Healthy basketball, starting from eating the old Lakers F4

The Bulls had just arrived in Chicago, and the area near the airport was already surrounded by a large number of Bulls fans who had come spontaneously.

"Old soldiers never die!"

The fans held high flags and T-shirts with “Veterans Never Die” written in white on a red background and shouted loudly to Duane and others.

The Bulls fans, who originally had little hope for this season, were suddenly excited by their two consecutive away wins over the Bucks, who are ranked second in the Eastern Conference.

Although in the first round of the playoffs, the Bulls' veterans had already created a miracle and defeated the 76ers, who were third in the Eastern Conference!
However, as a Bulls fan with many years of experience watching the playoffs and the finals, I have a clearer understanding of the true strength of the playoff team.

The 76ers are a relatively common regular season team in the current small ball era. It is actually very normal for the Bulls to rely on their experience in the playoffs to defeat this fledgling, pseudo-strong team that lacks playoff experience.

The Bucks are different! The Bucks' many years of playoff experience are not fake, and their star player Antetokounmpo is almost in the top three of the league.

If it weren't for some technical flaws, and if Curry relied on the Bulls lineup to make up for the shortcomings on the defensive end, coupled with Jokic's rapid rise, Antetokounmpo would have every chance to reach the top of the league.

In recent years, the Bucks management has also been working hard to recruit as many outstanding players as possible and find championship pieces with rich playoff experience to help Antetokounmpo reach the next level.

Originally, the final plot of the Eastern Conference this season should be Antetokounmpo versus the Celtics' double rookies.

Who would have thought that the Bulls would come out again, like an insurmountable mountain, blocking Antetokounmpo.

Crossing this mountain, you can enjoy the scenery of the whole world, and the whole alliance is at your feet!
However, it is not easy for anyone to cross the mountain of the Bull!
Durant once again demonstrated his elite low-post defensive ability, and Jokic once again showed what it means to be the best player in the league.

In the absence of Curry and insufficient rotation players, the Bulls once again demonstrated the strength that a defending champion should have!

Two consecutive away wins, leading 2-0! This also means that in this round of the series, as long as nothing unexpected happens, the Bulls will once again achieve the feat of defeating the Bucks, one of the best teams in the East!
If the third and second strongest teams in the Eastern Conference are defeated by the Bulls one after another, what will be the fate of the first team in the Eastern Conference?
Imagine what will happen in the finals?
You know, the Bulls’ winning rate in the finals series is still 100% so far!

So fans all like "IF", and the "IF" of Bulls fans is often close to reality.

The Bulls' past success has made Bulls fans firmly believe that the Bulls dynasty is not over yet.

The Bulls players are also encouraged by the realization that the fans remain loyal and have confidence in the team and the future.

Not long after, the Bulls officially announced that Curry would return in Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Bulls fans were even more delighted to hear this.

As the saying goes, some are happy while others are sad.

The Bucks players, who had just arrived in Chicago, were undoubtedly devastated by the news.

"Our opponents seem to have become even stronger! Can we really defeat them?"

"I'm tired. Never mind. Let's finish it early! It's time to go on vacation with my family!"

Game 3 hasn't even started yet, but most of the Bucks players have already lost confidence.

Of course, Antetokounmpo is definitely not such a person.

It is the evening of May 5th, and Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals between the Bulls and the Bucks is about to begin.

Antetokounmpo danced around in the away locker room to cheer on his teammates, and even suggested making bigger moves during the game to create some advantages for his team to win.

However, Dunn was well prepared for this, and even took out a breastplate that he had not worn for many years, serving as a genuine "anti-letter armor".

After the last game, Dunn found his position.

All championship-winning teams need people to do the dirty work, and in terms of role positioning, they are "bad guys."

Tough guys are usually role players, key rotation players, and sometimes even locker room leaders.

This type of role player has relatively strong physical confrontation, rich game experience, a clear understanding of the scale of penalties, and can be shameless at critical moments, bear the notoriety and infamy, and trade one-for-one with the opponent.

Last season, the Bulls also had Dillon. Although he was not very prominent in daily life, he was still a bench bandit and had stable playing time.

Once other teams take ruthless actions against Bulls stars, the Bulls may shut the door and let Dillon play to waste the players.

Although the Bulls have always won championships based on their strength and disdain to use such means as crippling players, the presence of role players like Dillon does make the Bulls more competitive.

This season, the Bulls lack players with tough attributes, and their star players may be coveted by other teams.

But to be honest, there are not many role players with villain attributes in the league in recent years.

The main thing is that no matter how dirty or tiring the work is, you can't lose three points to be popular.

Therefore, when they cannot find bad players, some teams' star players can only take the initiative to seek advice from retired seniors and learn some dirty and useless tricks so that they can be more competitive in the playoffs.

Anyway, the Utah Twins and the Pistons Bad Boys did it as early as the 1980s.

During the OK Dynasty, Kobe did it, and Shaq did it too.

Don’t be fooled by Duncan’s thick eyebrows and big eyes, he has always had many tough teammates.

