Chapter 407 [The final battle, a bunch of advantages]
After Yang Jian's interview video was broadcast in China, it immediately attracted discussions among countless Chinese fans.
Everyone believes that Yang Jian can lead the Sonics to establish a dynasty. The Sonics have become the "China's home team" and almost no one supports the Bulls.
There are also people who want to watch his movie "Fifty First Dates" in theaters and want to know how talented he is, as the scripts are written one after another.
Many young actresses have become active and want to audition when Yang Jian returns to China. This is a shortcut to becoming famous. Once selected, they can star in Hollywood movies.
From what Yang Jian said, the role of this younger sister will have many roles, and it won't be just one role. Of course it's difficult to be chosen. In this era, there are very few actresses who can speak English, and they don't usually use English.
The SuperSonics began preparing for the finals. Coach George Karl did not deliberately change the Bulls' tactics, and still maintained the style of play in the first few rounds of the playoffs.
There is no need to practice tactical movement anymore, the players are very familiar with it and have a good understanding of it.
Yang Jian and Payton coached the offense with the ball and passing the ball while running. Kemp and Schrempf did not need to practice offense with the ball, they only needed to be good at catching the ball and shooting.
It is difficult for Schrempf to perform efficiently in isolation against Pippen. Kemp's offensive efficiency with the ball is not as good as cutting in the air after covering the ball. If Kemp does not take action when holding the ball, he will easily make mistakes when passing the ball to his teammates.
The finals rely on two shots from the outside. What others have to do is to ensure their catch-and-shoot accuracy and minimize mistakes.
On the defensive end, Payton is still responsible for defending Jordan, and Yang Jian is responsible for defending Harper. This arrangement allows Yang Jian to focus more on the offensive end, and can also get good one-on-one opportunities during counterattacks.
It is impossible for George Karl to arrange for Yang Jian to help Payton or Kemp compete for FMVP. It will definitely be most efficient to let Yang Jian take more shots.
On the Bulls side, "Zen Master" Phil Jackson couldn't play any new tricks. He just played the triangle offense and let Jordan and Pippen take the lead. The biggest headache for the coaching staff was how to arrange Luke Longley's playing time.
Longley was an important starter with the Heat, and he will become a defensive weakness against the Sonics.
In last season's finals, Yang Jian's mismatched performance against Longley was impressive. Yang Jian's performance this season has told everyone that sending a high center without speed against the SuperSonics is asking for death.
Longley's speed is not much faster than Ostertag's. He plays the ball while walking.
After thinking about it, Jackson Jackson is ready to reduce Longley's playing time and let Rodman and Kukoc play more. The bad news is that Kukoc's state in the playoffs this year is terrible, and his shooting percentage is less than 40%.
, it can’t play much role.
After training, Yang Jian hosted a dinner party with his teammates and encouraged them to play hard in the finals.
Jordan wouldn't do that. He didn't give his teammates a good look during training, and his expression looked like he wanted to kill them. Kukoc's mid- and long-range shooting touch was very poor during training that day, and Jordan scolded him.
This made Kukoc's psychological pressure even greater. He had a psychological shadow after losing to Yang Jian on behalf of the national team in the Olympics last year and had no confidence in the finals. Of course he wanted to help the team win, but he was also afraid
He was targeted by Yang Jian.
At this time, Kukoc needed encouragement and relief. Jordan didn't know how to relieve his teammates, let alone coax them. Jordan always had a domineering attitude, demanding that his teammates follow his footsteps.
Seeing Kukoc's frowning face and not daring to say a word after being scolded, Zen Master Jackson rushed to comfort him, hoping that he would calm down.
Jordan had this kind of temper, and it was not unusual for him to scold his teammates. The media exposed this on many occasions. The most famous incident was that Jordan once refused to let teammates who played poorly eat on the plane.
And he didn't bully role players, but bullied the team's All-Star teammate Horace Grant. Later, Grant always hated Jordan and even criticized Jordan after retiring.
At that time, because he didn't play well in a game, Jordan took away his teammates' plane meals and asked the stewardess not to give Grant food. What he did was really too much. It was a kind of punishment and a humiliation.
