The Fifth Point Guard

"Hey, Shin, look, Scottie Pippen is looking at me. He must think I'm doing very well at the small forward position."

James, standing next to Shentong, whispered excitedly.

"Oh, look, is that Steve Kerr? I think he and I are the same type of player, usually very low-key, but able to step up at critical moments!"

Wagner's words made people around him sneer.

Varejao, who has always been talkative and lively, actually lowered his head at this moment, looking a little shy.

Shentong couldn't help but asked strangely: "Hey, Anderson, what's going on with you? Could it be that you saw some beautiful woman that you like?"

Varejao lowered his head and grabbed a corner of his jersey, and said nervously: "No, I saw my idol."

"Michael Jordan?"

"No, Dennis Rodman."

"Depend on!"

The Chicago Bulls were once the most powerful team in the league.

Two three-peat championships under the leadership of Michael Jordan.

Over the court, six championship flags shone brightly.

After Jordan retired, the Bulls fell into a lot of downturns.

But last season, a group of young people under Scott Skiles led the Bulls to the Eastern Conference playoffs.

They are also known as the most promising young guards after the New Jersey Nets and Cleveland Cavaliers.

Third-year point guard Kirk Hinrich has become the core figure of the team.

Last season, young players such as Hinrich, Curry, Gordon, Deng and Nocioni set off a youth whirlwind in the league.

Coupled with the blessing of Tyson Chandler and Antonio Davis, they almost reached the top four in the Eastern Conference.

Hinrich averaged 15.7 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.4 assists, 1.6 steals and 0.3 blocks per game last season, which is a very good result for a second-year point guard.

In the playoffs, Hinrich showed no mercy, showing his big heart and ability to fight tough battles.

He averaged 21.2 points, 3.7 rebounds, 5.8 assists, 2.0 steals, and 0.7 blocks per game, and his three-point shooting percentage reached an astonishing 51.5%. His performance was even better than in the regular season.

People have reason to believe that they will become the third team to represent the Youth Storm in the East.

Due to Eddie Curry's growing weight and injury issues, the Bulls traded him to the New York Knicks before the start of the season.

Tyson Chandler was straightened up and became the team's starting center.

Michael Swetney, the No. 9 pick in 2003 who was traded from New York, became the team's starting power forward.

As a sophomore last season, this player averaged 8.4 points and 5.4 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game and shot 53.1% from the field, showing great potential.

The outside trio is a combination that has been working together for two years.

Hinrich + Gordon + Deng.

These three occupy the top three in the team's scoring list and continue to improve every season. They are a force that cannot be ignored.

In addition, the Bulls, who are determined to make a big move this season, have introduced substitute players such as Darius Sangella, Chris Duhon, and Malik Allen, plus the core of the second team Andres Nosio Ni, the Bulls' strength continues unabated.

Tonight, the Bulls will retire Pippen's No. 33 jersey.

On this day, the owner of No. 33 jersey arrived at the court first, followed by Phil Jackson, the head coach of the Bulls dynasty, then Dennis Rodman, the "big bug", and finally the king who looked unruffled and powerful. The style of "Airman" Jordan.

These heroes sat on the sidelines closest to the court and enjoyed the warmest applause from the United Center fans.

Before the start of this game, STO received a "difficult" game task.

{

Main mission: The second flying man

Mission statement: Looking at the entire league, there are only a few players who can inherit the mantle of the Flyers in the post-Jordan era, including Kobe, Tracy McGrady, Carter... and you. Looking at it now, you, who joined the league late, are at the front of the team, but your advantage is not obvious. Kobe has won three championships, Tracy McGrady had a "Travel McGrady moment" of 35 seconds and 13 minutes, and Carter is the "most flying" player in people's minds. You need to work harder. On this highly anticipated day, let’s fight to become the gods and direct all the topics to you, the second flying man! As for Pippen, let him be Wang Feng.

Mission requirement: Break Jordan’s home scoring record

Mission props: Spiritual Light Jade

Main line reward: Jordan’s North Carolina shorts (Golden Legend)

Task status: waiting to be collected

}

This task is not an arduous one!

What is Jordan's scoring record?

69 points!

It's really difficult to break the 69-point record at the Bulls' United Center.

Shentong looked at the golden legendary-level shorts and gritted his teeth.

