Rookie against Jordan, I became the god of basketball

Chapter 174: The situation suddenly changed, and everyone doubted themselves

The Sonics' offense failed, and no one was discouraged because the theme of this game was not offense, but defense.

Although I don’t want to admit it, the Bulls have dragged the game into their own rhythm from the beginning. Compared with an unstable offense, it is much easier to defend well. Reasonable tactics, a deep lineup and seriousness Attitude, the combination of the three can ensure defensive execution.

Although the Sonics don't like this kind of rhythm, they are not afraid to play defense against any opponent.

McMillan, Lu Feng, Harper, Kemp, Perkins...the defensive intensity of this lineup is not inferior even against the Bulls, but they just play at a different offensive rhythm.

Kemp mentioned that the fourth position not only allows him to devote more energy to do more things, but also reduces the pressure on him on the defensive end. Kemp has already committed three fouls, and the Sonics do not want to let him go too early. In a foul crisis, the Sonics still need him to protect the basket inside.

Fortunately, although Harper does not have a physical advantage against Pippen, his defensive effect is not much worse. Pippen's lack of stability in the mid-range prevents Harper from having too many difficulties, even if his running and jumping ability is not as good. The opponent, as long as he can rely on his strength to withstand Pippen and prevent him from scoring easily.

Although I don’t know what other trump cards the Bulls have, the Sonics planned to exert strength in the third quarter from the beginning and directly launched a half-court press in an attempt to force the Bulls to make mistakes.

Although John Paxson's dribbling is stable, it is not easy to encounter McMillan's defense. His dynamic talent is not outstanding, and his only advantage is stability.

But without dynamic talent, it was not easy for John Paxson to break through the opponent's press when meeting the taller McMillan. The Sonics trapped the opponent in the first round of the half-court press. Trouble, let alone looking for opportunities to pass the ball, John Paxson has trouble even dribbling close to the three-point line!

Under McMillan's defense, John Paxson successfully passed the ball to Pippen with only 14 seconds left in the attack time, and the Sonics' pressing defense was far from over.

The Sonics have studied Pippen's organizational habits. One of his obvious shortcomings is that he sticks to the ball. Although he doesn't stick to the ball for a long time, he is used to holding the ball for a second or two before passing the ball. This is the Sonics' opportunity. .

The moment Pippen got the ball, in addition to Harper, who was facing him, Lu Feng also decisively gave up and continued fighting with Jordan, and immediately reversed and coordinated with Harper to form a double-team on Pippen.

Neither Lu Feng nor Harper have a size advantage against Pippen, but the two of them can still make it difficult for Pippen to pass the ball. Both of them like to pick up the ball and just protect the ball. It's not easy, and Pippen naturally doesn't have the extra energy to observe other people's movements and pass the ball.

With the cooperation of the two, Pippen had to dribble the ball in order to prevent him from walking, but by placing the ball in the back, Feng and Harper had more opportunities to complete the steal. This was not good news. Although Jordan kept reminding Pippen of his position and direction with his voice, the defensive intensity of the two made Pippen dare not take risks, fearing that he would be intercepted as soon as he passed the ball.

Under such circumstances, Pippen gritted his teeth and chose to hit one by himself. Before he was double-teamed again and stopped the ball, Pippen seized the opportunity to retreat and then jumped up directly, facing Lu Feng and Harper's defense and taking a forceful shot. Scored a three-pointer—shua!

At the critical moment, Pippen had good luck and touch and successfully scored the ball.

Seeing that the sudden change in defensive rhythm failed to cause the Bulls to make mistakes, Lu Feng was not in a bad mood, but he was not too frustrated.

It’s normal to have several fairy balls in a game. He himself has made many of them this time. It’s also normal for Pippen to hit one. Once the Bulls are prepared, how will they respond to the Sonics’ half-court press? This is the next step. key down.

It was the Sonics' turn to attack, perhaps because Lu Feng and Kemp basically finished the game for the Sonics. As a result, Harper's position was directly vacated by Pippen for this ball, and Harper also knew the running position based on game experience. Arriving at a position with a good opportunity on the weak side, Lu Feng's pass arrived, and Harper caught the ball from mid-range and shot - swish!

At 54:55, the SuperSonics were one point behind, and the score was still deadlocked within 3 points. It could be said that it was a [-]-[-] start.

But the stalemate was soon broken. After the Bulls were prepared, they quickly made adjustments. Jordan was responsible for controlling the ball from the backcourt. If the Sonics wanted to double-team in the half, Jordan would take advantage of it. Pass the ball out before the SuperSonics double-team is completed, allowing the Bulls' offense to operate normally and not giving the Sonics a chance to double-team anyone.

If the Sonics don't double-team and let Lu Feng defend Jordan one-on-one, the Bulls are not afraid.

