"beep!"
A whistle sounded on the sidelines, Yao Ming pushed the ball back to half court, and the Bulls' playoff journey in the new season officially began.
When Yao Ming got to the frontcourt, he went to the low post to ask for the ball.
After receiving the ball, he faced old Campby and made a beautiful turnaround hook shot to put the ball into the basket.
Camby was the second overall pick of the 1996 golden generation. He was a monster in static talent, with a height of 2.11 meters and a wingspan of 2.29 meters. He also had explosive power and quick reaction abilities. When he was young, he won the title of block leader several times.
However, Camby also has a very classic nickname: data brush.
In this regard, James has to be called a senior.
Perhaps only Hassan Whiteside, who once put up impressive stats for the Heat, can be compared with him.
Their biggest common point is that they will give up their defensive positions for data.
The result is that they have great statistics, but the team's record is a mess. However, when they leave the team, the parent team's defense improves.
The funniest thing in the league that year was that he brushed up his stats and ended up snatching away Duncan's DPOY.
When Yao Ming first entered the league, he was not inferior to Camby at his peak, not to mention the old Camby who was already 38 years old and whose explosiveness and speed had seriously deteriorated.
The Bulls took the lead, and the Knicks advanced to the frontcourt. Anthony quickly discovered that the person defending him was Xu Yong.
Unlike James, Anthony's reaction was excitement.
When the two teams played against each other before, Artest defended him most of the time.
He leaned against Xu Yong and reached out for the ball.
Jeremy Lin was about to call for a pick-and-roll, but when he saw Anthony asking for the ball, he could only pass it to him.
Here we have to mention the Knicks' magical experience this season.
After Anthony was injured, Jeremy Lin played like a Linsanity and led the team to a very good record.
Especially the initial 8 wins and 1 loss, which really pulled the Knicks back from the lottery to the playoffs.
Then, comes the magic part.
Anthony returned from injury, but played terribly, leading the Knicks to dive back into the lottery.
The management knew this was a bad idea, considering they had two superstars in Anthony and Stoudemire on paper, and they were also paying luxury taxes.
So D'Antoni was fired.
At that time, domestic fans joked that Dolan and the management were talking about giving up Anthony, but the management heard it as D'Antoni.
After D'Antoni was fired, the team's former assistant coach Mike Woodson became the team's head coach.
Because of this, many people think that Anthony deliberately did this because he was overshadowed by Jeremy Lin and discriminated against Chinese people.
There is no way to know whether this is true or not, but it is definitely not the main aspect, because Anthony is more targeting head coach D'Antoni.
D'Antoni's tactical system is all initiated by guards, and his famous work is Nash.
This hasn't changed with the Knicks, who last season started with Raymond Felton, a talented but limited guard.
He previously played for the Bobcats for five seasons, with a maximum of 13.2 shots, a maximum score of 14.4 points, and a maximum of only 7.4 assists.
But before being sent to Denver this season, his stats were 14.8 shots, 17.1 points and 9 assists, all career highs.
In other words, Anthony is not the tactical initiator of the ball in D'Antoni's system, so he naturally has to find a way to get rid of D'Antoni.
Woodson, who took over, has a close relationship with Anthony, so after going through so many things, would Jeremy Lin dare not give him the ball?
After Anthony received the ball, everyone else moved away consciously to give Anthony space to play one-on-one.
On the one hand, their mentality is similar to Jeremy Lin's. On the other hand, once the ball reaches Anthony's hands, it is rarely returned.
Anthony changed from back to basket to facing the basket, posing a triple threat, or to be more precise, a double threat, shooting or breaking through.
Xu Yong pressed forward defensively, mainly defending his shots.
Anthony is still good at jump shots. Something that has not happened yet but Xu Yong knows is that in the 2012-2013 season, when the Heat played against the Knicks, they rested James and Wade at the same time, which angered Anthony. Anthony said that they could win the game without entering the three-second zone. As a result, he scored a full 50 points in that game by jump shots.
