"We have one more."

Looking at the celebrating Pistons, morale was rising at a visible rate, and Jordan, who looked very serious, said to his teammates in a deep voice.

Twelve seconds later, he hit the basket and was about to dunk when Rodman caught up from behind and pulled him straight out of the air.

"Without John Sely, the Pistons can only use fouls to interrupt Michael's basket." Ringer Wilson laughed.

After Jordan hit two free throws, the Pistons attacked.

Zhou Quan still got rid of Jordan by blocking and dismantling, and Jordan was still wrapped up with John Paxson, so that Joe Dumas once again got an open spot outside the three-point line and received a pass from Zhou Quan.

"Brush!"

This time, he lived up to Zhou Chuan's trust and repaid his teammates with a hollow three-pointer.

At 15:18, the Bulls attacked.

Jordan catches the ball across the halfway line, the Pistons are chasing points, and he must press it down again before the Pistons' morale rises.

On the three-point line on the right wing, he faked a real shot in front of Zhou Quan and broke through from the outside with the ball.

Zhou Quan's single defense is as high as 95 levels, and under the premise that his prediction ability has not been greatly improved, he has almost reached his current single defense limit, and he was not shaken up by Jordan in a face-to-face situation, and he retreated very quickly, and after Jordan hit the three-point line, he was posted on the left side in time.

However, Jordan immediately made a sharp stop and forced a step-back jumper.

Zhou Quan reacted super fast and kept up with the rhythm, but in the face of the backward jumper in the ultimate jumper, he was still powerless, the height difference was at least a foot, and he jumped with all his strength, and his body was about to pounce on Jordan, and his hand was still only to the opponent's elbow.

"Brush!"

The water splashed and hit two points away.

"Haha, no matter how you defend, no matter how strong your defense is, you just can't defend it!" Ringer Wilson roared excitedly.

Robert Gidda shook his head and said, "Joe Dumas has been selected for the defensive team in a row, but Michael Jordan can blow him up almost every time."

In this world, there really is no one who can defend against Jordan alone, no matter how strong his defense is. ”

Looking back, Zhou Quan still got rid of Jordan by blocking and dismantling.

But this time, Jordan made his ball-holding breakthrough half a beat slower through through a preemptive delay, and then was dragged by Paxson for half a beat, and the result was that Jordan blocked the front again, and the breakthrough failed after the block.

That's when Paxson cut off his and Joe Dumas' passing lanes, and he could only force a shot over Michael Jordan's head.

"Smack!"

Jordan reacted very quickly, was more experienced, predicted accurately, and gave him a big hat directly.

Paxson grabbed the ball and passed it to Jordan, who was following him, and Joe Dumas chased in front, and Jordan actually played a man-ball split action and burst Joe Dumas.

"Boom!"

As soon as the action of dividing the ball came out, the entire United Center was boiling.

Zhou Quan took the opportunity to overtake Joe Dumars and followed Jordan, sealing his right side.

But Jordan dribbled with his left hand, forced Zhou Quan into the paint area with his right elbow, and then jumped up, picked up the basket with one hand with his left hand, and scored the ball at the same time, causing Zhou Quan's beater to foul.

Ringer Wilson excitedly said, "Beautiful! Michael blocked Iron Fist, and then made a two-and-one fight on Iron Fist's body, and now the Pistons' morale has been frustrated again, and the Bulls' momentum is even higher. ”

"Boy, you really almost stopped me." Jordan's trash talk is here again.

Off the court, he doesn't have the strength to provoke Iron Fist, but on the court, he can rely on his own strength, including trash talk, to humiliate the opponent to his heart's content, hit the opponent's psychology, and break the opponent's morale.

Zhou Quan smiled, his strength was poor, so he had to be ready to be beaten, but the trash talk still had to be responded, he knocked Jordan who was standing next to him away with one elbow, and squirted back: "Old boy, two to two, let's be angry again if you win the East Final." ”

"Not only do I want to win the East Final, but I also want to blow you up."

Jordan snorted, dropped a sentence, and turned to the free throw line.

