Compared with the Mavericks, the Raptors' road to the championship this season seems more tortuous, even more bizarre.

First, shortly after the start of the season, Leonard's ankle injury recurred.

After that, Leonard was in and out of the lineup, which had a great impact on the Raptors' chemistry. They were quickly left behind by the Bulls in the Eastern Conference rankings and were even overtaken by the Celtics in the end.

After the epidemic hit, Leonard, like other glass-attributed players, performed well after sufficient rest.

They also achieved a record of 7 wins and 1 loss in the park and rushed to the second place in the Eastern Conference.

Once they entered the playoffs, they overcame all obstacles, eliminated the Celtics in the process, and reached the division finals.

The Raptors have a very strong lineup, with the dual core of Leonard and Antetokounmpo, Lowry, Valanciunas, and Siakam, all of whom are top-notch role players. Even their bench has VanVleet who is beginning to emerge.

But after really playing against the Bulls, they exposed their biggest problem: game resilience.

In G1, they entered the final quarter with a 15-point lead and the situation looked very good, but the Bulls began to counterattack under the leadership of Butler in adversity, and Butler scored points one after another like a god descending from the sky.

The Raptors first let Antetokounmpo go against him, but Antetokounmpo could not be defended. Later, after Leonard switched to defend, Butler took advantage of this matchup to create opportunities for his teammates. In the end, the Bulls reversed and defeated the Raptors.

In G2, Leonard's performance was obviously not as good as in G1.

Because of Antetokounmpo's unstable shooting, he was targeted too hard by the Bulls in last year's Eastern Conference Finals. It was basically Leonard's unparalleled performance that won the Bulls.

But after Pachulia tripped him, the glass attribute of his body has been awakened, and his on-and-off playing this season is the sequelae.

Later, in order to avoid further serious injuries, he began to play selectively, which is the predecessor of [load management].

This allowed Leonard to complete a season in good health, or to be more precise, half a season, but he obviously did not dare to play as hard as he did last season. He was the type who would exert his strength in one game and then basically hold back in the next.

So all the pressure in G2 was given to Antetokounmpo, and Antetokounmpo also withstood the pressure.

To be honest, Antetokounmpo's outside shooting this season has improved significantly compared to the past, which makes him no longer as easy to target as before.

But the Bulls are very strong this season, especially Butler, who has played at the peak of his career. Leonard's performance decline has become a decisive factor, and the Raptors have been very passive in the situation.

In the second quarter, Butler started his daily power moment again, and it was another personal wave at the beginning of the second quarter.

This is because after being an opponent of James for a long time, he has also learned to avoid peak hours, but this is not about avoiding traveling during peak hours, but about avoiding exerting force during peak hours.

Antetokounmpo was substituted again to defend Butler, but he still couldn't defend him.

Butler has a great touch in outside shooting this season, and although Antetokounmpo is considered flexible at the power forward position, he still looks clumsy in front of Butler.

The Bulls were about to widen the score again, and if the Raptors lost again and fell behind 0-2, they would basically miss the finals this season.

If they form a luxurious lineup but fail to win the championship for two consecutive years, it will be a huge blow to the Raptors, especially their self-confidence.

He really wanted to win.

He found Butler's blind spot and accurately and silently cushioned Butler's landing point when Butler broke through.

This kick was a concluding kick after he failed to step on Xu Yong two years ago. Butler was caught off guard.

And this time Butler was not as lucky as before. He could not rest for a while and then come out to play, but his season was directly over.

Without Butler, the Bulls were unable to compete with the Raptors and eventually lost 2-4.

This result also explains why the act of stepping on someone's feet is so despised and immoral, but there are always people who enjoy doing it.

First, Bowen helped the Spurs achieve the legend of winning the championship in odd years, and then Xu Yong was reborn as Antetokounmpo in history before he stepped on the championship, because it can really bring huge benefits.

Of course, because of this tortuous and controversial road to the championship, the Raptors have now become the public enemy of the fans.

The Mavericks, with the support of Xu Yong's popularity, have become the embodiment of justice.

Entering the finals, although they were in the park and nothing around them seemed to have changed, the mentality of the Mavericks players was also changing, and they began to become very excited.

Xu Yong and Jokic are rare calm players. After all, one of them has the most championships among active players, and the other has also won several championships, but the others are entering the finals for the first time.

This kind of excitement is not a bad thing. For players, the championship means honor and money, which can best stimulate people's primitive desires.

Before the finals started, Barkley also joined in the fun. His remarks sparked fierce controversy and brought the heat to a peak.

