On June 2, the second matchup of the finals will kick off at the Forum Arena, and the start time of the game is still 19:30 in the evening.

When the team bus was about to drive to the Forum Arena, Zhang couldn't help but open the curtains and take a look at the dusk in Los Angeles.

The view of downtown Los Angeles lives up to its name as America's second-largest city, except that the sky is a little dreary, the sun can't penetrate the thick clouds, and a sense of depression wells up in my heart.

The Western Forum arena was already full, and fans were saying that in three or four hours, there would be a moment when the Lakers would change the overall score to 2-0, and no Los Angeles fan would doubt the problem at this moment, because the Lakers are very strong, and their leaders are terrifyingly strong.

At the pre-match press conference, Zhang Mao's expression was the same as the weather tonight, he looked a little depressed, and there were fewer chatters, because most of his mind was on the game to come.

Mutombo is back today, but now he has a maximum of six or seven successes, although it is enough to free up some of his defensive pressure, but even if he puts all his energy on offense, unless he has the feeling of the last game, he is not sure that he will face the Bulls and get another 40+.

In this game, as long as the Bulls are not lacking in heart, they will inevitably strengthen their defense against him. Those guys, who must also know the importance of this battle, will definitely use 12 success forces to snatch a victory from themselves. If the Lakers can't keep at least two of those three guys in check, it's going to be difficult to win.

Harris is ready to use their combo defense against the Bulls today, which is their defensive strategy in the general direction. But in terms of details, everyone has other arrangements, and everyone has their own tasks.

Zhang Zhu's task is to limit Barkley, and once this thing scores 20 points today, it will be considered a failure of his duties, and Zhang Zhu will be downgraded to the No. 4 position in this battle.

Kidd has more to do, in addition to helping his teammates, he also has to make Van Exel's X-factor ineffective, which requires him to be involved in the joint defense frequently, but not to miss too many opportunities for Van Exel.

To be honest, Zhang Fu feels that this task is a bit harsh, and the biggest hole in the NBA's joint defense is the top of the arc and the bottom corner, so it is really a bit difficult for you to let Kidd not only participate more in the encirclement and suppression, but also let him not be out of position.

Mutombo's role is the same as always, regardless of his form, he has to block the box while also trying to support his outside team-mates in the pack, which is also tough.

Starks and Jones will have an easier task, they don't need to be involved too much in the joint defense and encirclement, just defend the two wings of the formation and don't let Jordan and Hill easily get in.

But to be honest, if these two want to limit Jordan and Hill's breakthrough, Zhang Qi feels that there is not much hope, even if there are three of them to support, but if the Bulls open up to let the two play infinitely single, and these two people do not easily enter the restricted area, it will be difficult for them to support in time, just like their first game.

Speaking of the first game, he scored 60+ to offset the output of the Big Three. If the Lakers want to win today, they can't expect to score so many points anymore, and it depends on whether the team can cut the Big Three by 20 points defensively.

Defense vs. offense, that should be the theme of the day, although the Bulls don't know how to defend.

Before the start of the game, some players from both teams were warming up with shots, and some were changing their equipment for a while.

Barkley sat on the sidelines checking his gear, he used to be a very funny person, and he was a little O'Neal in that regard. But today, he was a little dull. From time to time, glancing at a guy as strong as himself sitting not far away, the man's eyes would always project a kind of "you are the younger brother" gaze, which made the entire Bulls uncomfortable.

Zhang Yu also glanced at the fat man who was going to be opposite him, who was packing up his tight-fitting protective clothing, which should be used to prevent back injuries.

Barkley rarely wears protective gear, but today is different, he has a premonition that the game will be fought with Zhang Zhu for 300 rounds, and now he no longer has enough confidence to beat the young and strong Zhang Zhu, so he wore several protective gear on his body today, and it can only be said that it is really not good for people to be disobedient to the old.

Jordan was also on the bench, he was discussing something with his head coach, and after a while, he went to the referee early to communicate with the referee about today's penalty scale, and he basically did what the captain of the team needs to do.

Hill has been shooting warm-up on the court, and those who are interested can see that his shooting points are relatively far away, and the reason is not to be explained.

The starting lineups of both teams were sent to their respective coaches an hour ago, and the starting lineups of the Lakers and Bulls have not changed much from the previous game, and some small adjustments were expected before the game.

Bulls starters: Van Exel (84), Jordan (97), Hill (92), Barkley (87), Marshall (81).

Lakers starters: Kidd (89), Starks (84), Jones (86), Zhang (99), Mutombo (86).

Langley was picked out of the starting lineup by Don Nelson today, although Mutombo, a high school forward, returned, but Langley, who was too slow to slow the team's tempo, still did not get a chance, and the captain of the Australian national team is afraid that the countdown to the Bulls' days will be.

