At this moment, the happiest person in the world should be a certain Silver Horn King in Dallas.

This possibility did indeed follow him throughout his career in history. People thought he had to endure it alone, but only three years later, someone came to accompany him.

I can’t say I’m a little happy, I can only say I woke up from a dream with a smile.

People are like this. Even if you have experienced something particularly frustrating/humiliating/awkward or any other negative thing, when you learn that there are other people who have experienced it, you suddenly feel that it is not so bad.

Of course, at this time, social media had completely lost control. People who had originally just taken screenshots of Durant's speech to make fun of him began to swarm and laugh at James, just like they did to Nowitzki.

Although James fans have tried their best to fight against it, and although social media has also been removing and banning content in various ways, this is already a torrent that is unstoppable.

To be honest, although James has not made much progress in technology, he has worked hard in the Cavaliers in recent years, has a high attendance rate, and is very dedicated.

However, many people are dissatisfied with the league's biased calls on him and his traveling, which can be made into highlights lasting more than ten or even dozens of minutes.

Previously, it was because only a few people dared to speak out and it was easy to control them. However, this concentrated outbreak was more like the voting in the previous dunk contest, which was a big outbreak after a backlog.

Cleveland, James mansion.

James, Paul and Windhorst sat in the familiar living room again.

"King, I tried my best." Windhorst was helpless at this time. He wrote many reports in succession, such as "The Bulls' strength is seriously underestimated", "The value of winning consecutive MVPs", "Xu Yong's buzzer-beater started with a traveling mistake", etc., but they were all like leaves thrown into a torrent, disappearing with just a wave.

"King, at this award ceremony, you can use the excuse of having surgery and I will receive it on your behalf." Paul motioned for Windhorst to stop talking and suggested to James.

His suggestion is also very smart. If you don't actually appear in that occasion and don't let the media take photos of you, then it won't be a big problem.

After all, without photos and limited to word-of-mouth, its influence will be much smaller.

James said nothing.

He didn't say anything, so Paul and Windhorst could only remain silent.

The air was strangely quiet.

After a long moment, James sat up straight and said, "I will be there."

…

At the same time, the Bulls traveled to the away game to prepare for the Eastern Conference semifinals against the Celtics.

The Bulls players were in a very relaxed state. Their original goal was just to make the playoffs, but now completing the black eight is already far beyond their goal, so they don't have any psychological burden in the next games.

Of course, the players are still very confident. After all, the Cavaliers can win, so theoretically they have a chance to beat any team in the Eastern Conference.

So after arriving in Boston, they quickly began extra training under the leadership of Harris.

After the training, the players returned to the locker room talking and laughing.

At this time, Xu Yong was studying the Celtics' game video on his tablet.

Although he knew that this Celtics team was on par with the Lakers and was one of the two strongest teams in the league that season, the kind that easily beat the Cavaliers 4-2, he still had a dream.

"Watfak!"

Just then, a burst of shouting and cursing suddenly came from the shower room.

That was sent by Noah, who was the first to go into the shower.

Soon, Noah ran out wrapped in a bath towel.

"There is no hot water in the shower!" Noah complained speechlessly in the face of his teammates' puzzled eyes.

With his background, he has never experienced this.

You have to know that it is only the beginning of May and the temperature is still relatively low.

Although taking a cold shower won't cause them to catch a cold given their physical condition, who would want to endure the cold for no reason?

After saying this, Noah put on his clothes and left the locker room. It looked like he was going to find the stadium staff.

But after a while he came back cursing.

"They said the heating in the visiting team's dressing room was broken and it couldn't be fixed any time soon. It was really bad luck."

The other team members couldn't help but shake their heads when they heard this.

It’s not that there’s no place to take a shower here, the hotel they’re staying in is also open.

It's just that these people have a strong body odor. They are all sweaty and sitting on the bus. The armpit fragrance in the bus is irritating just thinking about it.

"This is their old tradition." At this moment, Hinrich said while changing into clean clothes.

Under the curious gaze of Noah and others, Hinrich then explained to them the traditions of Boston.

The lack of hot water in the visiting team’s locker room was just a small trick. What was even more outrageous back then was the well-known “floor tactic”.

In the early years of the NBA, the stadiums used spliced ​​floors, so the Celtics specially set up some hollow floors, and those areas were only known to the Celtics players, not to their opponents.

So during the game, the Celtics would force their opponents into those areas, because dribbling on the hollow floor without enough rebound could easily lead to mistakes, so they repeatedly relied on this tactic to win.

Although this phenomenon was later eliminated, the Celtics' championship won in that way will not be deprived. They even shamelessly gave those floors as souvenirs to opponents they thought worthy of respect, staging a real-life absurdity.

Others were amazed by what they heard.

Xu Yong had heard about these things before his rebirth, including that the Spurs turned off the air conditioning at their home court, causing James to suffer cramps.

Basketball is developing, but the teams that have tasted these sweetness still enjoy it.

"Then why didn't they have it last year?" Noah was still a little confused. As for the playoffs, they met the Celtics in the first round last year.

"Because we put pressure on them this year." Xu Yong said as he stood up and started to change his clothes.

After Xu Yong said this, the team members immediately looked happy and started to change their clothes one after another.

This group of young people have really made some progress this year, as they were able to scare the Celtics into resorting to some tricks.

…

The next night, Game 1 of the Bulls and Celtics series began.

At the beginning of the game, the Bulls showed their impact and took an 8-2 lead at the start.

But soon, they felt unprecedented defensive pressure.

Generally speaking, an NBA team will have more or less players who hinder defense on the court. Even the Lakers have Fisher who likes to lift his trouser legs. Williams and Jamison on the Cavaliers are also players who are strong in offense but weak in defense.

