"What exactly are you trying to say, is it my responsibility to say that it's my responsibility to lose? Then you can trade me now. ”

Hearing Klaus's words, Jordan couldn't help but snort angrily, and strode in front of Klaus while snorting, looking down at the fat pig he hated with disdain.

From that year Klaus didn't choose his alumni as he said, but chose Cobra Grant, and he began to hate this damn fat man, even if Grant became the Iron Triangle and helped him win three championships, he hated it just as much.

"Michael, I'm not wrong, our squad is no worse than Iron Fist, and it's not my responsibility to lose." Jerry Krauss insisted.

This sentence not only made Jordan even angrier, but even Phil Jackson snorted coldly.

If there is no problem with the lineup, and he doesn't dare to put the responsibility for losing on Jordan, then he, the head coach, can only bear the responsibility for losing, how can this be? He didn't want to carry the black pot.

Jordan's anger escalated, and he immediately roared, "Damn, what do you mean, are you saying that I can't beat the Iron Fist?" ”

Phil Jackson said coldly: "Our rebounding is obviously not as good as the supersonics, and the low post offense is not as good as the opponent, obviously, this is the problem of the interior lineup." If you can keep Grant, we'll easily beat the Hypersonics. ”

Glancing at Phil Jackson, Klaus smiled, his eyes full of disdain.

He brought Phil Jackson to the Bulls, then risked Jordan's obstruction to thrust him from assistant coach to head coach, and now he's finally tasting the consequences, and this guy is coveting the general manager power in his hands.

"Michael, Phil, I'm not going to argue with you, but I can tell you guys that if you lose the series, Phil Jackson, you're going to leave the Bulls."

As soon as these words came out, the entire locker room instantly fell silent, and everyone looked at Klaus and was very stunned.

Phil Jackson's brain is confused, how dare Klaus fire him? He's the head coach of three championships, the Bulls' meritorious coach, and Jordan standing behind him, how dare he?

The anger in Michael Jordan's heart was already a little uncontrollable, and his eyes were as sharp as knives staring at Klaus, and he wanted to stab this damn fat pig to death.

Klaus gave Phil Jackson one last cold look, then squeezed between the two, opened the locker room door, and walked out.

"Bang!"

As the door closed, Phil Jackson, Jordan, and Pippen all trembled, and then looked at each other.

"Is he crazy?" Jordan gritted his teeth.

He didn't quite understand why Klaus, who had allowed him to abuse him in the past, dared to do this to him today?

"Michael, what do we do now?" Phil Jackson doesn't have the strength to stand up to Jerry Claus, his magic code is Jordan.

"If he dares to fire you, I will retire." Jordan is absolutely authentic.

"What?"

The whole locker room was stunned.

……

"If the Bulls lose the Finals, the team will collapse because Phil Jackson will be fired by Jerry Kraus, he will be the scapegoat, and Jordan will choose to retire because of it."

The next day, June 12, the Los Angeles Daily suddenly broke a big news that shocked the NBA and even the entire United States.

"Michael must not retire, without him, the development of the entire NBA would have stopped. If he retires, it will be a loss for everyone, for the whole of America. ”

Magic Johnson immediately took the initiative to reach out to the media and showed his attitude.

"Hawke, you go investigate."

When Stern learned the news, he was also shocked and immediately asked his special assistant Hawk Houston to investigate the matter.

Not to mention that Jordan's state is still at its peak, even if his state declines, with his influence, as long as he can still play, he can attract a large number of fans, and now retirement is something he absolutely cannot accept.

When Zhou Quan woke up, it was already ten o'clock in the morning, and at this time, the news about Jordan's retirement was already flying all over the sky, and it was difficult for him not to see it.

"Jordan and the Zen master have a deep relationship!" He couldn't help but sigh.

"By the way, last night's incident was exposed so quickly, it seems that the Bulls' locker room is already very chaotic, it should be almost uncontrollable, if it doesn't collapse this time, it will collapse in the future."

This must have been someone from a player or staff member who secretly leaked the news, or sold it to the Los Angeles Daily Journal, otherwise it wouldn't have been exposed so quickly.

"Iron Fist, can you get the championship this time?" Next to him Rhett asked.

"Don't be careless, Jordan's psychological quality is very strong, this incident should not affect his performance, and it is even likely to stimulate him and play a super explosive state." Zhou Quan's expression was extremely cautious.

"Iron Fist's ex-girlfriend, British actress Catherine Zeta-Jones returns to Hollywood." He flipped through the newspaper and was stunned when he saw the Los Angeles Daily News.

