much about Mandy that she wanted to gag, which Mandy is probably doing a lot these days since she is with Otis. Sonya says that Ziggler actually cared about Mandy. Sonya admits that she helped Ziggler come up with the plan to hook up with Mandy, but it was not for a self-serving purpose as in exchange for her helping out Ziggler he was going to help them win the tag titles but Mandy had to ruin everything. Sonya says she feels much better now that she has cleaned the air and all she wants now is for Mandy to hurt. Sonya continues on with her tirade saying that Mandy is a dime a dozen bleach blonde bimbo and then asks her if she knows what it’s like to work your ass off only to be passed up for some no-talent eye candy? Sonya says she knows Mandy better than anyone and she will use every fiber of her being to ruin Mandy’s life so that everyone will know she was the real champ in Fire & Desire. Mandy starts to reply to Sonya but Ziggler comes down to the ring. Ziggler tries to sweet-talk Mandy and wants her to look into his eyes and tell him she doesn’t have some kind of feeling for him, but before she can answer Sonya lays Mandy out which shocks Ziggler and he asks Sonya why she did that. Otis makes his way down to the ring and takes out Ziggler, but Sonya jumps on his back and rakes his eyes until Mandy gets back to her feet and pulls Sonya off Otis’s back. The heels retreat up the aisle as Otis and Mandy regroup in the ring, but Ziggler isn’t finished as he tries to sneak attack Otis but Otis sees it coming and lays Ziggler out and then hits him with the Caterpillar elbow drop. The babyfaces stand tall in the ring as the heels make their way up the ramp as the segment comes to an end. This segment will be remembered as Sonya Deville’s coming out party (pun not intended) as she finally got an opportunity to show what she is capable of on the mic and to say she knocked it out of the park would be an understatement. I thought the passion Sonya showed in her promo was great and the explanation she gave made sense which is always nice to see given WWE’s sketchy track record when it comes to explaining character motivations. My hopes for Sonya’s future in the company just increased as we now know that her skills on the mic are on par with her skills in the ring. I like how Sonya is so obsessed with taking down Mandy that she is willing to do anything to the point where even Ziggler is somewhat shocked at her actions. I can’t get enough of this story and look forward to seeing what happens next week. We get a memorial video package for legendary ring announcer Howard Finkel who passed away earlier in the week. We go to commercial and when we come back we cut to a backstage promo from The Miz who is complaining about having to defend the tag titles without John Morrison. We get a Forgotten Sons video package that nobody cares about. Match #4: Cesaro w/ Shinsuke Nakamura vs Daniel Bryan w/ Drew Gulak (Money in the Bank Qualifying Match) They go right at it as soon as the bell rings as Cesaro locks in a side headlock but Bryan shoots him off into the ropes only for Cesaro to take him down with a shoulder block but Bryan rolls through it and picks the leg of Cesaro only for Cesaro to kick him away. Bryan rolls over to the ropes and as Cesaro runs over Bryan lifts his feet and monkey flips Cesaro out to the floor. Bryan hits a tope suicida that sends Cesaro flying across the announce table. The hacker comes on and we cut to his control room where he says that we have heard all the lies, but will we hear the truth we then see several of SmackDown’s tag teams pop up on the screen including The Usos, Miz & Morrison, Alexa & Nikki, Sasha & Bayley, & The New Day. The hacker says that some keep their friends close and others closer and with that, we go to break. We come back from the break to see Bryan and Cesaro trading kicks and uppercuts as they are locked in a knuckle lock, Cesaro snapmares Bryan trying to get him to break the grip, but Bryan holds on and takes Cesaro to the mat where he stomps on his arm. Bryan puts all his focus on Cesaro’s arm as he applies a grounded hammerlock which Bryan leans back on so that he can get the maximum effect of the move. Cesaro finally rolls through and gets to his feet and back elbows Bryan which causes Bryan to release control of Cesaro’s arm. We get another side headlock and shoot off to the ropes spot and Bryan catches him with a hip toss and then seamlessly transitions into an armbar, but Cesaro clasps his hands and rolls toward Bryan which allows him to use his freakish strength to deadlift Bryan and powerbomb him down hard on the mat. Cesaro is feeling the pain in his arm and this causes him to not be able to immediately capitalize on a downed Bryan. Cesaro sets Bryan up and delivers a big kick to his back and then body slams him which gets a 2 count on a pinfall attempt. Bryan rolls out to the apron and when Cesaro walks over he grabs his arm and starts slamming it down across his shoulder. Bryan goes up top and tries for a crossbody but is caught and hit with a one-arm backbreaker which gets a 2 count. Cesaro locks in a Sharpshooter, but Bryan quickly reaches the ropes which causes for a break. Bryan rolls out to the floor to catch a breather but Cesaro follows him and delivers a running uppercut and that sends us to commercial. We come back from commercial to see Cesaro laying in several uppercuts and then Bryan catches Cesaro and is looking for a backslide but Cesaro reverses it and flips Bryan over but he lands on his feet and then locks in a flying armbar and Cesaro tries to use his strength once again, but this time Bryan is prepared as he picks the leg of Cesaro to get him down and then he kicks Cesaro’s bad arm. Bryan targets the arm with his Yes Kicks and then Cesaro tries to block the big roundhouse, but this ends up hurting his own arm and allows Bryan to hit the roundhouse which knocks Cesaro loopy, but he still has enough in him to kick out at 2. Bryan traps the arms of Cesaro and delivers several elbows to the neck and shoulder region before Cesaro catches the arm and lifts Bryan up in a fireman’s carry position and drives him into the turnbuckle and then he follows up with a Go To Sleep and just when Cesaro thinks he has done enough to finish Bryan off he kicks out of a pinfall