NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 80: A tough winning streak, Jordan's most uncomfortable episode

After playing against the Rockets, the Bulls did not rush to leave. They rested for a day in Houston. The seven-game road schedule is daunting, and it is very important to let the players get enough rest.

The next day, all the Bulls boarded a flight to San Francisco.

The next game will be on December 12st, still away, against the Golden State Warriors.

During the flight, Jack Harry suddenly came up to Meng Jin and said, "Meng, take a look at this."

Meng Jin took the magazine from Jack Harry and saw himself on the cover at a glance.

Grant came over and said, "Sports Illustrated? That's awesome!"

Jack Harley glanced at the cover with admiration: "Perfect angle, perfect photo,"

Meng Jin took a look and found that he was indeed handsome. His domineering dunk and handsome face were all in this photo. The photographer should be given a thumbs up.

Meng Jin was not too excited. It was not too difficult to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Many stars had been on it. If he were on the cover of Time magazine (American edition) one day, he would probably be happy for a while.

Because as far as he knew, in the past only Jordan, Magic, Kobe and James had been on the cover. These players were either the rulers of their era or top operators who spread their influence to the extreme.

On December 12, the NBA announced the Player of the Month for November.

This era's Player of the Month and Player of the Week awards are equally valuable, regardless of Eastern or Western conference.

迈克尔-乔丹以场均31.2分7.5助攻5篮板3.7抢断并且率队拿下11胜2负的成绩荣膺11月份最佳球员。

Meng Jin's arrival has brought some changes to Jordan's statistics. His number of assists has increased, and his scoring has slightly decreased. After all, Jordan has to give several shots to Meng Jin every night. But overall, Jordan's statistics are still abnormal. He ranks first in the league in both the scoring and steals lists.

Assistant coach Johnny Bach gave Meng Jin a set of statistics after the training, which were his data for November.

孟进单月出战11场比赛，场均可以拿到22.6分8.8篮板3.1助攻2.2盖帽1.4抢断，巴赫对此的评价是这是一份准全明星数据。

Why is it accurate?
Because the most intense competition in the Eastern Conference All-Star position is for the forward position, if Meng Jin wants to make the All-Stars, he must compete with forwards of the level of Wilkins, Barkley, Larry Bird, and McHale.

Isn't this a joke?

Any one of them is Hall of Fame level.

Fortunately, there is one advantage of the All-Star Game, which is fan voting. Meng Jin's playing style is eye-catching enough, but Meng Jin's disadvantages are equally great. He is not white, and he cannot imagine that the group of white people would cast the votes originally given to Larry Bird or McHale for him.

However, it was not in Meng Jin's plan to make the All-Star team in his first year. He never liked to have too high expectations at the beginning, because he would be disappointed if he didn't get it. He liked to lower his expectations as much as possible. If he really succeeded, it would be an unexpected surprise.

Of course, Bach pulled out the data sheet not to tell Meng Jin that he had reached the quasi-All-Star level, but to give him a comprehensive analysis.

Since Meng Jin switched to play small forward, his scoring and assists have increased, while his rebounding has decreased. Strangely, his blocks have increased after switching to play outside.

Bach felt that this was because Meng Jin had gained greater freedom. He could maneuver from the outside to the inside, and then unexpectedly attack the opponent's big man from the side or behind.

The increase in the number of assists is not because Meng Jin's passing level has improved, but because of tactical deployment. Meng Jin now has more fast breaks, so it is easier to get assists. After all, the person next to him in every fast break is a boiled egg.

Meng Jin's overall shooting percentage is 53.8%, which is pretty good, but there is a lot of room for improvement because of his mid-range shooting. Taking the mid-range shooting alone, Meng Jin's shooting percentage is only 40.1%, and this is when he has many opportunities. Bach thinks that if Meng Jin wants to further improve himself, he must first practice his mid-range shooting.

In addition, Meng Jin's free throw shooting is a bit eye-catching. His free throw shooting percentage so far this season is 62.6%. Coach Bach hopes that he will work harder on free throws. Meng Jin is the type who attacks the basket. He averaged 5.5 free throws per game last month. The number of free throws in the future will definitely increase, not decrease. Bach told Meng Jin that the purpose of practicing free throws is not only to increase points but also to enhance deterrence. If his free throw preparation reaches more than 80%, opponents will think twice when they want to foul him. 2 points + a foul is always worse than 2 points.

