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

"In theory, the Warriors have a better chance. They are healthier and will be more motivated if they win the seventh game. The Bulls have injury risks and they haven't played for more than a week," Barkley boasted.

"But what is it actually?" O'Neal asked with a smile.

"Here's the reality. If the Bulls can't play with momentum tonight, they will be passive in the finals. They are facing the best team in the universe." Barkley continued seriously.

But his behavior made O'Neal burst into laughter. He even mentioned the Warriors, as if he was afraid that he could not defeat the Warriors.

Smith on the side nodded seriously.

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

Of course, the fact that the Bulls were clearly aware of this, as can be seen from the fact that they concealed Butler's injury and their performance at the beginning of the game.

As soon as they finished speaking, Adams passed the ball back to the Bulls' half, and the curtain of the finals officially began.

After receiving the ball, Xu Yong played against Green one-on-one. After a breakthrough, he turned around and hit the ball into the basket with his center foot.

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

What he did was a bit like when in a fight, when he sees that the opponent is injured in a certain part, he will hit that part with all his might. It is something he will do at a glance.

After his teammates moved away, he dribbled sideways, reached the high post and started to post up against Butler.

Once, twice, Butler was obviously unable to bear it.

Ankle injuries affect athletes in many ways, slowing down their breakthroughs, moving slower, and even weakening their defensive efforts.

In the third possession, James pressed Butler down, turned around and rushed to the basket and put the ball into the basket.

Looking back, Xu Yong continued to break through Green, facing Pachulia's assist defense, he turned around and made a floating shot in the air.

James also continued to ask Thompson to set a screen, but with Thibodeau's shouting on the sidelines, Butler chose to go around and James got the space to shoot.

Without much hesitation, he took a step forward and moved to a position about 17 feet away. Then he pulled up for a jump shot and it went off without a hitch.

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 James" that Xu Yong knows about.

Although it sounds a bit strange for a player to play in the league for 14 seasons before reaching his peak.

However, the first few rounds became a period of scoring competition between Xu Yong and James.

Green and Butler became victims on the court.

Xu Yong continued to play one-on-one, but this time he encountered multiple defenders, so his choice was to take a difficult fadeaway shot towards the baseline against the defense.

Fearing his abilities, almost everyone around him pounced on him.

"when!"

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

But his face did not look too regretful, because before he made this choice, he had already seen someone moving quickly towards the basket.

When Adams and Pachulia were blocking each other under the basket, a figure saw the landing point and jumped up to complete the tip-in.

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

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

Xu Yong high-fived Butler while retreating to defense. It is indeed difficult for Butler to perform normally while playing with an injury, but an important reason why he did not strongly oppose Butler playing with an injury before was because he knew that Butler could still help the team while playing with an injury.

In the year when he led the team to complete the black eight miracle in history, Butler sprained his ankle in the second round, but he still led the team to the finals despite the injury and had a legendary season.

James continued to play one-on-one against Butler and increased the range of his back-to-the-basket moves, which clearly showed that he wanted to completely defeat Butler.

But just when he was low enough to turn around, he suddenly felt his hand lighten.

His ball was intercepted.

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

There are blind spots in back-to-back plays, and too many back-to-back plays give Xu Yong enough time to move.

When Xu Yong completed the steal, James instinctively spread his hands, and Xu Yong quickly made a fast break, the cheers of Chicago fans had already sounded in the United Center.

“Bang!”

When Xu Yong rushed past the defense and to the frontcourt to complete a gliding windmill dunk, the United Center was completely in an uproar.

Steal the ball from James + fast break dunk, late but it works!

After completing the dunk, Xu Yong also made a direct "listening" celebration gesture, and the atmosphere at the scene was very lively.

Xu Yong made 3 of 4 shots in the opening game, not only showing a strong personal offensive desire, but also an excellent personal state.

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

In the opening match, we need to do it with all our strength.

"Defend! Defend!"

The scene was filled with the cheers of Chicago fans.

James gave up holding the ball in the frontcourt, Green organized a wave at the top of the arc, and Curry took a three-pointer after running out of the elevator door tactics.

