In the first game of the finals, the Chicago Bulls played against the Utah Jazz, the home of the Bulls, and in the last half minute, the two sides were tied at 82, and the opportunity was equal in front of the two MVPs, and the outcome was unpredictable. But now the Utah Jazz have an advantage.

With 9.2 seconds left before the end, the Chicago Bulls were forced to foul and sent Malone to the free throw line. Malone knew that if he hit these two free throws this time, the Jazz would have a good chance of winning the game and stealing home-court advantage in the Finals. After all, the last shot of the Chicago Bulls will definitely be handed over to Jordan, although Jordan has the ability to kill, but three points have not been his strong point (if Joe has the ability to shoot three points, then how can the highest score be only 69 points?). ）。 But at this time, there was a sudden change.

At this time, Pippen of the Bulls (who is also Malone's off-court friend) walked up to Malone's side and whispered, "The postman doesn't work on Sunday." ”

Later facts proved that Pippen's words can be called the most effective spell in NBA history. Malone's nickname was "The Postman," and the first game of the 1997 finals was played on Sunday, U.S. time.

The result of Pippen's words was Malone's first penalty, which was bounced out of the basket; The second penalty was about to go in, but the ball tapped lightly on the inside edge of the basket and fell out again. The Utah Jazz missed two free throws and lost the protection of Lady Luck.

The rebound was snatched straight away.

Guess who grabbed the rebound? It's not the "big bug" Rodman who is not guarded by the "postman", but Joe's gang leader!

After he held the ball firmly in his arms, Joe quickly called a timeout and fixed the number on the timer at "7.5" seconds. This is the last lore time left for himself.

After the timeout, Pippen fed the ball to Kukoc, and Jordan ran to the left wing to catch the ball outside the three-point line. Jazz head coach Sloan arranged for his men not to flank (which was one of the stupidest tactical arrangements in later view), so Brian Russell had to face Jordan's offense alone.

Jordan dribbled, once, twice, three times, all tentatively, and by the fourth, a crossover handed the ball to his left hand. Russell lunged forward, reached out with his right hand and fished for the ball, but didn't catch anything...... I saw Jordan take a big step to the left, the racket reached the fifth stroke, and then jumped up.

"I was looking for a pinch shot, but no one came," Jordan recalled after the game, "and I did a hand-changing dribble and he [Russell] tried to steal. I knew that if you dribble to the left, you get a good shot vision. So Joe helped.

Jordan jumped very well, at a 45-degree angle on the left, and a small step inside the three-point line. Russell scrambled to pounce, but the ball was sent back by Jordan. The timer zeros, followed by a crisp sound: "Brush!" "The basketball went headlong into the nets and there was a splash.

“yes!” The Chicago Union Center exploded, and everyone raised their arms to welcome this hard-won victory. Pippen, Bouichler, and Randy Brown lunged at Jordan one after another, surrounding Jordan in the middle, while Malone and his teammates could only exit the game in this celebratory atmosphere.

This is only the first game, and the most important thing is the sixth.

It was a very painful game, and of course for Bulls fans, Jordan was sick.

A hard-hitting Jordan actually got food poisoning (some videos will say that it is a fever, some say it is a flu, but it is a stomach flu, what is this). The illness made him almost energetic in the game. The Bulls are also ready to lose.

But Jordan didn't get what they wanted. Jordan stubbornly defeated the illness and staggered to the court. Not only because of his body but also because of his age, Jordan's movements are no longer so agile, but his shooting is still very accurate. But helplessly, he still trailed by 16 points in the second quarter. The commentator can even see Jordan's tired eyes at every pause or break, but as long as he returns to the court, he is still the omnipotent "God". The "God" who didn't dunk in a game almost always persevered like this. Although "God" was plagued by illness, Jordan's omnipotence began. In the final five minutes of the fourth quarter, the Chicago Bulls finally tied the score. But then the Utah Jazz gave the Chicago Bulls another hard blow. Phil Jackson hugged his head directly

, and called a timeout. Let Jordan, who is almost unconscious, come down and take a break.

After that, the two teams bit each other to score the score. At the last moment, Jordan faced the opposite Brian Russell and passed the ball to Pippen on the side, Pippen hit twice and found that he couldn't play and passed the ball back to Jordan, Brian Russell wanted to break the ball, but it didn't break, and the ball returned to Jordan's hand. Jordan was at the top of the arc at this time. Jordan wasn't going to waste that best position, shooting the ball and hitting a three-pointer before Stockton dared to come. Won the entire series. Won the championship.

Then the time will reach two months and almost four months later, the new season of 1997-1998.

This season is the weakest of the entire Bulls' three consecutive championships. Everyone knows it's the Bulls' swan song, and it's Jordan's final performance. There are many contradictions in the team, and the strength of the Bulls has further declined. Rodman's lack of work in the first half of the season and Pippen's injury have cost the Bulls a lot of trouble in the regular season and playoffs. So in the first 16 games of the season, the Bulls have won only 6 games, which is not at all like a defending champion team, but a team ready to start a rebuild. And the remote words fly all day, who will be traded today, who will leave tomorrow, and so on and so forth. Jordan said, "You can't always win. But you have to learn to face and deal with failure, I don't want to fail myself! That's it, Jordan faltered with the Chicago Bulls. It wasn't until the injured Pippen returned that the Bulls started to get on the right track. Finally, in the regular season, they have a 62-20 record, the same record as the Jazz in the West and tied for first place in the league. But because they lost to the Jazz twice in the regular season and lost their home-court advantage in the Finals, even in such a troubled season, the Bulls' regular season win rate is still the highest in the entire NBA.

The next thing is the finals against the Jazz. It is also the swan song of Qiao's gang leader in the true sense.

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