Slam Dunk: My Study Abroad Career in Northern Hunan

Michael Jordan was very tired and was trying hard to keep himself awake.

But his abnormality was also noticed by the careful coach Phil Jackson.

As an excellent coach, it is essential to control the physical condition of all the players in the team. If a coach cannot even tell whether a player's physical energy has been greatly consumed, then he is not qualified to be the head coach.

Coach Phil Jackson did not say anything, but silently handed Michael Jordan a glass of water and looked at Michael Jordan with concern.

"I'm fine. I just need to rest for a while."

Michael Jordan saw the worry in Coach Phil Jackson's eyes, forced a smile, and comforted him with a smile. However, his words did not completely put Coach Phil Jackson at ease. After pondering for a long time, Coach Phil Jackson leaned over to Michael Jordan's ear and whispered:

"How much rest time do you need to recover?"

"Michael, before you make a decision, I want to remind you that you are not young anymore."

"Before the game, I planned a 'last dance', hoping to win a championship for our Bulls team that was about to fall apart."

"But Michael, this is not the end, either for you or for me."

Before the start of the 97-98 season, many problems had already erupted within the Bulls team. The dispute between coach Phil Jackson and management leader Krause had already been exposed. If Michael Jordan hadn't insisted on protecting Phil Jackson, the disobedient Phil would have been kicked out of the team by Krause long ago.

Not only that, Pippen, who is entering the last years of his career, has been dissatisfied with his salary for a long time. The salary conflict between him and the management has become one of the problems that the Bulls must solve.

Even at the beginning of the season, in order to rebel against the management, Pippen deliberately underwent surgery during the regular season to express his dissatisfaction in this way.

In the first half of the regular season, the Bulls struggled to get by under the leadership of Michael Jordan. Their performance this season did not show the dominance they had in previous series.

The reason why all the problems and conflicts within the Bulls were able to be suppressed was simply because Michael Jordan was strong enough.

Coach Phil Jack also came up with a plan called "The Last Dance" in a timely manner to bring the team together again.

But the reason why the Bulls were able to suppress all these conflicts is thanks to their outstanding record.

It is precisely because of the Bulls' desire for the championship that they have temporarily suppressed their internal conflicts.

But in the final analysis, coach Phil Jackson has no idea whether the Bulls can win the championship.

He has already made up his mind that he will leave the Bulls and look for another team after the end of this season.

As someone who created a dynasty in the Bulls, he was not afraid that no one would want him. He hoped to go to a new team, a team where no one could restrain him, and realize his ambitions.

Of course, coach Phil Jackson believes that it was he who led the Bulls to create the dynasty.

But Krause also feels that the Bulls' current achievements are the result of his own efforts.

It is precisely because these two people have fundamentally different ideas, but both want to seize the management rights of the team at the same time, that the internal conflicts of the Bulls have become increasingly fierce, and the relationship between the two has deteriorated to the point of being like water and fire.

Phil Jackson and Michael were both mentors and friends. He actually didn't want Michael Jordan to work too hard because Jordan was no longer young.

With his current reputation, Michael Jordan doesn't actually need to play so hard. He just needs to make good use of his accumulated reputation and make a lot of money.

Given Michael Jordan's competitive form, it would not be a big problem for him to get a big retirement contract at the end of his career.

Phil Jackson's words actually took into consideration Michael Jordan's future. He did not want Michael Jordan to show obvious signs of fatigue on the court, which might affect Michael Jordan's "market".

As long as Michael Jordan needed it, Coach Phil Jackson would take the blame for Michael Jordan and give him enough rest time to recover.

He intended to use this method to protect Michael Jordan's dignity on the court.

"5 minutes."

"Just give me five minutes to catch my breath."

Michael Jordan took the cup of water, took a few sips, then heaved a sigh of relief and said to coach Phil Jackson beside him.

A 5-minute rest period is actually not long in such an intense game. Including the rest time between quarters, Michael Jordan's absence time was only more than 3 minutes.

An NBA quarter lasts 12 minutes. If the entire game is played in full, the total playing time is 48 minutes.

Generally, the core players play for around 30 minutes, and qualified rotation players play for between 13 and 20 minutes.

In some life-and-death games, coaches will try to extend the playing time of their main players as much as possible. During Michael Jordan's career, his average playing time in the playoffs was generally around 42 minutes.

Coach Phil Jackson used Michael Jordan very intensively and relied on him very much. Fortunately, Michael Jordan was physically strong enough to withstand the pressure. If a player like McGrady played under Coach Phil Jackson, he would have become useless in a few years, let alone winning the final championship.

Coach Phil Jackson is obviously aware of the contributions Michael Jordan has made to the team. He certainly hopes that Michael Jordan can still play on the court with as much intensity as he did when he was young.

There is a reality that has to be acknowledged: Michael Jordan is getting old.

The series score between the Timberwolves and the Bulls has come to 3:1. Although coach Phil Jackson did not say it, deep down in his heart he has already acquiesced that the Bulls will lose.

With this mentality, he actually didn't want Michael Jordan to force himself to play with a tired body.

There was no other reason, he just didn't want to see Michael Jordan in such a mess.

In this state now, what can Michael Jordan do even if he returns to the court?

Maybe a miracle will happen to the Bulls, but the greater probability is that he will see a breathless Michael Jordan being trained by the young superstar of the Timberwolves.

After all, the Game 7 in the Eastern Conference semifinals was too exhausting for the Bulls. If it weren't for that, perhaps Michael Jordan wouldn't have shown such an expression at this time.

On the court, the game between the Timberwolves and the Bulls is still going on.

