109 to 93, the Bulls relied on the huge advantage established in the first quarter to eventually defeat the Raptors at home and won Game 1 of the series.

Xu Yong scored 46 points in three quarters, and his offensive did not stop even after Casey replaced Antetokounmpo.

Butler was in good shape and played relatively calmly, but Antetokounmpo's move aroused his desire to play.

This forced both sides to play a whole quarter in garbage time.

When the game was over, Casey looked at Antetokounmpo and felt the same as DeRozan had before: Why did you mess with him for no reason?

Xu Yong and Butler attended the post-match press conference together.

Because it was a one-sided victory, the reporters were not focused on the game itself, but on what happened between Xu Yong and Antetokounmpo during the game.

Antetokounmpo had a good performance in the first quarter, but was beaten by Xu Yong on both offense and defense, and only got 6 points and 5 rebounds in the whole game.

"I don't think he was provocative, he was just a little excited." However, when asked related questions by reporters, Xu Yong appeared very open-minded.

He will also inevitably be open-minded, because in essence, Antetokounmpo was just playing a little too excitedly.

Of course, what's more important is that Antetokounmpo is only in his third year and is a serious rookie. If he quibbles with a rookie, it would make him appear narrow-minded.

"But then you hit 9 balls against him," the reporter reminded.

"...So many?" Xu Yong turned and asked Butler beside him.

Butler shook his head, not denying it, but he didn't know who would be bored enough to collect that kind of data, although he thought the reporter might have counted too little.

"Sorry, those are the data for the first half." The reporter was reminded by the person next to him.

"There were 13 goals in total. Of the 17 goals you scored tonight, only four were not scored against him."

“Ahem!”

Xu Yong clenched his fist and coughed, then smiled and said, "I'm a little excited too."

After finishing the press conference and returning to the locker room to rest for a while, Xu Yong then took Anderson to practice more.

Given West's condition, there is a high probability that he will not be able to start next season, so Anderson has a certain chance to step up and play as the starting power forward.

However, the prerequisite is that Anderson must be able to withstand the damage from the opponent's power forward in the low post.

Since they were at home, they went directly to the competition venue for training.

But when they arrived at the stadium, they unexpectedly found Antetokounmpo training there. He was still wearing the jersey he wore during the game. It seemed that he did not return to the locker room after the game, but stayed to practice more.

Xu Yong just took a glance and then looked away, then went to train with Anderson.

They train low-post offense and defense, which will be used more when they play against the Cavaliers.

After they practiced for a while, Antetokounmpo suddenly walked towards them.

After seeing this, Anderson greeted Xu Yong and then walked up to Xu Yong.

If the other party is causing trouble, he will definitely go first.

But Xu Yong patted him on the shoulder and signaled that he was fine.

Even if Antetokounmpo had a hundred guts, the opponent would not dare to cause trouble for him in the United Center.

Sure enough, when he walked up to him, Antetokounmpo said, "Xu, I apologize to you for my rude behavior during the game. I was a little too excited."

He came to apologize.

Anderson was surprised, and Xu Yong was also a little surprised.

Before his rebirth, Antetokounmpo was already a superstar in the league. His impression of him mainly stayed on two points: one was inspirational. As a rookie in the middle of the first round, he was very thin when he entered the league, and then he played hard to become a devilish muscle man, and also polished his skills little by little, and counterattacked to become a superstar;

The second is the championship with a stepping foot. “He really wanted to win” and “Championship rings should be worn on the feet”, these were the hot memes about him winning the championship with a stepping foot that year.

So when it comes to recognizing Antetokounmpo's strength, Xu Yong is actually not that impressed with him.

Otherwise, during the draft, he would not just hint at Foreman, but would have named him like Butler and Jokic.

But now that the other party came to apologize, he thought of an interesting question: Did Antetokounmpo trip over his opponent in the past because he really wanted to win, as the fans joked? Or was he just imitating others?

If it is the former, then he is actually as bad a person as Bowen or anyone else;

If it is the latter, it means that although he is bad, he is not that bad, because in essence, stepping on others and grouping up have something in common. Although the methods are different, they both rely on shortcuts to win. If others win the championship in this way, they will naturally want to imitate it.

