NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 50 Meng Jin is just a beast

On the evening of November 11, the Bulls set out from Chicago and headed for Atlanta.

Although both are Eastern teams, the two cities are far apart, one in the northeast and the other in the southeast, with a straight-line distance of more than 1000 kilometers.

This is the Chicago Bulls' first away game of the season and also Meng Jin's first away game since entering the NBA.

Everything was new and painful.

In this era, NBA teams did not have chartered planes or private jets, so players could only squeeze into commercial jets with other passengers.

After entering the airport, the entire Bulls team was surrounded by people.

It's hard not to notice this group of big NBA players.

Some fans began to greet the players, take photos with them and ask for their autographs.

There is absolutely no privacy at all.

The busiest among them is Jordan, who is the darling of the whole Chicago.

But it was Grant who suffered the most.

The source of pain for other players is: being recognized again, there is nothing they can do but say hello to these guys or get an autograph.

The source of Grant’s pain is: I’m also an NBA player, hey, can you please pay attention to me?
What was even more painful was that Grant was carrying a lot of bags and packages on his back, like a courier.

After some trouble, Grant, sweating profusely, finally got on the plane.

As soon as he sat down, Grant couldn't help but complain: "The team should buy a private jet!"

Oakley laughed after hearing this: "Special plane? You should be thankful that at least we still have planes. Ten years ago, players could only take the train. Sometimes they had to leave two days in advance to play a game!"

Jordan also smiled and said, "This kid is exhausted. It seems that he needs to relax after landing."

As soon as they got off the plane, Jordan pulled Grant and Meng Jin into the room.

When Grant saw Jordan take out the playing cards, he was shocked. Has a new round of salary recovery plan begun?

Jordan's gambling addiction came up on the plane. In order to maintain his image in front of the fans, Jordan had to restrain himself and endured it all the way to the hotel.

"Can Tonk play?" Jordan looked at Grant and Meng Jin with a scrutinizing look.

They both shook their heads at the same time: "No."

Even if this happens, they will shake their heads.

"What about blackjack?"

Jordan continued to ask, and the two continued to shake their heads.

The two originally thought that if they didn't know how to play Jordan would let them go back.

Unexpectedly, Jordan showed a weird smile: "Good kids, let me teach you how to play some adult games."

Jordan dragged Meng Jin and Grant and explained the rules of blackjack to them. He didn't even give them a chance to try it and started the gambling game directly.

Also in the room were Jordan's personal driver, personal assistant George Keller and old friend Adolf Seaver, who also participated in the bet.

"Come on, baby, give these guys another five and let them bleed some blood in their wallets."

Jordan is a typical gambler, muttering to himself while drawing cards.

After two rounds, Meng Jin threw out the two cards in his hand: "Do I win?"

Jordan took a look and saw an A and a 10.

Damn, Black Jack?

Are you going to be so ruthless right from the start?

Jordan threw the cards down: "Go on!"

As a result, in the second game, Grant got a blackjack.

Jordan was stunned. Are these two people born to be gambling kings?
Meng Jin and Grant turned this strategy game into a pure game of luck.

For the next hour, Jordan lost for an hour straight.

Looking at Jordan's puzzled expression, Meng Jin laughed secretly. It seemed that this guy didn't know what the novice protection period was.

The bets were not big, and Jordan lost almost $3000 in an hour and a half.

"Michael, it's getting late." Grant looked at his watch. It was already half past twelve in the morning.

"Damn it, you bastard, don't even think about getting away." Jordan said, turning his head to look at Meng Jin: "Same to you."

Meng Jin knew something was wrong when he heard the tone.

Oh my god, this boiled egg is so delicious.

In this way, a group of people played all night long. Jordan lost a lot of money that night, losing $10000.

But Jordan only paid about 5000, as that was all the cash he brought with him.

Grant finally reacted when he opened the door and saw the bright light outside.

Its daybreak!
What’s even more terrifying is that they didn’t have time to catch up on sleep. After breakfast, Meng Jin and Grant hurried to the training hall as the team had a training session in the morning.

When they arrived at the practice facility, Jordan was already warming up with mid-range shots.

