One Year Left to Play-Chapter 351 - 109: Two Generations of Number One

However, even if they substituted the Magician, avoiding the sudden drop in offense due to his stamina decline, Del Harris felt that the current situation was not favorable.

The opening offense was excellent, but the opponent’s offense was just as good! Moreover, they let the opponent’s teamwork run smoothly, and their shots opened up!

...

Van Exel, Anthony Peeler, Sibaros, and Zhang Hao continued to be on the court, Campbell hadn’t been substituted in yet, and Jason Williams was brought in.

Keep attacking! Use the recently notorious rebound-grabbing Jason Williams and Sibaros to form a double threat in the paint.

Zhang Hao felt a bit regretful when he got on the court. In the opening 6 minutes, shooting 4 out of 6 and 1 out of 2 free throws, he easily scored 9 points. It was too comfortable.

It’s a pity that the Magician is no longer the dominant player who could play forty-three or four minutes in the playoffs. Now, he can only perform well in short bursts.

The Bulls fielded Steve Kerr, Jordan, Pippen, Kukoc, and Luke Longley.

Del Harris knew the opponent’s shots were open, and relatively, the Zen Master also knew the opponents’ mid-to-long shots were open too, so he strengthened the offense.

However, the necessary defensive trio of Jordan + Pippen + Longley remained.

After the timeout, the Lakers continued to attack.

When Van Exel received the ball beyond the three-point line, Zhang Hao started running, and it was obvious that he felt the defense against him became stronger!

Pippen started a tug defense, and on the outside, Jordan began to press Van Exel aggressively.

Jason Williams took the initiative to come out and set a pick for Van Exel, and though the latter wasn’t particularly good at using picks, he felt comfortable with Jason Williams’s pick and quickly used it to break through!

Jumping within the free throw line for a close-range shot... Van Exel scored two points.

This shot was something the Bulls hadn’t anticipated.

On the Lakers’ bench, Del Harris was surprised to find Jason Williams’s pick-and-roll was excellent!

The timing, positioning, solidity, and movement after the pick... all were great!

Speaking of which, Jason Williams was unfortunate. He was such an excellent pick-and-roll executor during his time with the Brooklyn Nets, but no one noticed. Since coming to the Lakers, he’s played 8 games, over 20 minutes each, but was never asked to run pick-and-rolls, only staying close to the basket to clean up and crash the boards.

This time, he took the initiative, and it left an impression at once.

When the Bulls attacked, the Lakers still couldn’t defend. Fortunately, Steve Kerr, who just got on the court, missed a three-pointer. Zhang Hao blocked Luke Longley, and Jason Williams secured the defensive rebound.

Lakers on offense.

In the previous pick-and-roll by Van Exel and Jason Williams, the Bulls weren’t prepared, but with their strong defensive discipline, this time Van Exel actively sought the pick, Kukoc quickly switched with Jordan, working hard to cover the mid-range space.

Luke Longley stayed under the basket without coming out. Van Exel pulled back out, and after Jordan blocked Jason Williams from sprinting directly from the outside, he quickly switched back to cover Van Exel.

Van Exel was out of options. Zhang Hao was entangled by Pippen, so he chose to pass to Sibaros.

Sibaros received the ball close, threw it over Luke Longley... it was strong, but well contested!

Thankfully, Jason Williams channeled Rodman by using his backside to push Kukoc, causing Kukoc to involuntarily step back a bit despite already having the position, and Jason Williams used the opportunity to secure the position and put back the shot for two points.

When it comes to grabbing rebounds, Jason Williams is second only to Rodman among active players on the court! Moreover, his shrewdness is increasingly resembling Rodman’s.

However, although the shot went in, it was tough!

The Bulls demonstrated ridiculously strong team defensive cooperation!

It seemed the Bulls substituted with a shift to a weaker defense, yet they remained incredibly strong! The Lakers somewhat think that "with Rodman and Harper off, the Bulls’ defense has weakened," but the Bulls have the second-lowest average points allowed per game this season in the entire league, conceding only 92.2 points on average! No matter the lineup, their defense cannot be underestimated!

Moreover, the Bulls don’t act like they do when playing the Brooklyn Nets, where they somewhat underestimated them and occasionally slackened when thinking about maintaining their bodies. Against the Lakers, on the Magician’s comeback night... they definitely didn’t want the Magician to have such a joyful return; the whole team was highly motivated.

If not, they’d get reprimanded to tears by Jordan.

Not every possession will be so lucky. After half a quarter of tension, when the Magician came off and the Lakers’ team cooperation plummeted, the team quickly entered a disadvantaged state.

After more than three minutes, the Bulls expanded their lead to 7 points with Kukoc distributing the ball from the top of the arc and Jordan hitting a long two from the baseline. The Bulls executed a 14 to 9 run during this period!

to 36, as the lead was about to stretch to 10 points with a three-pointer difference, the Lakers called timeout again!

...

Zhang Hao played fiercely during this period. He indeed felt the Bulls playing against his Lakers was vastly different from when they played against his previous Brooklyn Nets team!

Maybe the Bulls weren’t in as good form back then, or maybe they weren’t working as hard from the start as they did tonight.

In any case, Zhang Hao immediately felt the substantial gap in strength.

But...

Zhang Hao always felt like the opponent seemed anxious to quickly stretch the lead, uncertain if this was just his illusion.

Returning to the bench, Zhang Hao didn’t know if he would continue playing. Since his defensive contribution was nearly zero, his physical condition was good, mainly due to his strong recovery ability and being young, back-to-back games had little impact.

But back on the bench, he noticed a lot of big names...

"Aix, come over here..."

The chief big name, Logo Man, called out, and Zhang Hao ran over eagerly.

On the other bench, Jordan looked at the opposing bench gathered around Zhang Hao with Logo Man, James Worthy, the Magician, Elgin Baylor, Gail Goodrich... what a lineup of guidance, unbelievable!