Bulls attack.

Jordan runs into the box from the right flank.

There are not many people in the penalty area, only Rodman and Verperdo, he has carefully studied it, the more people, the stronger Zhou Quan's ability to move in the penalty area, the fewer people, but the average, so he has the confidence to enter the penalty area under Zhou Quan's marking.

He deliberately ran past Verperdo, took advantage of his teammate's cover to temporarily get rid of Zhou Quan, pulled to the left wing to receive a pass from Pippen, and then immediately jumped to shoot.

Bypassing Welpeldo, Zhou Quan was a step slower, but Jordan's rhythm of catching the ball was too fast, and it was too late for him to pounce and jump to block.

"Brush!"

The water splashed and the two hits.

"It's one of Jordan's best techniques, catch-and-shoot jumpers." Larry Bird praised.

Magician Johnson laughed: "It's a very simple and very common technique, but as long as you practice it to the top level, it's very practical." However, it is difficult to practice to the top level, you need the best coordination, the hand must be very stable, and the mentality must be good. ”

Larry Bird laughed: "Michael's catch-and-jump shot is good, and his off-ball movement is good, but it's not top-notch. ”

The magician was stunned, looked at Larry Bird's evil smile, suddenly understood, couldn't help laughing, and said, "Yes, that guy called Big Bird is the one who is best at running without the ball and catching jumpers." ”

"Haha......" Larry Bird laughed.

4:2, supersonic offense.

Schramf on the left wing and Gilliam, who pulled out, made a pick-and-roll, and then he suddenly cut outside and ran to the three-point line, and Pippen, who was following the defense, thought he would cut inside and was thrown off.

"Whoosh!"

Zhou Quan passed the ball quickly, Schramf received the ball, stepped on the three-point line to shoot, and with a brush, the basketball hole pierced the basket.

6:2, Bulls attack.

Wilperdo forced his way to the basket and Rodman didn't have a hard top and went around the front defense.

At this time, Pippen hung the ball to the basket, and Zhou Quan, who defended Jordan on the right wing, immediately turned around and pounced on the basket.

Rodman jumped up and tried to break the ball, but the ball was well hoisted and unsuccessful.

Perdo catches the ball with his back hand, is 1.2 meters away from the basket, and throws it with one hand.

"Bang!"

Basket smashing basket.

Zhou Quan arrived and jumped from the right side of the basket, but the basketball bounced off and bounced to the left side of the basket.

"Bang!"

The next moment, Perdo made a second jump and made up for the ball.

"Damn!"

Zhou Quan scolded secretly, and it was a bit embarrassing to let a third-rate center forward make up for the heads of his and Rodman's two first-class defenses.

"Rodman's height is a hard injury, and his ability to protect the basket is average." Zhang Reasonable shook his head.

Xu Jicheng said: "You can go to Matt Geiger and let him under the basket, Rodman is responsible for playing with Tony Kukoc, his help defense is better than single defense, and his speed is also good." ”

Zhang said: "Putting Rodman under the basket is mainly to use him to control the rebound, and protecting the basket is secondary.

But what you said is also a way, Matt Geiger started 26 games this season, as long as he has enough playing time, the performance is still okay. ”

Xu Jicheng said with a smile: "Gilliam's strength is indeed stronger than Matt Gegger. ”

Zhang Li said with a smile: "After all, people are the 87-year-old show." ”

In the 10th minute of the first quarter, at 23:21, the SuperSonics led by two points, and the Bulls called a second timeout of the quarter.

Larry Bird said: "In the first ten minutes, Jordan mainly played without the ball, rarely held the ball and singled out the iron fist, and mostly used the cover obstacle to get rid of the iron fist and then received the ball and jumped shots, so the iron fist only had one steal in the first quarter, and it was Pippen's pass that was broken, and there was no chance to break the ball in the face of the ball carrier." ”

Magic Johnson laughed: "It's definitely a targeted style of play, and the ball carrier will never face an iron fist." Hehe, this is also a huge deterrent caused by his tackling ability, and no one in the league dares to attack with the ball in front of him, including Michael Jordan, the current No. 1 man. ”

Larry Bird laughed: "The Bulls' rebounding ability is weaker than the supersonics, and if you get an iron fist and steal five or six more times, the loss of ball possession is serious." ”

The timeout ends and the substitute comes on.

However, although the Bulls' Ron Harper is on the 12-man squad, it seems that the injury has not improved and has not played, and Steve Kerr and Pete Meyers on the fringe line have been brought on the guard line.

The inside is Bill Winnington, Luke Longlee, and the small forward is Cory Blunt, a marginal forward.