Anderson cleverly rushed out from the wing to interfere with Curry, but Curry still managed to score despite the interference.

Although Xu Yong started off in hot form, the Warriors played very strongly as a whole. Not only James, but Curry also continued his hot form in the Western Conference Finals.

This is the point Barkley mentioned before the game. The Warriors are a team that just came out of a Game 7 in the Western Conference Finals and are in very hot form.

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

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

This is a tactic often used by the Bulls, but the difference from usual is that Butler's breakthrough speed slowed down, and he was not able to score directly. Instead, he 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 attack, Butler turned to his uninjured right foot and completed a turnaround jump shot to the right.

This was unexpected and the ball finally went into the net.

The ankle injury affected many aspects of his game, but it did not affect his touch.

Then Butler's actions after making the shot were very interesting. He did not do anything to Green, but turned around and gave James a "death stare", leaving the latter confused.

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

When Butler saw that James had no intention of continuing to hold the ball, he directly trash-talked James: "Try me! Soft!"

This sentence made James' face turn pale instantly.

He was originally planning to play Butler tonight, but he just took a break after being intercepted by Xu Yong. He didn't expect Butler to take advantage of him.

Especially the word "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 the game and not let the Warriors 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's better to let James play one-on-one against Butler like in the opening game than to let Curry shoot three-pointers from outside.

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

Not to mention the fact that three-pointers are one point more than two points, shooters need to shoot to maintain their touch. Letting James play more and not double-teaming him means letting the Splash Brothers take fewer shots, which can slow down the game from a strategic point of view.

James had a clear advantage in his back-to-back attack against the low-health Butler, and this time he was wary of the help defense in his blind spot. Although the movement of shaking his head left and right looked a bit funny, his final strong attack still caused Butler to commit a defensive foul.

Naturally, there was some trash talk between the two, but judging from James' red face at the end and his one-of-two free throws, it was obvious that Butler won the fight.

Then, Butler continued his attack after the pick-and-roll with Adams, and after attracting Green's help defense, he successfully passed the ball to Xu Yong. Xu Yong jumped to the basket and slammed the ball into the basket directly over the slow-moving Pachulia.

The emotions in the United Center were ignited again. Butler's pass was beautiful, but Xu Yong's dunk was even more beautiful.

Butler and James' trash talk continued: "You know what? You will never catch up with Xu in your life."

James' face was as black as a kitchen rag that hadn't been washed in years.

Xu Yong almost burst out laughing when he heard this.

Butler's series of moves made him sigh that over the years, his junior has learned the essence of his trash talk.

In this quarter, Butler was like an assassin in World of Warcraft, occasionally attacking James to draw his hatred and slow down the Warriors' offensive rhythm.

Xu Yong became the output position, either holding the ball and playing one-on-one or scoring after receiving a pass from Butler. When Butler left the court, Jokic came back on and became the one passing the ball.

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 the end of the first half, the score was 57 to 45, with the Bulls leading by 12 points.

The pressure was now on the Warriors.

Because the Warriors' [strongest third quarter] is based on a situation where the two teams are evenly matched in the first half and even if they fall behind, they won't fall too far.

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

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

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

However, Xu Yong was not in the locker room at that time. He was chatting with Thibodeau and Malone at the door of the locker room.

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

The Bulls are not actually afraid of the Warriors' Death Five last season, because they just need to focus on limiting the splash.

But now with the addition of James' lineup, which can be called the "Ultimate Death Five", and their condition tonight, the Bulls will have a hard time dealing with it.

To put it bluntly, the Warriors' "strongest third quarter" is not exaggerated, but is actually played out. They can quickly widen the score, and of course they can also catch up with the score in a short time.

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

He wants Jokic to play center when the Warriors play the death lineup.

This is also the reason why he brought Xu Yong along, because just like many times in the past, only with Xu Yong's support would Thibodeau accept it.

This suggestion sounds contradictory, because Adams is already passive enough in the death five-small space play. Replacing him with Jokic, who moves slower and has worse defensive ability, is tantamount to giving up on himself.

