On the evening of the 26th, the G3 battle of the Eastern Finals was launched in Miami.

As a result, with the advantage of home court, the Heat defeated the Pacers, 2-1, and the Heat had the upper hand in the series.

On the 27th, the day of the G3 match of the Western Finals.

At noon that day, in Toronto, the Raptors announced the suspension of Isaiah Thomas' contract as executive vice chairman of the basketball department for one year.

Zhou Quan called the Assassin and invited him to Los Angeles to watch the game, but the Assassin, who had just returned to Toronto, refused.

"No, Iron Fist, I don't have time, I'm too busy."

"You just got fired, what are you busy with?"

"Hey, who's fired? Iron Fist, we are negotiating the termination of the contract. ”

"Yes, yes, what are you busy with right now? Moving? ”

"NO, I'm going to Indiana now, you know, that guy Big Bird doesn't want to do it, and the Pacers want me to take over."

"Is he crazy? The Pacers are now playing the Eastern Conference finals, and when the news gets out, it's no wonder that the team doesn't collapse. ”

"The management said he had an irregular heart rate and couldn't do it."

"Heart disease? Well, I wish him good health, I'll give him a call later. Isaiah, I wish you the best of luck in your next job as well. ”

"Wait for the good news, haha!"

……

At 10 a.m., ESPN abruptly announced the termination of its contract with Barkley and Kenny Smith as a commentator.

Bristol City, Barkley and Kenny Smith left ESPN headquarters somewhat depressed.

"Charles, I said it a long time ago, don't fight against the Iron Fist King, don't target him during the commentary, you see, it's affecting me now, right?"

"Damn, I didn't say anything."

"Have you had your EQ and IQ eaten by dogs? I'm telling you, I'm going to TNT right now, they're going to expand the NBA's TV broadcast, don't follow me. ”

"Hey, Kenny, take me, we're a perfect match."

"Come on, you're going to kill me."

"You have to take me with you, or I'll expose you wearing two pairs of panties every day."

"You go and expose it, I'll expose the fact that you never wear underwear."

"Damn, don't do that to me, Kenny, I'm too big to fit any brand of panties, you know. Well, Kenny, I'll admit, I'm allergic to panties. ”

"Haha...... You bastard! Let's go, let's go to Los Angeles, I've made an appointment with TNT's HR director, but you'll have to pay for the airfare. ”

"OK, that's no problem."

At one o'clock in the afternoon, just as Barkley and Kenny Smith arrived in Los Angeles, Jordan also arrived in Los Angeles, and the three of them had just gotten off the plane when they met on the tarmac.

The three of them greeted each other, and Jordan asked, "Aren't you the commentators of the Western Decision, come to see the Western Decision?" ”

Barkley shrugged, "We're leaving ESPN and we're going to TNT, where it's better to be treated. ”

"Yes." Kenny Smith nodded as well.

Jordan didn't know the news that Barkley and the two were fired, so he nodded and didn't ask again.

exit, Phil Jackson was waiting for Jordan, but as soon as Jordan came out, he was stopped by some reporters who specialized in squatting at the airport.

"Michael, Barkley was fired by ESPN for targeting Tekken during the commentary, what do you think about this?" A reporter asked.

Jordan turned around and looked at Barkley in amazement, who smiled wryly.

"Oh, ESPN is so sensitive, Charles is a good commentator, his commentary style is funny, yes, I think he could try other stations."

"Michael, what kind of improvement do you think Kobe Bryant will have under your tutelage?"

"There's only a few days left and I can only offer some experience and I'm sure he'll make some progress in how he handles the ball, how he defends his iron fists, and so on."

……

"Hey, Michael."

"Hey, Kobe."

At three o'clock in the afternoon, Jordan arrived at the Lakers headquarters.

Jordan quickly stepped into the role and began to coach Bryant.

"Kobe, the Lakers are very weak on the offensive end now, the iron fist locks you up, you and Shaq can't cooperate, so you have to solve the problem of how to face the defense of the iron fist on the offensive end first. You only have one way, find a way to break through his defenses. ”

"So what should I do?"

"I've observed you, your first move is slower, slower than me and Iron Fist, so you have to call the block, this is the most effortless and effective way to get rid of him."

