Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Michael Jordan's strong scoring helped the Bulls hold their ground amid the Timberwolves' fierce attack.

Thanks to Michael Jordan's efforts, the two teams played back and forth in the game.

13: 14.

Halfway through the first quarter, the difference between the two teams was only 1 point. Although the Bulls were 1 point behind their opponents, they still had the offensive ball and did not give the initiative of the game to the Timberwolves.

Kerr dribbled the ball quickly towards the Timberwolves' half. After entering the frontcourt, the Bulls rotated in a figure-eight pattern. Several players took turns to receive the ball at the top of the arc. Michael Jordan and others also ran in a figure-eight pattern, hoping to create space for the scorers in this way.

The Timberwolves' defense adopted an expanded version of 32 zone defense, with three players defending the outside line, and Garnett and Stanley Roberts standing on both sides of the paint area to guard the basket.

The Bulls' continuous running finally disrupted the Timberwolves' defensive rotation rhythm, giving Michael Jordan the opportunity to hold the ball and play one-on-one against Marbury.

Using figure-8 running to create single-player opportunities is a tactic that is actually very common in basketball games and is also very basic. Not to mention in the NBA, even in high school teams, coaches will frequently use it.

Although the movement is simple and not difficult, the effect is very outstanding no matter at which level of the competition.

Normally, the purpose of the high-post figure-8 run is to create space for the players. Whether it is scoring or breaking through, space is needed.

However, the Bulls' application of this tactical movement was unique. Their biggest goal was to allow Michael Jordan to rotate to a player with relatively weak defense.

As for creating space?!

There was no need for Michael Jordan to do that. As long as he could be mismatched against the Timberwolves' No. 1, Michael Jordan could use his outstanding personal ability to pass the ball into the basket.

On the left wing of the court, Michael Jordan is one-on-one against Marbury.

Marbury was very fast and was able to keep up with Michael Jordan's breakthroughs, but Michael Jordan had no intention of engaging in a speed battle with Marbury, nor did he expect to be able to surpass Marbury by relying on speed.

Even Michael Jordan, an extremely confident player, has realized the decline in his physical function after experiencing a series of failures.

Michael Jordan, holding the ball in his left hand, leaned his body against Marbury, starting from outside the three-point line.

Relying on his physical strength advantage, Michael Jordan easily forced Marbury back to the free throw line. Michael Jordan, who was within the shooting range, did not hesitate at all. He quickly took a step forward with his left hand, and after a feint, he directly chose a mid-range jump shot.

A true superstar ball.

If Michael Jordan's playing style were to be used in a domestic youth training match, he would probably be substituted off the court by coaches within a few minutes.

There is no way. Domestic coaches are so tough and their level is so high. After all, they don’t even look down on players like Curry and Kobe. They think that these two players play unreasonably. They may not necessarily look down on the old Michael Jordan, right?
"Uh-huh!!!"

Michael Jordan made a quick stop and jump shot and hit the mid-range shot steadily. As the basketball went into the net, the Bulls fans cheered enthusiastically in the stands.

On the sidelines, the Bulls' scoreboard was ticking, and the Bulls, who were originally one point behind, were now one point ahead of their opponents.

The scores of the two teams are very close. If both teams want to widen the score gap, they need to do not only the offensive task, but defense also becomes extremely important.

The Bulls players quickly returned to defense and quickly got into position, with Michael Jordan leading the defense at the top of the arc.

The difference between the Bulls and the Timberwolves is that they use man-to-man defense. Zone defense and double-teaming only appear during defense rotations, and the only player they target is Wu Dao.

After Marbury dribbled the ball into the Bulls' half court, Michael Jordan at the top of the arc quickly moved towards Marbury. Michael Jordan's heels were nearly half a meter away from the three-point line. His defensive position was very high, and he seemed a little out of touch with the team's overall defense.

But it was this kind of defense that caused great pressure on the Timberwolves players.