"Whichever team from the Western Conference makes it to the finals this year will be the NBA champions."

This statement was supported by quite a lot of people, after all, the Raptors' win this year was too shameful.

Of course, some people think that Barkley is speaking in hindsight, after all, it was the Mavericks who made it to the finals.

A little-known fact is that before this, Xu Yong had never lost a game in the finals, and had never even played a game seven.

On this point, he is consistent with Jordan, or rather, this is the biggest characteristic of the rulers of that era.

So why would the Mavericks lose?

In the first game of the finals, both teams played at their best and the game was extremely intense.

Although the Raptors' way of reaching the finals was not glorious, it does not affect their status as an excellent team.

Leonard, in particular, consumed relatively little energy in the Eastern Conference Finals and was full of energy in the Finals.

Malone began to use Wright to defend him, but Leonard's physical fitness was too good and Wright couldn't defend him at all.

Seeing this, Xu Yong didn't wait for Malone to adjust and directly switched back to Wright. Then he started to go head-to-head with Leonard on both offense and defense.

This is not a rational choice, because among the current players, Leonard is one of the few who can compete with Xu Yong on both offense and defense, especially on defense, where Leonard's defensive ability is better than Xu Yong's.

But Xu Yong also had his purpose in doing this, which was to consume Leonard.

Brooks used this strategy when the Thunder played against the Mavericks before, but unfortunately it didn't work against Xu Yong.

But Leonard is not Xu Yong. If it was Leonard in his healthy period, this might not be effective, but it definitely works with Leonard now.

Facts soon proved that Xu Yong's strategy was correct, because before the first quarter, Raptors head coach Nurse was already thinking about how to protect Leonard.

To do this, the Raptors had to mobilize other defensive resources, which also gave other Mavericks players opportunities.

Among them, DeRozan performed the most actively.

He kept in mind what Xu Yong had said before. Nothing could make his mother in front of the TV happier than performing well on the finals stage.

Moreover, as the Raptors were the team that abandoned him in the first place, he instinctively felt strong inside.

It's like someone who has broken up with their ex. Who wouldn't want to be better off than their ex when they meet him/her?

At the end of the first half, the Mavericks led 56-48.

DeRozan made 9 of 11 mid-range shots in the first half and scored 20 points.

Fortunately, Antetokounmpo of the Raptors was in good shape and made three three-pointers from the outside, otherwise the Mavericks would have secured the victory at halftime.

Then in the second half, when Leonard was exhausted and forced to play more conservatively, Xu Yong began to exert his strength.

He started looking for Antetokounmpo in various ways.

Although Xu Yong is no longer on the Bulls, because he was in the park, he was the first to see Butler after he was tripped.

He could see the reluctance in Butler's eyes. If it weren't for Antetokounmpo, Butler would probably have faced him head-on in the finals this year.

He didn't say anything at the time, just told Butler to heal his injury well and not to think too much.

But after he left, his face turned ugly.

James knew to restrain himself after being punished for stepping on someone, but Antetokounmpo became even more aggressive. Is he trying to surpass his master?

So when there is an opportunity, Xu Yong will never show mercy.

Antetokounmpo had long anticipated that Xu Yong might target him, after all, a guilty conscience is the cause of every crime.

So when facing Xu Yong, he did not escape like James, but tried very hard to defend.

After all, he was also selected into the defensive first team this year.

But that didn't help.

After all, if he couldn't even defend Butler, how could he defend Xu Yong?

This is not to say that Antetokounmpo's performance is as weak as James's in the past. After all, his effectiveness in defending James is still quite good.

Rather, when facing a well-rounded forward-guard swingman, he really seemed too clumsy.

In recent years, Antetokounmpo has been gaining weight to increase his threat in the interior, and his flexibility has decreased in confrontations.

It is easier for Xu Yong to control him than it was for him to control James back then.

And at this time, thanks to DeRozan's outstanding performance in the first half, Nurse was cautious and did not dare to mobilize too much defensive resources.

As a result, while the fans witnessed Xu Yong's violent scoring in the second half, they also witnessed Antetokounmpo's embarrassed figure, which was very satisfying.

In the end, DeRozan scored 20 points in the first half and Xu Yong scored 28 points in the second half. The two scored one after the other and directly gave the Raptors their first defeat.

It is worth mentioning that Jokic scored a unique triple-double of 11 points, 15 rebounds and 20 assists in this game, which opened the eyes of the fans.

