no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 168 Bulls vs. Heat, Battle of Horse Urine
Howard was helpless. After all, when you drive on a road with peak traffic all day long, it means that you will spend the whole day in traffic jams.

Compared to Howard, Magic fans are in a desperate mood at the moment.

Their star player has no room to perform, which means that not only will they continue to lose G2, but they will most likely lose the entire series.

that's the truth.

A few days later, the Bulls captured the Magic's home court on the road and swept the Magic 4-0 to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.

This result even exceeded Xu Yong's expectations.

His previous judgment was that although the Magic were at a disadvantage inside, they would still face more difficulties than the numbers man.

But after four games, Howard has no substitutes, no outside defensive elite, single tactics, etc. This Magic team does have too many problems, and it is indeed a level weaker than in the past few years.

But even if this Magic can reach the Eastern Conference semifinals, this also shows that the level of the Eastern Conference teams in recent years, or the benefits are indeed a bit great.

Sweeping two consecutive rounds, the Bulls have shown the strength of a team that is a favorite to compete for the championship.

Now they can sit back and wait for their conference finals opponent as before.

The series between the Heat and the Celtics was much more intense than theirs.

The presence of Kwame Brown has significantly improved the quality of the Celtics' inside line. The Heat always rely heavily on Wade when encountering this kind of team.

After the Celtics discovered that Ray Allen's defensive effect was not good, they switched to Rondo to defend, and the effect was quite good.

Rondo's long arms, coupled with his first-level defensive performance this season, are just enough to defeat Wade.

Of course, these are not the focus of attention from the outside world at this time.

Because just the day after the Bulls eliminated the Magic, the Lakers were eliminated and were directly swept by the Mavericks!

Although the fans have always refused to believe it, they have posted on social media such as "Although the Lakers are 0-2, there have been many 0-2 comebacks in history, and the Lakers will become the next team", "Even if it is 0-3, the Lakers will become "The first team in history to complete a comeback after falling behind 0-3", but in the end the Lakers did not win a game.

The ESPN survey before the game seemed wrong, but it seemed right again, because the result of this series was a sweep, and it was indeed the group with the least suspense.

Some people were happy and some were sad. This result directly led to the climax of the Jamies.

Kobe was eliminated before James, and in such an embarrassing way. If you don't ridicule him, he's not a human being.

"You have to believe that even though the Lakers are behind 0-4, they will still come back 5-4."

"It's all Gasol's fault, he couldn't lead Kobe to win the championship like O'Neal did."

"The championship lineup was swept by the trashy Mavericks. Can Kobe consider retiring?"

……

This wave of high-energy output by James and Mi can't be refuted by Comy.

After all, every star has his own fans. Kobe is the kind of person who would say "number one loser," so naturally they won't make excuses for this or that.

If you lose, just find a way to win back next year.

But we are still human after all, and if we don’t vent our emotions, we will hurt ourselves.

So many of them took off their Kermit vests and put on the vests of their Heat opponents.

A small number of people have become new fans of the Green Army, while more people have become die-hard fans of the Bulls for 20 years.

And there's nothing wrong with that at all. 20 years ago, the Bulls were in the Jordan era.

The series is still going on, and a few days later the series between the Heat and Celtics in the East ended first.

With James' explosive touch, especially 9 of 5 three-pointers in the last game, the Heat won two games in a row, eliminated the Celtics 4-2, and also entered the Eastern Conference Finals.

In this way, the match between the Heat and the Bulls that fans had been looking forward to before the start of the playoffs finally came as scheduled.

At this time, the league announced the fourth batch of awards, the final batch of regular season awards, and the winners of the best lineup.

All-NBA teams include All-Rookie Team, All-NBA Team, and All-Defensive Team.

The Rookie of the Year generally doesn't get much attention, and the ones that really get the attention are the next two lineups.

And those two lineups are different. There are three best lineups and two defensive lineups.

