Phil Jackson arranged the offensive tactics and asked for a two-pointer. On the last shot, there was only Jordan, no second option.
"Defending Jordan, they had no second option," Westphal said.
"The Suns have to guard Jordan to death. Guard him to death and win the match point. The championship is expected." Zhang Lili shouted excitedly.
"The Bulls can only be handed over to Jordan. Others are unreliable, including Pippen." Bill Walton said.
"But, Grant, you prepare to cut inside. This is what you are best at. Seize the opportunity and Michael will pass the ball to you."
At this time, on the Bulls bench, Phil Jackson changed his words, then stared at Jordan and asked: "Really, Michael?"
"As long as I can win, of course I am willing," Jordan said without hesitation.
"snort!"
Pippen had a lot of opinions. He was the second-in-command, so why wasn't he the second option? But Jordan was by his side, and he didn't have the courage to raise his opinion.
The atmosphere on the Suns bench was very tense. Even boss Colangelo was walking around and couldn't sit down at all. The soles of his feet and palms were soaked and his throat was very dry. He swallowed dryly from time to time, but there was nothing.
The idea of drinking water.
The timeout ends, the game begins, and the Bulls serve from the baseline.
In the left midfielder position of the paint area, Wang Tiejun was positioned, and two steps away from the left wing was Bulls main center Carter White, who had just been replaced.
Although Cartwright pulled out, Wang Tiejun believed that the Bulls would never hit him with this ball, even if he let the opponent open, so his main defensive focus was still on the basket.
On the right wing, Grant pulled outside and took Barkley away.
Pippen was on the left, Jordan was on the right, and B.J. Armstrong was in the middle. With the support of the three, they successfully advanced the ball to the frontcourt and then started running.
At this time, Jordan received the ball at the three-point line on the right wing, changed direction and passed Dan Marley, and entered the wing.
As soon as he broke through, Barkley quickly lifted up to defend, and cooperated with Dan Marley to attack from the front and back.
At this time, Grant, who was released by Barkley, suddenly started and cut inside the paint area.
"Bang!"
Jordan pushed casually, hit the ground and passed the ball in front of Grant.
"not good!"
At this moment, everyone on the Suns side, from the players on the court, to the bench, to the 2,000 away fans, and the Suns fans in front of countless TV sets, all felt something in their hearts, knowing that something was wrong.
Grant cut into the paint with one step, twisted and caught the basketball that bounced off the floor. He then jumped up and made a one-handed layup with his right hand.
"Get in!"
At this moment, the hearts of all Bulls fans, from the scene to in front of the TV, were raised.
"not good!"
At this moment, Phil Jackson's eyes widened instantly and his heart skipped a beat.
"Don't even think about it!"
Wang Tiejun stepped back to defend from the left waist position. When he saw Grant's layup, he immediately took off and jumped. His long right arm stretched forward as much as possible and his big hand pressed towards the rising basketball.
"Bang!"
Before basketball reached its peak, it was finally fixed on the backboard.
"oh!"
Countless Bulls fans instantly held their heads in annoyance, and huge exclamations erupted like rolling thunder.
"yeah!"
At the same time, all the Suns fans on the bench instantly became excited.
"Beep!"
When Wang Tiejun landed, he was hugged by Grant, and the referee blew the whistle.
"I said you couldn't vote for him, why didn't you listen to me?" Pippen finally had the courage to yell at Jordan.
"Shet!"
Jordan regretted it greatly. If he had taken the shot himself, even if it was a double-team, he might not have missed the shot. His touch today was not bad.
"Block! Old K blocked Cobra Grant's layup. He sent a nail-board block at the most critical moment..."
In the ABC live broadcast booth, Bill Walton roared excitedly.
"At the most critical moment, Old K made a crucial rim protection. Now there are only 1.6 seconds left, Old K still has free throws, and the Bulls have no timeout. The Suns have already won this game. They have
We are about to get the match point for the finals.”
John Hanks shouted excitedly.
In the CCTV live broadcast, Zhang Lili shouted excitedly: "That's great! Who said the Tiejun couldn't defend? Who said that?"
Sun Zhenping wanted to say something, Director Zhang, you seem to have said it, and more than once.
On the court, Wang Tiejun, Barkley and others celebrated continuously, then came to the frontcourt and stood on the free throw line.
Next, he made the first free throw, 98:96, and the team led by two points.
