Back in the locker room, Jordan pulled Phil Jackson to analyze the situation in the second quarter.

Phil Jackson persuaded: "Michael, you are a single defense iron fist, but he is not a single defense against you, the assassin has been involved in your assistance defense a lot of time, so you don't have to be obsessed with the efficiency reduction in the second quarter, 6 of 11 shots, the efficiency is already very high." ”

Jordan still shook his head, because he could feel it himself, Zhou Quan's defense was taking a toll on him, and his offensive rhythm was not good, which affected his touch.

Phil Jackson persuaded again: "Michael, in the second half, we played the main game, they helped you share the defensive pressure, even if the Pistons still use an iron fist to defend you, the effect will not be so good, I believe your efficiency will be better than these eight minutes."

In addition, in the third quarter, Pippen will still control the ball, and if you play without the ball, the iron fist will be less effective against your defense.

I think his defense is good, but only the ability to steal is a threat to your offense, and if you don't have the ball in your hands, this threat is gone.

If you increase your off-ball running, he's not as fast and agile as you, and with the help of your teammates, he shouldn't be able to keep up with you, so don't worry about the performance of those few minutes. ”

Jordan nodded, it was true, and he didn't bother anymore.

In the home team's locker room, Chuck Daley praised Zhou Quan and said: "Iron Fist, you have borne at least seventy percent of Jordan's offensive pressure, and you have done a good job." ”

Jo Dumas said with a smile: "Iron Fist, why don't you defend him in the next half?" My defense was honed against him. ”

Zhou Quan smiled: "I have no problem, let the coach arrange it." ”

"Then it's up to you to continue to defend him."

Chuck Daly nodded, and decided to settle on it.

Originally, this season, or even the next two seasons, was to train Zhou Quan, use two or three seasons to train the new core, slowly modify the lineup on the way, and fill in the younger people, the team's results are not what the management values the most, Zhou Quan's growth is what the team values the most.

Being able to defend Jordan and hone his defense with the most powerful offensive man in the league and the league's signature star is the best way to exercise.

Soon after, the third quarter began with the Bulls attacking.

"Is this a taste of sweetness?"

Seeing Zhou Quan following him, Jordan gritted his teeth with hatred.

But now it's not that he's fighting alone, all the main teammates are by his side, does this kid still think he can defend against him?

What's more, the ball is not in his hands.

And he doesn't plan to shoot more in this quarter, he wants to save his physical strength for the last quarter.

In the first half, he had already made 19 shots, which was a lot, and he fought with Zhou Quan for eight minutes, the intensity of the confrontation was very high, and his physical consumption was very large.

Just two minutes into the first two minutes of this quarter, Zhou Quan understood Jordan's plan, not to have the ball, that is, to use running to contain his defense, and then limit his offense and passing on the defensive end.

His physical fitness was nowhere near as good as Jordan's, so he changed accordingly and focused on the organization to accumulate some physical energy for the stubs.

At the end of the third quarter, 71:66, the Pistons took advantage of home-court advantage and strong defense to lead by five points.

"Michael, Iron Fist's speed is not as good as yours, his breakthrough speed is not as fast as yours, you should carefully analyze some of his weaknesses to seize some opportunities. With your defensive prowess, I'm sure you can defend him better. ”

After Jordan came down, Phil Jackson analyzed it for him.

"Weakness?"

Jordan said thoughtfully.

The last quarter started, the Pistons' first offense.

Robert Giddah said: "The Pistons came in with all the main forces, and Iron Fist had a six-minute break in the first half, played the third quarter, and came on at the beginning of the final quarter.

He shot 4-of-9 in the third quarter, 4-of-4 free throws, and got 12 points, 5 rebounds, 11 assists, 4 steals, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls.

He outperformed the regular season in the playoffs, and I mean assists and steals, and he was significantly more comfortable with the playoff defensive intensity than the Jazz's veteran All-Star point guard John Stockton and the rising star of the point guards, Gary Payton, so he was the best of the three.

