So I am the god of basketball?

McGrady walked off the court. Some reporters who were responsible for reporting on the two new players had complicated expressions.

They thought of countless possibilities, but they never expected that the two newcomers would have such a start tonight.

Meng Lang and Michael Jordan taught their respective newcomers a severe lesson.

There are two gimmicks in this game:

One is McGrady vs. Kobe, and the other one, which is also the biggest gimmick, is naturally Michael Jordan vs. Meng Lang.

The two hottest "super giants" in recent years, every encounter between them is exciting.

To be honest, these two people should not be "rivals", let alone "arch-enemies".

Because Jordan entered the league in 84, he is 9 years older than Meng Lang.

Ordinarily, this age difference means that the two people belong to different eras.

But who would have thought that at the age of 35, Michael Jordan could still play high-quality games and is still one of the most outstanding superstars in the league. Even in terms of his influence on the game, he is still the intimidating "Michael Jordan"!
He is still the best “human body” God wanted to play basketball.

While "old soldiers never die", Meng Lang, as a member of the new generation born in 93, became the Finals MVP at the age of 19, allowing the whole world to hear his story of young success.

One doesn't want to grow old, the other is anxious to grow up. In this way, the two players with a difference of 9 seasons have become "enemies". You can hear a lot of stories about them in this league.

Very classic, very enjoyable to talk about.

Of course, from an objective point of view, Michael Jordan was the one who suffered the loss.

Young people are full of energy and can do anything, but Michael Jordan needs to fight against the old men and Meng Lang at the same time.

If the 24-year-old Jordan meets the 35-year-old Meng Lang, no one would doubt that he can also play with a vigorous momentum.

Because that’s how he treated Magic Johnson!

But this is a fact that cannot be changed...

Jordan had no choice but to accept it.

It was as if at this moment he had already accepted the fact that everyone regarded Meng Lang as his rival.

The two younger ones can’t fight anymore, so the huge stage can only be supported by the “old ones” like them.

Jordan took the first shot.

Or he had no choice but to attack himself.

Pippen's departure left the Bulls without a stable ball handler, and in the Bulls' starting lineup, once Pippen was gone, Kukoc had to be quickly substituted in. This habit has continued into this season.

When McGrady leaves the court, Kukoc is usually substituted in immediately, allowing Jordan to save his strength for the second half of the game.

But McGrady left the court too quickly today. Just when Phil Jackson wanted to remind McGrady to pay attention to the number of fouls, McGrady quickly received his second foul. It was a bit too early to replace Kukoc at this time.

So Jordan had to take action himself.

The cheers at the scene suddenly became louder because they could see Meng Lang leaning over as soon as Jordan got the ball.

King versus king!
"New Era" VS "Old Dynasty"!
War is imminent!
But after Jordan tested the defense with his back to the basket, he passed the ball to Harper who was on the outside.

Harper missed the three-pointer.

There was a burst of boos.

This is a mockery of Jordan's avoidance of 1v1!

No disrespect to Jordan, it’s just that the audiences in the 90s were just so wild.

"Fuck you!"

Jordan cursed at the audience member who booed the loudest.

Ok……

The players in the 90s were also wild.

Well, before David Stern really started to pay attention to the image management of players, that is, before the kindergarten-level regulations on players' clothing began. It was not uncommon for players to curse at fans.

The most classic one was the verbal fight between Reggie Miller and Spike Lee. The final throat-locking made Miller become New York's "mortal enemy" for a time.

The fans who were scolded by Jordan were not angry. Instead, they wanted to ask Jordan for an autograph.

Meng Lang immediately thought of the "elegant man" in the future who was often abused by fans in an attempt to attract their attention.

Sure enough, the way to attract the "scoring champion" is the same.

Harper missed the three-pointer, and Rodman finally got into a favorable position against Barkley, but a guy with an afro next to him grabbed the rebound.

It's Ben Wallace!
Damn...

Longley shook his head helplessly, because Ben Wallace was too flexible, constantly moving forward, and this guy's lower body was really stable. If he kept fighting with him, he would probably be exhausted soon.

