NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 81 The craziest one?
On December 12, after a day of rest, the Bulls continued their road trip. This time their opponent was the Denver Nuggets, which also had a high altitude terrain.

For the Bulls, this is definitely a devilish schedule. Not only do they have to play three games in four days, but two of them will be played at high altitudes. The key opponents are also quite strong. The Utah Jazz are a playoff team, and the Denver Nuggets are even stronger. They are currently ranked second in the Western Conference, second only to the traditional powerhouse Lakers.

Before going on the court, all the Bulls players were on high alert, and everyone knew that this would be a tough battle.

The leader of the Nuggets is Alex "Blade" English. It has to be said that the nicknames of players in the 80s and 90s were very cool, distinctive and recognizable, but after 2010, the nicknames of players have changed. Westbrook, the Great Emperor, Huazi, Mr. Yo, Coach Lee, Porzingis, Thompson, Drummond, Cousins, Love, Death, Migod, and Moe.
The nicknames in the past were really just nicknames, which basically reflected the characteristics of the players. Later on, they were just made up names.

Alex English really lives up to the nickname "Blade". His shots are like sharp knives, chopping off the opponent's heads directly without any unnecessary dragging movements. He was one of the strongest scorers in the 80s. His strong offensiveness, excellent breakthrough ability and stable shooting made him score like a storm.

However, his shortcomings are equally obvious, including poor organizational skills and lackluster defense.

A very familiar evaluation. Yes, his style is very similar to Dominic Wilkins, the star Meng Jin had played against in previous games.

In fact, it's not just Dominique Wilkins. All small forwards of this era are like this, including George Gervin, Dantley, English, and Bernard King, as if it is their pride to only attack and not defend.

Alex English is definitely one of the most inspirational figures in the NBA. He was picked 1976rd in the second round of the 2 draft. As a low draft pick, his early career was very bumpy. In his early years with the Bucks, he was disliked by Nelson Sr., who had not yet let go of himself at that time. He was a purely defensive coach, and players with Alex English's style were not welcome by him at all. Later, he went to the Pacers, where he got the coveted starting position. However, he was traded to the Denver Nuggets after playing 23 games. After wandering around, English's talent was finally discovered, and the wild Doug Moe turned him into a scorer.

In this game, English, as usual, started off with full firepower and made a mid-range shot over Meng Jin's head in the first round.

Meng Jin found that English's shooting was a bit scary, not in terms of accuracy, but in terms of shooting point. When he shot, his arms were not bent. He just held the ball straight up and then used his wrist to pass the ball.

This kind of shot is really hard to defend, and it was with this killer move that English won the scoring title in the 82 season.

However, Meng Jin sees it clearly. If he wants to beat a team like the Nuggets, he can't just think about how to defend English, but he has to think about how to score more points than them.

Coming back, Meng further passed English, glided over two Nuggets defenders and made a layup.

English is a defensive loophole, and he is the biggest breakthrough point for the Nuggets.

After the first quarter, English scored 11 points and was very happy, but his teammates put on masks of pain. Tonight, the Bulls deliberately arranged for Meng Jin to attack English, and almost every attack was accurate. It didn't matter if English was passed over, he just put his hands on his hips and watched the show. But his teammates were miserable. Center Danny Schayes was beaten to pieces by Meng Jin. He had 3 fouls in the first quarter and was dunked on once.

Meng Jin said that he loves opponents like English very much!
Being completely defenseless allows him to charge forward in almost every round. Once Meng Jin charges forward, the opponent's inside line will have a nightmare.

In the second quarter, the Nuggets replaced big man Wayne Cooper to defend Meng Jin, but the effect was similar. Soon, Denver Nuggets head coach Doug Moe realized that it was not a certain person who could limit Meng Jin, but a defensive system or defensive strategy.

The Nuggets' defensive system cannot do this because they, like the Bulls, are a run-and-gun team that never stops and the ball is flying all over the place.

And the Nuggets' fast break pace is even faster than the Bulls!

In such a rhythm, defense certainly cannot be taken into account, and the formation is loose most of the time. This is simply a paradise for players with strong impact like Meng Jin!
Jordan also played very well, performing Carolina dunks in consecutive counterattacks.

Doug Moe took a look and realized that it was impossible to defend against it?

Doug Moe opens the tactical board and says if you can't defend it, then don't defend it.

The Nuggets coach waved his hand and replaced center Danny Schayes with 178cm tall Michael Adams and 191cm tall Fat Leaf.

Seeing this move, the commentator exclaimed that Doug Mo must be crazy.

Doug Moe was the craziest offensive coach before Nelson and D'Antoni!
It’s true that this substitution actually achieved certain results, and that is the program effect.

The two sides then played like an exhibition match, with quick offense and defense, crazy confrontation, and neither side was on guard.

At the end of the first half, one side scored 68 points and the other side scored 60 points.

The Chicago Bulls are currently leading.

In the second half, Bulls coach Collins was completely excited and continued the madness to the end!

Tactical board?
What tactical board?

The team now has only one tactic, and that is to charge!

The coaches of both teams seemed to be engaging in a competition, in which whoever's offensive round lasted more than 8 seconds was a dog.

The game ended in such a confrontation.

The Chicago Bulls had the last laugh, defeating the Denver Nuggets 156-149.