Xu Yong didn't know the answer to this question, but based on the other party's proactive attitude of apologizing, he felt that he could make a few suggestions. If it works, then there will be one less star player suffering in the future. Even if it doesn't work, it's just a waste of words.

"It's understandable that young people are more impatient." Xu Yong made this comment, which was considered a response to Antetokounmpo's apology.

Looking at Xu Yong's magnanimous appearance, Antetokounmpo recalled the scene when he was beaten to the point of almost becoming autistic during the game. The corners of his mouth twitched and he tried hard to force a smile.

"But I have reasons why I have to win." After putting away his smile, Antetokounmpo said with a firm look.

Now it was Xu Yong's turn to twitch his lips. Do you really want to win?

That shouldn't be the case. In his memory, Antetokounmpo's tripping seemed to be during the period when he was with the Nets' Big Three, which was after 2020. It's still too early now.

It can't be that because he broke the other party's mentality, this matter started early?

Now he has to give a few more suggestions.

"Giannis, failure is the main theme of basketball, and there are no shortcuts in basketball. If you want to win, you have to work hard to make yourself stronger. When you are strong enough, you don't have to say you have to win, because you are already a winner."

Antetokounmpo was stunned for a moment. He realized that he and Xu Yong seemed to be on different channels. However, Xu Yong's words made sense, especially the sentence that there are no shortcuts in basketball. This is why he has been working hard until today.

"I'll keep working on it." He pursed his lips and nodded.

Seeing this, Xu Yong smiled and hoped that things would develop in a good direction.

…

Two days later, the Bulls continued their competition with the Raptors at home.

Game 2 was much more intense than Game 1. The Raptors made full use of their bench depth. Although they were still at a disadvantage at the start, they caught up with the score directly in the first half during the substitute transition period.

The impact of Rose's absence on the Bulls is obvious.

However, in the second half, Thibodeau made some adjustments based on the situation at halftime. He asked Xu Yong to leave the court early to rest, and then lead the transition period between the third and fourth quarters.

This adjustment has an immediate effect. Of course, the premise is that Butler is in good enough condition. Otherwise, after Xu Yong leaves the court, the Bulls will enter the end of the quarter with a disadvantage, and it will not have much significance.

After the final four quarters of fierce battle, the Bulls defeated the Raptors 108-100 and took a 2-0 lead.

Judging from the score and the course of the game, Xu Yong's game strategy can be said to have worked perfectly.

After the first two games of the series, the two teams will move to Toronto to continue the next two games.

Going to Toronto is a hassle, but going abroad is a small matter, the main reason is that the place is really cold.

When they came out of Toronto Pearson International Airport, the whistling cold wind made them subconsciously shrink their necks even though they had put on down jackets in advance.

However, when they came out, on the way from the exit to the bus, they felt the enthusiasm of the fans in the cold wind.

There were many people holding Seo Young's KT boards to welcome him, and even more people holding Seo Young's No. 6 jersey to ask for his autograph.

Xu Yong stopped for a short while, met the needs of some fans, and then finally boarded the bus that had been waiting for him for a while.

"Boss, this is Toronto, right?" Jokic asked suddenly after Xu Yong sat down.

"Nikola, is your brain frozen?" Anderson, who was standing next to him, touched his forehead after hearing this.

"But I feel like it's no different than when we were in Chicago?"

When Jokic said the second sentence with a smile, Anderson reached his hand back and touched his forehead, as if he was the one whose brain was frozen.

There was a burst of laughter in the big bar. Ross smiled and said, "You will get used to it slowly."

Jokic scratched his head, this flattery was completely useless.

After arriving in Toronto, the Bulls took a short break and then went to the training hall for training.

Because of the long journey, they did not have much time to train.

Even in training sessions, the Bulls' shooting touch was not very good.

Apparently, the freezing weather in Toronto didn't freeze anyone's brain, but it certainly made their hands a little stiff.

The next night, Game 3 between the Bulls and Raptors kicked off at the Scotiabank Arena.

The stadium was packed with people and the enthusiasm of the fans was still quite high.

Although Canada has a small population and its population is mainly concentrated in several large cities, it is a country after all, and the Raptors have a bit of the flavor of a national team.