"Okay. But Michael, I've gotten rid of him in the first two games, but once he hated me from behind, and once he pulled my ball from behind, what details should I pay attention to? ”

'It's easy to solve, when he's behind you, you have to get your ball forward, when he's in front of you, when you're dribbling, you have to be backward when you're dribbling, always pay attention to that, and in your daily training, just stick to that.

As for him capping you from behind, you can use feints or speed up the tempo, but a simpler and more effective way is to have your post teammate do a second pick-and-roll.

However, the best way to do this is to pass the ball to O'Neal when you are using your breakthrough to attract the supersonic interior defense, and you can completely prevent it from being blocked or broken by an iron fist, and not sticking to the ball. ”

Phil Jackson was on the side, and then he chimed in: "Michael is right, Kobe, the greatest value of your ball-handling breakthrough is to create a single opportunity for Shaq, so that your pair of inside and outside cores can play very organically together." ”

Kobe nodded, but said in his heart, one day, I will be the last person to solve the problem, to be the terminator, not me to solve the problem for others.

Jordan said: "After getting rid of the iron fist with the pick-and-roll, you have to get to the paint as fast as you can, and their interior players can only make up for it, and O'Neal will definitely get a chance. ”

Kobe nodded, and then Jordan said: "But the iron fist is very capable of breaking and blocking, you have to pay attention to this." ”

Then Jordan talked a lot about Zhou Quan's defensive habits, such as defensive positioning, aggressive defensive style, such as the timing of steals and blocks, and so on.

"When defending one-on-one, or even when breaking blocks, he doesn't necessarily stand on the side that is most conducive to defense, sometimes he will deliberately leave you a breakthrough angle, and then when you break through, he relies on anticipation and the ability to move faster, to get the defensive position first, cut off your ball, or make your offensive foul."

'When you're faced with this kind of defensive trap, you have to be calm with the ball. For example, you can use the passing ability of the triangle attack to pass the ball first, then get rid of him, and then take the ball back. ”

"When he's aggressive defending, he first disrupts your rhythm with a stab, and then waits for an opportunity to make a tackle or disrupt your attack."

'At this point, you'd better move the ball, you have to be fast, you have to break through, he's very good at anticipation, and if your passing intent is too obvious, he'll cut off your ball.

"Against his defense, you have to concentrate 100 per cent every second."

"After talking about his defense, I'll tell you about his offense now."

"First, fast attack, this is the biggest guarantee for him to maintain high efficiency."

"If you've just made a shot, then don't look at whether the ball goes in or not, but immediately focus your defense on him."

"When you switch between attack and defense, you have to keep up with his rhythm, your speed is not as good as his, so you have to take the first step back to defend and slow him down, otherwise with his speed, impact and finishing ability, no one can stop his fast attack."

"Once he gets him up, the Lakers have no one to stop him, unless O'Neal puts on his wings and flies to the backcourt to the basket."

"Second, the pull-up jump shot. It's an offensive tool that he uses a lot but doesn't have a fixed shooting point, and when he bursts you, all the areas are dessert areas for him, you understand the scary? ”

"Although you were selected to defend in the first line, the G1G2 battle has proven that you can't prevent his breakthrough at all, and he can break you down as easily as a chair, as evidenced by the 50+ bombardment on your head in two consecutive games.

So Kobe, you'd better defend a little better tomorrow night, or he'll hit your head three times in a row with 50+.

That's big news, because no one in league history has ever been able to play three consecutive 50+ games in a series. ”

Hearing this, the temperature on Kobe's face rose rapidly, Michael, are you here to chill me?

"My advice to you, use more small moves, be tough, don't be afraid of fouls, fight the home whistle, understand?

Remember, the league definitely doesn't want you to be swept away, think about the ratings of this Western Final, okay? That represents a huge benefit. ”

"Understood."

"Thirdly, normally, he doesn't score too much under the basket, especially if you have a big shark.

He is very cunning, always wants to score in the simplest and most energy-saving way, and the fast break makes him very efficient, so he doesn't pay much attention to scoring under the basket in positional battles, and the pull-up jump shot is enough.

So what you need to focus on defense is the fast break and the pull-up jump shot, and the iron fist basket score is left to the interior to solve, which can make your defensive options easier.

