Capítulo 1290: Chapter 521: Jordan’s Unbelievable ‘Consistency’ (3)

In the latter half of the first quarter, the Chicago Bulls charged fiercely, but the Knicks charged even more fiercely!

The Chicago Bulls were still trying to defend, while the Knicks, except for Zhang Yang and little Anthony Mason who tried to block during fast breaks and engaged in one-on-one combat during set plays, all went full throttle on the offensive!

In 5 minutes, the Knicks shot up a score of 16 to 12, and by 11 minutes and 28 seconds, the Knicks were leading with 35 to 30, a 5-point advantage!

However, in the last 32 seconds, Jordan made a mid-range pull-up jumper and during a steal and fast break, he caused a foul resulting in two made free throws, single-handedly delivering a 4-0 run against the Knicks… At the end of the first quarter, the score was 35 to 34!

…

Halftime break.

Zhang Yang and his teammates returned to the bench.

Starks looked regretful: “It’s all my fault, I couldn’t stop Jordan. Our 5-point lead is gone, wasting our hard work this half quarter.”

During the fast-paced offensive phase, to conserve Zhang Yang’s stamina, as in the previous games, it was Starks who defended Jordan. During the running phase, he actually did quite well, at the very least, the defense didn’t fail, but in the last two defenses, he was forced into difficult shots and couldn’t stay on targets during the fast breaks, leading to Zhang Yang having to catch Jordan full throttle, resulting in a foul.

The other Knicks felt a bit of frustration too, but like Starks, their frustration wasn’t about Jordan scoring; that’s not unusual, is it?

5-time scoring king! If it weren’t for their own Saint Jack entering his peak and ending Jordan’s scoring king streak, no one could contest for the scoring king, not even close!

They were only frustrated because the hard-won 5-point lead had been reduced to 1 point, making the last half quarter’s efforts seem in vain.

Vandevich handed a towel to Starks and consoled him: “It wasn’t for nothing. If we hadn’t widened the lead with half a quarter of effort, those last few dozen seconds would have allowed Jordan to take the lead.”

The teammates agreed with this reasoning, dismissing that frustration to focus on active communication while time allowed.

Setting aside those last 30-plus seconds of special circumstances, they indeed played well tonight. Even in the opening quarters of the three previous home games, they hadn’t played this well; it was their best offensive performance in 7 games.

Zhang Yang played with unparalleled excitement. Jordan, relying on 4 points scored in the final moments, went 5-for-9 and 3-for-4 from free throws, netting 13 points in the quarter along with 2 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 steal. But Zhang San wasn’t far behind, shooting 5-for-9, including 2-for-4 from three-point range, and 3-for-3 on free throws, erupting for 15 points!

However, to some extent, he was a bit unaccustomed, having not been near the 80-line for a while. Alone, he attempted more three-point shots than the entire rest of the players combined.

To be exact, no one beside him on their side attempted a three-pointer; over on the Bulls’ side, there were only two three-point attempts: Hodges made a wide-open catch-and-shoot three-pointer, and the other was from Jordan, who after an unsuccessful fast break, took advantage of Zhang Yang’s gap during a switch and attempted a long shot which didn’t go in.

But it was precisely because of this that he wasn’t confined to the shooting habits of the current era. Once he sensed the offensive space potentially being compressed by the Bulls, he’d immediately pull out to shoot, creating better offensive conditions for his team amidst the Bulls’ apparent offensive explosion tonight.

The players’ spirits were high, but as the head coach, Big Bird had subtle worries.

The team had an over 60% shooting rate, 23-for-14 shooting racking up 35 points, yet the other side kept up!

It mainly boiled down to Jordan’s side: 3 mid-range shots made in the quarter, 2 attacks on the basket, and went 3-for-4 from the free-throw line… Big Bird knew Jordan almost too well. This guy had a staggeringly powerful yet under-discussed trait—stability.

This ‘stability’ was different from Jabbar or Olajuwon with their perennial balanced stability, but rather within a single game…

Though worried inside, Big Bird showed no signs of concern on the surface, calmly and methodically handling the intermission, granting the players over a minute to rest and communicate before calling them together for strategic adjustments.

The opponent’s offensive state was something he couldn’t control, at most they could enhance the confrontation?

Only the Bulls’ main rotation consisted of 8 men, with Hodges being the ninth, only stepping in when John-Parkinson needed to rest, a player of purely specialized skills.

