Suns: Wang Tiejun, AC Green, Drexler, Dan Marley, Kevin Johnson
Bulls: Luke Longley, Clifford Robinson, Pippen, Jordan, BJ Armstrong
At eight o'clock, the game officially started. After the jump ball, the Suns attacked.
The one who jumps the ball with Wang Tiejun is Luke Longley. Kerry plays power forward, which is the position he is really used to.
"Beep!"
In the fifteenth second of the opening period, when Wang Tiejun fought off two brutal blows and knocked Luke Longley over, the referee's whistle sounded and he made a gesture for an offensive foul.
Lao Wang glanced at the referee, said nothing, threw the ball over and ran to the backcourt.
Looking back, he went directly into the basket and never came out again. His huge body blocked the basket and occupied a large space.
"Pop!"
After slapping his hands twice, he yelled at Pippen who was holding the ball: "Come in, Pi Lao Er, and let me give you a hat."
"Shh!"
Bulls fans immediately booed from the audience behind the baseline.
Pippen gritted his teeth, glanced at Dan Marley, who was facing him in front of him, and suddenly made a move to stand up and take action. The latter was shaken. Although he was not shaken up, his feet were already moving. He immediately started to break through.
He reached the three-point line and headed straight into the paint from the left elbow.
On the weak side, Jordan used Clifford Robinson's pick-and-roll to cut back into the paint, and the latter pulled to the right three-point line.
The Suns did not switch defense, Drexler chased Jordan, and AC Green chased Kerry.
Pippen drove into the paint from the left elbow, but was blocked by Wang Tiejun, causing an emergency stop.
At this time Luke Longley was also moving under the basket.
At the same time, Dan Malley caught up from behind, Wang Tiejun immediately took a step back to defend the basket, and Thunder took over Pippen.
At this time, Jordan cut into the paint, took advantage of Luke Longley's pick-and-roll, dropped Drexler, ran past Wang's back, and reached out to Pippen.
Pippen passed the ball, Jordan received the ball, and immediately made a turnaround and fadeaway jumper near the basket. Wang Tiejun took a step forward and tried his best to take off and block the shot, but failed to make it.
"Bang!"
The ball hit the basket.
"Jordan's fadeaway jumper is so powerful that even with such a high defensive height, Jordan couldn't prevent it." Su Qun shook his head.
"It is generally difficult to block shots when leaning back, unless you have excellent prediction and block the shot from the side first."
Zhang Lili explained, but then said: "But with this kind of ball, under the defense of the Tiejun, I think even Jordan's hit rate will not be very high, even if it is within the paint area, it will not exceed five
become.
So we don’t need to worry about this offense. If the Bulls were to use this offense to win today, it would be too difficult.”
Sun attack.
Kevin Johnson advanced into the frontcourt and immediately encountered Jordan's half-court press and was forced to pass the ball to the glider on the left wing.
"Crack!"
But at this moment, Pippen suddenly stepped in and intercepted the ball in front of the glider. The Bulls immediately launched a fast break.
"The glider is a bit careless!" Albert shook his head at the TNT commentary booth.
"Michael!"
After Pippen stole the ball, he moved forward. After crossing the center line, he saw that Jordan was one step ahead of Kevin Johnson. He quickly shouted and pushed the ball over with one hand.
"Bang!"
Jordan caught the ball and passed the top of the arc, took off three steps later, and made a sideways dunk unique to the league. The Suns basket was exploded.
"0:4, the Suns can't be careless!" Zhang Lili reminded.
When the Suns attacked, as soon as the ball passed the midline, the Bulls immediately launched a half-court press.
Three steps from the top of the arc, Jordan pressed in front of Kevin Johnson, blocking the passing line between him and the low post. With extremely fast movements of his feet, he prevented the latter from breaking through several times. At the same time, he tried to steal the ball with his hands.
Force the opponent to join the ball.
At the same time, Pippen and BJ also adopted line defense, trying to block the passing and receiving routes between Drexler, Dan Marley and Kevin Johnson.
