NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 168 Must-Play Project
On January 1, the Bulls went to New York with two consecutive wins.

The Knicks are one of the three teams in the league that hate Meng Jin the most, the other two teams being the Pistons and Celtics. However, compared to the fans of the Pistons and Celtics, Meng Jin feels the least pressure in Madison Square Garden because he knows that the Knicks fans will turn against him as the game goes on, and he just needs to focus on the game and beat the Knicks.

If Meng Jin can beat the Knicks in the first three quarters, the fans at Madison Square Garden will transfer their hatred to their own players in the fourth quarter.

Meng Jin met with Donald at noon. Donald has looked much more haggard recently. His wife's divorce was giving Donald a headache, as it meant that he would lose half of his property. Although Donald looks bright and handsome now, his actual financial situation is not optimistic.

But even so, Donald did not show any frustration, and even rarely complained from his mouth. As a friend, Meng Jin was more anxious than him.

"Donald, where is your prenuptial agreement?" Meng Jin asked.

Donald took a puff of his cigar and said, "The prenuptial agreement is still valid, but according to American law, the property before the couple got married is personal property, and the property after the marriage is common property unless otherwise specified. If they divorce, the couple should divide the common property after the marriage equally."

"So how much property did you have before marriage?" Meng Jin asked.

"Less than 2000 million US dollars." Donald blew out a smoke ring.

"Donald, you're going to bleed this time, a lot. I've seen the Forbes rankings in the newspaper. Your wealth is around 4 million, which means you're going to lose million," said Meng Jin.

"Only 400 million? Those idiots can't even do basic arithmetic. My assets are conservatively estimated to be over 500 million." Donald said proudly.

"Is this the time to worry about this? This means you will be deducted tens of millions of US dollars more." Meng Jin was a little speechless.

Donald said: "A real man will never put himself in a desperate situation. I have a trick up my sleeve."

Meng Jin asked, "Tell me about it."

"There's a paragraph in my prenuptial agreement that's subtle but very devastating," Donald said.

"What? Can you finish it in one breath? I have training in the afternoon and a game in the evening. I haven't even taken care of my own child yet and I came to see you first."

Seeing that Meng Jin was a little angry, Donald immediately stood up to calm him down and said, "Don't be angry, Meng, this sentence means that if we divorce, any gifts Ivana received during the marriage, such as furs and cars, should be returned to me. There is also a paragraph that stipulates that Ivana's help in my career is a gift to me, and I cannot ask for compensation when we divorce."

"You are too cruel, Donald. You can regard everything you give to Ivana as a gift and then ask for it back." Meng Jin shook his head and sighed that all businessmen are cunning, no wonder Donald is so cunning.

"Of course, it was Roy Cohn who drafted my prenuptial agreement."

Meng Jin didn't know who Roy Cohn was, but he sounded very powerful.

“You’ll pay less, but you’ll still have to bleed.”

After Meng Jin finished speaking, Donald stood up and walked to Meng Jin.

At this time, Meng Jin was sitting on the sofa, and Donald easily put his arm around his shoulders and said, "My friend, I am very grateful that you are worried about me, but please don't worry, I will start a big project soon. If this project is successful, I can make 20 billion, no, 30 billion."

"Did you buy the White House?" Meng Jin asked.

"Hahaha, of course not!" Donald laughed and continued, "I bought a casino, the Taj Mahal Casino in Atlantic City."

"Do you also know about casinos?" Meng Jin asked.

"Of course, no one knows casinos better than me," Donald replied confidently.

"Okay, I wish you make a fortune." Meng Jin said.

"You have to come to the opening ceremony of the casino," said Donald.

Meng Jin: "It's just a small matter. When?"

"Probably in April, I'll let you know the exact time," Donald said.

Meng Jin nodded: "No problem."

Donald said: "On that day, my casino will be the focus of the whole United States, and I will invite all the stars I can."

Meng Jin said: "For example?"

Donald responded: "Michael Jackson."

"Do you also know Michael Jackson?" Meng Jin asked in surprise.

In Meng Jin's impression, Michael Jackson didn't like dealing with businessmen like Donald.

"We have a good relationship, but I haven't told him about this yet, but I believe he won't reject me," said Donald.

"Okay, see you then. I'm not going to talk to you anymore. I have to go to training."

After saying this, Meng Jin stood up and said goodbye to Donald. After becoming immune to injuries, Meng Jin set higher standards for himself and trained even harder.

Since you won’t die from training, then just train until you die.

However, Meng Jin's two personal trainers were a little worried about his health. After all, they didn't know that Meng Jin had a system. They just treated Meng Jin as a normal person with slightly better physical fitness.

