Chapter 195: Disciple
"Oh God! Little Jordan was simply unstoppable tonight! ”
Barkley shouted and finished Jordan Jr.'s outstanding performance in the second quarter. O'Neill, who was sitting on the bench, didn't know what to think, watching the apprentice who had taught for a season take off tonight, which made him feel old.
In recent days, he has been feeling that the strength in his body is slowly draining, and maybe after this season, he will become the funny Shaq of last year. He consulted with the team doctor, Angela Merkel, but the test report showed that everything was normal, but there was no explanation for this.
Merkel suggested that O'Neal see a psychiatrist, and O'Neal did, and the psychiatrist's answer was occupational anxiety, which many NBA players felt before they were about to retire. At that time, O'Neill thought about retiring, if he couldn't continue to rule the league, should he retire?
At the end of the second quarter, Jordan Jr. scored 12 points, all dunks. The fans at the Oracle Center kept shouting in the second quarter. Sloan was caught off guard by Nelson's retro stream play.
Li Zhi is like "Magic" Johnson and "Big O" Robertson, scoring, assisting, and rebounding are all grasped with one hand, and the Jazz's attention is all on Li Zhi. But when they got to the main force and began to wrap up Rich, Jordan Jr., the Warriors' most inconspicuous and weakest attack, scored 12 points on their heads.
Sloan wondered if Jordan Jr. was possessed by O'Neal or Howard, and what made Sloan even more uncomfortable was that his true disciple Boozer was blown up by Jordan Jr.
Boozer is hell-bent on swiping up stats, and it's been a failed season for Boozer, proving that Sloan's pick-and-roll can't win a championship at all, or that Boozer and Delon can't win it.
When a tactic makes the players lose confidence, the team is not far from disbanding. Sloan had big goals, but Boozer and DeLong's ideals were the opposite of Sloane's.
Boozer and DeLong are not the kind of people who can live in one city and be in peace. The contradictions of Jazz have cracked in the unseen.
After the half, the Warriors led the Jazz 66:56 by ten points, which was still the case that Li Zhi had been looking for opportunities for Jordan Jr. and did not have his own offensive end.
Off the field, Sloane looked at the lost disciples one by one, and his cloudy eyes hated iron and steel, the same way Nelson looked at Milicic.
They won three straight games against the Warriors this season, losing confidence in the last time they were beaten by the Warriors. The big shark on the inside of the Warriors didn't get on, Li Zhi didn't turn on the offensive mode, and they were blown up by a little-known little person.
Sloane was furious, but he didn't say a word for a long time. Nelson looked at Sloan, his eyes full of sympathy.
Sloan has spent his entire life chasing championships, but he hasn't won the best coach in 23 years. As a fellow coach, he understands Sloane's inner suffering.
None of the Utah duos were top-notch, but Sloan trained them to be the most fearsome pick-and-roll machines of his time.
Stockton has a thin physique, and if he doesn't play in the NBA, he can only be a writer. If Malone hadn't been trained by Sloan to have his back body technique, he would have been a food delivery person in this life. But Mr. Sloan sent them to the finals stage and to Jordan, which was not easy.
The Jazz were able to win the game because of Sloan's tactics, and every blocking, running, air cut, and cover cost Sloan countless efforts. It's just this, the tendonous Delon doesn't understand, and the naturally rebellious Boozer doesn't want to understand.
Nelson turned his head to look at his disciples, Li Zhi and Little Jordan, they surprised themselves again and again, but when they saw Milicic, Nelson's eyes instantly turned cold.
At the beginning of the second half, the Jazz pressed all over the court and put out their strongest defense. Nelson expected that putting O'Neal and Jordan Jr. on the court at the same time, and the two big men over 2.1 meters on the inside would make the Jazz unable to find the entrance to the restricted area.
The Jazz now don't dare to wrap up Lee, whose pass turned Jordan Jr. from a blue-collar to an All-Star in the second quarter, and they can only defend alone.
It was Kirilenko who defended Li Zhi alone, and compared to the first quarter, nothing changed this time, and Li Zhi easily shook off Kirilenko and entered the inside. When Millsap wanted to come to the defense, Richie passed the ball to O'Neal.
O'Neill stood in place with the ball and didn't attack. Boozer did not hesitate and came directly to O'Neill. Boozer wasn't good at defending, but after Sloan's scolding, he got his attitude right.
At this time, Jordan Jr. was already empty, and O'Neal could have given Jordan Jr. an empty catch, his pass was not covered, but O'Neal did not.
O'Neill dribbled with his back and leaned against Boozer. Boozer only felt that a mountain weighed down on him.
"Look!"
O'Neal said loudly, and little Jordan was slightly stunned. The rest of the Warriors pulled away and now it's O'Neal's one-on-one singles.
Li Zhi felt O'Neill's resoluteness, but he didn't know why O'Neill did it. O'Neill could have used his strength to push Boozer away, but what was he doing? He's in the show.