Wudao didn't dare to stay outside the three-point line for too long. He directly crossed the court and ran towards the three-point line on the left wing of the court. As Wudao ran quickly, the Bulls players' attention was inevitably focused on Wudao. Kerr, who was supposed to defend Tom, was involuntarily attracted by the fast-running Wudao.

At the same time that Wu Dao took action, Tom, who was also on the wing, cut directly into the inside.

The fundamental purpose of this offensive rotation of the Timberwolves was not to allow Marbury to pass the ball to Wu Dao, but to use Wu Dao's influence and attention on the court to attract the attention of the defensive players and create opportunities for Tom to pass down.

This kind of offensive tactical movement is actually very common on the court, but the strange thing is that almost all teams can see through the Timberwolves' running intentions, but there are always teams that fail in such movements.

The reason is very simple. It is because players like Wudao receive so much attention on the court that opponents simply cannot ignore their existence.

Pippen, who was chasing Wu Dao, lagged behind Wu Dao by half a body length. He had actually noticed the remaining Tom, and also noticed that Kerr had been thrown off by Tom due to a moment of distraction, but he still couldn't give up Wu Dao to defend Tom.

Because Kerr had no way to defend Wu Dao, once Marbury's ball was in Wu Dao's hands, he was able to withstand Kerr's defense and choose to pull up directly from outside the three-point line.

Even Pippen, who had excellent physical conditions, was very distressed when facing Wu Dao's sudden pull-up shot, let alone a player of Kerr's height.

The Timberwolves' movement created opportunities for Tom. Marbury, who was at the top of the arc, also noticed the gap on Tom's side, found an opportunity in advance, and directly passed the ball to the inside of the court.

With Tom completing an alley-oop layup, the Timberwolves once again equalized the score and regained the initiative.

"Defend!! Defend!! Defend!!"

The scores between the Bulls and the Timberwolves were tied, and the fans in the stands realized that they had to do a good job on the defensive end in order to widen the score gap. In order to encourage the Timberwolves players, the home fans, led by the on-site DJ, began to rhythmically shout "Defensive Rat".

The defensive shouts that reached the players' ears also encouraged the Forest players, allowing them to concentrate more on the game.

Shortly after the Timberwolves scored, the Bulls' Michael Jordan immediately responded with his outstanding personal ability. With the help of Pippen's pick-and-roll, Michael Jordan quickly broke through, and after breaking into the basket, he made a fake shot and passed the ball inside, stuffing the ball into Luke Long's arms.

Luc Longley grabbed the ball with both hands and directly picked it up to dunk. Garnett, who turned back to assist in defense, was unable to catch up and failed to block the shot. He was directly dunked over by the tall Luc Longley.

When the Bulls fans in the stands saw this goal, their cheers even louder than the Timberwolves fans' cheers. The emotions of the Bulls fans in the entire stadium were aroused by Luke Long's dunk.

The relationship between players and fans is one of mutual encouragement and interdependence. Players on the field can mobilize the emotions of fans in the stands through their performances. Similarly, the high emotions of fans can also be fed back to the players on the field, allowing the players to perform better.

On the basketball court, you can even see the situation on the field by the state of the fans of the two teams.

The fans are in low spirits and have been silent for a long time. The team they support must be the one at a disadvantage.

The cheering and applauding fans often support the team that has the upper hand, or the team that fights back hard in a fierce game.

Teams with the latter kind of fans often have a greater chance of winning the final game.

At this time in the Target Center, whether it is the fans supporting the Bulls or the fans supporting the Timberwolves, their emotions always remain high.

The situation on the field was indeed the same as the mental outlook shown by the fans in the stands.

Neither the Bulls nor the Timberwolves showed any signs of decline.

In such intense interaction, the game time passed very quickly. When the first quarter was 8 minutes in, the difference between the two teams was only 2 points. Although the Timberwolves were the dominant side, the Bulls still controlled the ball.

As Pippen scored an open jump shot from mid-range, the gap between the two teams was eliminated.

The Timberwolves were the first to make changes.