You have to work hard no matter what!

After receiving the mission, a dazzling energy ball emitting blue light appeared in front of Shentong.

{

Props: Lingguang Jade

Details: The secret of the Spirit Wave Fist can stimulate the human body's potential and achieve incredible results.

Improve your performance on the court and always be in the best physical and hand condition.

Effect: The performance of each attribute is close to the maximum attribute value

}

With the "Spiritual Light Jade", it means that I can meet the challenge in the strongest state in this game.

If this is the case, then there is no hope of breaking 69 points.

At least last season, STO scored 70 points in a single game!

Following the prompts of the small blue characters that appeared, Shentong slowly placed the spiritual light jade into his closed palms with both hands.

After sneezing a few times, the spiritual light jade disappeared.

Then

Shentong saw his extremely dazzling attribute panel!

The starting lineups of the Cavaliers and Bulls for this game are as follows:

Cavaliers: Big Z, Gooden, James, Shentong, Wagner;

Bulls: Chandler, Swetney, Deng, Gordon, Hinrich.

Under the watchful eyes of Jordan, Pippen and others, the game officially begins!

Chandler, who is young and has long arms, reacts much faster than Big Z, and the Bulls win the jump ball.

Hinrich's handling of the ball is very stable and sophisticated. Just looking at his performance on the court, you can't tell that he is just a third-year player.

In the Cavaliers' formation, Hinrich's style of play is very similar to that of Eric Snow, but his offensive ability and desire are much stronger than Snow's.

After the Bulls passed the ball from the outside, Deng took the lead and hit the first jumper.

"Hey, LeBron, how did you defend yourself? Scott is watching."

"knew!"

It was the Cavaliers' turn to attack. James broke through to the basket and passed the ball outward, but was stopped by Gordon.

The Bulls took advantage of the situation and launched a fast break.

Hinrich quickly advanced and passed the ball without looking at anyone, and Gordon succeeded in a layup.

The Bulls scored two goals in the opening game.

Gooden's jump shot missed, and Chandler had a wide range of control under the basket, leaping across to get the rebound in front of Big Z.

The Bulls' morale was high at the beginning, which seemed to be influenced by the championship seniors sitting on the sidelines.

With Hinrich hitting a three-pointer from the outside, the Bulls started 7-0.

It seems that they can knock off last season's defending champion at home.

pity

There was one player who refused and stood up.

The Cavaliers shot the first three-pointer and hit it, breaking the deadlock!

Shen Tong raised his right hand and stepped back slowly.

Sure enough, today's basket is as wide as the sea.

3-7

Gordon broke through and missed inside. The ball was knocked into Chandler's hands by Deng. He pulled up the ball under the basket and put it in.

3-9

The Cavaliers once again resorted to the classic "elevator door" tactic.

The forward combination of Gooden and James blocked the free throw line, and Deng was caught in the middle, which was very uncomfortable.

Shentong moved to the top of the arc, and Wagner sent the ball quickly with quick eyes and hands.

One step away from the three-point line, this is already Shentong's shooting range.

Raise your hand and hit another three-pointer!

6-9

Pippen and Jordan on the sidelines were smiling and whispering, as if saying that this kid's three-point shot was really good.

Sweetney beat Gooden hard under the basket, but the shot was blocked by Big Z.

Sure enough, "long" is still more powerful than "thick"!

The Cavaliers' defense-to-attack speed is also very fast.

Wagner, Shentong, and James all fired three arrows, and the ball was passed back and forth in the hands of the three.

Stepping inside the three-point line in the opponent's half, Wagner passed the ball to Shentong. After Shentong jumped up to get the ball, it attracted the attention of the Bulls defensive players, and then threw the ball to the other side. James rushed over and dunked the ball into the basket with an alley-oop. basket!

8-9

The score difference instantly shrank from 7 points to only 1 point.

This time it was Jordan's turn to say something in Pippen's ear, pointing at the court, as if to say, the fast break just now was really a bit like the Lakers' "show-time" period.

Deng pushed hard against James and hit a layup.

8-11

As a South Sudanese player, Deng is also typically black and tough, with solid muscles and a strong body, which is not far behind James.

If James is a human tank, then Deng is a giant land turtle.

The Bulls' players have not yet established their defensive position, but here STO has already hit Gordon's defense and hit a pull-up three-pointer!