As for breakthroughs, the Bulls have Yao Ming in the restricted area, and he only needs to limit Anthony's shots outside the three-second zone.
Anthony found himself without room for a jump shot, so he leaned over and swept the ball to create space for himself.
However, Xu Yong still exerted great pressure.
Seeing this, Anthony made a fake pull-up shot, followed by a step back and a pull-up jump shot.
His jumping ability is not outstanding, but his jump shot technique is excellent, far ahead of the second place James in this respect.
But he soon discovered something was wrong.
Because even though he performed such a beautiful move, Xu Yong's long arms still gave him a lot of interference when he jumped.
As a result, he is forced to raise his shot angle to avoid this interference.
"when!"
The basketball hit the front edge and bounced out of the basket.
With his defensive footwork, concentration and talent, Xu Yong's 100% defensive commitment at the start of the game caused Anthony's first shot to miss.
There was a burst of cheers at the scene.
The fans didn't know that Xu Yong would be the main defender against Anthony, so after seeing the matchup on the court at the beginning of the game, they couldn't help but look forward to it. Now that Xu Yong really did defend, that anticipation instantly turned into excitement.
Let him be so arrogant, I’ll kill him!
And after Anthony missed the shot, Yao Ming protected the defensive rebound and passed the ball to Xu Yong.
After Xu Yong got the ball, he dribbled behind his back past Fields who was helping defend, then jumped up and scored the ball despite Jeremy Lin's defense, causing the latter to commit a defensive foul.
Jeremy Lin's resistance was not strong, and he was knocked to the ground.
Xu Yong went over and gave him a hand.
At this time, the Basketball Association has successfully completed the naturalization procedure, and Jeremy Lin's nationality has become Chinese. In other words, Jeremy Lin is now also a Chinese player.
So I knock you down because I am your opponent, and I pull you up because we are my compatriots.
Jeremy Lin was pulled up and smiled helplessly.
He is not strong in confrontation, but he is strong in reaction speed, which is reflected in his breakthroughs and his steals on the defensive end.
However, when facing Xu Yong, he did not dare to act rashly, but if he did not act, such an outcome was also expected.
Of course, the helplessness in his smile also reflects his helplessness towards his current situation.
Although he did not suffer a serious injury as in history, his Linsanity came to an abrupt end after D'Antoni left because he was deprived of the ball.
Now he plays more of a porter and off-ball shooter role, which is not his specialty.
Xu Yong walked to the free throw line and made the free throw steadily.
The ability to control both offense and defense was demonstrated right from the start.
Anthony naturally didn't believe in evil.
If James is the Big Bad Wolf who has been tortured several times, then he is just the little Gray who has just arrived in the Sheep Village.
Anthony continued to reach out for the ball, and Jeremy Lin had no choice but to continue giving it to him.
Of course, Anthony is not stupid. After discovering the defensive pressure of Xu Yong, he chose to make a quick stop jump shot after a change of direction breakthrough.
He had a very good sense of rhythm and successfully got rid of Xu Yong in the first step.
But at the moment he shot, Xu Yong's blocker from the side successfully interfered with him, causing his shot to hit the rim again.
To put it bluntly, Xu Yong is now 100% sure to catch his jump shot. Even if Anthony's jump shot is fancy or even out of touch, it is difficult for him to completely get rid of Xu Yong.
Because Xu Yong has an advantage in terms of jumping, speed, and even height.
The scene was immediately filled with whistles from fans.
Anthony said he wanted to beat the Bulls, but now he missed consecutive shots at the beginning of the game. Not to mention beating the Bulls, he can't even score any points!
Anthony was very annoyed, but there was nothing he could do. Xu Yong was a defensive player, and he had no advantages in any aspect. It was much more difficult for him to break through than he expected.
Then, looking back, Xu Yong saw that Yao Ming was surrounded by Camby in the interior, so he took the ball and played one-on-one in the high post.