Think about it from another angle, if your performance at work is not ideal, and you are criticized by your colleagues with outstanding performance, and you are not allowed to eat, how will you feel? No one can accept this kind of thing!
The relationship between Jordan and Grant is like two colleagues in a company. They have a boss and management above them. Even if employees are punished, it should be done by the management, not the colleagues.
Fortunately, Grant has a relatively restrained personality and did not complain too much at the time. If a proud and arrogant player was publicly humiliated by his teammates like this, there would definitely be conflicts in the locker room. Jordan's first three consecutive championships
It's probably gone.
Kukoc is also a reserved player and an international player. Of course he does not have the confidence to challenge Jordan. But Kukoc's poor performance in the finals was predetermined. He was not in good condition to begin with. After being scolded by Jordan, he probably couldn't even sleep.
Sleeping restlessly.
The Sonics players are united and united. They have a lot of advantages and almost no disadvantages. They are in the right place at the right time and with the right people.
The Sonics' only disadvantage is probably that president David Stern doesn't want to see the Sonics sweep the Bulls and win the championship. If the finals are one-sided, the ratings won't be high.
Yang Jian is only in his second season in his career, and Stern has already begun to consider suppressing him. Otherwise, other players that Yang Jian can suppress will be out of breath.
On June 1, the first match between the two sides started in Seattle.
Tickets for this game are hard to come by, and many fans want to support the SuperSonics and see them get off to a good start. The team that wins the first game has a high probability of winning the championship, which is very memorable.
The tv5 commentator introduced the lineups of both sides.
Zhang Lili said: "The SuperSonics should still let veteran insider Terry Cummings start today. He performed very well in the playoff starts. The Bulls' power forward is Rodman, and they don't need a defensive expert.
It can be defended."
Sun Zhengping said: "I don't know if the Bulls will let Longley start today. If they don't play Longley, I don't know who else they can send to play center. I feel that the others are not as good as Longley."
Zhang Liji said with a smile: "The Bulls' centers who can defend the penalty area are slow, and those who are good at guarding pick-and-rolls cannot guard Kemp. And as long as they adjust, they will fall into the supersonic game rhythm, and the situation is very unfavorable for the Bulls." Yang Jian was interviewed
Full of confidence, he is already thinking about establishing a dynasty."
Sun Zhengping said: "It will definitely be more difficult for the SuperSonics to win the championship next season. Kemp cannot stay in the SuperSonics. I hope the SuperSonics can trade a capable inside player to replace Kemp in the summer."
Zhang Li said with a smile: "Barkley came to Seattle today and was sitting in the front row watching the game. He is a free agent in the summer. If he is willing to join the SuperSonics, I think three consecutive championships will be guaranteed."
Everyone on the Bulls team and Bulls fans know that Barkley has come to Seattle. He came yesterday, and even had a meal with Yang Jian and Payton, which made the news.
In fact, Barkley's game tickets were presented as a gift by the SuperSonics management, deliberately allowing him to show his face.
The NBA's free market hasn't opened yet, and Barkley hasn't said he wants to join the SuperSonics. Can't he simply watch the Finals?
To put it bluntly, this guy came here to see Jordan's excitement. He can put psychological pressure on the Bulls players just by sitting on the sidelines. It's not an exaggeration at all. Supersonics manager Wally Walker thought so, so he invited Barkley.
This is equivalent to telling everyone in the Bulls that Barkley will take a salary cut to join after this season, and the SuperSonics' lineup next season will only be strong or not weak.
If you don’t win this year’s finals, don’t even think about it anymore, just wait to die.
When Jordan noticed Barkley, his face was darker than usual. When the lights in the arena were turned off, he became invisible. Even if Jordan came forward to recruit, Barkley would not consider joining the Bulls. Barkley felt that the Bulls were finished, and the next step was
No future.
SuperSonics starting lineup: Payton, Yang Jian, Schrempf, Kemp, Cummings.
Bulls starting lineup: Ron Harper, Jordan, Pippen, Rodman, Luke Longley.
Longley still started the game, but Jackson felt that other big men were not as good as him. At least Longley could protect the frame and prevent Sonics players from having too many morale-boosting dunks in the opening game.