NBA Archives Debunked: The Jordan Saga

Chapter 35 The Peak (2)

After that timeout early in the third quarter, the Bulls went on a 10-2 run.With more than 4 minutes left in that quarter, Jordan dedicated a group of wonderful performances: he first got rid of the three defenses in the frontcourt and scored the ball, then jumped up and broke the opponent's baseline serve, and then was intercepted by the opponent. He didn't give up, and chased to his own basket at full speed, cutting off the ball in McDaniel's hands, preventing the latter from counterattacking successfully.This series of actions, with a frightening momentum, especially the persistent defensive energy, caused great mental oppression to the opponent.

Jordan also did another thing to demonstrate to the opponent.When McDaniel challenged Pippen again, Jordan stood up for Pippen.Jordan is slightly shorter than McDaniel, but he has fierce eyes, and he and McDaniel exchange trash talk face to face. "It's like being in school and the bullies are picking on your brother, and you have to step up and intervene," Jordan said.

Before the start of the fourth quarter, the Bulls had established a 15-point advantage. They finally won the life-and-death battle 110-81. Jordan scored 42 points.At this time, recalling the thoughts before the game, he said: "I don't want to wake up and read that we have let the whole city down."

Chicago didn't disappoint, as the Bulls fought off their fierce opponents and continued to move towards a second championship.Hard work is hard work, Jordan still said: "We should pay tribute to New York. They woke us up. We have been sleepwalking throughout the series. We have no way out in this game, and we responded. This is like everyone. Looking forward to the old look of the Bulls."

After the life-and-death battle, Jackson's mentor and former Knicks coach Reed Holzman came to the Bulls locker room to congratulate Jackson.When the master and apprentice talked about Riley, they both said that Riley had done a great job in the Knicks and that Riley was such a good coach.Jackson listened intently to his mentor, when suddenly Holzman looked him in the eye and said, "Phil, you are a good coach now."

Send off the Knicks and usher in the Cavaliers.The Cavaliers have been the Bulls' underdogs since The Shot in 1989, but they're not completely uncompetitive.In this Eastern Conference Finals, it took the Bulls 6 games to win them.

The Bulls won the first game 103 to 89, but lost the second game 81 to 107.People say that the Cavaliers are too weak to fight against the Bulls, but the Cavaliers' defensive strategy makes the Bulls very embarrassed: shrink the penalty area, reduce the damage caused by the Bulls' breakthrough, and use aggressive moves and active defenses to eliminate the gap in talent.

In the third and fourth games in Cleveland, both sides won another game.In the fourth game, the Bulls lost 85 to 99. Pippen complained that Jordan took too many shots, but Winter publicly reprimanded Pippen and said: "If you don't score, so what? Defense well, rebound well, do a good job. Something else."

After that, the Bulls returned to the mode of winning the previous year, successfully won the fifth and sixth games, eliminated the Cavaliers, and entered the finals.This time, the last enemy standing in front of them was the Portland Trail Blazers.

The Blazers have a group of talented players who like to play fast-paced full-court open games, but are not so good at half-court offense.Playing against them, Jackson was cautious, but not as worried as he was against the Knicks, because he believed the Bulls could drag the Blazers into the half court and force them to make poor shot choices. When the two teams met in the regular season in March, the Bulls had such an internal instruction: "If we let them play like this, they will destroy the Great Wall." This word came out and angered the Trail Blazers.

In fact, the Blazers have long been hostile to the Bulls. They believe that everything the Bulls have at this time should belong to them. In the 1990-1991 season, the Blazers' regular season record (63 wins) was the first in the league, and they won both games against the Bulls, but lost to the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.The Portlanders felt that if they had played the Bulls in the 1991 Finals, the championship would have been theirs.Not only themselves, but many people in the league believe that the Blazers have better talent than the Bulls.

Jackson is not bothered by this. He said: "The sum of the parts can be equal to the whole or bigger than the whole. This is basketball. We don't have a particularly good rebounder, but Pippen and Jordan can make up for it. If people get in the way of the good guys and do the right things, we can find a way to close the talent gap."

In the series between the Bulls and the Trail Blazers, one thing that attracted special attention was the duel between "Flying Man" Jordan and "Glider" Drexler.Drexler, like Jordan, is a shooting guard. This season, Drexler played the best performance of his career and is also a strong contender for the MVP of the year.Although the MVP award belongs to Jordan, many people believe that Drexler is a player at the same level as Jordan, and may even be better than Jordan. The reason why the data is not as good as Jordan is because his Trail Blazers team is full of talents .

Unlike Jordan, Drexler doesn't like the spotlight, which he sees as a double-edged sword that takes away some of his freedom while bringing him fame and money.Drexler once said: "Personally, I'd rather be out of the spotlight." Therefore, the media hype "flying man vs. glider" did not cause much trouble for Drexler.

What about Jordan?Before the finals, Jordan said all the right things to say. He knew how to deal with the media. He said: This is not a personal duel between me and Drexler, this is a game between two teams.He chooses his words carefully, avoiding saying anything that might irritate Drexler, but does he really not care that he is compared to Drexler?of course not.Jordan is a person who needs challenges all the time and loves challenges. For him, this is certainly a game between two teams, but it is definitely a duel between two people.In the 1984 draft, the Blazers didn't pick Jordan because they already had Drexler on the team. Now, someone has to pay the price.

Jordan didn't want to inspire Drexler's fighting spirit, but he himself stored all the discussions about the merits of the two in the fuel bank, just waiting for the finals to start, and it would be a little bit.Jordan wants to destroy the Trail Blazers, but also Drexler.

Deep down, Jordan never believed that Drexler was as good a player as he was, because Drexler wasn't as well-rounded as he was.Jordan had two major advantages over Drexler that would later play a key role in the 1992 Finals: first, Jordan's defense was much better than Drexler's; Jordan is one of the best mid-range shooters in the league, while Drexler's mid-range jumper is inconsistent.

Drexler never admitted that he wasn't a good enough jumper, using his shooting percentage as a shield when friends and team officials reminded him to improve.He's shooting around 50 percent overall, and he uses that stat to say he's shooting well, but the truth is, he gets a lot of his points from the rim, and it's those driving layups that drive up his percentage.Drexler has never practiced Jordan's stable mid-range jumper. Moreover, the regular season and the playoffs are two different things. If you can shoot well in the regular season, it does not mean that you will be in the high-intensity playoffs and finals. , Facing a defensive player like Jordan, you can still shoot well.

Jordan revealed years later that he studied Drexler hard, saying, "I know that if he hits his first three shots, he's going to take every shot after that. The funny thing is, if he makes his first three shots He's going to be more dangerous because he's going to focus on the rest of the game, he's trying to get to the rim and draw fouls. He's got a really good first step. I'm pretty sure he's Will try to press on my left side because that's my weak side."

For those who think Drexler might be better than Jordan, here's another take: Drexler's 1991-point shooting is better than Jordan's.This is because, in the 1992-1992 season, Drexler made more than three times as many three-pointers as Jordan, and his shooting percentage was higher than Jordan.Jordan didn't take the media hype so seriously, but in the [-] Finals, he suddenly had an extra challenge.

Jordan's career classic battle five

1992 NBA Finals Game [-]

Time: March 1992, 6

Where: Chicago Coliseum

Score: Bulls 122:89 Blazers

(End of this chapter)