In short, forget about offensive rebounds.

The Lakers attacked, Meng Lang faced Harper again with the ball, and kept shaking the ball, but Harper was not fooled at all.

It is also the case that if a veteran of this age is still jumping around on the defensive end, it is somewhat a waste of all these years. Especially for a guy who came from a championship team like the Bulls, it is even more impossible.

That being the case...

Use the ultimate move!
Meng Lang leaned against Harper and started to walk inside. Just as he reached the free throw line, Jordan came over.

After Kobe left the court, Jones moved to the No. 2 position, and "Little Fish" Fisher took the No. 1 position.

Jordan was defending Fisher.

"Little Fish" has a good open three-point shot.

But that’s later.

Last season, because of the team's championship quest, guards like Fisher did not get many training opportunities, so Meng Lang did not pass the ball to him in this wide open space.

Or……

Meng Lang guessed that Jordan would double-team him from the wing.

So, the left hand holding the ball makes a hook.

At the same time, Meng Lang looked to the other side.

Harper, who was standing on Meng Lang's right, noticed the change in Meng Lang's eyes and subconsciously followed his gaze, looking to the right.

But the ball that Meng Lang hooked back with his left hand, although it was indeed a "pass behind the back", was passed around Meng Lang's waist from his left hand to his right hand...

Jordan's outstretched hand, intending to steal the ball, missed.

At the same time, Harper, who was deceived by Meng Lang's eyes, moved half a step slower, resulting in an open space between him and Jordan to rush to the basket.

The ball that had circled around his waist was now caught in Meng Lang's hand.

The "three-step layup" started, Meng Lang made another fake move in the air, made a reverse layup, and put the ball into the basket from the other side.

This action was not redundant, because Rodman just pounced on him at this time, but Meng Lang's final thought made him pounce in vain.

Jordan did catch up, but he was always on his left side, and his outstretched hand was blocked tightly by his non-ball-holding hand, making it impossible for him to interfere at all.

The moment the ball fell into the basket, the scene exploded!

Because from the picture, this is a wonderful "one vs. three", especially with Michael Jordan, Harper and Rodman as the "background", it makes people feel two words:

wonderful!

The most important thing is that every choice Meng Lang made at the "windward point" seemed to have anticipated the other party's reaction, and he took advantage of these three people.

The scene became even more exciting!
The scene of Meng Lang suppressing Jordan was the best stimulant for the people of Los Angeles. Actually, Meng Lang did have some gambling elements in his mind.

Because originally he wanted to pass the ball while being double-teamed.

After all, this is his correct way of playing, and to be honest, forced breakthrough is not one of his "strongest skill packages".

He is better at catching the ball and shooting and "post-up singles", and even three-pointers are easier than breakthrough layups. Not to mention, he completed the layup in the face of double-teaming.

but……

Who made him see Fisher lift his trouser leg?

Just ask old Lakers fans about this instinctive reaction and you will know how terrible it is!
Based on the principle that it is better to attack himself than to let Fisher play, well... he probably understood why Kobe was so forced to shoot.

It's really not washing~
As a player who is often left open, Fisher's career field goal percentage is 39.9%, and his three-point shooting percentage is not bad, at 37.4%, but so far this season his three-point shooting percentage is 30.1%!

Before becoming a "giant" in the eyes of some fans, Fisher's three-point shooting percentage had always been quite bumpy. It once dropped to 29.1%, and it became unstable almost every two seasons.

So why can he become a "giant"?

We have to mention the three-pointer that defeated the Spurs.

After the shot, he went back to the locker room without looking back.

It's not to show off, but...

Afraid that the referee would tell him it was time out!

Fortunately, there were no high-definition cameras in that era, so he escaped the disaster, because with his shooting speed, theoretically it would be impossible for him to completely throw the ball out in 0.4 seconds.

It was also this ball that gave some people the impression that Fisher's three-point shooting was very accurate.

So much so that they all thought that Fisher's role was to help Kobe create space, but Kobe didn't trust him.

"Xiao Yu" was temporarily unreliable, so Meng Lang changed his mind and attacked on his own.

