The NBA's Absolute Dominance

Chapter 171: Conflict
With the score at 8-0, Phil Jackson did not call a timeout, and the Bulls continued their offensive attack.

At a 45-degree angle on the right wing, Jordan received the ball and signaled to spread out, then went one-on-one against Steve Smith.

Steve Smith is 201 cm tall. After three seasons of weight gain, he has gone from 91 cm when he first entered the league to 100 kg now, which has greatly improved his physical strength and is one of the factors that has contributed to his improved performance.

Even so, Smith's physical strength was still inferior to Jordan's.

Jordan currently weighs 98 kilograms. After being toughened up by the Bad Boys, he has exceptional strength and can compete with most interior players.

Smith was smart; instead of engaging in physical defense, he used anticipatory positioning to block Jordan's strong drive with the ball.

Jordan quickly stepped back, glanced at Smith in front of him with some surprise, and then pulled up for a three-pointer.

Smith reacted quickly, leaping half a step forward to block the shot.

But Jordan jumped very high, and Steve Smith only managed to cover Jordan's nose, not even his eyes.

"brush!"

Water splashes, two points hit.

"Clap clap clap..."

The Bulls finally won, and enthusiastic applause quickly erupted in the Chicago arena.

"Wow, Jordan actually made a three-pointer? He's having a good day!" Zhang Heli said in surprise.

"The defense was quite effective," Sun Zhenping said.

"Kid, do you need me to wait for you upstairs?"

On the court, after Jordan scored, he started trash-talking as usual.

Steve Smith is a morally exemplary player who did not respond to Michael Jordan's trash talk.

"Up there? Mr. Jordan, are you going to heaven? Well then, goodbye." Tang Bei, who was passing by, threw out a trashy remark.

"you……"

Michael Jordan was furious.

As the Heat were on offense, Zhang Heli observed the offensive and defensive situations of both teams and said, "The Bulls have increased their intensity, their physical contact has intensified, and they're sticking to each other more closely. This has limited the Heat's movement and passing."

On the left wing, Tang Bei squeezed into the penalty area from a low position.

As a result, not only Luke Longley, but even Rodman immediately began to move towards him. The Bulls' defensive formation was compressed downwards under his strong positioning, giving the perimeter more space.

Then, the outside players tore apart the Bulls' defense with a series of passes.

When Pippen was moved closer to the left baseline and Jordan was moved to the right elbow area, Grant Long suddenly entered the paint.

At this moment, Tang Bei was immediately promoted to a higher position.

At this moment, he, Grant Long under the basket, and Steve Smith running towards the right corner formed a triangle.

"not good!"

When Jordan saw Tang Bei's movement, he knew things were going to go wrong.

He's too familiar with the triangle offense. Tang Bei's move up is to become a high post playmaker. With Grant Lang under the basket, where is the other corner?
He turned around sharply and saw Steve Smith running towards the bottom right corner. He immediately turned around and pounced on him.

"Whoosh!"

At this moment, Tang Bei received the ball, and without hesitation, he threw it with both hands, sending the basketball flying towards the right corner.

Steve Smith caught the ball with both hands, and Jordan rushed out from two meters away. Without hesitation, he calmly jumped and shot.

"slow!"

Jordan leaped up, trying to disrupt Smith's shot.

"brush!"

Splashes of water, and a three-pointer goes in.

Phil Jackson shook his head and gestured for a timeout.

"Great! Tang Bei has made two assists."

Zhang Heli said excitedly, "Look, the way to break a zone defense is to pass the ball. You double-team the ball handler here, and I'll pass it out to an open player right away."

"11:3, the Heat are still leading by 8 points," Han Qiaosheng said happily.

"The Heat's triangle offense is pretty good!" Sun Zhenping exclaimed in surprise.

Zhang Heli laughed and said, "It's just the most basic triangle attack operation. We haven't even executed the more complex triangle attack yet."

However, Tang Bei is quite well-suited to the triangle offense. The Bulls' triangle offense was designed to create isolation opportunities for Jordan, and Tang Bei possessed the strongest isolation ability in the low post.

“Phil Jackson must be very envious of Tang Bei,” Sun Zhenping joked.

"Ha ha……"

All three laughed.

Zhang Heli said, "I don't know what Heat head coach Kevin Longley was thinking, but he suddenly started playing the triangle offense."

Actually, suddenly changing tactics is very risky. Players are under a lot of pressure on the field, and it's easy for them to make mistakes in their tactical runs.

Phil Jackson stood silently in front of the Bulls' bench.

The Heat have a three-point shooter on each wing, and Grant Long and Avery Johnson have mid-range shots, which is equivalent to having four shooters on the outside.

