Chapter 477: Divisional Final Matchup (2/4!) )
After a period of twists and turns, the Cavaliers broke all doubts and once again entered the Eastern Conference Finals.
Considering Tang Tian's performance in the playoffs in all past seasons, such a result is somewhat expected.
However, in the other group of matches in the East, the result of the game was a big surprise.
The Bulls, who ranked first in the league in the regular season and were regarded as the favorites to win the championship, lost the battle of Tianwang Mountain at home, and now they are 2-3 behind the Heat and are on the verge of elimination.
"Incredible!" Casey, who has always spoken highly of Rose and the Bulls, was surprised when he saw the result.
Tang Tian was also a little surprised, but after watching the videos of these games, he quickly understood.
Thibodeau is still the same Thibodeau, and at a tactical level, he was suppressed by Spoelstra.
In the first game, the Heat's offense couldn't hit the Bulls' impregnable wall, scoring only 70 points and losing nearly 20 points to the Bulls.
In the second game, the Heat adjusted their strategy and began to seize the characteristics of the Bulls' single offensive style, pushing Bosh to the No. 5 position, putting on a small lineup, and constantly wrapping Rose as a point of possession.
Rose's offensive efficiency was not too high, and after being choked, the Bulls' shooting percentage plummeted, but the Heat played a lot of defensive counter-attacks.
The same was true for the next few games, and while this Heat team didn't have James, Wade was the best speed-up.
Spoelstra is grossly underrated, and even without James, he has brought out the full potential of this duo team.
"Aren't you going to the scene for the sixth scene?" The day after the end of the Fifth War, Casey went to the office to find Tang Tian.
According to the previous habit, Tang Tian would go to the scene of his competitors during key events.
"I arranged for Sam to go, and you and I stayed and worked out how to deal with the broken ball." Tang Tian had already made a decision before, but he hadn't had time to talk to Casey yet.
"I'm not going either?" Casey was a little confused.
Tang Tian nodded, then took out a tactical manual and threw it on the table, on which were several sets of defensive tactics of the Heat team that he had studied.
Casey picked it up and was stunned for a moment.
Even the preparations were made in advance, and it seems that Tang Tian has already decided in advance that the Heat team will eliminate the Bulls and advance.
Over the next two days, the Cavaliers practiced the ball-handler at the finish line.
Of course, in addition to this, the tactics of killing the penalty area cannot be less.
The Heat's interior linemen, Tristan Thompson and Bosh, will only be weaker than the Celtics.
Two days later, Game 6 between the Heat and Bulls came to an end.
Boozer started the game hot, and under his leadership, the Bulls took a 15-point lead at halftime.
However, after the game reached the second half, the situation changed abruptly, Wade began to press with all his strength in the face of adversity, stealing Boozer and Rose in succession, and under his leadership, the Heat began to fight back.
Finally, 5 seconds before the end, he hit a super difficult three-point step back to kill the Bulls directly.
The familiar scene plunged the entire American Airlines arena into a boil.
Wade also jumped on the tech bench again, shouting at the Miami fans, "." That classic line.
Wade scored 31 points in the game and led the Heat to a 4-2 victory over the Bulls and advance to the Eastern Conference Finals.
It was also their first time since they won the title in '06.
At this point, the two sides of the Eastern and Western finals have also been released.
In the East, the Heat will play against the Cavaliers, who are already ready.
In the West, the Spurs eliminated the Grizzlies 4-0 and successfully avenged last year's Black Eight; In the other group, Kobe Bryant's performance was sluggish, and the Lakers failed to get a win under the Thunder and were swept 0-4.
Spurs vs Thunder, between the old team and the new team, will compete for another spot in the Finals.
In addition to the Bulls' surprise exit, ESPN and TNT predict that three of the top four teams will make it to the division finals.
This is the most accurate prediction, but it also shows that these teams are far superior to the others.
Strong confrontation, can be foreseen to be a sparkling game.
The Spurs and Thunder started the game first.
Both teams did not encounter much resistance in the first round, both swept their opponents, and their strength was equal.
The two teams met 3 times in the regular season, and the Thunder led 2-1 on the record.
When the game started, both sides played at a super high level at both ends of the offensive and defensive ends, and the scores rose alternately.
It wasn't until there were three minutes left in the fourth quarter that the Spurs' playoff experience began to show, Ginobili caused Westbrook's dribbling error, Parker stole Harden's key pass, and the Spurs scored two counterattacks to make a 5-0 run to give them a narrow 101-98 win over the Thunder.
The game was full of excitement, and the fans were also addicted to watching it.
And just after the first game between the Thunder and the Spurs, the Eastern Cavaliers also ushered in a contest with the Heat at the Cleveland Quick-Loan Arena.
Fans were extremely excited, and the Heat's upset took out their biggest rival in the East, and the Cavaliers were able to fully see the shadow of the dynasty at this time.
The Heat players were visibly holding their breath.
"I'm sure those pundits out there were predicting that we were going to be out in the series, like they were predicting in the first round, in the second round, but here we are." In the media interview before the game, Dwyane Wade, the core of the team, was also full of confidence.
Six years ago, the 24-year-old Wade led the team to win the championship, and now at the age of 30, he is still at his peak, and the arrogance in his heart has not changed.
Before the game, Wade did not say hello to his old friend Paul, for him, there is no talk of friends on the field, only competition.
In the enthusiastic cheers of the DJ on the spot, the starters of both sides appeared one after another.
On the Heat's side, the point guard is Mario Chambers, and he is partnered in the backcourt with Wade, an eight-time All-Star and the core of the Heat, and Michael Beasley Chris Bosh at the front, and Tristan Thompson at the center.
Spopartstra didn't change his starting lineup because of Yao, and it seems that he borrowed some experience from the Celtics.
On the Cavaliers' side, Tang Tian continued to use the starting lineup for the last two games of the division semifinals, with Carter and Artest still serving as the team's starting forwards, and the other three being Paul, Green and Yao Ming.
Amid the cheers of the home fans, Yao Ming put the ball back in the Cavaliers half, and the home team had the first chance to attack.
The 2011~2012 season of the East Finals officially kicked off!