Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

When the Timberwolves suddenly broke out of the West with a 4-0 sweep, the Eastern Conference semifinals were entering a white-hot stage.

In G1-G4, the Bulls led by Jordan and the Pacers led by Reggie Miller tied 2-2.

Speaking of the personal abilities of Michael Jordan and Reggie Miller, there is no doubt that Jordan's personal ability is greater than Reggie Miller's.

However, this game is not just a simple competition of the individual abilities of the star players. Basketball is a team sport. Every team that can win the championship may not have the best player of the season, but it is definitely the strongest team of the season.

Not all MVPs can win the championship, and not all star players can win the FMVP.

There is not such a direct connection between individual honors and team championships.

It is obvious that the team capabilities of the Bulls and the Pacers are similar. Of course, the Pacers were able to play against the Bulls to this extent thanks to the help of the referees, which has to be acknowledged.

If there was no assistance from the referee, regardless of the plus or minus, Michael Jordan's personal data would definitely be raised to a higher level.

The league did not have any so-called star whistle against Michael Jordan. Even when Michael Jordan made some big moves, the whistle was not blown. This can actually be regarded as a symbol of the iron-blooded NBA basketball in the 90s.

When Michael Jordan learned from his coach that the Timberwolves had swept the Lakers, the Bulls were preparing for their fifth game against the Pacers.

Originally, Zen Master Phil Jackson did not want to tell his players such news, wanting the players to focus on the next game and not be distracted by other things.

But after careful consideration, Phil Jackson felt that this was a good way to motivate his players.

The team has encountered many opponents before, and the Timberwolves are one of the most noteworthy opponents this season. Michael Jordan cares very much about the young star of the Timberwolves. The Timberwolves' record of sweeping their opponents can also stimulate Jordan to a certain extent to perform better.

In the Bulls lounge.

The players were talking about the news after hearing it from Phil Jackson. Although they had not watched the game between the Lakers and the Timberwolves in person, they could feel the terrifying oppression from the Timberwolves just by hearing the score.

That's the Western Conference Finals.

In order to sell more tickets and expand the league's influence, the league often makes adjustments in such big games to allow the two teams to play as many games as possible.

I'm afraid that a rare situation of 4:0 can only occur when the strength is absolutely overwhelming.

The strength gap between the Timberwolves and the Lakers is probably so big that even the league referees can't control it.

This is what Michael Jordan saw behind the scenes.

This also made him feel more stressed.

But for a star like Michael Jordan, pressure is not a bad thing. Strong opponents can often make him stronger. At the end of his career, Michael Jordan can often play his best in desperate situations.

"The Timberwolves did a pretty good job."

"They are our opponents in the finals!"

Although the Bulls were fighting fiercely with the Pacers at the time, when Jordan said this, no one would doubt that the Bulls would not be able to make it out of the Eastern Conference.

When the Bulls players in the locker room heard what Jordan said, they all looked at Jordan with smiles on their faces.

The self-confidence of the team leader also infected everyone on the team. The players around Jordan firmly believed that their team could win.

Soon, the league staff came to the locker room and informed the players to prepare to enter.

The Bulls players, who had already made preparations, stood up one after another and, led by Phil Jackson, walked out of the locker room and headed towards the court.

The Game 5 between the Bulls and the Pacers was held in Chicago, the Bulls' home court.

Before the players came on the field, "God's Little Song" had already sounded in the stadium. When the fans heard this familiar music, their emotions were ignited and cheers poured into the stadium.

Not sure why, maybe because the Pacers never won away in Chicago in this series.

When Pacers fans heard this music in the stadium, they felt the pressure doubled.

The players of the Bulls and the Pacers entered the court one after another through the player tunnel. The spotlights in the dome came back on, illuminating the court.

Michael Jordan stood on the sidelines, his hands on his hips, looking toward the Pacers' dugout not far away.

There was no trace of a smile on his face. The man known as the God of Basketball had a dignified expression at this moment. When his opponents saw him like this, they unconsciously had a shadow cast over their hearts.

After a brief adjustment, the buzzer sounded in the stadium.

The starting players of the Bulls and Pacers entered the court one after another, ready to start the jump ball.

Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, Luc Longley, Ron Harper, the Bulls' starting players are all familiar faces to the fans. The big worm was pressed on the bench by Phil Jackson and was not included in the starting lineup.

The Bulls' starting lineup is better at offense than defense.

The main reason for such a lineup configuration is that the Pacers lack top-level offensive players.

The overall average height of the Pacers is not high, so for the Bulls, the pressure in the interior is not that great. The presence of players like Luc Longley and Pippen is enough to guard the Bulls' interior.

In terms of defense, what the Bulls need to do most is to grab points from the Pacers.

Except for Reggie Miller, the other starting players of the Pacers are not top-tier players in the league.

Center Rick Schmitz is 224cm tall, weighs 113kg, and averages around 17 points per game. He is one of the more impressive players at the moment, but even such a player is only at the level of an All-Star substitute.

In addition to Reggie Miller and Rick Smits, the Pacers' 1/2 position is Chris Mullin (198cm, 91kg, seventh pick in the first round of 1985), a five-time All-Star and future Hall of Fame player.

In terms of honors, he is far more than Rick Schmitz, but unfortunately, Mullin is old and his peak is gone. In his peak period, he could even play a terrifying data of 25 points per game, but he left his peak period in the Golden State Warriors.

This is his first season with the Indiana Pacers. Although he successfully helped the Pacers reach the Eastern Conference Finals, the consecutive games also made Ben unable to ask the Pacers to do more. It is difficult for the Pacers to ask him to do more.

