The 1997 draw is about to begin, and Tim Duncan, the recognized champion at the moment, will certainly not miss the finals. So after hearing the voice of the Chicago media, he thought it made sense.

Isn't it too early for Zhang Zhu to usurp the throne of a great king like Michael Jordan the next year?

"Good morning chicken!"

When Zhang Yu saw the report of the Chicago media, his mouth was almost on his nose, what does it mean to die and have a hard mouth?

He thinks this should be the case, 2:0, haven't you counted yet?

The Bulls players and fans are really not pressing, the Zen master has been hypnotizing the Bulls players for the past few days, and with the help of the local media, these Bulls players have really recovered a lot of self-confidence and morale before the game starts.

Chicago fans also feel that as long as they grasp the three home games, they may not be without a chance to turn defeat into victory.

As for how difficult it is to win three games in a row?

This question was automatically ignored by Chicago fans and players, and everyone now only thinks on the bright side, which is why some Bulls players vowed before the game that they want to make new history at home and become the first team to drop two games and then turn the tables in a 2-3-2 format.

"There have been instances in NBA history where the Finals were 2-0 down, so why can't we?"

Jordan said the same thing before the game, but didn't mention that the two examples were played in a 2-2-1-1-1 format, not the 2-3-2 format used now.

'Away games can have a decisive impact on two teams of equal quality, and we came close to winning both of our losses, but playing away from home gave us a close chance of winning. Now that we're playing on our home turf, it's time for them to get a taste of what it's like to play away from home. ”

Pippen, on the other hand, blamed the loss on the road, in other words, he just felt that playing at home, the Bulls were completely different.

Zhang Yu is too lazy to complain here, it is useless to say more at this time, in this era of success and defeat, yesterday the Lakers were 2:0, and the whole world except Chicago was licking and kneeling to him. But if the Bulls win today, or even win two games in a row, then the entire public opinion will immediately change, and it will turn to praise how great the Bulls are, how immortal Jordan is, how unbearable the Lakers are, and how incompetent Zhang Zhu is.

This kind of thing is too normal, Zhang Wei will not be easily inflated after coming to the road, at least one win is the minimum goal he and the team have set for themselves, and the Lakers really only need one win to be enough. However, if he had the opportunity to settle the battle in Chicago, he would not have the slightest obsession with returning to Los Angeles to take the throne.

In fact, if you think about it, if you can be crowned king in Chicago under Jordan's nose, wouldn't it be more enjoyable?

"I don't want to talk today, I just want to play!"

Zhang was indeed very low-key before the game, but his words still made Chicago fans and the media feel very unhappy.

Well, these people don't know why this is happening, anyway, when they see Zhang Mao, they are very irritated when they hear him speak.

No matter what Zhang Qi said at this moment, they all reacted the same, which was actually fear.

But to be honest, the Bulls are really not easy, they were reversed in the last game when they were leading by 14 points, if such a situation is put on the average team, I am afraid that they will not be able to recover today, or they will not be able to extricate themselves from sinking.

However, after all, the Bulls players are used to seeing big scenes, and although such adversity has not been encountered in Jordan's years with the team, the Bulls have played well after returning to their home court, although they have been a little slower to get into the groove.

The Bulls' starting line today is similar to the previous one, Lang Li only played about ten minutes in the last game, and his place has been snatched away by Bisson, but the role of fake starter is still retained.

Zhang Qian has the intention of getting Lang Li into his team, although this guy is too clumsy and can't keep up with the rhythm on the defensive end, but he can still come in handy on the offensive end, and it is okay to fill the vacancy of Mutombo's poor offense.

The main thing is that he can use this to ease the dissatisfaction of Australian fans with him, who made him refuse to play for Australia at the Olympics.

However, Lang Li is also a face-saving person, and he already has a championship in hand, of course he is reluctant to go to the Lakers to continue to play a small role, and he is not willing to sacrifice his salary to play in the Lakers.

Therefore, Zhang Mao's idea is a bit too much, how can the Lakers give a bench player a contract of four or five million, which is half of Lao Mu's salary.