At the end of the game, DeRozan didn't show anything during the post-game handshake ceremony, but when he entered the player tunnel, he was already crying while leaning against the wall.

When Xu Yong came in and saw him, he thought he was tired. After noticing that he was crying, he reached out and patted him on the back.

After the previous few games where he performed well, DeRozan's emotions didn't change much, but in this game, he completely released his emotions.

When he looked up and saw that it was Xu Yong, DeRozan wiped his tears, looked at Xu Yong with red eyes, and tried to force a smile and said: "It's like a dream."

Xu Yong smiled and said, "Then don't let it wake up."

Although DeRozan only played in one game, his impact on the Finals was more than just one game.

In the second game, Nash still didn't dare to give DeRozan a chance easily, but this also meant that he was giving Jokic and Xu Yong a chance.

Then the fans witnessed another scoring performance by Xu Yong in G2.

21 of 36 shots, 56 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

"I think one day people will become numb to Xu Yong's scoring, because that is a normal performance for him." When Barkley made such an exclamation in the commentary booth, he was responded by the empathy of fans on social media.

"Nurse must have some cognitive impairment, so he naively thought that this kind of defense could deal with Xu Yong."

Such comments became hot topics after the game.

Perhaps to prove the fans' ignorance, or perhaps because he was really scared of being beaten by Xu Yong, Nurse put on a shocking performance in G3.

At the end of the game, he directly used the box-1 tactic, which is almost never used in adult leagues, against Xu Yong.

The so-called box-1 is a more extreme defensive tactic than Jordan's rule. To put it simply, it is to mobilize the defensive resources of the entire team to limit one person from receiving the ball and attacking with the ball.

Then, a new word was born: [Xu Youyinli].

As the name suggests, as soon as Xu Yong receives the ball, his opponents will all gather towards him as if they were attracted to him.

And you know what, it actually worked in the first few rounds.

Because of too many defenders, it was difficult for Xu Yong to pass the ball to the teammate with the best chance.

The Raptors also took the opportunity to narrow the score.

However, as the game progressed, Xu Yong gradually demonstrated his ability to adapt to the game. That ability was not achieved overnight, but was the result of years of training and the self-confidence that came with that ability.

Although he may not be able to pass the ball to the best teammates, he is able to get the ball to his teammates, mainly Jokic, before the encirclement is formed.

Jokic was also very smart. He started cutting into the basket early, so as long as Xu Yong passed the ball in, he could score quickly. Even if he couldn't score, he could pass the ball to the teammate with the best chance.

So soon, Nurse's box-1 tactics were proven to be useless and even a little funny.

And he paid the price for his choice.

After winning the first away game, the Mavericks' score has reached 3-0!

No team can come back from a 3-0 deficit, not even the Raptors.

Although they played very hard in G4, harder than in the past three games, because they could lose the game, but at least they couldn't be swept so ugly.

Antetokounmpo did learn some things from James, but having his head shaved in the finals was definitely not the part he wanted to learn.

But sometimes things don't go as planned, and DeRozan once again shined in this game.

The two sides fought until the last moment. Xu Yong passed the ball to DeRozan under the double-team. DeRozan made a fake move to dodge Antetokounmpo, his former teammate who was helping in defense. Then he shot before the final whistle and completed the buzzer-beater.

4 to 0.

The Mavericks gave the Raptors a sweep.

Xu Yong led the Mavericks to the top of the park.

After completing the buzzer-beater, DeRozan was rushed onto the court by his teammates. He shouted excitedly, and then burst into tears the next second.

Xu Yong raised his hands high with a calm expression.

This is not a fairy tale. This result is the result of their hard training last summer and three months of closed training during the epidemic.

No success is luck. Others can post on social media and pretend to work hard, but the results don’t lie.

The two teams shook hands after the game.

When Xu Yong saw Leonard, he noticed a hint of frustration on the latter's originally stiff face.

One thing he could feel in this finals, which many people didn't notice, was that there was no chemistry between Leonard and Antetokounmpo.

This may sound strange at first, after all, they have played together for two seasons.

But if you think about it carefully, it makes sense, because you only need to read this sentence: Leonard, who was once ruined by a tripping on his opponent's star player, made it to the finals thanks to Antetokounmpo's tripping on his opponent's star player.

It was at this moment that a sentence that best suited the scenery before him flashed through his mind.

While shaking hands with Antetokounmpo, Xu Yong glanced at Leonard who was about to go next, then smiled and encouraged Antetokounmpo: "Come on, the future is yours."