In positional battles, when he chooses to score under the basket, it is usually when the supersonic needs to boost morale, and you have to be careful at this time. ”

"Fourth, he has a lot of feints in his offense. Fake sudden real throw, fake throw real sudden throw, and fake action in the breakthrough, his fake action is very realistic, you were shaken down by his fake move yesterday, right? ”

"Well, I guess so."

"That's it, boy, don't be embarrassed, I've been shaken down by him more than once, and there is no guard in this league who hasn't been shaken down by him."

"Well, yes."

"My advice to you in this regard is to combine the home advantage, increase defensive movements, fight the home whistle, close to him, and disrupt his rhythm."

"Okay."

"Have you ever noticed that undrafted Bruce Bowen of the SuperSonics? Not much ability, but how did he defend against Glen Les? If you look at Rice's stats in the first two games, you can defend the iron fist like Bowen did and stick to him. ”

“OK。”

"Come on, now let's try, one-on-one."

"Come on, then."

Half an hour later, Jordan and Kobe Bryant sat on the floor panting.

Kobe Bryant was more or less frustrated, because he couldn't have the upper hand in front of Michael Jordan, and even had a slight advantage, barely a tie.

Jordan is old, retired for two years, and is still so strong, you can imagine how strong the Iron Fist King who defeated Jordan in the finals three times is, no wonder he was blown into scum by the Iron Fist King.

At this time, Jerry West received a call from David Falke.

"Hey, David, hello."

"Jerry, hello. I'll be blunt, that's the case, Barkley is in Los Angeles, can the Lakers prepare tickets for him?

By the way, his partner Kenny Smith is also there. They successfully interviewed at TNT and later became NBA commentators for TNT. ”

"Congratulations to both of them, haha! No problem with tickets, David, I'll contact them. ”

After the call, Jerry West muttered, "I have to take two first-row tickets for nothing, tens of thousands of dollars." ”

"Ahh

In the hotel, a disgusted Barkley suddenly sneezed.

……

On the 27th, at nightfall, the Staples Center was brightly lit from afar, with countless people pouring into it, and its stadium was full of stars, and Hollywood celebrities and singers could be seen everywhere.

Jordan appeared on the scene and immediately attracted media reporters, and as soon as he sat down next to the home team's bench, some reporters ran up to do interviews.

"Michael, I heard that you went to the Lakers headquarters in the afternoon and coached Kobe?"

"Yes."

"How effective is it, can you tell us about it?"

"It's not bad, Kobe Bryant is very talented, works hard, has a strong willpower to dare to challenge authority, he will be one of the main forces in the league to challenge Iron Fist in the future, I am optimistic about him."

"The media says Kobe Bryant is your successor, what do you think?"

"Haha, I have a lot of successors."

"Do you think Kobe Bryant has a chance to beat Tekken?"

"There will always be opportunities, and no one is undefeated."

After sending the reporters away, Barkley and Kenny Smith arrived and sat next to Jordan.

The three of them chatted a few words, and Magic Johnson arrived and sat down with them.

"Erwin, didn't see you at Lakers headquarters today?" Jordan asked.

"Oh, I just came back from Seattle in the afternoon." Magic Johnson said.

"What are you doing there? Erwin, last time in China, you actually knelt down for that kid with Iron Fist, it's too embarrassing! Barkley said with a look of disgust.

Magic Johnson's old face immediately darkened by three points, and he said angrily: "Charles, for the sake of the alliance, I can do anything." Don't you also rely on the alliance to eat, and it won't do you any good if the alliance collapses. ”

Jordan didn't want to talk about this topic and interrupted: "Erwin, what are you doing in Seattle?" ”

Magic Johnson said, "Iron Fist arranged for me to visit the headquarters of Fine Coffee yesterday afternoon. ”

"What?" Jordan and Barkley were stunned.

Magician Johnson explained: "You should know that fine coffee is worth tens of billions of dollars right now, and it's growing very well, and I want to look into it, open my eyes, and maybe get something out of it." ”

"You also want to start your own company? Any thoughts? Also engaged in a coffee chain? Jordan was moved and immediately asked.

(End of chapter)