But this Celtics starting five, Rondo, Ray Allen, Pierce, Garnett, Kendrick Perkins, none of them are bad at defense.

Well, you struggled with them and got to the rotation. They played an 8-man rotation, and when Tony Allen, Rasheed Wallace, and Glen Davis came on, the defensive intensity was still the same.

Not to mention Walker, players like Bynum and Songaila who were traded from the Bulls can only sit on the bench.

We all say that there is a limit to relaxation. If you keep it tense all the time, you will feel uncomfortable.

And the key is that they have experience and pay special attention to details. If you fail to grasp the fleeting opportunity, it will really be fleeting.

So players like Noah and Brown, who performed well against the Cavaliers, basically have little chance to score on the offensive end.

Rose was targeted much more severely than when he played against the Cavaliers.

Xu Yong's performance was barely normal, but he rarely had chances.

So as the game went on, they could only passively start a positional battle with the Celtics and get into the opponent's rhythm.

After four quarters, the score was 83 to 93.

The Bulls didn't lose by much, but only after watching the game did you realize that there is a big gap in strength and experience between the two teams.

The game was over and the players returned to the locker room.

However, unlike what one might imagine, they were actually discussing the details of the game.

There is a saying that actual combat is the best way to gain experience.

Games like the one against the Celtics are the best practice because they force you to look into the details and do research.

So from a long-term perspective, this means more to them than completing the black eight.

Especially for teams like Hinrich who played against the Celtics last year, the analysis can be more accurate.

After two days of rest, Game 2 of the Bulls and Celtics series continued.

Compared to G1, the Bulls did a much better job in the details.

After showing their potential in the first round, they also showed their learning ability in the second round.

The final score of the game was 93 to 97.

Although they failed to win the game in the end, they obviously did better than in G1.

After finishing the first two games, the Bulls returned to Chicago to prepare for two home games.

Since they failed to win the two away games, the next two home games are crucial for them.

It was at this time that an incident occurred in the league that temporarily shifted people's attention from the fierce playoffs to the New York headquarters.

Because there, James, who was originally said to have a high probability of undergoing thumb surgery, attended the award ceremony in good health and received his second MVP trophy.

However, contrary to what many people expected, James, who appeared on the scene, did not appear to be annoyed or frustrated like Nowitzki.

He even looked happy.

After receiving the trophy, he gave a personal acceptance speech.

He started by thanking his mother, then his teammates, and the fans. Finally, he mentioned that winning back-to-back MVPs was something he was proud of. He also mentioned the superstars who had accomplished back-to-back feats before, saying that he was honored to be on the same list as them. Finally, he thanked his team and those who supported him along the way.

"We had a fantastic and brilliant season and we finished first in the league for the second consecutive season, which is an incredible achievement."

This was the conclusion of his speech.

Overall, this is a very standard speech that you can tell was written by an expert.

Especially at the end, although it was not very direct, it indirectly talked about the definition of MVP. This is the most valuable player of the regular season. They are first in the Eastern Conference, so there is no problem in receiving this award.

As for winning the MVP but being eliminated, or being the second Nowitzki or something like that, it is absolutely impossible to mention it.

After receiving the award, James also accepted an exclusive interview with ESPN.

The content is about the adjustments and difficulties the Cavaliers experienced during the season, and how they became the No. 1 team in the Eastern Conference.

After this wave of operations, it cannot be said that it is similar to Nowitzki's original reaction, but it can be said that it is very different.

To put it very appropriately, unlike Nowitzki who felt embarrassed and ashamed at the beginning, James really did not think this was a shame, but rather an honor.

Not to mention the fans, even the NBA players were amazed.

The only person who might not be that surprised would probably be Xu Yong.

He had seen too many operations performed by James before his rebirth, so what he saw before him could only be said to be unexpected, but also reasonable.

Moreover, James's way of handling the situation also made him realize that although his appearance changed some things, James, as the direct object of the impact, did not seem to have changed.

This also means that James' departure is a foregone conclusion.

Of course, these are just minor episodes in the Bulls series.

After another two days of rest, the Bulls faced the Celtics at home.

The course of the game was not much different from the previous two games. The Celtics' performance after three seasons of running-in can only be described as the Chinese high-speed rail before Xu Yong's rebirth, with the word "stable" standing out.

But the Bulls did a better job in handling details, and the most important difference is that they made almost all the shots they had in this game.

This is especially critical in such a high-intensity game.

The result was that after four fierce quarters, the Bulls defeated the Celtics 103-92, narrowing the score to 1-2.

Xu Yong and Ross both played well in this game. They both scored 25 points, which was close to half of the team's points.

But just when fans were lamenting that the Bulls were going to use their youth to overwhelm this team whose average age was over 30, in Game 4 of the series, the Celtics once again showed everyone their team resilience.

Or in fact, as mentioned before, this Celtics team is known for its resilience.

Therefore, their performance, which should have declined as the series progressed due to physical exhaustion, will instead get better and better as the series progresses.

94 to 85, the Bulls failed to defend their most important home court and were already trailing 1 to 3.

Although they were in great form after moving to Boston, they unexpectedly defeated the Celtics 113-92.

But in Game 6 of the series, the Celtics played their strongest defense, limiting their score to 70 points, and finally defeated them 94-71.

With a score of 2 to 4, the Bulls ultimately failed to get past the Celtics and unfortunately stopped in the divisional semifinals.

But no one will blame them, because after completing the black eight, they fought the Celtics for six more games. For a young team, what else can you not be satisfied with?

No, that doesn't seem to be the case.

Because after Game 6, Xu Yong, who attended the press conference with De Nagro, said this at the scene: "If we meet again next time, we will win back all the games we lost in this game."