Chapter 172 Jordan, When You Meet Me, You Are Unlucky
The next day, the 13th, was the game day of the G3 finals.
In order to prevent accidents, the team arranged lunch in advance at the hotel at 11 o'clock.
At twelve o'clock, the Suns boarded the bus and arrived at the United Center half an hour later. As expected, they were blocked by countless Bulls fans and could not enter the stadium smoothly.
"Bang hee bang..."
The bus was rattled by the fans outside, and the bus was shaking.
"Ignore them and don't stand up. We have contacted arena security and they will be here soon."
The experienced Colangelo stood at the front, reminding everyone.
However, despite contacting security, it took nearly an hour for the Suns' bus to enter the venue. When they entered the locker room, it was already 1:30, and by the time they changed clothes and started training, it was already 2 pm.
The game started at 8:30, and at 6 o'clock, the audience began to enter the stadium, and the United Center was filled with countless fans within an hour.
In the home team's locker room, Jordan was chewing an unlit cigar and was about to consider whether he should go to the visiting team's locker room.
In the G1 game, that bastard Old K kicked the door open. He has to pay it back. He can't swallow his anger!
But when he thought about the violence of Lao K, he really couldn't beat him. He was afraid that he would be beaten if he was sent to his door, and he didn't want to stand up.
After thinking about it, I decided to forget it. I have a lot of people, but I still don’t have the same experience as that bastard Old K. I’d better teach him a lesson on the court.
At eight o'clock, the two teams announced their starting lineups.
Suns: Wang Tiejun, Barkley, Ceballos, Dan Maley, Kevin Johnson
Bulls: Bill Cartwright, Grant, Pippen, Jordan, BJ Armstrong
In the ABC live broadcast booth, Bill Walton analyzed after getting the list: "The Suns changed the starting lineup, and Ceballos returned to the starting position.
His height is 198 centimeters and his weight is 86 kilograms. He is taller, heavier and younger than Danny Ainge. The Suns probably don't want Pippen to get such a big mismatch advantage in this position.
However, Pippen is 203 centimeters and 95 kilograms. Regardless of physical condition or strength, he still has the advantage of crushing him at the third position, and Ceballos is not enough to deal with him."
John Hanks analyzed: "The Suns arranged for Danny Ainge to start, just to open up space for the old K and create opportunities for low-post singles. So now they replace Ceballos, a role player who does not have three-pointers, the Suns are
Did you give up Old K’s low post attack?”
After analysis by the two, in fact, the reason why the Suns changed the starting lineup is very simple. The first is that Danny Ainge's physical fitness can no longer play in the starting lineup. He is old and can only be replaced by Ceballos. The second is that the old K is in the first half.
Even if the situation is good, the first three quarters will not be effective, so there is no need to arrange Danny Ainge to start.
In the CCTV live broadcast, Zhang Lili analyzed: "If the Suns want to win the game today, the key is rebounding and low-post offense.
The important point in this is that Wang Tiejun must be efficient. Only if he is efficient, thereby improving the efficiency of the entire team, can he offset Jordan's performance and give the team a chance to win."
"The key is that the Bulls are going to fight against him. How can the Suns solve this problem?" Sun Zhenping asked anxiously.
Zhang Liyi nodded and said: "I have been thinking about this problem for the past two days. It is really difficult to solve the problem. Let's see how the coaching staff arranges it."
At 8:15, the starting lineup begins.
"Charles, my friend, you are destined to lose. You will be unlucky if you meet me in this life." In the player tunnel, the two teams met, and Jordan said to Barkley with a smile on his face.
"Michael, that's not necessarily the case." Buckley said reluctantly.
"Old guy, if you meet me, you will be unlucky." Wang Tiejun said at this time.
"you?"
Jordan glanced sideways at Wang Tiejun and sneered: "Boy, why do you make me miserable?"
"I will make you miserable no matter how bad you make Charles." Wang Tiejun said in a deep voice.
"Just you?" Jordan's face was filled with disdain and indifference.
"After nine seasons of debut, you have only had two championships, and you don't even have a dynasty. Does that make you arrogant? Have you forgotten the feeling of being beaten by the bad boy army and the black and white duo?" Wang Tiejun said coldly.
.
"You?" Jordan choked.
"Old K, let's go."
At this time, the visiting team came out. Barkley looked at Jordan expressionlessly and pulled Wang Tiejun out.
"Two championships?"
Jordan stared at Wang Tiejun who was on the stage, clenched his fists, and spat out a sentence from between his teeth: "There will be three soon. I will decide this dynasty!"