Seeing this, Anthony immediately became excited again.
He was unable to score in front of Xu Yong, but all he had to do was prevent Xu Yong from scoring.
But don't underestimate his defensive ability. When he was still on the Nuggets, his matchup with Kobe in the Western Conference Finals was a classic.
Xu Yong's offensive method is the same as Kobe's, which is post-up singles. Since he can defend Kobe, he can naturally defend Xu Yong.
However, his confidence was soon dealt a blow.
Because when Xu Yong received the ball and saw that the Knicks did not double-team him, he did not choose to play with his back to the basket. Instead, he turned around and chose to play facing the basket.
A singles approach similar to Anthony's last round.
Explode, accelerate with the first step, and then get rid of the quick stop jump shot.
Even the offensive method was the same as Anthony's last round.
But the difference is that he successfully got rid of Anthony's shot...
“Swish!”
Hollow into the net.
The moment the ball went in, the United Center was boiling.
What does it mean to truly defeat you in your own way!
Xu Yong scored the goal that Anthony couldn't score.
Anthony felt a burning pain on his face.
He has solid muscles and is strong in confrontation.
But he has an obvious weakness on the defensive end, which is his inability to move laterally.
This is actually his defensive characteristic. He can defend against people alone, but his ability to defend against breakthroughs is average, and he is not good at assisting defense.
As a reborn person, Xu Yong certainly knew this, and he took advantage of Anthony's weakness.
As for the mirror attack and the slap in the face, it was purely accidental.
And the photographer on the scene also gave the camera to Anthony in a timely manner.
This really put Anthony in the sun.
There is nowhere to hide, it's so embarrassing!
Anthony chose to remain invisible for one round, but it was in this round that the Knicks actually opened up.
Jeremy Lin and Stoudemire played pick-and-roll, and then made a mid-range pull-up jump shot.
Jeremy Lin's first step is very fast and very personal. Others slow down before passing others, but he does not slow down. He takes the first step first and then makes the move.
This is also why Xu Yong said he is like Rose, because this is essentially the same principle as Rose's changing direction without slowing down.
You can think of him as a younger version of Ross.
Then, like Rose, his mid-range and long-range shooting distances have not been stable before.
But the reason why he was able to play like Linsanity this season is because he was good at mid-range shooting.
Instability does not mean nothing, but there are ups and downs. Now he is on the rise.
Anthony was a little embarrassed now.
He can't score when he has the ball, but the team can score when he doesn't have the ball.
It used to be said that “winning is not a big deal, but it’s embarrassing if someone is missing”, but now it’s “scoring is not a big deal, but it’s embarrassing if someone doesn’t have the ball”.
Then returning to the defensive end, Xu Yong passed Anthony in the same way, but this time he broke through the basket to lure Camby to block the shot and then passed the ball to Yao Ming, who scored easily.
2 to 7.
The Bulls scored two points at the beginning of the game, but the Knicks had no way to stop them.
Woodson is a defensive coach and has achieved good results when coaching the Knicks team in history.
But that has a big premise, that is, the Knicks have Tyson Chandler.
The Mavericks know better than anyone how much of a defensive bonus a center like Chandler with defensive coverage can bring to the team's defense.
So at this point, we have actually discovered the problem with Anthony's remarks. Anthony was just talking nonsense and he has never really studied the Bulls carefully.
Although the Bulls' main lineup is the same as last season, Rose's frequent absences have actually changed the Bulls' style of play.
It is still a defensive counterattack system, but most of the time we cannot play it and we are fighting positional battles.
The more they play, the better the team's tacit understanding and tactical proficiency will be.
So you can completely understand the Bulls this season in this way: with Rose, the Bulls have a good chance of winning a round of the finals against the Thunder or the Lakers; without Rose, there is still a chance.
Of course, the Knicks are not completely without chance against the Bulls.
Since we can't defend it, just play it on the offensive end.
