no shortcuts in basketball

Chapter 280 make nba great again

"Charles, who do you think has a better chance of winning tonight?" In the commentary box, Smith had already begun to do the final warm-up before the game.

"Theoretically, the Warriors have the better chance. They are healthier and they are more energetic after winning the tiebreaker. However, the Bulls have injury risks and they have not played for more than a week." Buck Li boasted.

"But actually?" O'Neill asked with a smile.

"This is the reality. If the Bulls can't show momentum tonight, they will be passive in the finals. They face the best team in the universe." Barkley continued seriously.

But the way he looked made O'Neal burst into laughter, and the heroes of the universe moved out. This is the Immortal Warriors who are afraid of milk.

Smith on the side nodded seriously.

Although Barkley's analysis sounded ridiculous coming from his mouth, it was actually not wrong. For the Bulls, tonight's game is crucial to them.

Of course, in fact, it can be seen from their concealment of Butler's injury and their opening performance that the Bulls are obviously aware of this.

As soon as they finished speaking, Adams moved the ball back to the Bulls half, and the finals officially began.

After Xu Yong caught the ball, he singled out Green. After the breakthrough, he turned around and hit the board with a heavy pivot foot.

Looking back, James held the ball outside the three-point line on the right side and called Thompson to play a pick-and-roll, and then faced Butler.

It's a bit like when he's fighting, when he sees an injured part of the opponent's body, he hits it there with all his strength. It's something he can do at a glance.

After his teammates pulled away, he dribbled sideways, and when he reached the high post, he leaned directly against Butler and started playing with his back.

Once, twice, Butler obviously couldn't stand it.

Ankle injuries affect athletes in all aspects. Breakthrough starts are slowed down, movement speed is slowed down, and even defensive end confrontation is weakened.

In the third time, James faced pressure and Butler lowered his focus, then turned around and drove to the basket and put the ball into the basket.

Looking back, Xu Yong continued to break through Green, facing Pachulia's help, he turned around and hit a floating floater in the air.

James also continued to call Thompson to cover, but when Thibodeau shouted from the sidelines, Butler chose to go behind and James got space to shoot.

Without too much hesitation, he took a step forward and pulled in to a position of about 17 feet, and then directly pulled up and shot a jumper with his hand up and down.

Although James' statistics this season are not impressive, and his impact has even declined due to his age, his overall strength has reached its peak.

You have to know that there is only one season left before the [Thanos Zhan] that Xu Yong knows about Zhan Mi.

Although it sounds a bit strange for a player to reach his peak after playing in the league for 14 seasons.

However, these opening rounds became a time when Xu Yong and James competed with each other.

Green and Butler became victims on the court.

Xu Yong continued to play singles, but this time he was faced with multiple defenses. His choice was to take a difficult shot backwards towards the bottom line against the defense.

Because they were afraid of his ability, almost everyone around him pounced on him.

"when!"

Xu Yong's shot hit the frame and came out.

But his face didn't look too regretful, because before he made this choice, he had already spotted someone moving quickly towards the basket.

When Adams and Pachulia got stuck with each other under the basket, a figure jumped up from the right spot and directly completed the tip-in.

Although it was just a tip-in, it instantly lit up the United Center.

Because the person who completed the tip-in was Butler!

Xu Yong high-fived Butler as he retreated from defense. It was indeed difficult for Butler to perform normally when playing with injuries, but an important reason why he didn't strongly oppose Butler playing with injuries before was because he knew that Butler was playing with injuries. Fighting through injuries can still help the team.

In the year when he led the team to complete the miracle of eight in history, Butler sprained his ankle in the second round, but in the end, he fought with the injury and led the team to the finals, having a god-like season.

James continued to play Butler in isolation, and increased the range of back-up strikes. This made it clear that he wanted to completely defeat Butler.

But just when he reached a low enough position and was about to turn around, he suddenly felt a light touch in his hand.

His ball was broken.

The person who completed the steal was not Butler who was under him, but Xu Yong who sneaked over from the weak side baseline.

There is a blind spot in the back shot, and too many back shots give Xu Yong enough time to move.

When Xu Yong completed the steal, James instinctively showed his hands, and Xu Yong quickly started the fast break, the United Center had already started cheering in advance from the Chicago fans.

"Oh!"

When Xu Yong crossed the defense and rushed to the frontcourt to complete a gliding windmill dunk, the United Center was completely boiling.

Steal James + fast break dunk, late but arrived!

After completing the dunk, Xu Yong also directly made a "listen" celebration gesture, and the scene was full of momentum.

Xu Yong scored 4 of 3 in the opening game. Not only did he show a strong desire to attack, but he also had an excellent personal state.

The extra training he did after the Technical Eastern Conference Finals was just for tonight's game.

The opening game needs to be done in one go.

"Defend! Defend!"

The scene was filled with cheers from Chicago fans.

James gave up holding the ball in the frontcourt, Green organized a wave at the top of the arc, and Curry made a three-pointer after using the elevator door tactic.

Anderson cleverly went around from the wing to interfere with Curry's shot, but Curry still raised the knife despite the interference.

