NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 145 The most terrifying thing
At the end of the season, Meng Jin was successfully elected as the scoring champion with an average of 32.3 points per game. He also had 7.9 rebounds, 2.2 blocks and 1.7 steals. In the second year of his career, Meng Jin was put into the discussion for the regular season MVP.

Another player who was highly favored to win the regular season MVP was Magic Johnson. Although the Lakers regressed this season with a record of 58 wins and 24 losses, Magic Johnson's regular season statistics amazed everyone. At the end of the season, his statistics were fixed at 23.1 points, 12.8 assists and 10.2 rebounds. He also became another player to get a triple-double in the season since Big O Robertson. In the 1961-62 season, Big O Roberts set a feat of averaging a triple-double for the entire season (30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds, 11.4 assists).

Meng Jin remembered that the second person to get a triple-double in the season in his previous life was the man known as the Divine Turtle. The appearance of Meng Jin changed the career trajectory of "Magic" Johnson. Of course, the player's career would also change afterwards.

Many people said that Magic Johnson's triple-doubles this season were fake. In the last ten games, in order to get double-digit rebounds, Magic Johnson sent the team's inside players away and ran to the backcourt to grab rebounds. This also led to a poor performance in the last 10 games of the Lakers' regular season. Magic Johnson was not thinking about how to push the fast break or how to pass the ball to his teammates, but how to grab those boring rebounds.

"Magic" Johnson heard the criticism from the outside world, but he didn't care. "Magic" was a smart guy. He knew that many years later, no fans would know what he did in the last 10 games of the regular season. Fans would only know that there was an awesome guy named "Magic" who got a triple-double in the season.

Besides, he was not the only one who inflated his stats, but his performance was not as blatant as his. In the final stage of the regular season, Jordan's assists stats lagged behind Stockton by 0.4. With Jordan's competitive spirit, he certainly didn't want to be second. Since he changed to play point guard, he had to play his best.

One day, Jordan called all his teammates together. Without much beating around the bush, he got straight to the point and said, "I want to be the assist king. In the next few games, I will pass the ball desperately. If anyone dares to waste my assists, I will definitely not let him go!"

The whole place was silent after Jordan spoke. His oppressive speech put a lot of pressure on his teammates, but Meng Jin's words eased the atmosphere at once.

"Michael, if you want to be the assist king you have to pass all the balls to me."

Everyone laughed. Meng Jin said this simply because he felt the atmosphere was too serious, not because he wanted to score more points. At that time, his average points per game had already surpassed Karl Malone by 3 points, and he had firmly secured the title of scoring champion for the season.

In the next few days, just as Jordan said, he reduced his shots and increased his passes. In the final stage of the season, he even scored less than 20 points in two games.

Hard work pays off. After the regular season, Jordan averaged 13.9 assists, surpassing Stockton by 0.3.

The two Jazz veterans were born at the wrong time. If it weren't for these two Bulls players, they would only have one scoring champion and one assist champion this season, and their historical status would be very different. You know, the player who won the scoring champion or assist champion of the season will be remembered by fans for a long time, but no one will remember the second place.

The Chicago Bulls' first-round opponent is the Philadelphia 76ers. After the playoff matchup was confirmed, Barkley immediately called Meng Jin and said, "I will be in Chicago on the 27th."

At first glance, Barkley's words may sound like nonsense, but if you think about it carefully, it is a declaration of war to Meng Jin.

"I will treat you well."

Meng Jin's response was also a double entendre. He not only wanted to entertain Barkley off the court, but he also wanted to entertain this friend well on the court.

巴克利带着必胜的信念来到芝加哥体育场，首战他打出了超高效率，全场12投7中，拿到22分12篮板6助攻3抢断。

Tonight, Barkley remained efficient while giving more shots to his teammates. Four 76ers scored in double digits. Maurice Cheeks played a star point guard-level performance with 4 points, 19 assists and only one turnover. Gominsky scored 16 points and 16 assists. Ron Anderson, who came off the bench, scored 7 points and 26 rebounds.

During the regular season, the 76ers relied on this strategy to beat the Bulls, but this method failed tonight. The reason is very simple. Meng Jin started the playoff mode. In the first game, he made an exaggerated 19 of 16 shots, scoring 42 points, 10 rebounds, 4 blocks and 4 steals.

