When the Bulls unexpectedly defeated the Warriors in Game 3, the outside world's view of the Finals also changed.
Everyone knows that the Warriors are stronger on paper now, but the Bulls tell everyone that strength is one thing and performance is another.
Even though Butler is suffering from injuries and is in a low-health state, the possibility of the Bulls' dynasty is getting bigger and bigger.
"Now it's time to witness the birth of a new God!" Barkley couldn't help but exclaimed while chatting happily on the TNT show.
Although there is no universally recognized standard, the outside world's standard for dominance is three consecutive championships, which is the so-called dynasty.
Even the official attitude is the same, so when Xu Yong went to the New York headquarters, he saw those people on the front cover.
Although Xu Yong is now recognized as the best player in the league, as Barkley said, Wang Chao is the official recognition of the deification.
However, as soon as Barkley finished speaking, the Bulls lost to the Warriors in Game 4.
This is certainly not because of Barkley's bad words. Even if there is any, it is only a relatively small part. It is more due to the Warriors' advantage in strength.
Xu Yong continued to try to trash talk at the beginning of the fourth game, and he changed his approach and targeted Green.
But it didn't work. Green seemed to have turned into a dead pig and was not afraid of being scalded.
After realizing that, Xu Yong also knew the unfavorable situation that the Bulls would face next.
2 to 2, both sides are back to the same starting line, and next is the life-and-death battle of the King's Mountain.
The decisive battles in previous years were always fought with great fanfare, but the process and results of this one were beyond everyone’s expectations.
The Bulls won, and won relatively easily.
The main reason is that Curry played poorly. He made only 6 of 20 shots, 3 of 14 three-pointers, and only got 18 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists.
In the previous few games, Xu Yong was very exhausted, and Curry was no less exhausted.
Moreover, he scored 30+ points in 4 consecutive games, which is an above-average performance for Curry in the intensity of the finals.
Although time will make people forget everything, people will definitely remember what happened in the finals last season, and Curry did it quite thoroughly.
His strong performance this year has already vindicated himself, but it would be difficult for him to be as stable as Xu Yong and Jordan throughout the entire finals.
However, the result of this game shows that Curry is the Warriors' main player. If he doesn't perform well, the other players on the Warriors will not be able to beat the Bulls.
It's normal to pull, but Curry pulled at the wrong time, because after losing the decisive game, the Bulls got the match point and the Warriors were forced into a desperate situation.
Although the next game, Game 6, is at the Warriors' home court, who can guarantee that they can win at home?
And even if they win, the seventh game will be played in Chicago.
The importance of the Battle of Tianwang Mountain was fully highlighted at this time.
When they went to Oakland again, the Bulls players were in a much more relaxed mood than before.
Heaven and earth are truly separated by just a game.
But Butler's mood was calm, maybe even a little serious.
Jokic saw that he was under pressure and tried to make some jokes to cheer him up, but when he found that it didn't work, he walked away tactfully.
In fact, it was not just Butler, Xu Yong also did not look relaxed.
G6 was a desperate situation for the Warriors, but it was not easy for the Bulls to win.
The first and most important point is that it is unlikely that Curry will pull in Game 6 because Curry's personal condition is very good as far as the entire finals are concerned.
Moreover, pinning your hopes on your opponent's continued poor performance is a loser's mentality.
In addition to the opponent's condition, the Bulls also have to face a big dilemma, which is the scale of penalties.
Not to mention that a seventh game would be necessary from the perspective of the league's interests, even the bookmakers had offered handicap odds for the Warriors before this game.
So it is conceivable that this will most likely be another 5 vs. 8 game.
Then there is the metaphysical [G6 Thompson], which has been fulfilled twice in the past. Thompson's performance tonight will be worth paying attention to.
And at this stage, it's just a head-on fight, and the Bulls can only perform above their level if they want to win.
But in the first two games, Xu Yong aroused his desire to win in advance, but his momentum declined and now he is exhausted.
The desire to win, especially the extreme desire to win, requires external conditions to stimulate, and it is not just about saying to yourself that you must win.
Because that kind of stimulation had already existed before the finals began. If you stimulate it again and again with the same thing, its sensitivity will decrease.
But now, it is difficult for Xu Yong to find a new entry point.
The conflict between Green and James was natural, but I don't know what magic Curry used to suppress this conflict. Although it is temporary, at least it will not happen in the finals.
As for the rest of the Warriors, Thompson (at this time), Curry, and Iguodala are not the kind of people who are easily angered.
Therefore, it is difficult to rely on external stimulation and you can only rely on DIY.
After landing in Oakland, the Bulls conducted open training.
The Bulls' overall appearance is the same as when they came, still very relaxed.
The coaching staff, including Xu Yong, did not try to destroy this atmosphere, because over-emphasis at this time would only bring more psychological pressure to the players.
After the training, reporters were eagerly waiting for interviews, although generally most of the Bulls players would not accept interviews.
But today there was a big surprise.
Because Xu Yong took the initiative to come to the sidelines to be interviewed by reporters.