The result of this game was that the Raptors won, 106 to 95.

The score difference was 11 points, and more importantly, the Bulls' score rarely exceeded 100. The Bulls' touch during training continued into the main game.

Their shooting percentage was just over 40% throughout the game, which put them behind at the start of the game.

On the other hand, the Raptors have been playing in such an environment for many years and have long been accustomed to it.

And there is another statistic that is easily overlooked. The Raptors' home winning rate this season is 85%, which is much better than their away games.

This is somewhat like the devil's home court.

Antetokounmpo's performance in this game was also very eye-catching. He scored 21 points and 11 rebounds and grabbed 5 offensive rebounds. His vitality made West look old.

After the game, he was also very excited and shouted "We won" to the camera.

Two days later, the Bulls and Raptors continued their match in Game 4.

The outcome of this game was once again unexpected.

Every team has its bad performances sometimes. Even the 72-win Bulls and last season's Bulls have lost in the playoffs.

After all, people are not machines. They will have ups and downs in their performance and will be affected by some external factors. Moreover, the opponents in the playoffs are all strong.

This was the case when the Bulls lost Game 3, but it was another case when they lost Game 4.

The Bulls regained their touch in Game 4, scoring 121 points in the game, which was an absolutely high score in the playoffs before the second attack time was changed to 14 seconds.

But the Raptors scored 126 points in this game.

It was obvious that the Raptors played a little bit above their level, especially DeRozan, who scored 7 points in a row in the final moments, including a difficult three-pointer that decided the outcome, and scored 41 points, a playoff career-high.

And it wasn't just him. In this game, all five starters of the Raptors, plus Joseph and Terrence Ross on the bench, scored in double digits.

This brought the most crucial data in the game, bench points, with the Raptors far outpacing the Bulls 32 to 18.

Yes, it is still the impact of Rose's absence.

Although Stephenson can fill some of the gaps, the gap in ability is obvious.

In fact, this problem also occurred in the last game, but it was masked by the team's poor performance.

Or to be more precise, it already existed in G1.

In order to solve this problem, Thibodeau chose to extend Xu Yong's playing time, but the Raptors had sufficient lineup depth, and there were some unexpected factors in these two games, which made the Bulls lose the game in the end.

It is easy to draw the conclusion that the Bulls' strength is still there, but their tolerance for error is obviously much smaller than last season.

On the plane back to Chicago, the Bulls' morale was a little low. Whatever the reason, a 2-0 lead was reduced to a 2-2 tie, and they were forced into a decisive game. This was definitely not a happy thing.

"Relax, take a hot bath to warm yourself up when you get back to Chicago. Of course, you can also find a girl to help you warm up if necessary." Malone said jokingly on the plane.

There was a sudden burst of laughter on the plane, and Xu Yong also laughed.

As the "father of the Lakers" and "coach considering retirement" as he is known, Malone actually has a sense of humor.

But his mentality at this time is similar to Malone's, they really need to relax.

This Raptors team is stronger than many people think. Not to mention that DeRozan is more capable than the same period in history, just looking at the lineup configuration, the addition of Antetokounmpo is a huge improvement to the Raptors' inside strength. More importantly, it also makes up for the leadership qualities that this Raptors team lacks the most.

It was no surprise that the Raptors were able to seize the opportunity to catch up.

But it is also obvious that it will be difficult for the Raptors to continue their performance like in G4.

So in the final analysis, the Bulls' biggest opponent is themselves. As long as they can perform at their normal level, it won't be a problem to beat the Raptors.

In order to perform at your best, your mentality is very important, and relaxation is naturally necessary.

Just as he was thinking, Xu Yong saw Ross sitting by the window, looking at the white clouds outside the window, looking thoughtful.

…

Chicago, suburbs.

Foreman had just finished a busy day and returned home. He was about to take a nice hot bath when he suddenly received a call.

After some communication, he finally gave up the idea of ​​taking a bath, said hello to his wife, and rushed to the stadium.

When he arrived, Ross was already waiting for him at the office door.

He smiled and nodded, then opened the door and walked in with him before closing it again.

"Derek, what's the hurry?" Foreman couldn't help complaining in his heart, after all, it was already non-working hours.

"Sorry to trouble you to come here." Ross looked apologetic.

