NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 163: The Bulls’ new head coach!

A day later, the Bulls faced the Celtics at home in a back-to-back game.

This game attracted much attention from the outside world because it was Larry Bird's comeback game. After undergoing surgery last season, Larry Bird has been recovering from injury. In an interview before the game, Bird said that his condition has recovered to 100%.

"Hey! Larry, long time no see! After taking a season off, I can't imagine how energetic you are now!"

When Meng Jin was warming up, he greeted Larry Bird. Larry Bird had a cold expression on his face, and even a bit of hatred in his eyes. For some reason, no matter what Meng Jin did or said, Bird felt that he was mocking him.

"Hey, kid, I'm back. Your good luck is over. Wash your neck and wait for me to bleed you." Bird said coldly.

When the Bulls won the championship last season, many players were dissatisfied. They believed that luck played a big role in the Bulls' championship. From the Eastern Conference Finals to the Finals, the opponents' core players kept getting injured. Larry Bird thought so too.

Meng Jin just felt that he hadn't seen Bird for a long time and wanted to say hello, but he didn't expect to be met with trash talk in return, so he didn't mean to be polite.

"Larry, your era is over, and I will give you a dignified ending." Meng Jin hit back.

The two men spoke in low voices and in calm tones, but the atmosphere was filled with tension.

After returning to their respective half, the fighting spirit of both players was ignited.

Larry Bird made a behind-the-back pass right off the bat, then hit a three-pointer in the corner after receiving a pass from Dennis Johnson.

Meng Jin first made a powerful one-arm dunk, and then made a high jump shot from the top of the arc.

Both of them are helping the team in their own way.

After the first quarter, the two sides were tied at 26. The Celtics widened the gap at the beginning of the second quarter. Tonight they let McHale serve as the sixth man. He led the bench lineup to an 11-2 climax at the beginning of the second quarter.

McHale started out as a sixth man, and he had won the title of Sixth Man of the Year for two consecutive years. In the 85-86 season, because Celtics power forward Maxwell was sent away, McHale was able to enter the Celtics starting lineup. After entering the starting lineup, his career statistics took a step forward. The 86-87 season was the peak of his career, averaging 26.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.6 assists, and 2.2 blocks per game, with a shooting percentage of 60.4%. Usually, those who have such a high shooting percentage are inside players who eat cakes, but McHale is different. His points are all scored by relying on low-post techniques, one ball at a time. However, McHale's biggest shortcoming is that he is not durable. Starting from the 87-88 season, he missed many games due to injuries.

At the beginning of this season, the Celtics coaching staff put him back on the bench to extend his life and to make the second lineup more offensive. After Reggie Lewis grew up, the Celtics' starting lineup had enough offensive power.

McHale performed a dream dance right off the bat, successfully fooling the Bulls' two backup inside players under the basket, then scored two points with a small hook shot, and then made a mid-range jump shot.

Grant secretly felt lucky that he was a substitute today and he didn't have to defend this guy. McHale was his nightmare and he was badly beaten by him in the past two seasons. Grant had good running and jumping abilities and he was not afraid of those with good talents, but was afraid of skilled and agile inside players like McHale.

Playing as the sixth man with McHale's strength is tantamount to being a hooligan. His level is far beyond that of other teams.

However, Collins said that you have a plan, but I have a way to get over the wall. His response is to extend the playing time of Meng Jin and Jordan. The advantage of the young core lies in this: good physical strength.

When you are in doubt, just let the young core players play for a few more minutes and that's it.

In the stands, Bulls general manager Krause kept complaining. He felt that Collins had no tactics and did not know how to use players. Little did he know that Collins had already realized the true meaning of winning.

Jordan and Meng Jin took turns scoring as soon as they came on. After a few fast breaks, the Celtics' lead was fleeting. The Bulls did not relax just to close the gap. Meng Jin and Jordan struck while the iron was hot, continuing to maintain a high-pressure pressing and quick counterattack strategy. At the end of the half, the Bulls had surpassed the Celtics by double digits.

In the third quarter, Meng Jin, who was fully heated up, replicated his performance in the opening game, scoring 21 points in a single quarter. The Celtics' front line's defensive intensity was not as good as the Cavaliers', and they could not withstand Meng Jin's full firepower.

