Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

It is not known whether it was because the Bulls were confident in the strength of their team, or because they really did not realize Tribert's intention.

In the first few rounds after the start of the second quarter, although the Timberwolves led by Tribert did not add a few more points to their team's scoreboard, after three or four offensive and defensive rounds, the Bulls' scoreboard only added 2 points.

On the court, Tribert, who was dribbling the ball forward, still maintained his own rhythm, and Kerr, who was defending him, had no intention of pressuring and stealing the ball.

The game time passed quickly every second as Tribert deliberately wasted time.

About five minutes into the second quarter, the difference between the two teams was still 5 points. After the Bulls came on in the second quarter, the team's offensive efficiency did not increase significantly.

Kerr and others who had just come on the court seemed to have not yet adapted to the intensity of the game. Several consecutive attacks failed. On the contrary, Michael Jordan, who had been on the court the whole time, recovered significantly without the defense of martial arts. Under the double-team of Timberwolves players, he forced a difficult long-distance shot.

Under the leadership of Michael Jordan, the Bulls showed signs of gaining momentum, but at this time, Coach Philip directly disrupted the Bulls' rhythm by making substitutions.

Wu Dao, who had been sitting in the rest area for less than 10 minutes, was put back on the court. After this period of rest, his physical strength had recovered a lot.

Although the first quarter of the game lasted for 20 minutes of high intensity, Wu Dao immediately got enough rest time after that. Under the huge pressure of the finals, it was actually quite a luxury for Wu Dao to have a few minutes of rest time given his tactical position.

Although Michael Jordan was also the core player leading the team forward, he never had such luxurious rest time.

From the start of the game until now, Michael Jordan has only had about 2 minutes of "official" rest time.

The situation was not favorable for the Bulls. Under such tremendous pressure, Phil was structurally connected and did not dare to easily replace Michael Jordan, for fear that the team would be defeated by the Timberwolves after replacing Michael.

The Timberwolves are not an ordinary opponent. If the score difference exceeds double digits, even if Michael Jordan returns to the court, it may not be an easy task to overcome such a big disadvantage.

The winning rate is too low, and coach Phil Jackson simply doesn't dare to take such a risk.

And Michael Jordan's stubborn personality wouldn't allow him to do that.

It would have been fine if the Bulls could have won the game in the end, but if they lost, given Michael Jordan's character, he would definitely blame him for the failure, and Phil Jackson did not leave Jordan on the court.

In fact, Michael Jordan doesn't need to say much. By then, the crazy Bulls fans will be able to swallow him up, Phil Jackson.

This was a risk that coach Phil Jackson was absolutely unwilling to take.

Whether considering factors on the court or off the court, when the team faces a huge disadvantage, keeping Michael Jordan on the court is the best option.

The Timberwolves made a substitution.

As Wu Dao stood at the edge of the court, the Timberwolves fans in the stands, who had been quiet before, suddenly cheered, and their enthusiastic shouts flooded into the court.

I don’t know since when, but martial arts can bring confidence to fans just by appearing on the court.

"Snapped!"

Chris Hale and Wu Dao lightly high-fived each other as they walked off the court, completing the transition. As Wu Dao re-entered the court, all the Bulls players turned their eyes to Wu Dao.

"He is back."

"So fast"

Although they were members of the championship team, Tony Kukoc and others felt a lot of pressure when they saw Budo return to the court.

Several people felt a sinking feeling in their hearts, and their already ugly faces became even gloomier.

The basketball came from the Timberwolves' backcourt and into Triebert's hands. Perhaps because of martial arts' return to the court, Triebert changed his previous playing style and after getting the basketball, he quickly advanced towards the Bulls' half with the ball.

It only took about 4 seconds to cross the center line. As the Timberwolves players dispersed and took their positions, the basketball in Tribert's hand was quickly passed to Wudao.

In the eyes of the fans, Tribert changed the rhythm entirely because of the appearance of Martial Arts.

Previously, the Timberwolves encountered the dilemma of having no offensive players, but this dilemma was solved as Wu Dao returned to the court.

