NBA: Goat is actually me

Chapter 90: Phantom Thief Meng Jin, the Evil Santa Claus
Before the game started, the Pacers' home court, Market Square Arena, was also filled with a strong Christmas atmosphere.

Cheerful Christmas music was playing in the stadium, fans wore Santa hats, the cheerleaders wore modified Christmas suits, and even the mascot wore Santa Claus's white beard.

On-site staff distributed paper ballots for selecting the All-Star starters on the sidelines. There was no Internet at that time, and All-Star voting was done in this way.

The ballot lists all the players on the All-Star preliminary list. The ballots are distributed to the fans present, allowing the fans to choose from them and select five players each from the East and West.

"Don't be fooled by the atmosphere. The Pacers will definitely fight hard from the start. They always do that."

Jordan did not forget to remind Meng Jin while warming up.

Meng Jin nodded and continued shooting. Reggie Miller called him a few times from behind.

"Meng! Meng! Come here!"

Meng Jin put down the ball and followed Reggie Miller to the audience stands.

"This is my dad, Saul, this is my mom, Kelly, and my sister, Cheryl."

Reggie Miller's whole family came to watch the game tonight and they had a great time.

Meng Jin smiled and greeted Miller's family. His father Sol said, "Meng, after the game, you can come to our house to spend Christmas with us."

Reggie Miller immediately interrupted his father: "Oh! Dad, we can talk about this after the game. We are opponents now. I don't want to create a peaceful scene. This is a battle. Have you ever seen a soldier invite his opponent to his home before the battle?"

Meng Jin ignored Reggie Miller and politely replied to Saul: "I am happy to do so. It is my honor."

Her sister Cheryl Miller laughed and said, "It seems that your friends don't regard you as a rival."

Reggie Miller stared at his sister: "Don't you like watching Meng play basketball the most at home? Now he is in front of you, why don't you ask him to sign for you? And ask for his phone number or something."

Cheryl Miller responded directly: "You know why? Because Meng is a real man, he plays like a real man, not like a sissy who can only float on the perimeter.

It was normal for siblings to quarrel with each other, and their parents did not stop them.

Meng Jin immediately opened his arms and stepped back: "Wow, a family war broke out. It seems that I am not suitable to stay here any longer."

"Meng! Beat him up!"

Cheryl Miller pointed at Meng Jin.

"OK, let's do as you wish tonight."

Meng Jin smiled. He had never seen such a request in his life: his sister asked outsiders to beat up her own brother.

The camera captured the scene.

"What are they talking about?" asked Mike German, the commentator for the night.

"Cheryl said she would come to my house after the game tonight, and Meng replied that he would consider it if we win." Another commentator, Heinsohn, said seriously.

Mike German looked back at his partner in disbelief: "When did you learn lip reading?"

Heinsohn said calmly: "I haven't learned it."

"Then how do you know what they are talking about?"

"I made that up!"

Mike German: “…”

After three seconds of awkward atmosphere, the two commentators started discussing Cheryl Miller again.

During this period, Cheryl was much more famous than Reggie Miller. Reggie Miller was just a small substitute for the Pacers, while her sister joined the US national team when she was 16 years old and still in high school. In 1984, she was the core figure in the US women's basketball team's gold medal.

What's most surprising about Cheryl is her athletic ability; she can even dunk.

At this point, Heinsohn couldn't help but sigh: "If these two had a child, it would definitely be a monster on the sports field."

Heinsohn always speaks his mind without restraint. He doesn't know that Meng Jin's female fans are already sharpening their knives at home after hearing what he said.

As Meng Jin's popularity rose rapidly, he also attracted a large number of female fans, some of whom were even celebrities.

American women's aesthetic taste is different from that of Asians. They admire strength, like strong and fierce.

Meng Jin is a beast on the court. Every time he attacks the basket, some female fans can reach orgasm. Female fans hope that one day Meng Jin can treat himself as a basket and wreak havoc.

Among them is 29-year-old Italian-American actress Madonna.

"Watching the Bulls game again?" Agent Osiri handed Madonna a can of beer while she was watching TV.

"He's wild and sexy isn't he?" Madonna said, staring at the screen.

"He doesn't deserve you, he's just a rookie," said agent Osseri.

Madonna pursed her lips and said, "Who the hell cares about this kind of stuff?"

Madonna first learned about Meng Jin from the newspaper about a month ago.