Big Ben was moved out of the starting line-up is an inevitable result, although Mutombo's form is not good, but no matter how bad the experience and awareness are, it will take some time for Big Ben to take the position.

This can also be understood, why Mason and O'Neal Jr. are not in the Lakers' plans, Big Ben, the best blue-collar worker, must be cultivated, Mutombo can be strong for another two years, the Lakers' interior line can only accommodate a maximum of three people in rotation in the next two seasons, and an all-around No. 4 position with outstanding combat power has become an inevitable choice for the Lakers.

It's not that O'Neill Jr. can't stay, this can prevent someone from being injured and no one is available, and he can usually squeeze out ten minutes for him to practice.

However, if you want to trade, the other party will definitely ask for O'Neal Jr., who has outstanding potential, and second, only ten minutes of playing time does not have much workout effect, so O'Neal Jr.'s countdown to the Lakers is not much.

After the warm-up is over, the game is about to begin, the substitutes are all leaving, and the main players of the two teams come to the field to greet each other, and the second game of the finals will start soon.

"Why are you so calm and don't speak, is it because the lines arranged for you are not enough?"

When Zhang Qi greeted Jordan, he took the initiative to offer trash talk.

"My lines are all after the win, so I'll tell you the bad news in advance, and I'll say a lot of things you don't want to hear from this game onwards."

Jordan said, "This line of mine is two lines, and you can try to say one more I don't have a line."

"No way, I'm the protagonist, you don't have this plot."

"Idiot, our story is not scripted at all."

“……”

Barkley and Hill heard the conversation between the two not far away, and they wanted to go up and interject a few sentences, but they really didn't have lines, just like the aggrieved Xiao Zhengtai on the side.

But what Zhang Zhu and Jordan, who had lines, didn't expect was that after the game started, it was these three guys with no lines who won each other's first 6 points.

Kidd came up and used a 3-pointer to make the home fans instantly into the state, Barkley relied on his big ass to squeeze open Zhang Yu to grab the offensive rebound and hit a basket, Hill's turnaround jumper and a pull-up jump shot gave the Bulls a 3-point lead at the beginning, but I didn't expect Jones to turn around and save face for himself with a 2+1.

Zhang Zhu and Jordan didn't do anything after the opening, Koala baby was because the Bulls' defense was too tight, Jordan didn't participate in these attacks at all, and I don't know what bad ideas he had.

Harris can see that the Bulls didn't just let Hill mess up their defense with a breakthrough today, this guy was really the core of the Bulls' offense today, and several of his breakthroughs after the opening were completed by himself.

In fact, there is no problem with both uses, Hill's biggest flaw is that he does not have the ability to shoot three-pointers, but his breakthrough and breakthrough are excellent, if he is used as a "burst" point forward, it can make up for his lack of three-point shooting, but this makes Van Exel a pure pitcher, but the advantages definitely outweigh the disadvantages.

The Lakers don't know what Jordan's role will be today, but Harris can guess a little, and that guy is waiting for the Lakers to start targeting Hill and take over the offensive duty, and then he will have a lot less pressure at that point.

"I said, why don't you catch the ball and attack? Are you a blue-collar worker? ”

Zhang Mao has a big opinion of Barkley, no matter whether he attacks or defends after the opening, he will arch him with his ass every time, and then he will use his hands and feet to entangle him in close quarters, and always pull him around and run around, but he just doesn't catch the ball and attack, which is too annoying.

"I just want championships, and if you think I'm blue-collar, then I'm a blue-collar worker."

Barkley's mentality is too correct, Zhang Qian doesn't want to deal with him, but in the face of such a supergiant who just doesn't fight him head-on, there is nothing the koala baby can do for a while.

After five minutes of playing in the first quarter, Zhang Qian finally had a good opportunity, this time he used the absolute foul dragon grip to pinch the ribs of the big buttocks, and under the pain of the opponent, he pulled back the entangled right hand, and finally received Kidd's pass to the basket and dunked Marshall, who was not out of position, and let out a bad breath!

But this one ball can't let him crack the Bulls' tricks, today's Barkley is obviously not able to score a point, but he must let Zhang Qi not get the mentality of 20+ to defend and attack, has anyone ever seen the offensive end to pull the opponent together and can't move?

There really is, today Barkley has to go up and entangle Zhang Yu on the offensive end, the purpose is to prevent him from participating in joint defense and packing, let alone rushing to grab rebounds in the frontcourt.

The Bulls' defensive strategy only revealed a little at this time, if they can use Barkley and Zhang Zhu to make a match, even if it is just to let Zhang Fu's score drop to about 20 points, and then look at the remaining players of the Lakers, who of them has the ability to play against Hill and Jordan?

