Chapter 397: Top of the World
At halftime, the Bulls looked very anxious, Don Nelson also felt that it was over, Barkley was grinning on his knees, Jordan with a gloomy face was silent, and the Bulls' locker room was filled with a depressing and dreary atmosphere.
In this case, the Bulls naturally can't find a solution to the problem, Don Nelson doesn't think it's a problem with his coaching, his point forward tactics are also being used by the Lakers, or copycat his creativity, but the executor he tailored for him is now in the Lakers and not in his Bulls, since Hill and Zhang Zhu have the same role, then they can't beat the opposite side can only be the gap between the executors of the two sides.
In the second half, the situation of the Bulls was still deteriorating, and the players chose to shoot at the wrong time, while the Lakers seemed to be very steady, even if the rotation lineup was on the court, it could ensure that the Bulls would not close the gap.
In the middle of the quarter, Kidd and Jones hit three-pointers in quick succession from the same position, and the Bulls were still extended by the Lakers despite the full resistance.
Soon, the Bulls had even worse news, as Barkley's four fouls in the quarter left him sitting on the sidelines when the team needed it most.
The Lakers got such a good game, they were both excited and unbelievable, if no one helped them open, how could the total score of 1:3 be overturned?
Zhang Yu remained calm, and after receiving the head coach's signal, the Lakers contracted the defense to stabilize the defense, and then switched to defensive counterattacks, waiting for the Bulls to make another mistake, thus ending the game in one fell swoop.
There are not many shouts and boos in the arena of the United Center, everyone knows that the Lakers have a huge advantage of 25 points, and the Bulls want to turn the tables only God comes and then puts on the red jersey.
Of course, it was no play, the Bulls players were in a hurry to narrow the score, so they could only stiffen their heads and attack the Lakers' shrinking bucket lineup, but not only Jordan couldn't break through, but Hill finally fell to the ground and injured himself at the end of the quarter, limping back to the locker room by the staff.
At this point, one of the Bulls' Big Three was injured and one fouled too much, and Jordan couldn't close his eyes if he wanted to.
"Don't worry, after winning the championship, I will not only pay you back, but also give you a piece of interest."
This is the only good news Jordan has heard in the past two days, but after Zhang Yu completed the violent deduction, he said it, and the helper was still angry and painful!
At the end of the third quarter, the Bulls had a bloody score, and the Lakers took a 90-64 lead.
This game is here, the suspense has come to an end, even if the Lakers can't score 1 point in the last quarter, the Bulls may not be able to complete the turnaround, this will be a chicken!
Chicago fans agreed, and they began to exit the game after the third quarter. Perhaps, some of them are still looking forward to the final battle, after all, it is a battle that has not yet begun, but today's situation is doomed to be irretrievable.
The Bulls players did not let the suspense rise again, as soon as the fourth quarter came up, Van Exel and Kukoc made mistakes one after another, even if the Lakers, who led by a large score, played a little slack, but after a few minutes of extremely ugly games, the coaches of the two teams simply did not have the mood to change the main team, and the game entered garbage time early.
At this point, there was no suspense about the outcome of the game, and there was no need to mention the process, and in the end, the Lakers defeated the Bulls on the road and pulled the overall score to 3:3 in Game 6.
Zhang Wei felt that the next game should not be watched at all, even if Hill could return in the seventh game, he did not believe that Hill's state could return to the first four games, such a Bull wants to beat the Lakers on the road, hoping to not even have two percent.
At the post-game press conference, Zhang Fu was different from the confidence that had swelled up in his heart, and the koala baby was very low-key in his language, not only could not find the slightest anger, but praised the Bulls players repeatedly.
But those who know him well know that at this time, just listen to Zhang Fu's words in reverse, that is his intention.
But no matter what Zhang Qian thinks in his heart, everyone knows that the Bulls will definitely die in the seventh game, and the first instance in NBA history where the 3:1 lead in the Finals was overturned, this time I am afraid it will be born.
The next day, the Bulls came to Los Angeles with the Lakers' buttocks, and each of the Bulls players had a tired face and a more ugly look than the home of the host who nearly caused an airport stampede after landing two hours ago.
Earlier on the plane, they received the worse news that Hill had been examined at the hospital and determined that he had a kneecap contusion with a minor soft bone tear and would have to undergo arthroscopic surgery on the knee, with an expected recovery period of 3 to 4 weeks.