Today, the Lakers' starters have made some changes from the first two games, Finley has been named the starting lineup again, and Starks is back to his most suitable sixth man role, although he still wants to play more starters himself.

Harris uses Finley today because of his athleticism. On the defensive end. His explosiveness and speed are more suitable for dealing with Jordan, although he lacks flexibility, but there is Lao Mu on the inside, Kidd and Zhang Wei on both sides, Finley does as long as Jordan does not break through easily, his real task is to delay Jordan's offense, so that teammates can come to the circle.

The Lakers dealt with the Jazz in the last round, and Brian Russell was such a character, but it is a pity that Ma Long's footsteps and defensive range are much worse than Lao Mu, and no one on either side of him can come to help in time, Zhang Yu will naturally not be afraid of this kind of nominal defense.

Jordan's defense in the Finals is actually much tighter than what Zhang has always encountered.

20 years later, the Big Three of the Heat are almost the same routine when defending the opponent's star outside, but the power is obviously not as good as Lao Mu + Zhang Zhu + Kidd, not to mention that Finley, who is opposite Jordan, is not a rookie, Jordan's offense actually has to deal with the interference of four top defensive players at any time, but he can still almost score 60 points with such treatment, and Zhang Yu is also convinced.

In today's battle, the pressure on the Lakers' side is not great, but the Bulls are a life-and-death situation, and there is really no suspense if they lose again.

This kind of huge pressure, where can the average player withstand it, so after the opening, Jordan and Pippen are still the main attackers.

The Lakers have expected this, and today the defense of the two of them was extremely tight from the beginning, and they deliberately let other Bulls players attack.

If these people can live and be in full state, then the Lakers will admit it.

The Zen master shook his head when he saw this, of course he knew that it was not the best plan to let Jordan and Pippen play the main offense as soon as the opening game, and the Bulls had to develop the form of role players in order to win.

But the problem is to hand over this pressure to role players, which seems even more inappropriate, people don't get a salary of 30 million, there is no reason to take on such a heavy responsibility in the last battle, so what is the use of Jordan and Pippen?

Jordan and Pippen felt the suffocating defensive pressure from the start, and as long as they had the ball in their hands, they were bound to encounter the Lakers' wrap-up defense, no exception.

This kind of defense struggled to get the attacking team to find their form in the opening stages, and Jordan and Pippen only scored one goal after four shots, and the situation was so bad that the Zen master couldn't sit still.

The Lakers are much more relaxed, Lao Mu hit two shots soon after the opening, one made a basket, and one hit the board from close range after receiving Zhang Qi's ball, which seems to prove that he is not without scoring ability, and he wants a chicken Lang Li.

Lao Mu's two scores embarrassed the Bulls, and then Kidd's three-point shot made the Bulls fans even more frustrated!

These two were considered by all parties before the game to be the two worst offensive players in the Lakers' starters, but they didn't expect the first seven points of the opening game to come from these two, which does not bode well for the Bulls.

Harris is there at the moment, and the Bulls don't dare to give the role players the heavy responsibility, but they dare, because they have this capital, and a 2-0 lead can be played so relaxed.

The Lakers started the game 7-0 after the opening, and there was no movement on Zhang Mao's side, except for the previous pass to Mutombo, he was more with Pippen and the Bulls players who came to wrap him up to watch the excitement.

The Bulls' defensive strategy is similar to that of the Lakers, the same is to guard Zhang Fu strictly, but the Lakers players are much more reliable than the Bulls players today, although the last game was not in good shape, but today it is hot as soon as it comes up, Kidd and Lao Mu forced the Zen master to ask for a timeout in the first two minutes.

Zhang Qi still doesn't care so much, he really didn't move much today, and he didn't start to attack with the ball until halfway through the first quarter.

However, his attack overwhelmed the opponent, first scoring a mid-range jumper, then hitting a three-point shot, and then forcing a breakthrough to throw the ball away from balance in his body, and actually hit it, making a signature goal for Jordan as a young man.

