The longest river

Chapter 120 Jordan's Weakness

City Square Garden Training Hall.

Yang Shuai and Miller engaged in a fierce one-on-one match inside the stadium.

After a fierce exchange, Miller was defeated once again.

Although his influence in the competition still far surpasses that of Yang Shuai, he is clearly no match for Yang Shuai in a one-on-one situation.

"you win."

However, Miller did not appear frustrated after losing; on the contrary, he seemed very happy.

"Why are you in such a good mood today?" Yang Shuai was also a little surprised.

Actually, Miller agreeing to a one-on-one match today was quite unexpected for him.

He's not going back to Cleveland because of the Christmas Day game, but Miller's home is in Indianapolis, and tonight is Christmas Eve.

"You know what? Of all the teammates I've ever worked with, you're the first one I felt could potentially limit MJ's performance."

Miller then explained the reason behind it.

Playing against Jordan's team was never about how to score, but about how to limit Jordan's scoring.

The essence of basketball is putting the ball in the basket, and Jordan had a hundred ways to do that.

Yang Shuai could clearly hear Miller's obsession with defeating Jordan.

Actually, Yang Shuai still had some doubts about this.

He thought Miller would want to defeat Jordan, which was from the perspective of a time traveler. But at this point in time, Miller's first playoff encounter with the Bulls was last season.

"You want to beat MJ so badly because you criticized him during your rookie season and got crushed by him①?"

Miller coughed after being choked.

Although he knew Yang Shuai was a rather direct speaker, he could at least be a little more tactful sometimes.

Yang Shuai handed him a bottle of water and thoughtfully opened the cap for him.

"Actually, it's not because of that." Miller shook his head after taking a sip of water.

This surprised Yang Shuai and made him very curious.

"I don't like his privileges."

"Hmm?" Yang Shuai felt like he had heard something familiar before.

“Three years ago, I was guarding MJ, and he felt I was elbowing him, so he punched me back. The referee ejected me from the game, but he stayed on. He didn’t even say anything after the game, as if he deserved it.”

Miller still spoke of the events from three years ago with a resentful tone, and Yang Shuai could completely sense Miller's dissatisfaction.

He also thought about who won the MVP award at last year's All-Star Game.

There is no doubt that Jordan had privileges in this era.

Although such privileges are normal, it would be abnormal for the number one player in the league, who is also the number one player who brings huge commercial benefits to the league, not to have privileges.

Of course, just as he felt at the time, it's understandable that others would be unhappy.

Especially for someone like Miller, whose physical talent is relatively average, who has gotten to where he is today through hard work and determination.

"You know, if we really defeat him, wouldn't that be even better than sleeping with a thousand women?" Yang Shuai suddenly said.

Miller was stunned for a moment, then looked on with anticipation.

Beating Jordan is exciting enough, but beating Jordan with special privileges would bring a thrill that no amount of women could match.

It's true that sometimes you have to look at things from a different perspective.

On Christmas Day, the Rondo family came to Indianapolis.

Since Yang Shuai couldn't go home for Christmas this year, Lin Xiulan brought her whole family to spend Christmas with him here.

Paul also came to Indianapolis.

This is a rare opportunity for them to get together throughout the year.

Yang Shuai hadn't eaten Lin Xiulan's cooking for a while, and felt a surge of appetite.

While they were eating, Rondo and Yang Shuai started talking about things at school.

He plans to intern at Nike after Christmas.

Nike?

"I studied the development history of several major brands, and Nike's management model is the best."

His plan is to first infiltrate the enemy's ranks and then learn from their strengths.

Speaking of which, from choosing to study business administration at the University of Pennsylvania to choosing to intern at Nike, Rondo has a strong sense of career planning, which is why he scored higher on the SAT than Yang Shuai.

Paul then reminded Yang Shuai not to forget to give his teammates gifts for Christmas.

Yang Shuai has now become a starter, so he should try to improve his relationship with his teammates.

This is not a difficult task for Yang Shuai. He only needs to provide an idea, and Johnson will help him get it done.

After lunch, Yang Shuai and Johnson went to the training facility together.

The Pacers had a final practice scheduled before the game.

The team members arrived at the locker room one after another and then found a large box in the middle of the locker room.

After most of the people had arrived, Yang Shuai asked O'Neal to open the box, and a commotion immediately broke out in the locker room.

Inside were clearly pairs of brand-new Handsome1 signature sneakers.

There are 14 pairs in total, and each shoebox is labeled with the player's number.

This is the Christmas gift Yang Shuai gave to his teammates; he had Johnson dig it out from the shoes Reebok had given him before.

Johnson asked the equipment manager for everyone's shoe size, so they could put the shoes on directly if they wanted.

The teammates were very happy to receive the gift.