When Barkley came up for a high-five, he whispered: "Old K, they don't have time or timeout. Don't make free throws. Let them hit."
He was startled and looked at the time. There was only 1.6 seconds left. He immediately understood and nodded.
"Bang!"
It was easy to miss the free throw. The second ball hit the basket as expected. Cartwright grabbed the rebound and the Suns did not foul.
At this time, Jordan rushed to the basket and waved to the backcourt for the ball. Cartwright quickly passed the ball out.
"Beep!"
As soon as the ball was released and the game time ran out, the referee blew the whistle.
"yeah!"
The entire Suns team was in jubilation, and players and coaches on the bench rushed onto the court, including boss Colangelo.
"Hahaha……"
Buckley laughed so hard that tears came out, and he started crying later on, unable to hold back at all.
The same is true for Kevin Johnson and Dan Malley. They can't control their excitement at all, and they don't want to control it.
At this time, countless Suns fans in Phoenix and even the entire state of Arizona were cheering.
98:96, the Suns won, the G4 game ended, 3-1, the Suns got the match point for the 92/93 season finals.
The big score of 3 to 1 in the finals, there has never been a precedent for a comeback in the NBA. This big score symbolizes that the Suns are about to win their first finals.
Jordan looked terribly dark. He had a 16-point advantage in the first half and an 8-point lead in the third quarter. He was overturned in the final quarter. This was absolutely unacceptable to him.
Losing the match point was even more unacceptable to him.
This means that his three consecutive championships, his dynasty, and his historical status are likely to be far away from him.
As soon as he walked into the players' tunnel, he couldn't control the anger and disappointment in his heart. He punched the wall with his fist, breaking his hand and staining the wall with blood.
"Michael, calm down, we still have a chance, you have to hold on." Phil Jackson, who was sweating profusely, shouted in a deep voice.
"snort!"
With an angry snort, Jordan turned and walked to the locker room.
Phil Jackson sighed secretly and quickly called for others to follow him.
"Congratulations to the Suns for getting the match point. Congratulations to Tie Jun, you are not far away from your first NBA finals." Zhang Li said with a genuine smile.
"Congratulations to Tie Jun, you played your best performance tonight." Sun Zhenping said with a smile.
Zhang Lili added: "Tonight's performance proves that Wang Tiejun is currently the best center in our country and the best center in Asia."
"The best center?"
In Forty-Nine City, Liu Yumin, sitting in front of the TV, read silently.
She watched every one of these four finals, and had the clearest understanding of Wang Tiejun's strength.
To be honest, there is no second opinion. Just like Zhang Lili, Wang Tiejun is the number one center in China and the number one center in Asia.
He has a strong confrontation ability that no center in the country has, and he has the ability to attack the basket and low post that they lack.
Wang Tiejun's unstoppable ability to attack a city despite being double-teamed by many people is top-notch and rare in the entire world of basketball.
At this time, Bill Walton was making the final summary in the ABC live broadcast booth. He said: "There is indeed no precedent for the league to come back after falling behind 1-3 in the finals, but this does not mean anything, because everything is possible.
We look forward to Jordan leading the team to an epic performance in the next series and becoming the first team to successfully comeback after falling behind 3-1 in the finals."
John Hanks continued: "Jordan's performance tonight was amazing. He made 16 of 32 shots, a shooting percentage of 50%. Plus 4 of 4 free throws, he scored 36 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, 3 steals, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 4 turnovers.
Foul data.
He scored 163 points in the four finals series, averaging a terrifying 40.75 points per game. In the first two finals, he averaged 31.2 points and 35.8 points respectively.
But even with such a performance, the Suns still stole the match point from his hands, which is really incredible."
Bill Walton held up a data sheet and read: "Barkley made 10 of 26 shots tonight, 3 of 6 in the final quarter, with a poor shooting rate of 38.5%, plus 6 of 8 free throws, and scored 26 points. In this way
With such efficiency, we can still win the game. I have to say this is another miracle tonight.”
"The miracle is here with me."
After yelling, John Hanks continued: "Old K shot 6 of 9 in the first three quarters, made 7 of 11 free throws, and scored 19 points and 10 rebounds.
In the final quarter, he made 5 of 5 shots, 3 of 6 free throws, and scored 13 points, 4 rebounds, and 2 assists.
In the last 118 seconds, he made 3 of 3 shots and 3 of 5 free throws, scoring 9 points, 2 assists and 2 rebounds.
