The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 168 Empty Slash

Chapter 168 Empty Slash
Tang Bei made the first free throw, but missed the second. Rodman grabbed the rebound, and the Bulls went on offense.

"Bang!"

At the right wing, 1 degrees, Jordan used the same trick again, driving to the basket and then pulling up for a two-pointer from a step inside the three-point line. Unfortunately, he was a bit unlucky this time and missed the shot.

"mine."

The basketball bounced back, and Rodman gritted his teeth, squeezed past Grant Long, moved into position, and leaped up, grabbing the rebound in mid-air with both hands.

But at that moment, his right foot, which he swung out in mid-air, kicked someone—no, it should be said that someone bumped into his right foot.

"Shet!"

Then, under the immense force of the push, he lost his balance, and his hands instantly drifted away from the basketball that was within reach.

"My backboard!"

Tang Bei shouted in his heart and grabbed the rebound in the backcourt.

Zhang Heli said, "Tang Bei moved from the left side of the basket to the right side, a step slower than Rodman, but Grant Long's confrontation delayed Rodman's time."

Sun Zhenping said, "Tang Bei's rebounding skills are probably no worse than Rodman's."

Zhang Heli said, "Rodman had far fewer tasks on the court than Tang Bei, and Tang Bei didn't put as much effort into rebounding as Rodman, so Rodman is the rebounding king."

Han Qiaosheng said, "Now it's the Eastern Conference Finals, Tang Bei will definitely go all out to grab rebounds."

"of course."

Zhang Heli nodded and added, "Actually, Rodman sometimes gets a few offensive rebounds, but there's a bit of exaggeration involved, haha!"

In the frontcourt, Glen Rice ran to the middle to receive Avery Johnson, who used a screen to get rid of Armstrong and quickly drove to the top of the key. Then, using Tang Bei's high screen, he made a rapid drive inside.

Pippen switched onto Avery Johnson and blocked him, and Johnson immediately passed the ball back to Tang Bei.

After receiving the ball, Tang Bei turned and made a quick run to the left, knocking Luke Longley back with a combination of feints and collisions, before pulling his right foot back.

But then Michael Jordan double-teamed him, rushing up from behind and stabbing Tang Bei in the chest, hitting his hand.

"Snapped!"

Unexpectedly, Tang Bei's hands were too strong, and he didn't directly poke the ball; the ball wasn't knocked away.

Tang Bei immediately raised the ball high with both hands. At this moment, Pippen and Luc Longley were all close to him, and Jordan, along with six arms and six hands, surrounded him, making it impossible for him to get through.

"Ouch, we're surrounded by three people," Zhang Heli exclaimed.

The next moment, Tang Bei, facing the basket, suddenly jumped up. He couldn't see where his teammates were, but he guessed that Glen Rice should be on the left wing, so he threw the ball over there.

He passed the ball without looking, and it went astray. Glen Rice quickly moved two steps to the side and received the ball a step inside the three-point line on the left wing at a 70-degree angle.

He had a small open space at that moment, and the nearest Armstrong was two meters away from him, rushing towards him.

Facing the Bulls' point guard's help defense, he had a height advantage and was not under much pressure, so he calmly jumped and took a long two-point shot.

"Shh!"

But the boos that had been ringing out suddenly rose in volume, affecting his mental state. At the moment of striking, his hand suddenly trembled.

"Bang!"

The basketball went astray, hitting the rim but missing the target, and Rodman caught it.

"boom!"

The Bulls then launched a quick counterattack. Rodman passed the ball to Pippen, who then assisted Jordan on a fast break, and Jordan slammed it home with a dunk.

"WOW!"

The Chicago stadium erupted in cheers.

7:6, Heat on offense.

Han Qiaosheng said, "The fans' boos were too loud. The away team is at a great disadvantage playing in this environment, and their shot just now must have been affected."

"Besides the home-field advantage, this is the other biggest home-field advantage," Zhang Heli said.

Tang Bei landed in a high position and saw that Rice and De Awitz were positioned a bit too close to the middle, so he immediately shouted, "Spread them out a little more!"

Under his direction, Glen Rice ran to the left flank and Kevin Edwards ran to the right flank, leaving a huge gap in the middle.

Jordan followed Edwards, while Pippen, who was originally guarding the middle, could only follow Glen Rice, leaving the upper middle lane open.

Phil Jackson remained unmoved as the Heat launched their isolation plays, pulling Pippen and Jordan to the sidelines, making it difficult to double-team Avery Johnson in a half-court press. But this didn't faze the Bulls.