"Wow—"

As soon as the basketball was in hand, the cheers from the stands suddenly became louder.

The Timberwolves fans had been watching the substitute players "slacking off" for a while, and when they saw Wu Dao taking the lead in the Timberwolves' offense again, their hearts were suddenly filled with excitement.

At the same time the basketball entered Wudao's hands, Ben Wallace, who was standing in the inside, quickly moved up to prepare for a screen for Wudao.

Reminded by his teammates, Michael Jordan also noticed the movements of the Timberwolves players. He quickly tilted his head back, glanced at Ben Wallace's position, and quickly moved towards Wu Dao, compressing the defensive gap between the two and preparing for the screen in advance.

However, Wudao did not seem to have any intention of using Ben Wallace's pick-and-roll. Seeing Michael Jordan approaching him, he did not wait for Ben Wallace to get into position, but directly threw the ball with his left hand and accelerated forward.

Wu Dao's right hand hit Michael Jordan's body, and the huge force suppressed Michael Jordan, making it impossible for him to speed up and chase in the first time.

And just this momentary delay also successfully created an opportunity for martial arts.

Quickly passing by Michael Jordan, Wu Dao made a quick stop and jump shot two steps inside the three-point line.

"Shh!"

Pippen, who was chasing Ben Wallace, changed direction immediately and stretched out his hand to block Wu Dao's attack, but after the basketball passed over Pippen's head, it fell steadily into the basket with a crisp sound.

The crisp sound of the ball hitting the net made the Bulls players feel depressed. The players did not look at the basketball falling from the net, but instead focused their attention on Wu Dao.

"This kid is in such a good state today?!"

"Michael can't defend it!"

"What should I do? What should I do?"

All sorts of messy thoughts flooded into the minds of the Bulls players, and Kukoc and others began to lose focus.

Michael Jordan stared at Wu Dao, his eyes were filled with anger and a desire for victory. There is no doubt that Michael Jordan is obsessed with victory, but in today's game, Michael Jordan's performance was indeed below par.

In other words, Michael Jordan, who was known for his tacit understanding and sometimes terrible performance, was unlucky and started to perform poorly on the stage of the finals.

He is obviously a playoff player and has almost never performed poorly in the playoffs. But today, facing the Timberwolves, Michael Jordan always felt out of sorts and played uncomfortably.

But Michael Jordan couldn't find the source of this discomfort?

Is it because of Martial Arts' strong defensive strength? Or is it because the other Timberwolves players are stronger than his teammates?

It seems that neither is true.
It’s because martial arts gave Michael Jordan a feeling of powerlessness.

The feeling of loss after trying hard on defense but not getting the expected results subtly affected Michael Jordan's state.

Michael Jordan, who is unwilling to lose to young people, has never been willing to admit that he is no longer at his peak. But when the naked reality is revealed to him by martial arts, how can Michael Jordan still play freely?

The past honors have become a heavy shackle, restraining Michael Jordan and making it impossible for him to immerse himself in the game.

He now needs some external stimulation to help him get back to his form, but the Bulls don't have such a person.

Not really.
Maybe Coach Phil Jackson could do this, but at this time Coach Phil Jackson did not notice anything abnormal about Michael Jordan.

He believed that Jordan's poor performance was simply because he had no touch, and he never thought that a player like him would be inattentive.

After scoring the goal, Wu Dao looked deeply at Michael Jordan and quickly returned to defense.

In today's arena, perhaps the opponent who knows Michael Jordan best is Wu Dao.

Wu Dao could feel that Michael Jordan's mentality was fluctuating. At this time, he calmed down instead and did not try to provoke Michael Jordan with trash talk.

Hmm. Using trash talk to provoke Michael Jordan at a time like this might backfire.

When the other party is in a normal state of mind, using trash talk to stimulate him may be effective, but when the other party is in an abnormal state of mind, the best way is not to stimulate him and let him continue to "maintain" that state of mind.
Alternating between offense and defense, the Bulls quickly launched an attack.