Tang Bei, who is in the middle of the game, has the most ferocious and ruthless low-post offensive ability and the strongest low-post dominance in the entire league, making him the player who needs double-teaming the most.

When Tang Bei gets the ball, he needs to be double-teamed, and the four players on the outside can't leave him open, especially Glen Rice and Steve Smith.

In addition, the repeated passes from the right wing triangle completely tore apart the Bulls' wing defense and broke through the Bulls' rotation and help defense system.

This unusual lineup configuration of one inside and four outside players, coupled with the triangle offense, made Phil Jackson feel very uncomfortable.

He understands the triangle offense very well. The key to breaking the triangle offense lies in disrupting the passing triangle and limiting the playmaking and finishing abilities of the key players.

The key to their defense lies in compressing their space, quickly rotating defensive positions, and targeted positioning.

The essence of the triangle offense is to move the defense around by passing the ball in a triangle pattern of low post, wing, and high post. Therefore, the first step in defense is to prevent the triangle passing from going smoothly, which means cutting off the triangle passing.

Jordan looked at Phil Jackson, whom he trusted implicitly, hoping that the latter would come up with a solution.

His defense just now was a failure. He was trying to defend two players on the three-point line, and he couldn't stop them at all. If the Heat play like that again next time, he still won't be able to stop them.

"Phil?"

But Phil Jackson remained silent, and as the timeout was about to end, he grew impatient and urged him on.

Phil Jackson coughed and said, "They're playing our best triangle offense. They're helpless, and they're asking for trouble, because you know best the weaknesses of the triangle offense."

Jordan and the others nodded quickly.

"But your defense wasn't good just now. Your rotations were too slow, even slower than their passing. How are you going to cut off their passing triangle?"

"So, you need to pay attention to cutting off their triangular passing chain in time and speeding up the rotation."

"Note that rotation must be faster than passing, otherwise they will definitely get open space."

"Remember, protect the defensive rebounds and don't give them a chance to score on second-chance points."

“You all know that the triangle offense relies on off-the-ball movement without physical contact, so apart from Tang, other positions should increase their physical contact and disrupt their movement.” Phil Jackson ultimately did not use the early double-team tactic against Tang Bei. He knew very well that it was a double-edged sword and should not be used lightly.

After the timeout, the Bulls used their understanding of the triangle offense to execute two minutes of brilliant offense and defense, forcing the Heat, who were trying out the triangle offense for the first time, into three consecutive passing errors.

The Bulls capitalized on the momentum, launching three fast breaks after a defensive counterattack, and with a seven-zero run, they brought the score to 11-10, trailing by only one point, forcing the Heat to call a timeout.

Zhang Heli sighed, "Using the opponent's most familiar tactics will inevitably cause problems sooner or later. Of course, the Bulls know how to defend the triangle offense."

Sun Zhenping asked somewhat anxiously, "Coach Zhang, what do you think the Heat should do?"

Zhang Heli said, "The Heat's basic tactics are low-post isolation, high-post pick-and-roll, passing and cutting, fast break offense, and some drive-and-kick tactics."

Last year's Eastern Conference Finals used the same tactics, and they still beat the Bulls badly. Continuing to use the same tactics now will be enough.

Han Qiaosheng nodded and said, "Yes, I don't know what the head coach is thinking."

Zhang Heli said, "Kevin Longley's coaching ability... isn't very good. He probably lost Game 1 and wanted to catch the Bulls off guard with the triangle offense."

"Actually, the Heat have the best lineup for the triangle offense, which is Tang Bei's low post isolation and ability to draw double teams."

"The Bulls' three successful defensive plays just now all involved cutting off the Heat's passing and receiving, causing Heat turnovers, and the ball didn't get to Tang Bei's hands."

After the timeout, the Heat stopped using the triangle offense.

But the Bulls started their half-court press, and with their quick rotations and positioning, they almost forced another turnover from the Heat.

Pippen, who adopted a high-line defense, quickly moved up to intercept the pass when Avery Johnson passed it to Glen Rice, and almost succeeded in stealing it.

(Top-line defense means the defender stands between the player being defended and the basket; line defense means the defender stands between the player being defended and the player with the ball.)
Glen Rice, aware of his weakness, quickly passed the ball back.

Avery Johnson ran to the left wing, outside the 70-degree three-point line, to receive the ball. At that moment, he noticed that Tang Bei, who was not making a strong post-up in the low post on the left wing, suddenly pointed to the basket.

The next moment, he suddenly pulled the ball up and then hoisted it high into the air to the left of the basket.

At the same time, Tang Bei suddenly performed a Tai Chi downward turn, quickly bypassing Luke Longley behind him, and slipped into the penalty area.

