NBA's King of Talking

Chapter 206: Intensity akin to winning 71

Antić and Noah are preparing for the jump ball near the center circle; the match is about to begin.

Horford sat on the sidelines, watching his college teammate Noah play against his current teammates, and suddenly had a strange feeling.

The jump ball began, and Noah yelled as he slapped the ball to his teammate, Dunleavy Jr., who nearly dropped it.

The Bulls gained possession on their first possession, and Hinrich dribbled the ball over.

Since Rose left the game and Hinrich returned to the starting lineup, the Bulls' offense has been slow, with few fast breaks and a constant grind in the half-court.

The ball was passed to Boozer in the low post, and the traitorous guy went one-on-one against Mills, but his turnaround jump shot missed!

Chinese fans are no strangers to Boozer. Back when he was still with the Jazz, he teamed up with Okur to shoot down Yao Ming's Rockets, a moment of eternal pain for many Chinese Rockets fans.

Boozer is a representative of short and stocky forwards. His offense mainly relies on mid-range shots. His release point is high and he is not easy to block. He is very effective against slow-moving centers like Yao Ming. However, he has no advantage against power forwards like Millskinson, who is also short and stocky.

Jia Fei collected the rebound and passed it to Teague for the drive.

Teague dribbles the ball and runs a pick-and-roll with Antić, who then hands the ball off to Jia Fei!

The player guarding Jia Fei was Jimmy Butler, the Bulls' top perimeter defender.

At this point, Jimmy Butler was not the "Jimmy Jordan" he later played for the Heat; he was more like a blue-collar player with outstanding defense. As a shooting guard, he was 201cm tall, could defend four positions, had a low center of gravity, was fast, had good physicality and was not afraid of physical contact, and was very tough. Such a player is a defender that perimeter stars really dislike facing.

本赛季，吉米仔场均13.6分5.2个篮板2.7次助攻1.2个抢断0.5个盖帽，场均要上场40.8分钟，简直是联盟有名的铁人。

Of course, if you knew that his team's head coach was Tom Thibodeau, you would think that his average playing time might still have room to increase...

Jia Fei faced Jimmy and tried to use a screen, but Jimmy quickly squeezed through it. You could say Antić's screen wasn't good, but Jimmy's ability to squeeze through screens was truly impressive.

Jia Fei dribbled past Jimmy, but struggled to shake off him. After being delayed by Noah, he passed the ball to Antić on the weak side!

Antić misses his shot!

Noah retrieved the ball, and Hinrich slowly dribbled over.

The Bulls were on offense. Noah facilitated from near the free-throw line, making a bounce pass to Jimmy, who was cutting to the basket. Jimmy's layup attempt was disrupted by Jia Fei and missed!

A chaotic scramble for the ball under the basket ultimately resulted in possession for the Hawks.

The matchups on the court are clear: Teague is matched up against Hinrich, Jia Fei is matched up against Jimmy, Korver and Dunleavy are both shooters battling it out, Mills and the two short forwards are battling it out, and Antić and Noah are both European big men battling it out.

The Hawks were on offense. Teague drove hard to the basket and passed to Korver on the perimeter, but Korver committed a turnover!

Dunleavy Jr. steals the ball and passes it to Jimmy, who's making a quick run down the frontcourt!

Jimmy ran ahead at full speed, with Jia Fei in hot pursuit!

Jimmy caught the ball, took three steps, and attempted a dunk, but Jia Fei arrived just in time and blocked it with a slap...

A gasp rippled through the crowd as Jimmy's hand slammed into the rim, but the ball flew away!

Jia Fei reacted even faster, turning around and grabbing the ball before Hinrich could reach it. Without pausing, he dribbled the ball up the court, faced Noah, faked a pass, and made a layup, scoring the ball!

2-0, the Hawks score first!

Yu Jia exclaimed, "Jia Fei's defensive block was brilliant! Jimmy Butler was going to dunk, but Jia Fei still managed to stop it."

Su Qun said, "Jia Fei is obviously faster. There's a reason he's called the fastest first step in the league!"

The Hawks are on offense. Noah assists Hinrich for a floater, tying the game at 2-2!

The Hawks were on offense. Mills dominated Boozer in the low post and passed to Korver for a three-pointer, but it missed!

Jia Fei grabbed the offensive rebound and passed it to Mi Shen under the basket!

Miguel's drive was blocked by Noah, who then committed a foul on the steal!

The Bulls are on offense, and Noah drives hard to the basket, drawing a foul from Antic!

Early in the game, both of the Hawks' big men picked up fouls, which was a bad sign.

Noah stepped to the free-throw line, his shooting posture resembling that of a woman taking a shot, which made some fans in the arena burst into laughter.

But that posture doesn't necessarily mean it's inaccurate. He made both free throws, tying the game at 4-4!

The Hawks are on offense. Jia Fei breaks into the paint but his layup attempt is blocked and misses!

For the Bulls, Dunleavy Jr. missed a three-pointer!

The defense was very strong on both sides, so much so that sharpshooters Korver and Dunleavy Jr. didn't have many good scoring opportunities and couldn't find their target.

Sweat streamed down Jia Fei's forehead and got into his eyes. The intensity of this game was indeed very high, comparable to the series against the Grizzlies last season.

The "West is stronger than the East" dynamic has been a recurring theme, and its performance certainly reflects this. However, the Eastern Conference playoffs are undeniably difficult, even for teams with seemingly average records and fewer star players, where the intensity of competition is extremely high. The East leans more towards physicality and defense, while the West is more offensively oriented.

The same applies this season. The Bulls and Pacers in the East are both teams with strong defenses. If you want to beat them, you'll have to go through a lot of trouble.

Both teams came out with the intensity of a Game 7, making it difficult to execute the tactics used in the regular season. Korver was relentlessly guarded off the ball, making it extremely difficult for him to get out of position to receive the ball and shoot using screens. With offensive plays failing to materialize and the 24-second shot clock expiring, it often turned into one-on-one situations.

The Bulls were similar, and the Hawks were also very intense, using physicality and relentless off-ball chase defense. Both teams came out with a "do it today or not tomorrow" attitude, putting in Game 7-level effort on the defensive end.

Jia Fei played for more than 7 minutes in the first quarter before leaving the court. Coach Buden was worried about his injury and his stamina in the second half, so he took him off the court earlier. The Hawks used a 9-man rotation in this game. In addition to the starting 5, the substitutes included Captain America, Scott, Schroder, and Carroll.

Art Mayork was not included in the rotation for this match.

Art Mayork was also mentally prepared. Most teams in the playoffs use an 8-9 player rotation, and some even use a 7-8 player rotation. It is not realistic to use a 9-10 player rotation like in the regular season, as this would prevent the main players from getting full playing time.

The Bulls only used an 8-man rotation. Besides the starting 5, only Gibson, Snell, and DJ Augustin came off the bench.

In Thibodeau's dictionary, there is no such word as "fuck". Isn't it normal for the core players to play 40+ minutes? Obviously, Jimmy and Noah's playing time will definitely exceed 40 minutes. As for the others, whoever plays better will play more.