Chapter 795: Chapter 22 Missed an Ah Gan
On the same day that the Trail Blazers faced off against the Nets, the Chicago Bulls were playing an away game in Orlando.
The Bulls players also watched the news of the US Army’s air strikes on Iraq in the locker room, with emotions running high.
Jordan is an American, and he couldn’t be indifferent to the war like Ah Gan and Sabonis, especially since his brother is at a military base in Germany and might participate in the conflict.
"We’ll teach them a lesson! Let them know that America is not to be trifled with!" Jordan declared loudly in the locker room.
Jordan has never been very concerned with politics, but when war breaks out, as an American, it’s impossible for him to remain detached from his emotions.
His mood infected the entire Bulls team and scattered their focus for tonight’s game.
Of course, not every Bulls player could share this "common enemy," and Craig Hodges was very conflicted internally.
Although he is an American, he is a Muslim, a follower of Islam—by some measures, believers are without nationality.
He sympathizes with the Muslims in Iraq who share his faith but must stay silent in America to protect his family and himself.
At the Bulls, he is very popular among his teammates and often discusses religion, country, and politics with Parkson and Grant.
However, when war breaks out, these topics become taboo; this is a time for taking sides, and there is no opportunity for debate.
The evening game between the Bulls and the Magic wasn’t spectacular, with the much stronger Bulls playing loosely due to lack of focus for the first three quarters, allowing the home team, the Magic, to maintain the lead in score.
By the end of the third quarter, the Magic were leading the Bulls by 7 points entering the fourth.
Then came the fourth quarter when the Bulls suddenly exerted their power, unleashing a 15:2 run on the Magic within just 5 minutes, completely turning around the situation on the court.
Jordan dominated this wave of offense; nobody could stop him from holding the ball in the fourth quarter, and the Magic’s defense was as good as non-existent in front of him.
And the Magic, who had been playing a decent offense for the first three quarters, suddenly went cold in the fourth.
Not just because the Bulls had stepped up their defensive intensity, but also because the Magic’s point guard Sam Vincent suddenly lost his coherence.
He went for seven consecutive plays without passing the ball, trying to force shots on his own, which resulted in four turnovers under the Bulls’ defense, leading to Bulls counter-attacks.
Sam Vincent, who had previously played for the Bulls, seemed to want to prove himself against his old team.
But he underestimated how solid Jordan and Pippen’s backcourt defense was in front of his former team.
After this game, Sam Vincent lost the trust of the Magic’s head coach and management, handing over his starting position to Scott Skiles.
Eventually, the Bulls secured a victory with a comfortable margin of 100:88, winning by 12 points.
A strange scene occurred at the key moment of the game: during a timeout called by Phil Jackson, Hodges, Grant, and other Bulls players were noticeably keeping their distance from Jordan.
The reason behind this was both laughable and lamentable. Saddam had threatened that if the US launched an attack, he would dispatch squads to assassinate important American figures.
Hodges said to Grant and others during the game: "I think Michael is America’s basketball treasure; if Saddam were to assassinate influential people, Michael Jordan would definitely be one of them."
Grant actually agreed with Hodges, and many of the Bulls players in the fourth quarter thought that even though the likelihood of Hodges’ statement was very low, what if?
If it were true, and Michael was assassinated during the game, being too close could either result in one being collateral damage or splattered with blood.
So just to be safe, it would be wise to keep some distance from Jordan, both on and off the court—it wouldn’t hurt if it was just a rumor.
Phil Jackson quickly learned about all this and found it funny, angry, and helpless all at the same time.
However, since Jackson knew that Saddam had indeed made such a statement, after careful consideration, he felt that keeping a distance from Michael was a rational choice.
Anyway, Jordan has never been close to his teammates. Ever since the Bulls traded Charles Oakley and Rod Higgins, Jordan no longer had friends on the team.
Scott Williams is Jordan’s underling; Jordan takes good care of Williams, but they are not friends on equal terms.
Pippen’s relationship with Jordan on the court has become closer and closer, being Jordan’s best assistant, but off the court, their relationship remained average.
Horace Grant’s relationship with Jordan has been poor from the first year, and with Buck Williams’s arrival this season, Grant’s starting position was stripped, deepening their conflict.
Cartwright, Hodges, Armstrong, and Jordan have had their fair share of disputes. They admire Jordan’s skills on the court; off the court, they keep their distance respectfully.
Ordinary players find it hard to truly understand Jordan without spending enough time or earning his recognition, making it difficult to establish a deep friendship with him.
Amid the adoration from commercial capital, the media, and the management, Michael Jordan has become more alienated from the ordinary players, and the gap between them keeps growing.
Although Jordan hasn’t won a championship yet, let alone made it to the finals, in the seventh year of his career, he’s already an undisputed superstar.
Because of his formidable commercial appeal, after Buck Williams joined the Bulls, he pointed out that "Only after Ah Gan has won four championships can he match Michael’s commercial value."
