NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 38 Don't Blame Me For Not Accumulating Virtue

At seven o'clock in the evening, there is still an hour before the game starts.

The atmosphere in the Raptors locker room was solemn, and Combe and all the players took deep breaths from time to time to relieve the depression in their hearts.

The significance of this game is too important.

It's not just that after winning the Bulls, you can sit on the top of the league's record list.

It can be regarded as a preview of the Eastern Conference Finals.

Now that the Raptors have risen, the Heat and Pacers, who are ranked third and fourth in the Eastern Conference with the Bulls, seem to have a big gap with them.

"Guys, take it easy!"

"There's nothing terrible about bulls. They also have one nose and three eyes, and neither wings nor three legs!"

The Raptors generals were still wondering where the third eye came from, and Kumbu began to arrange tactics.

In this era, because of the rules prohibiting zone defense, the defensive tactics are very monotonous. Most teams adopt man-to-man defensive tactics, interspersed with some double-teams.

像后世那些3-2联防，或者1-3-1联防，属于是非法防守。

Some fans will mistakenly think that zone defense is double-teaming. In fact, these two are two different things. Zone defense is a defensive system, and double-teaming is a tactical action.

As for the offensive tactical system, the most well-known is of course the Bulls' triangle offense. In addition, Adelman's Princeton system and Sloan's pick-and-roll tactics are also well-known.

However, because of Jordan's rules, most teams still choose to play steadily and steadily.

The Jordan law here has nothing to do with the Pistons, but the anti-isolation singles law.

There have been many times in the history of the NBA that some restrictive rules have been introduced because the inside players are too buggy.

For example, George Mikan expanded the three-second zone from 8 yards to 12 yards, and Chamberlain continued to expand it to 16 yards.

O'Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and others all have this ability to change the rules.

But today, Jordan is the only one who enjoys this kind of treatment among outside players. Because Jordan was so strong in his peak period, he played alone with the ball outside the three-point line, and other teammates ran to the other side to pull. Defensive space, or waiting for Jordan to score, is completely unsolvable.

If you double-team Jordan, his teammates will definitely be open.

If you don't double-team and want to limit Jordan with one-on-one defense, it is completely a dream.

This kind of play is so simple that it can't be simpler, but it is extremely efficient, making the game Jordan's personal show.

Since then, the anti-isolation singles rule was born.

The Raptors' current style of play is a standard positional warfare system that can no longer be standard. Two insiders sit in the penalty area, a master with pass control ability in the backcourt, and two offensive points in the second and third positions.

The vast majority of teams in the league also have such a lineup configuration.

"Our starting lineup tonight is Big Ben, Jermaine, Mashburn, McGrady and Snow."

"Ben, in addition to protecting the rebounds, your task tonight is also to guard our penalty area. No matter who comes in, fan them out."

"Jermaine, keep up with Dennis Rodman, don't give him room to run up and take off."

"Jamal, if you start against Pippen, you still have to put a step on defense. You can give him a mid-range shot, but you can't let him get into the basket."

"Eric, the Harper you are facing hardly participates in the offense. You can disperse some defensive energy on Jordan."

Kumbu assigned defensive tasks and defensive points to tonight's four starters one by one.

Finally, he turned his attention to McGrady, "Tracey, you will be the first line of defense to suppress Jordan tonight."

"I want you to have every minute and every second on the court, only Jordan in your eyes, and only Jordan!"

"I have only one goal tonight, and that is never to let Jordan leave our court smiling!"

McGrady nodded again and again, as if a flame was burning in his chest.

"Stephen, Bruce, you two are ready to go on stage at any time, and we will fight against Jordan tonight."

After Combe studied the booklet of Jordan's Law thoroughly, he found that there are two concepts that can be used to great effect.

One is double-teaming.

The Bulls' starting lineup actually has no point guards. Ron Harper is nominally the No. [-] position, but he has almost no chance to touch the ball.

