stonecrandall Chapter 41 Payton gets utterly crushed! Jordan's fury is unstoppable!
Chapter 41 Payton gets utterly crushed! Jordan's fury is unstoppable!
"Don't worry, Michael! I'll definitely grant your wish!" Payton chewed his gum, his face full of arrogance and swagger. "A wish that I'll smash! No matter how many times, I'll grant it!"
"You've got guts!" Jordan gave a thumbs up and said, "Let's hope you're still this gutsy three hours from now, instead of crying and begging me to let you go."
After Jordan finished speaking, he stopped exchanging any more words or nonsense with Payton and turned to walk towards his own half of the court!
"Michael's got a particularly strong presence tonight!" CBS's Marcus, who happened to be watching, said with some concern in the broadcast, "We all remember how badly Nick Anderson was beaten by Jordan a month ago! Can Payton break the league's ironclad rule of 'never mess with Jordan' tonight?"
"Honestly, if I had to pick a perimeter player who could embarrass Jordan with his defense, I would definitely choose Payton!" Marcus's teammate Smith said. "But the prerequisite is that he absolutely cannot provoke Jordan beforehand! A calm Jordan can be contained."
"But a Jordan who gets completely enraged after being provoked? Sorry, you'd have to ask God to do that!"
Clearly, based on pre-match predictions, neither Marcus nor Smith had any confidence in the SuperSonics and Payton.
They all felt that tonight would be Supersonic's day of reckoning!
This is also the opinion of most fans and media!
The pressure and invincibility that Jordan brought to everyone were so intense! It was like an invisible steel imprint on everyone's subconscious!
Never provoke Jordan!
This was absolutely the first ironclad rule of the 90s NBA!
Perhaps the only ones who have confidence are the SuperSonics players!
Nobody knows what kind of spell Payton and George Carr cast on the players.
In short, every SuperSonics player's face was filled with confidence and desire!
They had already decided to give it their all and take down the Bulls tonight!
They naturally fielded their strongest starting lineup: point guard Gary Payton, shooting guard Jose Hawkins, small forward Derek Schrempf, power forward Shawn Kemp, and center Magic Johnson...
Yes, a man named Erwin Jensen who shares the same name as the Magician, but has no relation to him whatsoever!
Even in today's league where inside players are the priority, this five-man combination is still considered very strong!
All three forwards are over 208 cm tall, and with Payton at 193 cm, he's a giant at point guard. In the entire starting lineup, only Hawkins is shorter than the other players in his position.
This lineup of three big men and two small men is precisely the secret weapon that has allowed George Karl to lead his team to the top of the Western Conference this season!
Use its height, hardness, and massive size to take down most of its opponents!
It was with this lineup that the SuperSonics defeated the Bulls at home, and now they want to do it a second time!
The Bulls also kept their starting lineup unchanged, with the Big Three plus Longley and Harper, all five of them taking to the court together!
With the referee's whistle, this epic showdown between the top teams in the East and West officially began!
"The bootleg Magician" Jason, with his towering height, easily secured the first possession for his team. But as soon as Payton got the ball, Jordan charged at him without hesitation!
Lead the defense across the entire field!
It started from the very first round! That's Jordan's attitude!
When it comes to risking your life, it starts from the very first second of the game!
Under Jordan's fierce defense, Payton looked a bit disheveled, but fortunately, he was also one of the league's top point guards. After quickly adjusting his state, he passed the ball out.
After a series of passes and plays, Kemp got the ball in the paint!
But just as he was about to jump and dunk, Rodman, who was guarding him, slapped the basketball out of his hand!
The Bulls have a fast break opportunity!
Jordan received the ball, actively sought out Payton, and quickly advanced the ball against him. When he was two steps inside the three-point line, Jordan suddenly said, "Ready? I'm going to shoot!"
After saying that, Jordan didn't give Payton a chance to prepare; he pulled up and threw it!
Even though Payton is known as "The Glove," he was a little slow to react at this moment. He only had time to symbolically stretch out his hand before Jordan scored 2 points and took the lead!
After Jordan scored, he didn't relax at all, but instead stuck to Payton tightly once again!
Tonight, he's here to embarrass Payton, make Payton regret his actions, and give Payton nightmares!
Under Jordan's leadership, the defensive intensity and ferocity of the rest of the Bulls team also surged, reaching their peak!
It's important to understand that the Bulls had three Defensive Player of the Year-level super defenders: Jordan, Pippen, and Rodman. In addition, Harper and Longley were also excellent defensive players. The Bulls' secret weapon was not actually Jordan, Pippen, or Rodman.
Their real secret weapon is this!
Increase the intensity, increase defensive commitment, and use a do-or-die defense to kill the game!
Faced with the Bulls' terrifying defensive intensity, Payton was actually able to barely keep up and withstand it, but the others besides Payton were really struggling. They never expected that the Bulls, when they were going all out, would be so terrifying!
With this mindset and playing style, the point difference between the two sides widened rapidly!
Jordan, on the other hand, repeatedly received the ball in the low post and mid-range, and then made the shot time and time again!
He's starting to keep his promise!
Tonight, Jordan is going to beat Payton to a pulp!
"The Glove" Payton has shut down countless players and has also limited Jordan to below-average performances on several occasions.
But that night, facing a Jordan who was furious to the extreme, a Jordan who had unleashed all his firepower and whose only thought was to kill Payton, Payton suddenly realized... how unreliable his proud defense was!
11投8中，其中3分球1投1中，罚球4罚全中，乔丹首节比赛登场9分钟，就拿下了21分！率队以28：20，领先了超音速队8分！
至于赛前和乔丹叫嚣的佩顿，打了5分钟就2次犯规被提前换下，3投1中只拿到了2分1助攻，还有2次失误！
His performance was absolutely terrible!
The reason the team was only down by 8 points had nothing to do with Payton. They relied entirely on the SuperSonics' tall frontcourt. Kemp and Jensen grabbed 4 offensive rebounds and scored 6 points on second-chance opportunities. This was the biggest reason why the SuperSonics were not completely outmatched!