He led the team to launch a 13-6 attack at the last critical moment, from being 5 points behind to taking the lead by 2 points, and successfully came back in one fell swoop.
His performance in the last three minutes even overshadowed Jordan's performance, and he was the most important reason why the Suns were able to successfully comeback and gain match point."
"11 of 14 shots, a shooting percentage of 78.5%, 10 of 17 free throws, a shooting percentage of 58.8%. Old K played 35 minutes and scored an extremely efficient 32 points, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 4 fouls.
Statistics. As a rookie, his performance in the Finals was perfect." Bill Walton said excitedly.
John Hanks said: "Having said that, I want to criticize the Bulls' management. Your construction of the fifth position is really substandard and relies too much on the outside.
This era is, after all, an era of traditional centers. Even though you have top outsiders like Jordan and Pippen, the centers are too weak. If you encounter a top inside combination like the Suns, you will suffer.
Want to know how Old K performed in the Finals? He averaged 27 points and 13 rebounds per game.
Then there is another data that can be used for comparison, that is, the total data obtained by all the Bulls centers who faced off against K in the fifth position averaged 8 points and 6 rebounds per game.
This data only illustrates one problem: the Bulls' fifth position is completely rotten.
You must know that Lao K's defense is actually only average. Fast-moving centers in the league can defeat him on the offensive end, or at least they can defeat each other.
But all the Bulls centers combined only scored 8 points and 6 rebounds from him. Who will make up for the gap?"
Bill Walton nodded and said: "Jordan can still make up for the scoring, but there is no way to make up for the rebounds. In tonight's game, the Suns grabbed 46 rebounds, but the Bulls only had 31. This gap is extremely huge.
"
"So it's actually no surprise that the Bulls lost the match point." John Hanks finally said.
Bill Walton finally said: "The Bulls led by 16 points in the first half, and the defensive intensity declined slightly in the third quarter. The Suns regained 8 points, and the Bulls' defensive intensity continued to decline in the final quarter, and then the Suns finished under the leadership of Old K.
A comeback.
Throughout the game, the Bulls won on defense in the first half, but also lost on defense in the second half.
Among them, Jordan invested too much on the defensive end, which caused problems with his physical fitness. His offensive breakthrough ability was insufficient, his lethality was insufficient, and he only made four free throws. This was also an important reason why the Bulls lost tonight."
On the field, Wang Tiejun was surrounded by many reporters, but he was very tired and only answered two questions briefly before leaving the field with his teammates.
Returning to the locker room, he immediately soaked in the bucket, and Aaron Nelson poured a small bucket of ice cubes into it.
"Old K, let me add some ingredients for you."
Buckley ran in shouting, holding a bottle of champagne in his hand, and poured it directly on his head.
"I think it would make me happier if you gave me a girl. I can take an ice bath with her." Lao Wang wiped his face, drank half a mouthful of wine, and then said angrily.
He inherited the old man's ability to drink, but he is a good drinker. Now he has been controlling it, not even taking a sip of beer, but pouring a bottle of wine into an ice bucket. Doesn't this tempt him to drink his own bath water?
"Haha..." Buckley laughed and ran out.
At this time, in the home team's locker room, the Bulls players were surprised because Jordan was not as angry as he was after losing the first home game.
But now we are trailing 1-3, the Suns have already got match point, and there is almost no hope of coming back. Why is this?
The reason is simple. Jordan wanted to come back. He knew it was absolutely impossible without the help of his teammates, so he suppressed his emotions. In fact, he was about to explode now.
An hour later, the post-match press conference began.
The Suns' side and the Bulls' side are completely opposite. One has a lively atmosphere and the players are elated, while the other has a heavy atmosphere and the players are listless.
"Old K, hit 3010, do you think your performance tonight has reached a superstar level?" The first reporter to ask the question was a reporter from TNT.
"Of course, I am the superstar tonight, haha..." Lao Wang laughed.
"As a rookie, your performance in the final quarter was simply unparalleled and shocked everyone. How did you do it?" the reporter asked.
"You all said that the Bulls were scheduled for the finals, even when they were trailing 1-2, so I had to win, kill the Bulls, and prove you were wrong. This was what motivated me to explode in the final quarter.
.”
Staring at the dark crowd of reporters below, Lao Wang said seriously.
Is it because of us again?
