"Phew!"

Howard's free throw smashed out of the basket and it was a bit off.

James glared at Xu Yong viciously, how dare you tell the truth in front of me!

However, Xu Yongdang didn't see it, and continued to look at Howard and said, "But this is also something that can't be helped, after all, you came later." ”

Howard looked confused.

Xu Yong was only a short sentence or two, but it already made him doubt his life.

yes, why did he give James a hand?

When he agreed to an early contract extension, Pritchard said that he was on the same status as James.

But now the situation is different from what is said, is it really what Xu Yong said, because he was later?

But he was only ten days late!

It's not fair!

Looking at Howard's uncertain face, Xu Yong wanted to laugh a little.

Howard is still a big boy in the sun.

Look at James, the ones who have been whipped by him and the Bulls are ripe.

On the other hand, Howard, in this year in history, Howard is not even happy to block Kobe!

What status do you James have? A defeated general dares me to block you all the time?

So this trash talk is lethal enough to rival last season's Haslem formula.

And the most fashionable thing at this time is that James can't say anything more.

Xu Yong, this is simply the biggest conspiracy in the world.

"Phew!"

Howard missed both free throws.

His mood is fully reflected in these two free throws.

Butler was on the sidelines, and he seemed to have learned a little more as he was focused.

"Huh!"

Looking back, Xu Yong scored two points on Richardson with a beautiful turnaround and step-back jumper.

Then, when James held the ball again in the frontcourt, Howard went directly to the inside line.

James flicked Xu Yong in his heart, and then beckoned Jamison on the other side to come over and block and break through Gibson in a misplaced position.

Gibson's mobility is much better than Brown's, especially after being in the league for so many years, he has gradually come up against it, and he is not so afraid of James.

However, James accelerated to a large turn and then sent the ball to the basket with a drifting paddle.

Although the posture was not aesthetically pleasing to speak of, he still sent the ball in steadily.

And after a wave of offensive misses in the Bulls' frontcourt, it was James who came back and forced a breakthrough through Artest and caused the latter's thug to foul.

His state tonight is a little uncontrollable.

Thibodeau called a timeout.

When he came down, he rarely questioned Artest's defense.

Then, Thibodeau replaced Artest with Tony Allen, pushing Xu Yong to the third position.

He needs to get Xu Yong to bring down the fire to James.

Xu Yong came to Artest's side before coming on the field and patted him on the shoulder to comfort him.

The players will get old, and Artest's form is declining year by year.

After all, he is 33 years old this year.

For a player who eats on physical fitness, it is already good to be able to start a strong team at this age.

But let him go to the top of this season's James, there is really something to be difficult for him.

After a timeout, James hit both free throws to help the Pacers tie the score.

The next few minutes belong to "Listen, They're Playing Basketball" time.

On the Pacers' side, Howard continued to play big boy temper, even if James beckoned him, he didn't block and pick.

And James became difficult to fight against Xu Yong.

In the past two years, Xu Yong has been slowly gaining weight and increasing confrontation, and in fact, he has been playing as a small forward.

James is not in good shape against this kind of nemesis player without the strong support of his teammates.

But the same is true for the Bulls, with Tony Allen out and the Pacers defusing four and five, and Vogel's team defense system working effectively.

The situation did not improve until the end of the quarter when the two sides entered into personnel rotation.

Butler came up and grabbed a rebound to score his first point of the season, and then forced Gerald Green to make a walking error on the defensive end.

And the people who played well after the Pacers came up made Xu Yong, who had already rested, stunned for a moment.

Lance Stephenson.

This is not the Stevenson who has been in the Mavericks and the Heat before, but the "junior brother" Stephenson who likes to play the lute.

Stephenson was the Pacers' own second-round pick last year and hasn't gotten much of a chance in the past two years, but this year the Pacers are short of personnel in the backcourt, and he finally made the rotation.

He has obviously increased his game this summer, not only developing three-point shots, but also showing his playmaking skills and controlling the situation very well.

Of course, these are not enough to surprise Xu Yong, he knows that Stephenson can play, and what surprised him is that this guy is actually on the same team as James!

This is the "first Zhan blow"!

The kind of blowing in the physical sense, he blows his ears at James, which is a classic NBA scene.

Ayles, Howard, Stephenson, if you count Boozer, who was traded away before, not to mention the strength of this Pacers team, there is too much fun.