This not only surprised the reporters, but also the Bulls players, including Thibodeau and Malone who were standing on the sidelines.
However, no one on the Bulls dared to stop Xu Yong from doing what he wanted to do, so today's reporters were considered lucky.
The reporters started by asking about the Bulls' preparations for tonight's game.
But Xu Yong obviously could not give any useful answer to such questions. He basically talked about the team's training attitude and psychological preparation.
The reporters found that Xu Yong only answered questions in this area, so they naturally started asking questions in this area.
"We all know that tonight's game is the Bulls' pre-game. Are you ready to lift the championship trophy on the road tonight?" a female reporter from ESPN asked.
"That's what we all hope will happen, but we all know it won't be easy. The Warriors will be a crazy beast tonight." Xu Yong often had to sigh at the profoundness of the Chinese language. For example, these four simple words "a trapped beast still fights" were very difficult for him to say.
"Are you ready?" the reporter asked.
"Yes, of course, I'm very motivated now because at the end of the last game, Draymond sprayed trash talk to me, saying, 'Steph will not play badly in a row, and the Warriors will win two games in a row and win the championship.' Yes, that's it, and that makes me look forward to it."
When Xu Yong said this, everyone around the Bulls was stunned. Thibodeau and Malone looked at each other. How come they didn't seem to remember this? Because in their impression, just like in Game 4, Green and James did not respond to the Bulls' trash talk.
Of course, it is impossible for the coach and even teammates to pay attention to what is happening on the court at all times. It is possible that they did not notice it, or it is possible that Green spoke too softly in front of Xu Yong at the time.
But no matter what the reason is, it is most likely true, which made everyone on the Bulls team angry.
How shameless it is for the lagging party to say such things!
After returning to the locker room, Butler, who was still angry, gave a rare mobilization speech.
"We will make anyone who underestimates us pay the price. We are going to plant the championship flag in the Bay Area tonight. We are going to let them witness the birth of a dynasty here!"
When Xu Yong heard this, the corners of his mouth curled up. He hadn't realized that Butler was quite talented in public speaking.
But this is also expected. If Butler did not have this ability, he would not have been able to achieve those achievements in the history he knew.
The Bulls players' desire to win was successfully aroused.
The next day was the day of G6 for both teams, but just before the game started, something big happened.
The reason why it sounds so weird is that Pachulia has a Rottweiler of his own. He usually gets along well with the dog, but for some reason, the dog suddenly became irritable when the two were interacting yesterday.
Pachulia thought the dog belonged to his friend, as most people who keep pets do. However, he underestimated that he had a large and fierce dog. As a result, he was bitten by his own dog, not only on his arm but also on his face. He went to the hospital that night and had 21 stitches.
This is the big deal. Because of such a serious injury, it is inevitable that Pachulia will miss Game 6.
Although he is not the core player of the Warriors, he is at least the starting center of the Warriors. This is undoubtedly bad news for the Warriors.
There was even a conspiracy theory on social media, saying that a Bulls fan sneaked into Pachulia's home and drugged Pachulia's dog.
This conspiracy theory has been supported by many Bay Area fans, but of course it has also been ridiculed by many fans.
After all, if that was the idea, why not just go to Thompson's house?
Compared to Pachulia, Thompson's bulldog Rocco is much more famous, and the impact of Thompson's absence on the Warriors is definitely much greater than that of Pachulia.
But no matter what, this not-so-big-but-insignificant thing is good news for the Bulls.
Moreover, Pachulia has always played dirty, and the fact that he encountered such an accident was just a sign that God opened his eyes and favored him.
That night, Oracle Arena was packed early on.
When Xu Yong entered the stadium, he could feel the enthusiasm coming towards him.
The Warriors were already in a desperate situation tonight, and with Pachulia's accident, the pressure was huge, but that did not affect the enthusiasm of the Bay Area fans at all.
Curry's routine three-pointer in the player tunnel also ignited the emotions on the scene. It can be seen that Curry was in good shape tonight and the Warriors were not affected by the off-court events.
After the warm-up and the opening ceremony, the starting lineups of both sides were announced one after another.
The Warriors are missing Pachulia, so who will start is a question worth paying attention to. Ayers and Looney are both alternatives.
The Bulls were the first visiting team to take the court. Thibodeau remained unchanged in the face of ever-changing circumstances and did not make any adjustments to the lineup, still using the regular lineup.
On the Warriors side, Kerr's choice was to directly replace the lineup with the death lineup.
Xu Yong couldn't help but smile when he saw this scene. He was not surprised at all. Cole was the kind of person who would "play the small five when in doubt."
However, Kerr's small lineup did work at the beginning, and the Warriors quickly widened the score to more than 5 points.
By now in the finals, both sides know each other well, and apart from on-the-spot performance, the strategy is a bit like playing cards.
The Bulls' regular lineup has an advantage against the Warriors' regular lineup, but is at a disadvantage against the small lineup; the Bulls have an advantage when sending Jokic to play with the small lineup, but do not have an advantage against the Warriors' regular lineup.
