Chapter 188 The powerful knight, the invincible James
In the first game, the Cavaliers defeated the Bulls 103:89. The one-sided game trend made people more certain that the Cavaliers can easily eliminate the Bulls and enter the second round.
The second game between the two sides will start two days later, on April 18.
In this game, the Bulls made some changes and adjustments. The offensive focus was no longer on Butler, who was guarded tightly by Wang Feng throughout the game, and the ball was handed over to Rondo, who had average performance during the regular season.
After all, he is an experienced top point guard. Rondo used his passing and experience to connect the whole team. Rondo sent 14 assists and only made 1 turnover in the whole game. The Bulls had 6 goals with Rondo's connection.
Everyone scored in double figures, and Butler and Wade both scored 22 points, which was quite good.
However, the Bulls still lost this game, and the reason is very simple.
Wang Feng made 6 of 8 shots from beyond the three-point line and scored 31 points.
In addition to Wang Feng, James also had a triple-double of 21 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
The most important thing is... Irving made 14 of 24 shots in the entire game and scored 37 points.
Including Love's 18 points, the Cavaliers' four starters scored a total of 107 points!
How could the Bulls win in this situation?
The Cavaliers are so strong that fans at the team's home court feel as if they are sitting at Oracle Arena watching a Warriors game.
The Warriors games in the past few years have given others this feeling. They won more than 65 games in the regular season for three consecutive seasons. They won 74 games last season. They were even more invincible in the playoffs. It gave people a completely different feeling.
It feels like losing.
The current Cavaliers are really a bit like that!
After two games, the Cavaliers held a 2:0 lead, and the two sides came to Chicago, the home of the Bulls.
The Bulls returned to their home court and still couldn't win.
In the third game, James easily defeated the Bulls with a super triple-double of 41 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists.
Wang Feng, who watched James' game up close, also had to lament that James in the past two years was really at the peak and strongest period of his career. It's a pity that he met the Warriors, otherwise it would not be impossible to surpass Jordan in the number of championships. After all, in
In the past few years, in the league, apart from the Warriors, only the Rockets, who will emerge after acquiring Paul next year, have the ability to compete with the Cavaliers.
With such a peak James, coupled with Irving who is still in his peak period and has not suffered serious injuries, and Wang Feng himself, he is really confident that he can really open up the battle with the Warriors.
A real battle of swords and guns.
…
April 23, Game 4 of the first round series.
At the Bulls' home court, fans no longer have much enthusiasm to cheer for the home team.
Even they understand that the Bulls can't defeat the Cavaliers. The level difference is too big.
Throughout the G4 game, James scored 33 points, 10 rebounds and 4 assists. Wang Feng hit 5 three-pointers and scored 26 points. Irving scored 22 points. Although Love only had 7 points, he grabbed 16 rebounds, including 7 offensive rebounds.
It can be seen that the league wants the Bulls to win this game.
Butler took 16 shots and only hit 6 goals under Wang Feng's defense. However, he took an astonishing 23 free throws and hit 19 goals. He scored 33 points, 5 rebounds and 9 assists.
In the middle of the fourth quarter, Wang Feng was sent off for six fouls, but even so, the Bulls still failed to win the game.
104:95.
The Cavaliers won the fourth game with a total score of 4:0, sweeping the Bulls and advancing to the second round.
After the game, James and his old partner Wade hugged each other and blessed each other. Wade had a rather forced smile on his face.
In the four-game series, James averaged 32.8 points, 9.8 rebounds and 9 assists per game, while Wade tried his best but only averaged 15 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists per game, shooting only 37% from the field.
The brothers who once created glory together in the Heat, James is still on the road to chasing the championship, but he can only drift around and be eliminated early in the playoffs.
As a time traveler, Wang Feng knew that Wade would choose to reach a buyout agreement with the Bulls this summer, and then join the Cavaliers at a low salary, hoping to give it a try and win another championship.
As a result, the Cavaliers lost Irving, and the situation became very bad. Isaiah Thomas left the Celtics system, and his personal strength plummeted. The entire Cavaliers could only rely on James to drag forward.
Knowing that there was no hope of winning the championship, Wade finally chose to let the Cavaliers trade him to the Heat, which was considered a return to his roots.
Of course, these are all things for later and have nothing to do with Wang Feng. He only cares about the present.
The Cavaliers, who have successfully entered the second round of the Eastern Conference Finals, will face the Washington Wizards in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, who already have a 3:1 lead when they meet the Hawks in the first round.
The Wizards have a pair of backcourt players with a total salary of over 200 million, John Wall and Bradley Beal.
The regular season statistics of the two are 23 points, 4.2 rebounds, 10.7 assists and 23 points, 3.1 rebounds and 3.5 assists respectively.
Relying on their superb scoring ability in the backcourt, the Wizards ranked fourth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 49 wins and 33 losses.
The configuration of the Wizards is actually somewhat similar to that of the Portland Trail Blazers. The two-gun backcourt combination is also the absolute core. The backcourt combination of Lillard and McCollum appears to be stronger than the Wizards on paper, because
Lillard's three-point ability is much better than Wall's. Although the latter's ability to assist and connect the team is better, when the game enters a critical moment, it is obvious that his cousin Lillard has a stronger ability to end the game.
However, neither the Wizards nor the Trail Blazers are obviously opponents of the current Cavaliers.
Not to mention the current team, even if it were the 2018 playoffs in another time and space, without Irving, Love would be embarrassed and useless, and James, a single-handed hero, would still be the Thanos who can run sideways in the Eastern Conference.
In the first game between the two teams, there was a huge score difference of more than 30 points.
James had 35 points and 10 rebounds, Wang Feng had 27 points, Irving had 26 points, and Love had 22 points.
Four players scored 20+ points, and the four scored a total of 110 points!
This battle situation is even more exaggerated than the Big Four of the Warriors next door.
The game lost suspense in the third quarter. After entering the fourth quarter, both teams were basically playing with substitute players.
In the end, the Cavaliers beat the Wizards by 31 points 123:92.
From this game alone, most fans can tell that the Wizards are probably the next Bulls and will have a hard time escaping the fate of being swept.
In fact it is so.
In the second game of the series on May 2, the Cavaliers scored another victory, 129:119, 2:0.
In the third game of the series on May 4, the Cavaliers scored 116 points at the Wizards' home court, defeating the Wizards who only scored 89 points in the game, and once again defeated the Wizards by 27 points.
On May 7, in the fourth game of the series, the Wizards tried their best to win a game and avoid being swept. Beal scored 29 points and Wall scored 28 points and 12 assists.
However, the final score was Cavaliers 121: Wizards 102, with a total score of 4:0, a clean victory.