Chapter 257: Home Fight-for-tat ten
"I have to say that the Lakers are playing more like a mature team than the Bulls right now, and their tactics are simple but very effective, and the Bulls seem to be a little out of shape." Melf Albert said about the Bulls' performance during this period.
"Any team will be in a slump after being hit by an opponent with a dunk that can go down in history, Myrph, Liu's dunk just now destroyed not only the confidence of the Turks alone, but also the confidence of the rest of the Bulls, this is the change that a shocking dunk in the wonderful finals brought to the game, but I now think that Liu's dunk is not too cruel for Kukoc, I hope he can recover soon." Rego Sagar still didn't forget to praise Liu Han, after the baptism of this "death button", Rego Sagar admired Liu Han even more.
After leading the Bulls by 20 points, the Lakers made a change, Liu Han was replaced with Steve Nash, and O'Neal was also replaced with Elden Campbell, who returned from injury and was in good shape.
The Bulls also made adjustments, with Steve Kerr, who was in a slump, replaced with starting point guard Ron Harper, and center Luke Longley was also replaced with the faster but average height of the backup Dick Simpkins, but Jordan and Pippen were not replaced and were still on the court. The Bulls are now in a state of chasing points, and they must ensure that the offensive efficiency on the court is maintained while increasing the tempo of the offense.
After Liu Han and O'Neal got off the court, the Bulls relied on Jordan and Pippen's strong attack to gradually catch up with the score, and the triangle offense replayed its role after Jordan did not have Liu Han's interference.
As the game progressed, the Bulls' role players also recovered, Rodman on the inside ensured rebounding well, and Pippen and Jordan on the outside shots, so the Bulls narrowed the gap to 13 points in the rest of the third quarter, Jordan scored 8 points in less than four minutes, and the Lakers relied on three points from Nash and Finley to not let the Bulls chase the score closer.
At the end of the third quarter, the two teams were tied 79-66, and the Lakers still led by 13 points.
"Melf, predict who will win this game." Rego Saagle asked during the break before the start of the fourth quarter.
"I think the Lakers should win, now the Bulls have narrowed the gap to 13 points, but this consumes a lot of Jordan's physical strength, entering the second half of the fourth quarter, the Lakers will definitely play an efficient offense after all the starts, at this time, if the only Jordan who can limit Liu Han is not strong enough, then the Bulls are likely to lose this game." Michael Albert doesn't think the Bulls can turn the tables, the Lakers are much better than the Bulls in terms of role players, and the core players are not inferior.
"I think the Bulls still have a chance to turn the tables, don't underestimate Michael Jordan's physicality, this guy is a paranoid, he will give everything for the victory, and his will is tenacious enough, into the second half of the fourth quarter he often hit a very amazing shooting percentage, so the Lakers are not necessarily going to win easily." Although he has a lot of grievances with Jordan, Isaiah Thomas, as an enemy and the person who knows Jordan's abilities best, knows how terrible his old rival is.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter of the game, the Lakers replaced Liu Han and O'Neal, but their lineup also changed, Nash was not replaced, still on the court with the ball, Liu Han as the scoring guard, small forward is Brent Barry, big forward is Robert Horry, center O'Neal, this lineup may be slightly slower in speed, but it is very suitable for big position battles. Although Nash is a little weak in the confrontation with the ball, his passing awareness and shooting ability are very good, and after Liu Han serves as a scoring guard, his impact can ensure that the Lakers can have enough strength to attack the Bulls' defense in the offense, and Liu Han is not a player who can only attack with the ball, his running and coordination ability is also very good, and his three-point shooting will also make the Bulls more fearful.
The Bulls continued to let Jordan and Pippen play at the beginning of the fourth quarter, and now Phil Jackson does not dare to replace these two core players, and the Bulls are still behind the score.
However, from the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Bulls fell into passivity, although Jordan rested for a while after the third quarter, but only five minutes of rest was not enough for Jordan to recover all his physical strength, and now at the beginning of the fourth quarter, he has to defend the most difficult Liu Han, which makes Jordan, who is already thirty-five, begin to feel a little difficult, not to mention that Liu Han is not entangled with Jordan now, but keeps running, and then catches the ball, which makes Jordan even more difficult to prevent.
Less than 4 minutes into the fourth quarter, the Lakers once again extended the gap to 17 points, and Liu Han made three three-point shots in these four minutes, which completely embarrassed Jordan who defended him.
Phil Jackson was not willing to be defeated like this, so he let Ron Harper defend Liu Han, while Jordan put more energy into the offense.
As soon as Jordan changed his defense, Liu Han began to attack Ron Harper again, although Ron Harper did not suffer much in height, his strength and speed were much worse than Liu Han, and he was continuously eaten by Liu Han in the bottom corner, and was also killed by Liu Han.
Jordan put his energy into the offense and got some points, but Liu Han's constant pestering made it extremely difficult for him to score, and the offensive speed that he was going to mention made the Lakers gradually pull down again, and the Bulls were gone.
Halfway through the fourth quarter, the Lakers extended their lead to more than 20 points, and Phil Jackson didn't want to waste the players' physical strength in such a situation, so he took the initiative to replace the bench players, and the Lakers also replaced the main team, and the game completely entered garbage time.
In the end, in the first game of the 97-98 Finals, the Lakers easily defeated the Bulls by 113-95 and took a 1-0 lead.
In the whole game, Liu Han scored 32 points, 7 assists and 7 rebounds, shooting more than 60% from the field, and he extended the playoff three-point record to 61, successfully surpassing Reggie Miller's playoff three-point record of 56.
Although Jordan also scored 29 points and 7 rebounds on the Bulls' side, his shooting rate was just over 40%, which was a lot worse than Liu Han, and he was repeatedly broken by Liu Han in the game. (To be continued.) )