That night, there were two second-round series G1 games kicking off, with the Knicks vs. Cavaliers in the East and the Suns vs. Spurs in the West.

The Spurs performed well in the first-round series, and David Robinson was praised by the media, so in this series, there are many media who believe that the Spurs have a better chance of qualifying.

However, in this G1 battle, 89:98, the Suns who played at home won in the end.

0-of-7 three-pointers and 13-of-23 free throws were key to the Spurs' loss.

The key players in the Suns' win were Lightning Kevin Johnson and small forward Richard, who scored 25 and 22 points, respectively.

The Lightning shot 50% from the field and also delivered 5 steals, and his performance on both offensive and defensive ends was very good, and he also played at the level of the top point guards in the league today, and he really deserves to be able to compete with the Magic.

But the better performance was Richard, who shot 75 percent on 9-of-12 shooting.

On the contrary, Charles Barkley, the team's interior core and the team's only superstar, shot only 5-of-21 from the field, shooting only 23.8%, plus only 18 points from the free throw line, and 10 rebounds.

"I'm disappointed in this game, we missed too many chances on free throws and three-pointers, otherwise we wouldn't have lost."

After the game, David Robinson, who scored 32 points and shot 65% from the field, told the media in disappointment.

On the 11th, there are two games, the G2 battle between the Pistons and the Bulls, and the G1 battle between the Western SuperSonics and Mosaic.

As a result, on the media page of this day, except for last night's two games, the rest is almost all news about the G2 battle between the Pistons and the Bulls, and there is very little news about the G1 battle between Mosaic and the SuperSonic, which is basically a passing pass.

In the news of the Pistons and Bulls, Jordan accounted for seventy percent of the page, and the American media collectively targeted him because of his influence, and if there was no such influence, the media would not bother to target him.

Zhou Quan has been mentioned by the media many times and occupies more pages than Barkley, Big Dream, Lightning, David Robinson, and the reason for Jordan is also very big, if the opponent is not Jordan, his media attention will not be so big, basically every three times Jordan is mentioned, he must be mentioned incidentally.

In the morning, the Pistons went to practice at the University of Chicago.

There are some international students at the University of Chicago, most of whom are government-funded international students, and when Zhou Quan came here for training the day before yesterday, he had exchanges with some international students.

Ninety-nine out of 100 of these international students have the idea of emigrating, and they have a strong desire to return to China.

In other words, the country spends so much money for them to study, and in the end, after they finish their studies, they choose to stay in the United States and become an American.

However, he was not surprised at all, because he was an international student himself, and he knew about this situation during his two years at UCLA.

When these international students knew that he had not immigrated until now, they were very surprised, did not understand him, and asked him why he did not emigrate, but he did not answer the question.

There is a very important reason why he did not choose to immigrate, because he is different from these international students, he is now engaged in sports, and immigrating to the United States does not help him much.

What's more, his current achievements, influence, and social status make him not need to immigrate to integrate into the country.

……

At this time, at the Bulls headquarters, the team was in the middle of an intra-team confrontation training game.

Phil Jackson's inclusion of Jordan in the second team, with Pippen and Grant in the first team, was an effective way to increase the team's competitiveness, and the players often threw punches at each other for the sake of performance.

Under his training, the intensity of the Bulls' intra-team confrontation is even more than the actual battle, which is also one of the important reasons for the Bulls' two consecutive championships.

Cartwhite is injured and will be out for a week, and there are still a lot of substitute insiders, with backup center Wilpeldo, as well as Scott Williams and Spencer King all playing in the fourth or fifth position.

Phil Jackson has decided to use Scott Williams as the starting center for G2, but it hasn't been announced yet.

Williams has a good rebound, even better than Cartwhite, and about the same amount of playing time, Cartwhite has only half the rebounding of Williams.

In this matchup, he put Williams on the second team and partnered Jordan, which is obviously the meaning of letting him start.

He put Perdo in the first team, partnering Pippen and Gran Xing.

The match began, and two minutes later, Perdo used an illegal cover on Jordan, which made Jordan a little angry, stopped the game, pointed at Perdo and admonished: "Will, don't use this kind of action again." ”

"What are you talking about?" Perdo replied with some discomfort.

"You know what I mean, well, that's it for now, just remember my words." Jordan snorted coldly.

"Keep fighting." Phil Jackson shouted from the sidelines.

The confrontation continued, but Perdo made several illegal covers for Jordan one after another, and after the fourth time, Jordan threw away the ball in his hand, walked up to Perdo and didn't say a word, just punched over.

"Bang!"

Perdo was caught off guard and was knocked out by a punch.

Phil Jackson shook his head helplessly, but he wasn't surprised, because the Bulls had almost no players who hadn't been beaten by Jordan.

"Will, don't be impulsive, calm down."

"Will, don't mess around."

At this time, the other players rushed up and pulled Perdo, who was getting up and ready to fight back.

Grant was angry because Verpeldo was his good friend, Jordan had beaten him before, and now he was beating Perdo, and he could hit whoever he wanted, and he wanted to beat Jordan once, just like Iron Fist did in the first place.