Red looked over and smiled, "Oh, your old lover is back." But I can warn you, you can't step on two boats until you teach me tai chi. ”

"Look at what you said, don't worry, I treat every relationship wholeheartedly." Zhou Quan closed the newspaper and smiled.

"That's over, sooner or later you will develop to the point where you see one and love another, then it's called abusive love." Red teased.

The two teased each other, but they both knew in their hearts that the other party did not belong to them.

Red just wanted to forget the broken scissors, and he didn't really fall in love with Zhou Quan.

And Zhou Quan, Rhett means about the same to him as Roberts to him, not as good as Catherine and Christina, he doesn't want to be exposed with Red, lest the media say that he hunts Hollywood.

At half past 12 noon, Zhou Quan boarded a special plane to Chicago with the team.

At this time, Chicago, because of the news of Jordan's retirement, was filled with restless emotions.

"Klaus, get out of the bull!"

"Klaus, Falk Oil!"

When the Bulls' bus pulled out of the airport parking lot, it was immediately surrounded by a large number of fans, and the general manager, Klaus, received numerous insults.

Of course, the fans will not scold Jordan, this is his fan, and they will not scold Phil Jackson, because Jordan supports Jackson and will only scold Jerry Krauss, who has a very bad relationship with Jordan.

……

"Mr. President, the situation of the Bulls is complicated, and after the finals were a little unfavorable, it stimulated internal conflicts. Their main conflict is Jordan and Phil Jackson's conflict with general manager Klaus. ”

At this time, Hawk Houston was reporting to Stern about the Bulls.

"Go on." Stern said with a frown.

"Then there were conflicts in the locker room, such as the main center, Wilpeldo, who Jordan had beaten up. And Pippen, in fact, his personal relationship with Jordan is not good, and his relationship with Phil Jackson is also average. ”

"Can the management hold back the tension in the locker room?"

"It depends on how much the Bulls owner supports Klaus. It stands to reason that this team was built by Krauss, and the Bulls owner should have trusted him. But he certainly didn't want to lose Michael either. ”

David Stern nodded silently and waved Houston out.

He began to think about the aftermath of this matter, Jordan definitely couldn't let him retire, but he didn't care too much about whether the Bulls collapsed or not.

Just like Iron Fist left the Pistons, went to the SuperSonics for two seasons, reached the Finals twice, and now got the match point in the Finals series, it is possible to beat Jordan's Bulls again, changing teams, it does not mean that it will fail, the strong go wherever they go, they are the strong.

And the supersonic ball market has also successfully improved to the second level, if it wins the championship again this time, with Seattle's urban spending power, the supersonic even has a chance to suppress the other three major league teams in Seattle, and the ball market has a chance to rise to the first level.

So even if the Bulls crash, as long as Jordan doesn't retire, even if he leaves the Bulls, it's not a bad thing, it's just that the ball market has moved from Chicago to other cities.

……

At the Bulls headquarters, the team president's office, owner Jerry Reinsdorf sits behind his desk, and general manager Jerry Kraus sits across from him.

"Jerry, how are you going to solve Michael's threat to retire?" He asked, with a headache.

Jerry Claus's face was a little pale, and the dark circles under his eyes were obvious, because he was under too much pressure, and both the media and the fans were scolding him.

He only regrets one thing now, the 91 draft looked down on Zhou Quan, and only regarded him as a thug, if he had an iron fist in his hand now, he would even dare to trade Jordan.

As far as he knows, whether in Detroit or Seattle, the relationship between Iron Fist and management is handled very well, which is a point that he envies, Iron Fist respects management very much, and Jordan treats him like a dog.

"Jerry, if, I said if, I'll trade Michael Jordan for Tekken......"

"What?"

Before Klaus could finish his words, he startled Reinsdorf, and the coffee cup he had just picked up spilled on the table.

"No, absolutely not."

He stared at Klaus sternly and said, "I don't deny the strength of Iron Fist, nor do I deny his influence and popularity, he is the All-Star vote king this year."

But Jerry, you have to understand one thing, Michael's influence in Chicago, he's the god here, and the Iron Fist can't replace him.

Michael Jordan has become a symbol of the city, and no one can replace him in Chicago, not even the Iron Fist. ”

"I understand."

Klaus nodded helplessly, and said no more on the subject.

He sorted his thoughts for a while, and then answered the boss's question just now, and said: "Michael is too unscrupulous in the team, and now the finals are a bit unfavorable, and he and Phil Jackson want me to take responsibility, which is unacceptable to me." ”

Rainsdorf nodded noncommittally and motioned for Klaus to continue.

