NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 135 Internal Unrest

“How did your masseur become a reporter?”

After Meng Jin finished the interview, Jordan walked up to Meng Jin with a basketball.

"Yes, I changed my career."

Meng Jin took the basketball from Jordan, dribbled one step, and then made an outrageous long three-pointer.

"Not coming back?" Jordan asked.

"Have you ever seen a reporter working as a part-time masseur?" Meng Jin asked back.

"I quite like his approach. Tell him I'll miss him for me."

Seeing that he could no longer get free stuff from Zhang, Jordan walked away disappointed.

The game against the Hawks will start soon. Wilkins is looking forward to it as he wants to test the results of his training over the past half month.

Wilkins scored 38 points in this game. His left hand, which he had practiced for half a month, was never used once. A person's offensive thinking and offensive habits are not so easy to change. The reason why Wilkins was able to score so many points today was purely because he had a good touch tonight. Another reason was that the Bulls were not on guard. To be precise, both sides were playing with excitement and were not on guard.

This season, the Bulls have the highest firepower in the league and are the new favorite in the eyes of fans. They average 119.5 points per game, surpassing the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets to rank first in the league.

However, their overly unrestrained style of play also led to a steady increase in their points lost. If they want to speed up the pace of the game and increase offensive rounds, they must give up something. Collins only requires the players to do a good job of defense at critical moments.

Meng Jin liked this strategy. Jordan was skeptical at first because, as a traditional academic player, he still focused on defense. But after seeing the team continue to win, he also calmly accepted this basketball philosophy.

Jordan is a smart man. He knows that all tactics are for victory. Similarly, he is willing to accept all tactics as long as he can win.

In his previous life, when Phil Jackson first took office, Jordan was extremely resistant to his triangle offense concept. Jordan felt that this was a civilian tactic, and he was a superstar. How could a superstar use a civilian tactic?
But later, when he discovered that the triangle offense could help him win, Jordan accepted this tactic without hesitation.

In this game, both sides let go and attacked vigorously. A total of 12 players from both sides scored in double digits, including 7 from the Hawks and 5 from the Bulls.

The Hawks won in quantity, while the Bulls won in quality. The Hawks' highest scorer tonight was Wilkins, and the second highest was Moses Malone with 24 points and 10 rebounds. Malone's stats could have been better as he was injured by Cartwright at the end of the third quarter.

Moses Malone played very aggressively in the first few rounds before he was injured, constantly attacking the Bulls' inside line. In this round, after receiving the ball, he took a jump step and prepared to end with a dunk.

Cartwright stopped him in mid-air with an elbow, and Moses Malone fell straight down.

After Malone fell to the ground, Cartwright's first move was not to check on his opponent's injuries or apologize. Instead, he yelled angrily, "This is my territory, no one can come in!"

These words were shouted to Jordan. Although the team's recent record was good, Jordan's bullying of Cartwright had not decreased. Cartwright was ready to make an example of him to warn Jordan to stop targeting him.

It is not known whether Jordan heard what Cartwright said, but the Hawks players definitely heard it. They took it as a provocation and rushed forward in a swarm.

There was almost a group fight on the field, but fortunately Meng Jin appeared in time and divided the battlefield.

When Meng Jin stood in front of the Hawks, they were still very excited and kept rushing forward until Hawks point guard Doug Rivers said, "Calm down, you guys want to be the next Laimbeer?"

This sentence is more useful than 20 security guards. As soon as it was spoken, the players on the Eagles side calmed down.

Wilkins looked at Moses Malone lying on the ground and shook his head. It was not that his brother was incompetent, but that his opponent was too violent!
Many years later, when Doc Rivers, who became the head coach, mentioned this incident, he lamented that if he had not said this sentence on impulse, it would definitely not be possible for Moses Malone to be the only one falling on the court. Later, netizens joked that the NBA owed Doc Rivers a Nobel Peace Prize.

Moses Malone was carried off the court and did not return to the game. Fortunately, there was nothing serious when he had an MRI after the game.

In order to calm the Hawks, the referee called a second-degree flagrant foul on Cartwright and sent him off.

After the two centers went down, both teams tacitly played with a small lineup in the fourth quarter. The Chicago Bulls scored a terrifying 43 points in a single quarter. In the end, the Bulls defeated the Hawks 146-127 at home.