Best team: Rose, Kobe, Durant, James, Howard;

Best second team: Wade, Xu Yong, Stoudemire, Nowitzki, Noah;
Best third team: Westbrook, Ginobili, Randolph, Pau Gasol, Yao Ming;
Defensive first team: Rondo, Kobe, Xu Yong, James, Howard;

Defensive second team: Paul, Iguodala, Garnett, Tyson Chandler, Yao Ming;
At this point in time, with this best lineup, there will inevitably be another bloody storm on social media.

"One first team, one second team, one third team, plus one first defense and one second defense. It turns out that the Bulls are the top team!"

"This is the first time in Yao's career that he has been selected to the All-Defensive Team. If Bosh is replaced by Yao, the Heat can still rank first in the league, or even have a better record."

"The Bulls also have O'Neal, O'Neal Jr., and Artest. This is a six-star lineup. What's there to brag about!"

……

The two sides are about to fight, and the Jamies continue to post crazy output on social media as before.

It's just that this time without Harden and Durant taking action, quite a few new Bulls fans on social media have started to compete crazily.

"You guys are really confusing right and wrong. It's because the Bulls played well this season that so many people were selected to the All-NBA team. Why didn't you say that Xu and Rose didn't make any team last season? Why didn't you say that? Is Gerald Wallace of the Bobcats still a first-team player last season?”

"Yao got the first defensive team of his career in the Bulls. On the other hand, Wade went from the first team to the second team, and then the second team defensively was gone."

"Oh, this boomerang is fine. If Yao goes to the Heat, I'm afraid he won't be able to get anything from any lineup like Bosh."

"There is the five-star Magic in the front and the six-star Bulls in the back. I think you are underestimating it. Shane Battier and Hinrich also have to count. It is only right to have eight stars."

……

Even before the game started, fans were already hyping up social media.

After the grievances between the two sides during the season, the encounter between these two teams was really like sparks hitting the earth, a standard NBA Spring Festival Gala.

At this time, for the media, it is no longer that they want to build momentum for this series, but that they want to take advantage of the traffic of this series.

For example, in the latest TNT program, Barkley and Kenny Smith made season predictions immediately.

They even made bets again during the game after a long absence. "Believe my brother, the Heat will definitely win this series. Although their previous two series were more difficult than the Bulls, the opponents they faced were far stronger than the Bulls, so I bet on the Heat. Without hesitation, if they don't win the series, I will drink a bowl of horse piss in the studio."

Buckley's remarks on the show instantly became a hot topic.

Although there is some truth in what he said, in fact, judging from the previous records of the two teams, the Bulls are the dominant side.

But this is Barkley's style of doing things, always going against the mainstream voices.

When he was making predictions for the first round, he, as a famous digit man, said that the digit man would hack the Eight Bulls.

It's just that today's digital people don't pay much attention in the NBA, so his words naturally didn't attract much attention.

But this wave of predictions is obviously different. You must know that although Barkley has a big mouth, he is still a person who dares to speak and act.

If this wave of betting continues, fans are really looking forward to the scene of Barkley drinking horse urine live.

Some fans even commented on social media: "Charles Barkley wants to find a reason to taste horse urine!"

A little trivia: horse urine is a medicinal herb that is a diuretic and calcium supplement. It can dispel wind and dampness, disperse blood stasis and stop bleeding, activate blood circulation and relieve pain.

As for what it tastes like, not many people can really tell. After all, it is only a small amount added to medicinal materials. Only those who have actually tasted it will know.

Barkley's popularity is almost textbook, which in turn makes this series more interesting. Some fans even gave the series a nickname: The Battle of Horse Urine.

The battle of horse urine is ready to begin, but the Bulls encountered an unfavorable situation before the game.

Due to a recurring knee injury, the Bulls will not let O'Neal appear in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals out of caution.

This is an unexpected situation, but it doesn't seem so unexpected.

The Bulls have many veterans, and injuries are inevitable. For example, in the Christmas game, O'Neal was absent due to injury.

In fact, due to the Bulls' excellent record and sufficient personnel without season reimbursement, this situation has been covered up.

