NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 130 You Died for Me
"Danny, you will defend Meng Jin tonight."

During the Clippers' pre-game tactical meeting, head coach Gena Sue pointed at Danny Manning.

Danny Manning is this year's No. 1 pick in the NBA. He comes from a basketball family. His father, Ed Manning, has played in both the ABA and NBA leagues. He has played for the Washington Bullets, Chicago Bulls and Portland Trail Blazers. He has won NCAA championships, won the MOP in the Final Four, played for the US men's basketball team, and has gained experience in major competitions.

Moreover, Gena Su believes that Danny Manning's physical condition is very suitable for defending Meng Jin. He is 208cm tall, has excellent athletic ability and agile footwork. Most importantly, during his NCAA period, he had very mature defensive skills under the training of head coach Larry Brown.

Gena-Su thinks Danny Manning can do it.

But Danny Manning felt he was not good enough.

Because this summer, in the game between the Olympic men's basketball team and the NBA men's basketball team, he saw Meng Jin ravage David Robinson with his own eyes.

Who is David Robinson?
In his eyes, he is an absolute freak of talent, a guy with even more talent than a freak of talent. Manning doesn't think the defensive skills he learned from his father and Larry Brown will work on him.

If it was before the Olympics, Danny Manning might have been willing to give it a try, but after the failure in the Olympics, Manning completely realized his insignificance and shortcomings. That was his sad journey. The US men's basketball team only won a bronze medal in this Olympics, and the worst thing was that they lost to the Soviet Union.

The players of the US men's basketball team became the target of criticism from the media and fans. David Robinson and Danny Manning were scolded the most because they were both No. 1 picks.

Danny Manning's confidence was not destroyed, he just had a deeper understanding of himself. He had the habit of reading the newspaper every morning. Meng Jin would appear on the front page of the sports section every few days. He knew how explosive this monster was now.

"Coach, I'm not ready yet, you know, my ankle."

Danny Manning looked at head coach Gena Sue with some guilt. He had sprained his ankle during training two days ago. The injury was not serious and he has almost recovered now. He just used this as an excuse.

"Let me do it."

Charles Daniel spoke before the head coach.

Charles Daniel looked confident, and the rookie took this as an opportunity.

Gena Su nodded. Even if Charles Daniel didn't speak, he would let this guy defend Meng Jin. Charles Daniel was Gena Su's backup answer. He was the second pick of this year and a violent power forward with great potential.

It can be seen that the Clippers want to achieve something big this season. They have gathered the No. 1 and No. 2 picks and sent away last season's two core players, Mike Woodson and Michael Cage.

In the evening, an hour before the game started, Clippers owner Donald Sterling appeared in the stadium. He walked around Jordan and went straight to Meng Jin to say hello.

This boss is very realistic. Last season, the Bulls had made it clear that they would not sell Jordan, so he didn't even bother to greet Jordan and went straight to Meng Jin, who is very popular recently.

"Our team now has the most promising center and the most promising power forward. If we can also get the most promising small forward, then we will definitely win the championship this year."

The potential small forward Sterling mentioned is obviously Meng Jin, and the purpose of his greeting is also to recruit Meng Jin.

If someone else said this, Meng Jin might believe it, but he doesn't believe it when the Clippers owner said it. The Clippers only won a shameful 17 games last season. This team that has lost faith and fighting spirit cannot be led by a few potential new stars.

“Congratulations on a successful season.”

Meng Jin just played dumb and refused to take the challenge.

Donald Sterling raised his hand: "What do you think of my stadium?"

Meng Jin: "It's very nice, it's an NBA stadium."

Sterling: "What do you think the atmosphere is like?"

Meng Jin: “There are quite a lot of people.”

Sterling felt that he couldn't communicate with Meng Jin because Meng Jin didn't want to talk to this guy properly at all.

Not to mention the Clippers' foundation and the overall strength of the team, just based on Sterling's stinginess, Meng Jin would never come here. Meng Jin has heard a lot of news about his stinginess, such as refusing to hire players for training games and asking the team's head coach to bandage the players.

The worst thing is that this guy has an extremely bad relationship with NBA Commissioner David Stern. In 1984, Sterling forcibly moved the Clippers to Los Angeles without the league's approval. After being fined 2500 million US dollars by the league, he refused to pay and finally paid only 600 million US dollars.

At the NBA owners' joint meeting, Sterling would even suddenly attack Stern in public and loudly say things like "I'm going to fire you."

Meng Jin didn't believe that such a team could win the NBA championship.

Although Meng Jin has no good feelings towards Sterling, he will not deliberately humiliate him. After all, the two have no grudges against each other.

After chatting for a while, Sterling returned to his seat.

The game started soon. Danny Manning was placed on the bench tonight. He said his ankle was uncomfortable, so the coach wanted to reduce his playing time.