Anthony reached the frontcourt and asked for the ball again.
Although it is not known whether his remarks against Jeremy Lin are true or not, as the boss of the Knicks and having made tough remarks before the game, how could he be overshadowed by a mere rookie?
Jeremy Lin can still only pass the ball.
After receiving the ball this time, Anthony decisively chose to back up.
Although his talent is not that outstanding, he can become a top-level player thanks to his comprehensive offensive skills.
And his choice this time was smarter. After hitting Xu Yong twice, he chose to confront and then turned around and made a fade away jump shot at the baseline.
He is very fast. As the successor of the classical style of play, although he has never scored a goal, his technical moves are very solid.
However, the moment he made his move, he was interrupted by Xu Yong!
Ever since he learned the turnaround fadeaway technique from Jordan, Xu Yong has become very familiar with this move.
"when!"
Anthony's shot still missed the basket.
There is no such thing as a three-time failure, but he has been defeated by Xu Yong three times in a row.
Of course, on the one hand, Xu Yong did a good job in defense. On the other hand, as fans complained on social media, Anthony's form this season was too bad.
Maybe he played badly on purpose when he returned from injury in order to drive D'Antoni away, but after D'Antoni left, his overall condition was still very bad.
Otherwise, with Anthony's ability at his peak, he would have been able to make this kind of shot even if it was blocked in the face.
Fortunately, the Knicks players already knew what was going on and retreated immediately after Anthony shot, not giving the Bulls any chance to continue their fast break.
The two sides continued to engage in positional warfare.
Xu Yong also then turned his back to ask for the ball.
Thibodeau's original plan before the game was to let Yao Ming play first and Xu Yong strangle Anthony on the defensive end.
But after Xu Yong discovered that Anthony was in average condition, he felt that he could speed up the process and beat Anthony on both offense and defense.
The Knicks without Anthony are not even a playoff-level team, so the outcome can naturally be decided in advance.
Thibodeau didn't think there was anything wrong with Xu Yong's adjustment.
In his arrangement, Xu Yong had to take charge of both offense and defense tonight, and he also gave Xu Yong a lot of autonomy on the court.
After receiving the ball, Xu Yong also chose to attack with his back to the basket.
Since you have chosen to defeat Anthony, then naturally you have to do whatever you want to Anthony's mentality.
Mirror 2.0.
When it comes to post-up play, Xu Yong's technique is not as proficient as Anthony's, but he is better because he learned from Jordan and the simplicity is the best way.
He faked a turnaround toward the baseline and then turned around and shot a turnaround jump shot.
Anthony tried his best to dive for the ball, but his jumping and air staying ability were much worse than Xu Yong's.
After he fell, Xu Yong completed his attack.
“Swish!”
Xu Yong made a steady fadeaway jump shot.
Unlike Anthony's usual season form, Xu Yong won the scoring title this season and his form has been quite hot.
At this time, the live broadcast camera also started to make trouble, and a comparison of Xu Yong and Anthony's performance tonight was shown.
Anthony was 0/3, 0 points, and hit three irons.
Xu Yong scored 3/3, 7 points, and every shot hit the target.
Of course, what is more hurtful than the data is that the two people are directly facing each other on the court.
This is the most direct manifestation of being beaten up.
Anthony didn't believe it.
The second-best James couldn't beat Xu Yong because he was not as skilled as the other. How could he, an eighth-grade offensive kaleidoscope, be defeated by the third-grade Xu Yong?
Anyway, he has plenty of weapons in his arsenal. If one doesn't work, he can try another one. There will always be one that can succeed.
In particular, he still has some hidden tricks that he hasn't used yet.
So he reached out for the ball again and started playing one-on-one with his back to the basket.
It was the same starting move, but this time he knew he was not in good shape, so he did not choose a turnaround jump shot. Instead, he used an offensive method that was very much his own: the washing machine spin.
