NBA: Back to 97, to be the Jagged Bishop

Chapter 39 Are You Worthy of an Annual Salary of 3000
McGrady turned pale when he heard Jordan's trash talk.

Among the four shooting guards, Iverson, Kobe and Carter are all Jordan's little fans.

Carter is Jordan's younger brother. Both of them came from the University of North Carolina. It was because of Jordan that he chose North Carolina.

Kobe is even more exaggerated. He has a very morbid admiration for Jordan. Not only has he been watching Jordan's videos to learn his skills, but he is also imitating Jordan's dressing, behavior, and even trash talk.

Iverson knew that he was a rebellious master, but during the All-Star Weekend, Jordan pointed at his nose and called him a little B boy, and Iverson actually endured it.

If someone else had shouted that, Iverson probably would have jumped on his head and punched him.

Only McGrady is an exception, his idol is Penny Hardaway.

Faced with Jordan's contempt, McGrady's fighting spirit has been burning.

The game officially started, Jermaine jumped the ball, won Luke Langley, and got the first offensive ball for the Raptors.

Snow controlled the ball and pushed forward. After reaching the frontcourt, he transferred the ball to McGrady.

"Shh!"

The ball was in the hands of McGrady, and in a blink of an eye, he had pulled out his hand from outside the three-point line and made a precise three-pointer.

In the opening game, he directly shot a three-pointer on Jordan's head. If it was an old star like Reggie Miller or Glove Payton, the trash talk would definitely have started pouring out.

McGrady is young after all, he failed to seize this good opportunity to stimulate Jordan.

But this opportunity was seized.

During the Bulls' offensive round, Combe had been standing on the sidelines. When Jordan passed by, he spoke.

"Michael, did you buy your DPOY with money?"

"A 19-year-old kid can't be guarded? Are you worthy of your 3000 million annual salary?"

Combe laughed mockingly.

"Kong, I crushed him like I crushed an ant."

"Your entire Raptors team is nothing more than an ant's nest in my eyes."

Jordan is not a vegetarian either, so he immediately fought back.

The referee continued to play dead, pretending not to hear anything.

Tonight is the home game of the Raptors, so it should be given a little home court favoritism, and Jordan started the trash talk.

In order to prove that McGrady is really just an ant in his eyes, Jordan took the initiative to reach out for the ball.

He's about to start singles.

McGrady looked dignified, lowered his center of gravity, opened his arms, and became fully alert.

Outside the three-point line, Jordan began to turn around, apparently preparing to hit McGrady with a high back.

Next, McGrady was knocked back again and again. Despite Jordan's thin body, his strength is quite strong. When he played an exhibition game in Italy, he also staged a feat of smashing rebounds.

When he reached the periphery of the three-second zone, Jordan suddenly turned over and took a small step, leaning back and making a mid-range shot.

"Shh!"

The basketball was hit cleanly.

Even Kong Bu, the opponent, couldn't help but want to applaud.

This ball is really beautiful, it is definitely a template-level offense for outside players, and it can be used as a textbook.

Strength, speed, height, beauty, touch, even the pickiest sunspots couldn't find any faults in this ball.

"Boy, I'm afraid you won't be able to learn this ball in your life."

Jordan looked at McGrady, laughed and turned back to defend.

When it came to the Raptors' offensive round, this time Mashburn got Snow's pass, but unfortunately he failed to score under Pippen's defense.

Pippen's defense was underrated.

Even if he has been selected to the best defensive first team for many years in a row, it is an underestimate if he has not won DPOY.

Possessing a pair of long arms and super big hands, it is easy to remind people of the death-wound Leonard in later generations.

And Pippen also has an advantage that Leonard does not have, that is, his speed is faster than Leonard.

This makes his defense extremely efficient.

The rebound was grabbed by Rodman in mid-air, and the Bulls started to attack.

Still Jordan's singles.

It seems that the trash talk that Kumbu just came to has an effect and has aroused Jordan's anger.

This time, Jordan didn't turn around and hit McGrady with his back. Instead, he pulled back directly face to face, and hit another mid-range shot.

McGrady's face was red, he had tried his best to create pressure on Jordan, but it seemed to be in vain, Jordan was not affected at all.

Turning his head around, McGrady followed suit, and he was also a back-and-forth mid-range shot.

It's a pity that he failed to score. The offensive rebound was taken by Da Ben and passed to Xiao Ao not far from his side.

Jr. made a mid-range shot.

In the next 3 minutes, Jordan singled McGrady crazily, and his hit rate was quite high.

He made four of five shots, all of which were fadeaways.

In fact, the Raptors' situation is not too bad. Tracy McGrady scored a three-pointer in the opening game, and Jermaine O'Neill scored four points under Rodman's defense, only one point behind the Bulls.

The offensive efficiency of both sides is not bad.

Combe quickly called a short timeout because he found that McGrady was in a bad mood.

Anyone who is ravaged by an opponent like this, it is hard not to have some negative emotions.

"Take it easy, Tracy."

"The game has just started, don't worry about how many goals he scored."

"You just need to know that we will have the last laugh tonight!"

"Snow, give up on Harper and double-team with Tracy!"

Kumbu also knew how much pressure McGrady was under at this time, but he had no choice but to continue.

The game continued, Snow had completely given up on Harper and began to double-team Jordan.

This approach has had a good effect, at least Jordan can no longer make unscrupulous shots.

The Zen master immediately made a substitution, replacing Harper and taking Steve Kerr.

His career three-point shooting rate is higher than 45%, and Cole, who can even average more than 50% three-point shooting rate per game after losing a season, has given Comb some headaches.

With Cole on the court, there is no way to double-team.

As long as Jordan is double-teamed, Cole will get an open shot immediately.

With his three-point shooting percentage, this is no different from giving him points.

In this Bulls team, the ones that make Comb the most fearful are Jordan, Kukoc, and Cole.

There is no way, Jordan must still double-team, and Comb can only let Mashburn abandon Pippen and go to mark Cole.

Pippen's defense is underrated, and his offense is actually overrated.

Some fans think that Jordan suppressed Pippen's scoring average. If he were not on the same team as Jordan, Pippen would have averaged [-] points per game.

This idea is a bit naive.

Because it's not that Pippen has never led the team alone. When Jordan retired for the first time, he led the team alone and only averaged 22 points per game.

After Mashburn went to mark Kerr, Pippen got several half-open mid-range shots and only scored one.

Then he also learned to be smart, and simply gave up the mid-range shot, and started to hit the basketball with the ball.

It's a pity that the Raptors are under the basket of Daben. It is not so easy to score points in the penalty area guarded by Daben.

Attacked twice, once was capped by Big Ben, and the other time was fouled by Xiao Ao who helped defend, and made two free throws.

The game was so disturbed by Pippen that the Raptors gradually began to gain the advantage.

The fans cheered crazily. They were optimistic that the Raptors had the strength to suppress the Bulls.

Of course, Kumbu is not so optimistic, because the game has not really entered the heat.

In just 2 minutes, Cole found an opportunity, hit two three-pointers, and immediately evened the difference.

"Hey Steve, I hear Michael beat you up on the training ground."

"Why do you still work so hard?"

Comb seized every opportunity that could affect the mentality of the Bulls players. These words made Cole tremble, and that painful memory recalled in his mind.

I don't know if Combe's trash talk had an effect, and Cole's shooting rate was really affected in the follow-up.

(End of this chapter)