"Michael?" Pippen said.
"Everyone should work hard. We will try to win two home games, and then go to Phoenix and kill them at their home court."
Jordan said coldly: "I said I would suppress that rookie for the rest of my life. I will never lose in this finals."
"Understood." Pippen and others nodded.
After Wang Tiejun came on the court, he took a look at the court. There were more stars from all walks of life on the sidelines. Some were old faces he had seen in the G1 and G2 games, and some were new faces. Most of these stars from all walks of life were wearing Jordan's home 23
No. 1 jersey, the few who didn't wear it, were also wearing the Finals jersey given to them by the Bulls at home.
"Brother, one day, I want these guys to wear my jersey." He twisted to Barkley.
"You are not an outside shooter. We insiders are not born to attract fans or sell shoes." Barkley said helplessly.
Lao Wang scratched his head and said unconvinced: "That's not necessarily true. My shoes are selling quite well now."
At half past eight, the game officially started.
After the jump ball, the Suns attack first.
Wang Tiejun ran forward, and Cartwright immediately pestered him. It was the same as last time, when he was off the ball, he began to pester him and began to consume his physical energy.
A cold light flashed in his eyes, he paused suddenly, and then stepped forward, but there was a slight change in direction.
Cartwright quickly moved laterally, trying to stick to him again. But just as he moved, Wang Tiejun's iron mountain broke out.
"Bang!"
He groaned and was knocked straight up, his back hit the floor, and he slid two meters further before he stopped.
"Shh!"
Huge boos immediately echoed throughout the United Center.
The referee moved his mouth. He was right next to him and could see clearly that both of them were moving and there was no way to blow the whistle.
He immediately pointed forward to signal the game to continue.
"Shh!"
Seeing that the referee did not call a foul, the home fans were dissatisfied and booed loudly.
"Pa bang bang..."
Only two thousand away fans gave the referee applause.
With no defender around Wang Tiejun, he immediately rushed to the basket. The Bulls had no choice but to shrink to the basket immediately, leaving a lot of space on the outside.
Kevin Johnson quickly passed the ball, and Dan Malley caught the ball at the right three-point line. Jordan immediately returned to the defense two steps away, but could no longer stop his shot.
"Can you hit an open three-pointer?" Zhang Lili shouted loudly.
"brush!"
Before he finished speaking, the water splashed and he hit a three-pointer.
"Beautiful! Wang Tiejun entered the basket, compressed the Bulls' defense and created an opening for the outside. He has at least half of the credit for this goal." Zhang Liyi shouted happily.
The Bulls attack, pass quickly, and advance very quickly.
Wang Tiejun failed to keep up with the pace and fell at the end with Cartwright. However, he still had to be faster, and Cartwright was the slowest.
Jordan ran in from the right wing with the ball, suddenly stopped, then started again, dumped Dan Malley, entered the paint from the wing, held the ball high in one hand, and jumped towards the basket.
At this time, Barkley returned to the basket and jumped to block the shot, but Jordan suddenly collected the ball with one hand, dodged the block, flew under the basket, pulled the lever with his backhand, and scored a goal.
"yeah!"
The moment this wonderful moment was born, the United Center was filled with excitement. Even the stars in the front row applauded and cheered for the goal.
"Dear viewers, the Bulls' home court is the most terrifying home court in the NBA from the late 1980s to now. It has the most steadfast fans. Every time Jordan scores a goal, they can get their cheers and screams here. Here,
, Jordan is God..."
As a big fan of Jordan, Zhang Lili introduced excitedly.
But after taking a breath, he immediately said: "But I believe that Wang Tiejun will perform brilliantly here.
Because he has done it before, he once confiscated the Bulls' basket here, he tore off Jordan's basket, he once silenced this most popular arena, and made everyone focus only on him.
on a person.
I believe that as long as he plays well, he will have a chance to beat Michael Jordan."
Suns offense.
Wang Tiejun stood firmly in the low position on the left wing, facing up, with his left foot outside the left line of the paint area. He pushed Bill Cartwright away with his left elbow and raised his right hand high to ask for the ball.
The Bulls tightened their defense slightly, but did not give the Suns much space on the outside to ensure they could return to defense in time.
Jordan still switches to defend Kevin Johnson, using both of them to strangle the internal and external passing routes while consuming his old energy.
However, Kevin Johnson still passed the ball. As soon as he took the ball, the Bulls' double-teaming of the low post began.
On the right wing, Pippen quickly turned around and pounced.