The three of them worked together to lock the ball in the hands of Kevin Johnson. Once Jordan forced a lightning ball, the defense was successful.
"Kevin!"
Wang Tiejun stood low on the left wing and shouted loudly.
Kevin Johnson had been forced by Jordan to turn around to protect the ball, and could join the ball at any time. At this time, he heard Old K's shout. While dribbling, he suddenly turned left and made a sudden move, forcing Jordan to take half a step back.
He immediately dribbled the ball and took a step back, widening the distance from Jordan. After glancing at Old K's position, he passed the ball over.
"The attack time is 18 seconds." Kevin Harlan reminded loudly in the TNT commentary box.
"Crack!"
With his left elbow blocked and facing Luke Longley, Wang Tiejun grabbed the ball with his right hand. In the next moment, his attack began.
"squeak!"
Amidst the scuffing sound of his sneakers, he turned around and began to slide off.
But the speed is not too fast, giving Luke Longley time to retreat and even giving Clifford Robert the opportunity to help defend on the weak side.
After turning around, he moved his right foot inward. At this time, Luke Longley was retreating and in the process of moving. At this moment, the movement turned into a hit. His feet paused, six forces merged into one, and his right shoulder and back collided with each other.
into the opponent's chest.
The force of this collision is like a hungry tiger pouncing on its prey!
"Bang!"
With a muffled groan, Luke Longley was instantly knocked away by a huge force.
"here we go again!"
Countless Bulls fans lamented in their hearts.
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
As Luke Longley fell to the floor, the basket above his head was blown over.
"yeah!"
Suns players, hundreds of away fans on the bench, cheered.
The referee's mouth bulged but he did not blow the whistle.
He still has to worry about it. Old K is not a small person now, so it is inappropriate to continuously call him offensive fouls.
Looking back, Jordan carried the ball into the paint area, faced Wang Tiejun's block and made another turnaround and fadeaway jumper.
To be honest, this kind of technical movement requires too much physical fitness and consumes a lot of energy. If your physical condition is not good enough, you may strain your waist in one session.
But Jordan's physical fitness is so good that he did this action easily and freely.
However, Lao Wang's defense is not a vegetarian. When he stands still, he has a defensive height of 287 centimeters. With sneakers, this height can reach 290 centimeters. The defensive height of taking off and blocking a shot, when fully taking off, can even
It reaches 350 to 360 centimeters.
Although there was still no block, such a high defensive height also forced Jordan to adjust his shot height upwards.
With this adjustment, the ball was a little shorter, hit the basket and rebounded. Lao Wang turned around and caught it, and then passed it to Drexler, who immediately turned around and dropped quickly.
At this time, Zhang Lili analyzed: "Look, I just said that this kind of difficult shooting is not possible, the hit rate is too low.
The simpler and easier the scoring method, the less intense the defense encountered and the higher the hit rate, which is the best offense."
At this time, the Suns' fast break was completed. Drexler held the ball and rushed to the frontcourt. Jordan had already caught up. He quickly passed the ball to the lightning in the middle. The lightning stopped at the top of the arc. At this time, he participated in the fast break.
Wang Tiejun, who was attacking, rushed in from beside him.
"Luke Longley was left behind, and the Suns formed a pattern in the frontcourt with more players beating fewer players." Su Qun shouted at this time.
"Old K."
Kevin Johnson shouted and threw the ball toward the basket with both hands.
Wang Tiejun rushed into the paint area, and the ball flew over his head, fell down, and fell into his hands. The next moment, he was flying.
"Bang!"
One-armed tomahawk chop, with one ball, all the noise in the United Center was silenced.
"yeah!"
The Suns players, the bench, and the away fans were all excited.
"yeeeeeees!"
Albert cheered excitedly and roared: "This is a fast attack belonging to a 130 kilogram beast. When he charges up, he will be an unstoppable heavy tank..."
Kevin Harlan also shouted excitedly: "Luke Langley is two or three steps behind Old K. Clifford Robertson is not faster than Old K. He returns to the center from the wing and cannot keep up with Old K.
K's fast break rhythm, this kind of fast break, the Bulls have no way to defend."
