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A few days later, the other three matchups in the East and West were also decided. In the West, the Spurs and the Clippers defeated their respective opponents and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.
Last season's Western Conference Finals was a clash between the Spurs and the Clippers, where the Spurs were superior. This season, although Leonard has improved, it's undeniable that the Big Three are aging, and their competitive form is declining.
Against the Clippers, with Harden, no one knows if the combination of Paul, Jordan Jr., and the Big Three can secure a victory.
Even Wang Chong couldn't definitively say which team had the upper hand in this collision between the two teams.
However, one thing Wang Chong was certain about was that no matter who won the Western Conference Finals and advanced to the Finals, it would still be difficult to secure the championship after the Finals.
This is because the Eastern side of the Finals had already been decided: the Cavaliers and the Bulls.
The Bulls faced the Celtics in the Eastern Conference Finals, but they lost 4-2 to the Celtics.
Durant played spectacularly over 6 games, averaging 35 points per game, but the significant gap in strength between the two teams was too much for Durant to overcome on his own.
As a result, the Bulls were set to meet the Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference Finals.
In the face-off between Wang Chong's current team and his former team in the Eastern Conference Finals, no matter which team emerged victorious, it wasn't an exaggeration to say that the winning team from the West would have a 7% to 8% chance of winning the championship in the Finals, considering the obvious gap in strength.
As for the trend in the Eastern Conference Finals, the general consensus was that the Cavaliers had a slightly more optimistic outlook.
If this had been before the regular season started, many might have leaned toward the Bulls, as their roster seemed more organized and much stronger than the Cavaliers'.
Of course, the favorites to win the championship at that point were still the Big Three of the Heat, and the Bulls' strength had diminished significantly without Wang Chong.
Who would have thought that the Cavaliers would dominate the court under Wang Chong's leadership, and the rise of Curry and Butler on the Bulls allowed the team to survive perfectly during the gap when Wang Chong left the team.
When the two teams clashed head-to-head in the Eastern Conference Finals, the gap in their lineups wasn't that large, and the competition boiled down to the quality of the stars.
In this regard, no one in the entire league could compare to Wang Chong, and neither could Curry.
So, just from that point, the Cavaliers were already ahead of the Bulls.
The odds given by Spinach were also clearly more in favor of the Cavaliers winning in the end.
On May 20, Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals officially began at the Cavaliers' court.
Cavaliers' starters: Irving, Wiggins, Wang Chong, Pau Gasol, Whiteside.
Bulls' starters: Curry, Green, Butler, Lore. Deng, Gasol Jr.
The starting lineups of both teams hadn't changed since the first game of the season six months ago, but the feeling of the two teams facing off was entirely different from before.
There was no suspense during the opening jump ball, as Whiteside completely dominated Gasol Jr. in rebounds and steals.
The Bulls were well aware of the huge gap between their interior line and the Cavaliers, so they opted to avoid interior matchups as much as possible at the start and immediately sped up their offense, launching a fast-paced attack.
The Bulls' intentions were very clear: they wanted to play to their strengths and avoid their weaknesses, while the Cavaliers took advantage of the situation and fought back against the Bulls.
Jokes aside, when Wang Chong built this team, he did so according to a small-ball tactical style. Irving, Wiggins, and Luis, who was sitting on the bench... Isn't Williams an athletic and mobile perimeter player?
Including the interior, when playing against the Bulls, the Cavaliers quickly replaced Pau Gasol, whose legs had already become a hindrance, with Tristan Thompson.
The "Big Men" haven't been very useful for the Cavaliers this season, with Big Gasol, Whiteside, and Tristan Thompson handling the best rebounding and open baskets, with Whiteside outperforming him.
This led to Tristan Thompson, who played just over 20 minutes during the regular season, averaging 6.4 points and 5.8 rebounds per game, falling short of the 8.5 points and 8 rebounds per game he averaged in the 14-15 season.