It's a pity that he knows very well that if he dares to make a move, everyone here may press him and let Jordan beat him in turn, he doesn't have the courage of an iron fist, let alone the skill of an iron fist.

Of course, this thing is not going to happen, because it is so common with the Bulls.

……

Evening, half past seven, United Center Arena.

Pistons: Secali, Dennis Rodman, Ulrich, Joe Dumas, Zhou Quan

Bulls: Scott Williams, Horace Grant, Scottie Pippen, John Paxson, Michael Jordan

"Yesterday the Bulls announced Cartwhite's injury, a lumbar muscle strain, and he will be out of action for at least ten days, and he can still catch up with the G6 game." Bill Wharton said.

Lewis Williams said: "Actually, Scott Williams is stronger, but not as senior as Carter White. ”

At this time, Bill Wharton suddenly stared at the screen in front of him, and said in surprise: "Look, Wilperdo's left eye circle is black, is he staying up late?" ”

"Poof, boil one eye? Haha......"

Lewis Williams laughed, and Bill Wharton laughed himself.

It's not a big discovery, the two don't talk about this anymore, they are all insiders, and Jordan doesn't just hit his teammates, he often punches his opponent in the game, and the number of hits on the field is much more than Zhou Quan, but the intensity of the fight is not as strong as Zhou Quan, so the impact is small.

At the scene, a reporter hurriedly asked after seeing Perdo's dark circles: "Will, what's going on?" ”

How dare Perdo say that Jordan hit him, and said: "I fell." ”

"You were beaten, right?" The reporter didn't hesitate and asked loudly.

"No, of course not, it's just a fall." After saying that, Perdo hurriedly went to the court to warm up.

"It must have been Jordan again."

"I'm 100% sure."

Some of the reporters were very happy that they had something to write about.

At eight o'clock, the game officially began.

Jump ball, Bulls attack.

"Look at how the Pistons defend against Jordan." Zhang said reasonably.

Three seconds later, he said: "It's very clear, everyone is following their own people, and there are no obvious signs of helping to defend, the Pistons are still the same as the day before yesterday, staring at others, and Zhou Quan is alone to defend Jordan." ”

"Brush!"

In the first ball, Jordan received the ball and made a jumper after cutting outside, hitting a mid-range shot, and Zhou Quan was half a beat slower.

"This kind of shooting technique, no matter how good the defense is, can't be prevented."

Zhang said reasonably, and he turned to say: "The Bulls' offense is still a triangle tactic, Jordan used Grant's blocking to get rid of Zhou Quan, and then took the opportunity to catch the ball and shoot." ”

Sun Zhenping smiled: "If the Pistons still defend Jordan alone, he can actually play with the ball." ”

Zhang Li was stunned, and hurriedly nodded: "That's really the case, the true meaning of the triangle tactic is to create a single opportunity for him, if you don't cover him, you can indeed directly hold the ball to play Zhou Quan."

But the Bulls still have to be on guard, tactics can change at any time, and if Jordan really keeps holding the ball and playing Zhou right, then the Pistons are likely to have to change their defensive tactics.

There is a big difference in this, the man-to-man defense can't contain the man without the ball, but it can contain the ball carrier, if Jordan holds the ball, the threat is too great, and the Pistons are most likely to contain him. ”

Turning back, the Pistons attacked.

"Let's see how the bull defends." Zhang said reasonably.

After looking at it for a few seconds, Sun Zhenping said: "Director Zhang, Pippen's position is intentionally close to Zhou Quan, and the bull seems to be intentionally sandwiching him on the outside?" ”

At this moment, Zhou Quan was trapped, and Pippen suddenly pounced on the left wing, and he immediately chose to pass the ball to Ulrich.

"Bang!"

Pippen quickly returned to the defense, and Ulrich shot in the middle of the small space, but missed.

Scott Williams protected the rebound in the backcourt and the Bulls attacked.

"It's really an outside bag."

Nodding, Zhang Li said with a serious expression: "It seems that the Bulls attach great importance to the destructive power of Zhou Quan's passing, is this to lock his passing button through the outside pinch?" Two top perimeter defenders are sandwiched between one person, and the defensive pressure is enormous. ”

"It should be." Sun Zhenping agreed.

But Zhang Li thought about it for a while, and said: "It's a little wrong, this kind of outside pinching is also difficult to lock Zhou Quan's passing button, what is the Bull's intention?" ”

After nine minutes in the first quarter, he finally understood the purpose of the Bulls, and by this time the Bulls had a seven-point lead.

He said in surprise: "I understand, the G1 game against the Pistons has a lot of inside cutting tactics, and most of Zhou Quan's assists come from passing to his teammates who cut in, which is also the reason why the Pistons' offensive efficiency is very high in the last game, because the inside cutting tactics have improved a lot of basket offense for the Pistons."