What worried them was not Meng Jin's training method of training twice a day. Both Tim Grover and Greg Sam agreed with this training method. What they were worried about was that after training, Meng Jin would go to the bar until late at night and have an extra training session with two different women.

Even a body made of iron wouldn't be able to handle this.

Meng Jin told them not to worry, that his body knew what was going on and he would stop immediately if he felt something was wrong.

After practicing until about four o'clock, Meng Jin took a nap for half an hour, ate something, and then set off for Madison Square Garden with the team bus.

On the bus, Meng Jin saw Jordan with red eyes. He wondered where he had gone to gamble all night again. Meng Jin didn't ask. He and Jordan remained silent off the court.

When the two occasionally communicated on the court, they just shouted out tactics without any unnecessary words.

Meng Jin and Jordan gradually accepted this way of getting along. I don't know what Jordan thinks, but Meng Jin thinks it's good. It's just like ordinary colleagues. They talk about things at work and don't disturb each other after get off work. Although Meng Jin entered Jordan's circle of close friends some time ago, the two are not the same kind of people after all. They have different personalities and hobbies.

The only pity is that Jordan's prank plan may come to an end here. In the past, if Jordan found out about the prank, it would be just a joke, but now given the relationship between them, if it doesn't go well, it will be like a volcanic eruption.

The players on the Bulls have also become more cautious, and most of them choose to remain neutral. They neither get too close to Jordan nor to Meng Jin. The atmosphere within the Bulls is obviously much worse than in the previous two years.

Even head coach Bach, who is good at adjusting locker room relationships, was unable to do anything about this. He had already tried his best just to let Meng Jin and Jordan continue to wear the same jersey and play on the same court.

During the warm-up phase, the Knicks players gathered together to discuss how to limit Meng Jin and Jordan tonight.

Ewing chuckled, and his teammates asked him what he was laughing at. Ewing said, "Don't worry about how to defend them. The two of them will fight each other."

Mark Jackson shook his head and said, "Patrick, it seems like they've reconciled. Didn't you watch the news?"

Ewing laughed and said, "That's all superficial. We are all professional players. How can the gap between players be eliminated so easily? Those news can only deceive the media."

The teammates nodded one after another, thinking that what Ewing said made sense.

They were all looking forward to it, thinking that Ewing must have come up with some clever idea today.

As a result, halfway through the first quarter, Ewing suddenly ran up to Jordan and shouted, "Are you Meng's little brother? Is your job to stand by and watch him shoot? Is this your team or his team?"

Ewing asked a series of three fatal questions, thinking that this would anger Jordan.

Jordan was indeed angry, but he was angry at Ewing. He felt that Ewing treated him like a moron. He even dared to use such an obvious divisive scheme against him. Did he really treat him like an ape with an underdeveloped IQ?

Two rounds later, Jordan found an opportunity for revenge. He cut to the inside at a 45-degree angle. Meng Jin used the screen to run to the top of the three-point arc, and with one hand he swung hard to find Jordan who was running.

Bach designated the first quarter as Meng Jin's playing time, but it is impossible for Meng Jin to shoot every ball by himself. No fool would play like that.

After Jordan got the ball, he stepped forward and Ewing jumped to block the shot. Jordan tried to slam dunk over Ewing, but the ball missed. However, he gave Ewing a big dunk.

Ewing fell to the ground with his hands covering his face in pain. The team doctor came forward to check and saw a blood mark on Ewing's face. It seemed that Jordan had not cut his nails for several days.

The referee did not call a foul on Jordan, but instead called a hand-hitting foul on Ewing. Ewing went off the court to rest and did not return until 7 minutes into the second quarter.

There was a dead ball situation on the court, and Gerald Wilkins made a mistake when passing the ball to Oakley, and the ball flew out of the sideline.

The Knicks were trailing by 9 points when Ewing came on the court, but he looked confident. The Knicks have had a good record after changing coaches this season, with 25 wins and 10 losses so far, currently ranking second in the Eastern Conference. Ewing has also ushered in his peak season, averaging 28 points and 10 rebounds per game this season.

However, he suffered a blow in his first round. Cartwright played a back-to-back single and then turned around to pass the ball. Meng Jin got the ball and cut in along the baseline. Ewing turned around and jumped at the same time as Meng Jin, but was dunked over.

It’s still the familiar recipe, it’s still the familiar taste, and now Ewing has almost become a must-do item for Meng when he comes to New York.