Meng Jin scored 44 points, Jordan scored 36 points, Grant scored 22 points, John Paxson scored 13 points, and Cartwright scored 10 points.

Meng Jin scored 40+ again. Fans can no longer remember how many times he has scored 40+ this season. The live commentator Jim Durham said after the game that if Meng Jin continues to play like this, he may win the best player award for two consecutive months.

Another commentator, Johnny Cole, said that Meng Jin might become the first foreign MVP in NBA history. Meng Jin's performance this season was so explosive that people sometimes even ignored Jordan's existence and directly bypassed Jordan when talking about some awards.

After taking a shower and finishing the interview with the reporter, Meng Jin found that Cartwright had not left yet. He was sitting cross-legged, with his head down, thinking about something.

Meng Jin walked up to him and joked, "Iron Elbow is really good."

Cartwright smiled and replied, "Your flying knee is great too."

Meng Jin smiled and said, "I'm serious. The Bulls lacked tough and fierce players like you last season."

"Where's Michael Jordan?" Cartwright asked.

Meng Jin: "He is tough only at certain times."

Cartwright: “When?”

Meng Jin: “When dealing with teammates.”

After Meng Jin finished speaking, the two of them laughed together. Cartwright has always had a good impression of Meng Jin, not only because of his performance on the court, but also because Meng Jin has his own independent personality. He is not like some Bulls players who are Jordan's lackeys, helping Jordan bully them off the court and not passing the ball to them on the court.

On December 12, Meng Jin was invited to attend a party hosted by Jordan. Meng Jin was a little surprised because he had never seen him when Jordan hosted a party last season. He only called him when he couldn't find a sucker for gambling. It seems that Meng Jin has won Jordan's trust and entered his circle of close friends.

However, Meng Jin did not think this was a good thing. He and Jordan had different personalities. They were fine as teammates, but conflicts would probably arise as friends, just like Barkley and Jordan. Sooner or later, the two people who were at loggerheads with each other would break up.

The party was held at Jordan's home in the suburbs of Chicago. As soon as Meng Jin entered the door, he saw Juanita Vanoy holding a chubby baby boy. Meng Jin suddenly realized that Jordan had been so secretive when inviting him to the party and didn't say why. It turned out that it was to celebrate the birthday of his newborn son. Jordan attaches great importance to privacy. He didn't want too many people to know about the birth of his son, but Jordan made a mistake in the invitation link. He invited Jack McCollum, a senior reporter of Sports Illustrated.

As soon as Jack McCollum entered the room, his occupational disease came back and he started the interview with Meng Jin: "Meng, when did you know that Michael had a child?"

Meng Jin: "Same as you."

Jack McCollum: "Hasn't Michael mentioned this to you before? What is his parents' attitude toward Juanita now?"

"You can ask him about these things yourself. He is right next to you."

Meng Jin was a little impatient. He felt that Jack McCollum was unreliable. Although Jordan had emphasized to him at the end of the party not to make the matter public and that he did not want to see anyone writing about the child, Jack McCollum still mentioned the matter in the news two days later. Although he did not make a big deal about it and just mentioned it briefly at the end of the article, the news still attracted the attention of many readers, including Jordan.

Jordan was furious. He yelled at Jack McCollum on the phone, and then bullied Cartwright during practice.

Grant felt that Cartwright was playing the same role he played last year. If he hadn't come, Jordan would definitely take his anger out on him today.

Meng Jin talked to Jordan after the game. He didn't want to help Cartwright. He just wanted Jordan to focus more on the court and on his opponents instead of Cartwright.

Jordan told Meng Jin not to meddle in other people's business. Jordan said that Meng Jin should not think that receiving an invitation to his party means he has entered his circle of close friends. At the same time, Jordan said a lot of unpleasant things when he was angry.

Meng Jin didn't tolerate him either, and the two had a quarrel and the conversation ended unpleasantly.

On December 12, the Bulls lost to the visiting Indiana Pacers.

This is considered an upset. The Pacers' previous record was 5 wins and 15 losses, and they are not a team on the same level as the Bulls.

The reason for the loss was not that Meng Jin and Jordan were not in harmony. Although they had just had an argument, they were both very professional. They passed the ball when they should have and provided screens when they should have. The reason for the loss was that Collins set up a strange formation again.