But when the Cavaliers matched the Bulls' offensive pace, the athletic Thompson came into play. While his functions on the court overlapped with Whiteside's, there was a sense of waste, and neither of them had shooting abilities, which reduced the Cavaliers' offensive spacing to a certain extent.
But for the Cavaliers, the impact wasn't huge, because both Wang Chong and Irving were players with excellent ball-handling abilities who could create their own shots, and didn't particularly need their teammates to help cover and create space.
With Whiteside and Tristan Thompson patrolling the basket, it was almost as if they could grab rebounds at will, leaving the Bulls with no chance to survive.
Not to mention offense, the Bulls had difficulty even protecting their own defensive rebounds.
Gasol Jr. wasn't the type of interior player who excelled at rebounding, and he only averaged 7.6 rebounds per game for his career, which was merely a passing mark for a 2.11-meter-tall big man.
In fact, Wang Chong still left the Bulls with a good interior player, but without him, Bulls head coach Thibodeau never recognized this talent, and this player remained a backup, playing fewer than 20 minutes per game, unable to fully take advantage of his strengths.
That player was Draymond Green.
The 14-15 season, which was supposed to be Green's breakout year, had him being repurposed by Kerr on the Warriors, where he became the starting power forward, averaging 31 minutes per game. He contributed 11.7 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists, and was named to the All-Defensive Team.
Just a year later, during the Warriors' 73-win season, Green's playmaking skills improved dramatically, averaging 14 points, 9.5 rebounds, and 7.4 assists per game, with his defense becoming even more aggressive.
In the future, many people would dislike Green, some due to his bad attitude, others due to his aggressive methods of kicking and pushing, while some simply didn't like his ball-handling style at the top of the arc, considering it to be inefficient.
But no one would question Green's defense. As a 2.01-meter forward, his intensity and fierce competitiveness were things no opponent wanted to face.
Wang Chong chose Green for the Bulls to keep him from developing with other teams, even if the Bulls didn't utilize him. One day, if he was forced into the game, Green would greet Wang Chong from three different angles.
At that time, Wang Chong didn't expect to leave the Bulls due to the system's task, but obviously, not everyone shared his open-minded vision.
Green's rise with the Warriors was a blessing in timing, and that success was something that couldn't be repeated.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the case with the Bulls, where Green was largely ignored.
Obviously, the Bulls were left to rely on Lore at the power forward position. Deng wasn't an ideal candidate, but Thibodeau still didn't think to use Green because, in his mind, Green, who stood 2.01 meters and weighed over 100 kilograms, was simply a small forward, in the same position as Butler.
The Bulls were wasting such talent, and Wang Chong was happy to see that the weaker the opponent, the more it would help him lead the Cavaliers to victory.
And that's exactly what happened on the court.
In terms of offensive firepower, the Bulls were actually bigger than the Cavaliers, with all five positions capable of scoring. Even Gasol Jr. had mid-range and long-range shooting abilities, and the court space was very open, providing Curry with an excellent offensive environment.
But the question was, what's the point of a great offense if you can't even protect your defensive rebounds?
Additionally, the Cavaliers' defense wasn't bad at all. Only Irving was slightly weaker on defense among the three perimeter players, while Whiteside and Tristan were solid inside, with Thompson being a good rim protector.
In just a few minutes, the Bulls had to call a timeout, as the Cavaliers had already stolen three offensive rebounds, completing their second-chance scoring.
In the blink of an eye, the gap between the two teams began to widen.
No mistake, one hair, one interior, one tolerance, one 6, one 9, one look!
Thibodeau also realized that the Cavaliers had outplayed his Bulls in terms of tactical gameplay and lineup configuration. In this situation, the Bulls could only rely on the individual abilities of their stars to force the game's direction if they wanted to win.
After the timeout, the Bulls began frequently using Curry and Gasol Jr.'s three-point shooting offense to block and cover.
Curry didn't back down at a critical moment, hitting two out of three shots and scoring 6 points in a row.