Both teams had some substitutes, but the intensity of the game was no less than the first and second quarters. In the third quarter, I made some adjustments to the lineup, and Wu Dao, who had played two consecutive quarters, also got a chance to breathe.

Although he is younger than Michael Jordan, has more energy and recovers faster, Coach Philip does not intend to abuse the physical strength of martial arts.

After a season of running-in, Philip has a deep understanding of the players on his team. He knows the physical reserve level of his players and knows how to deal with these young and energetic players.

At a young age, Wu Dao has already shown superstar qualities. The more such a player is, the more he should be "treasured". The length of Wu Dao's career will directly affect the entire Timberwolves team. He will protect Wu Dao well and only let Wu Dao play the ball he should play.

In the game against the Bulls, Coach Philip has tied Budo and the Bulls' Michael Jordan together. If the opponent does not use Michael Jordan, he will not use Budo first.

And he was not worried at all that the Timberwolves would be at a disadvantage without martial arts.

The reason is very simple, because players like Garnett can suppress the Bulls without Michael Jordan!

Michael Jordan's absence greatly weakened the Bulls' offensive ability. Without an outside breakthrough player in their team, Pippen was actually unable to play that kind of offensive role. In the two years when Michael Jordan retired, Pippen had proved that he did not have the dominance.

He has no way to digest a large number of outside shots like Michael Jordan, nor can he rely on his own breakthroughs to create space for the team. His strongest abilities are conducting and cutting.

To put it bluntly, he can only be a second-in-command with excellent qualities!

If the Bulls want to tear apart the Timberwolves' defense, they will have to rely on Ron Harper at position 1.

On the other hand, the Timberwolves were in a completely different situation from the Bulls. The Timberwolves' offensive power was not sealed by the end of the game. On the contrary, these role players of the Timberwolves were able to digest the outside shooting rights when Wu Dao was not on the court.

Garnett's high-post pick-and-roll is extremely threatening, and Marbury's breakthrough is as sharp as ever. It is not an exaggeration to call him "Little Iverson", plus the almighty Tom.

The Timberwolves' offensive efficiency remains excellent!
What's more, Garnett's mid-range shooting is very stable, Marbury also has a three-point shot that is sometimes effective and sometimes not, and with Tom, an all-round No. 3 player, even without martial arts, the offensive power displayed by the Timberwolves can surpass many playoff teams.

The only shortcoming of the Timberwolves is their weak protection of rebounds, but with Ben Wallace replacing Cherokee Parks on the court, the intensity of the Timberwolves' inside confrontation has also increased dramatically.

Due to his limited physical fitness, Ben Wallace's rim protection ability is average, but with him in the Timberwolves' basket, the defensive pressure is doubled.

He and Garnett cooperated with each other in defense, and the Bulls' offensive efficiency also declined discontinuously.

As the game progressed, Michael Jordan had only been sitting on the sidelines for a few minutes when the score difference between the two teams widened to double digits.

Michael Jordan was very aware of his physical condition. The dizziness caused by lack of oxygen in his brain had not completely disappeared, but Michael Jordan could not sit peacefully in the rest area at this moment.

The score difference between the two teams has reached double digits. If it continues like this, the Bulls will completely lose hope of a comeback.

Apart from him, no one on the Bulls could stand up in such a situation.

“I want to play.”

Michael Jordan stood up from the bench, and coach Phil Jackson looked down at his watch. In the end, he chose to compromise, sighed, and nodded.

This was Michael Jordan's own choice and decision, and he had no way to interfere.

If he forced Michael Jordan to stay under the court, he would probably be hated by Michael Jordan for the rest of his life.

Coach Phil Jackson knew that the Bulls' chances of winning were very slim.

But only Michael Jordan can create miracles.

As long as the Bulls want to win, they must put Michael Jordan back on the court.

"Beep——"

On the court, Marbury used Garnett's pick-and-roll to force a layup. Ron Harper subconsciously pulled Marbury's clothes while chasing him, trying to stop him from making a layup, but the final result was that Marbury made a 2+1.

As the sharp whistle sounded, Marbury, who scored a layup, was sent to the free throw line.

"Shh!"

After making the free throw steadily, the Bulls decisively called a timeout.

He couldn't stop Michael Jordan from playing, so he used the timeout to buy Michael Jordan more rest time and also readjust the team's technical and tactical arrangements.

Coach Phil Jackson focused on adjusting the team's defense. As for offense? The Bulls' players have been working together for so long, and Michael Jordan is about to return to the court, so things like offense can be left to the players' own judgment.

Coach Phil Jackson decided to use a 32-zone defense to shrink the team's defense.

He no longer wanted to defend Forest's three-point shots, so he asked the players to focus on rebounding and the basket, and leave the rest to fate.

If the Timberwolves can really beat the Bulls by relying on 3-pointers and long 2-pointers, then coach Phil Jackson will accept it.

Whenever the Timberwolves made substitutions, they were able to foresight and put martial arts back on the court.

At the same time, Coach Philip also replaced Garnett with Stanley Roberts, and took Tom off the court and replaced him with Sam Mitchell.

The Timberwolves' rotation foundation is not bad. With a ten-point lead, it should not be a big problem to have Wu Dao lead these players for a few minutes.

After some substitutions, the only attackers left on the court were Wu Dao and Marbury.

As the timeout ended and the Timberwolves players returned to the court, the cheers that greeted them did not diminish because of the departure of Garnett and other players.

The appearance of Martial Arts immediately aroused the emotions of the fans at the Target Center.

There is no doubt that Wu Dao is the real backbone of the Timberwolves team. Even if all other players are replaced by substitutes, as long as he is there, the Timberwolves players will not be lost.

(End of this chapter)