NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 137 Turning 100 points into 0 points

"Magic" Johnson cursed Fake in his heart, but his body did not stop for a moment. He immediately stood up to ask for the ball, and then quickly advanced to the frontcourt.

"Magic" Johnson passed the ball to Byron Scott, then went inside to position himself.

After receiving the ball, "Magic" Johnson faced Jordan with his back. He dribbled with his left hand and took a step toward the upper line. Then he half-turned and made a hook shot with his right hand, which hit the backboard.

Jordan had no way to deal with this ball. "Magic" Johnson was half a head taller than him and had rich experience. Before shooting, he leaned on Jordan to prevent him from jumping.

Basketball rebounding, "Magic" Johnson's hook shot is one of his killer moves. After all, "Magic" Johnson has a teammate who is the best hook shot in NBA history. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar has never been stingy about sharing this unique skill of his. After Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was injured in the 80 Finals, Johnson temporarily switched to center. In that game, he scored 42 points, 15 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 steals. At the last moment, he imitated Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's long-range hook shot and it became a classic.

The Bulls started the game fast, and Jordan dribbled the ball between his legs on the right wing to find his rhythm. He observed the situation on the court and then chose to either do it himself or pass the ball.

Meng Jin came to the same side as Jordan and asked for the ball with his back to the basket.

Meng Jin seldom plays one-on-one with his back to the basket, but he asks for the ball with his back to the basket quite often. After getting the ball with his back to the basket, Meng Jin can switch to a frontal attack. When he is so close to the basket, Meng Jin's lethality is very great, and he can directly attack the basket with just one dribble.

After getting the ball, Meng Jin quickly passed the ball and turned to the baseline. James Worthy reacted quickly and immediately blocked Meng Jin down the line.

James Worthy has the first-gear starting speed of a small forward, which can be used not only on the offensive end but also on the defensive end.

Meng Jin leaned towards James Worthy, then turned in the opposite direction. After two consecutive turns, Meng Jin started playing his unreasonable basketball again.

Meng Jin jumped up, raised his right arm and slammed the ball into the basket.

Anyone who has played basketball knows how difficult it is to dunk this kind of ball.

Meng Jin first made two consecutive turning movements, then jumped up and dunked without stopping. As he rose in the air, his whole body floated outwards.

Whether it is playing skills or playing hard, Meng Jin is top-notch.

The Lakers bench looked at each other with complicated expressions. Pat Riley touched his shiny hair and waved to the players.

The Lakers called the first timeout of the game. Meng Jin scored 8 points in a row. Pat Riley could feel that this monster was tending to get out of control.

Pat Riley replaced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with Michael Thompson. Meng Jin's outbreak had nothing to do with Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Replacing him was just a routine substitution. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's aging signs this season are more obvious than last season. He usually only plays for more than ten to twenty minutes per game. If it weren't for his face, Pat Riley would definitely put him on the bench.

This is why Pat Riley is considering leaving the Lakers after the end of this contract. Here he has to consider this person's face and that person's emotions. He cannot truly control a team, which is not what he wants.

Today's Pat Riley is no longer the little assistant beside Paul Westhead. After years of experience, he has grown into a famous coach with four championship rings. Pat Riley's ambition has also expanded with his increasing honors. This head coach who dresses like "The Godfather" wants to be a real godfather, but obviously it is not possible in Los Angeles. Apart from anything else, it is difficult for him to show his skills and truly control the team with "Magic" Johnson around.

Pat Riley's ideal team is not only one in which all players obey his discipline, but he also wants to control the team's draft and personnel transactions. In short, he wants to control everything. Now in the Los Angeles Lakers, he is a championship coach on the surface, but in fact he can't even control the team's style. Pat Riley's desired basketball style is iron-blooded defense, but in the Los Angeles Lakers he can only play gorgeous offense. If he tells his players that they must play iron-blooded defense from now on, he will be fired by owner Jerry Buss within a week.

After Michael Thompson came on the court, the Lakers further accelerated the pace. This is the rhythm that "Magic" Johnson likes and also the rhythm that Meng Jin likes.