The Clippers' starting five tonight are Benoit Benjamin, Charles Smith, Ken Norman, Quintin Daly, and Norm Nixon.

The Bulls' starting five remains unchanged: Jordan, Paxson, Meng Jin, Grant, and Cartwright.

The Clippers won the opportunity to attack first at the start. Charles Smith was very excited in this game and scored 4 points in a row.

First there was a two-handed dunk from the baseline, and then a mid-range jump shot after catching the ball.

Charles Smith has a fairly comprehensive skill set. He can play post-up and has some shooting ability.

On the defensive end, Charles Smith was even more motivated and kept pressing Meng Jin.

The Bulls' two inside players were in good shape tonight and scored consecutively at the beginning. The Bulls' offensive focus was also on the inside. Meng Jin didn't complete his first shot of the game until three minutes into the game. He received a pass from Jordan and made a high jump shot, but the shot missed.

By the 6th minute, Charles Smith had already scored 8 points and 3 rebounds, while Meng Jin had not yet made his debut tonight and even only took one shot. He gave the stage to Grant and Cartwright who were in hot form.

The two players have scored 5 points respectively. Although the Bulls are a fast break team, head coach Collins has been pursuing tactical diversity, which is especially important in the playoffs. However, when one offensive method is restricted, the team will not be at a loss.

Charles Smith does not think Meng Jin's performance tonight has anything to do with the Bulls' tactics. He believes that his defense worked.

In the Clippers' offensive round, the confident Charles Smith received the ball, lowered his shoulder and pushed Grant away, then jumped to the basket and dunked with both hands!

Charles Smith's physical fitness is also very explosive, and he is excellent in both running and jumping.

Sterling stood up and cheered for his potential power forward, and the entire stadium was filled with cheers from fans.

Charles Smith was lost for a moment. While returning to defense, he ran to Meng Jin and said, "Everyone is talking about how great you are, how great you are, and how explosive your talent is. In my opinion, you just have more opportunities than others. If you give me the same opportunities, I can also achieve your statistics and achievements."

This guy Charles Smith is getting carried away, completely carried away.

After saying that, Charles Smith still stared at Meng Jin. He wanted Meng Jin to talk trash to him. In his opinion, this was part of the confrontation on the court.

As a result, Meng Jin didn't say a word the whole time. He had a blank expression on his face. He walked to two steps outside the three-point line, then stretched out the index fingers and thumbs of both hands and waved them outwards.

This is Meng Jin's single gesture.

Jordan passed the ball to Meng Jin without saying a word, which is the highest level of trust in teammates.

Meng Jin grabbed the ball with one hand and put it behind him.

Charles Smith squatted slightly, put one hand on Meng Jin's waist, and waved the other hand in front of Meng Jin, trying to distract his vision and attention.

"If I were you, I wouldn't get so close."

"What?" Charles Smith just opened his mouth and Meng Jin started shooting.

Charles Smith felt Meng Jin's center of gravity and judged correctly that Meng Jin was going to attack from the right, but the moment he moved, Meng Jin had already occupied half a body position.

From the audience's perspective, Meng Jin simply started quickly and used the first step to break through Charles Smith.

They were not on the court and could not see the details of Meng Jin's breakthrough. Meng Jin did not put the ball directly to his side. He chose to be very bold and push the ball directly to the front side, and then used super long steps to gain half a body position.

This move cannot be used at all times. In this round, Meng Jin received the ball two steps outside the three-point line. He had plenty of space to use. If he used this move at the edge of the three-point line or inside the three-point line, he might have pushed the ball directly into the opponent's arms.

Being robbed of half a body position by Meng Jin is a very terrifying thing, which means that Charles Smith's teammates will be in trouble.

Benoit Benjamin immediately went to the free throw line. Standing under the basket at this time was no different from waiting to die. Now the entire league knows that the first rule of defending Meng Jin is not to let him rush forward.

When Meng Jin was one body length away from Benoit Benjamin, he suddenly collected the ball, turned around, and went directly between Benoit Benjamin and Charles Smith.

When Benoit Benjamin looked back, Meng Jin had already reached the basket. Meng Jin's huge advantage was not only reflected in the time when Meng Jin made a move.

Meng Jin ended the battle round with a public finance-destroying two-handed dunk.

Sterling's first reaction on the sidelines was not that the team lost 2 points in this round, nor that the team's morale was suppressed by this dunk, but whether the basket was okay or not. Was it damaged by Meng Jin?

After landing, Meng Jin said hello to Grant: "Change your defensive position."

Seeing Meng Jin standing in front of him, Charles Daniel became excited. This was the matchup he wanted. After positioning himself for the ball, Charles Daniel turned around quickly.

