Chapter 778 - 243: Dare to Take Me On One-on-One? (Part 3)

But, lowering his center of gravity to fully defend against the back game, well... it’s useless! Barkley received the ball and bumped into him, Pippen felt his elder brother twitch from the force!

Barkley, with a couple of hits, pushed Pippen outside the three-second zone, and before Jordan could double-team him, Barkley suddenly turned right, went down the baseline, jumped from the left side of the three-second area, quickly sprang up, Luke Longley who was under the basket gave up... Barkley delivered yet another vicious dunk, smashing the ball into the hoop with one hand!

This ball, Pippen felt utterly hopeless, why him again?

Jordan felt helpless, he had reminded the Zen Master that Barkley could still play, but the Zen Master remained indifferent.

Zhang Hao wanted to cry... This move, Big Fatty had taught him, but he couldn’t master it, yet Er Pang could do it!

The opening offensive of both teams surprised their opponents; Jordan started purely off-ball, not prioritizing scoring but rather focusing on drawing space.

Even though Jordan didn’t take a single shot in the opening, the Lakers didn’t dare give him the slightest chance; after all, he was Michael Jordan.

As long as Jordan moved, the Lakers had to do three things.

First, stay close to Jordan.

Second, cut off Jordan’s receiving paths.

And regardless of whether they’ve successfully defended against Jordan receiving the ball or not, they must be prepared to have a defender in front of Jordan once he receives the ball.

When Jordan did these things, the Bulls still had Pippen and Ron Harper on the court.

Zhang Hao defended Pippen and did so poorly; he was better suited to guard smaller players. Being in his second year, there was a lot to learn, and developing an offense was challenging enough. Becoming a defensive headache for speedy point guards was already commendable, yet Zhang Hao struggled against players like Pippen, who resembled Grant Hill and Anfernee Hardaway in their all-round capabilities.

Ron Harper, on the other hand, found Kenny Anderson easier to handle.

The Lakers were very active in defense, but their opening defense was not good.

However, on the field, the Lakers did not suffer because of this!

Because Barkley was too fierce!

An opening fast-break dunk, then a back-turning flying dunk over Pippen, a mid-range shot coming out of the baseline, back play attracting double-team to pass to Kenny Anderson for a three-pointer after taking advantage of the screen, Zhang Hao missing a mid-range shot against Rodman’s defense and Barkley’s putback dunk...

The Lakers were 8 of 5 at the start, with one of the three misses being a putback dunk by Barkley.

In other words, in the opening, the Lakers had 7 offensive plays, scored on 5, and all of them were related to Barkley!

The Lakers’ players were initially surprised and bewildered, but after Barkley took the initiative to ask for the ball, they quickly shifted into a mode of supporting Barkley.

The cooperation was simple, O’Neal went to the other side of the three-second zone baseline ready to grab rebounds, Zhang Hao waited in the mid-range on the other side, and the three-point shooters moved outside the three-point line towards Barkley’s position preparing to assist.

Simple and brutal!

After Barkley finished the putback dunk, the Zen Master called a timeout!

of 4 shooting, scoring 8 points; the Bulls were trailing by 3, 8 to 11, although they were passive on the field, the point difference was not large.

Only 3 minutes and 44 seconds had passed, and the Zen Master called a timeout, which was indeed surprising.

The Zen Master was one who could maintain his composure and not call a timeout even when trailing by over ten points.

However, Jordan understood, the Zen Master felt they were facing a problem that couldn’t be solved by players’ spontaneous changes and improvisation!

Jordan also really couldn’t fathom how to defend against the Lakers; previously, he was puzzled even though he knew the Lakers attacked fiercely, he was still baffled why the majority of teams facing the Lakers would keep attacking and fail to boost their defensive intensity.

Now he understood.

The opponent played very simply, but fiercely!

The key was, the Lakers tonight were playing aggressively, it wasn’t Zhang Hao or O’Neal, and it wasn’t even Kenny Anderson, but the Lakers’ Big Fatty, who seemed almost forgotten, who was taking it upon himself.

Jordan was heavy-hearted; after truly facing off, the threat he felt from the Lakers intensified beyond pre-game anticipation!

The Zen Master had defensive strategies for Zhang Hao and O’Neal, the plan was to force the opposing two guards into isolation plays, but, Barkley...

He had heard Jordan say Barkley was definitely still strong, he took it in, but if they had to focus on defending Barkley, what about Zhang Hao and O’Neal?

Then they would have to compete with the Lakers in offense!

In the playoffs, it was easier to increase confrontation intensity, but in the regular season... Despite just having a low defensive intensity, when Pippen encountered Barkley, he could only be molded by Barkley.

The playoffs were hard to say, the Zen Master hadn’t seen this Lakers lineup in the playoffs, but as far as the regular season goes, even if the opponent’s defensive intensity reaches its peak, as long as the Lakers play actively, play hard like tonight, the Zen Master feels the regular season, the Lakers were no weaker than their Bulls!

The Bulls still had a chance to achieve 70 wins this year, as long as the Lakers play like this every night and stabilizes, it was possible!

However, the Zen Master’s pressure was purely because of the uncertainty of the playoffs, breaking the regular-season history best record... he wasn’t worried about that at all.

Why did he let Pippen defend Barkley? Didn’t he think Barkley might not even try hard in the regular season?

It’s just, the few-year-old grudge from the finals...

The pressure was intense... but the Zen Master’s expression remained calm, he made adjustments on the defensive side but did not make substitutions.

The Lakers also didn’t make personnel adjustments, Del Harris was enthusiastically adjusting tactics for Barkley, focusing on tonight’s serious Barkley offense.

O’Neal didn’t reject this situation, after recovering from injury, Barkley hadn’t seriously played well, he finally could enjoy the feeling of owning a super striker group!

Only, after coming back from a timeout, the Bulls, relying on the tactics arranged during the timeout, scored a baseline cut receiving toss; when the Lakers attacked, Rodman started defending Barkley.

Against Rodman, Barkley wasn’t so easy.

But another person had more opportunities!

The Lakers players decisively abandoned their established strategy, Zhang Hao faced Pippen’s defense and directly went to the baseline...

Pippen hurriedly followed, seemingly shouting: "Don’t do this, don’t go there, it’s too dangerous there!"