Chapter 454 Is it really not so powerful as to despair

   Phil Jackson had called the final timeout early.

   He arranged offensive tactics, and of course the last attack was handed over to Jordan.

   But he replaced Luke Longley and replaced Schmitz, who was the second offense if Jordan didn’t have a chance.

   In addition, he also replaced Rodman and replaced Kukoc, who was the third offensive point.

  Pippen is a little resentful, I’m the second child, the second child, the second child, **** Jackson, where did you put me?

   “I want two points.”

Phil Jackson squatted in front of Jordan, and the others surrounded him. He gestured on the tactical board with a pen and said: “Schmitz raised the high post, Kukoc pulled away, Pippen held the ball on the left wing to attract the defense, Michael Cutting off the ball on the right flank…”

Jordan sat on the bench breathless. He had done his best in this game, and his teammates did not let him down, especially Schmitz’s performance was great, while the Suns’ players were average, but even so, still Not being able to get the upper hand on the Suns left him very, very disappointed.

  Time passed quickly, the timeout ended, the game resumed, and the Bulls served from the baseline.

   advanced to the frontcourt, and five seconds passed. At this time, the Bulls moved tactically and the offensive pace was not in a hurry. Obviously, they did not want to leave time for the Suns.

  Wang Tiejun followed Schmitz to the free throw line, when Pippen started to break through with the ball on the left wing.

  Horry tried his best to defend, but he couldn’t keep up with his feet and was stabbed in by Pippen.

  Pippen went outside the left midfield in the paint area, Wang Tiejun made up the defense, he hit the ground pass and gave it to Schmitz.

“pretty!”

   For this pass, Abdul-Jabbar praised.

   “Squeak!”

   At this moment, with the friction of the sneakers, Wang Tiejun turned sharply and rushed towards Schmitz on the free throw line.

   “Whoosh!”

  Schmitz was too high to have an unobstructed view. He saw Jordan cutting in. With a flick of his hand, the ball flew towards Jordan.

   “Squeak!”

  Pharaoh also tried his best. The continuous emergency stop + steering action made it easy to get injured, especially for a heavy center like him, but he couldn’t care less, turned around again, and rushed towards Jordan, who was cutting in from the right waist.

   “Come on, Jordan, let’s fight it out!”

   At this moment, while quickly pounced on Jordan, his energy and attention were also highly focused on Jordan.

  Jordan’s cut attracted Kidd’s pursuit and defense, attracted Rasheed Wallace’s double-team, and now attracted Wang Tiejun’s back-up defense. One person’s attack attracted the Suns’ three-person defense.

   At this time, Jordan knew that his teammates must be empty.

   Right bottom corner, he knew Tony Kukoc must be empty.

  High, he knew that Schmitz, who had just passed the ball to him, must also be empty.

   However, at this moment, he only believed in himself.

   It was a powerful paranoia that he believed he could make this shot, over the head of Old K.

   “Squeak!”

  Brake, stop immediately.

   “Squeak!”

   The next moment, when Jordan came to a sudden stop, Pharaoh also stepped on the ground, and his huge body jumped up against Jordan.

   “So high!”

  Jordan jumped up and saw that the huge body of Old K almost covered the sky, and his heart trembled, but his technical movements were still stable, he leaned back and swiped his right hand forward, and the ball flew out.

   “Almost!”

  Pharaoh blocked the shot with one hand, and the ball slid over his fingertips. He knew it was bad, even if he missed, with Pippen behind him, the ball might be lost.

   “Boom!”

When    landed, he immediately turned around and returned to the basket.

“boom!”

   Sure enough, Jordan missed the ball. In order to avoid the block, he adjusted the angle and affected the shot.

The ball was short and bounced to the right side of the basket. Pippen, who had just arrived at the basket, jumped up and grabbed the rebound before Pharaoh, who was returning to defense. Then he turned around and got stuck behind him. With a flick of the hand, the ball flew upwards.

   On the front side of the basket, Schmitz was rushing down, but the speed was a bit slow, the ball flew into his hands, and after he caught the ball, he stepped up and sent the ball to the basket.

   “Go away!”