Klaus added: "I don't think I've done anything wrong, and Michael has repeatedly humiliated me in public, and if I don't fire Phil Jackson this time, I won't have any prestige with the Bulls and my job won't be able to do my job." ”

Speaking of this, he looked at Rainsdorf and said very seriously: "Boss, I'm serious, if I'm still in this position, I must fire Phil Jackson." ”

Reinsdorf had a headache, he originally had the purpose of mediation, but he didn't expect Klaus's attitude to be so tough, which was difficult to deal with.

He is very recognizant of Klaus's ability, without which there would be no Bulls team and no three championships.

The Bulls can't create a second-tier market in Chicago, and he can't make that much money from the Bulls, and now the Bulls' valuation has doubled by I don't know how many times since he bought it, and Klaus owes a lot.

"Jerry, Michael is still at his peak, there's no way I'm going to trade him, you know." He also said to Klaus very seriously.

"I know."

Klaus nodded, relieved.

Judging from the attitude of the boss, he is still very supportive of himself, as long as he can keep Michael Jordan while firing Phil Jackson, there is no problem.

In fact, he knows very well that the Bulls have three championships, just like the Pistons, it is impossible to invest a lot of money in winning the championship, and the owner just wants to maintain the market.

So the problem to be solved now is how to keep Jordan and fire Phil Jackson.

He believes that Jordan doesn't really want to retire, especially if he loses this Finals and loses to Iron Fist, with Jordan's competitive spirit, he will never retire.

So the crux of the matter is whether Michael Jordan will offer a trade to leave the team once he fires Phil Jackson.

Jordan still has one year left on his contract, and next season will be his contract year, with an annual salary of 3.85 million, which is lower than many stars, such as Iron Fist.

"It's time to talk to him about an early contract extension, maybe a super contract extension can make him change his mind."

……

June 13, United Center Coliseum, Chicago.

At eight o'clock, the two sides announced their starting lineups.

Bulls: Verpeldo, Tony Kukoc, Scottie Pippen, Michael Jordan, BJ Armstrong

HyperSonics: Almon Gilliam, Rodman, Schramf, Kendall Gill, Zhou Quan

On the TNT commentary bench, Larry Bird said: "In the first five series, Jordan averaged 38.6 points per game, while Iron Fist scored 35 points, and the other four positive statistics, except for rebounding, are all better Iron Fist."

This is also the most important reason why the SuperSonics lead the Bulls 3-2, and in the battle between the core players of the two sides, Iron Fist is more versatile and helps the team more. ”

Magic Johnson couldn't refute the data, so he had to say: "In the previous five series, the SuperSonics won one away from home, and the Bulls also won one away from home, and from this point of view, the two sides were tied. ”

Larry Bird's face wrinkled together with a smile, it seemed that Elvin Johnson was indeed a fan of Jordan, but he didn't interject to interrupt the magician.

Magic Johnson continued: "The Bulls can't afford to lose this game tonight, losing the Finals is over, with Michael's strength and his desire to win, his ability at critical moments, plus home court advantage, I am more optimistic about the Bulls to tie the game and then enter the tiebreaker." ”

"Grab seven?"

Larry Bird nodded and said, "It's really possible. If the SuperSonics are dragged into a tie-break, it will be very disadvantageous, morale will drop, and at the same time, it will be dangerous to be the home court of the Bulls. So for the superSonics, tonight's game, in fact, can't be lost. ”

"Victory!"

At this time, the visiting team's locker room, under the leadership of Zhou Quan, sounded the shouts of everyone in the supersonic.

From the players, to the staff, to the management, and owner Ballmer, they are all chanting "must win".

Ballmer is very busy, he has only watched the game at home in the regular season, never followed the away game, and the playoffs are only away from home in the finals, and he has not been away in the first three rounds, and he may win the championship today, and he cannot be absent.

"Victory!"

In the home locker room, amidst Jordan's roar, the Bulls are also struggling to shout out their goal for the night.

At this time, accompanied by the Bulls owner, David Stern appeared at the United Center arena with the championship trophy.

The trophy was placed at the exit of the players' tunnel, attracting the attention of countless Bulls fans.

"Overall Champion! Overall Winner! Overall Winner ......"

The shouts gradually formed a unified voice in the United Center, and soon reached an earth-shattering momentum.

The shouts were televised and spread throughout Chicago, and the shouts of the championship rang out all over the city.

(End of chapter)