After Meng Jin dunked the backboard, the league promoted it vigorously, and David Stern bought hot searches to make Meng Jin once again on the front pages of various sports media.

Now David Stern will not miss any opportunity to promote Meng Jin. As long as he has an outstanding performance, he must promote it. Those outstanding performances off the court do not count.

Meng Jin was photographed having fun in Beverly Hills by some paparazzi, and the matter was quietly suppressed by David Stern.

David Stern is now the man behind Meng Jin. Protecting Meng Jin means protecting his plans for expanding his territory.

These days, David Stern found that he had more white hair. He felt that he had to find an opportunity to talk to Meng Jin alone. This kid is too troublesome!

Meng Jin's high exposure has also caused dissatisfaction among some players, both active and retired, such as Dawkins, nicknamed "Chocolate Bomb".

After reading the relevant reports, Dawkins threw the newspaper into the trash can and complained to his wife in confusion: "What's wrong with the NBA now? When I broke two backboards in one month, there was no such publicity!"

On December 12, the Bulls had an extremely difficult game against the Golden State Warriors.

Jordan only made 15 of 6 shots facing Chris Mullin's defense and scored a pitiful 16 points.

It wasn't because Chris Mullin was so good at defense, but because Jordan himself was too sluggish. He was invited by a friend to go to a casino in Las Vegas and play all night the night before, and then flew back to San Francisco the next day as if nothing had happened to train with the team and then play the game.

Jordan is a combination of extreme indulgence and extreme self-discipline. Once he starts playing, he can't stop and often plays all night long, but he will not delay his work because of playing. After returning to the team, he is still the one who works hardest in training and the one who is most dedicated in the game.

However, even the talented Jordan could not guarantee that he would be able to perform at a god-level level on the court every time he played with fire. Fortunately, there was Meng Jin in this game, and the Bulls managed to win with a score of 102 to 100.

孟进今晚打出超高效表现，全场12投10中，罚球7中5拿到25分的同时还有8篮板5助攻入账。

Other teammates also performed well today. Paxson scored 13 of 8 tonight and got 19 points, the second highest on the team.

Oakley had 11 points and 13 rebounds, contributing the performance he should have.

Brad Sellers also contributed 10 points and 3 rebounds off the bench.

格兰特今晚吃了猛男药，8中7拿到17分3篮板1助攻。

Grant's almost perfect performance made Jordan very happy. After returning to the locker room, Jordan immediately asked someone to send a few pairs of AJ shoes in Grant's size, signed his name, and gave them to him: "Horace, well played, this is what you deserve." Grant was not happy when he got the AJ shoes. Jordan was too moody. If he didn't play well in the next game, he would probably take back the shoes again.

On December 12, the Bulls rushed to Salt Lake City to challenge the Jazz back-to-back.

The altitude here is too high, and we have to fight back-to-back, which is a big test for the physical fitness of the entire team.

However, the Bulls team withstood the pressure and defeated the Jazz 109-106 away from home.

The black and white duo of Malone and Stockton have begun to take shape. In this game, one of them scored a team-high 33 points and 14 rebounds, and the other scored 14 points and 11 assists. It can be said that the personal strengths of both of them have been fully utilized, but the linkage is still a little lacking, including the number of pick-and-rolls and the efficiency of the pick-and-rolls. Jazz coach Frank Layden is a good scout but not a good coach. He selected Karl Malone and Stockton, two future Hall of Fame members, with lottery picks on the edge of the draft, which is enough to show his vision, but Frank Layden couldn't make them better, nor could he take the team to a higher level.

The Jazz are now waiting for the final piece of their championship-contending lineup.
Tonight, Jordan swept away the haze and scored 40 points. Jordan never allows himself to perform poorly in two consecutive games. The Jazz were also unlucky in this game, as they encountered a 150% angry Jordan.

Meng Jin's statistics were average, with 17 points, 6 rebounds and 4 assists, but he was indeed the most eye-catching person in this game because he dunked over the Jazz's 224cm tall center "Mammoth" Mark Eaton.

