Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

54: 38.

Just after halftime of the game between the Timberwolves and the Bulls, the score difference had reached a huge 16 points.

Although this score difference is not the largest score difference in this year's playoffs, for the Bulls, such a huge difference in the halftime score is enough to make the championship players feel ashamed.

During the break, although coach Phil Jackson was explaining the Timberwolves' offensive tactics to his players, his attention was always on Michael Jordan.

No matter how detailed the Timberwolves' offensive play is, if the team's offense cannot succeed, everything else is in vain.

Judging from the current score difference, the Timberwolves only need to play steadily and not make big mistakes in the next games to keep the initiative firmly in their hands.

On the other hand, if the Bulls fail to perform at their best in the next games, today's game may be over.

The Timberwolves' offensive tactics are actually not complicated. If you have to say it, it is just a variation of coach Phil Jackson's triangle offense.

With Wudao holding the ball in a high position as the fulcrum of the team, other players can either run in and out, or assist in pick-and-rolls to create open opportunities for themselves, or create comfortable scoring conditions for Wudao.

Faced with this kind of play, rashly double-teaming is not actually a good option. Considering Wu Dao's shooting range, the Bulls have no way to suppress the Timberwolves' offensive efficiency by shrinking their defense.

The players who assisted in the offense were not ordinary players. Both Garnett and Tom had good shooting ability. Terry, the team's main point guard, was also an experienced veteran. Although he did not participate much in the offense, the Bulls players did not dare to leave him alone easily.

Because even if Kerr, who was defending Terry, double-teamed him, it might not be very effective. Instead, it would give the Timberwolves an extra opportunity to get an open shot on the outside.

In the final analysis, the Timberwolves' offensive tactics are not complicated at all. If it weren't for the fact that the individual abilities of these Timberwolves players are all outstanding enough, their technical and tactical system would be very ordinary "mainstream goods".

But precisely because the tactical system is simple enough, the Timberwolves' overall error rate is very low.

Because the tactics are not complicated, the number of passes between players is relatively small.

I said that if the Bulls could contain the Timberwolves' various offensive fulcrums in one-on-one offense and defense, then they could actually win this game easily.

But in the actual game process, Phil Jackson found that the championship players that his team was proud of had no way to curb the young people of the Timberwolves.

Rodman struggled when facing a technical player like Garnett. Garnett's shooting distance is very long and his footwork is very flexible. Rodman needs to run a lot to chase a player like Garnett, and if he is not careful he will be pulled away from the basket and will not be able to defend the other Timberwolves players attacking the basket.

Michael Jordan's disadvantages were clearly evident in the one-on-one matchup with Wu Dao. When Wu Dao was in hot form, even Michael Jordan couldn't stop his attack.

The Timberwolves' player configuration and tactical system are relatively unsolvable.

The reason why it is relatively unsolvable is that the same tactical system will not produce such good results as it does now if it is used by other teams or other players.

And even if the Timberwolves themselves executed it, if the players were not in good shape today, their offensive efficiency would not be as terrifying as it is now.

Take Bu Dao as an example. If his 3-point pull-up shot was not so accurate, Michael Jordan would not have to worry about the 3-point threat of his opponent when defending Bu Dao and could focus most of his energy on dealing with enemy breakthroughs.

In this way, Michael Jordan would not be so easily defeated by martial arts.

Similarly, taking the simplest and most basic triple threat technical action as an example, the martial arts of holding the ball outside the three-point line to perform triple threats must have brought much more pressure to Michael Jordan than Garnett and other Timberwolves players.

It is precisely because of the players' characteristics that their technical movements have been sublimated.

It is precisely because of the characteristics of the Timberwolves that the tactics they use have been sublimated, giving the Bulls a feeling of being difficult to conquer.

It is never a certain technique or tactic that is invincible. If Phil Jackson's triangle offense tactics had not been used on the Bulls and the Lakers, I am afraid there would be no way to help the team win the championship.

The invincible one is always the team.

This year's Timberwolves are a better team than the Bulls, and coach Phil Jackson has already noticed it.

But as the head coach of the Bulls, Phil Jackson would not express this thought in front of the players.

He now desperately hopes that his players can regain the feeling they had in the finals.

In Phil Jackson's opinion, the players played too lazily.

The break between quarters was very short. Coach Phil Jackson felt that he had a lot to say before the buzzer sounded in the stadium.

In the second half of the Bulls' game, there were some changes in the team's lineup.

Michael, Jordan, Pippen and Rodman were still on the court. At the same time, Ron Harper and Luc Longley also returned to the court.

From the previous games, coach Phil Jackson saw that Michael Jordan was powerless when facing martial arts. He hoped that Ron Harper, who was in better physical condition, could help Michael Jordan on the defensive end, which was actually something Kerr could not do.

At the same time, coach Phil Jackson also secretly told Pippen to pay more attention to the basket and enter the basket at the right time to fill the gap in the interior when Rodman was chasing and defending.

The team's defense must have a focus, and it is obvious that the Bulls' defense focuses on Wu Dao and Kevin Garnett.

After receiving secret instructions from coach Phil Jackson, Pippen was very excited.

In his intuitive feeling, it was his coach who knew that Michael was "useless" and needed him to save the team, so he made such an arrangement.
For someone like Pippen who was eager to prove that his value was no less than that of Michael Jordan, Coach Phil Jackson's secret advice was an affirmation of him.

You may not believe it, but even a player like Pippen who has won so many honors is still sensitive and has low self-esteem, especially in front of Michael Jordan.

Pippen spent his entire career trying to prove that his worth was no less than Jordan's, but reality dealt him a huge blow time and time again.