Meng Jin was in great form tonight. No one could stop him in one-on-one situations, and it was even harder to defend him in the pick-and-roll. If the inside players were not switched out to give him enough space to start, he would either dunk or look for fouls when he got in. If he was switched out, he would pull out to the inside to play one-on-one.

In the third quarter of the game, the 76ers couldn't bear it anymore and actually implemented a double-team tactic on Meng Jin.

Jordan on the side was very happy. He had never played such a comfortable ball in his life. He scored 9 points in the next few minutes.

The 76ers finally gave up the double-teaming on Meng Jin in the second half of the third quarter. The live commentator Johnny Cole said during the review after the game that if the 76ers had not targeted Meng Jin so much in the third quarter, he would definitely have scored 50+ tonight.

The game lost suspense in the middle of the fourth quarter. The 76ers lost this game very unfairly. Both their starters and substitutes played to their utmost, but they just couldn't catch up with the score difference. Barkley felt deeply powerless after the game.

In G2, Barkley started playing solo. He couldn't think of any other way to break the deadlock. Continuing to play team basketball would only replicate the loss of the previous game.

At the beginning of the game, Barkley kept taking positions and forcing his way into the paint. He tried to awaken the morale of the whole team with his strong personal performance. His approach had a certain effect. After the first quarter, the 76ers were only 26 points behind with 28 to 2.

Barkley did not leave the court to rest in the second quarter. He was ready to play the entire game. He wanted to do his best to win the game. After all, there is a big difference between a total score of 1-1 and 0-2 when returning to the home court.

Barkley was still efficient in the second quarter, but the 76ers lost by 12 points after halftime. Meng Jin and Jordan suddenly exploded in this quarter. The two of them destroyed the 76ers' defense with consecutive fast breaks, not only the team's defense, but also the psychological defense. In the words of the live commentator Johnny Cole, Meng Jin's dunks seemed to have a grudge against the basket, and every dunk seemed to kill the basket.

During the halftime break, Barkley wanted to say something, but in the end he said nothing. He didn't know what to say. Ask his teammates to work harder? His teammates had already fought hard in the first half. Ask his teammates to play better? Their level is just like that, and so far in the two games, none of the 76ers' important players have been dragged down.

A feeling of powerlessness quickly took over Barkley's body again.

However, Barkley is not the kind of person who is easily defeated by frustration. In the third quarter, he scored 5 points in a row, representing the rekindling of the fighting spirit of the 76ers players. However, the Bulls soon extinguished this spark with a basin of water. Starting from the middle of the third quarter, the Bulls launched a large number of deadly fast breaks. The trio of Meng Jin + Jordan + Grant gained something in almost every attack, either directly scoring or causing fouls.

Seeing the growing score gap, Barkley began to get anxious. He made consecutive mistakes on both offense and defense, and the game turned into garbage time in the fourth quarter.

The Bulls won G2 more easily than G1.

孟进全场40分7篮板4助攻，乔丹29分14助攻10篮板，格兰特19分10篮板。巴克利在G2疯砍39分17篮板4助攻3盖帽2抢断，他几乎把自己数据栏里能填的数据都填满了，但还是难求一胜。

Seeing Barkley walking into the player tunnel in a daze, the commentator couldn't help but feel distressed and said, "Charles Barkley looks very lonely. He has done everything he can tonight, but it is still difficult to win. This is not his problem. If Meng Jin and Jordan open up at the same time, no team in the league can stop their firepower."

When being interviewed after the game, Barkley appeared very calm. He did not blame his teammates, nor did he blame himself. He just said lightly that after returning to Philadelphia, everyone would go all out for victory.

It’s not that Barkley doesn’t want to yell, he knows that yelling is useless now. The reason for the loss is the gap in strength between the two teams.

G3 was played in Philadelphia, and from the start the Philadelphia reporters tried to disrupt the Bulls' morale.

During the pre-game interview, a reporter from the Philadelphia Inquirer approached Jordan and asked, "Michael, it is rumored that Meng is likely to win the regular season MVP this season. As the team's top player, what do you want to say about this rumor?"

Jordan didn't want to deal with such divisive questions at all. He answered directly: "What I care about is winning and winning championships. I don't care about anything else."

This is Jordan's inner voice. After several years of consecutive failures, Jordan's desire for victory has reached its peak. Now he wants nothing but to lift the O'Brien Cup. Of course, this is just his idea at this stage. No one knows whether he will still not care about the MVP after he actually wins the championship trophy.

