Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

When attacking the basket, Michael Jordan relies on his terrifying air-staying ability and strong physical confrontation to create gaps for himself to shoot, which is his specialty.

It is no exaggeration to call it the best of the best.

Why is Michael Jordan known as the GOAT in the history of NBA basketball? In addition to his superb skills, his strong physical talent also supports him.

After Michael Jordan, many talented newcomers emerged in the NBA arena, but even the best among them still cannot compare with Michael Jordan.

Let’s not talk about the players from the small ball era for now. After all, after the league rules changed, it is difficult to compare the value of players from the two eras on the court.

Take the four major quartiles that emerged in the post-Jordan era, led by Iverson. Each of them has a huge gap with Michael Jordan.

Iverson possesses the best speed and body coordination in the league. He can complete technical moves in front of his body in as fast as 0.35 seconds. For him, dribbling past opponents is like eating and drinking.

However, Iverson's physique and physical confrontation are his biggest weaknesses. He has the sharpest offensive power in the league, but he is also a "fragile" player.

The team had to put some defensive effort into Iverson to make up for his shortcomings.

McGrady is most famous for his 35 points in 13 seconds during his playing career. Whenever fans talk about McGrady's moments, they are impressed by his powerful offensive power.

But McGrady is a typical hot zone player who can blast the ball.

His offensive area is actually relatively fixed, ranging from one step inside the three-point line to one step outside the three-point line on both wings, as well as the paint area near the basket.

McGrady's offense has opportunities. When facing tough opponents, he often takes one dribble and shoots a pull-up jump shot after receiving the ball, or he uses a pick-and-roll with his teammates to move sideways and shoot a jump shot.

The technical characteristics of McGrady in his mature period are in line with the Moneyball Theory. He rarely takes a large number of inefficient mid-range shots.

The existence of the offensive hot zone limits McGrady's upper limit. Most of the time, McGrady has no way to attract inside players to double-team him.

As for Vince Carter, the biggest impression fans have of him should be that of a "dunker". He is skilled in breakthrough techniques, but not top-notch. His passing and control abilities are also in the middle and lower reaches among the four major positions. His technical characteristics also restrict him from being able to handle a large number of shots.

In fact, strictly speaking, Carter's skills are not enough to be on the same level as the two above.

The player who is most similar to Michael is Kobe Bryant.

With the ability to shoot from the top at a historical level, even if the defensive players do their best, Kobe may be able to force a fadeaway jump shot in front of the defensive players and hit the basket.

And unlike Iverson, Kobe's physique is very malleable. After Kobe joined the Lakers and experienced a period of growth, his defense also became top in the league.

At the same time, what makes Kobe different from hot zone players like McGrady is that he has the ability to shoot from all positions in the half court, which is very similar to Michael Jordan.

Kobe in his prime is the strongest scoring player in the league, but even at his peak, he cannot be compared with Michael Jordan.

It's not only about personal honor, but also personal strength.

The size of Kobe's hands limits his upper limit. He has no way to "twist" his body in the air like Michael and pass the defender's defense in an understated manner.

If we ignore technical characteristics and only discuss offensive power, perhaps Durant, who loves to drink bath water, will be the one who can be compared with Michael Jordan.

They all possessed the most unstoppable offensive power of their time.

But the two players are in different situations, and Durant's personality prevents him from becoming a true leader.

In the 97-98 season, Michael Jordan had long passed his prime. Now, he relies on his skills and his inconsistent physical condition to stand on the court and lead the Bulls forward.

On the court, offense and defense alternate.

Michael's breakthrough score did not have much impact on the Timberwolves. Although Garnett failed to assist in defense, he did not take this failure to heart.

As for martial arts, there is no feeling at all.

He had anticipated Jordan's dominance, but Jordan, who needed help from his teammates, was no longer the "I am the only one" god.

"Pass the ball!"

After entering the frontcourt, Wudao showed a strong desire to attack. He leaned sideways on Pippen to put pressure on the opponent. At the same time, Wudao waved his hand and asked Marbury at the top of the arc for the ball.