"You also said you were going to sweep us away, but I haven't received your thanks to this day, have you forgotten that I saved you half a million dollars?" Zhou Quan shouted from behind.

"Bastard!"

Michael Jordan was so angry that he wanted to jump to his feet, didn't complete the sweep, and was forced to make it two-two, which was a shame for him.

"Haha......"

Seeing Jordan close his mouth, several people on the Pistons' side laughed.

"Michael Jordan scored five points in a row, 15:23, eight points short."

Zhang Lili's home, he said thoughtfully: "Jordan is in very good shape today, while Joe Dumas is in average condition, it is difficult to chase points!" ”

His wife said: "Doesn't Zhou Quan have the strength to chase points? I see that he played well in front of him, played back and forth with Jordan, and scored 6 points in a row. ”

"He? His individual offensive ability and finishing ability have not yet reached the top level of the final word, and in the face of Jordan's defense, he cannot guarantee the overall high efficiency, and he can occasionally play a few good shots, lacking persistence.

Sometimes the offense also requires luck, and when luck comes, no matter how you play, the opponent may make mistakes inexplicably. ”

Zhang Reasonable shook his head, and said: "Just now Phil Jackson called a timeout, it was a turning point, and then the Bulls began to wrap Zhou Quan, and it was an outside pack.

This is an obvious target, the Bulls have never pinched him on the outside, the Bulls want to strangle his offense, strangle his organization and passing, and would rather let Joe Dumas play than strangle him.

This must be Phil Jackson's belief that Joe Dumas's state will not be good today, so he dares to defend it so much, otherwise Zhou Quan's pass is so good, he wouldn't dare.

With the Bulls' outside defense, it is destined that Zhou Quan's individual offense today will be difficult to break out, and even the organizational function will be limited. Next, the score should slowly pull away. ”

Zhang Li is indeed experienced, and the next game process was predicted by him.

Zhou Quan had to get rid of Jordan with the help of a pick-and-roll, which gave the Bulls the opportunity to easily contain him on the outside, and he was repeatedly trapped, his personal offense was blocked, and he could occasionally play one or two, but it couldn't solve the big problem.

Even if he wants to hit the basket with the ball, there are not many opportunities, Jordan's confrontation ability is not weaker than him at all, and he has more experience than him.

I can't play, I can only share the ball, and the goal of the first point is of course to play with him and get the vacant Joe Dumas.

As for the others, Ulrich was targeted by Pippen on the weak side, did not run any chances, and his offensive ability with the ball was also poor, so he could only eat cakes, and he was stared to death and even had no chance to eat cakes.

Rodman's height under the basket was too low, his offensive skills were not good, and he didn't have many opportunities.

And Bedford's fringe people, even in the face of ordinary blue-collar center Carter White, are still inferior.

In this way, the offensive pressure of the Pistons was piled up on Joe Dumas, although he relied on the opportunity of the Bulls to wrap Zhou Quan and repeatedly got empty positions, but they were all small empty positions, and the feeling of today's outside shooting was really bad, and after missing two more balls, he could only get the ball and rush in.

However, although the defense of Carter White and Grant is not as good as John Sailly and Rodman, it is not too bad, dare to start, he repeatedly attacks strong baskets, but the success rate is not high, eat Grant's two big hats, but won a few free throws.

By the end of the first quarter, at 22:34, the Pistons had trailed by 12 points.

The score was behind, and the Pistons did not dare to replace the main force, and Zhou Quan and Joe Dumas both played in the first quarter.

Zhou Quan scored 6 points in front and 4 points in the back, shooting 3 of 7 in a single quarter, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 3 of 3 free throws, and got 10 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals, 3 turnovers and 1 foul.

Joe Dumas made only 3 of 10 shots, 1 of 3 three-pointers, and 3 of 4 free throws, and got 10 points, 1 assist, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and 1 foul.

The duo basically dominated the first quarter, with Ulrich scoring the remaining two.

In the second quarter, Chuck Daly held down Zhou Quan and Joe Dumas, allowing them to recover their strength first, and sent the Assassin and Mark Aguirre.

However, in order to break the Pistons as soon as possible, Jordan came on the court at the beginning of the second quarter, which formed a continuous and huge blow to the Pistons.