In other words, the following series of operations were all his spur-of-the-moment ideas.

But he did it, like a stroke of genius.

This is all thanks to his "white chocolate" and flexible ball feel.

When he was about to break through, those movements appeared in his mind almost in the next second.

then……

He completed an offense at the "Top Five" level.

Jordan still looked for opportunities for his teammates. Longley received the pass from him in the interior, but missed the shot. I don't know if this result stimulated him, but Jordan rushed to the basket to grab the rebound and then made a layup to score.

This time, he was very tough.

Meng Lang turned his head to ask for the ball.

Almost at the same time as Jordan started walking, the ball was transferred from his teammate's hands to his.

Meng Lang quickly launched a counterattack with the ball, so fast that the Bulls had no time to form a defensive formation.

Because Jordan didn't retreat in this round...

However, they reacted quickly and realized that the only one rushing towards them from the Lakers was Meng Lang.

Everyone else is out of touch with him.

After realizing what had happened, they quickly surrounded Meng Lang.

It was as if the "poison circle" suddenly shrank, but Meng Lang, who was surrounded inside, continued to accelerate and rushed forward before Longley and Rodman "closed the door".

There was a burst of exclamations at the scene, because Meng Lang once again "dribbled the ball from behind", a large "dribble", the ball went from Meng Lang's left side in a "U-shape", around his back, and came to the right side. But the amplitude was much larger than the general "dribble from behind".

The ball landed right under Longley's crotch and behind him.

"Travel through your soul!"

This is the favorite move of streetball player "Jumping Soul" Alston. Unexpectedly, Meng Lang presented it perfectly on the stage of "Christmas War".

Rodman pulled angrily, but Meng Lang got rid of him very experiencedly and staggered to control the ball. Meng Lang jumped one step in front of the basket and slammed the ball into the basket.

Once again, he completed the juggling act.

In this round, Meng Lang exposed a huge weakness of the Bulls.

This weak link is not unrelated to Pippen's departure:

That is, their defense is prone to loopholes!

Pippen's presence originally made up for this.

Of course, the rookie McGrady was chosen by them to replace Pippen.

However, because of the two fouls in this game, he was unable to stay on the court, which exposed the Bulls' defensive problems.

Once Jordan is unable to retreat in the first place, the entire Bulls team will be like an old car, swaying and might fall apart at any time.

them……

too old!

So much so that they are simply unable to resist the impact of young people.

Unless Pippen comes on the court immediately, or Jordan stops fighting for rebounds and returns to defense early to protect the backcourt.

"ball!"

However, Jordan gave another answer:
That is to make up for the score with the score!
Taking the ball directly from the backcourt, this time facing Meng Lang and the cheers from the sky, Jordan only paused for a moment in front of the three-point line, then immediately lowered his center of gravity and forced a breakthrough towards the three-point line. However, as soon as he made this move, his body immediately straightened up, his center of gravity was raised again, and he slowly pressed forward with his feet, trying his best to shorten the gap between him and Meng Lang.

This seemingly contradictory action reflects Jordan's current situation.

He subconsciously wanted to play like he used to, but unfortunately...

There's no going back!

He must accept the reality of his declining physical fitness and change his playing style as Grover said.

He has been changing his style of play since his first comeback, and it was during this time that he realized how lawless his younger self was.

But the battles with Father Time are becoming more and more frequent.

If he wants to use his body now, he must rely on his own strength and weight.

Meng Lang continued to pull away when he was almost one step away.

Seeing this, Jordan took a quick step forward and was about to shoot.

But he didn't expect that as soon as he jumped into the air, a figure appeared in front of him:
rash!

Even more than his jump!
Jordan habitually wanted to smoke a cigarette in the air and wait for Meng Lang to land first.

It’s a pity that what he got this time was a hard slap from Meng Lang.

"Snapped!"

Cover it up!

Meng Lang landed on the ground and pounced like a tiger, holding the ball in his hands, and then...

"Bah!"

Like a shooting star streaking across the night sky, brilliant and dazzling, Meng Lang blocked Jordan's shot head-on and succeeded in a dunk. (End of this chapter)