If Meng Jin didn't dunk over or over Ewing in Madison Square Garden in a game, he would be embarrassed to say that he had been to New York.

However, Meng Jin admired Ewing's psychological quality very much. Even though he kept fighting after repeated failures and even though he knew he could not beat Meng Jin, he still dared to draw his sword.

This is also the reason why You Yin is often dunked over. If other centers saw Meng Jin rushing towards them aggressively, they would probably not have time to dodge, let alone jump to meet him.

Players like "Gorilla" Ewing are worthy of respect, but even he himself probably could not have imagined that a decade later his nickname would be stolen by a young man from Akron.

Ewing was very strong inside. In the offensive round, he immediately asked for the ball back. Despite Cartwright's defense, Ewing made a strong shot and hit a hook shot.

Ewing has become stronger this season, and Cartwright finds that he can no longer target Ewing like he did in last season's playoffs.

At the end of the first half, the Bulls led by 56 points, 46 to 10.

Knicks head coach Stu Jackson adopted a slow-paced offense and defense in the first half. He wanted to suppress the Bulls' offense, but doing so reduced the offensive rounds of both sides and indirectly suppressed the Knicks' offense.

During the halftime break, the Knicks players made different voices. They wanted to play against the Bulls, especially Ewing. Ewing preferred mobile warfare rather than positional warfare. During this period, Ewing could run and jump, and had no problems with his knees and feet. He was a good fast breaker.

Compared to positional offense, fast break is definitely an easier way to score.

Knicks head coach Stu Jackson thought about it and agreed to the players' request. Stu Jackson is a player who is very good at building good relationships with players. The reason why the Knicks have such a good record so far this season is not because of Stu Jackson's excellent tactics. He created a good atmosphere in the locker room. In his previous life, after Stu Jackson ended his coaching career, he became the executive vice president of basketball operations in the NBA, responsible for all on-court and international basketball operations in the NBA. It seems that he will also follow this path in this time and space.

The Knicks played very aggressively at the beginning of the second half. They scored 5 points in a row. Ewing also made a dunk in the counterattack and showed his gorilla nature as he beat his chest and stamped his feet. However, running and gunning is a familiar track for the Bulls after all. The Bulls blasted a 13-0 climax in the middle of the third quarter. Stu Jackson called two timeouts but it was of no avail.

Knicks commentator Mike Breen couldn't help but sigh: "Typical Bulls style of play, they used a hurricane-like counterattack to destroy the entire stadium and leave nothing behind."

It was too late for Stu Jackson to slow down the pace at this time. Now the Bulls were holding the remote control and the Knicks were being led by the nose.

The Bulls maintained a 17-point lead until the end, defeating the Knicks away and winning three consecutive games.

Tonight, Meng Jin scored 33 points, 15 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. In addition to scoring, he also frequently rushed to the inside to grab rebounds, helping Cartwright and Grant share the pressure. After all, the Knicks' inside line is Ewing + Oakley, the best rebounding inside combination in the league.

乔丹29分10助攻5篮板2抢断，格兰特16分7篮板，卡特赖特11分13篮板。

For the Knicks, Ewing scored 29 points and 14 rebounds. Cartwright couldn't defend him tonight, but his personal performance was not enough to help the team retain the victory.

After defeating the Knicks, the Bulls won three consecutive games, and soon they extended their winning streak to five games.

On January 1, the Bulls defeated the Warriors 18-148. Meng Jin went crazy tonight and scored 111 points. These 50 points were all scored in the first three quarters because the fourth quarter became garbage time.

On January 1, the Bulls defeated the Hawks 19-112. Wilkins still scored 90 points under the alternating defense of Meng Jin and Jordan. It can be said that he has tried his best. The firepower of the other Hawks players is completely insufficient. Moses Malone only took 24 shots in this game and scored 10 points. Moses Malone is 10 years old this season. If he encounters a team that only focuses on running games, he can still contribute 35+ points, but when facing a fast-paced team like the Bulls, let alone scoring, he won't have too many shots.

On January 1, the Bulls defeated the Knicks again, this time at the Bulls' home court. Everyone on the Knicks knew that the Bulls would definitely have Meng Jin and Jordan take turns attacking, but they just couldn't defend against it. It felt like the opponent was playing with open cards, but had bombs in their hands.

On January 1, the Bulls' 23-game winning streak was ended by the Pistons. Meng Jin scored 6 points like Jordan, but Meng Jin only took 32 shots, while Jordan made 22 crazy shots. This super dual-core system is not unsolvable. As long as one person is in an abnormal state and keeps taking a large number of shots, the team will be in danger.

(End of this chapter)