One Year Left to Play

Chapter 566 - 173: You’re Really Injured! (2)

If anyone could be traded one-for-one for Jordan, it would be the 30-year-old Magician, who was at his peak and had just won the regular season MVP.

After leaving the Lakers, Pat Riley knew he wouldn’t be able to trade for Jordan no matter where he went, and he didn’t want to join the Bulls. Given the situation at the time, Jordan couldn’t overcome the Bad Boys, so he was unemployed for a year... Who knew that in the summer of 1990, the league would introduce the flagrant foul rule, turning all those defensive moves like throat-locks, elbow hits, and tripping from simple fouls to flagrant fouls.

Previously, there were extra actions after a play that would at most be called for a technical foul, like when a defender would knock down an opponent after they finished a dunk. Sometimes, they wouldn’t even be called. Now, there would be a whistle for everything.

In the year Pat Riley took a break, Jordan won the championship...

And he lost the chance to join the Bulls, while the Zen Master became an overnight sensation.

Human nature is always so kind; if you can’t have it, you want to destroy it!

Pat Riley chose to join the New York Knicks, and from the moment he joined, his greatest desire was to defeat Jordan in the playoffs. Everything was prepared for that single goal.

He almost succeeded in the first year. In the second round of the 1992 playoffs, facing the reigning champion Bulls, the Knicks fought to Game 7, but Jordan crushed the Knicks with a single-game 42 points, 4 assists, 2 blocks, and 3 steals.

In 1993, the Knicks came back with a vengeance, but lost the Eastern Conference Finals 2-4...

Then, Jordan retired, which pained Pat Riley deeply. He could only search for new goals, like owning a stake in a team or becoming a controlling figure.

Just as he was making arrangements with the Heat owner and failed to reach an agreement with the Knicks, ready to switch teams, Jordan returned!

Even though his hasty return last year led to an ordinary playoff performance, Pat Riley believed that this man, who fascinated him, would definitely do better... In fact, Pat Riley had already seen it from the details of Jordan’s style of play; Jordan himself, and the Bulls, weren’t ready for the hasty return.

So, after last season ended, though he still had time to slowly negotiate with the Knicks, he decisively gave up on continuing negotiations with James Dolan, despite almost shaking him loose.

He chose to join the more decisive Heat team owner and started rebuilding the roster to deal with the Bulls, achieving it quickly.

Point guard, center, Pat Riley wanted to grasp the Bulls’ two weakest points: Tim Hardaway and Moning, both of whom had the potential to become the strongest in their respective positions.

Soon, the game began. The man who fascinated Pat Riley appeared particularly frenzied right from the start, embodying a terrifying image that seemed capable of tearing all opponents apart... Eh? Why is he so off? Wrong jersey? Wrong size?

When a team has a player who shoots 10 for 34 in a game and faces a defensively strong opponent fighting hard for a playoff spot, what’s the outcome?

Despite Pippen going 9 for 15, scoring 24 points, 10 rebounds, and 11 assists, it couldn’t make up for Jordan’s crazy 24 missed shots, scoring only 33 points on 34 attempts. Even with Pippen’s desperate efforts, they couldn’t fill this hole!

With Moning’s 17 points, 22 rebounds, 6 blocks and Tim Hardaway’s 31 points, 14 assists, the Heat pulled an upset, defeating the invincible Bulls 97-91, handing the Bulls their 10th defeat of the season!

That night, Pat Riley decided—"Retire the jersey! Once Jordan retires, our Heat must retire his jersey!"

...

The Bulls lost!

Watching the game, Zhang Hao felt there was still a big gap between the two teams. Jordan missed 24 shots with about a 40% true shooting percentage, and the Bulls almost made a comeback. The game process was actually very exciting with Pippen’s efforts to lead a counterattack...

Zhang Hao had a gut feeling that Jordan was treating the opposing basket as if he was smashing it!

Watching a game should be about seeing matches between teams you don’t support nor dislike, but have great stars, to avoid those strange immersive feelings.

Whether the Heat won or the Bulls won, Zhang Hao was quite happy watching it, seeing Jordan in that out-of-control state... It was a bit scary. After all, he is the world’s best basketball player.

After the Bulls and Heat game ended, the TV commentator decisively linked Jordan’s erratic performance tonight to Zhang Hao’s talk show commercial from yesterday.

That doesn’t matter now; with Jordan’s pettiness, Zhang Hao guessed if Jordan didn’t win a single Player of the Month this season, he’d despise those players who did.

Just as Zhang Hao was about to turn off the TV to shower and sleep, the TNT Sports Channel commentator received new news and said in surprise, "The Admiral is injured!"

...

...

After a night of rest, on April 3rd, the Lakers welcomed their first game of April and the first of a back-to-back, hosting the Spurs.

Luck is truly unpredictable.

Yesterday, after Zhang Hao attended the Los Angeles Dodgers’ opening ceremony, he found out that the 17-game winning Spurs had already arrived in Los Angeles, preparing actively to avenge their losses in the first two encounters with the Lakers this season.

During the afternoon training, an accident occurred. While doing positioning drills, David Robinson collided with a teammate and his foot was stepped on.