attempt, but Cesaro quickly transitions into a crossface but Bryan tries to roll through it only for Cesaro to hang on. Bryan is finally able to roll through and lock in the Yes Lock but Cesaro is able to break Bryan’s grip and tries to lean back into a pinfall attempt, but Bryan rolls through into a crucifix pin but Cesaro kicks out. Both men get to their feet and Cesaro nails Bryan with a clothesline. Cesaro then delivers a barrage of uppercuts in the corner and then Cesaro sends Bryan into the corner and Bryan goes for the backflip, but Cesaro catches him once again only for Bryan to counter into the Yes Lock which Cesaro ends up tapping out to. Winner: Daniel Bryan via Submission Match Rating: ***¾ This was one hell of a match but that’s really no surprise as these two always tear the house down when they get to face each other and this was no different. I really liked the arm work that Bryan did on Cesaro and it was nice to see it somewhat play into the finish as the weakened arm led to Cesaro tapping out quicker than he may have without the arm being worked over. Another reason why I liked this match was that despite both Nakamura and Gulak being ringside neither tried to interfere until the very end when Nakamura tried to get into the ring but was pulled back out by Gulak. I would complain about Bryan being put in a ladder match given his neck issues, but since this is going to be a Money in the Bank match like no other, perhaps they can do something where Bryan doesn’t have to risk serious injury by being hit by or falling off a ladder. All in all, this was an excellent match and I wish they paired these two together more often. We go to the back for a promo from Big E who talks about how he is going to win the SmackDown tag titles tonight. We then cut to Elias walking in the back headed toward the ring, but out of nowhere he gets blindsided by King Corbin, Corbin beats down Elias and then smashes his hand in between two road cases. Corbin wants Elias to play him a song but then decides he has a better idea as he drags Elias across the floor as we go to break. We come back from commercial and Elias is holding his hand which is shaking and then Corbin returns to deliver more punishment to Elias. Corbin stomps on the injured hand of Elias and tells him to sing and then jabs his scepter into Elias’s throat and then talks some more trash before hitting Elias with the scepter once again. Elias tries to get up and once he does Corbin hits him in the back with the guitar and then walks off. While I don’t care about this feud I will say this was a good beatdown segment by Corbin. We then go down to commentary who hype up next weeks show which includes Drew Gulak vs King Corbin and Lacey Evans vs Sasha Banks in two Money in the Bank qualifying matches, Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross defending their titles against Carmella & Dana Brooke, and finally, we will look back at the history between Braun Strowman and Bray Wyatt. Match #5: The Miz © vs Big E vs Jey Uso (SmackDown Tag Team Championship) Miz charges at Big E as soon as the bell rings, but Big E sidesteps him and then lands a back elbow on Jey followed by an overhead belly to belly on Miz. Miz rolls to the outside, but Big E goes after him and sends him into the barricade. Big E starts clearing the announce table as he is looking to put someone through it, however, he is the one that ends up getting put through it as he gets hit with a double suplex from Miz and Jey as we go to break. We come back from the break to Jey hitting a Samoan drop on Miz and then clotheslines him out of the ring, Jey is on fire as he hits a tope suicida on both Miz and Big E on opposite sides of the ring. Jey throws Miz back into the ring and goes up top where he hits a crossbody that only gets him a 2 count. Jey then hits Big E with an enziguri and follows up with running hip attacks in the corner to both of his opponents. Jey looks to hit a second hip attack on Big E, but when he charges in he is caught with a uranage and slammed to the mat and then Miz immediately follows up by hitting his corner clothesline on Big E. Miz springboards off the top and hits Big E with an ax handle. Miz is now in full control as he stalks Big E as he looks for the Skull Crushing Finale, but blocks it and then moves out of the way of a superkick from Jey they end up hitting The Miz, but right after Jey hits one on Big E as well which gets a 2 count. Jey goes over to pick up Miz, but Miz catches him in a small package that Jey is able to kick out of. Jey goes for a sunset flip but Miz rolls through and grabs the leg as he looks to lock in the Figure Four, but Jey kicks him off and sends Miz into Big E who is on the apron and this knocks Big E down to the floor. Jey goes for a schoolboy but Miz kicks out at 2. Miz is able to hit the Skull Crushing Finale on Jey but yet again he kicks out. Miz then locks in the Figure Four and Jey is crying out in agony as he does everything he can to break the hold as Miz bridges up to put more pressure on the hold. Big E comes in and deadlifts Miz into position and hits him with the Big Ending to pick up the win and this means that The New Day has become the NEW SmackDown Tag Team Champions! Winner: Big E via Pinfall Match Rating: *** This match was a fun sprint that lasted around 7-8 minutes where all three men were able to look good and get their shit in at the same time. I was surprised that New Day won the titles this quickly as it felt like Miz and Morrison still had a lot to give as the champions, but it’s never a bad thing to see New Day as the champions. This was a really good episode of SmackDown as we had a fantastic match between Cesaro and Bryan, a fun sprint for the tag titles, a great segment where Sonya got to shine on the mic, an upset win by Dana Brooke, and a nice way of continuing the Wyatt vs Strowman feud by having Wyatt gift the old black sheep mask to Strowman, and of course the announcement of yet another off the wall cinematic type match where superstars will literally be climbing the corporate ladder. I can’t think of anything else you would want from this show as it had a bit of everything and those are the best kind of wrestling shows. That’s all for this week, but I’ll be back next week for more Money in the Bank Qualifying fun.

