Chapter 779 - 244: This Is the Truly Invincible Bulls!

Why is it always me who gets hurt? What did I do wrong...

Facing the rookie Zhang Hao, Pippen couldn’t stop him.

Now Zhang Hao is generally bigger than Pippen in terms of height and wingspan, and he also has the advantage in weight and strength.

Easily bumping Pippen back to a close distance, Zhang Hao spun and hit a turnaround fadeaway from his favorite spot, just inside the free throw line!

The Zen Master couldn’t bear to watch this scene.

But there was no choice. In this situation, when you can’t significantly increase defensive intensity, as the season progresses, each team’s traits have become very clear.

The Heat, Knicks, Cavaliers, Pistons and other teams are iconic iron-blooded teams. They can increase defensive intensity or even play with playoff-level defense without any problem.

But the opposing Lakers have an average of 111.6 points per game, first in the league, and their Bulls, average 106.9 points, second in the league.

When these two teams play, especially in a Christmas showdown, to play like those other teams... no, Jordan tried a sideline three that hit the rim, and when Pippen defended Zhang Hao, attempting to front him as he asked for the ball, he was overpowered and got called for a foul when his arm was pushed away as Zhang Hao received the ball.

The Lakers continued their offense. When the ball came out, Pippen still had to choose to front. But to successfully block Zhang Hao’s first receiving line, Pippen chose to go over, meaning he didn’t challenge Zhang Hao nor blocked the baseline!

Zhang Hao seized the opportunity, spun straight into the basket, received a direct pass from Kenny Anderson, jumped from the left sideline of the paint, and faced Luke Longley’s help defense, pulled the ball to the right, brought it back when they collided, avoided Luke Longley’s arm, and scooped a layup from below upwards... and scored!

After not seeing him for over half a year, Jordan noticed Zhang Hao’s progress.

In terms of skill, overall it’s still quite simple, but the biggest improvement is in finishing ability!

Shooting is more stable, and his layup technique is more outstanding.

With such a lineup on the Lakers and his physical conditions, from Jordan’s perspective, Zhang Hao’s improvement in finishing is far more useful than expanding his skill set.

Not that expanding skills is useless, but with all that needs improving now, finishing ability enhances Zhang Hao’s performance more than a richer skill set would.

Time to adjust the strategy. During the offense-defense transition, after Jordan reached the frontcourt, he got to the left mid-range of the paint and backed Doug Christie for the ball!

Having the advantage in strength, comparable in height and wingspan, and an advantage in jumping... Jordan received the ball and slowly adjusted his pace with the strength advantage, just before Zhang Hao couldn’t resist coming from the top arc to double-team, before the double-team got in place, Jordan suddenly pushed a step back, spun, and took a jump shot!

Zhang Hao desperately lunged forward, but Jordan spun out as if he slid backward, completely undisturbed!

Jordan’s turnaround fadeaway shot went in!

A subtitle flashed in front of Zhang Hao’s eyes—1:1.

Jordan’s first score of the game was a turnaround fadeaway from posting up!

Actually, Zhang Hao was only counting the turnaround fadeaway makes.

But since Jordan was starting to score, of course, he had to show that arrogant kid what a genuine post-up turnaround fadeaway is like.

Definitely not like Barkley, using his butt to get into a comfortable position!

After landing, Jordan retreated on defense while patting his left palm with the back of his right hand...

Alright, know you’re tough, no need to find position, just play, if the double-team isn’t in place immediately, it’s like there’s no double-team... Zhang Hao silently ran to the frontcourt.

That last post-up by Jordan was clearly waiting for Mr. Zhang to double-team him, just bullying people.

Zhang Hao couldn’t do anything. Since they weren’t challenging one-on-one with post-up fadeaways, he couldn’t bully back, so he could only bully the other’s underlings.

Pippen, feel the hurricane!

Pippen came to this position again, and he’s starting to get a psychological shadow about this spot, his scalp tingling every time he gets here.

Zhang Hao leaned on Pippen, continued to press backward, Pippen was already prepared, as long as he got bumped, he would fall back, though it would hurt when he landed, he had to try.

Zhang Hao sharply judged the difference in Pippen’s stance, and just before they were about to collide, he suddenly spun left, his left foot pivoting behind Pippen’s left back side, unobstructed! Zhang Hao brought his right foot around, coming to Pippen’s back!

Pippen didn’t even have space to fall back, he quickly spun, but Zhang Hao just directly jumped after getting behind him, Pippen could only watch as Zhang Hao took a jump shot from the free-throw line... missed!

However, seeing Pippen fail to stop Zhang Hao’s spin, Luke Longley immediately left O’Neal and moved quickly towards Zhang Hao’s advancing direction. O’Neal charged in from the right side of the paint, grabbed the ball that had hit the right side of the rim and bounced left, and slammed it back in!

Invincible!

Even the on-site Bulls fans felt what is called an invincible frontcourt when watching the Lakers’ trio perform.

When Kenny Anderson opened up with a three-pointer, the Bulls would hesitate to shrink their defense because Jordan went to guard Kenny Anderson.

This decision puzzled the Bulls, shouldn’t they go help Pippen instead?

Not shrinking, not double-teaming, with Barkley going berserk from the start, there was simply no way to limit the other team’s three frontcourt players.

Even though there’s only one ball, with O’Neal standing there, Luke Longley’s 218 cm, 120 kg frame also finds it hard to meet expectations in defending O’Neal...