NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 181 The Orangutan Floats
"Well played, Reggie, you scored 2 more points than last game."

Reggie Miller no longer had the murderous aura he had before the start of G1, and was replaced by helplessness and bitterness.

"I'm going to explode in Game 3," said Reggie Miller.

"Yes, I believe you will get 3 points in Game 14. This is called steady growth." Meng Jin said with a smile.

"Meng, you'd better get out of my sight before I throw a punch." Reggie Miller was upset by Meng Jin's words.

Meng Jin had no ill intentions, he just simply wanted to tease his friend. Of course, it would be best if he could influence the mentality of his opponent.

Reggie Miller rejected Meng Jin's request for a dinner after the game, but Meng Jin didn't take it to heart. Now the two of them are opponents, which is normal. After the series is over, their relationship will be reconciled.

Meng Jin likes this way of getting along with others. He extremely hates the behavior of being on good terms with the entire league. A harmonious atmosphere is certainly relaxing, but it is not the essence of basketball competition.

In the pre-match interview for G3, Reggie Miller showed great determination to win. He said that he would give 120% of his energy in this game and would play the whole game if the coach needed him to.

After Reggie Miller finished speaking, he heard some boos from behind him. These boos came from the Pacers fans. Since the day Reggie Miller was selected by the Pacers, Indiana fans have never given him a good face. Although Reggie Miller has made significant progress in recent years, there are still some fans who do not recognize him and even hate him.

These fans attributed the Pacers' loss in the first two games to Reggie Miller's poor performance. They selectively ignored the fact that the person chasing Reggie Miller throughout the court was former best defensive player Michael Jordan.

The negative voices from the fans did not hit Reggie Miller. Instead, these voices strengthened his desire to survive. Reggie Miller made a three-pointer right at the start.

In the first two games, he was almost driven crazy by Jordan. In this game back in Indiana, Reggie Miller said, can you still bully him on his own turf?

Reggie Miller scored 10 points in the first quarter, which was equivalent to his full score in G1.

The Indiana Pacers led by 32 points in the first quarter, 30-2. The Pacers' on-site commentator exclaimed: "Reggie's touch is back tonight, the Pacers' team is back, everything is back!"

Reggie Miller played so smoothly in the first quarter because of his own condition and of course Jordan's defensive attitude. Tonight, Jordan still strictly guarded Reggie Miller, but not as hard as in the first two games. In the first two games, Michael Jordan put all his energy into the defensive end and scored no more than 30 points in both games. This is not Jordan's basketball style.

He obviously increased his number of shots tonight. A person's energy is limited. If he invests more on the offensive end, he will definitely be negligent on the defensive end. Reggie Miller is the kind of player who can hurt his opponent as long as he has a little space.

In addition to Reggie Miller, other Pacers players were in good shape tonight. Chuck Person and Schrempf scored consecutively in the second quarter. The Pacers' other players also scored further to create shooting space for Reggie Miller. In the second quarter, the Pacers combined inside and outside to continue to put pressure on the Bulls.

At the end of the first half, the Indiana Pacers led 65-55. CCTV broadcast the game live. Seeing that the Bulls were behind at halftime, Coach Sun and Coach Xu gave the Bulls some advice in the commentary booth. Coach Sun said: "The Bulls players won the first two games, but they were a little relaxed in this game. They didn't play to their expected level in the first half. In basketball games, you have to keep your mind on the ball all the time if you want to win." Coach Xu nodded: "In addition, the Bulls' style of play is too monotonous. It's almost always Jordan and Meng Jin who take turns to attack. They have to let other players get involved when they are attacking, especially the outside players. Outside three-pointers are very important when chasing points."

The two men's analysis was very logical, but they soon realized that the basketball played by the Bulls was not the same as the basketball they knew.

In the first defensive round of the second half, Meng Jin showed his strength. He gave Fleming an amazing block in assisting defense. Fleming accelerated and turned into the penalty area. After passing John Paxson, he thought he was safe. However, his layup was blocked by Meng Jin in the air.

The basketball hit the ground, and before it bounced high, Jordan quickly grabbed the ball, then pushed forward and passed it.

Meng Jin made a high-speed run along the sideline, took the ball and took two steps to shoot from the rim, which almost made Coach Sun's jaw drop.

Coach Sun couldn't help but swear: "Damn, that jump is too high!"