In a frenzy, he single-handedly defeated the Assassin and Mark Aguirre.

He made a steal from the Assassins in four minutes, successfully assisted Mark Aguirre once, played two defensive counterattacks, shot 4 of 5, made 1 of 1 free throw, and scored 9 points, while only allowing the Pistons to score 5 points, widening the difference to 16 points, and blowing up the Pistons in four minutes.

Daley could only change to the main lineup, but the Bulls also replaced Pippen, and Jordan did not go down, and the main lineups of both sides were together.

"Bang!"

After Pippen scored a goal, only half a minute into the second quarter, Joe Dumas once again held the ball and hit the basket, collided with Grant, and when he fell to the ground, his waist twisted, unable to continue the fight, and had to go off the court.

He was so painful that he couldn't stand up, the team doctor came up to check it, and he had a lumbar muscle strain, and he couldn't play this time, and he definitely couldn't end up, and it would take at least a month to recover.

"Bang Bang Bang ......"

When he was helped down, the 2,000 Pistons fans stood up and applauded him.

"Thank you, Joe, you will always deserve my respect." Zhou Quan said to Jo Dumas.

Joe Dumas, who was holding his waist with one hand, nodded regretfully, waved his hand at the fans, and said to Zhou Quan: "Iron Fist, my East Decisive should be over, it's up to you, don't let me down." ”

The corner of Zhou Quan's eyes twitched, nodded and said: "I won't give up, giving up is to accept failure, even if I lose, I will never accept failure." ”

On the TNT commentary bench, Robert Giddah said: "Joe Dumas played very hard today, he couldn't shoot outside, so he hit the basket, but the efficiency was average, and he had fallen several times in front, and this injury was actually expected." ”

"The Pistons can surrender."

Ringer Wilson smiled and said in a very affirmative tone.

At 27:45, the difference was 18 points, and the Pistons attacked.

Chuck Daly called a timeout and sent the Assassin, who he said to the Assassin and Zhou Quan, "Listen, from now on, Isaiah is in control of the ball. ”

Zhou Quan and the assassin were stunned at the same time, but neither spoke, just looked at Chuck Daley to see what he said.

Chuck Daly added: "Zhou, you play off the ball, get through the box, get rid of Jordan with the kind of ability you are good at getting through the cracks, and then pull to the other wing or the top of the arc. Isaiah, after you get out of the space that week, you have to pass the ball. ”

After explaining the tactics, he didn't say anything more, leaving time for the two of them to discuss how to fight.

"Iron Fist, I'm waiting for you to get out of position at the top of the arc."

"OK, you have to get out of the defender as soon as you pass the ball, go where I can see you, and if I don't have a chance, I'll pass it back to you right away."

The timeout ended, the game restarted, and the Pistons attacked.

Ringer Wilson said in a skeptical tone: "The assassin is on the field, and now he is at most three or four percent of his peak strength, can he still fight?" Michael still plays with the iron fist, the iron fist plays without the ball, he has never played without the ball in the Pistons, okay? ”

"With the Assassin in possession and now BJ defending him, will he be the main attacker?" Robert Giddah said in an inquiring tone.

But then he answered a question from his partner, saying: "Iron Fist's off-ball ability should be good, and when he chases Jordan, Jordan can't easily get rid of him, especially in the penalty area." ”

At this point, the Assassin advanced to the front, near the top of the arc.

At this time, Zhou Quan entered the box from the left wing, and Rodman and substitute center Brad Sellers covered him.

In addition to his two teammates in the restricted area, there are also Bulls' backup center Wilpeldo, and backup power forward Stasse King, and now as soon as he and Jordan enter, the entire penalty area is going to burst.

But this narrow, crowded area was his paradise, and with continuous left and right turns, he drilled into the left flank, and Jordan was left behind.

When the Assassin passed the ball and Zhou Quan received the ball in the middle of the two-point position, Jordan had just drilled out of the paint area, two meters away from him.

Although it was only one step to reach his side, it was already too late.

"Brush!"

The water splashed and the two hits.

Such an attack occurred continuously in the following time, and Zhou Quan scored 6 points on 3-of-4 shooting in three minutes.