Both teams scored high points in the first quarter, with the Bulls leading by 40 points 32 to 8.

"Magic" Johnson played almost the entire quarter. He organized the team's offense very well, frequently made wonderful passes and scored 12 points, but the team was still suppressed by the Bulls.

In this quarter, Meng Jin scored 15 points, Grant scored 10 points, and Jordan scored 6 points and made 6 assists. The quick offense and defense allowed the three of them to be completely released. Jordan's touch was also okay tonight, but seeing Meng Jin and Grant who were in better shape, he chose to help his teammates.

This was done deliberately by Jordan. The media always compared him with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, saying that Jordan could not make his teammates better. He wanted to win a game tonight using Magic Johnson's method.

"Run! Keep speeding up in the second quarter. As long as you get into position during the counterattack, I will definitely pass the ball to you. I will focus on this tonight. Don't waste my assists!" During the intermission, Jordan spoke before Collins. He wanted the whole team to know his thoughts. Communication is very important.

In the second quarter, both sides continued to play offensively, and the offensive basketball made the fans very excited. "Magic" Johnson opened up the pulse of the whole game like a butcher cutting a cow, and his teammates just had to keep running.

"Magic"'s hands are delicate enough that he can distribute the ball at will in fast breaks. At the end of the first half, his stats were 18 points and 8 assists.

Usually when "Magic" Johnson is in this form, the Lakers can take the lead, sometimes by a large margin, but today was different. After halftime, the Los Angeles Lakers were actually 62 points behind with 73 to 11.

The Bulls played faster, more efficiently and even more gorgeously than the Lakers.

Meng Jin and Jordan performed brilliant shots in the counterattack, which made the Lakers fans stunned. Some Lakers fans began to doubt themselves. Is the Lakers' show-time really the most gorgeous? The Bulls' fast break seemed to be more exciting.

The Bulls played very greedily in the second quarter. They did not miss any scoring opportunity. With 2 seconds left in the quarter, Meng Jin directly slammed the ball across the court with one hand.

Why let Meng come in and throw this ball?

Because the basketball happened to fall into Meng Jin's hands.

Meng Jin is not the kind of person who cares about his shooting percentage, nor is he the kind of person who would pass the blame to his teammates. Of course, the ball didn't go in, and it was thrown outrageously. Meng Jin had no idea about full-court shots, and he used too much force and threw the ball directly to the second-floor stands.

Jordan couldn't help but joke that this was not a buzzer beater, but a random shot that killed a lucky spectator.

Collins shouted at halftime: "The Lakers' show-time is a thing of the past. Those old guys can't outrun us. Let's speed up in the second half and run as fast as we can. Let them feel the vitality of young people!"

The entire Bulls team is very satisfied with Collins' tactics and use of players tonight. As long as he doesn't adjust the lineup blindly, the Bulls' firepower will be the best in the league.

Lakers head coach Pat Riley thought for a moment and then slammed the tactical board twice: "Listen, we're going to play positional defense in the second half, slow down the tempo, and don't think about fast breaks unless there's a good opportunity!"

"Magic" Johnson was very upset and he retorted on the spot: "Showtime doesn't play fast breaks?"

Pat Riley knew what Magic Johnson would say. He stared into Magic Johnson's eyes and said, "Ervin, do you want to win or play a beautiful offense? If you want a beautiful offense and a gorgeous show-time, OK, I can let everyone perform with you."

Pat Riley seemed to have given "Magic" Johnson a multiple-choice question, but in fact there was only one answer. It was impossible for "Magic" to say in front of the whole team that he preferred gorgeous offense to victory. Only a fool would fall into Pat Riley's trap.

"Magic" Johnson also stared into Pat Riley's eyes: "We have to play our own style of basketball. Fuck positional warfare, fuck iron-blooded defense. This is not what we are good at. Fans buy tickets to see SHOW-TIME. We have always relied on this style of game to win, and tonight is the same."

