Chapter 172 Three consecutive away games

  The locker room was silent and very quiet. The Zen master was organizing the players to meditate. The explosion came from the silence. He believed that through meditation, the potential of the players could be stimulated most thoroughly.

  After 15 minutes of meditation, the dressing room resumed its liveliness, changing clothes, listening to music, chatting and chatting, very relaxed, and there was no trace of losing the G1 battle.

   "This is the power of meditation, it can keep the player's mind in the most complete state." The Zen master said with satisfaction in his heart.

   rumbling, at this time, dozens of people from the Suns poured into the corridor from the underground parking lot.

   "Tie Jun, tell me, what tactics are you playing today? Trust us, you will definitely not say it." Zhang Lili asked in a low voice.

   Comrade Pharaoh glared at Zhang Lili and said angrily: "Brother Zhang, the secret cannot be leaked, let me trust the reporter, unless the old sow can climb the tree. Besides, when have you seen the tactics revealed to the reporter before the game?"

   Zhang Lili was so angry that he didn't talk about it. What are you talking about, old sow, isn't this mad at me? White has been waiting for you for a season.

Sun Zhenping next to    asked quickly: "Tie Jun, can you still cut 30+ tonight?"

   "This one?"

  Pharaoh walked forward and said, "If the Bulls still play like the second half of G1, it's possible.

   If they step up their confrontation, I'm afraid it will be very difficult. "

   "Tie Jun, staying awake is the right thing to do." Zhang Lili praised.

   At eight o'clock, the two sides announced the starting list, and the appearance did not change.

   Bulls: Bill Cartwright, Grant, Pippen, Jordan, BJ Armstrong

  Sun: Wang Tiejun, Barkley, Danny Ainge, Dan Marley, Kevin Johnson

   At half past eight, the game officially started.

   After half an hour, the first quarter was over, and at 27:29, the Suns led by two points.

Wang Tiejun played for 10 minutes in the first quarter. When he was holding the ball in the low post on the left and right flanks, the Bulls rarely double-teamed him and allowed him to shoot near two points. clips, and proper foul tactics.

What made him even more troublesome was that the Bulls made frequent substitutions, and the six big insiders took turns to play. Except for Grant who only played defense, the other five took turns to match him, and each played a few rounds, which not only shared his Lethality, and even took the initiative to seek him for confrontation, which consumed a lot of his physical energy.

  Today, the Bulls took the initiative to confront him. Even without the ball, the defender always pestered him. Most of his physical consumption was not when he had the ball, but without the ball.

The Bulls' strategy was very successful. In ten minutes, he had 9 possessions, 1 turnover, 2 points, 6 offenses, 4 baskets, only 1 shot, and missed 1 shot in a double team. Hook at the basket, was sent to the free throw line twice, 2 of 4 shots.

   The other two offenses were close-to-the-basket hooks, and the hit rate was not bad, and he scored one.

   In ten minutes, he made 2 of 4 shots, 2 of 4 free throws, and got 6 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 block, 1 turnover and 1 foul.

   The data is not bad, but the efficiency is not good, more importantly, he is very tired, and every time he gets the ball, he will have a confrontation, especially every attacking basket must be done with all his strength.

  The bull's fouls are very fierce and decisive, and sometimes he is directly put on the ground without entanglement with him.

   He also counterattacked, but the Bulls six insiders took turns to deal with him, and he did not suffer unbearable damage. After a few rounds, he went down, and when he came back, it was a new force, and he could only continue to fight.

   sat back on the bench, he was so tired that he stuck his tongue out.

  Assistant coach Lewis observed it and said to head coach Westphal: "Paul, it's only been a quarter, and old K's physical fitness has obviously gone wrong. We have to prepare to reduce his playing time and play."

  Westphal stayed for a while, if there is no old K, how can Barkley support the Suns' inside line? Under the distraction, his mind was even more confused.

"The Bulls are now two points behind, but it doesn't matter. From the point of view of the situation, they are leaning towards the Bulls. Old K can still hold on, but at most he can hold on to the first three quarters, but he can't hold on to the last quarter. And it is obvious that his efficiency is far less effective today. Last game, it shows that the Bulls' strong confrontation strategy is effective." Bill Walton said.