Generally, McDonald's is not interested in sports news in newspapers, but the situation that day was special. The headline on the front page was that Meng Jin beat the bad boys of the Pistons.

This title immediately attracted Madonna, because she liked men with personality and who were different from others.

A few days later, Madonna watched Meng Jin's game for the first time, and she was completely attracted to him. Every time she saw Meng Jin slam the ball into the basket, Madonna would always think of something...

The game started on time.

Chicago Bulls starting lineup: Vincent, Jordan, Meng Jin, Oakley, Korsin.

Indiana Pacers starting lineup: John Long, Fleming, Chuck Person, Herb Williams, Stipanovich.

Indiana Pacers coach Ramsey kept power forward Vayman Tisdale, who has good offensive ability, on the bench tonight.

This is not a surprising change. In fact, Ramsey has been doing this in the past few games. Tisdale's problem of strong offense and weak defense is too serious. Letting him lead the second lineup will be more helpful to the team.

Korsin passed the ball to Oakley.

The Chicago Bulls attacked first.

Oakley didn't rush to score or pass the ball. He held the ball tightly in his arms because he felt a hard object behind him.

Pacers point guard John Long was behind Oakley, ready to steal the ball.

After stabilizing himself, Oakley passed the ball to Meng Jin on the wing.

After Meng Jin got the ball, he quickly passed it back to point guard Vincent, and the Bulls chose to go into position for their first attack.

Vincent brought the ball to the left three-point line, Jordan came out from the bottom corner to receive the ball, and after getting the ball, the Pacers double-teamed him. Jordan took a small step and then slammed the ball.

The referee's whistle sounded immediately, it was a traveling violation.

Jordan didn't look in good shape tonight, probably because he was late playing cards again.

On the surface, this ball was a traveling move, but in reality, it was the body not keeping up with the brain.

The first attack of the Chicago Bulls' Christmas game ended so abruptly.

The ball possession changed and the Indiana Pacers attacked.

John Long dribbled across half court, with Jordan leading the defense.

John Long was very careful, protecting the ball with his back to the basket as he crossed half court. Jordan currently ranks first in the steals list, his hands are extremely fast, and John Long is a point guard, so if the ball is stolen, it would be equivalent to giving points directly to Jordan.

John Long played steadily and passed the ball to Stipanovic, who protected the ball while advancing with a crab step, which is one of Stipanovic's killer moves.

The posture is not very beautiful, but the effect is good, and it takes only two or three seconds to enter the penalty area.

Jordan pulled back to help defend, and Stipanovic faked Jordan and shot at close range against Dav Korsin.

Missed.

Stipanovic handled the ball a little too roughly in this 1v2 situation.

Oakley grabbed the rebound and looked back to see Meng Jin had already crossed half court.

Meng Jin is good at fast breaks, relying not only on his mobility, but also his basketball IQ. Meng Jin started moving at the moment Stepanovic shot.

Of course, Meng Jin's stealing fast break is reasonable and scientific, and it is based on the premise of not causing harm to the team. He will never let go of his opponent and go for a fast break when he is shooting.

Oakley made a long pass with one hand, but the effect was average. However, Oakley didn't care at all because he knew Meng Jin could catch up.

The moment Meng Jin got the ball, he raised his right elbow and bounced Chuck Person away!
Then he took a big step forward and easily ended the offensive round with a two-handed dunk.

2:0.

Meng Jin's actions were a bit rough, but Chuck Person didn't complain because it was a reasonable physical confrontation and everyone did that during that period.

John Long quickly passed the ball across half court and passed it to Chuck Person. He knew that Chuck Person would definitely want to return the favor to Meng Jin. This was the tacit understanding between John Long and his teammates.

Chuck Person was a little afraid of Meng Jin. This was not the first time they had faced each other, and he knew Meng Jin's talent.

Chuck Person turned to the front and quickly passed the ball to catch Meng Jin off guard.

The ball came very suddenly, and Meng Jin was half a beat slow when following up.

Chuck Person was very excited. He jumped into the penalty area. He glanced at Meng Jin and saw that he didn't catch up. He thought the offensive round was successful.

Just as he was about to jump and attack the basket, he was suddenly startled!
Why did Meng Jin appear in front of him again?
Is this thing a ghost?
There was no way. His legs were too long and his steps were too big. Meng Jin easily made up for his lack of defensive experience with his talent.