Zhang Wei felt that this was the intention of the Bulls, he was always trying to find a way to get rid of Barkley in the first quarter, but Sir Bar, who was out of both losses, was really not so easy to get rid of, if it weren't for Kidd's breakthrough and organization today, the Lakers would not even be able to score 20 points in the first quarter

Another good news is that Mutombo's performance is not bad, and his control of the interior is still good, which led to a decent score of 23:20 in the first quarter, and the Lakers were not thrown too far by the Bulls when Zhang Yu did not play in the first quarter.

However, there is also a reason for this, the Bulls did not dare to play more baskets in this quarter, and the offensive end basically relied on Hill's jumpers and balls outside the box to score points, and no matter how high the efficiency was, it was limited. Jordan played the role of a mover today, and half of Hill's balls were distributed to him, but the helper also did not dare to enter the basket easily.

The Bulls' instigation shows that they are still afraid of the Lakers' interior combination, and they dare not rashly attack Mutombo and Zhang Mao, the two interior lines who defend for a while.

This also made the Lakers breathe a sigh of relief, the old Mu's state may not be able to resist Hill and Jordan's rotation of assault, but the Bulls in the first quarter gave Mutombo a chance to recover quickly, which is good news for the Lakers.

The Lakers' problem now is still on the offensive end, no matter how good Kidd's performance is, he is not a point guard who can score 30+, he can score 8 points and 4 assists in the first quarter, which is already considered a super-standard performance, you can't expect him to play better. Jones's 5 points can be regarded as playing his own 80% or 90% strength. It's not too bad for Starks to score 2 points against Jordan, who doesn't take the initiative to attack but is more inclined to defense, that's the former league hegemon!

In the first quarter, only Zhang Mao's performance was unsatisfactory, and the performance of only 4 points in the first quarter made the cheers of the entire Forum Arena a little weak, everyone would buy such expensive tickets not to see the performance of Kidd and others, and it is difficult for Koala babies to arouse everyone's desire to shout crazy with only such a play!

Zhang Qi is also very helpless about this, Barkley's side is no longer going to lose both, the bastard is out of the way to only play three quarters of the game, but to make Zhang Qi unable to play his own rhythm and output firepower in these three quarters. As for the matter of the last section, it is estimated that he has not considered it, as long as he can limit Zhang Yu to three sections, he has already overfulfilled the task.

"Big ass is difficult, should I go back to the third position?"

Zhang Zhu didn't want to have a hard anal with Barkley in the second quarter, even if that guy was tired and collapsed in the fourth quarter, the Bulls' goal was achieved!

Harris considered that the rotation period in the second quarter brought Zhang Fu back to the No. 3 position, and the Lakers' five players on the court became: Starks, Jones, Zhang Zhu, Big Ben, and Mason.

The Bulls, for their part, will not let all three of them go down, they must ensure that at least two giants are present, and the five-man lineup on the court becomes: Van Exel, Hill, Kukoc, Barkley, and Langley.

After the start of the second quarter, Zhang Fu quickly realized that his previous guess was wrong, the Bulls did not use Barkley to deal with him at all, but whoever played against him would be like a mad dog to lose both sides of the game.

The Bulls didn't use Kukoc to defend Zhang this time, but Hill to defend it.

This is not surprising, but what everyone didn't expect was that this guy who was obviously acting as the offensive arrow of the Bulls in the first quarter, and in the face of Zhang Zhu in the second quarter, he actually took out the same mad dog mode as Barkley in the first quarter and entangled with Zhang Zhu in close quarters without restrictions, and that pair of arms would be entangled with Zhang Zhu's arms whenever he had the opportunity, and he also had to go up and entangle both offense and defense.

Barkley's side turned into the Bulls' offensive arrow, Van Exel also regained possession, the two actually took Kukoc and Langley to play well, and Hill's side became a complete outsider, he turned into a dogskin plaster like Rodman and stuck to Zhang Mao.

But this kind of defense is very effective, Zhang Zhu is annoyed and already wants to elbow people, and the Bulls take the opportunity to complete a wave of 10:0 climax.

"This TMD is a wheel war, right?"

Zhang Qi now knew that the Bulls still used wheel warfare to deal with themselves, but this time they used evolved wheel warfare, and the user's attitude was more resolute.

Barkley and Hill this time completely regarded themselves as cylinder tiles, and at the same time regarded Zhang Qi as porcelain, and they didn't want face at all, and their posture was outrageous.

In the NBA, this kind of willingly inferior performance often appears in ordinary players and blue-collar workers, but rarely in supergiants like Barkley and Hill, who really don't even want face to win today.

At this time, a thought arose in Zhang Fu's heart that he didn't even believe in himself - if he went to fight Jordan for a while, would he be so self-degrading to deal with himself?