   "Even if the old K left his stamina until the last quarter, it would be useless. Jordan would take the Suns in the first three quarters." John Hanks said.

   "Strong confrontation and foul tactics are indeed the best way to deal with the Bulls at present. Now that Phil Jackson has found a way to deal with the Suns, what will Westphal do?" Bill Walton asked.

   In fact, Westphal did not find any good solutions, he was just a rookie, and his level was average.

   In the second quarter, he let Pharaoh play for another 10 minutes, but he did not fix Pharaoh's attacking method.

  Pharaoh was in a state of blood recovery in the second quarter, reducing the attack at the basket and increasing the hook shot near the basket, which reduced the efficiency of the Suns' low-post attack.

This is exactly what Phil Jackson wants. He is not afraid of Wang Tiejun's hook at all. At most, he has a 50% hit rate, and if he shoots too much, he won't even get 50%. The Bulls can bear this loss, but he hopes Wang Tiejun It would be nice to have more shots in this position.

In the second quarter, Wang Tiejun made 2 of 5 shots, and was blocked by Grant for one hook hook. The remaining four were all near-the-basket hooks. To 4 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist, the data is average.

   After halftime, 55:51, the Suns trailed by 4 points.

At halftime, Bill Walton analyzed: "Old K made 4 of 9 shots, 2 of 4 free throws, and scored 10 points and 5 rebounds in 20 minutes in the halftime. His performance was decent, but not as good as G1. It shows that his physical reserves are not sufficient, and as the series progresses, the Bulls may benefit from this.

   And in 22 minutes in the half, Barkley made 6 of 13 shots, 46% from the field, 4 of 5 free throws, scored 16 points and 7 rebounds, and performed very well.

   But because the Bulls block the basket very tightly, his impact on the restricted area is not enough, and the efficiency is average.

   The two of them combined contributed 29 points and 12 rebounds, but today Jordan and Pippen teamed up and contributed 31 points and 10 rebounds. The key is that Jordan's shooting percentage is as high as 61%, so the Bulls are ahead of the sun. "

  John Hanks analyzed: "In the second half, the old K's physical fitness declined, the number of attacks not only decreased, but the quality of the attack also declined, which will make the Suns' offense more difficult, and the Bulls have already grasped the key to victory."

Bill Walton said: "The Bulls frequently replaced the inside line, and all six inside players played for a few minutes. Although several inside lines could not find their offensive state, the Bulls themselves had very few inside attacks, so this impact is not important. .

   But in this way, the old K's physical strength was seriously consumed, and he obviously reduced the impact on the penalty area in the second quarter.

   This shows that Phil Jackson is really good, and his coaching ability has begun to be reflected. If Westphal cannot make timely adjustments, the winner of this game should be the Bulls. "

Unfortunately, until the end of the game, Westphal failed to make timely adjustments, because passive adjustment is the most difficult, Wang Tiejun is the kind of high-consumption style of strong confrontation. method of adjustment.

   In the end, at 108:100, the Suns lost their second home game, and the big score between the two sides was 1-1.

   The next G3, G4 and G5 battles will be played at the Bulls' home court on the 13th, 16th and 18th.

Wang Tiejun made 7 shots in the second half and hit 3 goals. Most of the offenses were near-basket hooks. He played 44 minutes, 7 of 16 shots, 43.7% shooting, 3 of 6 free throws, and scored 17 points, 10 rebounds and 3. The data of assists, 2 blocks, 4 turnovers and 4 fouls.

   This performance is far lower than his efficiency in G1, and he has 5 fewer rebounds.

   Thanks to the Bulls' focus on Wang Tiejun's defense, Barkley made 14 of 30 shots, with a shooting rate of 46.6%, plus 7 of 10 free throws, and scored 35 points and 14 rebounds, but he couldn't save the team.

On the Bulls side, Jordan scored 35 points and hit 59%, while Scottie Pippen scored 23 points and hit 48%. The efficiency is higher than that of Wang Tiejun and Barkley. As an outside line, this is a very efficient performance.