The other two players of the Pacers are Dale Davis (211cm/104kg, 91th pick in the first round of 13) and Mark Jackson (185cm, 85kg, 1987th pick in the first round of 18). Like Mullin, he is also a veteran in the league. He has played for many teams in his career and was even the assist leader last season. Compared with the star-studded Bulls, the Pacers' starting lineup is also dim.

The problem of this team is actually the same as that of the Bulls. Their players are all old, and there has been no strong injection of fresh blood in recent years.

"Beep——"

After the players of both teams took their positions on the court, the referee walked into the court with a basketball, blew the whistle to start the game, and the basketball in his hand was thrown high into the air.

Luc Longley and Rick Schmitz jumped almost at the same time, and with Rick Schmitz putting one hand under the basketball, the ball fell into the hands of the Pacers.

His height is really outstanding, and there are not many people who can compete with him in the jump ball event.

Rick Schmitz's advantages are very obvious, but his disadvantages are also prominent. This player is not very strong in the confrontation under the basket, and this player has some physical problems and cannot stay on the court for too long.

Judging from the previous game experience between the Bulls and the Pacers, Rick Smits' average playing time will not exceed 30 minutes. This is actually a shortcoming that many big centers have. Not everyone can play for 1 or 4 minutes like O'Neal and still handle nearly 1/5 or / of the team's ball possession.

From this perspective, we can see how strong Yao Ming was during his peak period.

His actual height is probably taller than Rick Schmitz, and his weight is also larger, but during Yao Ming's peak period, his average playing time reached 37 minutes per game. This is of course also due to the incompetent management of the Rockets, and it is also inseparable from Yao Ming's own excellent physical fitness.

This is an average per game, and not all big centers can reach this level.

After Dale Davis of the Pacers got the basketball, he slowly dribbled into the frontcourt. Compared with the Bulls, their offensive rhythm was still relatively slow.

With the presence of a big center, the Pacers' offensive and defensive speeds will naturally be slowed down, and positional warfare is one of their best means of scoring points.

After Davis dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, he immediately found Rick Schmitz who was in the inside position.

Although his physical confrontation is not that good and he cannot be compared with the inside monster like O'Neal, he can still have some advantages when facing Luc Longley.

Give him some time, and at least getting in the right position with his back to the basket shouldn't be a problem.

With the basketball in his hands, Rick Schmitz's back-to-the-basket shot failed to push back Luke Long behind him. However, Rick Schmitz did not seem to care whether his back-to-the-basket shot could create enough space for him to break through.

Although he did not get out of the way, Rick Schmitz still made a standard half-turn, grabbed the ball with his right hand and lightly hooked it, then sent the ball out with a small hook shot. The basketball hit the side of the backboard and bounced into the basket, successfully giving the Pacers the first goal.

I have to say that in places like the basket, the height advantage is really important.

Facing the enemy's attack, even though Luke Longley had the advantage in strength, he still had no way to deal with it. He could only watch the basketball fly over his head and hit the backboard into the net.

As the basketball went into the net, cheers from Pacers fans rang out from the stands.

However, the cheers of these people were quickly drowned out by the thunderous applause of the Bulls fans.

The reason is of course very simple, because the Bulls had already started a counterattack at this time, and the basketball was given to Michael Jordan early, and Michael Jordan took the ball across half court by himself.

This time, there was no strict number one position in the team. Most of the time, Jordan himself would play the role of the number one position. When he had a strong desire to attack, he did not need the help of the number one position at all. He would dribble the ball across the center line by himself.

This is one of the major characteristics of the Bulls.

Jordan is the most famous star in the major leagues, and this time he was at the home court of the Bulls. Just by dribbling the ball across half court, the fans could no longer contain their excitement, and cheers poured into the stadium to cheer for Jordan.

Everyone wants to see Jordan's performance, or it can be said that the fans who came to watch the game today came just for Jordan.

Sure enough, after dribbling the ball across the center line, Jordan had no intention of passing the ball.

As Michael Jordan approached the three-point line, Miller, who was defending him, became nervous and took the initiative to cross the three-point line and move towards Jordan.

He didn't want to give Jordan too much space to attack. A Jordan who has no way to move is a good Jordan.

When dealing with a star of this level, close defense is far more effective than standing one step away.

Jordan in his prime was synonymous with invincibility. No one could withstand Jordan's attack in a one-on-one offense and defense.

However, the intense physical confrontation can also affect Jordan's offensive efficiency.

Reggie Miller had the same thought in his mind at this time.

However, Jordan did not give Reggie Miller a chance to confront. When Reggie Miller crossed the three-point line and moved forward, Jordan quickly changed his dribbling rhythm, dropped the ball with his left hand, and accelerated to try to pass by Reggie Miller.

Seeing Jordan speeding up, Reggie Miller immediately took action to chase him.

However, his balance was unstable while moving, and he was pushed away by the strong Jordan. Miller staggered, but still did not give up defense.

But for Jordan, he had already revealed his flaws.

Jordan had no intention of slowing down, nor did he think of using other tricks to get past Miller's defense. He just used his outstanding physical strength to push Miller forward and forced his way into the three-point line.

Then, taking advantage of Reggie Miller's unstable standing, he made a quick stop and jump shot from a high position.

The basketball flew directly over Reggie Miller's head and towards the basket.

Although Miller knew that Jordan was about to make a quick stop and jump shot at this time, he was unable to stand firm and defend against Jordan due to the fierce physical confrontation.

All he could do was watch the basketball fly over his head.

With a crisp sound of the net hitting the court, the basketball shot by Jordan went directly into the net.

At the same time, the cheers of the fans also poured into the stadium. It seemed that the fans had already known that Jordan's attack would be successful. As early as when Jordan shot the basketball, many fans had already cheered.

Perhaps, this is the confidence that Bulls fans have in their own star players.

(End of this chapter)