   At the critical moment, under Wang Tiejun’s strength, he directly knocked Pippen out of the way. He didn’t believe that the referee would still blow the whistle at this time.

   Sure enough, the whistle did not sound.

“Snapped!”

   He took a step forward, and when his body burst, he blocked with one hand, held Schmitz’s layup, and the ball jumped.

  Jordan jumped up from behind Pharaoh, and pointed his right hand at the basketball, asking for a tip.

   But then Rasheed Wallace also jumped up, the two touched the ball at the same time, and the ball flew into the sky again.

   The paint area, the basket, Horry, Kukoc, Schmitz, Pippen, Wang Tiejun, Jordan, Rasheed Wallace, etc., seven or eight people huddled together, all looking up at the basketball.

“mine!”

   Old Wang shouted violently in his throat, and sprang up like a monster with a head. Several hands were placed on his body, but he was unable to press him to get up.

“Snapped!”

   He didn’t grab the ball directly, but swung his hand to the frontcourt of the Suns.

“yeah!”

  The moment the ball flew to the frontcourt, the Westside Arena burst into great cheers, and all the home fans stood up with their arms raised.

   “Di!”

   Before the ball flew out of the court, with a long sound, the referee blew the whistle for the end of the game.

   “Is the game over?” Jordan was at a loss.

   “It’s done!”

   Old Wang let out a long breath.

This **** game is finally over, he didn’t think it would be so intense before the game started, Jordan’s form is scary, but he won, and if he loses, it’s 1-to-1, it’s pretty annoyed .

   “Finally won, it’s not easy!” Zhang Lili laughed at the CCTV live broadcast booth.

   “It’s the last second, the bull is really strong today!” Su Qun said after wiping the sweat from his forehead.

Zhang Lili smiled and said: “So don’t underestimate the Bulls. Besides Jordan, the Bulls also have a superstar like Pippen. Do the Suns have them? No. Schmitz also played a very good performance today. The Suns have no one except the Iron Army. comparable.”

   “Yeah, luckily I won.” Su Qun laughed.

Zhang Lili nodded and said solemnly: “The finals format is two-three-two, and then there are three away games. The Suns have to be careful. The Bulls have a strong home field advantage. In the three away games, at least one must be won. Match point is next.”

  Su Qun picked up two statistics tables and said excitedly: “Old K and Jordan scored 51 points at the same time. Today is really a duel of gods!”

   Zhang Lili stretched his head and glanced at it, and said with a smile: “Being able to defeat Jordan who performed like this shows that the iron army is strong and can really replace Jordan’s status as the first person in active duty.”

In the ABC live broadcast, Larry Bird said: “Jordan scored 51 points, Schmitz 19 points, Pippen 15 points, the three teamed up to contribute 85 points, Rodman 0 points, Harper 5 points, the five main points scored 90 points, 105 points for the team, 15 points for the bench.

On the Suns side, Old K scored 51 points, Rasheed Wallace 8 points, Horry 9 points, Lightning 6 points, Kidd 7 points, and the five main players contributed 81 points.

  The bench contributed 26 points, Wilkins contributed 9 points, Chapman 5 points, Kobe 8 points, Williams 4 points.

  Three of the Bulls scored in double figures, and the Suns had only one old K who scored in double figures. In terms of lineup, the Bulls are definitely not weaker than the Suns, but old K is more efficient. ”

  Magic Johnson read the statistics table: “Jordan’s shooting percentage is 64.5%, as a perimeter, this is a very terrible efficiency.

   But the old K shot 76.5%, which is also a pretty terrible efficiency as a center. ”

  Jabbar said: “Jordan is really a pity tonight. This may also be his fate. At the peak of his life, he encountered a giant beast.”

   The other two nodded at the same time, and Larry Bird said: “The Bulls will have three home games next. I hope to seize the opportunity. With the performance of the Bulls tonight, it is possible to pull it back.”

  Magic Johnson said: “Even if there is a chance, with the stability of the Suns, I mean the old K, the Bulls have to give 120% of their efforts, and Jordan must be in a super explosive state.”