In less than a minute, Zhang Yu single-handedly launched a wave of 8:2 attacks, and the Lakers led 20:10, and the situation of the Bulls was obviously a bit collapsed.

"How so?"

"We, even if we have no power to fight back?"

"Michael, Scotty, why can't you stand up?"

“…………”

Bulls fans are going to be very confused, they don't understand why their team is so bad? They are obviously the defending champions, and they just created a dynasty not long ago, and now their strength should not have dropped too much. Moreover, their strength last year was not as good as this year, didn't they also win the championship at that time?

But what happened to the Lakers?

I believe that many people are puzzled by this question, the powerful Bulls are so vulnerable in the face of the equally powerful Lakers, even at home, it seems that it is difficult to get a victory.

Even Zhang Yu was sometimes puzzled, he didn't expect his team to be so strong.

Lao Mu is the best defensive player, but so is Rodman?

He is confident that he will never be inferior to Jordan, but deep down he does not think that he is better than Jordan now.

The Bulls still have a Pippen, and Kukochi and other powerful people, so it stands to reason that they should be so vulnerable, right?

Lakers players feel the same way, and it's not surprising that whoever makes sports like basketball and football not like running have accurate data to prove it, and they all know how strong those 100-meter athletes are.

But this kind of confrontation is difficult to clearly determine your true strength, you may feel that you are strong, but that is probably an illusion; On the other hand, you think you are not that strong, but you may be invincible, but you don't know it.

Actually, there is only one problem for the bulls now - age.

No matter how many reasons are cited, what remains constant is that any athlete is affected by age, and Jordan is no exception.

Jordan still seems to be unsolved, but he is old, in fact, he is not as inexplicable as he was when he won three consecutive championships, and the 58 points are more due to the Lakers' strategy.

Rodman is also old, and at 36 he still looks stronger than most insiders, but he has shown weakness against Mourning, and even more so against Mutombo and Mason, and he is no longer the big bug he was when he was 30 years old.

Even, even Pippen is old.

At the moment, no one knows that this year is the last year of his prime, and since then he will have to decline year after year, and soon fall from the superstar ranks to the All-Star ranks...... And then there are the quasi-all-stars...... Veteran......

Unexpectedly, Pippen could slide faster than Drexler.

Therefore, the Bulls don't seem to have much regression from last season, but in the real tough battle, the three real core players of the Bulls have all declined, but the current strong teams are declining like them, or even faster.

The Rockets, Spurs, Jazz, Knicks and other teams that have been strong for nearly a decade, which core is not in their thirties? Not to mention these teams, even a young team like the SuperSonics, who seems to be young, his level is also declining.

Looking at it this way, it's not that Jordan and Rodman and others don't look old, but that they are slower than these opponents, so it seems that they haven't declined much.

The Lakers players had already seen some of this in the regular season, but in the real high-intensity games of the playoffs, they realized that their opponents didn't seem to be as strong as they thought.

That's because most of the Lakers players are on the rise, while the likes of Mason, Lao Mu and Starks are in the most stable years of their careers, and they are at the top of their game, just like Jordan during the Bulls' three-game championship and Olajuwon during the Rockets' two-game championship. In a few years, the trio will also decline, but these two years have been their strongest.

Don't mention Zhang Zhu's perversion, as soon as he plays with his life, the Bulls find that they can't defend at all, and forcibly increasing the number of defenders will give other Lakers players a chance, and these guys are not in bad shape today.

With 55 seconds left in the first quarter, Zhang's breakthrough shot was blocked by Jordan from the weak side.

This is actually a foul action, but everyone knows that the home whistle is such a thing, and the referee is looking for a balance at this time, and Zhang Zhu is too lazy to think about it.

Jordan covered Zhang Qiu once, which should have been a ball of general bull morale, but the basketball that fell was grabbed by Zhang Qiu himself, and Jordan then found himself easily squeezed to the side when he was fighting for the ball with Zhang Qiu, and was almost knocked to the floor.

When Zhang Qi attacked again, he raised his hand to shake Pippen up, not only hit a two-point shot but also caused a foul, and scored 3 points with free throws.