Even Mackey accepted it. Because sales were much better than expected, and the release was earlier than planned, Reebok's production capacity is now struggling to keep up, resulting in a shortage of HY1 sizes.

The direct result of this is that the price of shoes has skyrocketed in the secondhand market.

Even if you don't wear them yourself, you can still make a good income by reselling them.

"Hansen, this gift is a bit too expensive."

Just then, Scott, who had opened the shoebox to try them on, suddenly exclaimed.

The other team members who hadn't opened the shoeboxes turned around upon hearing this, only to discover that the gift Yang Shuai had given them was not only a perfect fit, but also personally signed!

This isn't something to be resold; it's something with significant collectible value.

"As long as you like it."

When his deskmate, a LeBron James fan, explained to him how strong James's business acumen was, he shared the story of James giving his teammates Beats headphones during the 08 Olympics.

It seems grand, but in reality, it treats teammates as walking billboards.

For Yang Shuai, the same goes for his Pacers teammates.

This is a win-win situation.

That evening, the City Square Garden was packed to capacity.

The fans were all beaming with enthusiasm, and many of them were wearing Christmas-themed decorations.

It's worth mentioning that this is the Pacers' second appearance in a Christmas Day game, and their first in 16 years.

This is naturally related to their playoff matchup against the Bulls last year. They are the only team in the East to have defeated the Bulls, and possibly the only team in the entire league to have defeated them head-on.

During the pre-match warm-up, the big screen at the venue frequently showed Yang Shuai.

It's not just because Yang Shuai hit a game-winning shot against the Bulls in last season's playoffs, but also because of the events that have happened to him in the past two months, which have made him a hot topic.

Due to injury, Pippen, dressed in a suit and tie, sat on the bench and looked up at Yang Shuai with a complicated expression.

Although a whole summer has passed, he hasn't forgotten a single word Yang Shuai said.

Moreover, Yang Shuai's popularity seems to have surpassed his in just two seasons, which makes him envious, jealous, and even a little resentful.

If only I had known, I should have beaten Yang Shuai so badly in that training match that he lost all confidence in basketball.

After the opening ceremony, the starting lineups for both sides were announced.

Chicago Bulls: Harper, Jordan, Kukoc, Rodman, Longley

Pacers: Best, Miller, Young, Davis, Schmitz
The Bulls won the jump ball and had the opportunity to attack first.

Yang Shuai faced off against Jordan at the start of the game, and he was determined to see if his current one-on-one defense was enough to limit Jordan.

However, to his surprise, Jordan showed absolutely no offensive desire at the start of the game.

The Bulls' offensive focus was entirely on Kukoc.

This is understandable, since Miller was defending against Kukoc.

Miller is intelligent and tough, but the size difference makes it difficult for him to contain an all-around striker like Kukoc.

Yang Shuai knew he had to do something when he saw this.

"Did you lose two games in a row to the SuperSonics in the Finals because you wanted to lift the championship trophy on Father's Day?"

As soon as Yang Shuai opened his mouth, he was met with a fierce glare from Jordan.

However, Yang Shuai did not hear the system notification sound in his mind.

His attack was more powerful than the combined attacks he used on Pippen last season, yet Jordan still couldn't break through his defense.

"Or is it because you're bad? You just can't beat them?"

"Negative energy from Michael Jordan +1118".

Yang Shuai's two sentences had a "double-edged sword" effect, meaning that either answer would be enough to displease Jordan.

However, Jordan hasn't even asked to play one-on-one against him yet.

This is probably the difference between Jordan and Pippen. Even when his defense was broken, he could still make the right choices on the court.

Yang Shuai is now at a loss.

If this level of trash talk doesn't work, then other forms of trash talk are useless too.

However, when Yang Shuai turned around and saw Miller fighting hard against Kukoc, he suddenly remembered his conversation with Miller yesterday.

Yes, he's starting to serve the pork knuckle.

Unlike his previous defense against Richmond, Yang Shuai used elbows even off the ball, which soon made Jordan look very unhappy.

However, Jordan merely frowned and glanced at the referee, and the referee blew his whistle, indicating that Yang Shuai had committed a defensive foul.

This treatment is miles ahead of Richmond's.

Jordan gave Yang Shuai a playful smile.

He's seen more salt than Yang Shuai has eaten rice, how could he not know what Yang Shuai is planning to do?

But soon he stopped laughing.

Because Yang Shuai met his disdainful gaze with a single sentence:

"So the basketball god only won championships because of the referees!"

"Negative energy from Michael Jordan +2000!"

After flashing a piercing glare, Jordan finally reached out and took the ball.

-Dividing line-

①: Miller scored 10 points in the first half against the Bulls, while Jordan scored 4 points. Miller trash-talked Jordan, saying, "Who the hell do you think you are? The new boss is here." In the end, Jordan scored 44 points and Miller scored 12 points.

(End of this chapter)