   “Yes, Old K’s performance is really too stable and efficient, and the Bulls’ inside line really can’t limit him.” Abdul-Jabbar sighed.

Larry Bird shook his head and said: “Two finals, the first time was 1-4, the second was swept, 1-8, plus this time, a total of 11 finals have been played, and the Bulls have 1-10 losses. , the reason why they lost to the Suns in a large proportion is that the Bulls can’t limit the old K.”

  The Suns are being interviewed on the sidelines, and the Bulls have returned to the locker room.

  Jordan was leaning against the closet, his face was expressionless, motionless, dripping with sweat, and he didn’t even wipe it.

   First, he lost the game and didn’t want to move. Second, he was tired and didn’t want to move.

   A trainer was helping Jordan to remove the bandage on his foot. He glanced up from time to time. Usually he and Jordan chatted and laughed, and even often gambled together, but he didn’t dare to speak at this time.

   There was only rustling in the dressing room, and no one spoke.

  Phil Jackson silently stood in the corner behind the door, did not speak, and was not in the mood to make a post-match summary.

Outside the door, general manager Jerry Krause and owner Jerry Reinsdorf stood together, the two exchanged glances, and then stepped aside.

   “Well, Jerry, just do as you say.” Reinsdorf said with a sigh.

   “OK!” Klaus also nodded heavily.

  The two officially decided to trade Jordan in the offseason, including Pippen, and the team was completely rebuilt.

Reinsdorf knows that Jordan can still bring him benefits now, but Jordan’s salary is too high, the team’s salary is too high, and now the team can reach the Eastern Conference Finals and the finals. It can still be maintained, but the team continues to age. Once the playoffs are not far away, or even fail to make it to the playoffs in the future, he will not only lose money, but will likely lose a lot of money.

And there is another question about Jordan. In the face of the strong rise of the old K, Jordan has been pursuing the championship and defeating the old K, which requires a large amount of money. If he continues to renew Jordan next year, he has to continue to spend a lot of money. investment, some cannot afford it.

The next season will be Pippen’s contract year. If he doesn’t trade now, he will definitely not be able to get it back next year. If he renews his contract, he will definitely have to give him a big contract. But Pippen is old and has many injuries. Not worth it.

   In addition, Rodman’s contract has expired. This guy has already started asking the management for an annual salary of tens of millions. He will not give it. The big bug is not worth that much.

   Also, Phil Jackson has to re-sign his contract, and the contract he wants is huge.

   After many calculations, if the current lineup is to be maintained or even strengthened again, the Bulls’ operating income next year will not be able to withstand, and he will have to pay for it.

   Therefore, he can only choose to rebuild, taking advantage of Jordan’s great transaction value, and decisively implement Krause’s plan, otherwise Jordan’s contract will end next year, and it will be very embarrassing.

   In the home team’s locker room, Wang Tiejun didn’t take a medicinal bath, and he didn’t want to move while sitting under the closet. He was really exhausted. Forty-eight minutes of offense and defense, he had too much to do.

   I feel a little discomfort in my left ankle. This should be the last time. After he blocked Jordan, he landed and turned too fast and had some sprains.

   But it is not very serious, first ice compress, then massage with medicinal oil after a while, and then go back and acupuncture.

   “Leo, help with an ice bucket,” he called to a trainer.

   “Old K, are you injured?” Aaron Nelson, the chief trainer who was wrapping an ice pack on Lightning’s knee, asked quickly.

   The others looked over immediately, and several coaches, as well as the little Colangelo outside, came in immediately.

   “It’s a little sprained, it’s not a big problem,” he said, pointing to his left ankle.

“Let me see.”

The team doctor Andrew John ran over, checked the situation, nodded after asking about the situation: “It’s really not serious, there’s no swelling and pain, I’ll put it on ice first, it shouldn’t affect the next game. But the specifics will depend on the situation tomorrow. .”

“That’s good.”

   Little Colangelo breathed a sigh of relief, as were the others.

  Especially Wilkins, he would rather have his leg broken than old K get hurt at this time.

   At this time, Leo got an ice bucket and soaked it in Pharaoh.

   “Lightning, how is your knee?” Pharaoh asked.