Without a big center, the Bulls' advancement speed is very fast.

With the ball in hand, Kerr took advantage of a pick-and-roll by Pippen, took two steps toward the left wing along the arc of the three-point line, and instead of forcing a drive to the basket, he went straight for a three-point shot.

Tribert on the defensive side was caught in Pippen's pick-and-roll and had no way to affect Kerr's shot.

Kerr also successfully put the ball into the basket in an open shot, which gave the Bulls a shot in the arm at a critical moment.

Kerr's three-pointer was really crucial for the Bulls. Kerr, who stood up when the star player was performing poorly, became the hero of the Bulls.

The Bulls fans upstairs cheered, but there was no smile on Kerr's face after he scored the goal.

He understood that if there was no way to solve the Timberwolves' offensive point, his three-pointer would only be able to extend the Bulls' life and would not be able to help the team win the final victory.

"As we all know," three-pointers can't kill people.

Alternating between offense and defense, the Timberwolves quickly completed their round of offense.

Back on the court, Wudao once again took up the offensive banner of the Timberwolves. Relying on his outstanding breakthrough ability, this time Wudao took advantage of Ben Wallace's pick-and-roll and directly drove to the basket. After attracting enough double-teams from the Bulls, he faked a shot and passed the ball directly to Tom in the open mid-range, who completed the open finish.

Although Tom was very active in bed the night before, his condition on the court today did not fluctuate as expected. Instead, he was relatively stable and his mid-range shots in open spaces were very accurate.

Hmm. It's like Rodman.
As the game progressed, Coach Philip put Marbury and Garnett back on the court within five minutes of playing time.

When the second quarter's game entered the second half, the difference between the two teams finally reached double digits.

On the Bulls side, coach Phil Jackson also tried to adjust his team's lineup by making substitutions to cope with the Timberwolves' fierce offensive.

The big center of the team was kept going up and down, but was unable to help the team recover from the disadvantage.

Michael Jordan's condition was still low. Under the defense of Martial Arts, his shooting percentage was very low. Although Michael Jordan had consciously changed his playing style, trying to break through the Timberwolves' defense with more breakthroughs to create scoring opportunities for himself and his teammates.

However, with the help of Ben Wallace and Garnett, Michael Jordan, who was rushing into the inside, suffered a greater setback.

Wu Dao, who was playing against him, was a talented player himself. Relying on his superior height and younger body, Wu Dao was often able to exert tremendous defensive pressure on the opponent when Michael Jordan was performing air walking.

Coupled with the help of talented defenders like Garnett and Ben Wallace, the Timberwolves' inside line has been built into an iron wall. An "old" flying man like Michael Jordan has no way to do anything over the Timberwolves.

As the whistle sounded to end the second quarter, the score between the two teams reached 26:19, and the difference in the quarter reached a terrifying 7 points.

Michael Jordan was on the court for two consecutive quarters, contributing 14 of 3 shots and 5 of 4 free throws, and just scored ten points.

If we ignore the number of shots Michael Jordan took and only look at his scoring data, his record is not bad for a half-time game to this extent.

However, if you look at his scoring data in conjunction with the number of shots taken by Michael Jordan, you will find that Michael Jordan's performance in today's game was very inefficient compared to his previous games.

A hit rate of around 20% is already a new low in Michael Jordan's career.

He took a lot of shots but missed a lot. If Michael Jordan hadn't been wearing a Bulls jersey, Wu Dao would have thought that his opponent was the little blacksmith from the Lakers.
It was not until this time that coach Phil Jackson noticed something wrong with Michael Jordan. Jordan was unusually stubborn on the court, and his style of play had begun to affect the team.

In previous games, no matter how many shots Michael Jordan took, coach Phil Jackson would not say much.

Because he is Michael Jordan, he has unlimited shooting rights in the Bulls.

But things are a little different now.

If Michael Jordan is allowed to continue to act so willfully, they will lose this home game G2.

(End of this chapter)