Chapter 797: Chapter 22 Missed an Ah Gan_3
But his playing time was limited because Buck-Williams firmly held the starting position.
Tonight, Jordan also received special treatment from the chief referee Darell Garretson (robot referee), having only 2 free throw opportunities throughout the game.
This season, Jordan’s average free throw attempts per game is 8.2, which has significantly dropped from previous seasons because he has had fewer opportunities to attack with the ball.
But having only 2 free throws is too few, indicating that Jordan’s impact on the Hawks’ interior defense was severely lacking.
Phil Jackson was very dissatisfied with this, believing that Garretson was biased against Jordan. He dislikes star players like Jordan enjoying certain special treatments on the court.
To the Chicago Bulls and Michael Jordan, Darell Garretson is what Jack O’Donnell is to the Portland Trail Blazers and Gan Guoyang.
This season, among the few games the Bulls lost, two were officiated by Darell Garretson.
In one game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Darell Garretson appeared with his son Ron Garretson, achieving a father-son referee duo on the court.
In that game, Darell spent half the time blowing the whistle controlling the game and the other half instructing his rookie son on positioning and controlling the court, which greatly displeased Phil Jackson.
During the break, Phil Jackson mocked Garretson: "This is a basketball court, not your home study. Pay more attention to the game, besides, your son is already an adult!"
The conflict between the Bulls and Garretson might have started from here.
After losing this game, the Bulls ended their seven-game winning streak.
It seems like just a minor setback in the long regular season journey.
But Phil Jackson sensed a dangerous vibe, believing that there was a divide within the Bulls, and the players were isolating from each other.
Especially Jordan, he seemed increasingly lonely as the distance between him and his teammates grew for various reasons.
Leaving Atlanta, the Bulls flew to Miami.
After arriving at the hotel, Jordan couldn’t sleep, like Gan Guoyang, he had the privilege of staying in a single room.
In December, when Jordan had a cold, the team excused him from practice and sent trainer Shaver to deliver medicine to Jordan’s house.
A week later, John Paxson also caught a cold, but the team required Paxson to come to practice where the coach would assess if he could be excused.
Every time they went away for games, Jordan was always the last one to board the bus. The bus would depart immediately after he boarded because he didn’t like waiting for others.
As a result, there was a time when Jordan boarded the bus, while Rory Sparrow was still in the hotel lobby; the bus drove off without him.
These are the privileges of a superstar. Jordan and the management considered them natural, but it inevitably caused some dissatisfaction among teammates.
However, Jordan didn’t care. He knew all this was fought for by himself. NBA teams are just like that, with clear hierarchies.
Thus, he had no intention of getting closer to his teammates, and the reason for his insomnia wasn’t due to a loss, or bad relationships with teammates.
As dawn approached, Jordan still couldn’t sleep, so he went to the adjacent room of Adolf Sievers and knocked on the door.
This is another of Jordan’s privileges: he could bring his own friends and entourage with the Bulls on away games.
In addition to Adolf Sievers, there was also his driver and bodyguard George Keller, the Fred triplets (not actual brothers but three people with the same name), Gert Rice, among others.
When Jordan couldn’t sleep on trips and felt bored, he would hang out with these friends playing cards, gambling, or driving around to kill time.
This time, Jordan asked Sievers and Keller to drive him to a large parking lot in Miami, where he wanted to play with cars.
Sievers and Keller, knowing what tricks Jordan wanted to play, reluctantly said, "You have a game tonight; you should rest."
Jordan shook his head, saying, "This is rest for me, I need some relaxation, I’m a bit tense."
As he spoke, Keller gave the driving seat to Jordan, who then grabbed the steering wheel and started revving the engine.
The large parking lot in the suburbs was empty in the early morning, almost no one around, and Jordan instantly accelerated the car to 110 km/h, heading straight for the parking lot wall!
Keller and Sievers gripped the handles nervously. If they kept accelerating like this, the three of them would die in this deserted parking area.
Jordan hit the brakes, the car emitted a sharp braking sound, rapidly decreasing the speed, and finally stopped just a few centimeters from the wall.
Sievers and Keller broke out in a cold sweat, but from their expressions, it was evident that this wasn’t Jordan’s first time doing this.
But Jordan seemed excited, he turned the car around and charged towards another wall, followed by a sudden stop.
This was Jordan’s favorite thrilling game to play when bored, challenging his own reaction speed.
He was very confident in his reaction speed.
He liked this game for another reason; Ah Gan was scared to play like this.
In the summer, when Gan Guoyang was with Jordan, Jordan drove fast through the streets and alleys of Chicago, scaring Gan Guoyang tremendously.
Gan Guoyang, because of past life memories, was already scared of roller coasters, and such speeding activities, which to Jordan, were even more death-defying.
And this made Jordan feel very amused, extremely amused, as a result, later on, Gan Guoyang refused to ride in any car driven by Jordan.
After driving back and forth in the parking lot a few times, Jordan finally got tired, felt a bit sleepy, and let Keller take over the driving seat to go back to the hotel to sleep.
That night, the Chicago Bulls faced off against the Miami Heat in an away game, the second time this season Jordan encountered Drexler.
This time Jordan showed no mercy, going all out, 20 out of 28 shots, furiously scoring 44 points over Drexler’s head.
Using all his offensive skills, he blasted the Glider in three and a half quarters, leading the Bulls to a dominating 121:105, a 16-point victory over the Miami Heat, avoiding consecutive losses.
At the end of the game, Jordan didn’t spare Drexler, chewing gum and taunting him: "Clyde, between you and me, you’re missing an Ah Gan."
Drexler was stunned, thinking, how do I know this phrase so well?
And am I really that bad? Being trampled over by you all!