When seeing this score, many fans who had not watched the game's first reaction was, how many overtimes did these two teams play?
When the fans were told that this was the score in regular time, no one was not shocked.

Nuggets coach Doug Moe was not moved at all when he saw the score. To him, it was just a small scene.

The highest score in NBA regular time was 186:184. Yes, you guessed it right. It was created by this genius coach.

1983年12月13日，底特律活塞队186：184战胜了丹佛掘金队，这场比赛也创NBA单场比赛得分之最。

After the game, Doug Moe walked over and shook Collins' hand.

Collins praised: "It's an honor to play against you. It was a great game."

Collins was speaking from his heart. You could tell by his sweat-soaked shirt. Normally, the more exciting the game, the more excited Collins would be. Whenever Collins gets excited, he would box like crazy on the sidelines.

Doug Moe smiled gracefully. He was a mad scientist on the court, but a gentleman off the court. "Coach, it was a really exciting game. You're so lucky. That guy was awesome."

After saying this, Doug Mo looked at Meng Jin involuntarily.

Although he was praised, Collins felt uncomfortable. It was similar to the feeling when someone tells you your wife is great.

When Doug Mo entered the player tunnel, he took a reluctant look at Meng Jin. He really likes this player!

Doug Moe feels that Meng Jin perfectly fits his run-and-gun tactics. Not only is he fast, jumps high, has great impact, but he is also 213CM tall, which can largely make up for the Nuggets' shabby defense.

After the game, Doug Mo had even thought about what kind of tactics he would formulate for Meng Jin if he was in his hands to maximize his personal ability.
If it weren't for reason taking over his brain, Doug Moe would have wanted to ask Collins after the game: Is Meng Jin for sale?

If this question was really asked, Collins would probably go crazy on the spot. What's the difference between this and asking your wife whether she wants to sell herself?
"I feel so good. It was a very enjoyable game. It made me feel like I was liberated all over."

In an interview after the game, when Meng Jin was asked how he evaluated this high-scoring match, he said this.

When asked how he evaluated the Nuggets' performance tonight, Meng Jin said: "I love the style of this team. Can we play 82 regular season games with the Nuggets?"

The reporters all laughed after hearing this. Meng Jin scored 41 points tonight, setting a new career high. How could he not love the Nuggets?
At night, a group of teammates gathered in Jordan's room. Everyone was so excited about the game that they couldn't fall asleep for a while.

Since I'm free anyway, I might as well play cards in Jordan's room.

Jordan's door was always open to anyone who came to play cards, no matter how late it was.

Several people played blackjack for a while, and Meng Jin won and lost. After a while, Meng Jin suddenly had an idea and taught his teammates how to play Landlord.

In order to make the name more in line with American sentiment, Meng Jin changed the name of the game "Fight the Landlords" to "Down with the Capitalists".

The original landlords were replaced by capitalists, and the peasants became workers.

Jordan's first reaction was, "What the hell? I don't play this kind of thing."

After watching Meng Jin, Grant and Jack Harry play a few games, Jordan touched his chin and seemed to find it interesting.

After a few more rounds, Jordan was already able to point fingers at the situation, looking at Grant's cards and pointing behind him: "Stupid, don't play the bomb so early!"

"If you break up this pair, you will have a straight, right?"

I have to say that Jordan is really smart and learns things quickly.

As Jordan was talking, he took the lead, pushed Grant aside and joined the game.

The corners of Meng Jin's mouth rose slightly. His mouth said no, but his body was more honest than anyone else's.

At 6 o'clock the next morning, Meng Jin came out of the room yawning. He had to catch another flight. His next destination was San Antonio.

This is the last stop of the Bulls' road trip, and all the players are eager to return home.

The sound of Bulls players chatting could be heard everywhere on the plane.

"We have two days off after this game. Why don't we go to Las Vegas for some fun?"

"No problem, I just feel itchy."

"The damn road trip is finally over and I haven't seen my kids in so long."

"I miss my wife."

"Didn't you say that when you were hugging call girl yesterday?"

"Haha, your wife doesn't miss you. The neighbors next door often come to visit you, so she doesn't feel lonely at all."

"Fuck your mother's fart!"

The Bulls appeared to be very relaxed, which is a good thing, but being too relaxed can easily lead to accidents.

In the game against the Spurs in the evening, the Bulls capsized in this relaxed atmosphere, losing to the weak Spurs 87-101. After defeating a wave of strong opponents, they fell to a bottom-ranked team, which was something no one expected.

After a 10-day road trip, everyone felt relaxed at the thought of being able to go home soon. Sometimes it is difficult to tense up again once the nerves relax.

孟进今晚也打出离谱表现，全场9投4中拿到11分5篮板5助攻1盖帽。

Jordan himself was not in good shape and only scored 17 points.

Although the card game ended at 3 o'clock last night, Jordan did not sleep all night. He had been studying the game of Landlord. He lost badly to Meng Jin last night. Although Meng Jin did not charge him money because his teammates were all novices, Jordan was still very unhappy. He wanted to study the game of Landlord thoroughly as soon as possible and then get his revenge.

There wasn't much to say about Collins' post-match summary. All the players were not in good shape, so the loss was reasonable.

After returning to Chicago, Coach Collins gave everyone a day off. The Bulls needed rest more than training.

(End of this chapter)