To be honest, in this attack, Marbury did not want to continue to rely on martial arts' offensive ability and let the players' offensive firepower reach its maximum. The best way is actually to find a way to make all the players active. Only by blooming in more places can the players' offense be difficult for opponents to predict and defend.

But faced with the request of martial arts, Marbury had no way to refuse.

Putting aside Wu Dao's status in the team, just his hot hand of making consecutive shots after he came on the court, if he didn't give the ball to Wu Dao amid the expectations of so many fans, he would probably be drowned in the saliva of the fans after the game.

Glancing at Wudao on the wing, Marbury quickly passed the basketball in his hand to Wudao.

After getting the basketball, Wudao glanced at Pippen who was defending in front of him. Without sweeping the ball towards the basket, he rushed forward with his left hand and hit Pippen's chest with his body.

The heavy pressure made Pippen's breathing stagnate. He took a step back to unload the martial arts force as much as possible, and at the same time, Pippen quickly slid forward.

Pippen is excellent in physical confrontation and his footwork is very flexible. He has defended eight times in his career and even restricted the aging Magic Johnson at one point. Pippen is definitely not a simple character.

Although the title of "Sixth Player of the Team" was given to Pippen by Wu Dao, this guy was able to become an indispensable piece of the puzzle for the Bulls to establish a dynasty, and his strength is also very strong.

There is a saying among fans that even Michael might not be able to win the championship without Pippen.

Although such an assumption is meaningless, it also indirectly proves the importance of Pippen's defensive ability to the Bulls.

Pippen was only half a body length behind Wu Dao. The fans in the stands watched the two players on the court and cheered for the players they supported.

However, the cheers of the Bulls fans just started and then suddenly stopped.

On the court, Wudao, who was rushing forward with a burst of ball, only took a step inside after a physical confrontation with Pippen. Then he burst the ball with his left hand, tapped the ground with his right foot, and took a step back, putting about one meter between him and Pippen.

Wudao returned to the three-point line and looked up at the basket. After the basketball bounced back, it stuck closely to Wudao's palm and he dribbled in mid-air.

In Pippen's eyes, Wu Dao's three-point threat was too strong. Pippen, who was blocked by the retreat step, could only start forward in a hurry to chase him. In order to interfere with Wu Dao, Pippen raised his arms high.

However, at the moment when Pippen's center of gravity changed, Wudao, who stepped back to the three-point line, burst forward again and flew past Pippen's side at high speed.

Pippen, with his high center of gravity, couldn't keep up with Wu Dao's speed. He stumbled and could only watch Wu Dao rush towards the Bulls' basket.

Wu Dao's attack speed was very fast. In two strides, Rodman in the interior had already seen Wu Dao rushing in front of him. Seeing Wu Dao take off, Rodman rushed up without thinking, and the two bodies collided violently in the air.

"Bang!!!"

With the help of a running start, his physique was able to rival that of a power forward with a terrifying martial arts impact. He actually pushed Rodman away in the air without even changing his posture much. He made a light layup and the basketball went into the net.

After landing, Rodman was unsteady on his feet. He staggered a few steps before he could barely stand. He looked towards the basket and saw that the basketball had already fallen out of the net.

"Wow—"

When the Timberwolves fans in the stands saw this scene, they immediately cheered, one wave after another, and their momentum completely suppressed the Bulls fans.

Not only did he dribble past Pippen, he was even able to push off the power forward Rodman for a layup. The terrifying dominance displayed by Budo in this shot shocked the fans far more than Michael's goal just now.

Respond to the ball.

Although he was not defending Wu Dao, Michael Jordan knew clearly that Wu Dao's goal was a response to his previous score.

He does not need the help of his teammates and can also ignore the help defense of the power forward position. Even Jordan can only rely on mid-air jump shots, while he can forcefully push Rodman up for a layup.

There is no doubt that this is a declaration of war issued by Wu Dao to Michael.

After scoring the goal, Wu Dao took a deep look at Michael not far away and quickly returned to defense. Michael's gaze lingered briefly on Wu Dao's back, and then he quickly ran towards the Timberwolves' half.

Do you want to accept this young man's challenge? !
Just ignore it.
On the basketball court, individual victory or defeat is so insignificant in the face of collective victory or defeat. Michael is a mature player and he knows this very well.