Four minutes were played in the second quarter, and the score was 28-30 with the Bulls in the lead.

Both sides have changed back to the main team one after another, and the coach has adjusted the lineup according to the state of the players on the field.

Bulls: Hinrich, Jimmy Butler, Seo Yong, Battier, Brown;

Pacers: Hill, Stephenson, James, Jamison, Howard.

Up to the Pacers' possession.

Howard gave James another pick-and-roll.

Xu Yong was a little surprised, but he was also mentally prepared.

It seems that Vogel did another good groove during the internode...... The Howards didn't even get in the way and went down!

James was ready to accelerate, but he stepped on the brake button, and then the ball was exposed in front of Xu Yong's eyes.

"Smack!"

Xu Yong was not polite, stretched out his hand and cut it off, leaving a breath of exhaust gas for James, and then directly attacked quickly.

When he was almost at the three-point line, he glanced back.

James didn't chase the defense, but spread his hands there and looked at Howard.

Obviously, this kind of uncanny blocking and dismantling is better than not doing it.

Howard said, "Do you blame me?" Dissatisfied.

The effect of Xu Yong's trash talk lasted all night, no, maybe a season!

He retracted his gaze, and while he was happy, he also had the desire to perform.

He slows down from the three-point line, throws the ball high forward, and then accelerates to the inside.

"Bang!"

After the basketball hit the ground, he rebounded, and he was able to kill it, and then jumped up, grabbed the rebounding basketball, and picked up a windmill......

"Bang!"

Slam the ball into the basket.

"Oh! God, what is he doing! ”

On the commentary seat, O'Neill directly hugged his head and exclaimed.

Xu Yong regarded the main game as a slam dunk contest, and it was also the kind of difficult dunk that directly missed if he failed.

But he did, resulting in the absolute top five of the tournament tonight, and also put the reactions of James and Howard behind him on TV.

The Union Center has gone into complete madness.

Xu Yong VS James, every time we meet, steal & perform famous scenes, although it is late, it arrives!

On the commentary bench, O'Neal, who put down his hand, looked at James and Howard on the court, and suddenly had an idea.

These two guys contributed such a famous scene in the first game together, and the fun will definitely be indispensable in the future.

If he can put these scenes together, can he do a special show?

Barkley has now created a firm "No. 1 Blow" image for himself by eating cow dung (although he ended up with a pigeon), and it will be difficult for him to compete again.

But it's better to grab a cake than to make a cake, and the Pacers duo is an excellent ingredient for making cake.

In that case, let's name the show ...... "Shaq's Five Embarrassments"!

On the court, James and Howard have completely played their own games this time.

However, it turned out that they were not as effective as blocking and pick-and-rolling.

After another failed assault on Brown by Howard inside, the stalemate finally began to move in favor of the Bulls.

Xu Yong continued to hold the ball high in the frontcourt, and then after the Pacers sandwiched him, he threw the ball to Butler who was 45° on the weak side.

The Pacers' help defense didn't keep up in the first place, and they didn't seem to take Butler's three-pointers that seriously.

Butler received the ball and adjusted his three-point shot.

"Huh!"

His frenzied summer training success turned into a crisp sound of entering the net, and the United Center was instantly filled with cheers from the fans.

Thibodeau couldn't help but clench his fists while sitting on the bench.

The reason why he used Butler instead of Allen in this section was to open up the space on the court.

That's a lot of money.

Maybe even the key goal of tonight's game.

James and Howard were so distracted by Xu Yong's lethal trash talk that the Pacers couldn't open up the offensive situation;

And Butler can open up space while being able to defend on the court, and the Pacers' defensive pressure has increased dramatically.

In other words, the Pacers were in trouble on both ends of the offensive and defensive ends after the main team returned in the second quarter.

The score was quickly pulled away.

At this time, Vogel was like Spoelstra possessed, and he looked confused.

He thinks he's good enough to deal with superstars, but Howard is a star, and he's clearly still a kid.

Of course, the most depressed at this time has to be James.

The London Olympics defeat and Riley were swept away, and it took him a full month to regain his mentality with Mike's help.

Even because of the blessing in disguise, his mentality has matured, and he has directly evolved from a young Zhan to a thirty-year-old man.

Unexpectedly, he met Howard.

It's not like he hasn't played against Howard before, and even the dance fight between the two on the All-Star Arena is a famous scene.

At that time, he just thought that Howard was an optimistic, sunny and cheerful big boy, but he didn't expect to be so naïve.