Chuck Person hesitated and almost made a mistake, and the ball was knocked away by Korsin who came from the side.

Chuck Person was glad that it was Korsin who dribbled the ball instead of Meng Jin or Jordan. Korsin was too slow and couldn't keep up with him.

After quickly bending down, Chuck Person regained control of the basketball.

Chuck Person retreated to the three-point line, and Meng Jin trash-talked him: "I'll give you the right side, you can do it again."

Chuck Person ignored Meng Jin and passed the ball to Stipanovic in the high position.

"Shh!"

Stipanovic made a jump shot, and his touch was very soft among big men.

2:2.

Meng Jin glanced at Chuck Person: "A wise choice."

"Of course it was a wise choice, because I assisted my teammates to score, and you, a bitch, could only watch and say some meaningless trash talk." Chuck Person showed off his quick tongue.

Meng Jin and Chuck Person are both masters of trash talk, but their ways of talking trash are completely different.

The Bulls were quick to pass the ball, and as soon as the ball reached Vincent's hands, John Long came up!

The force was sufficient to prevent Vincent from turning around.

Vincent shook his shoulder to the left, then passed the ball to the right, and made a sudden stop and pulled back to get rid of John Long's defense.

Although he got rid of the defensive player, he also missed the best opportunity for a fast break.

Pacers coach Ramsey applauded to express his satisfaction. This was a tactic he had carefully arranged before the game. Ramsey got inspiration from the previous game between New York and the Bulls. It is difficult to directly limit the two MJs, but it is much simpler to limit the Bulls point guard. Prevent the Bulls' No. 1 position from delivering ammunition to the frontcourt in the first place, which indirectly limits the development of Meng Jin and Jordan.

NBA tactics are fluid. If a coach comes up with a good idea today, someone will use it as a reference tomorrow.

The Bulls fell again.

The ball was in Jordan's hands, and everyone moved away to allow Jordan to play against Fleming.

Jordan took small steps, twitched and shook, then made a fake shot.

Fleming was fooled and jumped.

Jordan paused, leaned forward, dodged Fleming and made a jump shot.

The basketball bounced out of the rim.

The archer switched and Fleming scored from mid-range on the counterattack.

2:4.

Before the ball landed, Jordan and Meng Jin ran to the frontcourt. This was Collins' tactical arrangement. He required Meng Jin and Jordan to be the two fastest people to rush across half court in each offensive round!

However, just as the two men crossed the half court, a fire broke out in their backyard.

Vincent made a mistake in the double-team, and John Long made a layup.

2:6.

Vincent felt that this ball was a bit difficult to play. From the last game to this one, the opponent was clearly targeting Meng Jin and Jordan, so why was he the one suffering?
Collins was forced to slow down. He shouted at the players on the sidelines, telling them to fast break if they had a chance, and to take their time if they didn't have a good chance of counterattack.

The Bulls served the ball from the baseline. In this round, Vincent felt the pressure suddenly reduced. After receiving the ball, he turned around and saw that it was Jordan who retreated.

The Pacers played very smartly. They stopped pressing as soon as they saw Jordan retreat to receive the ball.

Vincent quickly passed the ball to Jordan. Looking at Jordan's burning eyes, he felt the ball was hot.

This was Ramsey's arrangement before the game. The purpose of Ramsey's pressing was to prevent the Bulls from frequently fast breaking, not to steal the ball. Compared with New York Knicks head coach Rick Pitino, Ramsey was obviously much more experienced. He wanted to limit the Bulls' fast breaking but also didn't want his players to waste their energy.

Jordan dribbled to the top of the arc, waited for a moment, and observed the situation on the court.

After Vincent fell to the left side, Jordan passed the ball.

At the moment of passing the ball, Jordan started towards Vincent and took the pass from Vincent hand to hand.

While passing the ball, Vincent used his body to screen Jordan. At the same time, Meng Jin on the other side also used Oakley's screen to go around to the right corner.

In this round, the Bulls are covering on both sides at the same time!

The Pacers double-teamed Jordan before he even got the ball.

Jordan had many options. He could do it himself or pass it to Vincent, but he chose to pass it horizontally to Meng Jin in the high position.

This is a habitual action. During this period, whenever Jordan passed the ball in a counterattack, he basically looked for Meng Jin.

Meng Jin caught the ball and shot.

