Chapter 87: Strong Basket
The game begins and the Bulls attack.
It was still 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 cutting ability. When he is here, he can be another tactical support in the low post, can attract double-teaming, can use his cutting to find open opportunities, and can use his off-ball movement to open up the defense for Jordan and Pippen. His auxiliary ability is very strong, but now he is gone, and the Bulls are missing such a person.
Jordan and Grant's relationship with each other is still average to this day, and they have almost no contact off the court, but now that Grant is not here, he also feels very uncomfortable.
He can only find opportunities by running without the ball more frequently, which will consume more physical energy.
Cartwright and Wilperdo can only move in the low post and cannot leave the paint too far, especially Wilperdo, who has no ability to leave the paint. As a result, the Suns immediately switch defense.
This was done by Barkley on his own initiative. He ran to Cartwright and asked Comrade Lao Wang to defend Perdo, who had a smaller mobility range. In this way, Wang Tiejun could always stay under the basket and the weakness of his movement speed could be greatly weakened.
Pippen dribbled past Ceballos again, but without Grant's movement to open up the defense for him, his space to break through was not as large.
As soon as he broke through, he encountered Barkley's low-post defense in the narrow space. He was forced to break through by changing direction before he could barely break into the paint area.
As a result, his breakthrough speed slowed down, and Wang Tiejun blocked in front of him in time, forcing him to pass the ball to Jordan in a hurry.
The opportunity to pass the ball was not very good this time. Jordan had not yet run out of the open space, and Dan Maalley was following very closely. After Jordan received the ball, he made a quick stop and jump shot without any adjustment, but missed.
Wang Tiejun blocked Perdo and protected the backcourt rebound.
The Suns attacked and Wang Tiejun squeezed towards the basket again.
Perdo was defending alone, with top defense and grappling, and he was just about to fall down. He couldn't hold on, but he still fought hard to delay the Suns' attack time.
His goal was achieved. With less than three seconds left, Wang Tiejun was unable to get to the basket in time and could only report to the low post on the left wing.
He didn't ask for the ball in this attack, nor did he forcefully position himself, because he had made the previous two shots. He had risked his life to break the rim, wasting a lot of energy, so he needed to take a few breaths first.
Dan Maalley shot over Jordan's head and was almost blocked, but the ball was clearly too high and short.
Barkley made an accurate judgment. As the offensive player, he moved in advance to grab the offensive rebound, then took a step to the basket and completed a slam dunk.
2:6, Bulls attack.
Point guard BJ Armstrong brought the ball to the top of the arc, and without stopping, he suddenly accelerated to break through, but it was a fake breakthrough and a real shot. He shook off Kevin Johnson and then hit a three-pointer from the top of the arc.
5:6, the Suns attack.
Kevin Johnson fired back, breaking through the three-point line one step before making a quick stop jump shot and hitting a long two-pointer.
5:8, Bulls attack.
Pippen broke through with the ball, but this time he did not rush into the paint area. When he broke through, he observed that Jordan on the weak side had shaken off the defender and immediately made a lateral pass.
Jordan received the ball, pulled up and shot, making 2 of 3 shots, his second goal of the day.
"7:8, the score is deadlocked, both sides have high hit rates. But we have to focus on low-post inside offense, because in comparison, we have a greater inside advantage over the Bulls. And as the feel of the hand fades, the outside hit rate is likely to drop."
The on-site commentator said.
As soon as he finished speaking, Dan Marley missed his second shot.
Fortunately, Wang Tiejun was tall and strong, and he forcefully seized the position and grabbed the offensive rebound one step away from the basket.
This was also the Suns' second offensive rebound of the day, while the Bulls had not yet grabbed an offensive rebound or made a low-post attack. From this point of view, it is enough to prove that the Suns' inside line is stronger.
Comrade Lao Wang grabbed the rebound and as soon as he landed, he was surrounded by Cartwright and Perdo. Four arms were placed on him, 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 with the iron mountain again and again.
He does not have the explosiveness of O'Neal. If the Shark was in such a double-team, his explosiveness alone would be enough for him to break through the blockade above his head and get up.
He doesn't have the dream footwork of Dream. If it were Dream, he could use his footwork to break through the double-team.
He also does not have the jump shooting ability of Ewing and David Robinson. If it were these two, a step-back jump shot could directly shake off the double-team and end the battle.
After he got the ball under the basket, he had only one way, relying on his strength and iron-clad defense to attack the basket.
He leaned to the left and knocked Cartwright away, leaned to the right and knocked Perdue away. He was like a trapped beast, rushing left and right. The Bulls' two inside players immediately fell to the ground, and the double-team was broken.
"boom!"
The next moment, he smashed the basket with all his strength again.
"I'm in! Are you strong?"
The basket was still firmly rooted on the rack. Even after three dunks, he still couldn't pull it off.
"yeah!"
The America West Arena exploded again.
Although Lao K's slam dunk was not that powerful, the extremely heavy sound of the basket hitting the ground, the shaking basketball hoop, and the absolute sense of power made their hormones explode.
“Wow…”
Carterwhite, sweating profusely, stood one step away from Wang Tiejun, rubbing his chest and gasping for breath.
The game had just begun, and he had several fierce and brutal confrontations with Old K. Considering his age, he couldn't bear it anymore. He felt like his chest was going to collapse, and both rows of ribs were aching .
"Alas! What a pity."
Seeing Wang Tiejun sweeping the Bulls' basket with unstoppable dunks that could destroy everything, Jerry Krause, who was sitting in the VIP room upstairs with Colangelo, sighed.
If he could have gotten K last time, he wouldn't have cared about Jordan's attitude. Jordan and Pippen combined couldn't stop him, but unfortunately the Suns got there first.
The Suns got K and strengthened the five position, but the Bulls did not get K. Once they meet in the finals, what will happen to the five position?
The last time he wanted to poach K, on the one hand, it was to strengthen the center position, and on the other hand, it was also to poach players from the Suns, strengthening himself while weakening his opponent, killing two birds with one stone. It's a pity that he failed.
Bulls head coach Phil Jackson called a timeout because he saw that Cartwright was not in good shape and needed a breather.
"How's it going, Bill?"
As soon as the players came down, he squatted in front of Carter-White. If there was any problem with the starting center again, the game would be difficult to play.
Carter White rubbed his chest and shook his head, "It's okay, my chest is a little stuffy, but I can still hold on for a while."
"In a moment?"
Phil Jackson smiled bitterly. It seemed that the inside line would have to undergo frequent changes today.
His words came true, oh no, it was just his thought, but his thought came true.
Next, he rearranged the defensive tactics in the interior, asking the players not to just take it head-on, but to defend with harassment, and to consider David Robinson's persistent and close-range defense.