At halftime, the score was fixed at 46-33, and the Bulls had stretched the margin to double digits.

Looking at James, who got up and left the field early before the end of the half, Xu Yong didn't feel that he was unlucky at all.

As the saying goes, feng shui takes turns, and what you have done to others, one day will come back to yourself.

When James released the military power by eight points, did you ever wonder what Wade's mood was?

Even if it was a crazy scoring in a key game last season, have you ever considered Wade's feelings?

Now it's just a matter of changing positions and letting him go through it all over again.

And James will slowly understand that what he thinks is mature is actually Ah Q-style self-deception.

Of course, the game has not yet been decided, Vogel still has a chance to ease the relationship between the Demon Emperor, and the second half of the game is still worth looking forward to.

Xu Yong thinks so, and so do the fans.

It's just that when you really come back in the second half, the game suddenly becomes ...... Abstracted.

James started playing the easy.ball he was familiar with, and Howard started playing like crazy.

A rattling brush, a clanging iron.

Then after three quarters, the game completely lost its suspense.

The Vogels are stupid.

Last season's Pacers, despite their lack of talent, were a disciplined, Indiana iron-blooded team that "I can lose to you, but I can also lose on standing."

But what is this called?

The rabble is nothing more than that!

Of course, Vogel is still young.

But after James fell behind by more than 20 points in the fourth quarter and started "The King Comes", he felt that his basketball concept was refreshed again.

In the end, the Bulls defeated the Pacers 102-91.

Xu Yong easily scored a quasi-triple-double of 28 points, 7 rebounds and 8 assists in the third quarter, Hinrich had 15 points and 4 assists, Butler scored 11 points and 3 boards on 2-of-4 three-point shooting, Brown had 8 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks, and Artest had 7 points and 2 boards.

On the Pacers' side, James scored a game-high 33 points plus 6 rebounds and 6 assists, Howard had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 2 blocks, but only made 6 of 17 shots, and Hill had 14 points and 5 assists.

At the press conference after the game, Xu Yong attended with his younger brother Butler.

In addition to Xu Yong's leadership temperament, Butler, who extended his preseason form into the regular season, can be said to be the biggest surprise of the Bulls' season.

Then, at the first press conference, Butler came to a non-stop speech.

"I don't think this game has much reference significance, our opponents are too weak."

This made the reporters in the audience restless, and Thibodeau couldn't help coughing twice.

He didn't even notice that Butler was so flamboyant!

Xu Yong just smiled.

Butler is not actually flamboyant, but he is more direct.

If the Pacers had played like they had in the first quarter, they would have to play a decisive game tonight.

This is like the Arab world, which is strong on paper, but because of internal contradictions, Israel can't be solved, isn't that too weak?

Of course, Xu Yong is much more tactful.

When asked by Winderhorst, an "old friend", how he felt about facing James tonight, he gave a very high rating.

"He's matured a lot, he's been in great form this season, and I think he's undoubtedly the leader of the Pacers and the favorite to be the MVP this season."

Xu Yong's answer made Winderhorst overjoyed, how many years have passed, he finally heard the answer he wanted!

It's just that there are smart reporters who can't help but want to laugh.

The internal contradictions shown by the Pacers tonight are unprecedented, James and Howard only played half a quarter of good balls and began to fight each other, Xu Yong praised James uncharacteristically at this time, which simply added fuel to the fire.

In fact, after the press conference, Jamie on social media has already begun.

"Why is LeBron so unlucky to leave Wade and Bosh, two unworthy guys, how can he meet such garbage as Howard?"

"I scored 17 points on 6-of-17 shooting, on the other hand, I scored 33 points on 12-of-22 shooting, why is Howard embarrassed not to give me Zhan to block and dismantle?"

"Howard still thinks he is the No. 1 center in the league, if he can't recognize himself, his future can only be the CBA!"

"That's it, you see that Xu Du has recognized me Zhan, and Howard is still alive in the past."

"I think it's better to go directly to the Bulls in two seasons, anyway, I think Yao is not far from retiring."

……

Back in the locker room, the Bulls players looked excited.

Beating the Pacers so easily gave the players a huge boost in self-confidence.

At this time, Hinrich also proposed to go out and celebrate together.

Xu Yong nodded in agreement, and announced that he would pay for all the consumption tonight.

This instantly caused a burst of cheers from everyone in the locker room.

