On December 20, Beijing time, the two playoff teams in the East and West Lakers and Bulls ushered in a strong showdown, the Bulls' two old acquaintances Ball and Caruso had played for the Lakers before, James and DeRozan were old friends, Davis was injured and could not play, the team was led by James and Wissbook.
The game was a fantastic one, with the two teams fighting until the very end, and DeRozan hit consecutive singles at key moments, but also against James, which was of extraordinary significance to DeRozan. It means that he finally defeated his own demons, defeated his nightmare, to know that DeRozan is a player with depression, that year in the Eastern Conference playoffs, he and Lowry led the Raptors did not suffer less from the James Cavaliers, and it can even be said that the whole mentality is about to be broken.
James became his real bitter lord, looking at the series at that time, the Raptors were like a curse, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't climb over the Cavaliers' mountain, even if they were leading by many points, and finally they were reversed, and they ended up in a regular season, it was the Dragons playoffs that were the embarrassing name of the worm, the disheartened DeRozan finally came to the West, James also happened to come to the Lakers, and once again pressed the Spurs to the ground and rubbed, when many media joked that James was going to fight with DeRozan to the end, You have to cast a shadow of him. Many fans have also ridiculed that DeRozan is inseparable from the shadow of James wherever he runs.
In fact, DeRozan himself has been haunted by this shadow, just as Kemba Walker never won against James, a fear that comes from within. And in today's game, DeRozan used the traditional middle distance to announce to everyone that he officially defeated his heart demon, at the key moment of the festival, the Bulls were still one point behind, DeRozan was tragically blocked by James on the layup, the teammates still chose to believe him, gave him plenty of trust, this time DeRozan did not escape, refused to block and change defenses, singled out James head-on, the iconic mid-range fell into the net frame, followed by another mid-range killing curse.
DeRozan proved that the shooting is the most stable weapon, the shooting is never outdated, James refused to receive the ball before the end of the game, and turned his head back to the locker room, DeRozan also said in the post-game interview that he respected James very much, and he scored 38 points alone in this game, which can be said to have finally come out of the shadow of James.