Coach Xu quickly touched Coach Sun and reminded him to pay attention to his image as this was being broadcast live nationwide.

Coach Sun immediately added, "With Meng Jin's physical talent, I believe he can succeed in other sports, such as long jump, high jump, and running. His two steps just now were like a car on a highway. He probably won't be good at gymnastics because his legs are too long. He probably would have touched the ground before he finished the set of movements."

Coach Sun kept talking to himself, and the more he talked, the more he went off topic.

As he was speaking, the Bulls seized the opportunity of the Pacers' missed shot and launched a counterattack.

Jordan performed some acrobatics in the air, pulling up the lever and making a layup behind his back, which not only made the shot but also resulted in a free throw.

"Bang!" Jordan's free throw was a little too strong, hitting the inside of the basket and bouncing out. Meng Jin overpowered Schmitz and almost rode on his head to dunk the ball into the basket with one hand. Coach Sun began to regret seeing this ball, regretting that he had said "damn" too early just now, and Meng Jin jumped higher in this round.

The Bulls' momentum of chasing points was like a flood. In less than two minutes in the second half, they launched a 12 to 2 offensive climax and directly wiped out the gap. Meng Jin scored 8 points and Jordan scored 4 points, which directly stunned the two domestic commentators. Coach Xu took a long time to utter one sentence: "This is pure personal ability." The Pacers fans were also confused. The advantage that the team had built up in two quarters was gone in two minutes.

The Pacers called a timeout, and the commentator said that the home team called a timeout too late as the Bulls were already gaining momentum.

The commentator was right. After the timeout, the Pacers were still passive. The control of the rhythm on the court had been transferred from the Pacers to the Bulls. The Bulls quickly overtook the score, all relying on Meng Jin and Jordan's direct attacks on the basket in transition. This offensive method is not only efficient but also undermines the opponent's morale, and dunks occur at any time.

The Pacers players were almost hallucinating. Is this still the same Bulls team from the first half?
The current Bulls' basketball philosophy is to use blitzkrieg to take down the opponent in one go. The Bulls did this often last season, and this season Bach carried this tactic forward after taking over the team.

Reggie Miller missed three consecutive three-pointers. Facing the overwhelming attack, he became anxious, and anxiety led to chaos, and chaos led to collapse. In the Bulls' subsequent counterattack, Reggie Miller was directly dunked by Meng Jin and flew out of the baseline.

Reggie Miller's anxiety can be seen from the broadcast footage of this ball. He first chased Jordan, and Jordan passed the ball to the middle in the penalty area. Reggie Miller turned around in a daze and faced Meng Jin who was rushing towards him at full speed. The result can be imagined.

Meng Jin would not show mercy on the court just because Reggie Miller was his brother. He sprinted at full speed, jumped at full speed, and dunked at full speed. Reggie Miller's small body was bounced three meters away. His brain was blacked out for five seconds. When he came to his senses, he found Meng Jin in front of him.

"Reggie, take a deep breath, take a deep breath, it's normal to feel dizzy." Reggie Miller did not leave the court, he insisted on continuing the game, but this spirit did not infect other players.

The Pacers did not have a leader who could stand up and stabilize the morale of the team. Reggie Miller had not fully grown up at that time. Chuck Person was stunned by Meng Jin in the last few minutes. Meng Jin repeatedly dribbled one step to dunk in counterattacks or even directly received the ball and dunked. This offensive style made it difficult for Chuck Person to resist.

He felt like an ordinary person fighting against Godzilla. In Chuck Person's eyes, Meng Jin was a behemoth like Godzilla and Transformers. Just looking at him was enough to make people feel scared, let alone fighting against him.

In fact, this cannot be blamed on Chuck Person. Defending Meng Jin has never been his job alone. It must rely on the system and the efforts of the entire team. The Pacers did a good job in the first half, but were completely messed up in the second half after the Bulls broke their rhythm.

Meng Jin scored 19 points in a single quarter, which was higher than his total points in the first half.

In the third quarter, the Bulls scored a terrifying 43 points, while the Pacers only scored 23 points. After three quarters, the Bulls overtook their opponents by 10 points.

Not many teams can score 40+ points in a single quarter in the playoffs. For the Bulls, the Pacers' defense almost collapsed in the third quarter.