In 94, Harper was the leader of the Los Angeles Clippers who averaged 20 points per game. After joining the Bulls, he took the initiative to serve as a foil.

He completely gave up his offensive firepower and devoted all his energy to the backcourt defense.

Instead, you can think of Harper as Snow without a chance to touch the ball. The basket of the two is not very good.

Since Harper's offensive threat is very small, Snow can allocate part of his energy to help McGrady double-team Jordan.

The second method is wheel warfare.

It is impossible for any player's physical fitness to allow him to play 48 minutes with the best efficiency on the court.

After lack of physical fitness, the defensive efficiency will naturally decline.

And if there are many strong perimeter defensive players in the team and they are always rotating, then they can always maintain a high-intensity defense.

This was the case with the Pistons back then. Joe Dumars was the first line of defense, and Rodman and others were the second line of defense against Jordan.

The Raptors don't have many other things, that is, there are many defensive gates on the front and back lines, and they are fully qualified to support multiple lines of defense.

Comb is going to deal with Jordan tonight with double-teams and wheel battles.

Half an hour later, players from both sides began to enter the field.

I don't know why, the moment he stepped on the football field, Kumbu felt a chill, and felt like he was in an epic duel.

At this time, Zen master Phil Jackson, Jordan Pippen and others stood on the sidelines, looking curiously in the direction of Combe.

During this period of time, Kumbu became famous, and they wanted to see what kind of young man was able to lead the team to a record that was no less than that of the Bulls.

Kong Bu also looked around curiously.

This was the first time he saw Jordan with his own eyes. He didn't have a specific concept of domineering aura before, but now he understood that it was the aura of disdain for the world in Jordan.

Pippen is almost in the mood for this.

If it weren't for his height, he would have looked like an old farmer picking up manure at first glance.

Kong Bu couldn't help but think of the ditty in "Li Huozi's Divorce", "Get up early in the morning to pick up dung, and come back without seeing my woman".

Needless to say, this ditty was tailor-made for Pippen. His wife, Larsa, is famously fond of breaking shoes.

Even when he was nearly fifty years later, Larsa lived a wonderful life and dated many NBA players.

The most outrageous thing is that he and Jordan's second son also got together, and the whole Pippen directly downgraded in front of Jordan.

Thinking of this incident, Kong Bu smiled on his face, and his slightly nervous mood eased a lot.

"Dudududu!"

The referee has blown his whistle and the players are on the field.

After seeing the Raptors' starting lineup, Jordan looked a little unhappy.

Because he found that the player he was facing tonight was McGrady, not the more outstanding Wu Sheng.

McGrady's performance is not bad among rookies, but in the eyes of Jordan's super giant eyes, he is no different from the air.

On the contrary, Wu Sheng, the second-round show, left a deep impression on him. He originally thought that Kong Bu would let Wu Sheng face him tonight.

It turned out to be McGrady, which made Jordan a little upset.

"Hey, Kong, you don't think this kind of kid with no hair can stop me, do you?"

"If you don't want to lose too badly tonight, I advise you to replace that second-round pick kid."

Jordan really regarded McGrady as air, and the trash talk ignored McGrady and went directly to Kumbu.

Kong Bu was stunned and glanced at the referee.

Generally speaking, Jordan will be warned by the referee for his rude words and deeds towards the opposing coach. If he encounters that kind of serious referee, he will even give him a technical foul on the spot.

However, Jordan is not an ordinary person after all, he has an extremely detached position in this league.

To put it bluntly, the referee even asked Jordan how to make a penalty on the court.

Seeing Kong Bu looking at him, the referee quickly turned his head and played dead, pretending that he didn't hear Jordan's trash talk.

A mysterious smile appeared on Kong Bu's face immediately.

Everyone can prove that it was Jordan who spoke first, and then don't blame me for not accumulating virtue in Kong Bu's mouth.

(End of this chapter)