Chapter 235: Yes, of course I can do it

Bang!

Swish!

Pfft!

Both DeAndre Jordan and Butler didn't let Fan Xi down.

DeAndre Jordan's second free throw indeed missed, and Jimmy Butler forcefully pushed away Luol Deng's box-out; he jumped up regardless of everything, tipped the basketball into the basket ahead of Joakim Noah... at the same time, he lost his center of gravity and fell heavily to the ground.

This is a desperate style of play.

Butler showed his tenacious personality.

This brought a chance for the Clippers to catch their breath.

The game continued, and the Chicago Bulls' offensive became more and more fierce; just as Rose said, the Bulls' young guys are not like the Lakers; they don't have physical problems; they have been maintaining training all summer and are in great condition.

The failure in the Eastern Conference Finals last season made the young Bulls full of motivation; they were eager to find their place this season; they believed in their young leader, Derek Rose, who could lead the Bulls to create miracles.

Finals MVP Fan Xi gave them great encouragement; every Bulls player believed that what Fan Xi could do, Rose could also do.

The Bulls' offensive came out quickly, and their defensive intensity was also strengthening.

The Clippers played very tenaciously, but after the first quarter, they were already trailing by 7 points.

28:35.

The good news is that Butler scored 7 points in the first quarter.

After being encouraged by Fan Xi pulling his ears, he was full of vitality.

But the Clippers' overall offensive efficiency didn't manifest because there were some loopholes in their offensive connection.

The coaching staff's original idea was for Stephen Nash to take charge of the ball, and Fan Xi to assist and point out on the side. However, the partnership between Nash and Blake Griffin didn't have the expected effect.

Griffin was too keen on solving problems by holding the ball himself, which gave the Bulls time to defend.

The only loophole in the Bulls' defensive system is actually Carlos Boozer; this guy nicknamed "Rebel" is a power forward whose offense is greater than his defense; whether in the Cavaliers or the Utah Jazz, the coaching staff needs to arrange someone to wipe his butt.

However, the Clippers didn't seize this loophole.

Leading to the contraction of the entire battle situation.

It's equivalent to one brain leading two small brains, one of which is not very developed; how to play? Everyone has their own mind, and their strength can't be used in one place.

Fortunately, Jimmy Butler is a brainless style of play; he rushed around and got 7 points.

Back on the bench, Fan Xi said it wouldn't work, it couldn't be played like this.

He discussed with Mike Brown, and finally Mike Brown firmly played the bad guy; he pressed the top pick Blake Griffin on the bench and replaced him with another top pick: Kwame Brown.

At the same time, Hamilton was replaced at the shooting guard position, and Butler moved to the small forward position.

The whistle blew, and the second quarter started.

The Bulls only made an adjustment at the No. 2 position; Caron Butler was replaced, and shooter Kyle Korver was brought on.

Although Butler was full of anger toward Fan Xi, in fact, his performance in the second quarter was not much. He was like a supporting actor who had suppressed his anger, racking his brains to compete with Fan Xi; he is indeed at the quasi-elite level at present.

But the fact is so cruel; Fan Xi is now at the quasi-superstar level.

Fan Xi can almost touch the threshold of the top ten active players in the league; he can resolve Butler's offense in two or three moves; the two sides are not at the same level, so there is no such thing as competing.

Caron Butler returned to the bench with his anger; he didn't even know how to tell Thibodeau that he still wanted to play.

Thibodeau would definitely not agree to this rude request.

The Bulls only have one privileged player.

…

The Bulls brought on Korver to enhance the offense.

However, Korver's first shot was killed from the side by Jimmy Butler, who slapped it down from the top of his head, and then forcefully squeezed away Korver, grabbed the basketball, and passed it to Fan Xi; Fan Xi ran wildly with the ball, seeing Butler galloping from behind out of the corner of his eye; he threw the basketball onto the backboard, and Butler followed closely with a tacit understanding.

Boom!

Butler poured the basketball into the basket like a broken bamboo; Luol Deng, who followed, could only commit a foul.

Swish!

Butler hit the extra free throw, and he got his 10th point of the game.

Fan Xi didn't hesitate either; he gave Mike Brown a look.

Leonard stood up and ran to the scorer's table to wait.

Turning back, the Clippers' defensive intensity suddenly increased; after reducing the two leaky spoons of Griffin and Stephen Nash, the defensive ability of each position of the Clippers was above the league level; combined, they actually had a momentum comparable to the Bulls, who had the second-best defensive efficiency last season.