Now everyone knows that Hill can't play in Game 7, although it was just a minor surgery and injury, but it happened at the most critical juncture, and the Bulls were in a state of demoralization when they walked off the plane.
After the Bulls got off the plane, the Los Angeles media found that Barkley was the most depressed of the Bulls, and his appearance was almost like attending a funeral, and his face was full of bad luck that made his teammates subconsciously stay away from him.
"Is my career so tragic? Am I really a scourge? ”
Barkley's head can't help but have such a thought, almost wherever he has gone all these years, there is no longer a championship - first the Rockets have won two consecutive championships and missed the dynasty, and now the Bulls are leading 3:1 in the finals but facing the doom of being overturned, is he really a disaster?
Jordan has an indifferent expression that no one should be close to the living, and no one is close to acquaintances, whether to retire or transfer after this year, these two choices began to hover in the mind of the helper.
Next season, he can go to New York for a trip or to Houston to catch up on his big dreams. He didn't resist going to these two places, but he officially retired to play baseball and golf, which is the future that the gang leader wants most.
Playing against Zhang Fu for two consecutive years, he is really a little tired, and it is really not interesting to get along with young people at such an old age.
Jordan is different from Barkley, he hasn't won the championship, he won three consecutive championships that year, and he added another crown to himself after his comeback, and now it's normal for young people to be too old to get rid of them, didn't Tiangou, Bird, and Magic also fail to get him?
Well, if Zhang Qi knew that the whole Bulls team was in such a mental state, then the Lakers' seventh game would not be a seven-three open, and a ninety-one open would be considered to give the old gang leader a face.
Zhang Qi's heart is not blindly confident, when Hill hit the street in the last game, he knew that his two consecutive championships flew around and came back, even if Hill can still play in the seventh game, but there is definitely not much combat power left, what can the Bulls do with only the two giants?
After both teams came to Los Angeles, when the Lakers heard the news that Hill would not be able to play Game 7, Zhang Yu was even more sure that the suspense of Game 7 would not be too great only from the state of both sides.
This kind of thing, in fact, you don't need to guess, you can just watch it.
On the day of the game, the Bulls players were in a state of -2 and -3 on top of their heads, and Zhang Fu couldn't help but smile in his heart when he saw it, and greeted the Bulls' only two remaining giants with a smile.
Van Exel feels he should be a big man at this point, but in terms of image, style of play and personal performance, Kidd is more of a star than him.
Hill is not here today, the Lakers have adjusted their tactics, and the biggest change is to let Jordan attack, and the "Jordan Rule" that has not been seen for a long time has reappeared.
The Lakers, who are sitting at home, have the capital to come up with such a tactic to deal with the Bulls, as long as Barkley can't score easily today, Zhang Yu helps control the middle defense, Kidd don't let Fan Maniac go crazy, only one Jordan is left who is forced to the middle and long distance, even if he explodes again, how many points can he score? How efficient can it be?
After the opening, perhaps it was too much pressure, and the two teams missed shots one after another, including Jordan, who was relatively loose defensively.
The pressure of Lakers fans is not great, anyway, everyone is not scored, no loss!
For most of the first quarter, Mason received two fouls on Barkley and had to watch from the sidelines.
The Bulls also relied on Barkley's dying throes to finally help the team lead the Lakers by three points in the final four minutes of the first quarter.
Zhang Qi reassured Mason to sit on the sidelines, and he was just in time to raise the No. 4 position to face a somewhat crazy Barkley, which was a more suitable counterpoint than before.
The Lakers are not panicked when they are behind, and Barkley has a crazy energy today that surprised them, but Jordan did not explode, and it is still not a loss!
After Zhang Mao was promoted to the No. 4 position, he still ran to the outside to launch an attack on the offensive end, which is also where the Bulls' defense has been uncomfortable.
Barkley can risk his life on the offensive end to save his dignity, but no matter how hard he plays on the defensive end, he can't keep up with Zhang Mao, and the Bulls can only use Kukoc to defend Zhang Mao.
What is the level of Kukoc's defense, as soon as he sees this master on the court, Zhang Qi immediately hit two shots in a row, including a three-pointer, which instantly helped the Lakers tie the score, everyone should know in their hearts.