As soon as Wang Tiejun received the ball, Pippen reached a step away from him and grabbed the ball in his hand with both hands.
Pippen's consideration was to use steals to delay Wang Tiejun's relying on the ball, and then he could take the opportunity to close up and allow the double team to take shape.
But beyond his expectation, Wang Tiejun did not hit Cartwright immediately, but when he was not close to him, he suddenly took a diagonal step upwards, stepped on the left waist of the paint area with his right foot, and directly
Jumped up and hit a front hook.
But at this time, Cartwright failed to complete the move in time. There was no one in front to defend, and he was too late behind him, so he could only watch Wang Tiejun take action.
"Hook hand?"
Staring at the screen, Zhang Lili shouted, and then shouted excitedly: "I hit! Wang Tiejun hit a nearly two-point hook. The distance of three meters is the intersection point between the two-pointer and the near-two-pointer. He
Very stable shot..."
After hitting the ball, Wang Tiejun immediately ran to the backcourt and started to defend.
Although the Bulls accelerated the offensive and defensive rhythm, Wang Tiejun still returned to the basket in time, and Cartwright was at least two or three steps behind him.
At this time, Pippen was holding the ball on the left wing. With his height and size, he crushed Ceballos to the mid-range, then turned around and shot a jumper.
He deliberately kept a certain distance from the low post and did not get close to the paint area to avoid being double-teamed by Wang Tiejun. This was a disadvantage he suffered before, but he is very careful now.
But the shot was still missed. It was a little short, and the rebound rebounded and was won by Wang Tiejun.
When the Suns advanced forward, Jordan retreated and defended, making pressing moves from time to time, forcing Kevin Johnson to move to the left wing in a wide range, and with Ceballos coming out to respond, he was able to get rid of him.
Kevin Johnson broke through with the ball from the left wing, and Jordan caught up again. Upon seeing this, Wang Tiejun immediately stepped forward to initiate a pick-and-roll. The former took the opportunity to break into the paint and hit a layup.
In the next few rounds, Jordan hit a mid-range shot, Dan Marley missed a mid-range shot, Grant grabbed a backcourt rebound, and then Pippen once again held the ball on the left wing to beat Ceballos.
He missed the last shot, and he planned to break through with this shot.
He still used his physical advantage to bully Ceballos. After crushing him into the wing, he turned around and broke into the paint from the left elbow.
This position is also a specially selected breakthrough position, which can keep him away from the low post and avoid being double-teamed by Wang Tiejun.
Wang Tiejun had already moved up to his left waist, and when he saw this, he quickly moved a step laterally and blocked Pippen in front of him. At this time, Ceballos caught up to Pippen.
At this time, Cartwright, who was let go, immediately moved towards the basket and asked Pippen for the ball, who quickly hit the ground and passed the ball.
But Wang Tiejun also turned around. He had no intention of actually switching to guard Pippen. The purpose of covering up the defense was just to block Pippen and give Ceballos a chance to return to defense. So after achieving his goal, he immediately chose to return to guard the basket.
Down.
Cartwright caught the ball for a layup, and he just happened to be one step away. He flew over, grabbed the ball with his big hand, and slammed the ball directly onto the backboard.
"Beautiful! Wang Tiejun sent a big shot and he made a beautiful defense!" Zhang Lili shouted excitedly.
In the ABC live broadcast booth, Bill Walton said with a smile: "The defense this time is really good. First I guarded Pippen, and then I defended Cartwright. I think Old K still has defensive potential, but his athletic ability has not kept up."
When the Suns were attacking, head coach Westphal shouted loudly from the sidelines: "Pay attention to the support at positions two and three, and play steadily."
Dan Marley and Ceballos connected on the left and right wings. After a pass, the ball advanced to the frontcourt and returned to the hands of Kevin Johnson.
While paying attention to Jordan, he controlled the ball and made tactical gestures.
Three seconds later, Ceballos suddenly started and cut into the paint from the left wing.
Pippen pursued the defense, Wang Tiejun made a pick-and-roll outside the left midfielder of the paint area, Ceballos took the opportunity to cut into the paint area, and Kevin Johnson passed the ball.
This is a scalpel-like pass that needs to directly penetrate the Bulls' perimeter defense from the top of the key and pass directly into the paint area.
As long as the ball passes into the paint and is caught by him, the ball will definitely go in.
However, Jordan's defense was so good. When Kevin Johnson passed the ball, he instinctively stretched out his hand to block the ball. His fingertips touched the basketball. The direction of the ball suddenly changed and flew to the left wing. The angle was exactly behind Wang Tiejun.
meters away.