Then a group of people went to the local nightclub.

Drinking, jumping, dancing girls, smoking cigars, playing dice...... They celebrated for more than two hours at the nightclub before leaving.

His teammates were having a great time, but Butler sat alone in the corner and didn't say a word, and he didn't drink the whole time.

Xu Yong drank a lot of wine, and when the party was over, Butler drove him home.

In the car, Xu Yong was resting, Butler was also driving, and the atmosphere was a little dull.

"Senior, what I said at the press conference was the truth." When the car stopped at the intersection and waited for the traffic light, Butler finally couldn't help but speak.

"I know." Xu Yong replied lightly.

"I mean, I think we got a little carried away tonight." Butler continued.

"Hand me the water in front of you." Xu Yong said.

Butler was stunned for a moment, turned on the water placed on the central handrail and handed it to Xu Yong.

Xu Yong took a few sips.

Just as Butler turned his head to listen, Xu Yong glanced ahead and reminded, "It's a green light." ”

Butler looked back helplessly and continued driving.

"Jimmy, you have a point, but do you think I should say no to my teammates' requests to celebrate after an important victory and then urge them to go to training?" Xu Yong only spoke at this time.

"I ......" Butler stopped talking, although he felt that it was inappropriate to celebrate, but Xu Yong also made sense.

"You have to know that not everyone is the same as us, like Kirk, he has a family, in addition to basketball and family, and for example, Tai, he also needs to spend time with his girlfriend, you can't ask others with your own requirements.

Also, we've been different this season, and I don't think we didn't have a chance to defend the title, because we won the finals last season without Derek, didn't we? ”

After Xu Yong finished speaking, Butler nodded.

'Don't worry, the season has just started and all we have to do is keep the fighting spirit.' Xu Yong said as he put the water back on the central handrail.

"I see."

……

After winning the Pacers, the Bulls continued to work hard, defeating the Digital Man and the Raptors in succession to win three straight games in the opening wave.

That boosted the morale of the Bulls.

And then until Thanksgiving, they had a 9-2 record.

Everything doesn't look much different from last season, and the Bulls are still the favorites to win the championship.

But after Thanksgiving, the Bulls lost to the Mavericks, Spurs and Heat in quick succession, suffering a three-game losing streak.

And throughout November, they finished with a 9-6 record and an overall record of 11-6, ranking fourth in the East behind the Heat, Nets and Pacers.

Xu Yong's performance is still very consistent, and his average of 28.5 points per game this season is even better than last season.

He also broke 6 assists for the first time in his career, reaching 6.2, which shows that he is playing more team than last season.

But it's clear that the Bulls are weakening overall.

Not only is it the absence of Ross and Yao Ming, but Artest, Battier, and Hinrich have all declined in their abilities to varying degrees because of their age.

Among them, Artest is the most obvious.

As the team's No. 2 scorer, his average of 14.5 points per game looks okay.

But in fact, this data has a lot of moisture like Jamieson.

His shooting percentage has dropped to around 40 percent this season, and his three-point shooting percentage is only 34 percent, which is obviously not enough to help the Bulls win consistently.

And Butler, although he has surprises, has not grown to the point where he can rise to the top.

It should be the most appropriate to use "green and yellow" to describe the Bulls at this stage.

Then, the outside world's doubts about Xu Yong began to overwhelm.

Just like when Xu Yong won the MVP and FMVP, the outside world would not overemphasize the strength of the Bulls, because Xu Yong's performance deserved those honors.

In the same way, when the Bulls struggle, no one will analyze the difficulties encountered by the Bulls, they will only question Xu Yong as the boss.

And after these voices appeared, the morale of the Bulls, as well as the enthusiasm of the players, also decreased significantly.

Even at this time, Taylor Swift released the single "... Trouble", the song is widely believed to have been created based on his ex-boyfriend.

Although Xu Yong was mentally prepared as he showed when communicating with Butler, he still felt a lot of pressure when these came together.

He needed to vent his emotions, and then he asked Scarlett to meet again.

On his estate, the two fought a fierce and long battle.

The bed in the rooftop room was the battlefield of their first battle, then the floor-to-ceiling sofa in the other room, then the rose bathtub in the downstairs room, then the kitchen on the first floor, then to the cinema, and finally they even had a game in the open-air pool, leaving a pool of fresh bath water.

To be honest, Xu Yong doesn't have any feelings for Scarlett, and the communication between them is purely physical.