  Lightning smiled wryly and shook his head: “It hurts a bit after running.”

   Aaron Nelson said: “The cartilage wears too much, and some places are gone. Lightning used to be a breakthrough, but now it’s too fast and it hurts.”

  Pharaoh nodded, he touched his knee, with his tonnage and style of play, the knee cartilage must have been worn a lot, and he didn’t know how long he could last.

   He took out his mobile phone and said to Gao Bin, “Gao Bin, give me a call to Brother Tie Shan and ask him to arrange an acupuncturist for me to send to my house.”

“Um.”

   Gao Bin took over the phone and quickly contacted the martial arts hall.

   Soon after, the press conference began.

  Wang Tiejun participated alone, and no one else went.

   “Old K, leading the Bulls 2-0, do you have the confidence to sweep the Bulls again?” The first reporter to ask the question was a reporter from Phoenix Sports, who asked very excitedly.

This question makes Pharaoh a little embarrassed. The Bulls are really strong today. If it is not at the home of the Suns, but at the home of the Bulls, it is likely that the Bulls will win, so he does not dare to brag. To be honest:

   “I don’t have 100% confidence. It depends on whether Jordan can cooperate. If he can’t play an extraordinary performance tonight, then I will not be polite. If I can sweep them, I will never be soft.”

   “Oh hoo!”

   The reporters below shouted excitedly.

   There were many reporters asking questions. The host looked at it and turned over a reasonable card.

“Tie Jun, you hit 50+ for the third time in the finals today. You are the only player in the history of the league who hit 50+ three times in a single game. In the finals, you scored second in a single game. Jordan is the second in today’s game. Hit 50+ times, it can be said that you are the most powerful scorer in the finals in the history of the league, what kind of feeling is that?” Lao Zhang asked cheerfully.

  Pharaoh recalled what Lao Zhang said, smiled smugly, and then said solemnly: “I think there is still room for improvement, don’t be proud…”

“Ha ha…”

   Before he finished speaking, the media below burst into laughter.

   “Old K, the expression on your face betrayed you.” A reporter shouted loudly.

   “Impossible, my expression management is in place.” Pharaoh immediately denied it.

   “Haha…” There was another burst of laughter at the scene.

  The atmosphere on the Bulls side is completely opposite to that on the Suns side.

   The main thing is that Jordan did not attend the conference, only Pippen attended.

   But the reporters’ main questions were not Pippen, but Phil Jackson and Jerry Krause.

   “Coach Jackson, for the last attack, why did you choose a breakthrough strategy? As we all know, the old K’s ability to protect the basket is very strong, why not choose a three-pointer or a mid-range shot?” asked a reporter from the Chicago Sports News.

Phil Jackson’s brows can kill flies. If the attack is successful, he believes that this reporter will never say that there is a problem with his tactics, so everything is justified by the winner and the loser. He can only accept this truth. .

He explained: “Because I arranged two inside lines that could be opened, we got a lot of room for breakthroughs, and also arranged the strong and weak side coordination tactics, which could fully mobilize the opponent’s defense and create a very good situation for Michael. Breakthrough opportunities.

   But at the critical moment, the performance of old K was amazing. He made key supplementary defenses in a row, and the result was very disappointing. ”

   “Phil, do you think we’ll have a chance to come back when we return to the home court?” the next reporter asked.

   “Of course there is a chance.”

  Phil Jackson cheered himself up and replied: “We have three home courts, the home field advantage is huge, and the opportunity is in our hands.

   Today we can play to the last second on the road, then I believe that back at home, we must have a chance to come back, the Suns are not an invincible team, they are not strong enough to despair. ”

   “Isn’t it really too powerful to be hopeless?” This sentence appeared in the minds of many reporters.

  Isn’t it despairing that the Suns couldn’t win when Jordan efficiently scored 51 points?

This game reminded them of the 1993 Finals, when Jordan scored 56 points in a single game, second in history, second only to Kim Belle’s 61 points in a single game, but they still lost the game and eventually lost The finals caused the Bulls to be unable to complete the dynasty defense. Will history repeat itself this time?