Jordan then returned a three-pointer from the perimeter, and Kidd broke through to score the final two points of the first quarter, the only bounce on the scoreboard in the final two minutes of the quarter.
The Bulls led the Lakers by one point 20-19 on the road in the first quarter, which was a score that made neutral fans sleepy, although the Bulls were already fighting fiercely.
The Lakers know that in order for the Bulls to win this game, they must play with momentum, and only by taking the lead can they gain confidence and state to fight with the Lakers. Unfortunately, the result was not as expected, and the result of leading by one point in the first quarter was too far from the words "first".
Sure enough, the situation changed abruptly in the second quarter, and soon after the game started, Zhang Fu, who did not rest at all, first played 2+1, and Starks forced Jordan to rest with a three-pointer, and the Bulls were forced to replace most of the starters in advance to compete with the Lakers.
What the Lakers didn't expect was that the Bulls would do what they planned when they became more and more passive, and simply launched a counterattack in advance, Jordan and Barkley teamed up to play a wave of 8:0 offense, which made the Lakers have to ask for a timeout.
Mutombo and Mason were reintroduced during the timeout, with the latter being given a look from Zhang.
Mason knew what that meant, and it was time for him, the villain, to put on a show.
After the game restarted, Mason had little presence on the offensive end, but accidentally collided with Barkley while scrambling for a rebound, this malicious collision made Barkley almost hit the ground with his back, and the atmosphere on the court instantly became tense, and Flying Pigs couldn't help but clash with Mason, and both of them ate technical fouls.
The clash interrupted the Bulls' offense, the Lakers gained buffer time, Zhang and Jordan each hit a free throw, the Lakers began to regain their sense on the offensive end, Jones hit a three-pointer, Zhang Yu frequently hit the basket to score, the Lakers who found their rhythm continued to make the Bulls deflated on the offensive end, and the defensive end also played efficient execution.
The Bulls players could no longer maintain their previous offensive momentum amid the abusive boos of the away fans, and were outscored by the Lakers by four points at halftime at 54-50.
In this quarter, the scores of both teams have risen again, but the leading side has become the Lakers.
The morale of the Bulls has begun to go down at this time, and the first half was bloody enough but still crushed, although the difference is only 4 points, but the age of the Lakers players is there, and the more they fight to the back, the more unfavorable it is for themselves, and the third quarter can't bring a wave of rhythm enough to consume in the final quarter, and they may have to officially bear the historic humiliation moment later.
But to Jordan and Barkley's surprise, Zhang repeatedly reminded his teammates at halftime that he had to withstand the Bulls' most turbulent comeback in the third quarter. If those guys want to win, they can only pin their hopes on defeating the Lakers in the third quarter, otherwise the offensive and defensive positions of the two teams will be reversed in the fourth quarter.
However, blindly defending has never been the Lakers' style, even if they are determined to defend to the death, they must have the power to fight back with two points, otherwise wouldn't the offensive team do whatever they wanted?
In the third quarter, the Lakers did not blindly defend, but were still the best at defensive counterattacks, never giving the Bulls a chance to attack with all their might, and they had to do something in addition to defense.
At the beginning, the Bulls still had spare strength to prevent the Lakers from digging their butts, but when the repeated offenses still failed to break through the Lakers' defense to complete the overtake, the Bulls players gradually became impatient.
The Lakers were waiting for the moment when the Bulls' patience ran out, when Jordan finally assisted Van Exel to hit a three-point shot in the crowd, and the Bulls finally overtook by one point, Zhang Yi was just a foul that had no technical content in the eyes of many people, and instantly took back the score that the Bulls had finally overtaken.
The Bulls' problem today is not only the lack of offensive power, but the defensive end has also slipped a lot after Kukoc, just Zhang Zhu's overlord is hard to bow, and the Bulls will be anxious to deal with it, and what is even more uncomfortable is that Zhang Zhu can do whatever he wants, but he has to use this soft kill to hit himself.
Zhang Zhu's reluctance to attack is because he feels that to deal with this kind of desperate opponent, it is easy to make the enemy desperately fight back in a hurry, and it is not a good choice to force people too much, and it is better to slowly wear down the opponent's will and eat away at the opponent.