As for what Pippen did after his NBA career ended, it was even more evident. Of course, no one knows whether those shitty things were related to Pippen's anger at Jordan's son and his "fellow traveler".
While the Bulls were making substitutions, the Timberwolves also replaced their current team with the strongest lineup.

The Timberwolves, who have taken the lead, have a very reasonable and scientific distribution of the players' overall physical energy.

After the start of the third quarter, the physical condition of Marbury, Wu Dao, Garnett, Tom and Ben Wallace were all very good.

Of course there is a feeling of fatigue, but these professional players are already familiar with this feeling of fatigue, and it will not have much impact on their performance on the field.

As players from both teams returned to the field, enthusiastic cheers rang out from the stands.

Coach Phil Jackson pinned his team's hopes of winning on the defensive end. Although he made some defensive adjustments, when the game officially started, Coach Phil Jackson suddenly found that his adjustments were of no use.

The Timberwolves' offense still revolves around Wu Dao, but after the game entered the third quarter, Wu Dao's playing style changed a bit.

He began to attack the basket frequently, forcing the Bulls players to double-team him. At this time, he would often choose to pass the ball to the point guard Marbury, or to Garnett, Tom and others.

Wu Dao's physical condition is excellent. He can find a passing path even when double-teamed by many Bulls players, and it is not easy for other players to interfere with his passing.

What made the Bulls fans even more desperate was that after resting up and returning to the court, Marbury was like a chicken with blood injected. He made consecutive shots and his hit rate was even higher than that in the previous quarters.

He did not miss several three-point shots and scored 3 points in just a few minutes. The gap between the Bulls and the Timberwolves has widened to 9 points.

Under the Timberwolves' vigorous attack, the Bulls had no power to resist at all. Michael Jordan was at a disadvantage in the confrontation with martial arts, perhaps because of physical fatigue.

In fact, at the end of the third quarter, Michael Jordan was exhausted, and what kept him on the court was his desire for victory.

Coach Phil Jackson ultimately used Michael Jordan too harshly.

For a time, even an iron man like Michael Jordan couldn't bear it. You know, before playing G2 with the Timberwolves, Michael Jordan almost exhausted his physical strength in the G1 game and was once exhausted.

Just one day of rest was not enough to get Michael Jordan back to his best form.

His body is no longer young, and he can no longer feel full of energy after a good night's sleep like he did when he was young.

It wasn't until the game against the Timberwolves reached this point that Michael Jordan finally realized clearly that his body was no longer what it used to be.

old
This is something that even Michael Jordan had to admit. Even as strong as he was, he could not escape the ravages of time.

The huge pressure of the game made the physical fatigue more obvious, and Michael Jordan's performance in the third quarter showed no signs of rebound.

Although Michael Jordan has deliberately reduced the number of shots, he still contributed "excellent" data of 2 out of 5.

Jordan has certainly realized where his problem lies. His performance has obviously declined and he has missed many shots. Naturally, he will not continue to shoot crazily.

It's not that Michael Jordan gave up. On the contrary, it was because Michael Jordan was still obsessed with winning that he chose to play like this. But unfortunately, history has long proved that the Bulls team would not have been able to win the championship without Michael Jordan.

At such a critical moment, players such as Pippen and Ron Harper still failed to stand up and help the Bulls recover from the disadvantage.

Pippen did a great job helping Jordan defend Martial Arts, but unfortunately, he shouldn't have underestimated Tom.
On the offensive end, although Pippen tried hard to play the role of the savior who saved the Bulls, the cruel reality was that he did not have the necessary qualities to be a savior.

Even in the two years when Jordan retired intermittently, Pippen, who had unlimited shooting rights, was unable to increase his scoring. In fact, the ceiling of his scoring ability had been exposed early on, and the Timberwolves had no intention of putting too much defense on Pippen.

If Michael Jordan's performance could be curbed, what would it matter if Pippen scored 30 points?
What's more, Pippen couldn't even score 30 points in front of Tom.
At the end of the third quarter, the gap between the two teams had widened to 24 points. In fact, at this point in the game, the outcome was no longer in doubt.

In the fourth quarter of the game, although Michael Jordan was determined to return to the court, the rational coach Phil Jackson forced Michael Jordan to the bench.

give up.
Coach Phil Jackson completely gave up on winning this game.

He saw Michael Jordan's tired look. Even when he was sitting on the bench, Michael Jordan's muscles were shaking slightly uncontrollably.

The fatigue accumulated from the long game had not dissipated at all. On the stage of the finals, Michael Jordan had to face a strong and young opponent like Wu Dao. After playing for three consecutive quarters, he was on the verge of collapse.

If Michael Jordan were allowed to play again, not to mention whether he could suppress the young players of the Timberwolves and help the team win, the risk of injury alone was something coach Phil Jackson was unwilling to take.

It's just two games. Although the Bulls have been pushed to the edge of the cliff, they have not been completely eliminated.

If Michael Jordan dragged his tired body on the court and got injured, it would be a fatal blow to the Bulls.

Michael Jordan is a stubborn person, and coach Phil Jackson is the only one among the Bulls who can hold Michael Jordan back to a certain extent.

The game entered garbage time.

After clocking out after the third quarter, Wudao's personal score in this game had swelled to 41 points. After he left the court, many media reporters on the sidelines kept their cameras on Wudao.

This used to be Michael Jordan’s treatment, but now, it’s all martial arts.

After watching today's game, many media reporters have a hunch that the Timberwolves may be the only team in the past decade that can end the Bulls dynasty.

End the Bulls dynasty led by Michael Jordan.

(End of this chapter)