One Year Left to Play

Chapter 616: Chapter 190: All the Ways to Make Headlines

The news related to Zhang Hao and the Lakers kept coming, temporarily stealing the spotlight from the playoffs.

But on the first day of the new month, June 1st, the day of the Finals’ first game, the media and fans’ attention returned to Chicago, back to the Bulls and the SuperSonics.

However, there was still a topic related to Zhang Hao on the first day—would Jordan once again get exasperated and play recklessly?

Some media observed a pattern; during the regular season, every time Jordan exploded for 50+ points, it was almost always related to Zhang Hao.

Either he was directly facing Zhang Hao, or he exploded after Zhang Hao taunted him, or after Zhang Hao stole the headlines.

But not every time Jordan was taunted or had his headlines stolen did his crazy shooting result in a good performance. At least two games in the regular season were lost because Jordan was provoked into shooting excessively.

Therefore, in another attempt to provoke Jordan, Time Warner Cable Sports released a news report on the morning of June 1st—the "real culprit" preventing the Bulls from a single-digit loss season was Exel.

The content was roughly that Zhang Hao made game-winning shots against the Bulls twice, and the Bulls lost two games because Jordan was provoked by Zhang Hao...

However, Jordan has now started to embrace it in stride, having the consciousness of holding half the kingdom of basketball—being stolen headlines is something he’s really gotten used to...

In the Finals’ first game, Jordan made only 18 attempts, hitting 10 of them, including 3 out of 7 three-pointers, plus 4 out of 4 free throws, scoring 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 assists, playing very sensibly.

Although the Bulls indeed failed to guard Kemp, who exploded for 32 points and 16 rebounds, Pippen scored 21 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists, and the substitute Kukoc scored 22 points. The Bulls offense played very well, winning the home game 107 to 99 against the SuperSonics, taking the first game of the Finals.

But by the second game, the SuperSonics’ strategy changed, no longer double-teaming Jordan, allowing Payton to defend solo.

Needless to say, the effect was surprisingly good. The SuperSonics’ ability to cut off passing lines was very strong, doing very well in both their games against the Lakers in the regular season and the Western Conference Finals against the Rockets. Tonight, the Bulls only had 15 assists throughout the game, incomparable to the last match.

Furthermore, Jordan under Payton’s defense only scored 9 out of 24 attempts, obtaining 29 points and 8 assists. Due to Pippen’s solo play being limited in threat, he had to rely on Jordan handling the ball, although contributing 8 assists, the Bulls’ overall offense was quite poor.

The crucial moment was when Payton, who only scored 11 points, succeeded in post plays against Ron Harper and Jordan, securing two consecutive shots, taking the home advantage with a 92 to 88 victory, leveling the match 1-1 against the Bulls.

Once Payton’s solo defense on Jordan and the SuperSonics cutting off the Bulls’ passing lines succeeded, the Finals entered a defensive warfare mode.

However, after the SuperSonics brought the game to a 1-1 tie at their home court, the media started to look down on the Bulls, advertising them as possibly becoming the best performing team to lose in the Finals.

But by June 6th, the Bulls demonstrated their super strong defensive capabilities with their three top defensive players.

Playing defense... although Jordan only made 5 out of 19 attempts in the third game, with less than thirty percent shooting rate, scoring only 17 points, he did achieve 7 steals and 2 blocks!

The Bulls’ offensive performance in this game was terrible, scoring only 86 points, but they kept the SuperSonics to only 78 points!

86-78, the Bulls came to Seattle and immediately stole back the home court advantage!

Jordan with 17 points, 16 rebounds, 3 assists, 7 steals, and 2 blocks looked at his stats, feeling his 7 steals setting his personal Finals steal record high, and the 16 rebounds setting his personal Finals rebound record high, directly snatching back the home advantage. At this point, he vaguely felt that he should sing a song on site, and it must be off-key.

Don’t ask why, just say it’s the consciousness of holding half the kingdom...

Indeed, after the game ended, when he was surrounded by a group of reporters, the first question asked was: "Michael, we heard the Lakers have agreed to use Exel as the core chip for trading Barkley, what’s your take on this?"

Sure enough, Jordan could already see the headlines drifting away from him... He replied expressionlessly, "Is that so, that’s great news, wish them happiness..."

...

...

After arriving in Hawaii, Zhang Hao immediately threw himself into training.

After the series against the Rockets, Zhang Hao had a clearer idea of the areas he needed to strengthen.

Some need to wait until James Worthy’s holiday ends. After the playoffs, James Worthy needs to rest for 5-6 weeks, and the training Zhang Hao wants to learn to utilize athletic ability and physique to enhance inside cutting and attacking the basket in set play needs to be learned from James Worthy.

Also, the Magician scheduled Jabbar to teach him, but the time is still early, needing to wait until August, and he also made an appointment with Jason Williams to learn about pick-and-roll, but Jason Williams has returned home to farm after the season ended...

Even players who didn’t make it to the playoffs, starting training camps in October, going through the regular season, played nearly a 7-month game.

Even if you really love playing basketball, with the pressure of winning or losing, and fixed games that have to be played regardless of how well you rest, playing continuous games for at least 7 months will create a period of resistance to touching basketball.

Like Zhang Hao, who only rested for half a month, even before June in Hawaii, spending every morning and another two hours in the evening after dinner training, is quite rare.