It’s just that historical superstars usually don’t do such things in the playoffs in public, unless they are forced into a corner, then they will lose all dignity.

Meanness is the passport of the mean.

This is a world where the strong prey on the weak! As long as you succeed, no matter how despicable you are, you can enjoy the world. And the despicable people who are despised by others are not because they are too despicable, but because they have failed!
At the beginning of the season, Duane noticed the constant emergence of the black fans. Although he did not pay much attention to it, Duane did not want this season to end in failure and then be attacked by the black fans.

So, on the premise of success, if Duane wants to help the team win one victory after another, or even win three consecutive championships again, he must discover and train a bad guy.

But the problem is that the Bulls are very short of people now, especially those who can play basketball, let alone temporarily changing the position of a player and transforming and training him into a villain.

What's more, do not do to others what you do not want others to do to you.

Nowadays everyone wants to be well-known and famous, and no one wants to bear a bad reputation without making much profit.

This is why, these days, only the star players are willing to humble themselves and learn dirty tricks.

In this context, Duane had no choice but to step forward and make sacrifices for the team.

So, Duane personally took to the field to face Antetokounmpo, trying to lock down his various tactics so that the Bulls can advance to the Eastern Conference Finals smoothly.

Speaking of which, Antetokounmpo is also very smart. After the game started, Antetokounmpo kept looking for opportunities to assist in defending Jokic and make physical contact with Jokic.

Fortunately, Jokic grew up in war and struggle, especially during his time playing in Europe, which made him familiar with this method and the intensity of confrontation.

Antetokounmpo couldn't do anything to Jokic. Instead, Jokic took the initiative to find Antetokounmpo on the offensive end and frequently counterattacked with the methods he was good at.

Don’t be fooled by Jokic’s chubby appearance, which seems to indicate that he has poor athletic ability and average impact.

I can only say that these are just for the amateurs! When an expert takes a look, isn't this just a body of fat wrapped around muscles?

If O'Neal were hit by this elbow, he would feel pain, let alone Antetokounmpo!
"You fell down before I even exerted any force!"

Seeing Antetokounmpo's face dark and breathless as he pushed Jokic, Durant did not stand idly by but joined in.

Antetokounmpo was quickly overwhelmed by the mixed doubles of Jokic and Durant and had to go off the court to rest for a while.

All I can say is that Antetokounmpo hasn’t learned enough and his skills are not complete enough.

Look at how James restricts Jokic. He comes up to him to break his arms when he is grabbing rebounds. However, Jokic is experienced and can easily resolve the situation.

Therefore, even if Antetokounmpo has learned all the tricks he should learn, he still has no way to deal with Jokic.

After Antetokounmpo left the court, Curry, who hadn't had the ball for a long time, was finally able to release the firepower that had been suppressed for more than half a month.

There was no need to worry about being tripped by others, so Curry took the initiative to hold the ball and play one-on-one, and when he got the chance he would directly open fire from beyond the three-point line.

After Curry played for several times until he was sweating, Antetokounmpo had to come on the court again to try to help the Bucks keep the score close.

However, at this time, Jokic has almost recovered!
Many fans who watched the game said: "Before I went to the bathroom, I saw Jokic beating up Antetokounmpo. When I came back from the bathroom, Jokic was still beating up Antetokounmpo! Is Jokic too tough? Or is Antetokounmpo too tough?"

I have to say that Antetokounmpo was really tough in this game, and he basically paid a lot in order to win.

But it's no use, the game is lost anyway.

Antetokounmpo's conventional tactics could not penetrate the Bulls' restricted area defense, and his unconventional tactics were also useless against Jokic.

As for turning the spearhead to Curry? First of all, Curry has just returned and will not go to the inside desperately, so Antetokounmpo has no chance.

Secondly, Curry was not on the court in the first two games, but the Bucks still lost.

In other words, even if Curry is dealt with, it will only be a temporary solution and not a fundamental solution.

"it's over!"

After losing Game 3, Antetokounmpo knew that the year was over and he no longer had to dream of reaching the finals and winning the championship.

The road to the championship is a difficult one. If you rely on your own strength alone, even if you are only one step away from the top of the mountain, you cannot take a single step beyond the limit.

However, just because there is no solution this year doesn’t mean there will be no solution next year.

The Bulls' salary cap has been locked because the contracts of their core players are too large!

When Brunson, Bridges and Lowe leave the team in the summer, the Bulls will not even have a decent rotation player.

Antetokounmpo knows this, so he has not given up his belief in staying with the Bucks and winning the championship for his home team.

And how could the Bulls players know this?
Time waits for no one! If we don’t win this year, we will disband in the summer!

On May 5, in order to avoid any further complications, the Bulls players did not choose to play a tacit game with the Bucks.

After all, the Bucks players made some big moves, so the Bulls chose to be cautious and end the game as soon as possible.

So, the Bulls' main players tried their best and defeated the Bucks again.

In the end, they swept the Bucks with a record of 4-0 and became the first team in the league to advance to the divisional finals!

The Bulls' move also solemnly declared to fans across the league: We are here again! (End of this chapter)