   Zhang Lili analyzed after the game: "The Bulls had 38 rebounds in this game, and the Suns had 45, only 7 points away, which is the key reason for the Bulls' victory.

  The Suns should pay attention. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Knicks lost their advantage in rebounding, otherwise, where would they lose? "

  Sun Zhenping said with a smile: "Wang Tiejun's performance is still very good, 20+10, this is the data of the All-Star."

   "The stats of 20+10 in the finals are of course a good performance." Zhang Lili laughed.

But he did not say that only 6 of Wang Tiejun's 18 shots were at the basket. For a big center, and a big center known for his strong confrontation, who has the name of a sweeper in the penalty area, this proportion is very low. of.

   "Hoohooho..."

   On the sidelines, Wang Tiejun was sitting and gasping for breath. A few minutes after the game ended, he still hadn't caught his breath.

He felt too tired, and the Bulls' insiders were replaced by a different person. From the first second of the first quarter to the end of the game, it seemed that they were all hanging on him, and he used confrontation to consume his physical strength every moment. , his body now seems to be empty, like a bottomless pit.

   "Old K?" Buckley said worriedly.

   "It's okay, it's okay, I can recover." He gasped.

  Barkley gritted his teeth. If he can't do it today, then next year, the old K will be stronger and his physical reserves will be more abundant.

"Friends from the audience, the Knicks won two home games in a row in the Eastern Conference Finals, and the Suns were forced to a 1-1 draw by the Bulls in the two home games. Their performance is not as good as the Knicks, which makes us ESPN firm us. The Bulls will ultimately win the Finals."

   Courtside, facing the camera, ESPN's reporter said confidently: "Now let's interview Michael Jordan."

   Beside him is Jordan who is preparing for a live interview.

   At this time, Jordan was completely different from when he lost the game the day before yesterday.

   "Michael, what do you want to say most about tonight's victory?" the reporter asked.

   "We are not afraid of any opponent. At this time, it belongs to the bulls." Staring at the camera, Jordan said firmly.

   "For the Suns tonight, do you want to send them a message?" The reporter asked again.

   "Charles, my friend, failure is your destiny, haha!"

   Jordan said something seriously, then looked at Barkley on the Suns bench a few meters away, and laughed smugly.

"Ugh!"

   Glancing at Jordan, Barkley sighed deeply.

   "What's the matter! This fellow is too wild, we absolutely cannot let him succeed, the **** championship must be ours." Wang Tiejun gritted his teeth.

  Barkley is his best friend in the United States. The biggest pursuit in his life is the championship. He has to make every effort to help him realize this dream.

   Besides, he hated Jordan's madness so much, it was the last thing he could bear.

   "Go, Charles, let's beat him!"

   He was not tired anymore, got up from his seat and pulled Barkley up.

  Buckley is stunned, **** old K, aren't you exhausted like a dog? Why are you so energetic all of a sudden? Why didn't you see your spirits on the court just now?

   The two strode towards Jordan, and the other teammates followed.

   Seeing the menacing them, Jordan was also a little stunned. Before he could react, he was caught by Wang Tiejun's neck.

   "Hey, old K, let go of you lunatic!"

  Jordan struggled under Pharaoh's arm. After the game, the strong smell of sweat under his arm made him want to vomit.

"Ha ha!"

  Pharaoh just wanted to disgust Jordan, so he released it immediately, and walked to the player tunnel with Barkley and other teammates jokingly.

   "This **** lunatic! Old K, you bastard!" Jordan yelled while wiping his face.

"Ha ha…"

  The home fans who were leaving the stadium laughed when they saw this scene.

   Back in the locker room, Wang Tiejun sat down in front of the closet and wanted to rest again, but was pulled by Aaron Nelson to take an ice bath.

   "Old K, how are you feeling now?" Nelson asked.

   "G3, I won't let that guy be proud, we want to win them away." He said in a deep voice.

   At this time, head coach Westphal started to summarize tonight's game from outside, saying: "Tonight, unfortunately, we played a little passively and lost the game.