This is a very good offensive technique because mastering it requires both face-to-face and back-to-the-basket skills, as well as quick enough footwork.
It can be said that James may have learned the post-up play, but this move is a skill that he has never been able to achieve in his entire career.
Otherwise, why is Anthony the boss of the banana boat?
To break it down in detail, this technique is to catch the ball with your back to the basket and jump step to reset the pivot foot, then turn around and make a fake face-to-basket breakthrough, and then use the defender as the axis to make a large turn in the opposite direction and make a layup.
This is Anthony's trump card and also his killer move.
Although Xu Yong had predicted it, he still let Anthony pass by him.
But just when Anthony beautifully turned around Xu Yong and was about to make a layup, Xu Yong took the initiative, jumped up and blocked Anthony's shot.gif!
"Bang!"
The ball was fanned directly out of the court.
The scene was instantly drowned out by the cheers of Chicago fans.
If the offense and defense in the previous rounds were not obvious enough, then this goal was obvious enough.
This is pure talent suppression!
Anthony's expression changed noticeably.
When you use all your best tricks but still cannot score, it means there is really nothing you can do.
And just after completing the block, Xu Yong made his signature hand-spreading gesture towards Anthony.
You said you wanted to defeat us, and then, that's it?
Anthony's face instantly turned furious. He was not a coward like the second best player, James, who was about to push Xu Yong.
But at this moment, Artest rushed over and got entangled with Anthony.
Although Artest no longer needs to play the role of a thug after the team has Anderson, his reaction speed to such things is super fast.
Moreover, other players of the Bulls, including Yao Ming, also quickly gathered around Xu Yong.
The two sides were finally separated by the referee.
During this process, Anthony was just struggling with Artest and did not do anything excessive like throwing punches.
Because he knew he couldn't get any benefits from Artest, and he also knew that this was in Chicago, and if he went too far, he would have a hard time getting out of the arena tonight.
In the end, players from both sides were persuaded to return to their respective benches and the game entered a technical timeout.
When Xu Yong left the court, Thibodeau patted him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up.
The NBA at that time was not the sissy league of the future where a single touch would result in a foul. Xu Yong's approach was completely in line with the characteristics of the times.
Since you, Anthony, are talking nonsense, you should be prepared to be punished.
When Anthony walked to the bench and sat down, the staff handed him a towel. He wiped it and then threw it hard to the ground.
He was really going mad.
Woodson came over and talked to him for a while. If Anthony lost control, the Knicks could basically declare surrender in advance.
Because he is not D'Antoni, he cannot make Jeremy Lin return to Linsanity. Moreover, given Stoudemire's overall condition this season and the impact of injuries, he is no longer an All-Star level player. Without Anthony, they have no chance at all.
The referees ultimately gave Anthony a technical foul after reviewing the replay.
Xu Yong went to execute the technical free throw.
At this moment, Anthony, who was temporarily replaced by Woodson, looked at the court numbly and suddenly remembered the text message James sent him before the game.
As a brother, James gave him some game advice in text message.
To sum up, there are several points:
First, don't go head-to-head with Xu Yong on offense. Calling a pick-and-roll is a better option.
Second, don't go head-to-head with Xu Yong on defense. Calling for help defense is a better choice.
Third, if possible, stagger the playing time with Xu Yong;
Fourth, frequently create physical contact with Xu Yong to consume Xu Yong's physical energy. Because Rose is not there, the Bulls will rely more on Xu Yong on the offensive end.
Of these four suggestions, the first three can be said to be James' experience of playing against Xu Yong in the past two years.
This is much more useful than the previous verbal support.
As for the fourth point, it is his selfish motive, to let Anthony consume Xu Yong more in the first round, so that the Heat will have a greater chance later.
When Anthony saw these suggestions before, he looked disdainful.
Let him call for pick-and-roll, can his offensive skills compare with James?
Let him call for help defense. He could defend Kobe Bryant back then, but couldn’t he defend Xu Yong?