On the SuperSonics side are McMillan and Achus, one defense and one offense, Akos's defense is not as good as McMillan, but the offensive ability is stronger, averaging 24 minutes per game in the regular season and scoring 9.8 points.

On the inside, Carter White and Matt Geiger are on the inside, and the third is still Schramf.

After the first quarter, at 25:23, the SuperSonics still led by two points.

In the first two minutes of the second quarter, they were still playing as substitutes, and Zhou Quan and Jordan seemed to have a tacit understanding and were not in a hurry to play.

Two minutes later, at 27:27, the Bulls equalized the score, Cartwhite fouled, and George Carr replaced some of the main players.

Schramf has been playing for 14 minutes and is out of the break.

The other four are Cartwighet, Matt Geiger, Gilliam, McMillan, and Zhou Quan.

The Bulls also brought on some of their main players, Jordan and Pippen came on, plus Steve Kerr, Luke Longley and Bill Winnington.

Jordan still played in the first quarter, which was to keep running and get rid of Zhou Quan and then catch the ball and jump shots.

The rest of the Bulls also revolved around this style of play, creating an opportunity for Jordan to get rid of Zhou Quan.

This style of play did give Zhou Quan little chance to steal Jordan head-on, but in the help defense, he still sent a steal in the second quarter.

On his own offensive end, he still broke through the tactics of breaking points, Zhou Quan constantly broke through with the ball, and his style of play was completely opposite to that of the Bulls.

The Bulls kept wrapping up, and Zhou Quan handed out seven assists in the half.

At halftime, 52:50, the SuperSonics led by two points.

"Rodman had a good day, grabbing eight rebounds in 20 minutes of the half. The SuperSonics have three more rebounds than the Bulls, and that's to his credit. Larry Bird laughed at halftime.

"Jordan shot 6-of-12 in the first half and had a good catch-and-shoot jumper. It's just that he didn't break through with the ball, he didn't have any lethality, only 3 of 3 free throws, and got 15 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover, and 1 foul. Pippen scored 11 points in the half today, shooting 51 percent from the field, which is not bad. The magician said.

"Iron Fist shot 5 of 10, the same shooting percentage, 2 of 2 free throws, 0 of 1 three-pointers, 12 points, 2 rebounds, 7 assists, 2 steals, 1 block, 0 turnovers and 2 fouls. Schramf had 12 points and shot 54.5 percent from the field. ”

Larry Bird said this, and said: "Actually, if you want me to say, Michael's style of play is too lethal, 15 points in the half, and the shooting rate is only 50%, he is not as lethal as the defensive ball attack with an iron fist, or it can also be called a block." ”

The magician smiled, "Let's see the bull's tactical adjustments." The first half was tepid, and Jordan tried his best to get rid of the Iron Fist before receiving the ball, but he couldn't get rid of the Iron Fist every time, and his shots were still limited. ”

In the home dressing room, Phil Jackson assesses the offensive and defensive performance of the first half.

In fact, he was quite satisfied with the first half, as long as it dragged on to the end, with Jordan's ability at critical moments, the chances of winning were greater.

However, Jordan was not satisfied, and in the first half he became a pure shooter without the ball, and his ability to break through with the ball was completely unshowable, and his ability was only half of it.

Although Iron Fist's defense is very strong, he can call it a block, he can still get rid of Iron Fist, and then hold the ball to kill the supersonic interior line, and also improve offensive efficiency.

This is his home court, if he breaks through with the ball, he can't make more than a dozen free throws in a game, how much lethality can be caused, and he will definitely be able to hit the supersonic inside line and dare not reach out to him.

At this time, Phil Jackson said: "We were right in the first half, two steals and one block in the first half, which shows that our offensive tactics avoided his defense, and we should stick to it in the second half." ”

Jordan interjected, "Phil, are you sure?" ”

"Sure."

Phil Jackson pushed the frame of his glasses and nodded affirmatively.

Jordan immediately said: "But we're still two points behind. ”

Phil Jackson said: "That's when we still didn't lock his pass, the guy in the bag didn't cut off his pass, and that's something we're going to solve now. ”

Jordan nodded, 7 assists in the Finals half, and intimidating passing ability.

Phil Jackson added: "They all pulled away, Pippen was brought to the sideline, and Iron Fist was always attacking at the top of the arc, and Pippen couldn't go to the bag, so the quality of our bag was not good enough."

The main problem now is that Michael can only lock on one side of his side and not the other when he is burst, and our guys can't always cut off his pass or even block his shots. ”

"His breakaway speed was too fast for the man in the pack to move in front of him in time, and my suggestion was that the guy in the pack was just responsible for locking the pass angle on the other side, and I was in charge of the defense in front," Jordan said. ”

Phil Jackson asked, "Michael, can you do it?" ”

Jordan thought about it for a few seconds, then nodded: "We still have people under the basket, and after locking the passing angles on both sides, his most likely option is a pull-up jump shot, and I'll be ready." ”

"Alright, that's it." Phil Jackson said.