Neither team scored again, and the Lakers ended the first quarter with a 32-20 lead, giving them a 12-point lead over the Bulls in just one game.

Zhang Zhu only attacked half a quarter in this quarter, but he actually shot 5 of 7 and scored 15 points in a single quarter, which is a bit excessive.

The Zen master has returned to his former calm and comfortable state at this moment, and he doesn't know if his heart is like ashes this time, or if he is disheartened, anyway, it's almost the same.

Jordan was also expressionless, in the first quarter he shot 4 of 10, although he scored 12 points for the team, but the efficiency is really not high, and the help for the team is limited, it should not be difficult to guess his psychological feelings at this moment.

Olajuwon can feel Jordan's thoughts the most, he has felt similar to Jordan at the moment in the past two years, and even felt more deeply, after all, Jordan is now in better shape than him, and he has found it difficult to find the feeling of covering the sky with one hand on the inside in the two years of winning the championship.

Although these people have feelings, they do not know the truth that the middle of the day moves, the moon is full, and the prosperity of things declines.

Peak peak, as long as the average player reaches the peak, it means that he is about to decline in the future. The difference is that if someone can reach his peak early, he will last longer. And if someone needs to climb to the top for a longer time, he will have less time to sustain it.

Also, some players will decline quickly, because they don't have enough savings, such as Pippen - he doesn't have Jordan's technical reserves, and he still seems to be in too much shape today, so as soon as he is 30 years old, his body starts to decline, and a guy like him who has no technical reserves will plummet.

Today, Pippen is making his own old mistakes, and his form has been up and down again, and the Lakers players don't even need to put too much pressure on him, and he can't shoot the ball, which undoubtedly makes the Bulls worse.

Pippen's fans may be uncomfortable with such a black method, because the second-in-command still has a lot of offensive means, and except for a few skills, there is nothing wrong with seeing him as an all-round player.

But the question is, which of his skills don't rely on physical fitness? What is really stable?

Jordan showed his stability in the second quarter, although the first quarter of the helper was average, but as long as the Lakers can't continue to give him high-intensity pressing, he will be killed by his back-to-back offense, he will be pierced by his mid-range projection, and he will be poked by his breakthrough.

Pippen is different, Zhang Qi is a single defense today, whether he wants to play on his back or break through, mid-range shooting, three-pointers, layups...... That's fine, I'm just going to give you similar defensive pressure. As a result, Pippen's state was not good, no matter what kind of offensive means did not work, and the seemingly one-body ability was finally affected by the factor of "bad state".

Is it true that if you are in a bad state, you really can't play?

Of course not, as long as you have a real skill, you can rely on it to get back into shape, anyway, it will never be like Pippen, if it is in good shape, it seems to be everything, otherwise it is useless.

In fact, this is the performance of playing ball with talent and body, and the energy invested in honing the technique is limited, and the feedback is naturally not much.

With 7:31 left in the second quarter, Kidd hit another three-pointer and the Lakers had a 13-point lead.

Kukoc immediately returned with a three-pointer, and Kerr hit a three-pointer after that to narrow the Bulls to eight points.

Kerr and Kukoc shot extremely high three-point shots in the quarter, and the Lakers' defense was a little loose on the three outside of Joe, which led to Kerr shooting 3-of-4 from three-pointers in the second quarter and Kukoc shooting 1-of-2.

It's a bit of an injury, but if you don't relax your defense against the other three, Jordan's side won't be able to deal with it.

This is the advantage of the Bulls, the role of Jordan, and the hope of the Bulls players and fans to turn defeat into victory.

Unfortunately, Pippen was not in good shape today, otherwise it would not be easy for the Lakers to take the lead on the road.

In the first half, the Bulls still trailed 52-60 at home, but managed to narrow the margin to single digits.

It's not time for the Lakers to celebrate, and the referee's favoritism, home-court advantage, and the strength of the team that still deserves to be called the champion are all issues that the Lakers need to deal with in the second half, and they will have to show more consistency and better performance to win the championship.

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