It was Pippen who controlled the ball and organized the offense, while Jordan played without the ball and ended everything.
Grant has strong off-ball movement ability and strong air-cutting ability. When he is here, he can become another tactical support in the low post, can attract double-teams, can use his air-cutting to find open opportunities, and can use his
His off-ball movement opened up the defense for Jordan and Pippen, and his auxiliary ability was very strong. But now that he is gone, the Bulls are missing such a person.
The relationship between Jordan and Grant is still average to this day, with almost no contact off the court. But now that Grant is away, he also feels a lot of discomfort.
He can only look for opportunities through more frequent movements without the ball, which will consume more physical energy.
Cartwright and Wilperdo can only move in the low post and cannot leave the paint area too far. Perdo, in particular, has no ability to leave the paint area. As a result, the Suns immediately switch defenses.
This was Barkley's initiative. He ran to Cartwright's side and asked Comrade Wang to guard Perdo, who had a smaller range of movement. In this way, Wang Tiejun could always sit at the basket and his weakness in movement speed could be greatly weakened.
Pippen once again broke through Ceballos with the ball, but without Grant's running position to open up the defense for him, his breakthrough space was not that big.
As soon as he broke in, he encountered Barkley's low defense in a narrow space. He was forced to break through through a change of direction and barely broke into the paint area.
As a result, his breakthrough speed slowed down, and Wang Tiejun blocked him in time, forcing him to pass the ball to Jordan in a hurry.
This opportunity to distribute the ball was not very good. Before Jordan could get out of the open space, Dan Mulley followed closely. After receiving the ball, Jordan made an emergency stop for a jump shot without making any adjustments, and missed.
Wang Tiejun blocked Perdo and protected the backcourt rebound.
The Suns attacked, and Wang Tiejun squeezed towards the basket again.
Perdo defended alone and resisted the entanglement. He only fell down and couldn't withstand it, but he still tried his best to delay the Suns' attack time.
His goal was achieved. As three seconds approached, Wang Tiejun failed to get to the basket in time and had to go to the low post on the left wing to check in.
He didn't ask for the ball in this attack, nor did he forcefully ask for position, because he hit the first two goals. He worked hard to smash the basket and consumed a lot of physical energy in vain. He had to take a few breaths before talking.
.
Dan Mulley shot over Jordan's head and almost got a hit. The ball was obviously too high and too short.
Barkley's accurate judgment, as the offensive side, moved early to grab the offensive rebound, and then took advantage of the situation and drove to the basket to complete a dunk.
2:6, Bulls attack.
Point guard B.J. Armstrong held the ball to the top of the arc, stopped for a moment, and suddenly made a movement to speed up the breakthrough, but it was a fake breakout, knocking away Kevin Johnson, and then hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
point.
5:6, Suns attack.
Kevin Johnson responded by breaking through the three-point line and making a pull-up jump shot, hitting a long two-pointer.
5:8, Bulls attack.
Pippen broke through with the ball, but this time he did not break into the paint. When he broke through, he observed that Jordan on the weak side had thrown away the defender, and immediately gave a cross pass.
Jordan caught the ball, made a pull-up jumper, and made 2 of 3 shots, hitting his second goal of the day.
"7:8, the score is stalemate, both sides have high shooting percentages. But we have to focus on low-post inside offense, because in comparison, we have a greater inside advantage against the Bulls. As the touch becomes hotter
, the outside shooting percentage is likely to drop."
The on-site commentator said.
As soon as he finished speaking, Dan Malley missed his second shot.
Fortunately, Wang Tiejun was tall and powerful, and he seized the position forcefully and grabbed the offensive rebound one step away from the basket.
This is also the Suns' second offensive rebound today, and the Bulls have not grabbed an offensive rebound or made a low-post attack. From this point of view, it is enough to prove that the Suns are stronger inside.
Comrade Lao Wang grabbed the rebound, and as soon as he landed, he was surrounded by Cartwright and Perdo. Four arms were placed on his body, preventing him from getting up or entering the basket.
"Open it for me!"
Lao Wang took a deep breath, gathered all his strength, and hit him again and again.
He doesn't have O'Neal's explosive power. If the Sharks were in this kind of double-team, his explosive power alone would be enough for him to break through the blockade above his head and get up.
He also doesn't have the dreamy pace of Dameng. If it were Dameng, he could break double teams with his pace.
He also doesn't have the jump shooting ability of Ewing and David Robinson. If it were these two, a step-back jump shot could directly get rid of the double team and solve the battle.
After he gets the ball under the basket, he has only one way, to rely on his strength and iron mountain to hit hard under the basket.
Leaning to the left, he knocked Cartwright away. Leaning to the right, he knocked away Perdo. He was like a trapped beast, dashing left and right. The Bulls' two big insiders immediately staggered around, and the double team was broken.
"Bang!"
The next moment, he hit the basket with all his strength again.
"I'm in! Are you strong?"
The basket was still firmly rooted on the basket frame, and even after dunking it three times, he still couldn't pull it off.
"yeah!"
America West Arena exploded again.
Although Lao K's heavy dunk was not that explosive, the extremely heavy sound of hitting the basket, the shaking basket frame, and the absolute sense of power made their hormones burst even more.
"Hoo ho..."
The sweaty Cartwright stood a step away from Wang Tiejun, rubbing his chest and panting.
This was just the beginning, and he had several fierce and cruel confrontations with Lao K. Considering his age, he couldn't bear it. His chest felt like it was about to collapse, and his ribs were in pain.
"Alas! What a pity."
Seeing Wang Tiejun powerfully sweeping the Bulls' basket, that unstoppable dunk that could destroy everything, Jerry Krause, who was sitting in the VIP room with Colangelo upstairs, sighed to himself.
If he could get Old K last time, he would not care about Jordan's attitude. Jordan and Pippen combined could not stop him. Unfortunately, the Suns took the lead.
The Suns got K and strengthened the No. 5 position, but the Bulls did not get K. Once they meet in the finals, what will happen to the No. 5 position?
The last time he wanted to poach Lao K, on the one hand, he wanted to strengthen the fifth position, and on the other hand, he also wanted to poach a corner of the Suns, strengthening himself while weakening his opponents, killing two birds with one stone, but unfortunately he failed.
Bulls head coach Phil Jackson called a timeout because he saw that Cartwright was not in the right state and needed to take a breather.
"How's it going, Bill?"
As soon as the players came down, he squatted in front of Cartwright. If the starting center had another problem, the game would be difficult to play.
Cartwright rubbed his chest, shook his head and said, "It's not bad, my chest is a little tight, but I can still hold on for a while."
"A while?"
Phil Jackson smiled bitterly, it seems that the inside line will change frequently today.
He hit it right, oh no, it was just his idea, but his idea came true.
Next, he rearranged the defensive tactics inside and asked the players not to hold on and defend with harassment. Instead, they could consider David Robinson's stalking style of personal defense.