Soon after, the third quarter began.

On the Bulls' side, Gilliam didn't start, and on the SuperSonics, Gilliam continued to rest, and Matt Geiger was on the rest, and the rest were starters.

Bulls attack.

Tony Kukoc still pulled out and did a pick-and-roll for Jordan.

Rodman followed, Matt Geiger sat under the basket, and played against Verperdo.

Jordan still executed the original offensive tactics, entered the penalty area, and then got rid of Zhou Quan.

He first borrowed Toni Kukoc on the right wing to get rid of Zhou Quan and enter the penalty area, which was the first cover block, and then when he passed the basket, Wilperdo made a second screen to block Rodman, so that Rodman did not have a chance to change defenses.

At this time, Pippen passed, Jordan received the ball on the left side of the basket, Zhou Quan pounced from above on the shortcut, and came out from behind Rodman, already half a beat slower, he caught the ball and jumped, backhand layup, and hit a ball.

52 draws, supersonic offense.

Matt Geiger and Rodman are both active in the paint area, and they are not very capable of pulling away, so with the addition of two defenders, there are four people in the paint area, and there is not much room for breakthrough.

Zhou Quan held the ball at the top of the arc, and Jordan, who put half a step to defend, judged that Zhou Quan either made a fake sudden shot, or burst into a sudden stop jump shot, so he was mentally prepared.

But at this moment, Zhou Quan passed the ball in.

When Jordan saw it, he immediately turned around.

And at this moment, when Matt Geiger, who was inside, just received the ball, Zhou Quan pounced from behind Jordan, and Jordan didn't notice it for the first time.

Matt Geiger was on the left front side of the basket, two steps away from the basket, and after receiving the ball, he didn't make a shot, and saw Zhou Quan pounce from behind Jordan, and immediately passed over.

"Brush!"

Zhou Quan received the ball and stood up, and before Tony Kukoc jumped to block, he grabbed a half-shot and threw it away, and easily hit a ball.

"Hey, this tactic, pass first and then cut, it's unexpected!" Xu Ji became a Taoist.

"Matt Geiger responded in the low post, and the continuous passing also allowed Zhou Quan to get rid of Jordan, and the tactics were successful." Zhang Li said with a smile.

Bulls attack.

Jordan did the same, using continuous covers, getting rid of Zhou Quan and entering the penalty area from the baseline, and then ran to the left wing to receive the ball.

But this time, Zhou Quan bypassed Tony Kukoc and Wilperdo in time, and when Jordan received the ball, he arrived on a lap.

"Smack!"

Under the precise strike, as soon as Jordan received the ball, Zhou Quan waved his hand and knocked the ball away.

"Beautiful!" Zhang Cheng shouted excitedly.

Luckily, the ball was in front of him, and Zhou Quan jumped forward and grabbed the ball before Jordan.

He quickly pushed forward close to the right sideline, Jordan chased on the left, and when he hit the three-point line, he suddenly made a stop, and then turned and passed, and Jordan burst into the right elbow area.

Jordan didn't fall a step and chased to the right again.

At this time, Kendall Gill rushed in from the top of the arc, and Zhou Quan made a sharp stop at 60 degrees from the three-point line, and pushed with his left hand, hit the ground and passed, and the ball passed to the front of Jill.

Jordan stopped with Zhou Quan and lost the opportunity to chase in.

"Smack!"

Jill catches the ball, BJ reaches out and hits the former's arm, the ball drops, and the referee's whistle blows.

"BJ's third foul, this foul is still worth it, no foul, Kendall Gill plays big and small, and the success rate of playing BJ under the basket is still very high." Zhang said reasonably.

Next, Kendall Gill hit the first free throw and missed the second, and Tony Kukoc grabbed the rebound to give the SuperSonics a 55-52 lead and the Bulls attacked.

"Iron Fist and Jordan are still the same as in the first half, one focuses on combination offense and passing, and the other runs without the ball and does not attack with the ball." Larry Bird.

"Bang!"

Pippen missed a jumper, Rodman grabbed the rebound, and the supersonic offense.

Magic Johnson said: "The Bulls are concerned about Iron Fist's stealing ability, and the SuperSonics want to revitalize the strength of the whole team, so Iron Fist and Jordan's individual offensive ability have not exploded for the time being." ”

"If you continue to play like this, the Bulls should slowly fall behind, after all, Iron Fist is more playmaker than Pippen, and his ball handling tends to create more open opportunities for his teammates," Larry Bird said. ”

(End of chapter)