11-11

It's a tie.

As a shooting guard, Gordon's scoring ability is indeed good, but his height is a bit short for the second position.

The height of 1.91 meters is fine against other players, but against the 2.01 meters Shentong, it is simply a big defensive hole.

After the first quarter, the Cavaliers came from behind and led the Bulls by 4 points 25-21.

STO scored 16 points in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, Shentong's outside shooting was still sharp.

Two consecutive pull-up shots in front of Gordon forced Skiles to make substitution adjustments.

Argentinian Nocioni came on, replaced Gordon, and defended Shentong.

Nocioni, who is 2.01 meters tall, has no disadvantage in height, but his speed has slowed down.

Taking advantage of Nocioni's defense, Shentong made successive breakthroughs and layups.

He passed Nocioni in almost one step, and then took off early when he was still far away from the basketball, forming a suppressive attack method.

Even if Chandler comes to defend at this time, he will either get a foul or he can only stand there and watch Shentong send the ball into the basket.

In this quarter, Shentong was still unstoppable and scored another 15 points.

At the end of the first half, Shentong had scored 31 points, and his performance was very impressive. Even during the halftime break, Jordan applauded Shentong's performance.

However, Shentong knew that 31 points at halftime were already behind the plan.

During the halftime break, Shentong put his arm around Wagner with one arm and Snow with the other, and ordered: "Pass the ball to me as much as possible in the second half."

Wagner and Snow looked at each other, nodded quickly and said, "No problem, boss."

While the two teams were resting, the Bulls held a ceremony to retire Pippen's No. 33 jersey at home.

Watching the flag with the No. 33 jersey slowly rising and staying next to Jordan's flag, Pippen burst into tears: "I see myself as a great player, one who is next to the greatest basketball player in the world (Jordan). The man who played the ball. For me, it was one of many joyful moments. I had never had my jersey retired, and it was so special because I knew that from now on, the Bulls would never have another Players can wear this jersey."

Pippen played in the NBA for 17 seasons, 12 of which were spent with the Bulls. Together with Jordan, he won 6 championship trophies for the Bulls, was selected to the All-Star lineup 7 times, was elected as one of the 50 greatest stars in history in 1996, and won two Olympic men's basketball gold medals with the US team. Pippen scored a total of 18,940 points in his career, and his 2,307 steals ranked fifth in NBA history.

Former Bulls coach and current Lakers coach Phil Jackson: "For coaches, he is a great student; for players, he is an excellent leader. He is definitely an important factor in our six championships. .”

The legendary "Airman" Jordan: "I know that someone (Pippen) has been watching me from behind." Pippen then gave his own explanation for this short and intriguing statement: "We have a very good relationship. Jordan understands that we both need each other, and we both know what we should do for the team. He has his responsibilities, and I have mine. No matter what the media says about us, we both know how to win. .”

"Cobra" Grant: "Winning a championship requires the efforts of the whole team. Michael (Jordan) is Michael. You can't compare anyone with him. As long as we can win the championship, Pippen and I don't care about being underestimated. Jordan is also great." Respect our abilities."

"Big Bug" Rodman thought for a while and said: "There are seven days in a week and twenty-four hours in a day. I can kill Karl at any time."

Malone, who had retired, suddenly sneezed loudly without warning.

In the second half, Shentong was simply overwhelmed with the ball.

With the boss's instructions, Wagner and Snow were thinking about how to put the ball into Shentong's arms.

Of course, the Bulls young players didn't want to be embarrassed in front of Jordan and Pippen.

But even in the face of the Bulls' double team, Shentong can still easily put the ball into the basket through various methods.

Post-ups, fadeaways, pull-ups.

Shentong can even jump up and stop in the air, wait for the defensive player to fall, and then easily pick the ball into the basket.

After seeing Shentong score this goal, Jordan, who was quite touched, couldn't help feeling a little sad.

This is simply a shadow of his youth.

Top physical fitness, unstoppable offense, extremely strong self-confidence and a kingly temperament that dominates the world.

But at this moment, the helper beside Jordan has retired his No. 33 jersey.

Flowers will bloom again, and people will never be young again.

Jordan looked at Shentong's back and suddenly felt that he was the next Michael Jordan.

Or, the next basketball god.