As for staggered travel, he is a hardliner and he would never do that.
So the only thing he accepted was the fourth point, to fight against Xu Yong and consume him.
But now it seems...it still has to be James.
After Xu Yong made the technical foul free throw, the game on the court continued.
Then something even more embarrassing happened to Anthony.
After he left the court, the Knicks still had trouble defending the Bulls, but they played significantly better on the offensive end.
To put it bluntly, basketball is a team sport. It's not that you can't play solo, but if you don't have a success rate, it will simply harm the team.
Moreover, Anthony’s stick position is different from others. He basically removes the “S” key, which directly doubles the damage coefficient.
This time it will be really awkward for whoever is missing.
Of course, with only Jeremy Lin and a half-crippled Stoudemire, even if the offense improves, it will still be difficult to keep up with the Bulls in the score.
After the first quarter, the score was 14 to 30.
The Bulls widened the gap to more than 15 points in one quarter.
It is too early to say whether the game has been won or lost. After all, no one knows whether Anthony can regain his form.
But what we can see is that the Knicks dug a big hole for themselves right from the start.
If we can't climb out of this pit in the second quarter, then this pit will only get bigger and bigger.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Xu Yong rested on the sidelines, and both teams were mainly playing with substitutes.
However, after two minutes of play, the Knicks were unable to close the gap, so Woodson replaced Anthony.
Seeing that Anthony was about to play, Xu Yong also stood up and volunteered to Thibodeau.
As the saying goes, leave a way out for others so that you can meet again in the future. But it also depends on the situation. Anthony talked nonsense, James supported him, and the two Banana Boat Brothers sang the same tune. This round of series is going to fight to the death.
As soon as Anthony came back, he called for a pick-and-roll with the ball in the frontcourt.
Although he did not accept James' suggestion to travel during off-peak hours, calling a pick-and-roll became a necessary option at this time.
After all, if all your methods fail and you still insist on fighting, then that is not being tough, but being a tough guy.
However, not only did Anthony not conduct in-depth research on the Bulls, he also did not fully understand Xu Yong before the game.
He thought the pick-and-roll could create space for his jump shot, but the actual situation was that the moment he shot, Xu Yong had already used puppy steps to get past the pick-and-roll and then flew over to interfere with him.
"when!"
It is a luxury to make three of four shots go in one. Anthony made 0 of 5 shots tonight facing Xu Yong's attack.
His technical statistics score is still a poor zero!
This was definitely the most desperate night of his career so far.
Of course, it was also the happiest night for Chicago fans.
Sweet melon turns into bitter melon, which is refreshing and relieves heat.
Moreover, Xu Yong became more and more courageous as the game went on. He had just defended Anthony when he turned around and played pick-and-roll with Yao Ming. Then he changed direction without slowing down and passed Camby. He staged a Satan-like scene in the Knicks' penalty area and slammed the ball into the basket.
The United Center was once again filled with cheering fans.
In tonight's game, Xu Yongzhen tied Anthony up and exposed him to the sun, then whipped him with a whip, to emphasize the word "cool".
Amid the fans' cheers, at the end of the first half, the Bulls were leading the Knicks by 28 points, 61 to 33.
Xu Yong scored 20 points on 8 of 11 shots in the first half, and also made 4 assists, playing in an easy and carefree manner.
In contrast, Anthony made 0 of 10 shots in the first half, setting a personal record for the most missed shots in a half.
If he hadn't scored 2 points from free throws in the middle, he might have even failed to score in the first half.
This was definitely not Anthony's normal performance, as he had never performed like this before.
But his poor form this season, coupled with Xu Yong's all-out defense on him, ultimately led to him playing this atypical half.
After watching this half, many fans who were attracted to the TV by Anthony's "big words", especially Knicks fans, have chosen to turn off the TV.
Given Anthony's current form and the Bulls' performance, the Knicks' chances of a second-half comeback are probably lower than the men's soccer team's chances of qualifying for the World Cup.