So Thibodeau, the chess player, understood the situation very well and immediately replaced him with Jokic.
As soon as Jokic came on the court, the situation on the court quickly turned in favor of the Bulls.
Of course, all this is based on the Bulls' enthusiasm.
Thanks to what happened during yesterday's interview and Butler's speech, all the Bulls players were in a bloodthirsty state tonight.
Even Jokic seemed to be possessed by Adams on the offensive end, grabbing consecutive offensive rebounds and then directly running over Green to score the ball.
Green can still hold his own against Adams, but he really has no way to deal with Jokic's big and fat body.
And every time he was about to have some bad ideas, Xu Yong would look at him, which made him feel a dull pain in his **.
This is what fear means. People with two eggs at least have confidence, but people with one egg and solitary testicle really can't afford to take the risk.
This also made Barkley, who was worried in the commentary booth on the sidelines, come up with a golden sentence: "Joker seems to be playing with his toys."
Before, toys and the like were just a joke, but now, Barkley has completely confirmed this statement.
I just don't know if Green, who knew this sentence after the game, would be so angry that he would say in front of the media [If you want to know what happened, please stay tuned to my new podcast show] 0.0.
When the Bulls were in high spirits and caught up with and surpassed the score, Kerr felt a little breathless.
Without Pachulia tonight, he didn't actually have as many options as usual.
But in the end, he was forced to switch back to the regular lineup, but whether he used Ayers or Looney, he could not play out the limitations of the regular lineup when facing Jokic.
Although Pachulia plays dirty, he is big in size and cannot be compared with Ayres or Looney.
By the end of the first half, the Bulls were leading the Warriors by double digits.
This year's finals can be said to be quite dramatic.
At halftime, the Warriors' locker room was filled with gloom.
Although they are obviously stronger than their opponents, they are currently being suppressed by the Bulls.
Especially tonight, they don’t know why the Bulls have such high morale. Is Pachulia so intimidating to the Bulls?
James turned his head and looked at Green, revealing a meaningful smile.
As someone who theoretically doesn't pay attention to social media but is actually a hidden social media master, he already knew the reason why the Bulls' morale was so high tonight before the game. Although he didn't remember when Green said that, he said it.
If the Bulls win the championship this year, Green can be considered a part of the Bulls' championship.
It's a pity for myself. In order to save Curry's face and my own championship, I choose to endure it temporarily.
Curry didn't know what was going on. Seeing the team's low morale, he once again stepped forward to take responsibility and encouraged everyone to fight back in the second half.
However, the effect of his speech this time was not as good as the last time, because contrast is often most effective the first time. It can only be said that Curry used it too early.
Coming back in the second half, the Warriors continued to start with a small lineup. Curry demonstrated his leadership with his actions on the court, hitting two consecutive three-pointers to help the Warriors quickly close the score.
Seeing this, Thibodeau replaced Jokic again. Jokic continued to tease Green in the interior, and the Bulls quickly stabilized the situation.
Although Jokic's overall strength is not as good as Adams' now, his advantage over Green on the offensive end is too obvious.
When the Bulls widened the gap to double digits again, a very interesting scene appeared on the scene. The photographer directly gave the camera to James for two consecutive rounds.
When failure is already obvious, many people don’t think about how to make a comeback, but instead look for someone to take the blame.
Obviously, James is the most suitable candidate.
After all, from the perspective of Warriors fans, you can say that Green is struggling this season, but the fundamental reason for this struggle is because of James.
And Curry played well enough in the finals, but James was basically invisible tonight.
Of course, James was actually quite aggrieved tonight, because after Curry came back in the second half, he started to chase points with the ball, and the effect was good, but without the ball, it was difficult for him to help the Warriors.
The Warriors played with five small players for the entire third quarter, but it didn't work. The balance of victory had already begun to tip towards the Bulls and could no longer be reversed.
When the Bulls were still in high spirits in the fourth quarter and the Warriors were still unable to narrow the gap, some Warriors fans at the scene began to leave in despair.
Although that was only a small part, it made the Warriors players on the field even more desperate.
The Bulls withstood the Warriors' final crazy counterattack and maintained a double-digit lead with two minutes left in the game.
The players on the Bulls bench could no longer sit still and began to stand up, ready to celebrate at any time.
Kerr did not choose to replace the main players. Although the outcome was basically decided, he chose to let his players complete the final process this time.
Until, 30 seconds before the end of the game, there was a foul on the court, and Kerr looked at the score difference and started to make substitutions.
The Bulls bench began to celebrate excitedly.
Xu Yong was also unusually emotional when he left the court.
Eight years, he has been in the league for eight years, and it has been four years since their last attempt to create a dynasty.
They have paid so much over the years for this moment today.
However, when victory comes, all the efforts and sweat are worth it.
After walking to the bench, Thibodeau opened his arms towards Xu Yong and gave him a big hug.
“We did it!”
“Yes, we did!”
Xu Yong shouted.
Then, his eyes turned red.
This damn dynasty is coming!