NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 31 The First Crown (2)

The bad boys are still talking trash, but the Bulls won't back down.On the contrary, in the first game of the Eastern Conference Finals, Jordan took the lead in elbowing Dumars in the chest, putting Dumars down in front of the Pistons bench, and then it was Jordan who spat trash talk at Rodman again.Bulls coaches believe that Jordan did this to build greater confidence in his teammates.

Once, Jordan faced Sally's defense and was about to break through to the basket.Sally has long arms and is nicknamed "Spider". He protested at Jordan: "Don't get close to the spider's web!" basket.At this time, Jordan shot back: "Come block it, bitch!" With this shot, Sally realized that the magic power of the old Pistons had disappeared.

Jackson wanted his men to remain calm while not fearing their opponents.Surprisingly, throughout the series, the Bulls have done very well, especially Pippen.In the first game, Pistons small forward Aguirre kept shouting at Pippen: "You are dead, Pippen, you are dead. I will wait for you in the parking lot after the game. Don't turn your head, you bastard, Because I'm going to kill you. You're going to die! Die, Pippen, you're going to die."

Aguirre went on talking like this for almost the entire game.How did Pippen react? "It was kind of funny," Paxson recalled. "Aguirre was telling Scottie to go to the parking lot the whole game, and Scottie was just laughing."

Laughter means maturity and self-confidence.Pippen took this series very seriously. He never watched the game film before, and now he is studying it.He trained hard, played hard, and defended like hell on the court.

Compared with the Bulls, the Pistons seem a bit powerless.Two days before the start of the Eastern Conference Finals, they narrowly beat the Celtics in overtime.In Game 25 of the series, the five starters combined for 21 points, despite Aguirre and Vinnie Johnson scoring 37 and 83 points, respectively, off the bench.The Pistons were exhausted in the final quarter, and finally lost 94 to [-].

Jordan was in mediocre form that day, scoring only 15 points on 6 of 22 shots. After the game, he thanked his teammates for carrying him to the end.Jordan's statement surprised everyone.Jackson had a vague feeling that all the hard work they had done before had finally begun to pay off.

A few days later, Pippen told Chicago Tribune reporter Sam Smith that he noticed a change in Jordan, "You could tell MJ (Jordan) had more confidence in everybody. I would say , just this year in the playoffs. He's playing team basketball, and for the first time, I can say, he's not thinking about scoring as soon as he gets on the court. He seems to have that feeling, all of us, that is, if Together, we can all help."

Between Games 1990 and 1991 of the Eastern Conference Finals, Jordan had something important to do—receive the award. The NBA announced that Jordan was elected as the MVP of the year for the 82-31.5 season.This year, Jordan played [-] regular season games, averaging [-] points per game, becoming the league's scoring leader for the fifth consecutive season, and the Chicago Bulls played the best results in the East.

Before Game 20, Jordan was in the middle of the court, receiving his second annual MVP trophy from NBA commissioner David Stern.Subsequent games were completely under the control of the Bulls.Now, the Bulls have become the party protected by the referee. They fouled their opponents again and again, walked to the free throw line again and again, and had 35 more free throw opportunities than the Pistons.Jordan scored 105 points on his MVP night as the Bulls won 97-[-].

With a total score of 2 to 0, the Bulls will send troops to Auburn Hills next.As of this point, they still haven't won a playoff game there.Although the Bulls are very different from the past, although they have become a strong side, they cannot be taken lightly until the Pistons are completely overturned.

In his scouting report to the players, Jackson quoted one of his favorite quotes: "Only God can create perfection. We only expect excellence."

In the third game, the Bulls started with 2-4. The Pistons once overtook in the second quarter, but at halftime, the Bulls still led 8-51.They shot close to 43% from the field in the half, and more importantly, the game did not fall into the slow pace that the Pistons liked, but followed the fast offensive and defensive transitions that the Bulls were used to.In order to keep up with the speed of the Bulls, the Pistons were forced to use a small lineup. As a result, the Pistons' advantage in physical confrontation was greatly reduced.

In the second half, the Bulls once extended their advantage to 16 points, and the Pistons fought to the death for the last remaining championship hope.In the history of the NBA, no team can come back from a 0-3 deficit. The entire Pistons team understands that if they lose this game, they will be finished.In the last quarter, the Pistons scored 9 offensive rebounds, and they were only 2 points behind 5 minutes before the end.

At this moment, Pippen made a mistake, and Aguirre fell to the ground to take the ball and threw it to the backcourt of the Bulls.Jordan desperately chased back and followed Vinnie Johnson who was rushing to the front, but the situation at the time was that the Pistons were two on one, Dumars and Vinnie Johnson made a fast break together, and the Bulls had only Jordan retreating.