Although Xu Yong started in a hot state, the Warriors' overall performance was very strong. Not only James, but Curry also continued the hot state of the Western Conference Finals.

This is what Barkley mentioned before the game. The Warriors are a team that just came out of the tiebreaker in the Western Conference Finals and are in a very hot state.

Xu Yong looked up at the score at this time, and then chatted with Butler before serving in the backcourt.

When the Bulls advanced to the frontcourt, Butler held the ball and played a pick-and-roll with Adams, breaking through inside.

This is a tactic often used by the Bulls, but the difference from usual times is that Butler's breakthrough speed slowed down. He was not able to score directly, but was blocked by Green who was assisting in defense and was forced to stop the ball.

But just when Green thought Butler would give up the offense, Butler turned to his uninjured right foot and turned to the right to complete a jump shot.

This time it was unexpected, and the ball finally hit the net.

The ankle injury affected him in many aspects, but it did not affect his feel.

Then Butler's behavior after making the shot was very interesting. He didn't do anything to Green, but turned around and gave James a "death stare", leaving the latter confused.

And this was not the end. When the Warriors advanced to the frontcourt, Butler took the initiative to switch to James.

When he saw that James had no intention of continuing to hold the ball, Butler spat trash talk directly at James: "Try me! soft!"

These words made James instantly turn pale.

Originally, he was planning to hit Butler tonight, but after being intercepted by Xu Yong, he took a breath. Unexpectedly, Butler kicked his nose in the face.

Especially the phrase "soft", isn't that Green's nickname now?

Before the game, the Bulls coaching staff had formulated a strategy for tonight's game, which was to slow down and not allow the Warriors to speed up.

The Warriors are different from other teams. Other teams mainly rely on defensive counterattacks, but the Warriors mainly rely on three-pointers.

So it is better to let James beat Butler one-on-one like he did in the opening game than to let Curry throw three-pointers from the outside.

This was also the main content of Xu Yong’s previous exchange with Butler.

Let’s not talk about the fact that three-pointers are one point more than two-pointers. The shooter needs to take shots to maintain the feel. Let James play more and not double-attack, which means that the splash will take fewer shots, which can play a better role in slowing down the speed from a strategic point of view.

James had an obvious advantage in back-up hitting Butler, who was still alive, and this time he was wary of assisting in the blind area of ​​his vision. Although his movements of swaying his head left and right looked a bit funny, his final strong attack still caused Butler's defensive foul.

Naturally, the two exchanged trash talk for a while, but judging from James's flushed face at the end and the performance of one of two free throws at the free throw line, it was obviously Butler who won.

Then looking back, Butler continued to attack after the pick-and-roll with Adams. After attracting Green's help, he successfully distributed the ball to Xu Yong. Xu Yong jumped to the basket, directly across the slow Pachuli. Yazhong dunked the ball into the basket.

The emotions in the United Center were ignited again. Butler passed the ball beautifully, but Xu Yong dunked even more beautifully.

The trash talk between Butler and James continued: "You know what? You will never catch up with Xu in this life." James's face was so dark that it looked like a kitchen rag that had not been washed for several years.

Xu Yong almost laughed when he heard this.

Butler's set of combos made him lament that over the years, his junior has learned all the essence of his trash talk.

In this quarter, Butler is like an assassin in World of Warcraft, giving James a try to draw his hatred from time to time, allowing James to slow down the Warriors' offensive rhythm.

And Xu Yong became the output position, either holding the ball in singles, or receiving Butler's pass to score. When Butler came off the court, Jokic came on again and became the passer.

Xu Yong scored 28 points in a single quarter, helping the Bulls establish a double-digit lead in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, although Xu Yong's scoring dropped, the Bulls still maintained the lead.

At halftime, the score was 57-45, with the Bulls leading by 12 points.

This time the pressure suddenly came to the Warriors.

Because the Warriors' [strongest third quarter] is based on a situation where the game is evenly matched at halftime, and even if it falls behind, it won't be too much.

But the Bulls dug a big hole for them at halftime.

During halftime, the Bulls locker room was filled with laughter.

Even though the outside world is more optimistic about the Warriors, they are the one who has the advantage now. How can this not make people happy?

But Xu Yong was not in the locker room at this time. He was chatting with Thibodeau and Malone at the door of the locker room.

Malone was worried about the Warriors' death in the third quarter.

The Bulls are actually not afraid of the Warriors' five fatalities last season, because they just need to focus on catching the splash.

But now that James has added this lineup that can be called the "Ultimate Death Five" and their state tonight, it is not easy for the Bulls to deal with it.

To put it bluntly, the Warriors' "strongest third quarter" was not just a boast, but a real performance. They could quickly open up the score, and of course they could catch up in a short time.

So Malone made a suggestion at this time, a suggestion that was difficult for Thibodeau to accept.

He wants Jokic to serve as the center when the Warriors play a five-point game.

This is also the reason why he roped in Xu Yong, because just like many times in the past, Thibodeau may only accept it if he has Xu Yong's support.

This suggestion sounds contradictory, because Adams is passive enough in his small space play. Replacing Jokic with slower movement and worse defensive ability is tantamount to giving up.

