NBA: LeBron James wants to team up with me

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In the TNT studio, renowned commentators Charles Barkley and Kenny Smith discussed the ongoing game.

"The game has just entered halftime. After the first half, many people may be surprised by the situation. Unexpectedly, despite the Cavaliers fielding their Big Three lineup, they remain just as vulnerable to the Bulls as last season. By halftime, the Bulls are already ahead by more than 20 points!"

Barkley shook his head and sighed, "James is really feeling down because Wang Chong is doing this to him. His performance is obviously quite good, but Wang Chong is a completely irrational player. He really reminds me of the 1990s when Michael Jordan was at his peak—no matter how you defend, he could crush your confidence with his scoring."

"The Cavaliers are obviously hoping that O'Neal will perform well in the paint and take charge on the floor, but O'Neal's competitive form isn't what it once was. Against an unfamiliar Gasol, he's become the target, and his frontcourt defense is being limited." Kenny Smith also chimed in: "From this perspective, it's not wise for the Cavaliers to make a desperate trade for O'Neal. At least the interior lineup of Gooden and Big Z wouldn't be as passive as it is now."

Barkley rolled his eyes, looked at Kenny Smith, and asked, "Kenny, how many games do you think this Eastern Conference Finals should last?"

Kenny Smith thought for a moment and said, "It should be over in 6 games. If I had to predict, it would be a 4-2 series."

Barkley laughed when he heard this. "I think there's a high chance the Eastern Conference Finals will end in a 4-0 sweep. In this case, Wang Chong's Bulls will sweep the Cavaliers 4-0 for the third consecutive year in the playoffs."

"4-0..." Smith actually thought this might be very likely. Upon further reflection, he suddenly felt that Barkley's prediction was a bit exaggerated.

Wang Chong and LeBron James were both drafted in 2003. Why is Wang Chong so powerful in suppressing James?

Before, Wang Chong was still in the Western Conference, working for a traditional giant like the Lakers. Later, he moved to the Chicago Bulls, who had been in decline for a long time, but they quickly climbed to the top of the Eastern Conference and managed to stay there.

Smith felt that if he were James, he wouldn't be able to sleep at night just thinking about Wang Chong.

"It's not even the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals yet, so it's too early to tell," he added.

Although Smith also felt that the Bulls had a high chance of sweeping the Cavaliers 4-0, as a professional commentator, he couldn't speak about it like that, so he decided to take the opposite side of Barkley and speak in favor of the Cavaliers.

"The current problem for the Cavaliers is that they're completely suppressed by the Bulls inside. Their perimeter game isn't much worse than the opponent's. James and Ray Allen are working well together. Once O'Neal recovers and takes control inside, the Cavaliers still have a chance. Yes, they beat the Bulls during the regular season by using O'Neal's inside advantage, breaking the Bulls' winning streak against the Cavaliers that lasted almost three seasons."

"Really?" Barkley said with a sinister smile, "Kenny, why don't we make a bet? Let's bet on whether the Bulls will sweep the Cavaliers 4-0. I think they will."

Kenny Smith flashed a bright smile and simply replied, "No betting allowed."

It was a joke. Smith wasn't as addicted to gambling as Barkley, and knowing that losing was highly probable, he didn't want to create trouble for himself.

Expecting that O'Neal could still shine in key games and show some of the advantages he had in his prime was just wishful thinking from some Cavaliers fans.

The vast majority of rational fans knew that O'Neal was 35, and the accumulated injuries and age had diminished him. The once all-powerful Shaq was no longer the force he used to be.

This game was the best proof.

O'Neal, who shot less than 40% from the field in the first half, wasn't much better in the second half, especially when the Bulls adjusted their lineup. Gasol went off the court, and the interior became Garnett, playing center, with Paul Mirza and others taking forward roles.

Of course, Garnett's thin arms and legs couldn't hold up against O'Neal, but they didn't need to. When Garnett played center, the Bulls' lineup became extremely mobile. Garnett and Millsap, both excellent interior players with speed, could easily keep up.

The Bulls, who had previously focused on positional battles, suddenly shifted to a small-ball style, catching the Cavaliers off guard once again. As a result, the Bulls' lead increased instead of decreasing during the third quarter. By the end of the third quarter, the Cavaliers were ready to give up.

At this point, the lead had reached nearly 30 points.

Even if the Cavaliers' offense peaked in the final quarter and scored over 40 points, as long as the Bulls scored more than 10 points in that quarter, the Cavaliers had no hope of winning.

Around 2 minutes into the final quarter, the Cavaliers pulled their starters and abandoned the game.

Seeing this, the Bulls also took their starters out. The main players from both teams sat on the bench, watching the remaining 10 minutes of the game.

With a score of 117-89, the Bulls finally defeated the Cavaliers by 28 points at home, starting the Eastern Conference Finals with a strong performance and striking deep into the hearts of Cavaliers fans.

A point difference this large was enough to show just how much disparity existed between the two teams. Although it was already clear before the game that the Cavaliers were definitely at a disadvantage against the Bulls, they didn't expect it to be such a blow.

In this game, James performed as usual. His standard stat line was a quasi triple-double with 27 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists, which was the best the Cavaliers had to offer.

With James, Ray Allen contributed 18 points and hit 4 three-pointers.

Although O'Neal also had 17 points and 8 rebounds, his shooting percentage was only 44%. This is basically the shooting percentage of an outside player and far from the O'Neal of the past, who could easily shoot above 60%.

More importantly, the Cavaliers only had three players in double digits. To assemble this Big Three lineup, the Cavaliers had exhausted their wealth, and their bench was no match for the Bulls' depth.