The starting lineups for both teams remain unchanged tonight: 76ers: Charles Barkley, Mike Gominsky, Maurice Cheeks, Derrick Smith, and Jose Hocking.

After losing two games in a row, many fans called on Linam to change the lineup. Some fans hoped that Ron Anderson would start to improve the offensive power of the 76ers' first lineup, but this voice is obviously unrealistic. The 76ers' second lineup has no offensive power at all. If Ron Anderson really starts, the team may suddenly collapse at some stage and then die.

Bulls: Michael Jordan, John Paxson, Meng Jin, Horace Grant, Cartwright.

Before the jump ball, the 10 starting players from both teams gathered near the center circle.

"I've scored 40+ points in two consecutive games. I suggest you double-team me from the start tonight."

Meng Jin suddenly said this in a loud voice. He was not speaking to a certain 76ers player, but to everyone. Meng Jin hoped to give his opponents a sense of pressure before the game started.

I don't know if it was because of Meng Jin's words, but the 76ers almost made a mistake at the beginning. Cheeks passed the ball too far. Fortunately, Hawking had an idea and hit the basketball at Paxson when it was about to go out of bounds, thus keeping the ball.

The 76ers threw the ball from the sideline, Cheeks passed it to Hawking on the outside, who passed it to Barkley.

Barkley started to drive into the inside again, just like in the last game. Grant puffed up his mouth and held his breath to block. Barkley's strength was indeed too great. Grant felt that if he defended this guy a few more times, his lung capacity would probably increase a lot.

After Barkley headed the ball twice, he turned around and attracted a double-team, then passed the ball to Derrick Smith on the outside, who missed the jump shot.

The Bulls' counterattack failed, and the 76ers retreated to half court quickly and specifically.

Jordan passed the ball to the inside and gave it to Cartwright for a single shot.

After dribbling the ball, Cartwright started his dream move on the spot. After turning two circles in a row, his opponent did not get dizzy, but the referee's whistle sounded.

The referee called a traveling violation on Cartwright.

Jordan looked at Cartwright without saying anything. If it was a few months earlier, Jordan would definitely have cursed at Cartwright. It seems that Jordan still remembers what Cartwright said to him at the end of the season.

The Philadelphia 76ers used a similar tactic to the previous round. This time, Barkley positioned himself very deep, got the ball, pushed his butt, turned over and made a layup.

Although the 76ers lost badly in the last game, Barkley was determined to take more shots on the offensive end in this game. He didn't want to think about any tactics. He just wanted to do it himself. Barkley felt that even if he died, he would die standing.

The Bulls were once again caught in a positional offense, and Cartwright found an opportunity. He received the ball at the edge of the paint, turned around, and made a hook shot for two points, thus redeeming the face he lost in the previous round due to traveling.

Unlike the previous two games, Cartwright became the main attacker at the start of tonight's game.

This is one of the purposes of the Bulls coaching staff trading for Cartwright. He can not only defend in the low post but also has certain one-on-one abilities. This one-on-one ability means that the team can be provided with more tactical options, which is especially important in the playoffs.

The 76ers quickly started from the baseline, and Cheeks made a long pass near the center circle to find Derrick Smith. Barkley had already run into the paint with his arms outstretched. It was still a similar routine, and Barkley was ready to score as many points as possible in the Bulls' paint at the beginning of the game.

Grant didn't keep his eyes on Barkley at the beginning, so it was almost impossible to defend him now. Barkley made a jumping motion under the basket, and Jordan, who was returning to defend from the baseline, was directly shaken off and flew into the air.

Barkley bent his knees slightly and waited there for a while. If it were any other player, Barkley would have stood up and dunked long ago, but Jordan's time in the air was too long, and it was this time that helped Meng Jin get the opportunity. The moment Barkley jumped, Meng Jin rushed over. Barkley straightened his back and tried to stay in the air as long as possible, but Meng Jin did not give him a chance and directly slapped him and the ball away from him!
Looking at Meng Jin and Jordan high-fiving, Barkley couldn't help but complain, damn, it's really hard to guard against!

As a top-notch talent, there are not many talented players that Barkley can envy. Jordan is one, Meng Jin is one. The most terrifying thing is that they are now facing him.

(End of this chapter)