"Crack!"
Wang Tiejun reacted quickly and his arms were long enough. He moved his right foot outward and grabbed the ball with his right hand.
At this time, Ceballos, who had not received the ball, had already reached the basket, but Grant on the right wing had already returned to defend the basket, and he had no chance.
At the same time, Pippen entangled Wang Tiejun, and Cartwright was also in one step, forming a double-team on the left wing of the paint area.
"Whoosh!"
However, Wang Tiejun's vision was not affected. He saw Barkley's open space, threw a sharp right hand, passed the ball across, and passed the ball to Barkley in the low post on the right wing.
Barkley caught the ball, took a step forward, threw the ball before Grant could return to defense, and hit a goal.
9:4, the Suns lead and the Bulls attack.
Phil Jackson frowned a little. He had a feeling that there seemed to be some changes in Lao K tonight.
As for the specific changes, he just had some feelings, but no specific findings.
At the 7th minute of the first quarter, the score was 20:15. The Bulls were 5 points behind, and the point difference was not big.
Phil Jackson held the statistics of the first seven minutes of Old K. He made 1 of 2 shots, 2 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
He received two assists and three rebounds in most quarters. He believed that Lao K’s energy today was not on the offensive end, but on defense and supporting assists.
In addition to these data, there are some other data.
For example, both shots were hook shots.
For another example, he never entered the basket once, there was no strong confrontation, and he even deliberately reduced the confrontation.
This is the most important thing, because there has never been a strong confrontation, and he has never replaced Cartwright. This is completely different from the situation in the G2 game. Old K played half a quarter and consumed very little physical energy. He should be deliberately conserving physical energy.
.
During the G2 game, as long as the Bulls players went up to seek confrontation, Old K would definitely take the move, but not today, he was hiding.
The key thing is that although Old K didn't have much offense, he made a lot of other contributions, and the Suns were still in the lead, and he also maintained his physical fitness.
Phil Jackson always felt that there was no problem with the tactics, so he never called a timeout, but now he felt that there was a problem, so he decisively called a timeout.
Because the Suns have always been in the lead, they have never called a timeout before.
This timeout in the 7th minute was also the first timeout for both teams in the first quarter.
"We need to change this situation."
After the player came down, he first explained the situation and then said: "Take the initiative to strengthen the confrontation with him. His personality is impulsive and irritable. If you use trash talk to provoke him, you must not let his physical fitness remain until the second half."
Then he replaced Cartwright and replaced him with Mark West, and told him: "Mark, use all means to anger him. I want to see constant confrontation between you. I want to see him gasping violently.
I saw him sweating constantly."
"Understood, coach."
Mark West nodded solemnly.
The timeout ends and the game begins.
Bulls offense.
Jordan broke through with the ball on the right wing, and Barkley defended.
At this time, Grant suddenly cut inside the basket, ran towards the basket, and turned to Jordan for the ball.
Jordan had quick hands and eyes and passed the ball.
"What?"
Grant caught the ball, turned around, and took advantage of the situation for a layup. Unexpectedly, his eyes dimmed and a big hand pressed on the ball.
"Crack!"
When Wang Tiejun saw the Cobra cutting inside, he immediately chose to return to the basket and made a big shot. With a pinch of five fingers, he grabbed the ball directly from Grant's hand.
"Kevin!"
After landing, he raised his right hand high, and with a glance from above, he saw Kevin Johnson at the top of the arc descending crazily. BJ Armstrong was two steps behind, shouted, threw the ball with one hand, and passed the ball.
"Whoa!"
After receiving the ball, Kevin Johnson quickly went to the basket and succeeded in a layup.
22:15, Bulls attack.
"Beautiful, with three assists in a single quarter. Wang Tiejun has transformed into a top point guard. His ability to launch fast breaks in the backcourt is really good."
Zhang Lili shouted.
Sun Zhenping laughed and said: "Brother Mu Tiezhu was like this back then. He had great vision. He was very capable of getting the ball in the backcourt and launching fast breaks directly."
"Kevin Johnson is very fast, quote, lightning, and he is very capable of making fast breaks. And with such an attack, the Tiejun don't have to run at all, and they can save physical energy, killing two birds with one stone." Zhang Li said with a smile.
In the ABC live broadcast booth, Bill Walton said with a smile: "Old K's defense speed has always been very slow, and he is often blocked by outsiders. But he has high defensive height. As long as the defense is in place, he will be a huge defensive barrier."
"The problem is that he often fails to defend well, so Grant is careless." John Hanks laughed.