After turning around, Charles Daniel slid along the baseline to the basket. He glanced sideways and found that Meng Jin was not in his sight.

Charles Daniel forced his way to the basket, ready for a reverse dunk.

Charles Daniel was full of confidence, but he soon discovered that all overconfidence came from ignorance.

Just as Charles Daniel jumped up and was about to smash the ball into the basket, a force pressed on the basketball in his hand.

Meng Jin fanned the ball away from behind him.

"boom!"

There was a muffled sound from the court. It was not the sound of a block, but Meng Jin's head hitting the bottom edge of the backboard.

Jordan took the ball and counterattacked. Grant played the role of Meng Jin in this round. After receiving the ball, he slammed it with one hand and scored two points.

Meng Jin rubbed his head and returned to defense. He seemed fine. A fan who saw this scene up close said with emotion: "I didn't know what the sponge under the backboard was for before, but now I know."

Charles Daniel was in a frustrated mood, and two rounds later, he found a chance for revenge.

Former Bulls player Quintin Daly made his way into the restricted area after receiving a screen, and Meng Jin let go of Charles Daniel and made a pass.

Quintin Daly twisted his body and passed the ball to Charles Daniel who was in the open space.

Charles Daniel did not shoot. He paused first, then slammed the basketball and took off towards Meng Jin!

Quintin Daly was almost in despair when he saw this scene. Why don’t you shoot? Do you ever make it more difficult for yourself like this?

Meng Jin and Charles Daniel met in the air. After the confrontation, Charles Daniel lost his balance in the air. He weighed only 104 kilograms, which was 20 kilograms lighter than Meng Jin.

Charles Daniel was like a moving building, tilting in the air and then collapsing.

Charles Daniel fell to the ground, but this was not the most embarrassing thing. The most embarrassing thing was that the basketball that was just in his hand was now in Meng Jin's hands.

Hat-trick moment!

Jordan had a keen sense of smell and had already run to the midline.

Meng Jin made a long pass, Jordan received the ball and drove straight in. He was fouled by Norm Nixon but then he pulled away and scored.

Two points are valid, plus a penalty!
Norm Nixon was the main point guard of the former Lakers during the SHOW-TIME period. Many people only know that "Magic" Johnson was the starting point guard and organizer of the Lakers during the SHOW-TIME period, but they don't know that Norm Nixon was also the core of the organization. During that period, the Lakers played a double organization lineup.

But now Norm Nixon has entered the twilight of his career, and his old limbs are simply unable to keep up with Jordan.

After the ball went in, Jordan did not celebrate. He immediately walked up to Meng Jin and said, "That's too cruel. You will scare that kid."

"This is part of growing up." Meng Jin smiled.

The two were right next to Charles Daniel, and they spoke loudly for him to hear.

Charles Daniel seemed to hear the sound of collapse, nothing else but his self-esteem.

After Jordan made the free throw, the ball possession changed.

Charles Daniel took the ball on the wing and faced Meng Jin again, but his momentum before the start of the game was gone.

Meng Jin pushed him close to the ball, and Charles Daniel was hesitating about how to deal with the ball.

Meng Jin tops it again!

Just as Charles Daniel was about to handle the ball, the referee called a traveling call.

"In basketball, you have to dribble the ball before you move. You have to learn this before you come to the basketball court."

At this time, Meng Jin was like a teacher in a kindergarten basketball class, continuing to destroy Charles Daniel's heart with his unique trash talk.

Meng Jin knew that although this guy was reckless, his psychological quality was poor.

Meng Jin remembers very clearly that in that parallel world, in the final moments of Game 1993 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Chicago Bulls in , this guy put on a war criminal-level performance. He missed four consecutive scoring opportunities at the basket. This may be the most frustrating moment in the history of the Knicks.

Of course, he may not go to the Knicks in this life, but his poor mental quality will not change.

Now that he has just entered the NBA, his psychological quality will only be worse. Meng Jin continues to tease his psychological defenses.

At the edge of the penalty area, Meng Jin took the ball with his back to the goalkeeper, turned his head and smiled at Charles Smith: "If I were you, I wouldn't stick so close to you. You are pushing me, you are angry, and this will leave you full of loopholes, look!"

After Meng Jin finished speaking, he immediately made a movement like shaking his shoulder to the left, and then walked in the opposite direction to the baseline.

Charles Daniel's nerves were extremely tense and Meng Jin suddenly shook him off by half a body length.

Meng Jin rushed towards the basket along the baseline and made another two-handed dunk that caused Clippers owner Sterling's heart to stop.

Danny Manning on the bench was a little scared to watch it. It was too cruel, like a one-sided massacre.

He felt somewhat fortunate and somewhat guilty. He was fortunate that he was not the one being tortured, but he felt guilty because he felt that Charles Smith had "died" for him.

(End of this chapter)