Chapter 888 The rose withers and the Raptors advance
The Trail Blazers gained an absolute advantage with a big score of 2-0. Just one more win to get the match point?
This put a lot of pressure on the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had been watching the show all night in the Eastern Conference.
Are the Trail Blazers going to win the Western Conference Finals again?
Three finals for three consecutive years?!
When a rookie No. 23 whose hairline is receding day by day thinks that he will meet the Trail Blazers No. 36 in the finals, he immediately feels a pang of pain.
From the Heat to the Cavaliers, year after year, I keep meeting you!
At this moment, James finally realized the uncontrollable depression and helplessness that other strong teams in the Eastern Conference always feel after encountering him in the Eastern Conference Finals.
However, the Warriors are, after all, a historical powerhouse with 73 wins in the regular season. Even if they fall behind 2-0, some people still think they still have a chance to come back, and there are many people who hold this view.
Many of them are fans of many teams that have been defeated by the Trail Blazers in the playoffs in the past few seasons. Their home teams have fallen at the feet of the Trail Blazers for several consecutive years. Naturally, they are eager for the Warriors to overthrow the Trail Blazers.
Team dominance.
This is one of the reasons why teams that can defend the championship are so rare.
After you win the championship in one season, all the teams in the next season will regard you as their mortal enemy. Those coaching staff who are interested in the championship will stare at you, waiting for you to make mistakes; including their management
The top management will also reach a unified tacit understanding in the trade market and strictly prohibit powerful players from flowing into the defending champion team.
Under this circumstance, except for some veterans who are eager to join the championship, the reinforcement routes are almost blocked.
Of course, the reason why the Trail Blazers can maintain such strong competitiveness is entirely because they have taken another path.
That is, by selecting potential rookies to increase the thickness of the team's bench. If you are lucky, you can select a super rookie who can serve as the cornerstone of the team, and the team's future will be assured.
For example, Wang Zelin, Lillard, and Patton in the 12th draft, Jokic selected in the previous two years, and Harrell selected this year.
Wang Zelin, Lillard, and Jokic all have the potential to become the core of the team. Button and Harrell are a few levels weaker. Although they are not as good as the previous three, they are still enough to be included in the important rotation list.
In fact, fans of many teams are very envious of the Trail Blazers management's draft vision, which can accurately select malleable talents from the first draft and cultivate them into the future of the team.
However, they can only keep this envy deep in their hearts, and what they reveal will always be undisguised jealousy.
The reason is also very simple, he is a hero and I am an enemy!
…
On the same night, the Toronto Raptors came to the United Center, the home of the Chicago Bulls.
At 19:00 in the evening, the tiebreaker that decided the life and death of the series between the two teams officially broke out.
What people didn't expect was that the Bulls were actually overturned by the Raptors at home!
DeRozan and Lowry, the good brothers, swept away the decline of being beaten at home in the last game and set off a fierce offensive wave in the first half.
Thanks to Davis, he continued his performance from the previous game, scoring 21 points and 9 rebounds in two quarters, helping the Bulls to close the score and withstand the Raptors' perimeter offensive.
Just when people thought that the Bulls should be able to fight back in the second half and start a more intense battle with the Raptors, an accident happened suddenly, leaving Bulls fans feeling like they were falling into an ice cave!
The core of the Bulls, Derrick Rose, a talented point guard who set the record of being the youngest regular season MVP in history before Wang Zelin, has suffered a series of injuries since winning the league MVP in 2011 and has not been able to decline all the way.
This season he has rarely been able to maintain his health and his performance has rebounded, so much so that people have almost forgotten all the injuries he has suffered before.
Finally, on the night of May 17, when the Bulls were very hopeful of returning to the Eastern Conference Finals, fate once again played a joke on Rose.
At 2 minutes and 45 seconds after the start of the third quarter, Rose fell to the ground after a physical confrontation layup, and then did not stand up.
Back sprain!
Damn injuries have struck Rose again. The career of this Windy City rose seems to be doomed to be troubled.
…
As expected, the Bulls without Rose seem to have lost their firepower. Except for Davis, who can perform stably due to his excellent strength, the other Bulls players are sleepwalking on the court and can provide him with approximately zero help.
The boss was injured and his teammates were disconnected... In this case, even if Davis scored 15-7 in the second half and had horrendous data of 4 rebounds, 4 blocks and 3 assists, he still lost to the Raptors who were struggling with all three forces.
Team.
The Bulls were beaten by the Raptors at home by 23 points and lost the tiebreaker.
The Bulls' playoff journey ends here.
Looking at the big score of 3 to 4 on the screen, Davis, who played 45 minutes tonight, ignored the sweat on his face and felt helpless.
He originally planned to reach the Eastern Conference Finals this year, even defeat the Cavaliers led by James, join the Trail Blazers led by Wang Zelin in the Finals, and finally defeat the opponent with his own hands to win the championship, proving that he is the best in the 2012 draft.
By.
Now, his dream has awakened!
…
Chicago in May is like a steamer, so hot and stuffy that it makes people breathless.
The hot summer has arrived earlier than before, but for the fans here, their hearts are a little cold.
Only half of the crucial tiebreaker, Derrick Rose, the team's young leader, was suddenly injured again.
All Chicago fans were heartbroken as they watched Rose being carried off the court on a stretcher.
The next morning, the Bulls officially announced the injury. Rose suffered a back sprain!
A conservative estimate is that it will take at least 2 to 3 weeks to fully recover.
For the Bulls team, this is simply a nightmare, as if the sky is falling.
You know, Rose is the only core of this Bulls team! Even after Davis joined, Rose's status as the star has never been shaken.
He has also been regarded as the Bulls' best hope for regaining the championship and even establishing a dynasty in the post-Jordan era.
This season, under the leadership of Rose and Davis, they easily passed the first round. In their last game, they defeated the Raptors in a distant away game in Toronto. When they returned home, they planned to go all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals and compete with little Emperor James again.
A showdown.
All fans felt that when Rose was about to lead the Bulls to a breakthrough, misfortune happened quietly and the rose withered again.
As for the assistant coaches from the management who were directly dealing with their friends, they were as anxious as ants on a hot pot at this moment.
Losing Rose is a huge loss for the team. After all, the entire Bulls team is built around Rose and is moving forward under the leadership of Rose this season.
For the Bulls, the past belongs to Jordan, but the present and future here all belong to this young man.
Even though this young man has suffered injuries more than once before, he is still a Rose of the Windy City, another locally grown MVP since Jordan.
The Bulls management does not want to give up on Rose and is still looking for room for rescue.
But it is undeniable that after experiencing the double blow of Rose's injury and failure in the tiebreaker, the entire Chicago was in grief.