Just when the Warriors' head coach was depressed and troubled, the playoff battle was still burning.
It was also the fourth game of the conference finals. Compared with the one-sided victory between the Trail Blazers and the Warriors in the West, the game between the Cavaliers and the Bulls in the East was like a cruel and tragic meat grinder battle.
At the end of the game, neither team's score exceeded 90 points, and one can imagine the anxiety of the confrontation.
In the end, relying on the buzzer-beater in the left corner before the end and the Cavaliers' spirit in Chicago, the World Cup narrowly defeated the Bulls 86:84.
In this way, the total score of the two teams was tied at 2:2.
It is worth mentioning that James holding the ball can be regarded as a complete response to Rose's three-pointer on the board in the third game of the series!
For the Cavaliers, James scored a team-high 25 points on 10 of 30 shots and a near-triple double with 8 rebounds and 8 assists. Although his efficiency was average tonight, this did not prevent him from becoming the ultimate winner.
The reason is simple, the Cavaliers won!
In addition, Cousins had 19 points and 15 rebounds, Jr. contributed 13 points, Irving and TT each had 12 points.
The Bulls were there, and Rose played well throughout the game, scoring a team-high 31 points. Unfortunately, the Bulls fell short in the end and were dragged into the King's Mountain by the Cavaliers.
It is worth mentioning that Butler, who was responsible for defending James in this series, has completely made a name for himself.
20 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 steals in the first game;
18 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals and 1 block in the second game;
20 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 5 steals and 1 block in the third game;
In the fourth game, he had 19 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 steals and 1 block!
So far, Butler, who has reached the conference finals as the main force of the team for the first time, can contribute nearly 20+5+5 astonishing statistics per game!
The most outrageous thing is that he averages more than 45 minutes of playing time per game, ranking first in the league!
After four games of direct confrontation with James, Butler has completely secured the nickname "Tough Guy"!
The word tough has also become the biggest label in his career! ! !
James, who narrowly defeated the Bulls in G4, said bluntly in the post-game interview:
"I love playing against Jimmy. He is one of the most competitive players in basketball! At the same time, he is also another competitor in the East besides Paul Pierce who can cause huge trouble to me in recent years! I am very grateful to him. You guarantee, everyone underestimates him!!!”
Becoming famous all over the world in one fell swoop is Jiba in this series!
…
Back in Portland, Wang Zelin first had a day off, practiced extra at home, watched the Bulls and Cavaliers game, and then went to Jokic's house next door to play video games for two hours in the evening.
The next day, Wang Zelin not only called out Lillard and Aldridge, but also called out all his teammates who were available, and everyone spent the whole day fishing.
This bizarre behavior of the entire Trail Blazers team was quickly spread by the media to the Internet, causing a lot of discussion.
Eventually it reached the ears of Warriors players.
"Tsk, you're trying to be mysterious!"
Green said disdainfully.
"You can't say that. The day before the G4 game, it was reported that Wang Zelin went fishing with Lillard and Aldridge. This time the Blazers went fishing with more people. Could it be that fishing can really help them compete? Can’t the status improve?”
Klay Thompson was a little confused and subconsciously looked at veterans Iguodala and David Lee.
"Okay, whether it's for fun or just for fun, the most important thing for us now is to take care of ourselves, maintain good game status, and strive to win Tianwang Mountain in the next game!"
At this time, it was Curry who saw the most clearly. There was no suspicion of Green and others in his heart, only the desire to win.
…
…
"I believe we can defend the title. This is what we have been working hard for all year and want to accomplish. Now that we are back at home, we will not give our opponents another chance!"
On the match day of the 29th, Wang Zelin accepted an exclusive interview with Sports Illustrated after the morning training and finally said something full of confidence.
The 23-point victory over the Warriors in the last game brought great confidence to the Blazers team. He and his teammates firmly believe that as long as everyone performs normally tonight and no one misses, the probability of Ningxia Wangcheng is extremely high!
However, as one of the two major villains in the East and West along with the Cavaliers, Wang Zelin found that at this time, there were many Yong Mi who had temporarily transformed the team, and the media was not so friendly to their Trail Blazers!
"Oh, they are just some old antiques! Even now, I still miss his so-called youth. In this case, I will let you know what a real villain is!"
Wang Zelin expressed great disdain for the sudden appearance of a large number of ghosts and monsters.
Whenever young stars continue to challenge the honors and achievements of their predecessors, so-called old fans will always jump out and accuse young people of disrespecting the older generation.
Along the way, since the Trail Blazers defeated the Lakers and Spurs successively, and even after they advanced in the last round, many people have come out to express their disapproval of the Trail Blazers' defense of the title.
For example, the current Kumi and Yongmi!
To be honest, Curry, who has no MVP and no championship at this stage, although he has gained a large number of fans with his elegant style of play and his extremely close appearance, you can ask yourself, who is really a fan of Curry and the Warriors? How could there be so many people?
He even dared to say that among the Kumi and Yongmi who have recently expressed their disapproval of the Trail Blazers winning the championship on the Internet, there are probably not even half of the fans who sincerely support the Warriors winning the championship.
