NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 151: Use the other person's way to repay the other person's kindness

"There's only one thing to do tonight, and that's to win the game and go back to Detroit."

Pistons head coach Chuck Daly spoke in a low voice, but his words touched the heart of every Pistons player.

This game is a life-and-death battle for the Pistons. If they lose, the entire season will be over.

It is a huge shame for Detroit to get 63 wins, the most in the league, but to be eliminated in the Eastern Conference Finals. This group of tough guys will not accept such an outcome.

Before the game started, Isaiah Thomas gathered everyone together and yelled three times:

"Win the game!"

"Win the game!"

"Win the game!"

The Pistons' morale was not affected, and the desperate situation instead inspired their fighting spirit.

In the Bulls locker room, Collins was excited and nervous. If they won this game, he would lead the Bulls to the finals for the first time, which would be a milestone for him as a coach. But he was also afraid that he would mess it all up. He knew that the Pistons were not easy to deal with, and Chuck Daly was not easy to deal with. They would definitely do their best in tonight's game.

Although Collins was pretending to be calm, Meng Jin could still see his inner uneasiness, because Collins was wearing two pairs of leather shoes of different brands tonight, which had never happened before.

Meng Jin did not tell Collins that he wore the wrong leather shoes. Doing so would only make Collins more uneasy. Meng Jin believed in Collins and believed that he would quickly get into the game after the start of the game.

If Collins was a little too anxious, the Bulls players were a little too relaxed. They joked and played in the locker room, just like during the regular season.

After winning the decisive battle, the Bulls players relaxed their nerves at once. They felt that this series was basically a sure win, and even if they lost, they still had a chance in G7.

Meng Jin couldn't stand his teammates' mentality. Sometimes there seemed to be many opportunities but in fact there was only one. If the Bulls couldn't win this game, the next game at Detroit's home court would be difficult.

Meng Jin clapped his hands vigorously three times, and after attracting everyone's attention, he shouted: "Brothers, keep your nerves tight! This game is a life-and-death battle for the Detroit people, and for us too, don't give yourselves any room! The Eastern Conference championship trophy is right there, let's hold it up together after the game, and then we'll party and celebrate together!"

The Bulls locker room cheered, and the players all agreed with what Meng Jin said. Jordan then asked, "Meng, how does your groin feel now?"

"No problem, I'm back to 100%."

In the last quarter of Game 5, Meng Jin pulled his groin. After resting for two minutes, Meng Jin returned to the court. It seemed that there was no serious problem, but in fact, he finished the game with gritted teeth. Every time he rushed forward, he felt a strong tearing pain.

After two days of rest, Meng Jin's injury has eased, but it is impossible for him to be in 100% condition. He said this to boost morale.

Before the game, Michael Jordan pulled Meng Jin aside and asked, "Tell me the truth, how is your abdomen now?"

Meng Jin said: "No problem."

Jordan said: "It was painful when you put the bandage on it just now. It didn't look like there was no problem."

Meng Jin said, "Michael, why are you so effeminate today? Pain is a matter before and after the game. Now I have to prepare to play."

Jordan reached out his hand and shook Meng Jin fiercely: "To hell with those Pistons guys."

Jordan is not simply concerned about Meng Jin, he is also evaluating Meng Jin's physical condition tonight, which is directly linked to his playing style tonight. If Meng Jin is in good condition, he will play according to his previous style. If Meng Jin is not in good condition, he will play more aggressively and start his personal offensive mode earlier.

It seems that Meng Jin is in good condition now.

Jordan was not the only one who saw that Meng Jin had not recovered. Grant later recalled the game and said: "I know he has not recovered 100%. We all know this. His groin must have been very painful at the time. No one can recover from this injury in a short time, but his words and deeds inspired the team."

"Two boys, now is not the time to talk about love. Come on, get ready to go on stage!" The voice of assistant coach Bach came from not far away.

Bach patted Meng Jin and Jordan on the buttocks one by one: "Remember to hold your head high, the audience is watching you, and your opponents are watching you too."

Amid the cheers of the audience, the two players came on stage one after another and the game began soon. The starting lineups of both teams remained unchanged.

The Pistons took the lead in attacking. Isaiah Thomas passed the ball to Rick Mahorn after crossing half court, and then he started running.

Bill Laimbeer helped Isaiah Thomas set an off-ball screen and then went around the three-point line to receive the ball, and Jordan switched defense.

Bill Laimbeer did not take the opportunity to play against a smaller team. Although he has certain three-point shooting ability, most of them were open three-pointers. If there were people in front of him, Bill Laimbeer basically would not shoot from the outside.

Bill Laimbeer passed to Aguirre, who passed to Joe Dumars.

Joe Dumars took a tentative step and then made a mid-range shot.

2:0.

It was a classic piston-style shot, with no dribbles in the entire possession and everyone touching the basketball.

John Paxson dribbled across half court. This was a small tactical adjustment by Bulls head coach Collins. If the Bulls did not have a quick counterattack opportunity, John Paxson would control the ball, with the aim of allowing Jordan to save some energy.