#IFTTT #Place to Be Nation

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flauntpage · 7 years

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What The Cavaliers Must Do To Stay Alive In The NBA Finals

The last two games of the NBA Finals have demonstrated just how perfectly the Cleveland Cavaliers must play in order to win games in this series.

In Game 3, the Cavs played near-perfect basketball for 45 minutes—but a cold three-minute stretch to end the game allowed the Golden State Warriors to steal a victory. Game 4, by contrast, wasn't close enough to allow for a late collapse: Cleveland set a handful of NBA records en route to a sweep-saving win, as their 24 made three-pointers was the most in Finals history (and second-most all time) and their 49 first-quarter points were the most of any quarter in Finals history.

So now what?

Tonight's Game 5 is in Oakland. Cleveland is still down 3-1. So far, just being great hasn't been good enough—the Cavs need to be historic. Much of what worked for them in Cleveland is replicable, but some things—like shooting 53 percent from beyond the arc on 45 attempts—might not be.

As the Finals head back to the Bay Area, let's take a close look at what LeBron James and Co. must continue to do, what they need to improve, and what they must abandon in order to avoid elimination:

Play fast, but don't hurry

The trick for the Cavaliers in this series has been finding ways to push the pace as often as possible without getting out of control. They failed horribly in Game 1, as they were held to just nine fast break points while allowing 27 to the Warriors. And the way in which those fast break points were distributed told a broader story. Cleveland pushed the ball up the court and took quick, contested shots at the rim and on the catch, most of which were mediocre-quality looks. When those shots missed, they led to even better looks going the other way.

