So I am the god of basketball?

Chuck Daly pulled out his playbook...

Chicago fans never expected that there would be a day when they would be so nervous because of such a sentence.

but now……

They were indeed nervous!
Because the Lakers had not changed their lineup until now, in this extremely crucial third game, they suddenly changed their lineup, clearly intending to catch them off guard.

Of course, there is another possibility...

This is a "smoke bomb" released by the Lakers. They deliberately created this kind of public pressure to make the Bulls nervous.

Ok……

Must be!
They are worried!
That's why they use this trick.

But as Lu Xun said:
You can cheat on your brothers, but don’t cheat on yourself!

Chicago fans can think so, but they can't take it seriously. If they really think that the Lakers are just talking casually, they will be out of luck. Especially for the Bulls players, they need to be on high alert.

Phil Jackson knew this very well, so before the game he went to the locker room to conduct a pre-game mobilization. His action successfully made all the Bulls fans take it seriously. After all, an ordinary "Zen Master" would not do such a thing.

But soon, when the game really started, Phil Jackson's eyes flashed with helplessness...

The Lakers did make a lineup change, and even if he went to the locker room to remind everyone, it was a change that could not be avoided.

Lakers…

They targeted McGrady, the Bulls' second-in-command!
McGrady has made great progress this season. It can be said that he has at least 40% of the credit for the Bulls' entry into the finals, which is more than Jordan. At most, Jordan's 30% credit is more important.

But even so, it cannot hide one fact:
This is McGrady's first time entering the finals!
It was my first time playing in a match of this level, so there was no way I could avoid paying some tuition fees.

Just like Kobe...

He has been with the Lakers for so many years, and it has been quite a tough journey, but guess what?

It’s time to pay tuition in the finals, and it’s time to pay tuition in the finals. Not a single point less, all that should be paid has been paid.

This is the process that everyone must go through. He entered the league a year earlier than McGrady, but it was still the case. Even if McGrady is more talented than Kobe, he cannot avoid this path.

After all, his current age is here. He entered the league in 97 when he was 18 years old, and he is only 21 years old now...

This is the age when you have to suffer.

After the first two games, Chuck Daly had collected almost all the information about him.

The most terrifying thing about the playoffs is that in the 7 games, as soon as each game is over, your opponents will analyze you layer by layer, and then target some of your habits in the second game. Your weaknesses will also be infinitely magnified. Many players will lose their form while playing. For example, Danny Green later almost won the Finals MVP. He was so good at shooting three-pointers, but he was restricted starting from the fifth game of the series.

This is the part of the series where your opponent will learn everything about the corns on your feet.

Only after passing the test of this place can one be considered to have truly transformed into a star.

McGrady played so well in the first two games of the Finals. One reason was that Chuck Daly felt there was no need to change the lineup, as the Lakers could handle any emergency. Another reason was that...

Chuck Daly is also collecting information so that he can better target McGrady in the future!

With the first two games as a reference, he also focused on McGrady in this game.

After McGrady played the first two games of the finals, although the team lost, his personal performance made him no longer in awe of the finals:

People say the finals are difficult, but I, Tracy, think it’s just so-so!
But in this game, from the very beginning he felt like he was fixed on a strange-shaped iron tripod, allowing others to move in and out of him, and he had no way to stop them.

He had a weird feeling.

He felt like he was being seen through, as if others knew how he would move and would react before he could, leaving him without any temper.

This feeling is most obvious when Russell is in a mismatched situation.

Russell's steps were obviously very slow. In the first two games, he could easily break through from his side with his explosive power. But in this game, Russell seemed to have the ability to predict the future. He could always get in position in advance and block him tightly, leaving him with no temper at all.

McGrady is the initiator of many of the Bulls' conventional tactics. Now...

He has no temper, and the entire Bulls team has no temper either.

In the first two games, the team was able to maintain a long stalemate with the Lakers in the first half, but in tonight's first game at home since the finals, they were defeated from the beginning.

The game soon became more than 10 points apart.

The final score was 100 to 77.
The Bulls lost this game by 23 points.

McGrady's final statistics were 20 of 6 shots, with a shooting percentage of only about 30%, and he also made 6 turnovers.

When the final whistle of the game sounded, his face was full of frustration, and his eyes, which looked like they would never wake up, were also filled with loneliness. He knew very well that he should take a large part of the responsibility for the Bulls' loss tonight.

Do not……

It should be said that it is all responsibility.

Michael Jordan looked at him, walked past him, and just sighed silently.

If it were Pippen, he would have cursed a long time ago.

But for Maddie...

Jordan saw the efforts he made to reach the finals.

What's more, Jordan himself didn't play very well tonight, only getting 23 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists.

Other stars may blame their teammates for such performance, but Jordan certainly would not do such a thing. If he can play like he did in the 93 Finals, even if McGrady is restricted like this tonight, it will not be an unsolvable problem for the Bulls.

After all, it's his own fault. If that's the reason, then he can't blame anyone else!
It’s even more unacceptable for a 21-year-old young player!

and so……

"We lost the best chance, but this is an NBA game. Even if we worked hard enough to prepare for this game and showed our determination not to lose, we cannot change the law of survival of the fittest. We lost, and the Lakers played at their best!" Phil Jackson looked helpless when facing the media after the game.

After the Bulls lost this game, the score was 0-3. It is most appropriate to describe this situation as "no way out"...