Speaking from the bottom of my heart, if you put aside the offense, assist and defense, his performance in the playoffs is completely superstar's performance. ”

"The more confrontational you are, the better you are in the playoffs."

Nodding, Ringer Wilson said: "The Bulls are also all the main players, Michael only rested for 3 minutes in the first three quarters, and has played 33 minutes.

He shot 2 of 5 in the third quarter, and he had already shot 12 of 24, with a shooting rate of 50%, which was a little better than the G2 game, plus 7 free throws and 6 of them, he had already scored 30 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls. ”

"Bang Bang ......"

In the backcourt, Zhou Quan advanced with the ball.

Half-leaning over, Jordan retreated step by step, staring at Zhou Quan who was one step away.

His body position allows him to pounce on it at any time.

Zhou Quan's attention was 100% focused, but it was not on Jordan alone, but on the whole audience, and his eyes were still not on Jordan.

"This kid never stares at defenders in the matchup, but he doesn't get the ball off many times."

Jordan's guess about this, first, Zhou Quan's nervous reaction speed is very fast, second, the confrontation is very strong, if the defender goes up to steal, he will immediately carry out physical confrontation, so as to complete the ball protection, and third, the arm is long, the ball control height is very low, and it is difficult to be broken.

He broke Zhou Quan once in the second quarter, but it was not a steal when he was facing head-on, but when Zhou Quan burst into him with the ball, he accurately predicted Zhou Quan's breakthrough, so as to retreat in place in advance and complete the steal.

So he now realizes that in order to break Zhou Quan's ball, he must start when the opponent breaks through, anticipate the opponent's next move, and look for opportunities.

And Zhou Quan's breakthrough speed is not fast, and the absolute speed is not fast, and the opportunity to interrupt the ball in the move should not be small.

This is the conclusion after Phil Jackson reminded him just after thinking.

Half a step back, the midline appears below his field of vision.

At this moment, Zhou Quan in front of him suddenly lowered the height of his body, and at this moment, his excellent prediction ability allowed him to make a prediction.

"It's going to be a surprise!"

"Left side."

At this moment, Jordan predicted that Zhou Quan was going to break through from his left side.

In the next moment, he quickly retreated.

Move your right foot from the back of your left foot to the left back, then cross your left heel and cross your feet to complete the lateral move to the left back.

Sure enough, the prediction was correct, and Iron Fist took a step forward and crashed into it.

Iron Fist's not-so-fast breakthrough gave him a chance, and he stabbed the ball away with his hand and took a step forward to start a counterattack.

"Oops!"

Zhou Quan hurriedly stopped and turned around, and by the time he started, he was already two steps slower.

"Oh, Iron Fist missed, the ball was broken!" The bearded John Lowes shouted with his head in his hands.

"I can't catch up." The glasses man Gran Lance shook his head.

"Bang!"

Jordan's entry into the paint area was a one-arm big loop dunk, which caused 2,000 Bulls fans to shout wildly, and also killed the boos of 20,000 Pistons fans.

However, the boos at the Auburn Hills Palace only stopped for a second, and then immediately sounded with more violent, drowning out the shouts of the Bulls fans.

"Oh!"

After completing the violent dunk, Jordan also shook his fist excitedly and shouted angrily.

But the reason why he was so excited was not to score a dunk, but to steal, and he really found the weakness of that guy in Zhou Quan.

"Broke me twice when I broke through, this guy, it can't be a coincidence, did he predict my technical moves? Such a good prediction?! ”

There was another mistake, this is the fourth time tonight, and from Jordan's defense, Zhou Quan felt a lot of pressure.

"Smack!"

Three minutes later, Jordan made a third steal of Zhou Quan in the breakaway with the ball, and once again counterattacked.