Zhang Heli nodded and said, "Once the game turns into a one-on-one, Armstrong shouldn't be able to do anything to Avery Johnson."

Avery Johnson dribbled the ball past half-court, making a run left and right to the top of the arc.

His mental fortitude is very stable; the boos from the home fans don't affect him much, and it would be difficult for Armstrong to contain him alone.

At this point, both Jordan and Pippen adopted line defense, cutting off passing lanes while simultaneously collapsing their defense towards the paint.

After the high pick-and-roll, Luke Longley did not switch defense, but continued to hold onto Tang Bei with all his might, without even looking behind him, and held Tang Bei's waist tightly with both arms.

So when Avery Johnson drove into the paint, only Bulls' starting point guard Armstrong was chasing after him.

"Take it!"

The referee didn't call a foul on Luke Longley, but Tang Bei wasn't going to hold back. He instantly exerted force with his feet and used the power of the half-step collapsing fist to deliver a hidden elbow strike, which slammed into Luke Longley's chest.

"hiss!"

Luke Longley felt the pain, and the strength in his arms instantly dissipated by more than half.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Tang Bei squeezed past Kailang Li and moved towards the basket.

"Snapped!"

Avery Johnson leaped for a layup, and Armstrong could only try to block it with his eyes. But Dennis Rodman, who was guarding the basket from the right side, leaped to block the shot, sending it flying.

The basketball bounced off the backboard and landed right in front of the rim.

"boom!"

Tang Bei arrived just in time, leaped up, grabbed the basketball with one hand, and slammed it into the hoop.

"Pretty!"

Bill Walton said, "It would have been even more exciting if Avery Johnson hadn't come himself but had passed the ball back to Tang Bei."

Moses Malone said, "Only top guards can do that, and they have to be very in sync."

Bill Russell said, "Michael Jordan and Pippen did that all the time."

Bill Walton said, "It's 9-6 now. All 9 of the Heat's points came from Tang. The scoring is too concentrated."

Moses Malone said, "4-for-4 shooting, 1-for-2 free throws, 9 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block. As for the rest of the Heat, only Avery Johnson had two assists, Grant Lang had one rebound, and Glen Rice went 0-for-2."

He then added, "But the Bulls' 6 points were all scored by Jordan, who made 3 of 4 shots, while Pippen missed one shot."

Bill Walton nodded and said, "Offensively, it's been a bit difficult for both sides; their tactics haven't really clicked."

"brush!"

At that moment, BJ Armstrong got a wide-open shot in the left corner and accurately sank a three-pointer, tying the score at nine-nine. The game continued, with neither side able to shake off the other, and neither coach made many adjustments, both sticking to their established tactics.

But as the game progressed, the Bulls gradually took the initiative due to the accumulation of various advantages.

However, the Bulls were still unable to convert their initiative into a score advantage at this point, because they were still unable to stop Tang Bei's efficient scoring.

Although Jordan could also score, Tang Bei scored more points and was more efficient when he was at his best.

Avery Johnson played well; when he opened up one-on-one opportunities, Armstrong couldn't stop him from passing the ball to Tang Bei.

Unfortunately, Tang Bei can't take the lead on every offense, and his teammates are also under pressure from the home crowd and aren't in good form. When he rests, the Bulls take the opportunity to widen the score gap.

He caught up with her once, but she pulled him away again; he caught up with her once more, but she pulled him away again.

As his energy waned, his performance declined in the second half of the third quarter, allowing the Bulls to pull away and turn the initiative into a lead.

At the end of the game, the Bulls won Game 1 with a score of 91-98.

After the game, Bill Russell said, "Tang Bei played 42 minutes and was substituted with one minute left in the fourth quarter."

总共28投20中，命中率71.4%，8罚5中，45分15篮板1助攻1抢断4盖帽1失误4犯规。”

Bill Walton continued, "Glen Rice had a terrible game, shooting only 4-for-15 from the field (26.7%) against Pippen's defense, and adding 11 points from the free-throw line."

Moses Malone continued, "Kevin Edwards was even more defensively shut down by Jordan, shooting 2-for-11 and scoring only 4 points."

Bill Russell added, "Grant Long had 7 points, Avery Johnson had 6 points and 8 assists, but also 4 turnovers."

Bill Walton said, "Steve Smith and Dell Curry came off the bench and each scored 9 points, and they were in better form."

Excluding Tang Bei, the other four key players scored a total of 28 points. Of the team's nine rotation players, two failed to score.