"I know you are in such a hurry because of something important, that's why I rushed over." Ross's personality made it impossible for him to get angry. He waved his hand quickly and turned around to make coffee for Ross.

"I want to apply to leave the team in the summer."

Foreman was just about to get some hot water when Ross's words almost made him drop the cup in his hand.

"What did you say?" He turned around with an incredulous look on his face, then put down the cup and sat directly opposite Ross.

If they win the championship, Rose will not be traded. This was the bet reached between Xu Yong and Launsdorf.

But now, Ross actually proposed to leave on his own?

Wouldn't this be embarrassing for Xu Yong?

To put it bluntly, if Rose had been willing to be traded, Xu Yong wouldn't have had to conflict with Lauersdorf because of him.

Now that the conflict has arisen, he says he wants to be traded. What does that mean?

"Gar, I want to stay in Chicago, but I don't want to drag Xu down anymore." Rose had a look of reluctance on his face. As a local star, how could he want to leave his hometown deep down in his heart?

But like he said, he can't go on like this. This game against the Raptors is the best reminder for him. If he hadn't been injured, the series might have ended now.

Yes, he can control his desire to play, his mentality, etc., but the only thing he can't control is his injuries.

A very realistic question, what if he is injured again next year?

Even if Xu Yong can drag him to defend his title this season, will he still drag him to complete the dynasty by then?

The last time the Bulls failed to complete their dynasty was because of injuries. Xu Yong had done so much for him, how could he let this experience happen to Xu Yong again?

Xu Yong is the one who really wants to catch up with Jordan, and it would be too selfish for him to continue like this.

Foreman looked at Ross for a long time, not knowing what to say for a moment.

Xu Yong and Rose, new and old bosses of similar age, are something that happens very often in NBA teams.

For example, the story between Kobe and O'Neal of the Lakers is well-known to everyone. Fortunately, they are not all inside or outside players, otherwise they would have to fight.

For example, when James arrived at the Cavaliers, he squeezed out Ricky Davis, and the famous saying "I thought he was here to assist me" was born.

But Xu Yong and Ross took a completely different path.

Xu Yong had previously clashed with Lauensdorf over Ross, and now Ross has chosen to sacrifice himself for Xu Yong's achievements. The relationship between them is invaluable in the business alliance.

"My contract has a player option for next year, but I won't get anything by leaving like this. I will execute the contract, and then my expiring contract will have trading value, and I will also cooperate with the trading team in the tryout." Seeing that Foreman did not object, Rose continued.

Foreman even felt a little sad when he heard this. Rose must have thought a lot before coming here.

"If this is your final decision, I respect your idea, but because of the previous bet, I need to communicate with Xu and Mr. Lauensdorf."

"I know." Rose nodded gratefully.

After seeing Ross off, Foreman paced back and forth in the office.

This incident happened so suddenly that it was difficult for him to figure out how to deal with it next.

Theoretically speaking, this kind of deal is best discussed in the summer.

Ross spoke to him suddenly, probably because he knew that he needed some time to figure out how to deal with it.

So should he communicate with Xu Yong now?

Will that affect Xu Yong's mentality? Just like Lauensdorf said James wanted to come to the Cavaliers?

Maybe I should wait until summer to talk to Xu Yong?

If the incident happened suddenly, would Xu Yong feel that they forced Ross to make this choice?

This matter is a bit tricky to handle, mainly because of Xu Yong's side. He doesn't know how Xu Yong will react when he finds out.

After hesitating for a long time, he decided to communicate with Xu Yong first.

He left the office and went straight to the training hall.

The fact that Xu Yong would have extra practice in the evening was public information within the Bulls team.

Sure enough, when he arrived, he saw Xu Yongzheng training there with Jokic, Adams and Anderson.

Anderson reminded Xu Yong. Xu Yong turned around and saw that Foreman seemed to be very confused as well.

"You guys continue practicing." When he saw Foreman's eyes were still on him, he said hello to the others and then walked to the door of the gym.

"Go to my office?" Foreman asked with a smile.

Xu Yong nodded. He was familiar with Foreman. If it wasn’t an important matter, he wouldn’t make it so mysterious.