  The Bulls started a siege against the old K in our low post, so we lost the efficient offense and some rebounds in the low post, which was the main reason for our loss tonight.

  The overall shooting percentage, we are 45.6%, the opponent is 51%, we have 7 more rebounds, but we have 6 more turnovers, which eventually led to our shots and the Bulls.

   In the next series, we need to strengthen the fight for rebounding. We are much stronger than them in the interior. For rebounding, my requirement is at least 10 more.

   This is a basic number. Below this gap, their perimeter defense is too strong, causing us to make more mistakes, and we will not take advantage of our shots. "

   He talked about it, but he didn't mention how to solve the problem of Wang Tiejun. It can be seen that he has no solution yet.

  In the locker room of the visiting team, because Jordan was in a good mood, the atmosphere was very good.

   "Phil, your approach is really good, it's right to trust you." Jordan said to Phil Jackson with a smile.

Phil Jackson smiled confidently: "I think so too, we all share the lethality of old K, and consume his physical energy every second, allowing him to play inefficient games and let the Suns Losing the most efficient offense and grabbing more rebounds, we'll continue to do that for the rest of the series."

   An hour later, the post-match press conference began.

   In order to let Wang Tiejun save his energy as much as possible, Colangelo did not arrange for him to attend the press conference.

   At one o'clock in the morning, he lay on his bed, but he didn't sleep.

   Tonight's game, he played really unhappy, there was someone around him every second, and his physical fitness was useless like this.

  I opened the system and took a look. The speed has increased by one level, now it is level 62, the flexibility has increased by two levels, and it is now level 68. The two trainings will end at the end of this month, and each can be improved by one level.

   "How do I get rid of the garbage stuck to my body?" Looking at the ceiling, he murmured.

   Slowly, drowsiness struck, and he fell into a deep sleep.

   When I woke up, it was already three poles in the sun, and I quickly got up. After washing, I tidied up my suitcase, and then made my own breakfast in the kitchen.

   Toasted a few slices of whole-wheat bread, fried a large portion of undercooked steak, fried thirty beef dumplings, warmed a large glass of skim milk, and nibbled an apple.

   "Old Zhang has piled up picks, but it's still inconvenient. You have to hire a worker."

   After a simple meal, he was at most five full. He carried his suitcase and drove to the training base.

   At 11:00, the Suns boarded the plane.

   Lunch is not provided on the plane, but the training base has prepared lunch in advance, and everyone brings their own share, which is a few lunch boxes.

  Wang Tiejun eats a lot and prepared seven meal boxes in total, which are very rich, including chicken, beef, shrimp, vegetable and fruit salad and so on.

  After eating and drinking, when the players were digesting their food, several members of the coaching staff with dark circles gathered together and were still discussing the techniques and tactics of the G3 battle.

   "Should we give up the old K's tactics and let him play support and switch to Barkley's side?" Assistant coach Lewis said.

"no."

Westphal decisively refused, he said: "Barkley has played in Philadelphia for so many years, except for his rookie season, he has never won against Jordan's Bulls. It is very difficult for us to win against the Bulls alone. The role of old K must be stimulated."

   Colangelo also said: "If you give up the old K because of the opponent's tactics, it will definitely not work. And the old K is our future, we can only strengthen his tactical position, there is no reason to give up?"

Westphal said: "I thought about it all night and there is only one way. They mainly use up the old K's physical strength in the first half, then we can keep the old K in the first half and keep the physical strength in the second half. "

   Lewis said: "Reduce old K's shots and time in the first half?"

   nodded, Westphal said: "Old K is not only attacking, his coping ability and ability to launch fast breaks are also good, let him do this in the first half, and strengthen the rebounding."

   "And let him not just focus on confrontation with opponents, but hide when he should, and try to save energy consumption." Colangelo reminded.

  Lewis complained in his heart, isn't this still what I said about playing support?

   Arrived in Chicago, after checking in at the hotel, Wang Tiejun found the fitness room for flexibility training and speed training.

   These two trainings are not very physically consuming, and he will only play tomorrow. He just used these two trainings to exercise his body.

   Aaron Nelson followed him, monitoring his physical condition at all times.

   (end of this chapter)