This rotation style had huge flaws, just like the 86-87 season when he and Zhang Yang led the team to defend their title, highly depending on a dominant core. If the core underperformed, the whole team would fall apart, but on the opposite side, the core was Jordan, who was worth a star and a half, leaving no room to consider.

So this rotation style only benefitted the Bulls—incredibly formidable continuity!

What Big Bird should do is capitalize on advantageous points.

The present advantage: excellent individual performances of the two major stars, precise long-range shots, excellent interweaving and positioning, so seize those advantages and find a way to expand them!

…

Returning from the break, the offensive battle between the two teams resumed!

Zen Master’s rotation was still conservative, mainly avoiding mistakes. John-Parkinson, Jordan, Scott-Williams, and Cartwright took the court, setting the framework for the players, giving Jordan ample autonomy.

Big Bird had much more variation, putting Greg-Anthony, Zhang Yang, McDaniel, little Anthony Mason, and Ewing on the court, pushing the offense to the max!

Big Bird’s maneuver completely caught the Bulls off guard; they blazed 13 points in the first 3 minutes of the second quarter!

With Mark Jackson not present, Zhang Yang assumed the role of distributing the ball, doing an excellent job, working with Ewing to organize the team play in set plays neatly, with the reason for the offensive surge being Greg-Anthony utilizing his league-leading speed to trigger fast breaks, fully leveraging Zhang Yang’s threat, continuously creating opportunities for little Anthony Mason to capitalize on.

However, this merely breached the Bulls’ defense; the Bulls were still solid on offense, scoring 8 points in 3 minutes with 3-for-5 shooting and 2-for-2 from free throws, maintaining the efficient performance from the first quarter!

Zhang Yang couldn’t just keep sprinting in the second quarter after running half a quarter in the later first quarter; being the threat point, this surge didn’t truly extend the lead. As the Knicks’ momentum diminished, Zhang Yang’s personal scoring performance normalized, giving way for the Bulls’ regained advantage!

In the remaining 9 minutes of the second quarter, under Jordan’s leadership, the Bulls achieved a 24-21 score, and by halftime, they had narrowed the score to 66-70, trailing by 4 points.

After the halftime break, in the third quarter, the Bulls continued their offensive frenzy, recording another high after 34 points in the first quarter and 32 in the second, shooting 35 points in the third quarter alone!

A single quarter score of 35-28, at the end of three quarters, the Bulls led the Knicks by 101-98, entering the break with a 3-point lead!

Zhang Yang and Big Bird didn’t sit idly by, continually striving to resist during this period. Zhang Yang gave his all in both offense and defense, playing 33 minutes over three quarters, scoring 15 points in the first quarter, 9 in the second, and 10 in the third, amassing 34 points in three quarters.

Big Bird was also actively adjusting, pondering the rotation and tactics so intensely that his brain almost smoked.

However, Michael Jordan on the opposite side was unstoppable, single-handedly overturning the position they held in check for the first half!

Once more entering the official timeout, Big Bird looked at the statistics Vincent tallied at the scoring table—it happened as he feared!

Jordan’s ‘stability’ was very particular! Big Bird realized this during that 86 series against Jordan with Zhang Yang.

This guy had an extremely high floor, defending him to only 45% shooting in a series was top-level defense; he rarely goes off like an assassin with a 20+ point quarter, but further suppressing his offensive performance was near impossible.

And in a single game, it was outrageous; if he scored eight or nine points in the first quarter, you’d see him getting eight or nine points each subsequent quarter, but when he got double digits in the first quarter… it unleashed tonight!

After hitting 13 points in the first quarter, he scored 12 in the second, and continued his ‘stability’, chalking up 14 points in the third! Through three quarters, he went 15-for-25 including 9-for-10 free throws, erupting for 39 points!

In the first intermission, the entire team’s fighting spirit soared, during halftime, the team was infinitely excited, yet this time, after losing 7 points in a single quarter, Big Bird notably sensed a drop in morale and a pervasive pressure looming over the entire team.

Winning tonight and the three-peat would be virtually secured, a feat only previously accomplished by the Lakers and Celtics.

But if they lost…

Not necessarily! Seeing his longtime partner’s excitement, Big Bird regained full confidence!

On the other side, they had Jordan; he had Saint Jack!