But Malone is obviously not a fool, and the reason why he proposed this is actually very simple.

Since it's hard to defend, let it go, because neither Adams nor Jokic can defend against the five small defensive ends. It's just the difference between fifty steps and a hundred steps.

But on the offensive end, Jokic can do much more than Adams. It can even be said that Jokic, who is capable of attacking on the offensive end this season, combined with his passing ability, can beat Green in the low post. .

So Malone's idea, summarized in more concise terms, is to play against the Warriors.

It is indeed a bit difficult for a defensive head coach to accept such a proposal, especially when Thibodeau is not so cold about Jokic.

"If our regular lineup doesn't work, I think Mike's proposal can be tried." Xu Yong did not act tough because he knew what kind of character Thibodeau was.

Sure enough, Thibodeau finally agreed with Xu Yong's point of view.

Back from the half-time break and the game continues.

Cole did not directly put on the death five, but still habitually let the regular lineup play for two minutes.

In these two minutes, James stood up and ignored Butler's trash talk. Curry made a three-pointer from the outside. The overall feeling of the Warriors on the court was significantly better than in the first half.

But this didn't help them get closer to the score, because Xu Yong recovered physically after the half-time break and beat Green twice on the court.

Upon seeing this, Cole showed his trump card, replaced Pachulia with Iguodala, and set up a death five.

This adjustment had an immediate effect, and the Warriors continued to show their state. Thompson hit a three-pointer from a 45° angle on the right side.

After the Bulls tried two rounds with poor results and the Warriors narrowed the point difference to single digits, Thibodeau replaced Adams with Jokic.

Then, Jokic started to make a pivot in the low post, holding the ball and hitting Green in isolation.

The Warriors didn't help on defense.

It's not that Cole looks down on Jokic, on the contrary, it's because he values ​​Jokic and knows how good Jokic's passing ability is.

Then, after Green was devastated by Xu Yong for most of the night, he was devastated by Jokic again.

Jokic's low-post skills are not flashy, and he doesn't even seem to be very strong in confrontation, but he is good at using his size and has a soft touch that is comparable to Yao Ming.

From the audience's perspective, Jokic turned around, and then was pushed outward by Green and sent the ball into the basket with one hand.

The moment he saw the ball go in, Green's expression looked like he was constipated.

Compared to being tortured by Xu Yong, being eaten alive by the second-year Jokic obviously hurt his self-esteem more.

And this situation continued in the third quarter.

Scored a single, scored twice, hat-trick, four points...

I heard that Green is the strongest center in the small ball era? Just a toy!

Green's mentality was somewhat unbalanced. He made too many moves during a defense and was called a technical foul by the referee.

Then, he actually yelled at the referee directly.

As a result, he was directly ejected after the referee called a second technical foul.

There was a lot of booing at the scene. Green looked really [soft]!

However, Xu Yong was not too surprised. Green's reaction was not soft, but his mentality collapsed.

After experiencing the boxing turmoil, although Green reluctantly stayed, the team's status continued to decline and his life was very frustrating.

Now not only is he targeting him, but even a rookie like Jokic is sitting on his head and even has a relaxed expression on his face. His accumulated emotions burst out, which is a loss of control on the court.

Maybe Green now really needs to see a psychiatrist like James did at the beginning.

Green's departure means that the Warriors' five players came to an abrupt end after half of their use. This is very fatal from a strategic level. This forces the Warriors to return to the regular rhythm of playing with the Bulls.

But the Warriors were indeed in amazing shape tonight, especially when James stood up and handed the offensive power to Curry. Curry opened his trousers, revealing his thick thighs, leading the Warriors to a stalemate with the Bulls. .

As for the Bulls, as Jokic was replaced, Xu Yong continued to take over the team's firepower.

He scored another 17 points in the third quarter. At the end of the three quarters, his personal score had reached 50 points.

This made Barkley and O'Neal excited in the commentary box.

Xu Yong's record-breaking speed in the playoffs last season could be described as sparks and lightning, but the only record that could not be broken was the scoring record in a single game in the finals.

But tonight, he was so close that even "Baylor" as far away as Los Angeles felt his buttocks tighten.

At the end of the quarter, Cole seemed to finally realize that Butler didn't have much scoring ability tonight. The Bulls' offense basically relied on Xu Yong alone, and began to attack Xu Yong frantically.

At this time, Thibodeau also asked Jokic to play again at Malone's suggestion, but in a twin-tower lineup at the fourth position.

This time the Bulls instantly changed from one-wheel drive to two-wheel drive, and Xu Yong took off directly.

Two minutes before the end, Xu Yong received a pass from Jokic and scored 2+2 on Pachulia, raising his score to 1 points.

And when he stepped to the free throw line to take the extra penalty, uniform MVP shouts rang out.

"Shh!"

And when Xu Yong hit the extra penalty, the United Center was completely boiling.

A new NBA Finals single-game scoring record was born.

Barkley in the commentary box couldn't hide his excitement: "Satan, he makes the NBA great again!" (Xu, he makes the NBA great again!)

(End of this chapter)