The remaining half are most likely transformed from loyal fans who used to flock to veteran stars.
In other words, it is the so-called "ten-year-old fan, coming uninvited".
When similar remarks appeared again and again, over time, Wang Zelin no longer cared about these remarks at all. Others are remembering the past, but he doesn't want to!
What he wants is to seize the moment and create a new future for himself and the Trail Blazers! ! !
…
…
On the 29th, the Warriors refused all interviews with the media and conducted completely closed training. Even Green, who has always been loudmouthed, was strictly prohibited from appearing on the scene by Cole, and they were fully preparing for Game 5.
It wasn't until an hour before the game in the evening that the Warriors held a brief 15-minute pre-game conference.
Compared with the tense atmosphere of the Warriors team, the Trail Blazers are much more relaxed. They have equalized the series and will play at home tonight. For the Trail Blazers players who have played two away games in a row, it is like a long drought. honeydew!
Tonight's game is destined to be bad for the Warriors.
In recent seasons, under the leadership of Wang Zelin, the Trail Blazers have continued to refresh team history. At the same time, the Rose Garden Arena, which has been washed away by a lot of victory, is like another devil's home stadium in the eyes of the other 29 teams!
Therefore, in the fifth match between the two teams, the two teams had completely different mentality.
The Warriors' lineup has not changed, but their tactics have changed again and again.
Cole, who studied under Simawicz, is much higher level than most coaches in the league in terms of tactical training.
But facing a terrifying dominant center like Wang Zelin, the only thing he can count on is that his players can perform 100% or even 200% of their strength on the court.
At the same time, the Warriors players all know what the result of this game means?
Once they lose, it means that the Trail Blazers get the series match point, so they can only win but not lose!
Curry's eyes flashed sharply, and Thomson's face was expressionless, but it was obvious that the Splash Brothers attached great importance to this game. Even the noisy Green obediently shut his mouth and waited for the game to begin.
After the Warriors trio came on the stage, they were eerily quiet in the face of wild boos from the home fans in the Rose Garden.
Later, Wang Zelin and others came on the stage, and the surrounding Trail Blazers fans shouted wildly for the home team. They also knew what this game meant to their team.
After the game started, both sides were very aggressive and fought hard!
Especially the Warriors, who put pressure on the defensive end from the beginning. Lillard was a great offensive threat in the last game. Look at the Blazers' highest score of 29 points. This time the Warriors focused on marking.
As for other players, they rely on overall defensive restrictions to score points for Wang Zelin, but others cannot get a good chance.
That's right, under Cole's argument, the Warriors still adopted the Jordan Law defensive strategy tonight against the Trail Blazers' arrowhead, with just a few minor changes.
That is, in the first three quarters, Wang Zelin can be allowed to score points through 1-on-1 defense and defend other players; in the fourth quarter, Wang Zelin will be double-teamed crazily, forcing him to pass the ball to other teammates to score!
Although the Warriors' defensive strategy has changed slightly tonight, the essence remains the same. They still firmly believe that Wang Zelin alone cannot kill the game, and they are also betting that in the final quarter, the other Blazers players will reach freezing point.
In fact, there is no other way.
Because Wang Zelin can't hold back his scoring momentum just by relying on single defense, but if he double-teams from the beginning, it is very likely that other Blazers players will quickly start attacking, and then the plot will develop like the fourth game. .
So strictly speaking, this is a classic multiple-choice question of "There are two bottles of poison in front of you, but you have to choose one."
But Cole still didn't believe in evil and continued to insist on his own opinion.
"Hmph, if you have the ability, you can be like Michael and score 63 points on the spot! Besides, Mike didn't do that back then..."
Looking at Wang Zelin, who scored 6 points in a row in the opening game, Cole could not see any change in expression on his face, but he firmly believed that he could not win the playoffs alone.
In his basketball philosophy, if you want to go far in the playoffs, you have to rely on teamwork!
…
The first official timeout of the first quarter.
At 22:20, the Trail Blazers only led the Warriors by two points.
Facts have proved that as long as the Warriors don't play like headless flies like in the last game, the gap in strength between them and the Trail Blazers will always be minimal. In many cases, it is difficult to determine the winner without fighting until the last moment!
Return to the bench.
Although he has scored 9 points in a single quarter and is about to break double, Wang Zelin still has a big line on his face——
Labor and management are very unhappy now!
Yes, just plain unhappy!
Through the contest for more than half a quarter, he quickly noticed that the Warriors' defensive strategy against him tonight had not changed at all compared to the previous two games.
Doesn't this mean that the Warriors firmly believe that he cannot defeat the Warriors by fighting alone.
As the new scoring champion, the Warriors let Borgt's one-on-one defensive arrangement be used, which to a certain extent shows contempt for his scoring ability.
For Wang Zelin himself, this is also a great humiliation.
"Damien, just give me the ball next time, and I guarantee you will win the assists title tonight!"
grass! Labor and management really don’t believe it. I can’t beat you to death.
"Huh? Oh, ok, no problem."
Lillard was suddenly yelled at and was stunned for a second, allowing him to react. Combined with the blindingly visible anger on Wang Zelin's face, he quickly nodded in response.
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