Just when everyone thought the Pacers were going to collapse, they picked themselves up in the fourth quarter. Reggie Miller and Schrempf made consecutive jump shots, but the Pacers failed to narrow the gap because the Bulls were also scoring. Meng Jin made consecutive pull-up shots from mid-range, which made the Pacers lose their temper.

After the third quarter, Meng Jin's hands were hot, and it was obvious that he continued the state of the third quarter in the final quarter. In the middle of the fourth quarter, the dreams of Pacers fans were finally shattered. The difference between the two sides once widened to 15 points. Although there was no hope of winning, the Pacers fans still persisted until the moment the final whistle sounded. This was the Pacers' last home game this season. Whether they win or lose, they will accompany the team until the last moment.

Meng Jin scored 41 points and Jordan scored 43 points. With the two of them scoring, the Bulls won 18 points away from home. In this game, Reggie Miller finally regained some face. He scored 23 points in the game, paying tribute to Jordan's jersey number.

The Pacers lost the first two games very unfairly, but they lost this game convincingly. Six players on the team scored in double digits tonight, three scored over 6 points, and almost no one was lagging behind. Yet they still lost by double digits. There is indeed a big gap in hard power between the two sides.

Meng Jin kept his promise and said 3-0, so it was 3-0. Both the result and the process were easy.

After the game, Meng Jin gave Reggie Miller a big hug.

Reggie Miller spoke before Meng Jin did. He said, "You don't have to comfort me. I'm not that fragile. I will practice hard during the offseason and beat you next season."

"You say this every year." Meng Jin said with a smile.

"Just watch," Reggie Miller said.

"Come and train with me sometime. It'll be you, Scott, and Charles, just like the summer before last."

Reggie Miller nodded, then whispered in Meng Jin's ear: "Take down the damn championship!"

This is the sentence Meng Jin hears most often after he beats his opponent in the playoffs. Since he can't change the outcome of losing, losing to the champion will at least make him feel better.

At the post-match press conference, reporters asked Meng Jin whether he hoped the Celtics or the Knicks would win. Meng Jin smiled and said it didn't matter, the Bulls would win the second round in the end anyway.

The media exclaimed that Meng Jin was addicted to pretending to be cool.

A day later, Game 3 of the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics was played in New York. Both sides fought to the last bullet. In the end, the New York Knicks won the game 102-99, and difficultly tied the total score to 1-2.

For the New York Knicks, this victory was a turning point in the entire series.

The victory in this game gave the New York Knicks a big boost in momentum, but most of the outside media could not see this. They felt that the Knicks were just struggling and that it was impossible for the Knicks to beat the Celtics.

The media's logic is simple, because the Celtics have a solid foundation and most of their players have won championships.

结果G4纽约尼克斯就狠狠的打了这群人的脸，尤因这场比赛爆发24投18中狂轰44分13篮板，带队135比108大胜凯尔特人。

The Celtics could not solve this problem of Ewing. Ewing was at his peak during this period. The Celtics' inside chief Robert Parish was already 37 years old. In front of Ewing, his legs felt like they were filled with lead and he could not run fast or jump high.

5月6日，双方的G5回到波士顿的主场，当所有人都觉得凯尔特人不会再给尼克斯机会的时候尤因又站了出来，用31分10助攻8篮板的准三双数据带领球队完成绝地翻盘。

3 to 2, the New York Knicks became the first dark horse of this year, defeating the Celtics and advancing to the second round.

Celtics head coach Jimmy Rogers just said a few words after the game and left the court hastily.

He knew this was his last interview as the head coach of the Celtics. Celtics fans would not allow the team to be eliminated in the first round. Rogers would definitely be fired this summer, or maybe not even before the summer. He would pack up and leave tomorrow. Most Celtics fans felt that they could not do worse even if they took over. It was a shame for a team of the Celtics' level to be eliminated in the first round.

Celtics fans have a sense of superiority and are still immersed in the stage play of "The Magic Bird Battle", but they don't know that the familiar era is getting farther and farther away from them. Being eliminated in the first round this year is the best proof of this. A team is like a person. Once it goes downhill, it will be difficult to return to the top.

In the post-match interview, Ewing was very excited. He choked up and said: "Everyone was not optimistic about us, but we did it. What I want to say is that we are not afraid of any opponent, we can defeat any opponent!"

These words were obviously meant for the Bull. Meng Jin threw the newspaper after seeing the news the next day. Damn, is the gorilla getting cocky?
(End of this chapter)