Vinnie Johnson thought that Jordan would take the initiative to foul. Generally, under such circumstances, NBA players would rather foul than allow their opponents to layup easily, but Jordan had other ideas. He explained after the game: "I don't intend to foul him. Got four fouls. I was going to get him to the layup. Basically, I was going to have to trick him a little bit and confuse him defensively."

At that moment, Vinnie Johnson was short-circuited and didn't know what to do.He took the ball to the penalty area and found that Jordan neither fouled nor took off, just followed.He was afraid that his layup would be blocked, so he simply stopped and turned around, and passed the ball to Dumars on the right rear. "I didn't want to foul Dumars either," Jordan said. "Dummars caught the ball a little bit off balance and threw it out. I was just chasing after it."

In fact, it was precisely because Jordan left Vinnie Johnson in time and stuck to Dumars that Dumars was forced to turn around in a hurry.When he shot, Dumars was already out of balance. The ball didn't touch the basket at all, and it fell and was caught by Jordan.

One defense and two defenses, Jordan actually succeeded.Jackson commented after the game that this is "one of the best defenses in history."

If Dumars and Vinnie Johnson can succeed in two-on-one this time, the Bulls' advantage will be only 3 points. However, Jordan succeeded in defending, turned around and Pippen hit a jumper. The game that could have been reduced to 3 points was suddenly enlarged. By 7 points, the Pistons lost their chance to comeback.

In this game, in addition to the one-two defense, Jordan's wonderful performance also scored 19 points on 11 of 33 shots.In the fourth quarter, when the Pistons made a final effort, it was Jordan's 14 points that stabilized the situation.

113 to 107, the Bulls beat the Pistons away, leading the total score 3 to 0.Everyone knows that the Pistons are gone, but Jackson warned the players: Do not say anything that may irritate the opponent.Jordan didn't listen, and he said stubbornly in front of the media: "People are happy, the game will return to a clean game, and it will stay away from the image of a bad boy... People don't want this kind of basketball: dirty play, malicious fouls, Unsportsmanlike action. It's bad for basketball."

Grant also had a prophecy: "The devil isn't dead yet, but we can chop off his head on Monday."

On Monday, May 1991, 5, Game 27 of the Eastern Conference Finals began.The Pistons didn't intend to throw up their hands and surrender. They quickly tried their best and used their best tricks.Paxson made a layup and was pushed out of bounds by Lambiel. Paxson was very angry. He yelled at Lambiel: "I'm not afraid of you!" Lambiel yelled back: "I'm not afraid of you either!" Such a confrontation was silly, but he admitted that he was irritated.Paxson scored two free throws, then hit three jumpers in a row, and scored another two points at the free throw line in the middle. The Bulls scored 10 consecutive points and he scored them all by himself.In that quarter, Paxson scored 12 points and the Bulls also led 32-26.

The Pistons' rough move hasn't ended yet.Midway through the second quarter, Rodman pushed Pippen out of bounds again, and Pippen slammed into the floor behind the backboard, leaving a bloody gash in his jaw that required six stitches.The players on the Bulls' bench were all annoyed and rushed to the center line one after another. The referee called Rodman a flagrant foul.

Bulls owner Leinsdorf did not go to Detroit, he watched TV at home, angry and worried."Fine, Scotty, relax, relax, don't get revenge, you act like a man," Leinsdorf said to the TV screen. Pippen later told Leinsdorf he didn't want revenge. , because he will not forget where he is.

After three quarters, the Bulls have led by 17 points. They finally won 115 to 94 and completed the sweep of the Pistons.The amazing thing happened near the end of the game. Several Pistons players, including Thomas, Laimbeer, and Aguirre, ignored Daly's objections and walked across the court, past the Bulls bench, without congratulating their opponents who beat them , went straight back to the locker room.Such an arrogant and disrespectful gesture triggered a storm of accusations in the next few days. The media all over the United States accused the Pistons of losing and losing. The head coach of the Olympic men's basketball team (the "Dream Team", please read the following chapters for related content).

The refusal to shake hands with the Bulls was brought up by Thomas, echoed by several teammates.At first, Thomas planned to take the microphone and thank the Detroit fans at the scene, embarrassing the winning Bulls, but he didn't insist because of Daly's persuasion.If Thomas had done that, Daly said, their actions would be remembered forever.

In fact, the vulgar behavior of Thomas and his teammates has been recorded and handed down by history.Outside of Detroit, what many basketball fans remember most about the "Bad Boys" wasn't who they beat or how many titles they won, but their refusal to shake the Bulls' hand.