Today, the Bulls wrapped Zhou Quan on the outside, and the ultimate goal was not to lock up his pass, and the Bulls must know that this was impossible to do, so their real purpose was to force him to pass the ball in advance and speed up the offensive and defensive rhythm through Zhou Quan's outside pinching, so that the Pistons were in a hurry to complete the offense, and there was no chance to play inside tactics. ”

"That's right! It's no wonder that the Pistons are rarely seen playing inside tactics today, with a lot less basket and low post offense than in G1. Sun Zhenping suddenly realized.

Chuck Daley clearly realized the purpose of the Bulls, and after calling a timeout, he said to the players: "From now on, as soon as anyone has an open position, immediately cut inside, try to get as close to the basket as possible, don't shoot from the outside, we have to improve the offensive efficiency." ”

However, this small adjustment did not solve the problem, the Bulls' rotation was very fast, mainly by Pippen to pinch the attack, but each time only left a small space for Ulrich, and Ulrich today had a mediocre hand, did not play an efficient offense, and there were many passing and receiving errors between him and Zhou Quan.

After the ineffective cutting tactics, the focus of the attack was shifted to Joe Dumas' side, and even Zhou Quan gave the ball to Joe Dumas, but unfortunately Joe Dumas felt average today and did not play a lethal attack on John Paxson's head.

At the end of the first half, at 41:55, the Pistons had trailed by 14 points.

Zhou Quan scored 9 points on 3-of-8 shooting, 1-of-2 three-pointers and 2-of-2 free throws, which doesn't matter, the key is that he made a total of 25 passes in the first half and only received 3 assists.

That is, after he passes the ball, the receiver usually can't get the opportunity to shoot in the open space, and the empty space left by the Bulls in other positions because of the pinch of him has actually been filled by a quick rotation when he passes.

On the defensive end, he stole Jordan once, steal Pippen once, and rushed in to cap Grant once, causing the Bulls to make a total of 6 turnovers through his individual defense.

However, he also had three mistakes in his own half, one by Jordan, two wrong passes, and Ulrich and Joe Dumas each failed to receive his pass.

In the third quarter, he stepped up his shots in the bag, and several first-class shooting techniques allowed him to shoot only 4-of-11 from the field, shooting only 36.4%.

In the final quarter, he began to break through frantically with the ball, but the whistle was not in his favor, and it was the home of the people, and he was whistled for an offensive foul and a walking foul, as well as a wrist flip.

In the end, the Pistons were unable to recover, 88:102, lost the G2 battle, and tied 1-1 with the Bulls.

Zhou Quan played 42 minutes, shot 10 of 25, shot 40% from the field, including 2 of 5 three-pointers, 5 of 6 free throws, and got 27 points, 5 rebounds, 7 assists, 4 steals, 1 block, 5 turnovers and 5 fouls.

"I said we were going to get back on track and we did it. We're going to play away from home and play the form we need. ”

In the post-game interview, Jordan, who scored 36 points, said excitedly to the media.

"Iron Fist, are you happy with your performance in this match?" On the way back to the locker room, a reporter came up to interview.

"Of course there are some problems, and I can do better." He said.

"Were you mentally prepared to be caught by the Bulls on the outside before the game?" The reporter asked again.

"To be honest, I have, because they did that last year, and I'm stronger now than I was then, but it was only for a very small time, but tonight they kept doing it." He said.

"Later, you also changed your defensive strategy and tried your best to contain Jordan, Jordan shot 48% from the field tonight, and he was also packed, he was eight percentage points higher than you, how big do you think the gap between yourself and him is on offense?" Another reporter asked.

"There's a pretty big gap and I need to admit that." He said.

"What else do you expect from this series?" The reporter asked.

"We've won one away game and the Bulls haven't, so we're more dominant in the series now, you know that, so I'm still looking forward to it."

After saying this, he had already walked to the door of the locker room, and thus ended the interview.

The others came in one after another, Zhou Quan got up and closed the door of the locker room, and then said: "Guys, it's just a loss, I never thought of sweeping the Bulls this time, we don't have that kind of strength, so don't be disappointed, let's go back to the home court and do them again." ”

The Assassin exclaimed, "Iron Fist is right, in the next two home games, let's play a little better and try to win them all." ”

Everyone nodded their heads, and their morale stabilized.

Zhou Quan said with a smile as he sat down: "Of course it's good to win both home games, that's the best result, but we also have to be mentally prepared for other things."

It's not a question of confidence or disbelief, it's a question of mental inadequacy, and we have to take into account all the results.

There is an old saying in our country, maybe you have heard of Sun Tzu's Art of War, before you think about victory, you will not be defeated in a hundred battles.

This means that thinking about defeat before thinking about victory will allow us to be mentally prepared to face any difficult and possible situation, so that we will not be thrown out of position. ”

Through his mental adjustment, the psychology of the Pistons players has become more stable, and the atmosphere in the locker room has also relaxed.

"Tekken, what did you study at UCLA?" The assassin asked curiously.

"Architecture." He said.

"I thought you studied psychology." The assassin laughed.

"You want to be an architect?" Jo Dumas asked with a smile.

"Of course, I wanted to design the tallest building in the world, but I am afraid that this wish will not be realized, and I have not yet graduated from my bachelor's degree." He said with a smile.

(End of chapter)