After the game, the Cavs insisted that they wanted to play fast in this series. They had gotten to the Finals behind their offense, not their defense, and they trusted their ability to score if they pushed the pace. But over the next two games it became clear that pushing the pace was only half of the equation. The Warriors were among the NBA's best transition defenses this season. It wasn't enough for Cleveland to push the ball up the floor and put pressure on the defense early in the shot clock; they needed to show more restraint if the quality of looks those breaks produced wasn't good enough.

In short, they needed to be both opportunistic and patient. James is the key, because no other player in the NBA can control the tempo of a game the way he can. When the ball is in James' hands on the break, he can determine if and when a shot goes up—and in Games 3 and 4, he found a nice balance between pushing the ball up the court and pulling it back to wait for something to open up.

When you're setting the proper pace. Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

And things did open up. The Warriors routinely were forced to cross-match in transition and got stuck outside of their preferred defensive assignments. In this clip, Zaza Pachulia slides over to help stop the ball as Kevin Love trails the play. Pachulia anticipates that Love will set the pin down screen and falls a step behind when Love slips toward the basket.

Playing in a hurry would've meant LeBron attacking the double team and maybe kicking to the trailing Love on the wing. Playing fast meant he pushed the ball but didn't force a shot that wasn't there. As a result, the transition shot opened up. Plays like this happened over and over again in Game 4. The Cavs were only credited with eight fast break points, but that has more to do with how fast break points are calculated by NBA.com. The clip above might not technically be a fast break point, but the shot still came in transition.

Trap Steph Curry and contest the roll

For the last two games, the Cavaliers have prioritized taking the ball out of Curry's hands on pick-and-rolls, even when it comes at the expense of open rolls to the rim. They've done this by aggressively trapping all ball screens on Curry, staying home against Klay Thompson and Kevin Durant, and leaving the last defender to zone up against the rolling screener and whoever else is on the floor.

This worked out beautifully in Game 4 thanks to active hands on the ball—which helped force Curry into 4 turnovers and 4-13 shooting—and a heroic defensive effort from (really!) Kevin Love. Love made a half-dozen great plays on the ball against a rolling Draymond Green, who had 2-on-1s against Love in the paint. That isn't easy: Cleveland essentially asked Love to make the same type of defensive plays Green makes, playing possum between the ball-handler (who has an open lane to the rim) and the dunker (who is in the short corner, waiting for the lob). Love timed Green perfectly more often than not, and that left the Warriors unable to make the Cavs pay for double-teaming Curry.

Cleveland's other defenders did an excellent job of recovering quickly following traps, which is vital. Collectively, the Cavs created 18 deflections along with six steals, and forced 12 Warriors turnovers.

Golden State will be better prepared to attack Love in Game 5, most likely by being more aggressive and trying to draw contact. Still, the Warriors seem to go as Curry goes, and yielding an occasional roll basket might be an acceptable price to pay for keeping him in check.

Get more ridiculous shotmaking from Kyrie Irving

Irving was flat-out unconscious in Game 4. Eight of Irving's 15 made field goals were either tightly or very-tightly contested according to NBA.com. And many of the ones that weren't tightly contested were only "open" thanks to unfathomably skillful dribble moves.

The Cavs can't win without those points. James has been a rock, averaging a triple double and scoring from all over the court. Cleveland's role players have shot well enough. Against a Golden State defense that executes on a string more often than not, however, the Cavs need to conjure buckets out of thin air—and few players are better at doing so than Irving.

Irving had 40 points in Game 4. For the Cavs to win this series, he'll probably need to score close to that mark three more times.

Draw fouls on Draymond Green

Thanks to a handful of bizarre, missed, and just plain bad calls, the referees became one of the stories of Game 4. In all four games, however, Cleveland has attacked Green and placed him in foul trouble: his 18 fouls are the most of any player in the series, and his 33 minutes per game playing time average is nearly four fewer than Thompson and Curry, and nearly six fewer than Durant.