Just then, the ball arrived, and he leaped into the air.

"boom!"

The next instant, with a loud bang, Tang Bei was hanging on the rim.

"Pretty!"

Zhang Heli excitedly shouted, "Just play like this! With Tang Bei's mobility, passing and cutting tactics will be very easy. Luke Longley can't keep up with the pace, and Rodman won't have a chance to help defend."

Sun Zhenping said happily, "Indeed, compared to Luke Longley, Tang Bei is too fast, especially when he turns around."

Han Qiaosheng laughed and said, "When playing against a blue-collar center like Luke Longley, Tang Bei doesn't need any skills at all; his talent is enough to overpower him."

Zhang Heli nodded and said, "That's right, Tang Bei will only use center techniques when playing against the three super centers and Monier and the others."

He never used techniques like the center-of-gravity disruption techniques that had been reported in the media against ordinary opponents, because there was simply no need for them.

Jordan received the ball in the low post on the right wing. At this moment, Tang Bei under the basket moved quickly and formed a low post double team with Steve Smith.

"Bang!"

Jordan remained unfazed, forcefully turning and shooting a fadeaway jumper while surrounded by defenders, missing the shot and adding another point.

The basketball bounced back, Tang Bei turned and flicked the ball over Rodman's head, then jumped again to grab the rebound, and the Heat went on offense.

Bill Russell said, "Rodman's ability to jump consecutively was historic; he could jump four times in a row while his opponents could only jump three times."

Tang's ability to jump consecutively is also good, but not as good as Rodman's. However, his ability to contest and position himself is stronger than Rodman's.

Tang made good use of these advantages, often gaining the upper hand in rebounding battles against Rodman.

Avery Johnson and Glen Rice set a screen on the left wing, bypassing Pippen and then driving into the wing from the outside.

Upon seeing this, Tang Bei immediately began to aggressively position himself, squeezing into the penalty area with his back to Luke Longley, at which point the ball was passed to him.

After the pass, Avery Johnson set a pick and roll with Glen Rice again. Glen Rice ran to the left corner, with Pippen a step behind.

Meanwhile, Rodman, positioned on the right waist, had reached Luke Longley's lower side, and could double-team Tang Bei with just one step.

Luke Longley positioned himself high up on defense, primarily guarding Tang Bei's left shoulder and his spin move, which, together with Rodman who was helping on the lower side, created a coordinated double-team.

At this moment, Tang Bei can pass the ball to Glen Rice.

But he knew Pippen was too close to Rice, and that the small open space would disappear after Rice received the ball, so he didn't pass it to him.

The next moment, Wing Chun turns into a horse stance, using the left foot as the axis, and shifts to the right.

Turn around.

Rodman, who was in position to double-team, covered his chest with his arms. The moment Tang Bei collided with him and felt the powerful turning force, Rodman leaned his upper body back sharply, trying to draw an offensive foul from Tang Bei.

Meanwhile, Luke Longley, who was defending at the top, also moved half a step down to defend against Tang Bei's downward turn.

But in the next instant, Tang Bei suddenly turned around, bypassed Luke Longley, and dribbled into the penalty area.

The referee's mouth twitched the moment Rodman fell backward, but then he saw Tang Bei's backflip and quickly muffled his whistle.

"boom!"

In the blink of an eye, as Rodman fell to the ground, Tang Bei delivered a ferocious one-handed dunk that shattered the Bulls' basket.

The referee signaled that the two points were valid, then pointed to the Bulls' frontcourt, indicating a change in possession.

"Shh!"

However, many Bulls fans believed that Rodman was knocked down and that it was an offensive foul by Tang Bei, and they began to boo the referee.

"Rodman got knocked over, are you blind?"

"Black whistle!"

"Damn it, this is our home turf."

Some angry fans began to hurl insults.

Rodman got up from the floor, grinning and pretending nothing had happened.

"What the hell? Trying to scam me? I'll kill you next time." Tang Bei glared at Rodman, cursed in Chinese, and ran back to the backcourt.

NBC began replaying the moments of the attack and defense on the overhead screen.

Bill Russell stared at the TV screen and exclaimed, "I have to say, Don's downward turn feint was so realistic that it tricked Luke Longley into moving sideways and Rodman into feigning a retreat."

"Ha ha!"

Bill Walton chuckled, "Rodman was very good at drawing offensive fouls."

Ewing suddenly spoke up: "If the referee had called an offensive foul just now, he would have been very embarrassed."

"Oh, why are you speaking up this time?"

"This time it's not just yes or no?"

Both Bills were internally complaining at the same time.

(End of this chapter)