Zhang Lili reminded at this time: "The Iron Army should pay attention. This kind of fast attack does improve morale, but it consumes a lot of money and cannot be attacked too often."
4:4, the Bulls attacked and called a timeout after serving. Phil Jackson signaled the call.
Zhang Lili said: "Let's go back to Jordan's attack just now. That kind of shot facing Tiejun cannot beat the Suns, because Tiejun's offensive efficiency is definitely higher than Jordan's. As long as his shots are guaranteed,
Can beat the bull.
So what Jordan and the Bulls have to do now is to use the power of tactics to avoid the defense of the Iron Army. In fact, Jordan's position on the court is more of a weak-side player, and his offensive direction is to avoid the frontal defensive force under the basket.
.
Now Phil Jackson has called a timeout. He does not call timeouts easily. This time he probably felt that there was something wrong with the tactics."
In front of the Bulls bench, Phil Jackson said to Jordan: "Michael, please be careful not to challenge Old K's defense. It will not help our game at all. What you have to do is to avoid his defense and score the ball."
.I would rather every shot you make is a no-nonsense layup instead of a fadeaway jumper."
Jordan nodded. He really wanted to hit that bastard K. on the head a few times to prevent that guy from getting too crazy.
Phil Jackson continued: "Old K got an offensive foul at the beginning, which shows that today's whistle will definitely favor us, so we have to take advantage of the home whistle.
Luke, next I hope you will strengthen your defense. If Old K gets two fouls in the first quarter, then our situation will be great."
Luke Langley nodded helplessly. He had no choice. He was a coolie and a human shield in the Bulls. He shouldn't have been traded here in the first place. I hope he can finish this game alive under Old K's hands tonight.
The timeout ends and the game begins.
Pippen takes the ball and attracts the defense on the strong side. The triangle on the strong side is him at the 45-degree position of the three-point line, BJ at the top of the arc, and Luke Longley in the low post.
In fact, under the defense of Old K, Luke Longley basically has no chance of making a move, so there are only two points in this triangle that can be used.
On the weak side, Jordan was running without the ball, doing a pick-and-roll with Kerry, and then one cut in and the other pulled out.
"The low post doesn't have the power to attract defense!"
Seeing that Wang Tiejun didn't care about Luke Longley at all and just wandered around, covering a large area defensively, seriously threatening the Bulls' offense, Phil Jackson very much hoped to have a player who was good at low-post offense.
At this time, Luke Langley came up from the low post and set up a pick-and-roll for Pippen. Wang Tiejun didn't come out at all and just stood on the left midfielder.
Dan Malley was blocked by Luke Longley, and Pippen used the wall to break into the three-point line. At this time, Kevin Johnson in the high post made up for it. He quickly passed the ball to b****j, and the glider on the right wing
Having made up for it, he passed it to Jordan again.
In this way, Jordan got the open space. Although AC Green made up for it, he was still two steps away, so he had enough opportunities to make a shot.
"brush!"
He took the shot calmly and scored two points on one hit.
Sun attack.
The ball entered the frontcourt, and under the Bulls' half-court press, Kevin Johnson passed the ball to Wang Tiejun in the low post.
Although Jordan's defense is top-notch, it is almost impossible to prevent him from even passing the ball.
Jordan himself had no such plan. The strategic purpose of the half-court press was not only to block the connection between the ball carrier and Old K, but more importantly, to use strong defensive pressure to destroy the Suns' organizational function.
What annoys the Bulls is that since this season, the Suns' organizational functions have been divided into three branches. Kevin Johnson has one, Drexler has one, and Old K has one.
Even when encountering a team with a strong perimeter like the Bulls, Old K will assume the main organizational function. Generally, the ball will pass through his hands first and he will distribute the offense.
Although he didn't have any assists in the G1 game, it was because the Bulls were not good at defending inside and were not up to par at all. After he got the ball, he usually played by himself and did not pass it out.
It was the same this time. As soon as the ball came into his hands, he started to hit Luke Longley with his back.