But you know what, after the halftime break, Anthony seemed to have adjusted his mentality.
He didn't play with the ball anymore, but played without the ball instead.
Yes, as an offensive kaleidoscope, Anthony's off-ball skills are also first-class.
Otherwise why is Anthony the boss of the banana boat＊2.
After receiving the pass from Stoudemire at the free throw line, he announced his strong return with a beautiful dunk after a pick-and-roll.
After the dunk, Anthony performed his signature three-finger headshot celebration.jpg.
However, he himself probably could not have imagined that this would be his only goal in open play tonight.
Because after Anthony completed this dunk, Xu Yong started to use a dog-skin plaster-like defensive mode.
When Kobe taught Xu Yong the puppy footwork, he clearly explained that this footwork was mainly aimed at screens and off-ball defense.
After that, Anthony never got a good shooting space again.
Most of the time he was still entangled in one-on-one with Xu Yong, and this entanglement was not much different from that in the first half.
The result was that his last four shots in this quarter all missed the basket, and he only scored 4 points from free throws.
1 of 15 shots, 6 of 8 free throws, 8 points, plus 11 rebounds, 2 assists, 4 turnovers and 3 fouls. These are Anthony's statistics for the first three quarters.
And after three quarters, the Knicks' deficit had reached an astonishing 44 points!
Yes, the Bulls showed no mercy.
With a 44-point difference in three quarters, the Knicks couldn't catch up even if they had five Jordans on the court in one quarter.
So if the third quarter was the Knicks' final stubbornness, then the fourth quarter was standard garbage time.
The main players on both sides all clocked out of get off work, and Xu Yong and Yao Ming had already put on their training suits early and were chatting and laughing there.
The feeling of beating up McGregor's opponent was satisfying, not to mention that the score was much bigger than they had expected.
The Bulls' lineup at this time: West, Tony Allen, Butler, Martin, and Anderson.
New York Knicks: Toney Douglas, J.R. Smith, Iman Shumpert, Jerome Jordan, Jared Jeffries.
Because the winner had been decided, both sides played more casually and the score difference did not change much at the beginning.
But as the game went on, things started to go wrong, and the first to cause trouble was JR Smith.
Even though the score was leading by such a large margin, the Bulls' defensive intensity remained high, which made Smith very unhappy. This player, who had an obvious troublemaker nature and had a bad ending in the CBA this season, directly elbowed Allen who was defending him.
Allen was knocked to the ground by his elbow, and Butler rushed over and wrestled with him.
Players from both teams also rushed forward one after another, and the scene was very chaotic for a while.
It was the addition of veterans like Martin and Jeffries that prevented the situation from escalating further.
The referee finally gave Butler and JR both a second-degree malicious penalty and directly expelled them, and the conflict was finally settled.
When JR entered the player tunnel, he was booed by Chicago fans. It was a loss of both the game and his dignity.
And Butler enjoyed their cheers.
Butler has basically had little presence this season, averaging less than ten minutes per game and his stats are just three points and two rebounds. But his performance just now made the fans kind of like this guy with half an inch hair and who looks like Jordan.
Then, after this episode was over, although there was no more conflict on the court, the situation began to change, and the Bulls began to widen the score gap to more than 50 points.
The Knicks' bench strength is not as good as the Bulls', and JR, the best scorer, was fouled out, which made the team even weaker.
On the other hand, the Bulls used Butler for training purposes. After he was sent off, they could only use the stronger Battier.
Of course, what’s more important is that if you lose more than 40 points and still want to make trouble, it only means that you haven’t lost enough.
At this moment, Chris Paul, who was thousands of miles away in Los Angeles, heard the news and stopped his training and rushed home to watch the live game.
Soon, the score gap widened, and when there was only one minute left in the game, the Bulls had even widened the gap to 61 points!
The faces of the Knicks players were full of despair.