公牛最终以119比104战胜凯尔特人，孟进拿到46分11篮板5助攻3盖帽1抢断，乔丹30分6助攻6篮板4抢断。

The best player on the Celtics side was "Big Bird", who made 24 of 12 shots, 3 of 1 three-pointers, and 4 of 3 free throws, scoring 27 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists. Bird was efficient tonight, but judging from the course of the game, he did not find his best form. After all, he has not played a regular game for nearly a year and needs more time to get back into form.

I don't know if the Bulls have offended the league's top management this season. The start of the new season is extremely difficult. First they faced the Cavaliers and then the Celtics. The next opponent in the third game is the Detroit Pistons.

In this game, Meng Jin continued his crazy performance, scoring 41 points, and Jordan also scored 40 points. The two of them accounted for 122 points of the team's 81 points. Phil Jackson on the sidelines shook his head and kept saying to himself that this was a deformed offense.

But the boss doesn't care whether the offense is abnormal or not, as long as they can win and make money. The fans don't care whether the offense is abnormal or not, as long as they play well.

There is no easy game against the Pistons, and tonight was no exception. Six Pistons scored in double digits, with Joe Dumars, Mark Aguirre and Isaiah Thomas all scoring 6+ points. The game was not decided until the last 20 minutes.

公牛新赛季拿下开局三连胜，孟进以场均50.6分8篮板3盖帽2抢断2助攻当先NBA首周周最佳球员。

Because of Meng Jin's performance, there has been a buzz cut trend among children across the United States recently. A large number of white boys and yellow boys are crying and shouting that they want to have the same hairstyle as Meng Jin. Usually this hairstyle is only popular among black people. This is the power of idols.

Most parents would agree to their children's request. There is nothing wrong with liking Meng Jin. He cut his hair short to encourage terminally ill children. Meng Jin has no black spots except that he has many girlfriends, but having many girlfriends is not illegal. Compared with the stars of this era who take drugs, drink alcohol, rape, and commit crimes against children, Meng Jin is already a positive star. In an interview, Meng Jin said that this is a good start and he hopes that the Bulls will continue to win and he will continue to explode. As a result, Jordan stood up and dismantled him in the next game.

Jordan took 36 shots alone in the game against the Timberwolves, a new team in the league. Jordan is unhappy that the spotlight has been on Meng Jin recently. To be precise, Jordan has been unhappy since Meng Jin won the FMVP. He doesn't like the feeling of being suppressed by his teammates. Although Jordan has always played the role of organizer in the Bulls in the past season, he is bloodthirsty by nature and his favorite thing is to score.

Jordan was not in good shape in this game, making only 36 of 12 shots. Fortunately, the Timberwolves were too weak and the Bulls barely won with 105 to 100, winning four consecutive games this season.

The Timberwolves' players were gathered from other teams. The top scorer was Tony Campbell of the Lakers. He scored 30 points in this game. His average score per game so far this season is 25 points. It should be noted that last season in the Lakers he could only take 5 shots per game and scored 6.2 points.

After the game, Meng Jin, who only scored 19 points tonight, was very dissatisfied and went to Jordan to argue: "Hey! Michael, I want to win, and you just want to brush your damn score. If you really want to score so much and don't value winning, I suggest you go to the Timberwolves, where you can average 50 shots per game!"

Jordan yelled at Meng Jin: "Shut your stinky mouth! I'm just playing my way."

"Is your way to miss 24 shots?" Meng Jin asked back.

"boom!"

Jordan took off his sneakers and threw them at Meng Jin. He looked like an erupting volcano!

All the players were frightened by this action. Head coach Collins didn't have any good solution. He kept shouting, "Calm down! Calm down!"

This kind of talk is the most useless nonsense to someone who is angry. Anyone who is overwhelmed by anger will not calm down just because someone else shouts at him to calm down.

The two assistant coaches were much calmer than Collins. Bach asked the players to hold Jordan and Meng Jin to prevent the situation from escalating further. Phil Jackson blocked the door of the locker room to prevent reporters from coming in at this time. Negative reports would only make the team more disharmonious.

For the next month, Meng Jin and Jordan did not speak to each other, including on the court. The Bulls' record before the Christmas game was 16 wins and 8 losses. The media reported that Meng Jin openly wanted to seize power and said that he wanted to drive Jordan out of the position of the Bulls' boss. It was obvious to everyone.