In previous games, the Cavaliers only needed the performance of their Big Three to easily beat their opponents. However, now that the Bulls have replaced them with their own Big Three lineup and a more reasonable structure, they immediately pale in comparison.

Moreover, the overall performance of the Bulls' Big Three was better than that of the Cavaliers.

Wang Chong and Garnett scored 20+10, and Billups also contributed 16 points and 9 assists. This was because the game ended early in the final quarter, and Wang Chong didn't exert his full strength. Otherwise, with his offensive ability, scoring 30 points in a game would have been routine.

After the first game, the Cavaliers still faced a tough road ahead. In the post-game press conference, James and others, including James, did not admit defeat. Instead, they claimed the loss was due to their inability to adapt to playing away from home and O'Neal's recurring old injury, but they would adapt quickly and mount a counterattack in the next game.

It sounded good, but neither Wang Chong nor the Bulls had any intention of giving the Cavaliers a chance to breathe.

The first game made Wang Chong more confident in the obvious weaknesses of the Cavaliers.

So, two days later, in the second game of the Eastern Conference Finals on May 22, the Bulls immediately made adjustments to their starting lineup.

The Bulls replaced their starting center Gasol, moved Garnett to the starting center, and promoted sixth man Millsap to the starting power forward position.

Of course, this move was to increase the speed. Although Millsap was shorter, his defensive ability wasn't bad, and he would eventually be selected for the All-Defensive Team in the future. In the last game, the fast-paced offense of the Bulls had made the old and slow O'Neal very uncomfortable after several rounds of running, and it was too late for him to return to defense. The Bulls could easily form a situation of more fast breaks and fewer set offenses.

The Bulls' formation change caught the Cavaliers off guard, and they immediately realized the Bulls' intentions.

O'Neal was happy at first. Though Garnett's defense was much better than Gasol's, the size difference made it much harder for Garnett to handle O'Neal compared to Gasol.

So, when O'Neal first entered the court, he kept holding the ball and attacking the basket, seeming to have regained some of his peak form against the thinner Garnett.

But the good times didn't last long. After a few minutes, the Bulls' deliberately accelerated offense made O'Neal miserable.

The transition between offense and defense was too quick. O'Neal had just finished his dominant two-handed dunk under the basket. Before he could take his iconic step back, he turned around and saw five Bulls players running toward the offensive zone.

O'Neal was slow in his steps and didn't return to defense fast enough. The result was that the Bulls' various offensive plays became 5-on-4 situations. Under Billups' experienced ball control, the Bulls quickly scored.

By the middle of the second quarter, the Bulls' lead had reached 16 points. Despite O'Neal's good performance on the offensive end, the Cavaliers were still being overwhelmed.

At halftime, the Bulls led by 18 points with a score of 61-43.

As the second half started, the Bulls didn't slow down and continued to focus on quick transitions and offensive control. Their excellent defense created more and more fast breaks, causing the Cavaliers to give up.

The second half was just a formality. At the end of the third quarter, the Bulls led 94-70, and they finished the game 118-95, winning by 23 points.

2:0, without any suspense, the Bulls got another victory and won two home games.

In this game, the scores between the two teams were not as disparate as in the previous game, and the point difference was only a dozen points.

But regardless of the point difference, the result of the game is the same, and James could not continue his previous personal highlights in this game. Under the joint attack of Wang Chong and Garnett, James hit 7 of 17 shots, with a shooting. percentage of only 41%, scored 18 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 turnovers.

After the game, James walked to the tunnel without looking back.

His rhetoric after the last game was a complete joke.

But what's even more desperate is that even if the next game returns to the Cavaliers' home court, I fear they will have a tough time beating the Bulls. The two teams are not at the same level in terms of player strength. tactical execution ability or other aspects.

Even if James is confident that he is as good as Wang Chong, the Bulls still have Garnett and Billups, and O'Neal can't count on them, how can he win when he only has Ray Allen to help him?

How the Cavaliers can beat the Bulls is a hotly debated question around the league after Game 2.

Most fans generally believe that it's not hard for the Cavaliers to beat the Bulls as long as O'Neal is 5 years younger, it won't be a problem.

If the Cavaliers' O'Neal were 30 years old himself, he would definitely be able to push Garnett, Gasol and Millsap to the floor and rub them against each other in the paint.

But unfortunately, the reality is not what it would be. The 35-year-old O'Neal, for whom the Cavaliers paid big money to trade him mid-season, became a liability in the game against the Bulls. Even if he can make a small difference on the offensive end, the defensive end is almost a defensive black hole. Such a performance completely overwhelmed the Cavaliers' overall defense and they couldn't compete with the Bulls.

May 24, Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals.

In Cleveland, the Cavaliers' home court, the Bulls won another game with overwhelming momentum and the score reached 3:0. The Bulls were just one step away from reaching the Finals for the second consecutive year.

In fact, the Bulls' victory in this game was a bit of a thriller. The Cavaliers returned to their home court in slightly better shape. Both Ray Allen and O'Neal performed well.

James, who was on his home court, had some help on the court. He hit 12 of 16 free throws, which caused Garnett to get into foul trouble before halftime.

With the help of the referee, the Cavaliers had a big lead throughout the game and once led by more than double digits. This was also the first time the Cavaliers took the lead in the game since the start of the Eastern Conference Finals series.

Of course, Wang Chong could see that the Cavaliers had an obvious home advantage. Obviously, it was the alliance behind this. They did not want the long-publicized 24vs23 to end with a crushing score of 4:0.

End of this chapter

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