The story started when Jazz owner Larry Miller stood up and yelled at Jordan after Jordan dunked over the 185cm tall Stockton: "You only pick on smaller guys!"

Jordan did not retort. He silently remembered this sentence. He had been waiting for the opportunity, waiting for the opportunity to slap Jazz owner Larry Miller in the face.

Two rounds later, Oakley completed a steal in the frontcourt, Meng Jin cut in without the ball, and after receiving the pass, he jumped into the penalty area with both feet and took off towards Mark Eaton.

Mark Eaton stood there with his hands raised.

The standing hat that he was so proud of was completely useless in front of Meng Jin.

Meng Jin just smashed it straight towards his head!
"Bang!!!"

Complete the dunk!

After dunking on Mark Eaton, Meng Jin ran to Jazz owner Larry Miller without looking back and asked, "Is this guy big enough?"

Jazz owner Larry Miller was disheveled in the wind.

No, is my memory confused? Didn't I say this to Jordan?

When Larry Miller criticized Jordan, Meng Jin was right next to him and heard it clearly.

Then, Meng Jin immediately ran to Jordan and said, "Michael, you have succeeded in your revenge, you don't need to thank me."

Jordan people are stupid.

How, can this be done for you?

Would you like to take care of me during my wedding night?

Jazz owner Larry Miller burst out laughing: "Hahaha, Michael, you only dare to hide behind your teammates. You even need your teammates' help to dunk. You coward, crybaby, go home to your mother!"

Even when the player was dunked on, the boss could still laugh so happily off the court. This is probably the first time in history.

The taunting irritated Jordan, and he tried to dunk over Mark Eaton 3-4 times in the rest of the game, but each time he failed.

You have to know that Mark Eaton is not a big guy. He is not just tall. He is a top defender in the league and has won the block title and the best defensive player.

After being dunked over by Meng Jin, Mark Eaton immediately became alert. A defender of this level would not allow himself to be dunked over twice in the same game.

Jordan's intention was too obvious. After the second dunk attempt, not only Mark Eaton, but even the fans in the stadium knew what this kid was thinking.

The commentator even joked that Jordan must have made a bet with a teammate whether he could dunk over Mark Eaton, and he had been trying to do this almost all night!
In the third quarter, Jordan came very close to dunking over Mark Eaton. His run-up and jump were perfect, and he flew over Mark Eaton's head!
As a result, Mark Eaton grabbed him from the air just like catching a chicken.

Just kidding, Mark Eaton said he has a temper, too. Not the wooden doll that you Bulls players use to practice dunking.

Although Jordan scored 40 points in this game, he failed to complete the dunk over Mark Eaton.

Although the game was won and high scores were obtained, Jordan acted very depressed. The most hurtful thing was that Jazz owner Larry Miller mocked him again before Jordan left the court.

Jordan didn't even accept an interview in the locker room. He went straight back to the bus after taking a shower.

When reporters excitedly rushed into the locker room and found that Jordan was not there, they could only ask the players around them.

Meng Jin laughed and said, "Are you asking where Michael is? He might have gone to look for Mark Eaton, the mammoth!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the whole audience burst into laughter.

In 2020, on Matt Barnes' talk show "ALL-THE-SMOKE," Bulls guard John Paxson recalled the incident like this:
"I've seen Michael get angry, but I've never seen him get so angry when he's winning. After the game, Michael said nothing and ignored everyone. He simply took a shower and went back to the bus. I guess it was because he was trying to dunk over Mark Eaton the whole game but failed. The Jazz owner mocked Michael in that game, and Meng Jin stood up for him and dunked over Mark Eaton, but for Michael this was not helping him but humiliating him. I guess Meng did it on purpose, because after the game I saw him and Horace Grant discussing this in the locker room. The two were talking and laughing, and they seemed to have high-fived? It's been too long, I can't remember it clearly."

Paxson did not make it up. After the game, Grant found Meng Jin in the locker room and he was very happy to see Jordan being humiliated.

Grant gave Meng Jin a look, and Meng Jin knew what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth.

Grant covered his mouth and laughed: "This is fucking cool! Hahaha, did you see that guy's expression? Is this also part of Jordan's prank plan?"

Meng Jin: "Of course."

Then the two of them high-fived.

(End of this chapter)