Why does this matter? Simple math. The Warriors have outscored the Cavaliers by 7.4 points per 48 minutes with Green on the court, and have been outscored by 3.3 points per 48 minutes when he is on the bench.

For the Cavs to have a chance, they need to keep drawing whistles on Green.

When you are unenthused by the officiating. Photo by David Richard-USA TODAY Sports

Penetrate

Like the Cavaliers in Game 4, the Denver Nuggets made 24 three-pointers against the Warriors in February—something that has only happened three times in NBA history.

This might be a coincidence. But there's also reason to think that Golden State—which held opponents to the lowest 3FG% and the sixth-lowest 3FGA per 100 possessions in the NBA this season—might actually be vulnerable to these types of scoring barrages.

The Warriors' defense is built around containing penetration. They have excellent on-ball defenders at every position, including point guard, where Curry's defensive strength is keeping people in front of him. Golden State also has the length and speed to help and recover through multiple passes. However, their defensive brilliance breaks down when offenses are able to create quick penetration, either by dribbling or on rolls to the rim.

Against the Nuggets, that penetration came from Nikola Jokic, who played quarterback in the high post, picking apart Golden State's aggressive passing lane defense by finding cutters and rollers. In Game 4 of the Finals, the penetration came from James brilliantly drawing out the trap in pick-and-rolls and finding the open man on either the roll or the swing pass to the corner.

With the trap extending high above the arc, the roll man had an open lane to the basket, as Richard Jefferson does in this clip. Only that isn't enough—against the Warriors, it often takes multiple reads to make the right play, and the roll man has to choose between finishing through contact or finding the open man in the corner as the defense scrambles.

Once the Warriors started to overplay the roll man, James started using pass fakes to open up shooters in the corners for direct bullet passes.

The Cavaliers also were creative with some of their high ball screens, playing into the Warriors' desire to trap the ball screen. In this clip, James screens Iman Shumpert before Shumpert goes to set a ball screen. This screen-the-screener action takes away the Warriors ability to hedge, and Irving was able to attack the screen while avoiding the trap.

Cleveland also benefited from some good ol' fashioned dribble penetration, usually late in the shot clock, where the brilliance of both Irving and James is simply too much.

Put LeBron James in the post more

As great as the Cavaliers played in Game 4, they'll have to do more in Game 5. One under-utilized play? James post-ups, which also help Tristan Thompson.

Thompson finally broke out of his offensive rebounding slump in Game 4. Methodical transition play helped, but so did isolations and post-ups for James, which allowed Thompson to time help defenders and bury them under the basket. In this clip, James operates out of the post and gets a decent look—but watch how Pachulia is caught between helping and boxing out.

Stop playing Irving at the point when James sits

The Cavaliers have been killed when James is on the bench, thanks largely to Irving's point guard play. How so? In 14 minutes, they've scored just 14 points on 19.2 percent shooting while committing eight turnovers and registering two assists. Nearly half of their shot attempts have come from Irving, who seems to believe that the pace of play in those minutes should speed up.

When you're better at scoring than reading the game situation. Photo by Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

Irving isn't wrong to want to take over scoring duties, but he hasn't learned how to control the tempo. He opened the fourth quarter of Game 4 with an early-shot clock, zero-pass missed shot that led to a transition three-pointer the other way, and followed that with a zero-pass possession that once again led to a transition three.

Wisely, Cleveland adjusted by having Deron Williams bring the ball up the floor. Irving still ended up with it later in the shot clock, but at least the Cavs slowed things down and presented a façade of unpredictability.

James has to rest in Game 5. His 41.4 minutes per game average is approaching the limit of what even he is capable of. Cleveland has to be smarter about how they play when he's off the court. Williams taking over as the point guard is the key to playing in control.

In Game 1, the Cavs played a perfect quarter before getting blown out; in Game 2, they played a perfect half before getting run off the court; in Game 3, they managed three-and-a-half perfect quarters before collapsing. Only in Game 4 did they manage 48 perfect minutes.

Perfection is what it takes to beat Golden State. Cleveland did it once. Starting tonight, they just need to do it three more times.

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