Luke Longley gritted his teeth and pressed his chest against Wang Tiejun's left elbow, but as the latter turned around and slid down, he had to retreat quickly.
As a result, the scene of being knocked away just now happened again.
"Beep!"
But the difference this time was that the referee's whistle sounded.
"Oh, it's Old K? Another offensive foul?" Seeing the referee pointing at Wang Tiejun and then making a gesture, Su Qun couldn't believe it.
"Two consecutive offensive fouls, this is an obvious home whistle. The Suns need to be calmer now, and the Tiejun's play style should not be too aggressive today. The referee is now targeting you." Zhang Lijia reminded.
On the court, Lao Wang stared at the referee and saw the referee asking him for the ball. He snorted coldly and threw the ball to the baseline.
The referee's eyes were also filled with anger, but he didn't show any signs of it.
On the floor, Luke Longley climbed up with difficulty, feeling tight in his chest. The left side of his chest was numb and he couldn't feel any pain.
Off the court, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson sat together.
"Kareem, do you want to bet? I'm sure there will be seven games in the finals." Johnson said with a smile.
"You win." Jabbar smiled.
Next to him, O'Neal said: "Old K should be replaced."
Indeed, Westphal turned around and called Waiman Tisdale, ready to play when the ball was dead.
However, at this time, Lao Wang shook his head at the bench, pressed his hand, and motioned for Waiman Tisdale to sit back.
"Coach, Old K doesn't want to come down." Vaiman Tisdale pointed to the court and said to Westphal.
Westphal looked back and saw Wang Tiejun running past and shouting at him: "Coach, let me continue playing."
"Be careful, don't move too much!"
He had no choice but to let him stay on the field since Old K couldn't come down. He just gave him a warning.
"What do you want to do if you don't end up?" Albert asked doubtfully in the tnt commentary box.
"It's very simple. I think he must think that the referee will not call him any more. He committed two offensive fouls in a row. If he was called for three fouls in one quarter, I'm afraid the league will also be criticized by public opinion after the game." Kevin Ha
Lan said.
"It's possible." Albert nodded.
Seeing Wang Tiejun refuse to leave, the referee's eyes flashed sharply.
Today, the upper management's request for penalty execution is to benefit the Bulls and maintain a balanced trend between the two teams. Now that Old K can't go on, it's really not easy for him to continue to brag about Old K.
However, the Suns have five people on the court and he can call others.
So, in the following time, the Suns were in foul trouble.
In the eighth minute of the first quarter, Drexler fouled Jordan twice and the Bulls got 10 free throw opportunities.
In terms of score, 24:24, but the Suns did not fall behind.
The reason was that the angry Wang Tiejun frantically attacked the basket and made 7 of 7 shots. Luke Langley was completely unable to guard him. He was beaten so badly by him that he was knocked over in the paint area many times.
But he didn't get a single free throw. Luke Longley even made a throw, but he couldn't hear the referee's whistle. He was given two walking violations and made two turnovers.
After two quick shots, Jordan made both free throws.
At 24:26, the Bulls took the lead and the Suns attacked.
"Bang!"
"Beep!"
Wang Tiejun received the ball under the basket and pressed Luke Longley to dunk the ball in, but the whistle sounded at the same time.
"Two plus one." Su Qun shouted excitedly.
But immediately, his eyes widened with disbelief.
"Oh, this is too outrageous. A goal does not count, but two free throws? Tiejun's offensive actions were done in one go, how can it not be counted?" Zhang Lili said in surprise.
In the tnt commentary box, Albert smiled and said: "Congratulations, old K, you finally got a free throw opportunity."
"I'm afraid he won't like it." Kevin Harlan laughed, and the two shook their heads and laughed.
"What the hell!"
Lao Wang cursed and walked to the free throw line.
"Old K, control your emotions." Kevin Johnson came over and warned.
"Don't worry, I'm no longer a rookie."
He nodded. It was like this even in away games. It was nothing special. It was trivial.
"brush!"
The first free throw was made.
After high-fiving his teammates, he started the second free throw.
"Bang!"