The two were arguing, and Pat Riley felt very tired, but he could do nothing about "Magic" Johnson, because he was the biggest star of the team.

When the Lakers players walked into the player tunnel, Pat Riley still failed to convince "Magic". In the end, Pat Riley could only control his temper and coax "Magic" Johnson with a few kind words. Then the two of them took a step back. "Magic" Johnson promised Pat Riley to slow down the tempo a little and not give the Bulls so many rounds and counterattack opportunities, but the Lakers would never play the kind of game where every round was a positional offense.

After resting for a whole quarter, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar started in the second half. After "Magic" Johnson slowed down the pace, he made several successful attacks around Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The two returned to the 79-80 season.

However, "Magic" Johnson is very clear that this feeling is like a last gasp, and there will be such a few rounds in every game. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's endurance is no longer good, and his physical strength is not enough to support him to play the whole game in high-intensity confrontations. Sometimes it is difficult for him to play a full half court.

Cartwright pulled away to ask for the ball, then sat back and faced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, only to be beaten by him alone.

The Bulls tried to consume Kareem Abdul-Jabbar as much as possible. Once he went down, the Lakers could only play a run-and-gun game with the Bulls. The faster the speed, the better for the Bulls. Less than 5 minutes into the third quarter, Pat Riley replaced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's playing time tonight was even shorter than his average. The Bulls' switching speed was too fast, and the physical consumption would naturally be greater in such a rhythm.

After Kareem Abdul-Jabbar left the court, the Bulls did not have the fast attack against the Lakers as they had hoped. "Magic" Johnson still listened to Pat Riley's words. He consciously slowed down the tempo and used his vision at the top of the arc to continuously pass good cards to his teammates.

After the third quarter, Chicago Bulls 105:96 Los Angeles Lakers.

The score came to single digits, Meng Jin scored 39 points in three quarters, and he was going for 50+ again tonight.

"Magic" Johnson slowed down the pace again in the fourth quarter. After the third quarter, he felt that this was the only way to deal with the Bulls. The Bulls players were younger and more physically fit than the Lakers. If he still wanted to speed up and compete with them in speed and fast breaks in the fourth quarter, he would be courting his own destruction.

So despite his tough talk, "Magic" Johnson still chose Pat Riley's tactics for victory, using a slow pace + strong confrontation to disrupt the Bulls' rhythm.

The Bulls are not a team that can only play fast. They also have weapons to attack and capture cities in positional warfare. Cartwright can play one-on-one, and Jordan and Meng Jin can both break through and shoot.

The Lakers played very tenaciously and with great difficulty. Pat Riley replaced Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the last 5 minutes in order to enrich the tactical diversity.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made an impact as soon as he came on the court, assisting James Worthy with an open cut at the free throw line.

Looking back, Meng Jin also scored a goal by cutting in without the ball. Both of them have good explosive power, and if they fail to keep up, it will be easy for the opponent to seize the opportunity.

With two minutes left in the game, the Bulls were still leading by six points, 2 to 135, and the situation was under control.

The Los Angeles Lakers had the ball. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar received the ball in the paint. Meng Jin rushed out from his blind spot and slammed the ball away from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's hands with a powerful shot.

The referee blew the whistle and called a defensive foul on Meng Jin.

Meng Jin covered his head in disbelief. The ball hit the basketball firmly. Jordan immediately came up and hugged Meng Jin: "Calm down, this is their territory. It's normal for the referee to favor them. Don't give them free throws because of impulse."

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar made both free throws, and the score came to 135-131.

A difference of 4 points in less than two minutes.

Jordan controlled the rhythm and started the offensive round with 8 seconds left.

Facing the one-on-one defense of Byron Scott, Jordan shook his right hand, changed direction, and jumped the moment the ball was passed to his left hand.

"Shh!"

137:131.

A solid two-pointer.

Jordan directed his teammates to return to defense. Although this shot was crucial, it was not enough to help the Bulls kill the game, so Jordan did not distract himself from celebrating.

