Chapter 13: Jojo's War
"Michael Jordan, he broke through from the baseline, Jonny lost it, the space on the baseline was too narrow, but Ben Wallace made up for it! He covered Michael Jordan's dunk! A very nice cap! Ben Wallace, who started the second leg of his first start in his career, got a block! And the object of the block is still Michael Jordan! ”
Ben Wallace's beautiful defense completed a beautiful block, and the ball was also taken by the Celtics, they immediately launched a fast attack, and Johnny, who was standing behind Michael Jordan, directly grabbed the basketball, and then made a long throw, Teyus Edney, who ran to the backcourt at high speed, completed an unguarded layup after receiving the basketball, and the Celtics scored two more points!
Playing fast and attacking quickly means seizing every opportunity to play a quick attack!
The Celtics led 4:2, the Bulls re-served in the backcourt, Michael Jordan took the ball and advanced to the front court, this time Michael Jordan did not rush to the penalty area, just Big Ben's defense made him feel a little wrong, this ball, Michael Jordan chose his signature move, he rushed to the free throw line with the ball against Jonny, and then suddenly pulled up a backward jumper and hit it successfully!
The two teams were tied, but Jonny was once again unhappy with his defense, and before the game, Rick Pitino was going to arrange a trap to deal with Michael Jordan, but Jonny refused, and Jonny felt that he could limit Michael Jordan. However, after the opening, all three of the Bulls' attacks were executed by Michael Jordan, and two goals were scored in the three attacks, and the only one that did not score was the credit of Ben Wallace.
Jonny decided to increase his focus on the defensive end, and on the offensive end, Jonny glanced at his teammates. He felt that in order to win this game, he had to not only open up his offense, but also limit Michael Jordan and then help his teammates open up the situation. The hero he is using now is the Butcher of the Desert, and the Butcher of the Desert's Q-skill breakthrough is a good way to help his teammates score, which Jonny is sure of, because his partner Anfernee Hardaway played this style of play last season.
The Celtics were in position up front, with Jonny taking the ball to face Michael Jordan's defense, while Ron Harper, who was defending Teyus Edney, was on the other side. It's slowly leaning towards Jonny's side, and it's clear that he's preparing to wrap up Jonny.
Jonny didn't hesitate either, starting straight from the three-point line and rushing into the three-point line. At this time, Ron Harper came running fast, and Michael Jordan also resisted Jonny to slow down Jonny's speed, and when Ron Harper came over, Phil Jackson on the court chewed gum faster. Phil Jackson's wrap-and-wrap tactics against Jonny were about to succeed.
"Jony's breakthrough, oops! He's going to be packed! Oh no! Share the ball! Distribute the ball outward! Teyus Edney catches the ball! Ron Harper scrambled to the three-point line. Divide the ball again! Tim Thomas three-point shot! There was no one to defend in front of him! Jason Caffey had already run to Teyus Edney's side in the defense just now, and hit a three-point shot! Entered! Celtic's beautiful attack, very fast transfer of the ball! Hubbie Brown kept exclaiming, the Magic's offense took a total of 13 seconds, and that's still counting the halftime, and the flowing offense looked very beautiful!
And what amazed Hubbie Brown even more was Jonny's split ball. Everyone thought that Jonny was going to return the ball and reorganize the offense, and the editor, Ron Harper and Michael Jordan, didn't want to continue the offense at all. But Jonny seemed to know that Teyus Edney was standing in that position, and threw the ball straight over! Teyus Edney's second transfer then resulted in the goal.
The Celtics' offense went unnoticed by the Bulls, and Phil Jackson sat calmly on the bench. Chewing gum, then keeping an eye on the bull's attack.
Michael Jordan takes the ball, the Celtics continue to use Jonny to defend Jordan alone, in fact, Rick Pitino is also a little helpless, in the Celtics lineup this season, most of the players were originally CBA-level, and several players started the game, Teyus Edney is short, Tim Thomas has always been very bad defensively, and Walter McCarty on the inside is also an offensive player, and only Ben Wallace and Jonny have good defense throughout the starters.