In order to limit the Pacers' 224cm tall center Rick Schmitz, he let Korsin and Cartwright play at the same time.

It's another twin tower lineup, exactly the same as the one they used to lose to the New York Knicks at the beginning of the season.

On December 12, although the Bulls won the Bucks in a back-to-back game, neither Meng Jin nor Jordan was very satisfied because Collins changed the lineup again.

Collins once again used the twin towers and put Paxson on the bench. He felt that the reason for the loss in the last game was that Paxson did not shoot well from the outside, so he put Vincent, who has been in better form recently, in the starting lineup.

Collins is like this. He always treats the team as a test tube, adjusting it over and over again, trying to create some new chemical reactions.

Putting Meng Jin in the starting small forward position last season had a miraculous effect, which gave Collins great confidence.

The Bulls lost two of the next three games. Collins continued to adjust his B lineup. Jordan finally couldn't stand it anymore. After the team training, Jordan went directly to Collins.

"Coach, stop your meaningless lineup changes. Let's play with the lineup that won us last time!"

Jordan's attitude was very tough, and Collins was very unhappy. He pointed at Jordan and said, "We have to think about the playoffs and what changes our opponents will make against us. When the pace slows down and the game becomes intense, the twin towers can play their role. This is what I have to consider as a coach. As a player, you just need to play well according to the tactics I arrange."

Jordan couldn't stand it anymore and yelled at him, "You should consider your position as head coach first!"

The two got into a heated argument in the training hall corridor, and the noise was so loud that the entire Bulls team heard it.

Grant also complained to Meng Jin after the game: "I don't know what's going on in Doug's head. He has been making us miserable recently."

Meng Jin was calm: "Isn't it just a few losses? Relax, the coach has his own ideas."

Grant spread his hands and said: "If we change to a coach who is more emotionally stable and more experienced, the team will win at least 3-5 more games."

"Shut up, Horace. If you change coaches, maybe you won't have so much playing time. Maybe in my rookie season, I will have to play power forward or center. No one is perfect. Doug is sometimes stubborn and even offensive, but at least we got a chance with him."

Meng Jin was not defending Collins, he just had some things to say.

After sending Grant away, Meng Jin sighed that sometimes the relationship between people is so fragile. After losing a few games, even Grant had complaints about Collins.

Surprisingly, General Manager Jerry Krause expressed his support for Collins, which was uncharacteristic. He said that the regular season exists to adjust the lineup, and the real battlefield is in the playoffs, so let the players give him some time.

The relationship between Krause and Collins is still as bad. The reason he did this was to fire Collins as soon as possible. With Collins' current popularity and status, losing two or three games is not enough to get him fired. Krause has to make the team more chaotic.

Krause is such a bastard. He often says that Jordan is selfish, but in fact he is the most selfish one. He is willing to sacrifice the interests of players and the team in order to achieve his own goals.

Krause has always wanted assistant coach Phil Jackson to take over. He understands that if the Bulls make it to the finals or win the championship this season, Collins' position will be secure, and even the gods will be unable to move him.

Collins is not stupid. He knows that Klaus can't wait for him to leave, so how could he speak for him?

In fact, Collins had already seen the signs during the summer league. Phil Jackson used the triangle offense tactics in the summer league. Usually assistant coaches would follow the head coach's tactics in the summer league. This was an obvious betrayal, but although he was very unhappy, Collins did not get angry. He knew that as long as he kept winning, Krause would not be able to fire him.

After thinking calmly, Collins decided to suspend his experiment. He couldn't let the fat guy Klaus succeed.

Collins took the initiative to find Jordan to repair their relationship. In the previous conflicts, Jordan apologized to him, but this time it was Collins who took the initiative to apologize. He told Jordan that he would restore the team's playing style and lineup in November so that the twin towers would not make any weird attempts again.

Jordan was satisfied. He didn't really want to fight to the death with Collins. He just wanted to win. The Bulls' previous tactics allowed the team to win, so he wanted to change the team back to normal. It was that simple.

Collins also talked to Meng Jin, and Meng Jin also said that this is what they should do. Slow play is not the Bulls' style. The twin towers can indeed maintain some scores in positional battles, but they slow down the pace too much in transition, which not only slows down their own offensive rhythm, but also often makes it difficult to retreat in defense. This style of play can only be used in a certain time period in a specific game.

(End of this chapter)