Of course, the most important thing is that Michael knows clearly that he may no longer be able to compete with that young man.

It’s not that he gave up, but the consecutive games made Michael deeply feel the traces of time left on his body.

Alternating between offense and defense, Ron Harper chose to pass the ball to Jordan as soon as he entered the frontcourt.

But the strange thing is that facing the defense of Wu Dao, Michael did not intend to attack himself, but instead passed the ball to Pippen who was back to the basket in the mid-range.

After the ball was passed, Michael quickly cut inside, but under the pursuit of Wu Dao, he did not get a suitable chance to catch the ball. However, his running position successfully attracted some of the Timberwolves' attention, giving Pippen a chance to single out Tom.

Pippen is not a person who is extremely good at attacking, and his offensive power in positional warfare is not outstanding.

In the running game, Pippen was able to fully utilize the team's advantages by relying on his excellent vision and conducting ability, as well as his own terrifying physical fitness.

But at this time, he is not so trustworthy, especially since his touch today was so-so.

Pippen, who received the ball, noticed the Timberwolves' negligence in defending him. Even Tom behind him was following Michael's movements with his eyes, and was a little distracted.

Pippen realized this and didn't hesitate any more. He just turned around and shot a mid-range jump shot.

Players who shoot with an oblique arm have average stability, and their hit rate depends a lot on their condition. It is common for them to be great in one game and terrible in the next.

Moreover, Pippen's shooting ability was not top-notch. His free throw shooting percentage remained at 70% for many years, occasionally dropping to around 65%, and peaking at 81%. However, in his more than ten years of career, he only reached this level in one regular season.
It can be said that his free throws are very eye-catching.
You can't expect such a player to have strong top-shot or strong-shot abilities. Even open shots may not gain 100% trust from teammates.

Although Tom's attention was not entirely on Pippen, he put pressure on Pippen in time when Pippen was about to shoot.

When the ball was shot, Tom didn't even look at Pippen, but went straight back to the basket to position himself. His action was so decisive, as if he had already predicted that Pippen's shot would not go in.

"Dang~~~"

A crisp sound of iron was heard in the court, but Rodman jumped up and caught the falling rebound.

It was a strong frontcourt rebound, but even with the combined efforts of Tom and Garnett, they were unable to get the ball past Rodman.

"Oh oh oh!!"

There were cheers of surprise from the Bulls fans in the stands, but the situation on the court changed too quickly and they didn't have much time to be happy.

After grabbing the frontcourt rebound, Rodman immediately found Jordan on the outside. At this time, Jordan was running along the three-point line, trying to get rid of Wu Dao's defense.

When Rodman passed the ball, Wu Dao was only half a body length behind Jordan. The moment Rodman passed the ball, Wu Dao had already predicted the opponent's ball path, accelerated suddenly, and instantly reached the same level as Jordan, using his body to force Jordan and directly steal the ball.

Michael Jordan wanted to steal the ball, but Wu Dao didn't give him such a chance. He hooked his wrist while stealing the ball and passed it directly.

After receiving the ball, Marbury accelerated directly towards the Bulls' half.

After completing the pass, Wu Dao also burst out with his own speed and pushed forward towards the Bulls' half court.

This time, Marbury took advantage of Wu Dao's terrifying influence on the court. After entering the Bulls' half, he just turned his head and glanced at Wu Dao who was following him. The Bulls players' attention was directly attracted by Wu Dao, and they completely ignored Marbury.

Get to the basket and score an easy layup.

Although the basketball went into the net, Marbury had a bright smile on his face.

All the Timberwolves players on the court were in high spirits. The terrifying ability displayed by martial arts on both offense and defense affected all the Timberwolves players.

The players' nervous and depressed looks before the game had long disappeared without a trace.

There is no need to explain anything to his teammates. Wu Dao only needs to play his game well on the court to rally the morale of the team and make all the players gather around him spontaneously.

Same status as Michael had with the Bulls.

Wu Dao has already carried the Timberwolves team and is a true leader.

"Michael, you're running too slow!"

"Otherwise I can't stop."

"Just because we won a game, are you so lazy?!"

(End of this chapter)