So the Celtics will either use Jonny to defend Michael Jordan alone, or they can only wrap the clip, but the bag can easily cause defensive chaos in a team, especially a team like the Celtics who are all new players.
So, when Jonny asked for the ball to defend Michael Jordan, Rick Pitino chose to agree.
In this ball, Michael Jordan chose to rush to the three-point line again, and Big Ben was still near the penalty area in order not to lose his position, so when Michael Jordan rushed to the free throw line, it was still Jonny who was Michael Jordan alone.
"Michael Jordan rushed to the free throw line and he chose to shoot! Oh no, it's just a feint, but Jonny wasn't fooled either, Michael continued to rush in, Ben Wallace made up for it, the double was sandwiched, and Michael forced a layup! Covered! Ben Wallace again! It was his second block of the game! Michael Jordan was humiliated, and an unknown player covered him two goals in a row! ”
Just as the commentator was singing a hymn to Ben Wallace, the Celtics' fast break came again!
"Rush! It's Teyus Edney again, he's very fast, he's close to the basket, the ball is in! The Celtics' fast attack is very resolute and very beautiful! The Celtics are 5 points ahead! ”
Teyus Edney scored a fast break layup again, Rick Pitino waved his hands excitedly off the court, the tactical effect he wanted to see has been achieved, fast play fast break, after the opening Celtics have played 4 attacks, although two are fast breaks after the block, but the Celtics' offensive speed is still amazing, every ball is as fast as lightning, clean and neat.
"Michael Jordan catches the ball, he takes a step inside the three-point line, and he shoots a step-back jumper! Scored again, and Michael Jordan's jumper hit all in this game! ”
Watch the basketball smack into the net again. Jonny was a little helpless and went in again, and Michael Jordan was still babbling something in his ear, it was rubbish.
"Look, you just can't stop me, and you need your teammates to help you every time. Look at you, it's too weak."
Jonny didn't respond, he took the ball and rushed to the frontcourt, seeing Michael Jordan let him go, Jonny rushed forward and shot directly at three points! Jordan was shocked, he didn't expect Jonny to shoot directly! Everyone knows that Jonny is best at three-pointers, but Michael Jordan just carelessly made Jonny shoot this answer-ball!
Bang! Ball in! The difference is 6 points!
Next, Michael Jordan takes the ball. With the help of a block made by Luke Longlee, he threw off half of Jonny's body, and directly made a mid-range jumper, and the ball also went in!
Jonny didn't waste any time, insisting on the team's purpose of playing fast and attacking, and when he got the opportunity after halftime, he made a mid-range jumper, which was also hit!
Mike Tirick shouted: "Michael Jordan and Jonny Lee entered the state at the same time, and the two of them began to score points!" ”
On the field, the Bulls suddenly slowed down. Perhaps they saw the Celtics' conspiracy, with Michael Jordan loitering outside the three-point line with the ball.
The Bulls suddenly slowed down their offensive tempo. However, the Celtics are not worried, after playing two or three minutes of rapid attack with the Celtics, it is obviously impossible to get the rhythm back with a wave of attacks.
Michael Jordan pressed beyond the three-point line for about ten seconds, and then rushed to the free throw line in the same way as the previous attacks, in this position. Michael Jordan has hit 4 goals in a row!
But at this moment, Jonny, who was already familiar with Michael Jordan's offensive routine, suddenly jumped up, stretched out his hands, and exclaimed in the garden of TD's North Shore. Directly blocked Michael Jordan's mid-range jumper!
"Covered! This time it was Jonny Lee's block, less than 4 minutes into the opening! Michael Jordan has already eaten 4 blocks! ”
Everyone was surprised by Jonny's block, and the Celtics' fast break had started again, although the tired Bulls were still trying their best to defend back, but the Celtics practiced for more than a month to play fast and fast break in vain? Teyus Edney, who had a brilliant performance after the opening, scored another layup.
This time, the referee's whistle blew sharply, and the bulls called a timeout.