He made consecutive steals on Zhou Quan and successfully counterattacked, which dealt a big blow to the morale of the Pistons.

At the same time, through a strong defense, he successfully suppressed Zhou Quan, disrupted his rhythm of the game, and thus disrupted the Pistons' organized offense, allowing the Pistons to score only four points in four minutes, and the Bulls took the opportunity to play a wave of 12:4 attack, not only equalizing the score, but also overtaking the score.

Zhou Quan was continuously tackled in the breakthrough with the ball, which affected his attention to the game, and then under Jordan's full-court pressing, there was another passing error, and then Chuck Daley called a timeout.

But instead of replacing him, he said to him: "Zhou, Jordan is undoubtedly the first person in active service, your current strength is far inferior to him, and suffering some losses in his hands is also conducive to your growth, so you don't need to be depressed." Now you have to ignore your mistakes, forget about them and give your all in the game. ”

Zhou Quan nodded, he was not frustrated, a few mistakes were not enough to make him have frustrated thoughts with full level mental willpower.

But the successive mistakes did affect his ability to pay attention to the game.

Chuck Daley added: "In addition, Michael Jordan obviously grasped your weakness, you didn't break through fast enough with the ball, retreated early, and accurately predicted, so your breakthrough often sent your own ball to him." ”

"So that's it?!"

Zhou Quan had a sudden realization and a feeling of enlightenment.

"So when you break with the ball, you need to be more varied, avoid your weaknesses, use your strengths to break his rhythm, not let him take advantage of your rhythm and weaknesses."

Chuck Daley added: "Now you have to think about how to crack Jordan's defense, otherwise your rhythm will be ruined by him, not only will you not be able to play an individual offense, but you will also not be able to organize the offense of the whole team." ”

He nodded, a little heavy in his heart, for he had no clue.

"But that's for later, for the time being, you can call the pick-and-roll to get rid of him, and then speed up the pace, increase the tempo of the attack, or give up the ball first, and Joe Dumas will play John Paxson, you calm down first," Daley suggested. ”

“OK。” Zhou Quan nodded.

After the timeout, the game resumed.

At 75:78, the Bulls attacked, and there were eight minutes left in the game.

Jordan ran without the ball all over the court, running from the left wing along the baseline to the right wing, Zhou Quan's speed and agility were not as good as Jordan's, and he was blocked by Cartwhite and thrown off.

"Brush!"

At this time, Pippen saw the opportunity to pass the ball, and Jordan received the ball from mid-range on the right wing and hit an open shot.

At 75:80, the Pistons trailed by five points at home.

"Boy, have you thrown in the towel? You're so tender! ”

Jordan saw that as soon as Zhou Quan crossed the halfway line, he gave the ball to Joe Dumas, and immediately used trash talk to stimulate him in disappointment.

"Congratulations, you've won me again." Zhou Quan smiled.

Jordan just wants to spray Zhou Quan's face, and if he can't beat him, he will call himself a rookie, do you still want face?

"Brush!"

Joe Dumas was not relentless, and made a false shot, hitting a mid-range shot on the head of John Paxson, and returning the color.

In the next game, the two sides were attacked by Jordan and Joe Dumas, and the result was obvious, Jordan's firepower was too strong, and it was a big cut stronger than Joe Dumas, especially the attacking ability, Joe Dumas was not enough in front of Jordan, and the point difference continued to widen in an irreversible way.

And Zhou Quan reduced his ball holdings and didn't attack much, Jordan's energy consumption on the defensive end decreased, and he invested more on the offensive end, scoring continuously.

With another four minutes to go, and with just over two minutes left, the Pistons were already trailing by thirteen points.

"What, why is it so strong?"

In the face of such a fierce Jordan, Joe Dumas had a sense of powerlessness.

When his physical strength was still there, he could barely fight against it, but now when his physical strength was exhausted, Jordan in front of him actually gave him a feeling that he couldn't beat, which deeply hit his morale and fighting spirit, which made his state even more downward.