"Shh!"

Meng Jin shot decisively and the ball went in cleanly.

During this period of time, Meng Jin has been perfecting his jump shot. He has not used the jump shot with the ball that much. He will not hesitate to take this kind of open jump shot. He will shoot as soon as he receives the ball without hesitation.

4:6.

In the first quarter, the Bulls did not play their own style. Most of the time they were fighting with their opponents in positional battles.

At the end of the first quarter, the score was 29 to 24, and the home team Pacers were temporarily in the lead.

During the intermission, Vincent and Paxson were both very nervous. They were ready to be scolded by Jordan at any time.

But Jordan didn't criticize today.

Because he didn't play well, Jordan only scored 5 points in the first quarter with 1 of 4 shots and free throws.

Although Jordan has a sharp tongue, he rarely blames others. He usually criticizes others because his teammates fail to meet his expectations. After the way he played tonight, he has no face to criticize others.

Meng Jin took a look at Jordan and felt that he was a little depressed today, so he decided to stimulate him: "Michael, what's wrong? All your shots today were short!"

A group of Bulls players, including Grant, were shocked. It was so hard for Lu Dan to be quiet today, why did you provoke him?
Jordan put down the cup in his hand and growled, "Shut up! I know!"

"Do you want me to call KFC and order two fast food meals? I'll tell them to hurry up, there's a guy here who's too hungry to shoot a basketball."

"Fuck! Shut your filthy mouth!"

After Jordan finished shouting, he turned to Collins and said, "Doug, let me play in the second quarter."

Doug Collins pretended to be embarrassed: "This is not part of my tactical arrangement."

Jordan threw a pen to Collins, so change the tactics.

In the second quarter, when Pacers player Tisdale was happily preparing to score points with the second lineup, he suddenly discovered that Jordan was still there!

Jordan started off by changing speed and breaking through the opponent.

In the next few minutes, Jordan continued to catch up with free throws.

Jordan's touch was still not good. After trying to adjust several times in the second quarter and failing, he simply changed his playing style and went all out to attack the basket.

In the second quarter, with 7 minutes left, Meng Jin came on the court.

The score on the court was 40 to 40.

So far, Ramsey is still satisfied with his tactics. As long as the Bulls don't play fast breaks too frequently, their pressure on the offensive end will be much less.

The Pacers were in a good situation, but some fans at the scene expressed dissatisfaction. These people were not Pacers fans, they came here specifically to watch the Bulls SHOW-TIME, but they only played four or five fast breaks in one quarter, which was not satisfying at all.

From the opening till now, the Bulls did not have any fast break performances, but Meng Jin quickly started his own personal performance.

The first round after Meng Jin came on was the Bulls' possession of the ball.

Jordan dribbled the ball on the right side and made a quick stop and jump shot after continuous shaking.

The arc of the basketball is very beautiful, but unfortunately the force is a little too strong.

In the first quarter, all of Jordan's shots were short, so he adjusted the strength in the second quarter, but most of his shots were too wide. After the shot, Jordan looked at his palm, and he suddenly felt that this hand looked a little strange, and it didn't look like his own.

"Clang!!"

Jordan looked up quickly after hearing a loud noise.

Meng Jin completed the tip-in!
42:40.

Meng Jin hung on the basket for three or four seconds, but the referee did not call a technical foul. This is not considered a provocative act, but rather a form of self-protection, and there is nothing wrong with it.

The Pacers served the ball from the baseline, and just as John Long dribbled the ball twice and was about to dribble it for the third time, the ball was gone.

Looking back, Meng Jin was holding the ball and ready to dunk!

Commentator Mike German laughed and said, "Everyone was fooled by Meng. Who could have thought that he fell on the basket to steal the ball?"

Heinsohn laughed and said, "Poor John Long, the basketball in his hand was stolen by Meng Jin like a Christmas present in his sock. Meng Jin is definitely an evil Santa Claus. Other Santa Clauses give gifts, but he steals them."

"BOOM!!"

Meng Jin dunks with both hands!

The moment the ball went into the basket, Meng Jin raised his legs and kicked the ball directly to the second-floor stands. It was very domineering!
44:40.

Herb Williams, who was serving from the baseline, watched the whole thing without any reaction. He didn't want the scene of him being dunked over by Meng Jin to be played repeatedly on major radio stations on Christmas Day.

(End of this chapter)