With a little more force, the ball hit the basket and bounced back.
After he took the shot, he knew that there was a high probability that the ball would not hit, so he was mentally prepared. After the ball hit the basket, he immediately jumped into the paint area, just in time to catch the rebounding basketball, and then stepped forward and jumped up to meet
A bunch of people jumped up under the basket.
"Bang!"
Amidst the violent sound of the basket exploding, three people fell down under the crowded basket.
There were four people under the basket: Clifford Robinson, Luke Longley, AC Green, and Pippen. Luke Longley was directly knocked over by him. Green and Pippen were also brushed by him. They collided with each other and fell down.
On the floor, only Clifford Robinson remained standing.
"oh!"
At this moment, the United Center burst into loud exclamations.
"yeeeeea!"
At this moment, Albert shouted excitedly.
But at the same time, the referee's whistle sounded. While blowing the whistle, he kept waving his hands, making an action that invalidated the goal.
Not only that, he then pointed at Wang Tiejun, patted his elbow, indicating that Wang Tiejun had made unnecessary elbow movements in his previous attack, and then made an offensive foul gesture.
"yeah!"
This moment immediately silenced the United Center, and the home fans who reacted immediately burst into cheers.
"..."
Some commentators were stunned. They couldn't accept that such a fierce and wonderful dunk was blown away.
Wang Tiejun couldn't stand it anymore. After he came down, he pushed away Clifford Robinson next to him and rushed towards the referee who was two meters away.
"Old K, calm down." Many people on and off the field shouted hurriedly.
"What do you want to do?"
Seeing the menacing Lao Wang, the referee's eyes shrank, and he couldn't help but take two steps back as Lao Wang approached.
"Old K, this is the finals, calm down."
"Old K, don't be impulsive!"
At this time, Kevin Johnson and others stood in front of Wang Tiejun and tried to persuade him one after another.
A few teammates away, Wang Tiejun stared at the referee and shouted angrily: "Sir, I will continue to attack. You can give me six offensive fouls in one quarter. Do you have the guts? Do you? I
Thought you didn’t.”
"you?"
The referee, who was seriously provoked, was so angry that his face turned red and his mouth bulged. He wanted to immediately call Old K a technical offender, but he gritted his teeth and held back.
The next time it is four personal fouls, once the game ends prematurely and the suspense of the game is lost, President Stern will probably tear him apart.
Judging from the All-Star voting, Old K is now very popular, with just a few votes less than Jordan. Jordan played a decisive role in the finals G1 game setting a new ratings record, but Old K also contributed indispensably. The league
I definitely don’t want him to punish Old K.
His whistle was just to limit Old K's offense, rather than sending him off prematurely. The upper level's intention was to maintain a balance, not to favor the Bulls and make the game lose suspense.
Jordan stood outside and couldn't help but admire Old K's courage to challenge the referee. He had never done such a thing before.
Westphal was already scolding off the court, roaring at the referee, and the official technical table was banged.
But he didn't replace Wang Tiejun. That's it today. At worst, it's a one-to-one tie. The Suns have three home games next. As long as Old K breaks a few more bones of his opponent, he still has a chance to kill the Bulls. He doesn't believe in the Suns.
At home, these damn guys still dare to do this.
Colangelo was not angry, and seemed very calm. He kept applauding and encouraged the morale of the players in his own way.
He knows that things will never go smoothly. Stern has always hoped that Jordan would create a dynasty, but failed in 1993. If he fails to defend the title this time, Jordan's chance of creating a dynasty will be even smaller, and he will have to start over. He knows this very well.
, so be mentally prepared for the home whistle.
But he also believes that this kind of thing cannot happen every game. Stern is not the kind of short-sighted person. This can be seen from the fact that the league introduced the Jordan Rules to restrict Jordan.
Regarding the game, what Mr. Stern really cares about is always a balance, rather than favoring Jordan.
So now he supports Wang Tiejun to stay on the court and continue to play the most ferocious offense. This is the toughest attitude chosen by Old K. He uses this attitude to express to the league that sending me off is the only way to stop me.