The strongest champion puzzle

Chapter 310 The Bull Change
At the beginning of the second game, James played extremely fiercely.

Jimmy Butler realized at this time that the James he faced earlier was not in full condition at all.

However, it was Zhang Xiaotian who scored first. After receiving a point from James, he raised his hand and scored a three-pointer.

After improving his three-point ability, his threat in the first three quarters has also increased day by day.

The biggest headache for the Bulls is that James' mid-range shot is back. James' shooting can be said to be out of timing. Of course, his accuracy is based on the All-Star level.

When James made a mid-range shot, the difficulty of defense was greatly increased. After he made several consecutive attacks, the Celtics' defense was jittery. Zhang Xiaotian and Irving were the beneficiaries of it, and they hit consecutive three-pointers after receiving the ball from the outside.

In addition to the defensive end, what is more troublesome for the Bulls is the collective strike on the offensive end.

The Bulls had to make adjustments. First of all, they gave up Noah. It is difficult for Noah to integrate with the team on the offensive end in this playoffs.

Noah has organizational skills, and he also wants the ball, but this time the Bulls have Rose, and Jimmy Butler is the new core, and one ball is not enough.

Moreover, Rose and Jimmy Butler are also somewhat incompatible in terms of play, because the team's defense is good, and the offensive problems will be covered up in the front.

When encountering a team like the Cavaliers who can tear through their defense, the Bulls' problems were immediately exposed.

Before the Bulls could react, both James and Zhang Xiaotian scored in double figures in the first quarter, and the Cavaliers led the opponent by 20 points.

Then the Cavaliers became much easier. David Blatt boldly used a ten-man rotation, and Perkins, the firefighting insider, finally got a chance to warm up.

The Bulls have been chasing points, but not by much.

When James has a good shooting touch, it is difficult for the Cavaliers to restrict whether it is a lineup of double insiders or a big and four juniors.

It wasn't until the final quarter that the Bulls recovered 4 points. As a result, Zhang Xiaotian made two three-pointers, and the score gap widened to 20 points. This is a desperate gap.

Finally, in the second half of the last quarter, the two sides withdrew their main players, and the benches who had little chance to play were relieved.

The Cavaliers beat the Bulls 110:91, and they still held the home court without two important rotations. Zhang Xiaotian scored 29 points and 8 rebounds, just like James who scored 33+8+8, they are absolutely strong performances .

In an interview after the game, James said: "We lack two players, so I have to play more aggressively. Even I have to be more aggressive than usual. I can help the team win tonight. very happy."

Brad is also in a good mood, "This is typical LeBron, very aggressive, he is in attack mode, very committed, leading his brothers forward."

The victory in this battle also hurt the confidence of the Bulls. They had expected to take advantage of the Cavaliers' shortage of major generals to win the away game, but the result was far from what they imagined.

JR Smith is coming back soon. If they can't solve the problem of weak offense, their playoff journey may come to an end.

On the same day, the matchup between the Western Rockets and the Clippers was much more intense.

Harden said before the game, "I don't think they are underestimated because of the lack of Paul. We must work harder. In the last game, we seemed to be in a quagmire in four quarters. The second game must be played better, I believe We will."

But due to Gryffindor's strong performance, the Rockets were behind until the last quarter.

In the last quarter, Harden broke out and scored 16 points. Howard also sent two key blocks. The Rockets finally reversed and saved a home game.

However, the Rockets made 64 free throws in this game, setting a record for a single game in the playoffs in team history, and it is also the second highest value in all games in team history.

For such a strange game, Clippers coach Rivers also complained in a slightly joking tone, "Did they take 117 free throws today...Of course, some of them are indeed because of our intentional fouls... But honestly, we could have won it."

Clippers captain Blake Griffin was also somewhat dissatisfied with the referee's penalty, "When the opponent made 64 free throws and made more free throws than our total number of free throws, we couldn't win a few games."

For the Rockets, center Howard said: "This is a difficult victory. They are a tenacious team and they never gave up."

In any case, the playoffs are the winner's game, and the Clippers can only be upset.

The second round of competition is more intensive than the first round, and the Cavaliers will go to the away game after a day off.

The Bulls said before the game that they want to show a better side at home.

Inside the team, the thinking has also been temporarily unified. Although Rose has been on and off for the past few years, and his previous performance has also fluctuated, the Bulls still intend to make Rose the team's first core.

After all, Butler either has to face James or Zhang Xiaotian. The pressure on the defensive end is relatively high, and he is also better at defense.

Of course, this is just a way of saying. The key is that Jimmy Butler is younger and has a better personality. He can take a step back. Regardless of his personality or style of play, it is difficult for Rose to be the support one.

To be honest, after allowing Rose to get more possessions, the Bulls did not improve much on the offensive end.

However, the tactics are clarified, and the team's performance is still better.

Another change for the Bulls is to activate Mirotic, who played soy sauce in the previous two games. This is the biggest change on their offensive end. Although Mirotic is a rookie, he is not a rookie in the professional league. His offensive performance can be described as Remarkable.

For the Cavaliers, the comeback performance of JR Smith, the sixth man, can only be said to be quite satisfactory.

Therefore, although the Cavaliers have an additional main rotation player, it is much more difficult to play away games.

Fortunately, they had enough time to adjust before, and several major scoring points were full of energy, and they were not afraid of the fierce confrontation deliberately created by the Bulls.

At the end of the first half, the Cavaliers only led by 2 points, but they didn't care. It is impossible to win every game in the playoffs. It is the mainstream of the playoffs to fight until the last moment. In the first game, they We lost points at halftime, and now the score is leading and everyone is in a good mood.

In fact, what they didn't expect in the first half was Mirotic's change. During the intermission, the team also made targeted arrangements.

However, in the second half, the real trouble came.

I have to say that Rose is still a player with leadership qualities, and his confidence in the first half was not dampened.

After the intermission, he adjusted his touch and successfully singled out Irving several times.

Of course Irving was unconvinced and wanted to get it back, but this time Irving's touch was very average. The Bulls took the opportunity to overtake the score, and the atmosphere on the court became more tense.

(End of this chapter)