61 points!
This is the playoffs.
61 points. Only one team has experienced a similar tragedy, and that is the Hornets in the 08-09 season.
The Hornets were ranked seventh in the Western Conference at the time and played against the second-ranked Nuggets. In the end, they lost to the Nuggets by 58 points.
But now, they are 3 points ahead of that.
This is a new height of competition on the pillar of historical shame.
However, in this last minute, neither side wanted to play anymore, and the score difference did not change any further.
With 2 seconds left in the game, Douglas, feeling depressed, just threw the ball towards the basket.
What no one expected was that his casual throw actually went in!
Even Douglas himself was stunned.
There was an uproar at the scene.
Generally, players will not attack again at this time, because it is easy to cause conflict between the two sides when the outcome has been decided.
However, no conflict occurred this time, after all, the Knicks lost too many games.
Players from both teams stood up and quickly exchanged a final handshake before ending this dramatic game.
However, at this time in Los Angeles, Paul stared at the score of 123 to 65 on the screen and was so excited that he was speechless.
That’s right, the Hornets team that suffered a 58-point defeat that year was led by Paul. That is a dark history that he never wants to mention.
The core player of the Nuggets team that caused the 58-point tragedy was Anthony.
Anthony beat him by 58 points back then, and now he was beaten by the Bulls by 58 points in return, and both were in the first round of the playoffs. It really is "God will take his course, and no one will be spared!"
From then on, the name 58, just like Nowitzki's previous MVP first-round elimination, would no longer belong to him alone.
Although, they are brothers of Banana Boat, their brotherhood is more than just a superficial one.
He finally felt comfortable.
This is what Paul thought, but the comments on social media at this time seemed to be a little, well, a little different from what he imagined.
"58 is really a magical number. The one who lost by 58 points in the last playoffs was Paul of the Banana Boat Brothers, and then this time it was Anthony. Will it be Wade and James next time?"
"Tony Douglas is the biggest hater. The three-pointer he threw at the end made me laugh to death. If he hadn't made it, I guess few people would remember Paul's dark history."
"Anthony took 15 shots and scored 8 points. Well, there are 5 and 8..."
"It is worth mentioning that Anthony's 8 points also paid tribute to James' 8 points in the Eastern Conference Finals last season. It was worth it that James supported him under great pressure before the game. It is true that brothers have deep love and share happiness."
"Melo is still not as good as LeBron and Smart. He doesn't travel during off-peak hours, and he doesn't play in the last quarter to score points. Otherwise, with his scoring ability, it would be no problem for him to score 20 points in this game. Now, 8 points will become a shame in his career."
"How can you compare them like that? LeBron was already badly beaten by Xu and had a Pavlov reaction, while Melo is just getting started. Don't be impatient."
"I don't know why, but I suddenly thought of a phrase: when the elder brother dies, the younger brother succeeds."
…
That night, there was a game, but three brothers on the banana boat suffered from insomnia one after another.
Oh, there’s another person who was so happy that he couldn’t sleep.
Chauncey Billups.
Billups went to New York with Anthony last season, but when he saw the momentum was not right in the new season, he ran to the Clippers early.
This wave is a successful early risk hedging.
Then by the next day, the discussion that was originally limited to social media had spread to the media.
On the TNT show, Barkley, O'Neal and Kenny Smith found the ultimate pleasure and talked about the number 58.
Paul was naturally not immune from this process.
After all, the Lakers are now at the top of the Western Conference standings. Talking about Paul means talking about the Lakers, and talking about the Lakers will bring traffic.
You have both the Bulls and the Lakers, so you will take off immediately.
So it wasn't until the next day that Paul finally realized a reality, which is that no one cares about things like karma. All they care about is having fun and getting traffic.
After realizing this, Paul finally realized that this 58-point game was not a good thing for him.
It was at this time that he transferred his resentment to Xu Yong and the Bulls.
Humph, don’t let me meet you in the finals!