The reporters looked at each other, but now they have obviously adapted to Lao Wang's style.
The host started to turn over the second reporter's cards. He saw Zhang Lijia and pointed at him. The staff quickly handed over the microphone.
Zhang Lili happily took the microphone, but the target of his question was not Lao Wang, but Barkley. He asked: "Charles, with a three-to-one lead, the championship is almost certain. At this moment, what do you want most?"
What was the sentence you said?"
"Ha ha……"
Barkley immediately burst out laughing uncontrollably. After laughing enough, he said: "What I want to say most? Yes, what I want to say most right now is that the G5 game should start quickly. I can't wait."
Next a reporter asked: "Charles, if the Suns win the championship, who do you think will be most qualified to win the FMVP? You or the old K who performs equally well?"
This question immediately silenced the scene.
Barkley was also startled. He glanced at Lao Wang next to him and said with some embarrassment: "I know, yes, Lao K performed very strongly. He is an important part of us winning the finals. Well, those guys will do
Making a choice is actually not something we can decide, you know that, right?"
As a superstar who is extremely eager for honors, his desire for FMVP is also very strong, because he hopes to be the core of the team and win the championship while also receiving FMVP honors. He has a chance this season.
Did it.
In this way, he can combine the three major honors of MVP, championship, and FMVP in the same season. This is a great affirmation for him, and his historical status will be greatly improved as a result, and he may even enter the top ten in history.
In the history of the league, not many people can win these three honors in the same season.
Willis Reed accomplished such a feat in the 1969/70 season, then Moses Malone in the 82/83 season, Magic Johnson in the 86/87 season, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 70/71 season, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1983/84 season.
Larry Bird accomplished such a feat twice in the 1985/86 season, and Michael Jordan accomplished such a feat consecutively in the 90/91 and 91/92 seasons.
If he can complete it, he will be the seventh person in history to achieve this honor.
"Old K, do you think you are eligible for FMVP?" The reporter turned around and asked.
"Me? Whatever, it's not us who decides who owns this thing. I'm happy for Charles to get it." Lao Wang simply dealt with it.
Naturally, he also wants to get this honor, not for anything else, but to get this honor, maybe he will have the opportunity to make more money, and then the system will definitely reward him with a large amount of points.
But it doesn’t matter if you don’t get it. This is only the first season, and there will be more opportunities in the future.
Over there with the Bulls, the atmosphere was like ice.
"Michael, there is no precedent for a comeback after being down 3-1 in the finals. Do you think we still have hope?" The first person to ask the question was a Chicago Sports reporter, who looked at Jordan expectantly.
Jordan stared at the reporter with fierce eyes and said: "There is no precedent, so let's start with us."
The reporter asked again: "So where do you think we lost today?"
Jordan's brows jumped, and his eyes became sharper. Lao Wang's figure immediately flashed in front of his eyes, and he couldn't help but said: "The fifth position, that is our flaw, but our tactics did not allow us to make up for our weakness in the fifth position.
, we gave up too many points and rebounds there."
"Do you think it's a tactical reason?" the reporter immediately asked.
Jordan frowned and glanced at Phil Jackson next to him. He still trusted the head coach and did not want to damage the relationship between the two.
It was Phil Jackson and his triangle tactics that allowed him to defeat the Bad Boys and win two consecutive championships.
"Phil's tactics were very successful in the first half. We led by 16 points. We successfully froze Barkley and cut off the connection between their outside and inside lines to a certain extent..."
Having said this, he thought about the bad second half and said with a livid face: "But we failed to persist to the end. This is the worst thing. We lost the victory when we had the advantage. I don't know what went wrong.
.”
"Phil, do you think there was something wrong with the Bulls' tactics in the second half?" the next reporter asked.
Phil Jackson pushed up his glasses and said slowly while organizing his words: "Well, we had, yes, some problems. The players persisted in high-intensity defense for three quarters. Yes, they were tired, and then let the Suns
The team took some chances.
In terms of tactics, I don’t think there is a big problem. We have always been in the lead. At the end of the first three quarters, we were still ahead by 8 points. That is a huge advantage for us.
But no one expected that Old K would play such an incredible performance in the final quarter, and he made us lose the game in the end."
"Michael, can you comment on Lao K's performance in the final quarter?" asked the next reporter.
Jordan snorted in his heart and said: "He really had a blast tonight, I have nothing to say."