Their relationship is a bit similar to that of Megan Fox at the beginning, but the difference is that Scarlett enjoys the process more than Fox.

Xu Yong even felt that Scarlett was addicted.

He confirms this when he finally feels tired and Scarlett says "give me more".

Then he remembered two things.

One thing I heard in my last life was that Scarlett was playing ball with a man in an elevator and was photographed.

Another thing is that Rodman and Madonna's breakup, which is as strong as a "big bug", was also defeated in front of Madonna.

There were only tired oxen and no ploughed fields.

So early the next morning, Xu Yong sent the reluctant Scarlett on the plane, and then went back to sleep well.

Then when he woke up, Xu Yong was refreshed and had a new idea.

He invited Thibodeau to his home for a meal.

Thibodeau's hair looks a little less again.

NBA players are the most competitive, and the pressure on NBA head coaches is the greatest.

But even so, when he was eating and chatting with Xu Yong, he was also enlightening Xu Yong.

"You've done well enough, and where you are is is not your problem."

Hearing him say this, Xu Yong was still very moved in his heart.

It's easy for players and coaches to get on opposite sides, especially between superstars and managers, because it involves all aspects of the team's power and interests.

But Thibodeau does have a slightly different style of painting, just because he is dedicated to basketball and is still playing singles in his forties, which is already unique.

Not to mention trying to enlighten him at this time.

"Tom, let Jimmy and Sean start." Xu Yong then said his thoughts.

Thibodeau looked a little surprised to hear this.

They had also talked before the change of starters, and that was when he first became the head coach and studied the "one big and four small" lineup.

But at that time, it was he who took the initiative to ask Xu Yong for advice, but this time it was Xu Yong who took the initiative to mention it.

There is a big difference between active and passive in this one, and even a little bigger, it is all the player's overreach.

However, Xu Yong's next words let him know that Xu Yong's proposal was not out of selfishness.

"I'll take care of the offense, and the others will take care of the defense."

Artest hasn't been doing well this season, can the Bulls find someone else to top up?

The answer is no.

Butler is not good yet, and others are even worse, because they are functional players after all, and they don't have the ability to attack with the ball.

You can't just let Gibson suddenly turn into Boozer and play alone with the ball in the low post, right?

Or maybe Battier becomes a playmaker and dilutes the ball?

None of this is obviously possible, and it is also normal.

You have two top salaries for one team, and the third salary is not good, if there is anyone who can top up, it will be too rogue.

So the options in front of the Bulls are nothing more than two: trade, or the plan that Xu Yong said.

Trading is not a matter for the coaching staff and players, and Xu Yong is not the kind of person who wants to change me if this wave of teammates can't work.

And more importantly, in fact, the Bulls have an aging roster now, there are almost no trade chips that can be used, and draft picks are not valuable, and they can't get back really valuable players.

So it seems that there are options, but in fact, there are no choices.

Using a space lineup, concentrating the ball on Xu Yong's hands, using Xu Yong as a cow and horse, and supporting Yao Ming until Yao Ming comes back is the only solution at present.

After thinking it through, Xibodu looked at Xu Yong and couldn't help but feel a little distressed.

You are just raising a cow, and you will be reluctant to watch it plough the land day and night, let alone your own love.

"Tom, don't bother me, I like to score." Seeing Xibode's expression, Xu Yong said with a smile.

Hearing this, Xibodu smiled bitterly, with Xu Yong's scoring ability, it is still easy to get a high score if he doesn't take into account defense.

After sending Xibodu away, Xu Yong stood at the door for a while.

As a fan of Jordan, after Jordan retired, it was natural to look to Kobe.

And Kobe Bryant's most eye-catching season is the season with 81 points in a single game, 62 points in the third quarter, and an average of 35+ per game.

It's a crazy performance, you must know that it was still at the beginning of the century, and the second attack has not changed to 14 seconds, and the number of rounds is limited.

But in addition to high scores, there is also a crazy number of irons, Kobe Bryant's 1,195 irons in a single season directly broke NBA history.

Therefore, he has also been questioned a lot, among which Xu Yong is the same, feeling that Kobe, who often votes against three or four people, is too lonely.

But now, he understands Kobe Bryant because, like what he's going through now, there's no choice.

Because the team can't win, even if you play as a team, the morale and motivation are still the same.

So now, he can only choose to become Kobe.

(End of chapter)