Coach Philip felt that the current lineup on the field was not able to further help the team widen the score gap, and Stanley Roberts, who was responsible for fighting against Luke Long, was obviously showing signs of fatigue. For various considerations, Coach Philip chose to let Cherokee Parks come on as a substitute.

Unlike Stanley Roberts, Cherokee Parks possesses better offensive capabilities, and this center also has decent shooting skills.

Coach Philip noticed that Budo didn't stick to the ball in the first quarter, and Marbury, who controlled most of the players on the team, also performed very well on the offensive end.

He is not blindly confident in his personal singles ability. While demonstrating his breakthrough ability as much as possible, Marbury is also working hard to connect the team.

Today, Marbury's playing style is not like that of a dictatorial lone wolf who thinks he is the best in the world. Instead, it is somewhat like the "Political Commissar Ma" who led the Beijing team to win the championship after entering the CBA.

Playing for the Timberwolves allowed Marbury to complete his self-transformation. Being around a super strong man like Wudao, Marbury did not go in the direction of becoming a "cancer".

You know, Marbury's original playing style was considered a cancer to the team by many fans.

Although he has received a big contract in the NBA, his reputation among fans is very bad.

There was no choice. In 2001, Marbury and Kidd, both No. 1 players, swapped teams.

With the addition of Kidd, the Nets went from a bottom-ranked non-playoff team to winning the Eastern Conference regular season championship with a record of 50 wins and 32 losses, and made it to the final NBA Finals.

Although they were swept 4:0 by the then-invincible Los Angeles Lakers, the results achieved by the Nets at that time were also dazzling enough.

And more importantly.
Kidd's performance with the Nets was not a flash in the pan. In the 02-03 season, the Nets reached the finals again, winning the Spurs' second championship. In the 2-03 season, the Nets lost to the rising Pistons in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

In contrast, the Suns, who acquired Marbury, didn't even make it to the playoffs.

It was during that exchange that Kidd's historical status began to soar, and Marbury's...
Strictly speaking, Marbury's career in the NBA cannot be considered smooth. Although he made money, he never won any honor.

On the contrary, it was only after leaving the NBA and joining the CBA that Marbury truly transformed.

It is difficult to say which player is more capable, Marbury in the NBA or Marbury in the CBA.

But in terms of maturity alone, Marbury in the CBA period can crush Marbury in the NBA period.

Perhaps it is the different environments of the two leagues that have created Marbury's two different personalities. Of course, more importantly, there is a deviation in Marbury's understanding of his own positioning.

In the NBA league, it is very, very difficult for a player of his physique to grow into a true core player of the team.

Although Iverson has so many fans across the United States and has performed amazingly on the court, Marbury is ultimately a different type of player from Iverson.

He has no way of becoming a true scoring core. If he can focus on assisting his teammates and use his personal abilities to assist in the offense instead of hogging the ball and playing badly himself, the achievements and status he can achieve in the NBA league will probably be much higher than it is now.

Fortunately, Garnett was not able to suppress his old friend, but Budo was able to do it.

The future of the Timberwolves is very bright. Judging from the current trend, before Wu Dao's rookie contract expires, the Timberwolves will not face too much salary pressure for the time being, and their team will be able to maintain its competitiveness in the next few years.

And with martial arts by his side, Marbury can transform into a more perfect state.

"Shhh!!"

On the court, the Timberwolves launched an offensive. Marbury used his strong breakthrough to attract the attention of the Bulls players. After crossing the three-point line, he faked a shot and passed the ball to Cherokee Parks in the interior.

Fortunately, Rodman reacted quickly enough and got to the defense immediately.

But the basketball in Cherokee Parks' hand was quickly thrown into Wudao's hands outside the three-point line.

Wu Dao got the ball and raised it to Pippen, then he dropped the ball, took a step sideways and shot a three-point jump shot.

The basketball hadn't even entered the net yet, but the Timberwolves fans in the stands were the first to cheer.

Amidst the cheers, the basketball fell steadily into the net with a crisp sound.

(End of this chapter)