Jordan did not forget to mention this old incident in his autobiography later, saying mercilessly:
By the time we got past the Pistons, the public saw how Detroit played.I'm sure there are die-hard Detroit fans who think the way the Pistons play is fine, but everyone else has seen enough to know what they are like.Even after winning two titles, fans started to see them as villains, twisting the game in that crude way.

In the 1991 Eastern Conference finals, we swept them in four games in a row, and the leader of that team showed his true colors.They acted like a bunch of spoiled kids who didn't get what they wanted.They walked off the pitch without shaking our hands, so a lot of respect was lost.Nobody remembers Joe Dumars, John Salley, and Vinnie Johnson coming to congratulate us after the game, everyone remembers their leaders, Isaiah Thomas, Bill Lambiel, and Mark Aguirre, Passing by our bench in the final seconds.They're not athletes, they don't know or care about the character of an athlete, that's not how the game should be played.It is an American value that you have an obligation to demonstrate good character.

Defeating the Pistons and overcoming the mountain of Detroit meant a lot to Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. In the 1996-1997 season, the 50th anniversary of the NBA, Jordan was interviewed by the official TV station. When asked what it was like to beat the Pistons in 1991, Jordan replied:
"We crossed Detroit with so much energy that at the time, everything else was secondary."

Including the upcoming finals.

After cutting off the devil's head, the Bulls team breathed a sigh of relief.As the head coach, Jackson reminded everyone: "We have come this far, not to get here. No one will remember who won No.2 in the finals."

In the 1991 NBA Finals, the Bulls' opponent was the king of the league in the 80s-"Magic" Johnson and his Los Angeles Lakers. "MJ vs MJ" has become the common theme of the decisive battle in everyone's mind. People in Chicago will say "Michael vs. Magician", while people in Los Angeles will say "Magician vs. Michael". This is for publicity.

There is no doubt that this is a group of fantasy duels full of topics.At that time, Jordan was considered the greatest individual player in the history of the sport, and the Magician was considered the greatest team player in the history of the sport; Jordan was a born doer, and Magic was a born leader; The 28-year-old Jordan is seeking the first championship of his career, but the 31-year-old Magician is fighting for the last championship of his career.

This is the ninth time the Magic has reached the NBA Finals with the Lakers.The Magician individually, and the Lakers as a whole, have passed their peaks, "Skyhook" Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Michael Cooper have both retired, and the meritorious coach Pat Riley (Pat Riley) has also left.However, with the support of the magician, the Lakers are still a strong team.Around the magician, there is no shortage of excellent players such as James Worthy, Sam Perkins, Byron Scott, AC Green, Vlade Divac - Worthy and Parkin Si is a close comrade-in-arms of Jordan in North Carolina, and this time he is on the opposite side of Jordan. In the 9-1990 season, under the guidance of the new coach Mike Dunleavy, the Lakers scored 1991 wins and 58 losses in the regular season, second only to the Blazers with 24 wins in the West.

When the Lakers and Bulls were preparing to fight in the Finals, many people still didn't know how good the Bulls were.They know how good Jordan is, but they don't understand how good the Bulls team is.That's right, the Bulls just swept the Pistons, but only those who have played against the Pistons can truly understand how difficult the Pistons are to deal with.In contrast, people know better how good the Lakers are, because everyone has known the Lakers for many years.Before returning to the finals, the Lakers had just defeated the Trail Blazers 4-2, and the veteran king gradually emerged.

Little noticed because of Jordan's excellence, the Bulls' true trademark is defense.A year later, Don Nelson, coach of the Golden State Warriors, said to Jackson: "You don't know how lucky you are." Jackson asked: "I think I do, but what do you mean?" Nelson replied: "You most Two good offensive players who are also your best two defensive players.” Yes, that’s rare, and it’s definitely a coach’s dream.Jackson doesn't think he's a good offensive coach, but he knows he's a good defensive coach.Under him, Jordan is an excellent defensive player and won the Defensive Player of the Year Award. Now, Pippen's defense may be better than Jordan, at least more comprehensive than Jordan.Over the years, Pippen has been playing against Jordan in training, which has greatly benefited his defensive improvement.A very simple truth: If you can guard Jordan, then you can guard anyone in this league.Pippen's defense will play a vital role in the 1991 Finals.

The Bulls have home-court advantage in the Finals, with the first two games played in Chicago.In the first game, the Bulls played very hesitantly and their defensive rotation was slow. Although Jordan was in good condition personally, Jackson was not satisfied with the team's overall offense.During a timeout in the third quarter, Jackson raised his voice and asked: "What's the matter with this one-on-one crap?" He rarely criticized Jordan and Pippen by name, but at this time, everyone understood what he said Who is it.

(End of this chapter)