Rose broke into the basket through Carlos Boozer's screen; when he forced a layup, he was directly knocked down from the air by Kwame Brown.

He staggered and almost fell; Fan Xi reached out to support him as he retreated.

Kwame Brown committed a foul, but this was a beautiful defense; Fan Xi reached out to high-five him and told him: "You are simply a man-eating defensive demon in the paint."

Kwame Brown grinned and laughed; such an evaluation made his entire cerebral cortex feel numb, and it was extremely satisfying.

Bang!

Rose missed the first free throw and hit the second... Swish!

The point gap was slowly narrowing.

Changing sides to fight again, Fan Xi held the ball across the half-court; on the way across the half-court, he heard Blake Griffin arguing with Mike Brown on the sidelines.

From the moment Mike Brown replaced him, he was a bit unhappy.

However, he didn't expect that he would publicly quarrel with Mike Brown.

He probably thought Mike Brown was a soft persimmon.

The TV broadcast also noticed this scene.

Their eyes were focused on the Clippers' bench; all the audience around the world saw Blake Griffin throw the towel handed by the ball boy to the ground through the camera, and broke into a verbal conflict with Mike Brown.

Blake Griffin cursed Mike Brown: You are James's son, Jack's dog.

Mike Brown was furious.

He directly expelled Blake Griffin.

He was polite to Fan Xi and James because Fan Xi and James were absolute leaders who could change the situation, but Blake Griffin hadn't reached this level yet; he couldn't tolerate Griffin's scolding; he had to let this person know his energy.

Griffin took off his jersey in protest at the time, turned and walked toward the locker room, cursing as he walked: "Without me, you can't win at all."

"I will apply for a trade myself!"

Griffin tore his face off.

Under the gaze of the world's audience.

This scene caused an uproar in the arena.

However, Fan Xi was not disturbed; he calmly directed the players' positioning, then subsequently drove straight into the paint, leaped up, and stabilized the team's morale with a dunk over Joakim Noah.

This did make Staples Center boil, because the live audience in the arena still focused their eyes on the game itself.

But the audience next to the TV saw everything.

And, ESPN also directly published their conversation through the on-site microphone.

Everyone knew that Griffin and Mike Brown had torn their faces off.

Previously, there were media discussions about Griffin's declining status after Fan Xi's arrival.

At that time, the media was fanning the flames.

Now, this huge time bomb was finally lit.

The Clippers' former reconstruction core took off his jersey and left, announcing to the world: he will seek a trade.

This is undoubtedly a matter that shakes the military heart for the Clippers, and no one knows how serious the consequences will be.

"The Clippers are finished; Jack Fan has no ability to rule the team at all. Griffin is just the first time bomb to explode; just wait and see, the Clippers' locker room will be very lively this year; this team that claims to be able to win the championship within three years won't wait until three years later; they have no future."

"Look at the united Bulls now; this is the benchmark for a youth army."

ESPN was crazily stepping on them, using Griffin's departure to constantly raise the stakes, scolding Fan Xi, Mike Brown, Dunleavy, and Sterling bloody.

Saying that the Clippers can't change their bumpkin genes, will never be able to get on the mainstream of Los Angeles, are experts in foreign wars and experts in internal fighting... and so on.

But in fact, when they were making sarcastic remarks, the Clippers blocked the Bulls' offense once again.

This time it was DeAndre Jordan rushing out to defend Boozer; Boozer's jump shot hit iron, and Kwame Brown grabbed the rebound.

Kwame Brown and DeAndre Jordan, the two centers, were like two door gods; just standing in the paint brought a great visual impact to the attackers.

Turning back, Fan Xi assisted Hamilton to complete a jump shot.

The Clippers' players were not affected by Griffin's departure, although he was a pivotal figure for the Clippers last season.

But this season, he has never integrated; although lacking him will make the Clippers' No. 4 position's impact weaker, the Clippers don't need impact now, but a system that is united from top to bottom.

After Griffin left, the Clippers' overall integrity improved visibly.

The Bulls became sad.

As time progressed, Bulls head coach Thibodeau was discovering a thorny problem: why are the Clippers and us playing more and more alike? How come we feel like we are fighting against ourselves?

This point became more obvious especially after he brought on Taj Gibson.

Center position: DeAndre Jordan vs. Joakim Noah.

Power forward position: First Kwame Brown vs. Carlos Boozer; after the Bulls brought on Taj Gibson, the Clippers moved Leonard to the No. 4 position.