Jordan's back-up style of ball-handling style is not afraid of defensive players taking the ball. It is not difficult for him to protect the ball when his back is turned. The only thing he fears when holding the ball is double-teaming.

Although Jordan's efficiency against Lu Feng alone is not very high, it is enough in such a fierce defensive battle, as long as the Bulls' scoring can be guaranteed not to stop.

On the contrary, the Bulls had no problem, but the Sonics, who had planned to make a strong effort in the third quarter, suddenly found themselves in a difficult situation to score.

Perhaps it was because he did not regain his form after returning from the halftime break. In the half-quarter after returning from the third quarter, Kemp only scored 4 goal in 1 shots, and his efficiency was worrying.

Lu Feng also missed two consecutive shots. Although he scored 6 points through free throws in the first half, all the points came from free throws, not even a 2+1. The Bulls obviously did not want Lu Feng to score in the penalty area. They could score 6 points by relying on What's more, Lu Feng's free throws were accurate.

62:66, 6 minutes into the third quarter, the SuperSonics only scored 10 points, and the Bulls team unexpectedly scored 16 points. The SuperSonics' defense in the past half of the quarter seemed to have no effect at all!
This is of course not that the Sonics' defense was ineffective. In fact, the Sonics' defense was pretty good in the past half quarter. Jordan made 6 of 2 shots and scored 3 points with 7 free throws. Pippen scored 2 magical three-pointers. At 6 points, John also scored a three-pointer and scored 3 points.

In short, the Bulls' outside shooting was incredible and caught the SuperSonics off guard.

Although Kemp and Harper each scored two points, and Lu Feng's several shots were all two points and free throws, after all, two points are one less than three points, and the Bulls unknowingly opened the point difference to 4 points.

Carlisle originally planned to let Lu Feng take a break after half the third quarter. After all, he had already played for 30 minutes halfway through the third quarter and had not rested for a second so far.

But such a situation on the court made him hesitant about whether to let Lu Feng rest.

"Lark...do you want to rest for a while?"

After hesitating, Carlisle took the initiative to ask Lu Feng the question and asked for his opinion.

"3 minutes, give me 3 minutes... Sean, Ron, you try to hold on and wait for me to come back!"

Although he was very unconvinced in his heart, the reason in Lu Feng's heart told him that since the SuperSonics' half-court press failed and failed to take the opportunity to widen the gap with the Bulls, he must slow down at this time, otherwise he would end up During the decisive battle, there may be problems with your own state.After the timeout ended, Lu Feng was surprised that the Bulls replaced Jordan at this time. It seemed that the opponent was in a similar situation to himself and knew to save his physical strength at critical moments.

Seeing this situation, Lu Feng breathed a rare sigh of relief. Taking a break when the team was 4 points behind was already very risky for him. Fortunately, his efforts in the past 30 minutes were not in vain, and Jordan was almost pushed to his limit. .

The two have been hurting each other until now. Although Lu Feng is currently tied for the game-high 30 points, no one knows this process better than the two. The two will definitely show off on the defensive end of the opponent. He used 120% of his strength and made countless small movements. Until now, no piece of skin on both hands was intact.

Just relying on the defense of the two on the court, replaced by a stubborn referee, the two of them would have led their six fouls to the field by now...

Lu Feng originally thought that during the three minutes of rest, he could calmly recover and adjust. The combination of Kemp and Harper was not inferior at all against Pippen and Grant. Even Kemp's confrontation with Grant should be a one-sided crushing.

Unexpectedly, he didn't guess anything about how things turned out. Although Kemp's athletic ability was visibly better than Grant's, he not only failed to score a point in 3 minutes, but also allowed Grant to score two goals, one of which Or two plus one for Kemp's foul!

Harper's performance against Pippen was not as expected, as he missed two shots. In the end, the Sonics only scored 2 points on Perkins' 1 shot and 2 free throws.

In 3 minutes, the Sonics were beaten 8:4 by the Bulls. This result was completely unexpected by Lu Feng. The score on the court inexplicably became 66:74, with the Bulls leading by 8 points!
This development of the situation was unexpected by Lu Feng. When he adjusted and returned to the court, Jordan continued to stay off the court and rest with a smile, which once again increased the pressure on Lu Feng.

In the last 3 minutes of the third quarter, Lu Feng made a series of sudden shots. Even though Pippen tried his best, it had no effect. Lu Feng scored 3 points on 4 of 3 shots in 6 minutes, and also sent out 1 assist and [-] assist. Facing Pippen's block!
As the buzzer sounded at the end of the third quarter, the score reached 74:78, and the SuperSonics brought the point difference back to 4 points.

Lu Feng was extremely depressed. The team was already 8 points behind. When he returned to the court, of course he had to use all his strength to chase points. In this way, Lu Feng could be said to have had a lonely rest.