Pushing Boozer open, O'Neill scolded: "Are you all soft eggs? Defend me! ”
The Jazz player, who was originally in a bad mood, was taunted by O'Neal and instantly distraught, and the first person to go to the bag was Kirilenko. His normal defense is useless to Li Zhi, which makes him feel bad, and now this fat man is still mocking us? Is he crazy?
Kirilenko wrapped the ball over, and Li Zhi was empty, but O'Neill didn't pass the ball, still protected the ball with his back, and even dribbled a few times under the bag of the two.
Little Jordan was dumbfounded, and ...... And this kind of operation?
The fans stood up all over the stadium and wanted to figure out what O'Neill was doing and why he didn't pass the ball when there was an open space.
"Shaq, pass the ball, Li is empty!" Nelson was in a hurry to stomp his feet next to him, he was worried about O'Neal, although this guy had a surprisingly good season and didn't want to be a veteran at all, but he was 36 years old after all, and Nelson was afraid that he would be injured under the brutal defense of Kirilenko and Boozer.
"Come on! Soft-as-you-go! ”
O'Neill yelled again, and Delon was angry and walked over in an instant. DeLong is physically strong, and his defensive skills have improved year by year as he has grown.
Crawford was also vacant, and O'Neill still did not pass the ball, but instead had a strong excitement on his face.
The more than 20,000 fans at the Oracle Center were in an uproar again, and O'Neal pressed into the box step by step under the bag of three people.
Korver glanced at the coach, Sloan stood there unthinking, and Korver turned to join O'Neal's team.
Millsap saw Korver's action and also took the initiative to let Jordan Jr. go. The Jazz have the best relationship with Millsap is Korver, and Korver has always been the one of the two to get the idea.
"Shaq!"
Barkley stood up on the bench and Kenny Smith stood up on the bench.
In the uproar of countless fans, O'Neill was in danger, using his power to top five people into the penalty area, he took his right foot as the center of gravity, shook his shoulder, and Boozer was the first to fly.
O'Neal didn't jump, his body was short, and his left foot went to the basket, and Kirilenko jumped in horror.
Fans at the Oracle Center exclaimed: Dream Dance Steps!
Shaking the two one after another, O'Neal directly broke free with huge force under the bag of Delon, Korver and Millsap, and hit a strong dunk, and the basket in the center of the oracle was shattered.
The moment the Jazz five felt that something was wrong, they ran away directly, and O'Neal also stepped out of the bombing area of the basket, no one was injured, but all the fans shouted excitedly, including the fans who were watching the live broadcast, and they were shocked and cursed a dirty word.
Milicic, who was on the bench, looked at the replays over and over again, and his mouth widened.
"This ...... This old man, 36 years old is still so powerful? ”
Jordan Jr., like Milicic, has long been silenced by O'Neal's goal.
O'Neal is the teacher of the two, although the two have different attitudes towards this teacher, Jordan Jr. regards O'Neal as a mentor, and Milicic disdains to learn O'Neal's skills, but he works hard in private.
O'Neal didn't say anything, just looked at Jordan Jr. and Milicic, gasping for air.
Countless fans who have witnessed O'Neal surpass the top have a question in their hearts, how can O'Neal dream dance moves? Even during the Lakers' three-game winning streak, O'Neal would not have a dream dance move!
At this time, Li Zhi, who was also stimulated by O'Neal's dunk, suddenly heard a prompt from the system.
"Alert! The peak reappearance card energy is overdrawn, the energy is insufficient, and the skill effect is reduced by 50%. ”
Li Zhi's gaze instantly focused on O'Neill's face.
Fantasy dance steps, labor and management finally know why you have dream dance steps! You're so overdrawn, bastard! If you do this, what will happen to the championship of labor and management!
Milicic realized, Jordan Jr. still looked at O'Neal with that adoring gaze, and O'Neal's tired face showed a rare trace of exhaustion.
In '95, O'Neal, as one of the league's new four centers, led the Magic to the Finals in the year after Jordan's retirement. But in the finals, he was taught to be a man by Olajuwon in his last years, and over the years, Olajuwon haunted him like a nightmare.
The media accused him of learning the techniques of Big Dreams. But he was young, he was not convinced, he had a body that was countless times stronger than others, why should he learn those techniques.
Later, he fled to the Lakers, where he won three championships, and he wanted to prove that he was better than Big Dream! You see, what you didn't do, I did, I built a dynasty!
He was ambitious, he wanted four consecutive championships, but that year, he suddenly felt that his body was no longer so strong, and he was covered by Wallace in the finals, and he became that loser for the second time on the stage of the finals.
So, he remembered Olajuwon's dreamy steps, but his muscle memory had solidified and he couldn't learn the set of feints. This was the end of the story, after the Heat followed Wade to win the championship, his peak was about to go forever, but he didn't expect the Warriors to give him a second spring.
For a season, he dreamed of learning fantasy dance moves, just to take advantage of the good form of this year to win another championship, but when he saw that Milicic was still reckless, and Jordan Jr. had not yet finished carving, he found that his time was running out.
Maybe something, more important than a championship.