Except for the young and strong ones like Rose and Xu Yong, the Bulls' veterans have more or less missed some games.

For example, Yao Ming missed 18 games, O'Neal Jr. missed 21 games, and O'Neal missed the most, reaching 31 games.

Injuries, like most chronic diseases you know, cannot be cured or reversed.

Reasonable use of players is just to avoid the worst-case scenario and delay its outbreak.

O'Neal's absence has presented Thibodeau with a multiple-choice question, just as he originally chose to make O'Neal the starting power forward.

Although the Bulls are consciously covering up this matter, paper can't stop the fire. Just like the video of Green's punch will be leaked, it is impossible for this kind of news to be spread out in just a few words without being known to the outside world. of.

"James, what am I talking about? Lady Luck is on our side." James said to Jones with a smile in the training hall of the American Airlines Arena.

The information Xu Yong learned before was correct. The Heat are now clearly divided into factions. Before the leaders of the two factions, James and Wade, bowed to the other, they were limited to teammate relationships and on-court communication.

But one thing that is easily overlooked is that not only Arroyo, but Jones is also a former Heat player, but they are all on James' side now.

These two have one thing in common, that is, they are both marginal players who are struggling to survive in the league and may fade out of the NBA at any time.

And James has a characteristic, that is, he is a rare player who can have a say in front of the management.

Jones, in particular, has a very high dual quotient. He is the kind of player who can develop a deep friendship with Reggie Miller after playing only one season with the Pacers.

"I chatted with David yesterday and he said the coaching staff will let you attack with the ball more tomorrow." Jones nodded, then said with a smile.

The David he's talking about is Heat assistant coach David Fizdale.

Not only the players, but also the coaching staff now have factions, and Fizdale is leaning towards James' side.

James immediately became happy when he heard it. Jones was like the magpie on the treetop. Although he didn't usually talk much, as long as he spoke, it would be a happy event.

Moreover, this wave of O'Neal's absence and this information from the coaching staff is a double blessing.

Due to the adjustments in the Heat's defensive tactics and the evolution of the Bulls' own tactics, the Bulls will basically not use the iron net they used at the beginning of the season.

Therefore, even if the Bulls replace O'Neal with Gibson, his room to play will be much greater.

……

Two days later, the long-awaited NBA Spring Festival Gala will finally kick off.

The United Center scene is bursting with popularity.

In fact, even when the season rankings came out, Chicago fans already knew that the first two rounds were stable, but theory is just theory after all. Now that we are in the Eastern Conference Finals, defeating the Heat will be the finals!

At this time, the entire city of Chicago is boiling.

Over at the commentary box, Barkley and Kenny Smith were already in place to commentate on the horse-peeing battle.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of the two teams were announced.

Heat: Chalmers, Wade, James, Bosh, Ilgauskas;
Bulls: Rose, Xu Yong, Artest, Battier, Yao Ming.

The two sides are meeting old enemies. They are trying to tempt the whole country, and they are going to target them.

The Heat removed Bibby obviously to guard against Rose, and used Ilgauskas to protect the inside.

The Bulls were even more unexpected.

Thibodeau did not let Gibson replace O'Neal in the starting lineup, but chose to continue to use a lineup with one large and four small as in the previous round.

This is not to overthrow the style of play that has been played for almost the entire season, but to make it a piece of cake.

Although such a lineup will give Bosh a good space to play, will the Heat get his turn to play?
Bosh has always been a very efficient scoring insider. He basically only took 16 shots in the Raptors before, which is very low among the core, but he can stably contribute more than 22 points per game.

Before coming to the Heat, he averaged 24 points per game.

But for such an efficient inside man, the Heat only averaged a pitiful 13 shots per game this season.

This is mainly a singles tactic in the Heat's position. There is only one ball. Wade and James still don't know which round they will get him.

Especially in this sensitive period, even if Spoelstra had the intention, he might not be able to arrange Bosh's ball rights.

Therefore, Thibodeau is not only targeting tactics, but also thoroughly studying this old opponent.

(End of this chapter)