Collins prepared for a rainy day. He knew that tonight would be a tough battle, and the two core players in the team would appreciate it if they could save some energy.

Meng Jin went around to the right elbow area to receive the ball. After getting the ball, he quickly passed it back to Paxson, trying to block the defensive player with his body, but failed. The Pistons players were not so easy to deal with. Paxson quickly passed the ball to Jordan without stopping.

Jordan didn't stop after getting the ball. He took a step to the baseline and passed it to Grant.

Grant missed a mid-range shot and the Pistons launched a quick counterattack. There were only four Bulls defensive players in the camera, but the Pistons were obviously in a hurry to handle the ball in this round. Aguirre missed a shot from the free throw line in a fast break.

At this time, the camera gave a close-up. Jordan fell at the baseline with his head covered. No one knew what had just happened.

There was no dead ball situation on the court, so the Bulls had to play with fewer players than their opponent. In order not to affect the game, the assistant referee had to drag Jordan out of bounds.

The Bulls were already distracted. Meng Jin took three steps forward and saw that there was no chance, so he passed the ball. Cartwright's shot was intercepted, and the referee whistled when the Pistons were about to counterattack.

The referee stopped the game and it looked like Jordan couldn't continue.

Through slow-motion replay, fans knew what happened. Jordan ran to the basket immediately after passing the ball. Bill Laimbeer hit Jordan on the head with his elbow while grabbing the rebound. This elbow looked very natural. If another player did this, fans might think it was an accident, but with Laimbeer's words, everyone would only think it was insidious.

Before the game started, Chuck Daly asked the players to use the Jordan Rules in this game. The Jordan Rules in this time and space are different from those in the previous life. The core of the Jordan Rules in this time and space is not to miss any opportunity to knock Jordan down. Jordan is the engine of the Bulls. If he is not comfortable, the Bulls' fast break threat will be at least half as small. If he is knocked down, the Bulls will be equivalent to losing their brains, and Meng Jin's threat will be greatly reduced.

Chuck Daly wanted to use this approach on Meng Jin before, because he is now the Gatlin of the Bulls, the point with the strongest firepower. As long as he leaves the court, the Bulls will definitely not win. No matter how many points Michael Jordan scores, it will be useless. This has been confirmed in previous seasons.

However, Chuck Daly's proposal was quickly rejected by the Pistons, especially Bill Laimbeer, who reacted violently. If Meng Jin couldn't be killed in one go, then Bill Laimbeer would be dead. Bill Laimbeer was carried off the court on a stretcher twice in his life, all because of Meng Jin. Jordan was still lying on the baseline at this moment, and the team doctor pointed a few numbers at him to see if he was still conscious.

"Michael doesn't look well. I hope he's okay. He is the engine of the Bulls." Live commentator Johnson Kerr said worriedly.

Kerr's words are also the voice of all Bulls fans.

The fans at the scene couldn't stand it anymore, and everyone shouted: "Lambir eat shit! Lambir eat shit!"

The game was interrupted for 10 minutes. Jordan just lay there until he felt a little better. The coaching staff, Bulls players and Jordan himself wanted to stay on the court, but the situation did not allow it. Jordan felt dizzy just standing there. He was helped into the player tunnel amid the cheers of the fans. The team doctor initially diagnosed that Jordan had a concussion caused by Bill Laimbeer's elbow.

Two cameras followed the game all the way, and the TV broadcast was cut into two perspectives, one was the scene of the game on the court, and the other was the scene of Jordan walking into the locker room.

Since the referee had just interrupted the game, a jump ball was used to decide who would own the ball. Cartwright won the jump ball and John Paxson directed the game from the top of the arc.

To be honest, John Paxson hasn't done this job for a season and is a little rusty.

Replacing Jordan was Craig Hodges, a three-point shooter with a three-point shooting percentage of over 40%.

The Bulls now have a double shooter lineup on the court, Craig Hodges + John Paxson, but how well they shoot depends on how well Meng Jin plays. If Meng Jin plays like he did in the first two rounds of the playoffs, the two shooters will naturally get a lot of shooting opportunities.

With 14 seconds left in the offensive round, John Paxson still hadn't found a good opportunity to pass the ball, so Meng Jin came up and asked for the ball. At this time, he had to stand up and take responsibility.

After holding the ball, Meng Jin first took a tentative step to the left, then to the right, and then passed Aguirre in one step. Facing Rick Mahorn's defense, Meng Jin hung in the air, and then scored against the defense.

At this time, Jordan just walked into the locker room. The staff stopped the cameramen outside the door. The team doctor then conducted a comprehensive examination of Jordan.

Chuck Daly turned to his assistant coach and said, "I told you that Mark Aguirre needs to lose weight."

In the last round, the 213cm tall Meng Jin passed the 198cm tall Aguirre as easily as a guard passing through the inside line.

2:2.