"Gundrick is here to see me." After Xu Yong sat in the chair that Ross had sat in front of him, Foreman handed him the brewed coffee and then spoke.

"Huh?" Xu Yong looked puzzled. It was not common for players to look for the general manager in a team.

"He said he wanted to leave the team this summer." Since he had decided to say it, Foreman didn't drag his feet.

Xu Yong frowned and looked at Foreman with sharp eyes.

"I definitely didn't force him. Even if Mr. Lauersdorf had an idea, it would be in the summer, not now," Foreman hurriedly explained.

Xu Yong retracted his gaze: "Did he bring it up himself?"

"Yeah, he said he didn't want to drag you down," Foreman explained.

"I understand." After listening to this, Xu Yong stood up and prepared to go out.

"Xu." Foreman called him.

"I think the reason why Derek came to me first is that he didn't want to cause you trouble at this time, but I feel I have an obligation to tell you it in advance." Foreman said quickly.

Xu Yong said "hmm" and then left the office.

After coming out, he took a deep breath, but Foreman's words were still echoing in his mind.

Finally, he went to the parking lot and drove directly to Ross's house.

Ross was stunned when he saw him coming, obviously surprised.

After Xu Yong was brought into the room and sat down, Ross said self-reproachfully, "I thought Gal would not tell you until the end of the season."

"Are you giving up just like that?" Xu Yong asked Ross.

Rose didn't look directly at Xu Yong, but lowered his head and asked back: "Xu, we helped the team return to its peak together last season, didn't we?"

"I have no regrets anymore." He then looked up at Xu Yong.

"So you just gave up like that? When we were about to complete the dynasty together?" Xu Yong asked again. This was what they had imagined on the balcony.

"I..." Ross's expression was struggling and his body was shaking slightly.

Finally, he let out a long sigh: "Xu, the pressure of the injury is driving me crazy. What if I get injured again next year? You know if that happens, I really don't know how to face you and the team."

"Who said you will continue to be injured next year? This year was just an accident." Xu Yong retorted.

"Who can guarantee that it won't happen?" Ross looked directly at Xu Yong this time.

Xu Yong was silent for a moment. Yes, no one could guarantee it, not even him, and not even Ross himself.

"I was too naive during the offseason. I thought that if I changed my playing style and played healthy for a season, I would always be healthy. If I realized at that time that my ankles and knees were already severely worn out and could never go back to the way they were, I should have accepted the fact that I was traded."

Yes, people's ideas are changing. At that time, Rose wanted to continue to impact the dynasty with Xu Yong, but after this season's experience, he now only hopes that he will not drag Xu Yong down in completing the dynasty.

"Let me go, Xu. This is a relief for me. Maybe without the pressure, I can play healthily?" Rose said with a forced smile.

Xu Yong looked at Ross for a long time, seemed to want to say something several times, and finally nodded.

If this is what Ross really thinks, he chooses to respect it.

Rose also breathed a sigh of relief when he saw this, then stood up with a smile and patted Xu Yong on the shoulder; "Three championships, even if I retire now, LeBron can't catch up with my historical status."

Xu Yong was stunned for a moment, then he couldn't help but smile.

He used the same ridicule to persuade Ross back then, but he didn't expect Ross would learn it too.

However, Ross's mood shows that he has really let it go.

After leaving Rose's home, Xu Yong drove back to the training hall.

Although he knew this was Ross's choice, he still felt a little depressed.

He needed some place to vent his emotions.

He returned to the training hall, called out to Anderson and started the confrontation.

Half an hour later, Anderson held his chest and raised the white flag: "Boss, please let me go."

He felt like his ribs would break if he continued to fight.

Xu Yong turned and looked at Jokic.

"I remember now, I seem to have forgotten to turn off the fire when I made tea earlier." Jokic said immediately.

"Boss, I can do it." Adams said.

Xu Yong took a look at Adams' physique and then announced the end of today's training.

"Boss, Giannis was so arrogant when he shouted 'We can win' to the camera," Anderson said as soon as he got in the car.

Xu Yong didn't say anything, but waved his hand to signal him to drive.

There is no much point in targeting Antetokounmpo, because he feels that if he wants to vent his emotions, perhaps the entire Raptors team is the only one.