NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 189 8 points to release the ball?

On June 6, all Chicago staff landed at Portland Airport.

Meng Jin didn't feel very good because there was a drizzle in the sky and rainy days can easily affect people's mood.

"How long will this rain stop?" Meng Jin asked.

"I don't know. I don't think it will stop anytime soon. It rains in Portland half of the year," said Phil Jackson.

Meng Jin and Phil Jackson have been very close recently, and the two often meditate together. Phil Jackson has his own way of doing things, and he can make people calm.

Before Game 3 started, Phil Jackson came to the locker room with some strange props.

Under everyone's curious gaze, he lit the sage in his hand. Phil Jackson introduced the mysticism of the North American natives under the white buffalo totem into the team locker room. The Bulls players didn't know what this meant, nor did they understand what he was doing. They just thought this practice was very novel.

Phil Jackson told everyone he did it to ward off evil.

The players all laughed when they heard this answer. No one believed Phil Jackson, but Phil Jackson achieved his purpose. He did this to eliminate the players' tension and help them relax.

Phil Jackson often does things that are out of the ordinary, and he seems to enjoy it.

When Meng Jin entered the stadium, he felt the tremendous energy of the Portlanders. They were cheering crazily for the home team players before the game even started. The Trail Blazers are the only professional team in Oregon, and it can be said that they are the darlings of the team.

Portland fans were very excited. They were very satisfied with the result of winning an away game. The most important thing in the series is the home-court advantage. A team fights for these four words for a season. Now Portland has gained home-court advantage in the finals. Fans have a feeling of touching the championship trophy with one hand. However, the Bulls will soon prove to Portland fans that this is just an illusion.

At the beginning of the game, Meng Jin missed consecutive mid-range jump shots. Finding his touch was not good, Meng Jin immediately adjusted his playing style and increased the number of times he rushed to the basket. The Trail Blazers' starting center Kevin Duckworth received two fouls in the first quarter and four fouls in the first half.

Kevin Duckworth is the fortress of the Trail Blazers' interior. Meng Jin has shattered his playing time. Kevin Duckworth is the core of the Trail Blazers' defense and also the offensive fulcrum of the interior. The reduction in his playing time directly disrupted the deployment of head coach Rick Adelman.

The Bulls took a double-digit lead in the first half, but the Trail Blazers showed great resilience, with Jeremy Kersey, Drexler and Terry Burt all working at the same time on the outside, and by the end of the third quarter, the gap had been narrowed to 2 points.

The Trail Blazers are not only resilient, they are also full of talent. Three of the five starting players have been All-Stars, and Terry Burt and Jerome Kersey also have quasi-All-Star strength. They did not rely on luck to win 59 games in the regular season, but compared to those strong teams, the Trail Blazers lack experience and the final say.

This flaw became apparent in the last minute and a half.

In the final moments of the game, the Bulls were leading by one point, but the ball was in the hands of the Trail Blazers. Terry Burt, Jerome Kersey and Drexler all had hot hands tonight and any of them could have finished the offense, but there was a problem with their communication in the final moments. With 1 seconds left in the offense, Jerome Kersey made a hasty shot and the basketball bounced out of the rim.

The Bulls did not give the Trail Blazers a chance to get into position and set up their defensive formation. Meng Jin quickly launched a counterattack and made a layup against two players.

Meng Jin proved with his actions that if you don't seize the opportunity, you will be punished. In the last minute, the Trail Blazers were 1 points behind, but they still had a chance. At the critical moment, Drexler missed a three-pointer, and Jordan made a buzzer-beater to kill the game.

110 to 105, the Chicago Bulls regained home advantage.

孟进全场拿到35分13篮板5助攻4抢断2盖帽，乔丹拿到41分5助攻5篮板。

Jordan continued his hot hand from the previous game. After three games, his average score reached an astonishing 43.6 points. Meng Jin's average score in three games was 32 points. If the Bulls can win the series, he will basically lock in the FMVP.

In the fourth game, Meng Jin still tried his best on both offense and defense. He did not use any stupid tricks like releasing the ball for eight points in order to prevent Jordan from winning the FMVP. Meng Jin is not such a player. In his eyes, victory comes first.

The same is true for Jordan. When Meng Jin won the FMVP last season, Jordan did not deliberately sabotage him.

G4孟进和乔丹都爆种了，两人一人砍下44分一人砍下36分，公牛以115比98大胜开拓者。

Two consecutive home defeats made Portland fans face the reality all of a sudden, but the schedule of the finals is 2-3-2, and the next home game is still in Portland. The fans and players of the Trail Blazers will not miss any opportunity to win.

In G5, both sides launched a fierce offensive battle. At this stage of the game, the Trail Blazers had no worries. After putting aside distractions, their tactical execution was stronger, their shots were more decisive, and the team's offensive efficiency was greatly improved.

The Bulls played this game as if it were their last. It would be much more satisfying to return to Chicago and win the championship, but they didn't want to make things worse.

In the first half, the two sides were tied at 59. Jordan's touch was not as good as in the first two games, but he did not get carried away. He gave part of the ball to Meng Jin and part of the shooting rights to his teammates on the outside. Jordan resumed the role of No. 1 and organized the Bulls' offense in an orderly manner. In the first half, Jordan scored 12 points, 8 assists, 6 rebounds and 3 steals.

This kind of Bulls is the most difficult to defend, because the Trail Blazers not only have to defend Meng Jin and Jordan, but also have to pay attention to Grant, Paxson and others.

Grant played very tough tonight, grabbing offensive rebounds and scoring on second attacks several times. Paxson also had steady hands, hitting three three-pointers in the first half.

In the second half, the Trail Blazers continued to attack the Bulls. In the first two minutes, the Trail Blazers did not notice anything unusual and the score between the two sides was always close. But in the middle of the third quarter, the Trail Blazers found that they could not keep up with the Bulls' rhythm. Meng Jin made 6 consecutive shots in four and a half minutes.

This is not the first time Meng Jin has performed like this this season, but it is still amazing to see him perform so efficiently on a stage like the finals.

Countless American fans in front of the TV expressed the same sigh: how can they defend against him?

When Adelman went All-IN and sent a large number of troops to defend Meng Jin, Jordan and Grant got relatively easy shooting opportunities. Adelman felt powerless and the score difference was widened to 10 points at the end of the third quarter.

In the final quarter, the Trail Blazers organized several counterattacks, but they were all repelled by the Bulls. In the end, the Bulls maintained their lead until the end and swept the Trail Blazers with a total score of 4 to 1.

(End of this chapter)