"Smack!"

Jordan suddenly stepped up and cut off Joe Dumas' ball.

Zhou Quan struggled to catch up, but his physical strength was not enough, so he could only watch Jordan hit the basket and dunk.

15 points.

He glanced at Jo Dumas, and from his teammates, he did not feel a strong fighting spirit, and a strong desire to chase points, which made him very disappointed.

He got the ball back, but the time was too short, and after the assassins were gone, including Joe Dumas and him, there was no one in the team who had the ability to score, and when the score was behind, the ability to chase points was not good, and finally lost the crucial first home game.

"Didi!"

With the referee's whistle, the G3 match ended.

Zhou Quan was very shocked, in the last quarter, especially in the second half of the quarter, whether it was him or Joe Dumas, his physical strength was almost exhausted, and his state dropped sharply, but Jordan did not, and he still maintained a very good state.

This very different state has also dealt a big blow to their psychology, and even Jo Dumas and them, their will to fight has obviously declined.

He had one of the biggest feelings about the role of physical fitness in the game, and the price was to lose the G3 game of the East Finals, the first home game.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

At the end of the game, David Stern applauded in front of Pistons owner Davidson, who very much hopes that Michael Jordan can continue to win championships this season.

The NBA has taken a step forward by relying on the era of magic birds, gaining a firm foothold in the North American business sports world, and relying on the bad boy army to eat a wave of dividends, and now it is time to enter the era of Jordan's flyers.

He believes that the Bad Boys are not yet an era, and although they have led the hard-line and iron-blooded league style and won two consecutive championships, they have fallen too quickly.

Although the alliance has eaten dividends on the Bad Boy Army, he still doesn't like the style of the Bad Boy Army, so he finally chose to introduce malicious foul rules and personally ended the Bad Boy Army, so to speak, he single-handedly interrupted the era of the Bad Boy Army.

For the current Pistons team, he was also a little surprised by the luck of the Pistons, but he didn't expect that this team had just fallen and found a new core.

But he doesn't think the Pistons team led by Zhou Quan can really threaten Michael Jordan's Bulls.

This season the Pistons should be the strongest in the last two or three seasons, with the accelerated decline of the Smiling Assassins and the aging of the lineup, the strength of the Pistons will go down, not up with the growth of Zhou Quan.

It's not enough to have a core of the team, this team will really go into a rebuild, and everyone but Joe Dumas could be in a trade after this season.

So he believes that from next season, the Pistons will not have the strength to make it to the Eastern Conference finals.

But he is very happy to see Zhou Quan's growth, because Michael Jordan wants to create an era, and he must also have strong opponents, and without green leaves, he can't bring out the beauty and amazement of flowers.

Even, he is looking forward to the appearance of someone who can compete with Jordan.

Because the reason why the Magic Bird Era is great is because the black and white heroes are very great, they complement each other and fulfill each other.

"Great!"

After taking out the Pistons on the road and achieving a 2-1 advantage, the moment the game ended, Jordan shook his fist excitedly and vigorously in a row.

"Damn!"

Zhou Quan glanced at Jordan, losing at home is really depressing, but if he loses, he has to admit it, he turned around and walked to the bench.

"Hey, boy, don't be discouraged, because it's God who wins you today." Jordan's smug trash talk sounded behind him.

He laughed angrily, turned around and said, "Old boy, if you are God in this scene, then who is your God in the last game?" ”

Jordan's face stiffened, and his heart was angry, just because you want to be my god too?

"I wonder if you still have the courage to shout here that you are the God of the palace of Auburn Hills?" Zhou Quan smiled.

"Humph!"

Michael Jordan turned around and glanced at David Stern, who was smiling at him, snorted, turned and left.

"Michael, Zhou, come over here." Stern beckoned and shouted.

The two were stunned and hurriedly walked over.

(End of chapter)