But the Bulls' fans didn't have time to rejoice before Wang Chong, from the Cavaliers side, responded immediately.
Although their paths were different, the result was the same. Wang Chong first connected on a mid-range shot, then hit a three-pointer, scoring 5 points in a row. Although it was one point less than Curry, Wang Chong shot 2 of 2, more efficient than Curry.
The Bulls fans had seen this type of scene before—where the opponent could counterattack immediately after making a move—but the time had passed, and now they saw Wang Chong, in a Cavaliers jersey, delivering a fatal blow like this.
On the court, the Bulls had completely fallen into a passive situation, and the point gap continued to widen.
Seeing the advantage solidifying, the Cavaliers' playstyle shifted once more, and they were replaced by Paul. Gasol began slowing down the pace of the attack and began a positional battle.
After all, there's an element of instability in counterattacks and running plays, and if the Bulls hit three consecutive three-pointers, they could still have a chance to catch up.
But if the Cavaliers reduced their offensive pace and adjusted their defense even more, it was unlikely the Bulls would have a chance for a comeback.
At the same time they replaced Gasol with Big Gasol, the Cavaliers also replaced Whiteside with Tristan. Thompson was swapped for two players with almost no offensive ability. Wang Chong moved from small forward to power forward, and Wiggins was moved to small forward, bringing in a player who hadn't been used much during the regular season.
When fans saw this player on the court, they were a bit confused and didn't understand why the Cavaliers had made such an unclear substitution.
It was a mediocre 1.91-meter guard: Matthew Dellavedova.
Others didn't know why, but Dellavedova, who had suddenly been activated, was mentally prepared, because Wang Chong had already told him in advance.
Dellavedova's only task when he entered the game was to stick to Curry like glue and apply constant pressure.
It might sound a bit ridiculous—this player, who wasn't even stable in the rotation, how could he defend Curry, a top star who was competing with Wang Chong for the MVP this season?
But it was true. In the original 14-15 season, the reason Curry didn't win the Finals MVP was because his performance during the Finals was far below expectations, and the reason for his poor performance was directly linked to Dellavedova's tough defense throughout the series.
Dellavedova had relied on his successful defense of Curry in the Finals, leaping from an unimportant player to one of the league's top defenders, which also earned him a 4-year, 38-million-dollar contract.
38 million for four years, an average of 9.5 million a year. It may not seem like much, but as a bench player who averaged only about 5 points and 3 assists per game, securing nearly 10 million a year was quite a leap.
In fact, Dellavedova's actual level wasn't very high. He was essentially a standard bench player, but his classic Finals defense against Curry depended entirely on his hard work. It was said that after guarding Curry, Dellavedova, due to excessive sweating and dehydration, had to hang a saline bottle to replenish his fluids, demonstrating how hard he worked on the court.
The Cavaliers didn't really need Dellavedova to be a miracle worker to limit Curry's game in order to win, but Wang Chong still wanted to respect players who worked hard. If the opponent could seize this opportunity and truly succeed in limiting Curry on the court, then it could be considered a case of changing his fate through his own effort.
When Dellavedova first entered the game, Curry didn't pay him much attention, but he was a little confused as to why Irving had switched to a new defender.
However, after a few rounds, he realized why the Cavaliers had such an unknown player on the floor.
This guy was like a piece of plaster, always sticking to Curry, even when he wasn't holding the ball. The opponent would constantly make physical contact with him and apply pressure.
This kind of behavior was extremely demanding physically, especially defensively, requiring even more strength because Curry, on offense, could rely on his teammates for screens, and it took a lot of effort to navigate them.
But Dellavedova himself had very limited playing time, and there was no need to worry about distributing his physical energy. Even if he could only defend Curry for a few minutes, as long as it had an effect on the game, it was considered a win.
With the advantages on the other side, the Bulls were completely suppressed by the Cavaliers on the court, and had no chance to catch up.
At 107-99, the Cavaliers won the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals by 8 points at home.
End of this chapter
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