In the Christmas game, the Chicago Bulls lost miserably to the Philadelphia 108ers 133-76. After the defeat, Meng Jin and Jordan had another fight, and the two seemed to have reached an irreconcilable point.

Collins was very troubled. He felt that he had missed the best opportunity to mediate the conflict between the two. If he had come out to mediate in time when they had their first quarrel, perhaps the conflict would not have become so serious.

General Manager Krause chose to stand on Meng Jin's side. He wanted to send Jordan away in the previous two seasons. This is a good opportunity.

Klaus went to owner Reinsdorf to fan the flames. He said that if one of the two had to leave, it would be Jordan. Meng Jin's popularity in Chicago is no less than Jordan's, and it would be easier to rebuild the team around him. There is no more terrifying monster in the entire league than him. As long as he is equipped with an excellent point guard, two reliable blue-collar workers, and several capable substitutes, the Bulls will once again move towards the road to the championship.

Krause loves Meng Jin, and Meng Jin is his weapon against Jordan. For Krause, this is not basketball, this is a struggle for power!
Meng Jin didn't mind. People are used here and there. This is a reflection of their value. Krause used him to fight against Jordan, and he also wanted to use Krause to get promoted.

Reinsdorf agreed to Klaus' request the first day. Just when Klaus was happily preparing to sell Jordan publicly, Reinsdorf regretted it the next day. He asked Klaus if there was any way to keep both of them at the same time. As a boss, of course he was thinking about how to maximize the benefits. Meng Jin and Jordan were both cash cows, and the boss didn't want to lose either one.

Finally, after discussion between Reinsdorf and Klaus, it was decided to replace head coach Collins.

Anyway, the head coach is always the first to be blamed when something goes wrong with the team. Collins, the championship coach, was fired inexplicably. The day before, he was still thinking about how to reconcile the conflict between Jordan and Meng Jin and win the second championship of his career.
Collins is very popular in Chicago and is also a championship coach. In order to give an explanation to the fans, Krause specifically listed Collins' seven sins.

First, Collins could not control the team's locker room, and he even intensified the conflict between Meng Jin and Jordan during training.

Second, Collins overused Meng Jin and Jordan, increasing their chances of injury.

Third, Collins has no tactics at all.

fourth
Just like that, Collins packed up and left. Krause thought he could legitimately promote his favorite Phil Jackson to the position, but he didn't expect to encounter greater resistance. Meng Jin and Jordan found Krause the day after Collins left. Their purpose was very clear: they would definitely not play the triangle offense.

Meng Jin has a good relationship with Phil Jackson. The two are now considered half friends. Occasionally, Meng Jin will meditate with him, but that doesn't mean Meng Jin is willing to play under him.

Boss Reinsdorf also asked Krause that the next Bulls head coach must continue the Bulls' SHOW-TIME offense from last season. The boss is still thinking about how to make money, and Bulls fans like to watch their gorgeous run-and-gun game.

Klaus had no other choice. He could withstand the pressure from Meng Jin and Jordan, but he could not withstand the pressure from his boss Reinsdorf. After all, he was just an employee living under someone else's roof.

It is now the middle of the season and it is difficult to find another good head coach. The first person Krause thought of was Jack Ramsey, the famous NBA coach who is currently serving as a commentator for the 76ers. However, this plan was quickly rejected by himself. Ramsey does not play run-and-gun, and if he wants to shoot, Meng Jin will probably have to switch to center, and if that happens, the boss will kill him.

Krause thought of the Nuggets head coach and run-and-gun master Doug Moe again. He was very interested in coaching Meng Jin, but he was unwilling to abandon the current Nuggets players. Doug Moe agreed to coach the Bulls after the season, but Krause couldn't wait. He couldn't let himself be the head coach for most of the season, right?
Krause has set his sights on former Knicks head coach Pitino, but Pitino said college basketball is more suitable for him as he has been exhausted both physically and mentally by professional basketball in the past two years.

Unable to find a suitable candidate, Krause turned his attention to the team after many twists and turns. The next day, news broke that former Bulls assistant coach Bach had become the Bulls' new head coach.

(End of this chapter)