On the contrary, Jordan rested for 6 consecutive minutes in the second half of the third quarter, and there is a high probability that he will return to the court from the beginning of the fourth quarter. This is definitely bad news for the SuperSonics, and it is also bad news for Lu Feng, because This means that he has to stay on the court from the beginning of the fourth quarter to restrain Jordan a little.

The person who had the most problems with the SuperSonics in the third quarter was of course Kemp. After scoring 16 points at halftime, the entire Sonics team thought Kemp would completely explode. Unexpectedly, Kemp only made 5 shots in the entire third quarter. He made only 1 of 4 free throws and only 2 of 4 free throws. He only scored [-] points in a single quarter, which was a shame for the team's trust in him.

在路枫的意见下，这场比赛哈珀、帕金斯以及巴罗斯等人全都把全本属于自己的球权交了出去，结果三节下来只有22投8中，罚球7中4的20分……和上半场的15投7中罚球3罚2中的16分完全比不了。

Counting only the third quarter, Kemp made only 7 of 1 field goals and 4 of 2 free throws, which was in line with everyone's expectations.

路枫的投篮命中率虽然不高，三节27投只有13中，三分球更是4投0中，但算上罚球的10中10，三节36分5篮板9助攻的效率绝对不算低。

Thinking of Kemp's poor performance in the third quarter, Carlisle couldn't help but ask Kemp: "Sean, is your physical condition okay?"

I thought Kemp's biggest problem in this game would be his inability to control fouls. Four fouls in three quarters was a very bad sign. But in the end, Kemp's problem turned out to be physical fitness. Carlisle never expected such a result.

As the most energetic person on the SuperSonics team, although Carlisle has not tried it himself, he has always believed that Kemp has the physical ability to play the entire game. Therefore, Kemp was so good in the first half, and his poor performance in the third quarter will let him down. He was so surprised.

Kemp touched the back of his head in confusion and replied: "I...I don't feel tired, at least not to the extent that it affects my condition, but I don't know why, no matter how I shoot, the ball just can't go in.

After I came back from the break, my hand felt very hard. Every time I shot, no matter whether it went in or not, I felt nothing, as if it had nothing to do with my shooting. "

Carlisle was stunned. He didn't understand Kemp's explanation at all. He had never experienced anything like the touch. Even when he played in the NCAA a year ago, Carlisle was not a person who was good at scoring. He had always been an organizer and a scorer. Tool man.

Carlisle didn't understand, but that doesn't mean the rest of the Sonics didn't understand. Not to mention Lu Feng, even experienced veterans like Harper and Perkins could hear Kemp's question.

Obviously, Kemp's touch was used up in the first half, and it is still a question whether he can get it back later.

Lu Feng was stupid. Although Kemp never fought for the ball in the past, he always played happily. He would score when others passed the ball, and he would do other things if they didn't pass the ball. Therefore, Lu Feng had never doubted Kemp's right to the ball. Digestive capacity.

Before, Lu Feng had always felt that Kemp had caught up with him at the peak of his previous life, but now it seems that it may still be a little behind. Even Lu Feng himself is beginning to wonder about Kemp's peak.

Although Carlisle didn't understand what Kemp meant, Kemp was not the only one who had problems with the Sonics. Then he looked at Harper and Perkins and asked: "Ron, Sam... where are you two?" ? Could it be the same?"

Harper and Perkins looked at each other, and finally Harper lowered his head first and apologized: "Sorry guys, I... ahem, I'm a little nervous. After all, this is my first time playing in the finals. You guys?" knew."

Carlisle slapped his head helplessly. Perhaps it was because the Sonics had gone so smoothly before that he forgot about it. Only after Harper reminded him did he remember that everyone on the Sonics team except Sampson was a first-timer. Playing in the finals, there will naturally be some ups and downs in form.

Lu Feng couldn't laugh or cry for a moment. He had never imagined that league veterans like Harper and Perkins, who he considered as stable as old dogs, would be nervous after reaching the finals. He didn't know what to say. .

But think about it, Harper and Perkins are not as carefree as other black people, and there is nothing wrong with being nervous. It can only be said that Lu Feng took it too much for granted, and subconsciously felt that they were heartless. Not nervous.

Carlisle shook his head helplessly, looked around for the last time, and finally stopped at Lu Feng and said: "Lark, you have heard about our situation. The only person we can rely on now is you. This game is my problem. We Whether you can win in the end depends on your next performance. If you need us to cooperate, just say it directly.

I don't want to hear the words 'you don't need anything'. We need you to use the most efficient way to get the most points. You must have what you need. "

Up to this point in the game, Lu Feng was no longer arrogant. He already knew the outcome of facing Jordan head-on. He also knew that continuing to fight with Jordan would not help the team turn defeat into victory, so he quickly made a judgment in his heart.

"Pick-and-roll, I need pick-and-roll! Both without and with the ball, please help me create some good shooting opportunities in the last quarter, please guys!"

(End of this chapter)