At 16:8, the Celtics have a lead of 8 points, and more importantly, the rhythm on the court has been taken away by the Celtics, fast play and fast attack, although the Bulls can also play, but after all, the Bulls' main style of play is still a triangle attack, which is a positional war, once it falls into this rhythm of fast play and fast attack, it is naturally unfavorable for the Bulls.
In fact, the Celtics were able to control the rhythm of the court so easily after the opening, and they had to be glad that Scott Pippen in the Bulls triangle did not play, otherwise even if the Celtics had practiced this set of fast-hitting and fast-break tactics to perfection, they would not have grabbed the rhythm so easily.
Five minutes into the first quarter, the Celtics led by 8 points, a result that surprised many people, the worst team actually led the strongest team by 8 points, which was a slap in the face of those who looked down on the Celtics. In fact, the Celtics' performance after the opening game did make many people's eyes shine, in the words of Hubbie Brown: "It's not like a bad team in everyone's mouth!" ”
The two sides entered a timeout, and Phil Jackson no longer had the calmness he had at the beginning, and the game played for 5 minutes, and a fool could see that something was wrong.
"We've been controlled by Celtic and we're going to lose if we keep playing like this! Michael, don't rush to attack when you get on the court, I ask you to control every wave of attacks until 20 seconds later, slow down your attack, and press down the rhythm! Also, don't do it alone, organize more attacks! You can't win the team alone! Phil Jackson looked at Michael Jordan and said that the Bulls' offense after the opening was almost done by Michael Jordan alone, which was obviously not conducive to the team's win.
On the other hand, the Magic, Jonny has begun to organize the offense in a good way, and if he continues to play like this, it will definitely be the Bulls who are losing, and for the Bulls who are aiming to defend the title, it is obviously unforgivable to lose this game.
On the Celtic side, Rick Pitino praised the players who came on the pitch and then let the players re-enter without making any adjustments, and for Celtic, all they have to do now is maintain the current rhythm, which naturally does not need to be adjusted.
The two sides returned to the court, the Bulls' offense, they slowed down and began to adjust the tempo on the court.
Michael Jordan didn't start attacking until 18 seconds, and if it weren't for Phil Jackson asking him to organize more offense, maybe Michael Jordan would have dragged on until 20 seconds and then came on his own.
The Bulls' wave of offense, in the end, Michael Jordan rushed to the restricted area, and then divided the ball, and Luke Longley narrowly made a layup before the 24-second violation!
The Bulls deliberately slowed down the pace, and the Celtics naturally deliberately played a fast offense, as a result, the two teams tied in the rest of the first quarter, the Celtics' fast offensive success rate was average, and the Bulls deliberately slowed down the pace, each offense only used the last few seconds, and the success rate of the offense was average, and finally at the end of the first quarter, the Celtics led by 7 points at 27:20.
Although it was only the first quarter, the Celtics' performance was still surprising, after all, they were facing the Bulls! Although Scott Pippen was not able to play, the Celtics played a surprisingly fast attack, and it seems that the Celtics are not as bad as they thought.
At the beginning of the second quarter, Jonny, who played the whole first quarter, was put off the court by Rick Pitino to rest, and Danabaros, who was considered to be the Celtics' No. 2 man, played, while Di Bron and Mark Blunt on the inside also got the opportunity to play, and the most difficult time for the Celtics was this time.
In the absence of Jonny Lee, the Celtics can easily be defeated by the Bulls, and the situation shown on the court soon proves this, although the Bulls also won Michael Jordan, but in terms of bench strength and tacit understanding, the Bulls still have to beat the Celtics.
After playing 5 minutes in the second quarter, the Celtics' advantage in the first quarter was all erased by the Bulls, in this case, Rick Pitino had to be replaced by Jonny Lee, but the outside world thought that the No. 2 man Dana Barros did not go down, he had to partner Jonny for half a quarter, and the Celtics would maintain this strongest lineup to play the first half. (To be continued......)
ps: A 4000-word chapter, there are only two chapters today, today is my sister's birthday, and I'm going to go out to dinner next night.