"Magic" Johnson did not rush to attack just because he was behind. He knew that the more anxious he was, the more he could not be. Steady scoring was the only way to win.

After "Magic" passed the ball, he received a pass back from his teammate. This went back and forth three times before he finally found an opportunity. He made a surgical-like ground pass to find AC Green in the paint, and Cartwright made a prompt decision and pulled him down directly.

Bulls head coach Collins applauded on the sidelines. Cartwright is indeed an experienced veteran. At this time, he would rather let the opponent shoot free throws than let him score directly.

Sure enough, AC Green's hands were shaking and he only made one of two free throws, with the score at 137 to 132.

However, AC Green made up for his mistake by blocking Jordan's breakthrough in the next round. Facing AC Green's backup defense, Jordan's layup missed.

Although Jordan was organizing the entire game, when it came to the final decision, he still habitually stepped forward to take responsibility.

After missing the shot, Jordan did not feel upset, but immediately started to defend Magic Johnson.

"Magic" Johnson was the steals leader in the 81-82 season. He knew what this kid was thinking, and it was impossible for him to make a mistake at this time.

After defending the ball with his back to the basket for several times across half court, "Magic" Johnson passed the ball to the inside. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar received the ball and wanted to hook it, but the Bulls' inside double-team was immediately in place. Although Lian Po is old, we still have to respect him.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar immediately passed the ball to the outside, and Magic Johnson received the ball and took a step forward before passing it again. Byron Scott hesitated and did not shoot, and the ball soon passed to Magic Johnson again. At this time, there was little time left for the offense, and the Lakers were about to commit a 24-second violation, so Magic Johnson chose to do it himself, shooting at a 45-degree angle from the left side of the three-point line.

The basketball hits the backboard!

137:135.

The whole audience cheered and screamed. Although it was a lucky shot, "Magic" helped the Lakers maintain their hopes of winning.

All the Lakers fans shouted "Defense", but Jordan remained calm and continued to control the rhythm. Meng Jinti came up to cover, and Jordan suddenly started walking in the opposite direction.

At the same time, Meng Jin followed up and moved towards the penalty area. All five Lakers defensive players were attracted to the penalty area. At this time, whether it was Jordan or Meng Jin who entered the penalty area, it would be a deadly threat.

Jordan jumps and passes the ball!
He did not pass the ball to Meng Jin who was following up, but instead passed it to John Paxson who was unguarded outside the three-point line.

There was nothing wrong with this choice. Paxson adjusted his breathing and then took the shot.

The basketball hit the rim and all the Lakers fans stood up.

The Bulls gave a chance!

"Magic" Johnson dribbled the ball with his left hand and signaled to Pat Riley with his right hand not to pause and let him handle everything.

With 16 seconds left in the game, Magic Johnson asked for a screen on the left wing of the three-point line. Jordan forced his way through the screen and Magic moved sideways with the ball. At this time, a red dot in Magic's field of vision suddenly disappeared. He glanced with his peripheral vision and saw John Paxson cunningly fell down!

"Magic" Johnson didn't even think about it, and just passed the ball with both hands to Byron Scott outside the three-point line.

Byron Scott has a three-point shooting percentage of nearly 4% this season, making him the best shooter for the Lakers, and now is an absolutely open opportunity.

Byron Scott opened his arms to catch the ball, and Lakers fans raised their arms to celebrate, when a red shadow appeared.

Meng Jin continued his unreasonable style of play, and a flying steal shattered the dreams of the Lakers. After stealing the ball, Meng Jin rushed to the frontcourt and made a one-arm dunk, killing the suspense of the game!
No one knew how the ball was intercepted, because Meng Jin was still in the bottom corner the previous second!
"Magic" Johnson stood there in a daze. It was his mistake that ruined the game. "Magic" Johnson kept recalling the details, and he didn't know where he went wrong.

In fact, he did nothing wrong. His choice was extremely correct, his reaction was very quick, and his passing timing and speed were 100 points. It was Meng Jin who unreasonably turned the 100-point test paper into 0 points.

(End of this chapter)