The playoffs are the stage for the superstars, but at some critical moments, the bench players step up to make or break the course of the series.

For a team aspiring to compete for a championship, the playoffs are more important than the regular season. In the playoffs, each team will show their best competitive form, and the entire defensive intensity and intensity of the game will change, and at this time, each team's arrowhead will be focused on defense, of course, in the process of taking care of one or the other, some bench players or role players will seize the opportunity to stand out and play exciting games.

In the second game of the 1999 Western Conference finals, the Spurs faced the Trail Blazers, with 9.9 seconds left in the game, Elliott, who had been lying in ambush in the bottom corner, finally got a chance, and the ball passed to him by Elliott was even almost cut off by the opponent, but fortunately, Elliott still caught the ball, when he almost went out of bounds, Elliott dribbled once to adjust his body balance, and threw a fatal shot in the face of the block of height Rashid Wallace. Eventually, that year, the Spurs made it to the finals and won the championship.

In the 1995 playoffs, the Rockets trailed the Suns 1-3 in the Western Conference Finals and dragged the series into a tiebreaker. In this game, the two teams fought until the last 7.1 seconds, Mario Elli received a pass from teammate Robert Horry in the left bottom corner and hit a three-point shot, giving the Rockets a 113-110 lead, and then he sent an arrogant "flying kiss" to the Suns bench, which is the famous "kiss of death" in NBA history, and the Rockets finally successfully advanced to the Finals and won the championship.

Like Kerr, John Paxson is a role player for the Bulls. In Game 6 of the 1993 Grand Finals, there were 3.9 seconds left in the race. Paxson hit the winning three-pointer. No one expected Paxson to be a hero. But he did. Completed Jordan's first three-game winning streak.

The list goes on and on......

At the end of the 20th century, the Sacramento Kings gradually became a strong team in the NBA, relying not only on the main team (Divac, Chris Webb, Stojakovic, Christie, Williams), but also on a group of super bench players who can score points as soon as they get on the court. Bobby? Jackson, Damon? Jones, Jim? Jackson, Heaton? Turkogru, Gerrard? Wallace, Keown? Clark, Scott? Pollard, they all have unique skills, and the crazy scoring situation after playing is no less than the main players, and they are called "bench bandits" by the league! They didn't play as starters though. But the scoring ability is no worse than the starter, always breaking the deadlock when the situation between the two sides is deadlocked, and the bench bandits were the first to be called at that time.

"Role players play to determine the championship."

If you talk about bench strength alone, the Bulls are definitely not inferior to the Heat on paper, or even better than them. It is not an exaggeration to call it a bench bandit, although there is still some gap compared to the 2007-2008 season of the Celtics bench group and the current Spurs bench group, but it is already considered a minority in the league.

In the first round of the series, the key players in the Bulls' bench were Jimmy Butler and Gibson, both of whom had a ruthless force in the game. And the presence on the defensive end is very strong, often in critical moments. Thibodeau will put these two on the field.

Jimmy Butler averaged 13.2 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting 49 percent from the field against the Hawks series.

Gibson grabbed 7.6 rebounds, including 3.2 offensive rebounds, despite scoring just seven points, and he had a strong finishing ability under the basket, and he and Sun Xiaotian were excellent at blocking and pick-and-roll.

As the team's best 3-and-D player, Cornett Lee averaged just 9 points per game in the first-round series, and his shooting percentage was not high, with a three-point shooting rate of only 34%, which was mainly related to his role in the team and the change in role.

Cornett Lee's previous team was a strong center who was basically offensive on the inside, and was able to open up a wide space for his outside shots. The Bulls' interior strength is good, but Boozer, Noah and Gibson do not have such strength to really help outside players open up space, so the shrinking of space naturally affects his play.

However, the Bulls have no shortage of scorers, and what Thibodeau really values in the playoffs is his defense, and there is no championship without defense, which is the law of championships.

In the first round, whether it was Teague or Williams, he did a good job, and the shooting percentage of these two men was miserable throughout the series. And in the semifinals, Cornett Lee reduced his three-point shooting percentage to 29 percent when he faced a convulsive JR Smith. Sometimes, he was also able to go up to defend Anthony, giving Rohrdeng and Butler, and even Sun Xiaotian room to rest.

Compared to the regular season, the Bulls are averaging 5.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game off the bench in the playoffs. It is precisely with the good performance of the bench lineup that even if Sun Xiaotian did not perform well in the first round at some times, the Bulls were able to survive and get to this point.

……

The excellent performance of the bench players has given Thibodeau the capital to compete with any team. In the semifinals, the team's bench was almost overwhelming over the Knicks' bench. As you can see from the first two games, the Bulls' bench has done a better job than the New Yorkers in terms of firepower after the main players are off the court. Originally, the Bulls had a chance to expand the score to 2-0, but the existence of Anthony in New York, a super offensive point, made the Bulls unable to do so.

The loss in the second game has kept Sun Xiaotian haunted, he said that one is 2-0 and the other is 1-1, and the difference between the two scores is not a game. They had the balance of victory in their hands, and in just a dozen seconds, the situation was reversed, and the whole game was in vain. Thibodeau also blamed himself for a last-minute defensive problem after the game and took the responsibility for the defeat.

The third game moved to the Union Center, and the Chicagoans, both the players and the fans, were ready to give the New Yorkers a blow. The team is in great form at the moment, and what they need to do is to take advantage of the home advantage and the power of the fans to try to get match points.

At the same time, the game between the Pacers and the Heat is also in full swing, and the Heat are currently leading 2-0. In the first round of the West, the Spurs, Thunder, Grizzlies and Warriors eliminated the Lakers, Rockets, Clippers and Nuggets respectively to advance to the second round, and the current Western Conference semifinals, the Spurs and the Warriors are 1-1, and the Thunder and Grizzlies are also 1-1. (To be continued.) )