Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 421 Temporarily Leading
"crunch...crunch..."

The screeching sound of the sneakers rubbing against the floor, the two sides on the court, the whole court running, muscle collision, and pulling hard, everything is so intense, full of strong male hormones everywhere.

This is the stage for the strong, and the weak can't survive here.

This is a much-anticipated game being held in the Chicago Stadium on March 3. The Bulls led by Jordan faced the Warriors of Li Weisi.

For the Warriors, the first quarter of tonight's game, especially the game they are experiencing at this time, is quite dull, more like a game that is not in their game rhythm.

The game has been going on for more than 6 minutes, and the Warriors only scored a poor 8 points. The Warriors' perimeter, under the tight defense of the Bulls' front line, lost all their sights, especially Mullin and Richmond. People added up to 7 for 0 shots, and the performance was too bad.

This kind of game is naturally not normal. If it is played in the first few games, the Warriors may be able to score 28 points at this moment.

The reason for this situation is that the Warriors players did not have a clear understanding of the terrifying defensive strength of the Bulls' forward line. As a result, they were unprepared and caught off guard during the fight.

It's no wonder that nearly 4 months have passed since the last confrontation between the Warriors and the Bulls. They still look at the Bulls with old eyes, which will naturally suffer a big loss.

Because in these four months, tremendous changes have taken place within the Bulls.

Among them, the most important point is that Pippen was finally put on the starting lineup.

In fact, in the playoffs last season, Pippen has already proved his worth, and even more proved that he has the strength to start.

Unfortunately, due to a back injury this season, he was sidelined for a long time. After missing eight games, he returned to the team, but still had to play as a substitute.

However, this did not discourage Pippen. After his unremitting efforts, he finally returned to the starting lineup in a game that was about to enter 89, and it has continued to this day.

Coupled with the Craig Hodges traded from the Suns, it can be said that the Bulls' lineup for three consecutive championships has been formed, and the rest needs time to adjust.

This season, due to reasons such as lineup running-in, the Bulls' record is not good, but the team's strength has not declined but has risen, especially the team's defensive ability has risen in a straight line. In the second half, it has reached the top three in the league. level.

Especially their forward defense composed of Jordan, Pippen and Grant, the defensive ability is beyond the times.

In this era when defense and offense are mainly based on the inside line, point to area, and there is no zone defense, their highly mobile outside defense is obviously a bit out of date.

However, this advanced defensive mode is particularly effective for the Warriors who also have a forward offensive system.

When the Warriors' outside shooting encountered the Bulls' outside defender who could switch defenses infinitely, the Warriors' offense suddenly started to freeze. Because various tactics failed to achieve results, they were finally forced to suspend their shots in a hurry, completely losing their previous silkiness. feel.

It is precisely because of this that the Warriors had an extremely difficult start to tonight's game.

Faced with such a situation, Li Weisi knew in his heart that the team had reached the most critical moment, and this was the time for him to stand up.

Therefore, facing Hodges, who is relatively weak in defense, Li Weisi decisively decided to single Hodges.

After letting his teammates open up the space, Li Weisi started to change directions in advance continuously outside the three-point line at the top of the arc. After fully mobilizing Hodges' pace, he immediately took the fake move of worshiping Buddha, and this time successfully pointed Hodges Fly, and then quickly break through a step forward.

After landing, Hodges knew that he was out of position, and quickly retreated, preparing to chase Li Weisi.

Who knew that after Li Weisi only broke through by one step, he immediately took a step back and retreated outside the three-point line.

Hodges, who was anxious, didn't step on one of his feet, and fell to the ground as soon as his legs softened.

Seeing Hodges being knocked down by Li Weisi, the entire arena buzzed, and the Bulls fans exclaimed, but what happened next was what really surprised them.

After shaking Hodges down, there was no one in front of Li Weisi, and there was an open space, but Li Weisi did not shoot. Instead, he held the ball, posed as if he was going to shoot, and then waited there.

What are you waiting for?
Naturally, wait for Hodges to get up.

Seeing that Li Weisi was unguarded, Hodges, who fell to the ground, quickly got up from the ground, and then rushed towards Li Weisi.

Facing Hodges who made up again, Li Weisi threw the ball before Hodges was able to defend in place.

An inch of time is an inch of gold, and a three-pointer weighs ten thousand catties!

Li Weisi's three-pointer is simply murderous, too bullying, but all the audience who saw this goal, there is no sympathy for Hodges.

Although Li Weisi's goal can definitely be selected as the best goal of the game, he only has three points and still cannot change the team's backward situation.

Fortunately, this goal marked that Li Weisi finally turned on the offensive mode in advance. Under his high-efficiency singles, the Bulls did not completely open the score.

In this way, with Li Weisi playing the entire first quarter, and the Bulls' offensive efficiency was not very good, at the end of the first quarter, the Bulls led the Warriors 25:20 by only 5 points.

The strength of the Bulls' bench is not too bad. Although Brad Sellers, Sam Vincent, John Paxson and Dave Korsin are not well-known players, they are all working hard in the league. Excellent role player for many years.

It's a pity that facing the Warriors' ultra-luxury bench lineup, Bulls coach Collins can only shorten the rotation time and extend the starting time to make up for the gap between the two teams' benches.

Therefore, although the scores of the two teams did not fluctuate much during the rotation of the lineup, it was the Bulls who started and spent a lot of energy to maintain it.

In any case, until the return of both starters, the Bulls still hold the lead, and even expanded.

However, after the Warriors returned from the starting lineup this time, Malone stood up.

Facing Cartwright, Malone suppressed his opponent from both offensive and defensive ends, succeeded in consecutive singles, and once narrowed the point difference to 3 points.

At the critical moment, Jordan avoided the Warriors' overtake through mid-range and breakthrough, and this wave of offensive high led by Malone was also interrupted.

After the game, the two teams fell into a stalemate again.

In this quarter, the feel of the two teams has recovered, and the scoring is much better than in the first quarter. However, even though the Warriors scored a lot, the point difference still cannot be narrowed.

In this way, at halftime, the Bulls led the Warriors by 60 points 54:6.

(End of this chapter)