Small forward position: First Leonard vs. Luol Deng, then it became Grant Hill vs. Luol Deng.

Shooting guard: Hamilton vs. Dunleavy.

Point guard: Fan Xi vs. Rose.

Looking at the players' playing styles, there are indeed some similarities.

Most importantly, Thibodeau studied under Jeff Van Gundy, Jeff Van Gundy studied under Pat Riley, and was also influenced by Popovich's academic school. Mike Brown studied under Popovich and is good at defense and positional offense.

This wave, they directly studied under the same master.

With similar player equipment, isn't it normal to play a game of fighting against oneself?

Swish!

As Fan Xi hit a shot at the 3-point line.

The two teams were tied at halftime.

59:59.

Back to the same starting line.

Looking at the situation in the first half, the Bulls' style of play is more mature, simpler, and more tacit.

The Clippers are more varied; at the same time, the criticized old, weak, sick, and disabled actually improved the depth of the lineup; although Blake Griffin left, it didn't affect the Clippers' continuous output.

"The Clippers are already at the end of their rope; I don't see what else they can play in the second half."

Bill Walton spread his palms and said: "I believe the Clippers' locker room must be very exciting now; maybe Dunleavy has already called Mike Brown to put pressure on him."

"Yes. Griffin is their inside core. When they return to the locker room, the problem will become prominent; the Clippers players will panic because of the lack of this backbone." Mike Breen also had this view.

In the hearts of the TV audience, it is the same.

Griffin was still the flag of the Clippers last season; now the Clippers have such a huge internal strife, can the team not be chaotic?

This is almost the only farce in the NBA in the past decade that can be compared to Isiah Thomas expelling Stephon Marbury on the spot back then.

What was the situation with the Knicks back then? They also hoarded a bunch of high-paid players, but in the end? A mess. The money was spent, and the team became a joke.

Now, the Clippers are very likely to repeat the same mistakes.

…

"Hey, Jimmy. You guy are simply too much of a bastard."

In the Clippers' locker room, DeAndre Jordan hugged Butler's neck and shouted loudly: "This guy actually used his damn elbow to touch my forehead just to grab a rebound. Doesn't he know I eat with my face? This guy is really a calculating jealous maniac."

"Hahahaha."

DeAndre Jordan's exaggerated body language made Kwame Brown laugh out loud; he pointed at DeAndre Jordan: "You deserve to be called handsome? I am the one called handsome?"

"No, you should be called DeAndre Jordan, and he should be called Kwame Brown." Rasheed Wallace presided over justice on the side.

DeAndre Jordan didn't do it now: "Oh, my god, Mr. Wallace, I always thought you were a fair and wise person. But how can you make such a mistake? If I become Kwame Brown, I still have to worry about next year's contract, while I already have a four-year multi-million annual salary long-term contract."

"Go to hell, I can also get a multi-million annual salary next year. I am a man-eating paint monster!"

Kwame Brown claimed confidently.

The inside group was playing and making trouble on this side.

Vince Carter, Grant Hill, Hamilton, and Stephen Nash were chatting about philosophy on the other side; they talked about the differences between Eastern and Western philosophy. Obviously, Nash has been very respectful of Eastern philosophy recently; he said: Western philosophy always hopes to transform something; they always think that God should live on the other shore, and the purpose of our practice is to make us infinitely close to God. But in the East, they believe that everyone can become a God.

Fan Xi and Leonard sat in the middle; both of them were relatively silent.

Neither side joined.

The two looked at each other for about four or five seconds, and Leonard suddenly spoke: "Do you feel like we are missing someone."

Fan Xi then remembered that Griffin was not there.

He got up quickly, intending to discuss this matter with Mike Brown.

But Mike Brown's phone rang at this time; the black coach with slightly deaf ears turned on the speakerphone.

Then, Dunleavy's voice came out: "Mike, I just saw the latest situation, and Griffin's agent is also coming to me to ask for trouble. So, I want to tell you now, Mike."

"Listen, you did a good job; I rejected all their unreasonable demands. And tell them, if there is a suitable chip, we will trade him. But before that, he will be suspended for his behavior of offending the head coach, suspended indefinitely, until there is a quote that suits us."

"Mike, next you have to prove to me and the media that even without Griffin, we can still play well."

"Can you do this?" Old Dunleavy asked Mike Brown on the phone.

This way of handling is completely different from what those ESPN commentators said.

Mike Brown answered very affirmatively: "Yes, of course I can do it."

… ===== CHAPTER 236 =====