Grant shook his head in disbelief: "Does Michael have a twin brother, one of them is responsible for playing basketball and the other is responsible for playing?"

After working all night, he immediately started high-intensity training. In Grant's eyes, Jordan was just an animal.

At this moment, Grant didn't realize that the guy next to him was also a beast.

After practice, it was lunch time, and then the team took a bus to Omni Arena, the home of the Eagles.

Meng Jin and Grant took a nap on the bus.

After getting off the car, Grant looked exhausted: "Meng, I feel like I'm dying."

Meng Jin: "Me too."

During the warm-up phase, a CBS reporter conducted a brief interview with Hawks top player Dominique Wilkins.

"What do you think of Meng's dunk? Do you think he will continue his good debut tonight?"

Wilkins looked confused: "Meng? Who?"

The reporter pointed at Meng Jin who was shooting basketball to warm up.

"That pretty boy?" Wilkins asked with disdain in his tone.

However, Wilkins' contempt was not deliberate. In that era, most black people still did not believe that an Asian could play basketball.

However, after Meng Jin finished his first dunk, Wilkins, the dunker, immediately realized that this guy was definitely a pure numerical freak!
After Meng Jin's second brutal dunk, Wilkins said he had completely remembered this young man and wanted to take back his words before the game.

Wilkins’ inner thoughts: This guy is a natural basketball player!

Even more shocked than Wilkins was Grant.

Is this guy just staying up all night?
Meng Jin's physical fitness is not the best, but he recovers quickly. After a short rest, his physical fitness can be greatly improved.

整场比赛下来孟进16投8中，罚球6中4，拿到20分7篮板2盖帽1助攻。

Meng Jin was not satisfied with his performance tonight. His efficiency declined. It seemed that staying up all night still had an impact on him.

Michael Jordan scored 29 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds.

With the joint efforts of the two, the Bulls defeated the Hawks 111-95.

The highest scorer of the game was Dominique Wilkins, who got 35 points and 4 rebounds.

Wilkins scores high points, but the team loses, which is the norm for the Hawks.

Fans who only look at the statistics will think that Wilkins cannot lead his teammates, but anyone who has watched the game knows how toxic Wilkins is.

Wilkins barely passes the ball, doesn't defend, and doesn't run.

He only does one thing on the court, which is to attack with the ball.

Outside of the offense, Wilkins' face was filled with the expression "Why isn't it my turn to attack yet? So boring!"

This style of play produces good statistics, but it also causes great harm to the team. His teammates have to clean up his mess and don't get much attention.

Looking at Meng Jin and Jordan high-fiving each other to celebrate, Grant felt that he was out of place in this festive atmosphere.

今晚他出场9分钟，3中0，0分0板0助攻0盖帽0抢断，唯一一个没挂蛋的数字是失误。

In 2019, Grant talked about this on a radio talk show.

Host: "Horace, let's talk about the most interesting thing about your rookie season."

Grant: "What was the most memorable thing about my rookie season? It was definitely the second game of the season. Our opponent was the Hawks. Before the game, I played cards with the two MJs in the hotel room all night."

Host: "Did you play all night the day before the game?"

Grant: "Yeah, I know it's crazy, but it's true. I remember we were playing blackjack that day, and Michael was losing badly. He kept dragging us along. You know, me and MJ were rookies at the time. We couldn't say no to Michael, you know."

Host: "OK, how much did you win?"

Grant: "About $4000. That's not the point. The point is that when I walked out of Michael's room in the morning, my eyes were blurry. I thought to myself, it's over. I'm going to mess up this game. At that time, I had only one thought: Coach, please don't let me play in this game."

"Before the game started, I asked Meng Jin how he felt. He said he didn't sleep all night and didn't sleep well at noon, so he didn't have much energy. I thought, okay, I won't be scolded by the coach alone in this game, at least someone will be there for me. As a result, he did a very exaggerated slam dunk as soon as he came on the court, the kind with his head over the rim. He scored 19 or 20 points in the whole game, I can't remember, and he also grabbed a lot of rebounds. And what about me? Except for 2 turnovers, all other statistics were zero.

"From then on, I understood one thing: Meng cannot be regarded as a human being. He is just an animal."

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(End of this chapter)