Therefore, the Lakers continue to focus on defensive counterattacks as their core strategy, and do not fight to the death with the Bulls in the first three quarters, unless the opponent really shows a huge flaw, otherwise everyone will continue to consume it, and the fourth quarter is a good time for the Lakers to attack aggressively.
In the second half of the third quarter, the Bulls couldn't attack for a long time, and the offense gradually slowed down, obviously saving strength for the final quarter.
The Lakers naturally won't let the Bulls take it easy, and the counterattacks began to increase more, but they are still reluctant to attack aggressively, although it is no problem to take advantage of it.
Zhang and Kidd continued to use pick-and-roll to launch offense, and with the cheers of the home fans, the Lakers had the upper hand on the court, and when Zhang Zhu shot a shot and hit the buzzer, the Lakers had already led by five points at 80:75 into the final quarter.
The Bulls struggled hard in the quarter, but in the end they found themselves losing by one more point, and they were already five points behind after the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Bulls players began to have physical problems, the Lakers have been consuming the physical energy of the Bulls players in the first three quarters, and at this moment, under the instability of the army, the Bulls' mid-range shooting efficiency plummeted, and they failed to score for nearly 3 minutes in the final quarter, and the Lakers took the opportunity to complete a wave of 8-0 and opened the gap with 88:75 with 8 minutes and 40 seconds left in the game.
The Bulls players refused to give up easily and began to attack the basket constantly, but under the combined suppression of Mutombo and Zhang Mao, Jordan and Barkley's attacks made it difficult for the Bulls to narrow the score.
The Lakers found that it was still the best defensive counterattack at this time, but this time the Bulls' tone did not last long, and after the halfway point of the quarter, the score was finally chased to 83:93, and then the physical strength finally dried up, coupled with excessive pressure, the shooting was missed in a row, and the Lakers played a 6:0 mini-climax, and the Lakers scored a 16-point advantage of 99:83 in the last 4 minutes, laying the foundation for the victory of the game.
Although Jordan then hit a three-pointer, Barkley also played a 2+1, but it was too late, Zhang Yu made a layup with 2 minutes left in the game, Kidd stole Van Exel, and the Lakers led 103:91 in the last 1 minute and 28 seconds, and the Bulls were no longer able to recover.
"It seems that I am still the man who makes the impossible possible."
When Zhang Qi hugged Jordan after the game, he didn't say anything that caused conflict, but he was not so polite when he hugged Barkley, who had been angry about Barkley's continuous rejection of the Lakers' invitations in recent years.
Barkley certainly understood what Zhang was saying, which was mocking his "Champion Insulator" buff.
The big ass snorted angrily, and originally wanted to shake hands with Zhang Qi again, but when he thought of Ma Long's tragedy, he could only give up in the end, and he could only admit that his skills were not as good as others.
Zhang Wei no longer cares about offending these old guys, and he is not at all worried that these old guys will pose a threat to him in the future. Just yesterday, the collective bargaining broke down again, and next season was doomed to be shut down for a while, and it's hard to say whether the '98-99 season even existed.
These seniors who are almost forty years old are expected to have a wave of collective retirement in the summer, and the rest of them can still pose any threat to themselves next time they stand in front of them?
Zhang Zhu felt no, there was a question mark over whether these people had the opportunity to block the road again, Zhang Zhu officially crossed out these post-60s stars from his threat list at this moment, and only Jordan and Ma Long, the two old monsters, could threaten him.
From now on, the only people who can really pose a threat to him in this league are the post-70s stars, O'Neal, Payton, Hill, Hardaway, Mourning, these Mesozoic stars are entering the peak. Iverson, Duncan, Kobe, Garnett, these rising stars are also staring at him with red eyes. Although Zhang Wei still doesn't take these people in his eyes, these guys can't beat themselves alone, but they can hold together! If these guys really succeed in grouping, it should not be underestimated.
"Come on, it's too troublesome to beat them one by one, it's best to be able to go together."
Zhang Zhu is not afraid of these people to challenge himself, this is the way to make him greater, he can only kick the giants and punch the legends of the famous people in order to make his name sit on the top spot of the Hall of Fame in the future.