Bill Russell said, "For the Bulls, Jordan scored 33 points, Pippen 18 points, Armstrong 15 points, and Toni Kukoc 10 points. In the 11-man rotation, seven players scored, four of whom scored in double figures."

Bill Walton said, "Rodman grabbed 10 rebounds, only one of which was an offensive rebound. While that's not as many as Don, his rebounding was still a key factor in the Bulls' success."

Bill Russell nodded and said, "The Bulls have a total of 40 rebounds, and the Heat have 46, only 6 fewer."

Bill Walton said, "The Bulls got 33 free throw attempts, while the Heat got 22, which was a key factor in the Bulls' home victory."

On the field, having won the game, Jordan, as was his habit, wanted to trash talk Tang Bei by calling him "King of Empty Stats".

But he swallowed the words, afraid of angering Tang Bei.

Watching Tang Bei walk away, he snorted sullenly, not uttering any trash talk, as if Tang Bei had gotten a great advantage.

Then he saw Barkley hurriedly leave the court without even saying goodbye, which made him even more annoyed. He wanted to go over and yell at that jerk again.

“Young man, you’re great too, but you can’t beat Michael.”

Jack Nicholson dislikes Tang Bei because Tang Bei always plays with extra force when playing against the Lakers, and last year he broke Michael's three-peat. As Tang Bei walked by, he went up to him and said this.

Tang Bei stopped and glanced at Nicholson, saying, "Sir, even if you were the President of the United States, you couldn't stop me from defeating him."

"Ha ha……"

Nicholson laughed, pointed to O'Bama next to him, and said, "I didn't have a chance to become President of the United States, but he did."

Oh, I'm a smart man. Tang Bei's influence in the United States is growing, and his influence among Chinese Americans is even greater. For the sake of votes, it's good to befriend someone like him. He smiled and extended his right hand, saying, "Hello, Tang, I'm Oh, I'm Oh, I'm Tang."

"Hello, future president."

Tang Bei shook hands and said with a smile, "You're at most thirty years old. By the time you become president, I estimate you'll have already retired, so you can't stop me."

"Ha ha……"

The three of them burst into laughter.

"Michael, now that you've won Game 1, what are your thoughts on the Eastern Conference Finals?" an NBC reporter asked in the post-game interview.

Jordan took the towel Kukoc handed him, wiped his sweat, and said, "This is a good start. We will continue to pursue victory until we make it to the Finals."

"What do you think is the most important reason for the Bulls' victory today?" the reporter asked again.

"Um……"

Jordan hesitated for a moment, then said firmly, "Defense."

"What do you think was the Bulls' worst performance today?" the reporter asked again.

Jordan shrugged helplessly and said, "We don't have any good ways to defend Tang Bei, it's always been like this."

"Damn it, only eight free throws. If this were at home, I'd get at least eighteen." Tang Bei said to Glen Rice, frustrated, as he walked into the player tunnel.

Glen Rice, who had a terrible performance, said listlessly, "It's their home court, they're lucky if they give you eight free throws."

"Can't you guys be a little more competitive? If each of you scores one more basket, we'll win," Tang Bei said irritably.

Glen Rice said helplessly, "Boss, Pippen's defense is so good, what can I do? If you replace Luke Longley with Mutombo, you'll be affected just the same way."

"Yes."

Steve Smith and the others quickly nodded in agreement.

Dell Curry quickened his pace to catch up with Tang Bei and said, "Tang, the Bulls' perimeter defense is too strong. We need to find a way to win Game 2. If we can't win on their home court, it will be very difficult for us to win."

Tang Bei retorted defiantly, "We won Game 2 last year, and we're even stronger this year. How could we possibly lose to the Bulls?"

Dell Curry said, "But the Bulls have gotten stronger, especially on defense and rebounding. The combination of Luke Longley and Rodman is much stronger than the combination of Carterwright and Cobra Grant."

Tang Bei nodded. Rodman's fighting ability was extremely strong, like an unkillable cockroach.

"Don't bring up Luke Longley, he can't hold on much longer."

However, Luke Longley couldn't keep up after 20 minutes today, and the team relied on a few substitute big men like Will Perdo for rotation.

The Bulls used a rotation of 11 players, mainly six big men taking turns to deal with him.

“And then there’s Toni Kukoc, that kid plays a big role off the bench too, he’s very versatile,” John Salley said.

“You’re too old to keep up with him,” Tang Bei said.

John Salley glared at him angrily and said, "Don, when you get to my age, you won't be much better off."

“I’m definitely better than you,” Tang Bei said.

"Not always."

"I am very sure of that."

"Absolutely not."

"John, can you just shut up?"