Although there was such a person and such a team in NBA history who had accomplished the "comeback from 3 to 4", that team and that absolute core are now on the opposite side!
There is one more thing that makes it impossible for Chicago fans to continue to have unrealistic fantasies:
The age of the Bulls is obvious. Even if the Lakers didn't have to target them, the Bulls lost miserably in the first two games of the finals. In the third game of the series, the Lakers slightly targeted McGrady, and they couldn't even hold on! McGrady: You call this slightly targeting, right?
As long as the Lakers continue with the same adjustments as in the third game, the Bulls really have no hope at all!

Game 4 of the Finals is here...

Still at the Bulls' home court, the atmosphere before the game was extremely depressing.

They didn't expect that this year's Bulls could make it to the finals, and they didn't expect that they would lose so badly in the finals!
They haven't lost so badly in a long time since they had Jordan.

Especially after the 90s...

Now it feels like going back to the 80s, when Michael Jordan was still thin, or rather strong, and the Eastern Conference was ruled by a white man with a sarcastic smile on his face, who gave Chicago two "sweeps".

Before the Pistons, they were the nightmare of Chicagoans.

After all, we can at least win two games against the Pistons, and against the Celtics...

It was very difficult to win even one game!

Now that difficult feeling is once again coming to the forefront of Chicagoans' minds.

By the way, isn’t that Chinese guy opposite who looks harmless and a bit handsome nicknamed “Second Generation Bird”?

This guy is so...

He really inherited Bird's bloodline to beat Jordan, right?
Michael Jordan's expression was not very good either.

For him, losing in the finals like this is absolutely a shame.

After all, it is his performance in the Finals that shows his dominance and separates him from other superstars, which is one of the main reasons why his reputation is so high.

But since Meng Lang appeared, his supreme position in this regard has been shaken.

First, this guy broke his undefeated record in the finals, but that wasn't enough, now...

Planning to give him a sweep!
No, this is absolutely not possible!

When the game started, Jordan gave it his all. He made no secret of what he wanted to say:

I can accept losing in the finals this season, but I absolutely cannot accept being swept.

Tonight, it seemed as if his prayers had come true and he had found the password to his peak account. He scored 15 points in the first quarter alone, something he had not been able to do in the past three finals!

But in a game involving personal humiliation, he exploded!
That's the superstar, his angry emotions make him perform better than usual.

The people of Chicago watched him dream of returning to his peak, and the shouts became louder and louder.

However, the worry in their eyes became more and more intense.

because……

As Jordan's performance got better and better, Meng Lang also responded to his attack through continuous singles.

One ball after another, even though Jordan performed bravely, the Bulls did not widen the score gap significantly, and they were even behind.

In the second quarter, Jordan's performance was affected by the excessive effort in the first quarter, and he was obviously a little out of breath.

Boxing is afraid of young people.

Michael Jordan had never heard this sentence, but he understood what it meant.

But he never thought that one day he would understand this sentence in this way.

Meng Lang continued his scoring pattern in the second quarter, causing Jordan to curse in his heart:
It’s great to be young!

Not only does he fall asleep immediately, but he can also be long-lasting and vigorous when he gets angry.

Jordan suddenly thought of Johnson in 91. When the score of the finals came to 3-1, Johnson faced the fierce attack of Jordan and Pippen in the last game. I wonder if he would have the same sigh as he does today.

There must be, right?
It's at times like these that superstars miss their former all-powerful selves.

Otherwise, why would he choose to retire immediately when his peak performance declined slightly?

They couldn't accept that they, once omnipotent, had lost control of the game.

Any "super giant" who is a little arrogant is like this.

Only those who fantasize about wearing the "goat" crown on themselves, when they find that they do not have enough physical strength to last a whole game, will adjust their playing time through various "off-peak travel" methods, let all teammates cooperate with him to change his playing style, and also ask his teammates to "4 defend 5" on the defensive end to ensure that their offensive data remains unchanged, thus giving others the illusion that "this old man is 93 years old and is still so awesome."

He is good at creating "false prosperity"!

The following game was completely one-sided. The Bulls had no power to resist and the Lakers firmly controlled the advantage. Everyone could see that the Bulls were powerless to turn the tide and they had no desire to do so...

They are quietly waiting for the arrival of "death".

It is worth mentioning that although the outcome of the game seemed to be no longer in suspense, the Bulls fans at the scene had no intention of leaving. Everyone stood in front of their seats, waiting for the moment of "Bulls Twilight" to arrive.

The quiet scene made Ben Wallace's cheers seem particularly harsh.

The Bulls fans had such sadness on their faces as if they were attending a funeral.

The era of Jordan is completely over!

"beep!"

The buzzer sounded and the score was frozen at 110 to 92.

Amid the glaring score, Michael Jordan hugged Meng Lang, then left the court dejectedly, walking towards the player tunnel with his head down.

Bill Duffy looked at this scene with emotion in his eyes: "Back in 90, Michael Jordan also lowered his head and left the stadium passage, but at that moment his eyes were determined and full of fighting spirit. He believed that he would come back, and we all believed that he would come back! Now, the same scene happened again, we look forward to his return, but the facts have proved that no one can defeat the old man of time! Michael Jordan is great, but the era of the great Michael is really over!"

There was shock in Barkley's eyes. The score was 4-0. When he saw Jordan was really swept in the finals, he felt a very unreal feeling.

He played against Jordan in the finals, so he knew very well how awesome Jordan was in the finals. At that time, no, even now, he didn't think there was any player who could sweep him in the finals...

However, now, all this is happening so realistically... (End of this chapter)