On the Bulls' side, Jordan didn't attack for the time being, and Pippen shot with all his might, scoring 2 points on 1-of-3 shooting.

With more than three minutes left in the second quarter, at 33:47, the Pistons recovered four points, but still trailed by 14 points.

The bull called a timeout.

Robert Gidda smirked and said: "Ringer, I'm not wrong, Iron Fist's off-ball ability is very strong, four attacks, he got rid of Jordan through the penalty area, Jordan only followed him once." ”

Ringer Wilson nodded: "His ability to move in the box is really admirable and amazing. In fact, according to the figure of his door panel, he does not have this ability, his shoulders are too wide, and the space is small and easy to be blocked. ”

Robert Giddah laughed: "That's his talent, his ability to move around in the restricted area is no worse than a short point guard like a flying squirrel, it's amazing."

And Jordan is just not good at defending this kind of small point guard, and in the case of changing defenses, it is really difficult for him to keep up with the opponent.

To deal with Jordan, you only need to arrange a small point guard, and then switch positions through the block, and the small man will play Jordan. ”

Ringer Wilson couldn't help but complain: "This is indeed possible, Michael really can't prevent this kind of mouse-like point guard."

But Robert, you don't forget, Michael can also blow up the little mouse on the offensive end by blocking and switching positions. ”

"Haha......"

Robert Giddah burst out laughing and stopped taking up the topic.

"Michael, you go deal with the Assassins." On the Bulls bench, Phil Jackson said to Jordan.

Jordan gritted his teeth, he was unwilling, he was a super master of playing without the ball, but he couldn't deal with the no-ball style of the kid with Iron Fist.

Phil Jackson said: "Lock up his pass with your defense, even if BJ can't keep up with Zhou and runs out of space, he can't get the ball." ”

“OK。”

Jordan nodded and agreed.

Zhou Quan was a little surprised to see BJ following him.

He glanced at the assassin over there, could this veteran handle Jordan's defense?

The bout continued, and for the rest of the day, Jordan defended with all his might, handing the offense to Pippen and the others, and he managed to lock out the assassin alone.

In terms of passing, he only locked the passing angles of the assassin and Zhou Quan, and he didn't care about other directions.

At the same time, he also locked up the Assassin's personal attack.

As a result, the Assassins were unable to pass the ball to Zhou Quan, and at the same time, the individual offense could not be played, and the Pistons fell into trouble again in the final point of the second quarter, and were defended for more than three minutes and only scored two points.

At the end of the second quarter, at 35:53, the Pistons trailed by 18 points.

"Click!"

When the Assassin left the arena with no performance, his face was pale, depressed and angry, and he smashed the water glass handed by his teammates to the floor.

"Shh

Bulls fans immediately erupted in loud boos, further striking the psychology of the Assassins and Pistons.

"Oh, the assassin has lost his temper." Robert Giddah exclaimed.

"After being swept last year, he walked away with the team without grace, and he didn't even shake hands with Michael." A hint of disdain flashed in Ringer Wilson's eyes.

Robert Giddah explained: "It's true that as an opponent, it's a kind of court etiquette to congratulate the winner.

However, the Assassin's personality is so eccentric that he believes that shaking hands with an opponent after a loss is a kind of surrender, which may be a difference in life philosophy. ”

Joe Dumas was injured, the team fell behind by a large margin, and the Pistons returned to the locker room, and morale was almost broken.

Even Rodman, who had always been the most active, was dull at this time and didn't say a word.

Of all the players, it was John Sely and Joe Dumas who were the most relaxed, because they were injured and couldn't play, their playoffs were over, there was no pressure on them, and the injury was a relief for them.

Zhou Quan didn't want to say anything, in this case, no amount of empty words was useless, only practical actions could inspire morale.

Joe Dumas can't play, neither can the Assassins, and no one else can count on it, so he has to do it himself, and if he can't play a morale-boosting offense in the second half, then the game will be over in the third quarter.

With his current offensive ability, facing the Bulls' outside pincer strangulation, the difficulty is hellish and almost impossible.

(End of chapter)