But Malone is obviously not a fool, and the reason why he made such a suggestion is actually very simple.

Since it is difficult to defend, just let it go, because no matter Adams or Jokic, they can't defend against the five-small defense. 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 this season, combined with his passing ability, can beat Green in the low post.

So to summarize Malone's idea more concisely, it is to play against the Warriors.

It is indeed a bit difficult to ask a defensive head coach to accept such a proposal, especially when Thibodeau is not so fond of Jokic.

"If our regular lineup doesn't work, I think we can give Mike's proposal a try." Xu Yong did not act tough because he knew what kind of person Thibodeau was.

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

After the half-time break, the game continued.

Kerr did not directly put out the death lineup, but still habitually let the regular lineup play for two minutes.

James played defensively for these two minutes, ignoring Butler's trash talk. Curry made a three-pointer from the outside. The Warriors' overall feeling on the court was obviously better than in the first half.

But this did not help them close the score, because Xu Yong recovered his strength after the half-time break and hit Green twice in a row on the court.

Seeing this, Kerr showed his trump card and replaced Pachulia with Iguodala, playing the death lineup.

This adjustment had an immediate effect, and the Warriors continued to show their form. Thompson hit a catch-and-shoot three-pointer at the 45-degree angle on the right.

After the Bulls tried two rounds with no results and the Warriors narrowed the gap to single digits, Thibodeau replaced Adams with Jokic.

Then, Jokic started to pivot in the low post, holding the ball and single-handedly playing against Green.

The Warriors didn’t help on defense.

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

Then, after being abused by Xu Yong for most of the night, Green was beaten by Jokic again.

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

From the audience's perspective, Jokic just turned around, and then with Green pushing him out, he hooked the ball into the basket with one hand.

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

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

And this situation continued in the third quarter.

Singles straight into the goal, double goals, hat tricks, four goals to open the door...

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

Green's mentality was a little unbalanced, and he was called for a technical foul by the referee for his excessive movements during a defense.

Then, he actually started to argue with the referee.

As a result, he was called for a second technical foul by the referee and was directly ejected.

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 actually weak, but a mental breakdown.

After the boxing incident, although Green stayed reluctantly, the team's status continued to decline and he lived a very frustrating life.

Now not only are he being targeted, but even a rookie like Jokic is riding on his head and shitting on him, and he even looks relaxed. His pent-up emotions burst out, and he loses control on the court.

Maybe Green now really needs to see a psychiatrist like James did back then.

Green's departure meant that the Warriors' five-small lineup came to an abrupt end after half of the game, which was very fatal at the strategic level, forcing the Warriors to return to the normal rhythm of playing against the Bulls.

But the Warriors were in surprisingly good shape tonight, especially when James got up and handed the offense to Curry. Curry lifted up his trouser legs, revealing his thick thighs, and led the Warriors to a stalemate with the Bulls.

On the Bulls side, as Jokic was substituted off the court, Xu Yong continued to take over the team's firepower.

He scored another 17 points in the third quarter, and his personal score reached 50 points at the end of the third quarter.

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

Last season, Xu Yong broke records in the playoffs at a speed as fast as sparks and lightning, but the only record he failed to break was the single-game scoring record in the finals.

But tonight, he was so close that even "Lord Baylor" who was far away in Los Angeles felt his hips tighten.

At the end of the quarter, Kerr seemed to finally realize that Butler did not have much scoring ability tonight, and the Bulls' offense basically relied entirely on Xu Yong, so he began to double-team Xu Yong frantically.

At this time, Thibodeau let Jokic play again at Malone's suggestion, but he played a double tower lineup at the four position.

The Bulls instantly changed from single-wheel drive to dual-wheel drive, and Xu Yong took off directly.

With 2 minutes left in the game, Xu Yong received a pass from Jokic and scored 2+1 against Pachulia, raising his score to 61 points.

When he stepped onto the free throw line to take the extra free throw, there were unanimous shouts of MVP at the stadium.

“Swish!”

When Xu Yong made the free throw, the United Center was in a state of chaos.

A new NBA Finals single-game scoring record was set here.

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