The Pistons wanted to return the ball quickly, but Isaiah Thomas made a mistake in passing the ball. Thunderous cheers came from the Chicago Stadium. The dirty moves of the Pistons players made the home fans' anger soar.

Meng Jin took the ball across half court. This was not arranged by the coaching staff, but purely because Meng Jin wanted to play this way.

Meng Jin pushed the ball and changed direction with one step outside the three-point line, and the player defending Meng Jin became Joe Dumars. Although there was a difference in size between him and Meng Jin, Joe Dumars was the best defensive player of the Pistons and much more reliable than Aguirre.

Joe Dumars immediately moved sideways, and Aguirre next to him also moved over. The two of them were very purposeful and did not let Meng Jin speed up so easily.

Now the whole league knows that the first element of defending Meng Jin is to prevent him from rushing forward, otherwise they can only be spectators and watch him rush in and dunk.

Meng Jin pushed the ball to Craig Hodges. Aguirre immediately moved to make the pass. Craig Hodges raised his hand and made a fake move to knock him away, then took one step and made a mid-range shot.

Aguirre was a sieve on defense, but he was really good on offense. He used his weight to push away the defense and then turned around to make a jump shot.

During the Bulls' offensive round, Meng Jin held the ball at the top of the arc and launched an attack. With the help of Grant's screen, Meng Jin walked to the baseline and missed the mid-range shot. However, Meng Jin was very active and ran to the basket as soon as possible. After getting the frontcourt rebound, he scored on the second attack.

Chuck Daly was roaring wildly on the sidelines. This was the way to lose points that Chuck Daly could not accept the most.

After Isaiah Thomas crossed half court, he wanted to pass the ball to Aguirre again. After Aguirre headed the ball twice with his back to the basket, he found that there was not much hope. Meng Jinbao was coming over, so he decisively chose to pass the ball.

The ball was intercepted by John Paxson. Although Aguirre has a big butt, he is less than two meters tall. Once he is double-teamed, his passing vision is actually very limited.

After stealing the ball, John Paxson had no other thoughts but to look for Meng Jin.

Meng Jin ran all the way with the ball. Facing the defense of Isaiah Thomas and Joe Dumars, he started from outside the three-point line, drew a Z-shaped footsteps on the court, dodged the two and flew to dunk!

The style of play is very open and cool!

The Bulls head coach was half-kneeling and clapping on the sidelines. He kept this posture after Jordan left the court. It was not difficult to see his current mood from his micro-movements.

Halfway through the first quarter, the score was 17 to 18. The Pistons' overall shooting percentage was not high tonight, but the Bulls just couldn't widen the score. After all, they were missing a superstar. The Bulls' offense was very rigid. Except for some changes in fast breaks, the positional battle basically allowed Meng Jin to play alone.

In the Pistons' offensive round, Isaiah Thomas received the ball at the top of the arc, faked a shot past John Paxson, and then strode into the basket.

Meng Jin rushed over from the side. He was either going for the ball or for the person, and directly knocked Isaiah Thomas away!

Meng Jin will never forget what the Pistons did to Jordan, and he has been looking for opportunities.

Meng Jin's move was very ruthless. He directly crashed into Isaiah Thomas's lower body. The Smiling Assassin lost his balance in the air and fell to the ground in a mess.

But this guy was very lucky. After lying down for a while, he got up again as if nothing had happened.

The two sides almost got into a conflict, and it was finally Bulls veteran Cartwright who calmed Meng Jin's anger.

Cartwright used his head to butt Meng Jin and said, "Meng, calm down! This is the Eastern Conference Finals, this is Game 6, the team needs you! If you leave the court, we are finished!"

After Meng Jin calmed down a little, Cartwright whispered in his ear: "Meng, just focus on playing well, leave this kind of thing to me."

The referee Hugh Hollins only called a normal foul on Meng Jin, which made the Pistons very unhappy.

Hugh Hollins was very cunning. He didn't call a foul when Bill Laimbeer elbowed Jordan just now. If this action was called a flagrant foul or a technical foul, the home fans would definitely eat him alive.

Hugh Hollins is a well-known black whistle in the league. In the future, he will always appear as a negative example in the American basketball media. He was also one of the first referees to be interrogated and observed in the Donaghy refereeing incident in 2007, but that is another story.

Four minutes later, Cartwright fulfilled his promise, extending his righteous little foot the moment Isaiah Thomas' jump shot landed.

"what!!"

Isaiah Thomas let out a scream, but this scream became the most pleasant sound in the ears of Bulls fans.

Isaiah Thomas sat on the ground holding his ankle in pain. It was obvious that he was injured, with a sprained ankle, just like in last year's finals.

As the first quarter was coming to an end, Isaiah Thomas limped into the player tunnel. Jordan just walked out at this time. Jordan was still dizzy, but he was worried about the team. Although the team doctor and assistant coach tried their best to dissuade him, he still wanted to return to the court.

The two men met each other, and seeing Isaiah Thomas's horrible look, Jordan's mind suddenly became much clearer. It seemed that his brothers had been working hard during the time he was away.

(End of this chapter)