Before the championship was awarded, Zhang Fu answered about the Olympics for the first time in an interview, he said: "After the Lakers' goal of winning consecutive championships is achieved, the next step is to win the third championship and create a new dynasty, which is my task in the NBA." Outside of the NBA, the Olympics are my next challenge. That's right, that's been a question for me for three years, and you're all asking me why I'm not playing for Team USA because I'm playing for the Tamrel Royals! You heard it right, at Sydney 2000, you're going to see a team that threatens the Dream Team – the Tamriel Royals. ”
Zhang Zhu's words made the fans in front of the TV feel a burst of inexplicable excitement, Zhang Zhu's father and son are legendary enough, if you can really see a Tamriel basketball team in the Olympics, it is really unthinkable!
But what they don't know is that Tamriel is not only going to set up a royal basketball team, Zhang Mo is going to set up a lot of teams in the past two years, what Royal Table Tennis Team, Royal Football Team, Royal Athletics Team, Royal Diving Team, Royal Badminton Team, I am afraid that there are more than a dozen teams.
At this time, many people are about to ask, building so many teams at once, not to mention the question of money, but where do you find so many athletes?
Zhang Mo has a plan for this, he believes that talents do not need to be cultivated by themselves at all, Tamriel is the least hostile country in the world, it can be said that there are no enemies at all, and it is also the country that countries do not mind the conversion of their nationals to citizenship, including China and Russia, even their citizens will not have too much disgust with their compatriots changing their nationality to Tamriel. Therefore, the elite athletes of these countries who cannot be selected for the national team will not be scolded if they join the nationality of Tamriel, but will be noticed by many people.
Let's put it this way, if Tamriel really participates in the Olympics, it will definitely be the country with the highest support in the world at the Olympics, because in addition to supporting his own country, the second support of the world's audience will definitely be Tamriel.
So can you imagine how much attention you will get once you become an athlete in this country, and I believe that the champion is not as good as 12 out of 12?
Zhang Mo has the confidence to go to various countries to recruit talents, such as table tennis teams, diving teams, and badminton teams, so he goes to China to dig talents.
Of course, the basketball team has to be found from the NBA, although the supergiants can't be found, but the practical all-stars can definitely attract a lot of them, and even some superstars with independent personalities, they may not be able to fool them. Don't forget, they have Zhang Qi, the first person in active service, and it's not unusual for them to really form a team to defeat the Dream Team.
There are other events, and the track and field team will of course have to find it from Jamaica; Go to Russia for synchronized swimming; Go to Australia for swimming; Football goes to South America......
Only then did Zhang Wei know that his father wanted to turn Tamrel into a global village, but if he could do so, Tamriel might not be able to win a few gold medals in Sydney. Even if you can't win the championship, it's very promising to hit the medal by playing like this, and it's really a little exciting to think about it!
Kidd was a little depressed at this time, he had already represented the United States in the Olympics, and he could no longer be naturalized in Tamriel, which was really bad!
Mutombo is bent on joining Tamriel, he knows the money here, and he has to go if he doesn't need money!
At present, in the Lakers, Mutombo, O'Neal Jr., and Ben Wallace have all confirmed to join Tamriel. Outside the Lakers, Marbury has long publicly hoped that he will join the Tamrel Nationality, and naturally wants to join the Tamrel basketball team. In addition, former Lakers player Michael Finley, North Carolina's new Flyers and a loyal fan of Zhang Zhu, Vince Carter is also willing to join Tamriel.
At this time, there is no need to talk about other people, just these six people plus Zhang Yu are enough to put together the skeleton of a championship team, does the dream team really have the absolute strength to kill such a Tamriel Royal basketball team?
The fans in front of the TV were affected by Zhang Mao's thinking, and everyone suddenly looked forward to the Sydney Olympics, when Tamriel would not let the world's glasses fall to the ground, right?
When David Stern presented the trophy to Zhang Fu again, many people on TV were still coming back to their senses, still fantasizing about the Olympics two years from now.
"This is my second championship and I hope to create a new dynasty for the Lakers next year, I want to be on top of the world, long live the Lakers, long live Tamriel!"
Zhang Zhu's words are very inappropriate, if Tamriel is replaced by other countries, then the Americans will definitely not be happy, and I don't know how many people will take him the next day! But now Zhang Yu is shouting that it is Tamriel, so many people don't think it's too much of a problem, how cool it is for people to play like this! Long live Tamriel!