On the same day that the Timberwolves defeated the Pacers from afar at home, the Bulls led by Jordan also defeated super rookie Antoine Walker (203cm/102kg, 1996 first round 6) away with a huge advantage of 97:87. No. 1 pick) led by the Celtics.
In this game, Jordan relied on his outstanding performance of 11 of 21, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 6 of 8 free throws, and scored a game-high 29 points in a single game, leading the team to victory.
Compared with Jordan's outstanding performance, the performance of the Green Army's super rookie Antoine Walker was somewhat inferior.
Facing the Bulls led by Jordan, young Antoine Walker performed very positively. He wanted to tell the fans that his hard power was not inferior to Jordan's.
Times have changed, and Antoine Walker will be the best player in the league for the next 20 years.
But the result was that Antoine Walker made 8 of 24 shots, 2 of 7 three-pointers, and 1 of 4 free throws. He scored 19 points. In terms of the number of shots, he even took more shots than Jordan, but he scored 19 points. In terms of performance, he was beaten by Jordan, with a difference of ten points.
Antoine Walker told the fans with practical actions that he is not as good as Jordan.
After the game, Jordan, who scored 29 points and also led the team to victory, happily accepted interviews with media reporters.
"Dear Michael, congratulations to you and your bull for winning another game."
"Obviously, your performance in today's game was still very good."
"We can see that on the field, the young man from the Green Army often wants to challenge you. As a senior in the league, Michael, do you have anything to say to that young man?"
During Jordan's playing days, he was always a player who acted arrogantly. Regarding young people in the league, Jordan has always been "harsh" in front of the media.
But at the end of his career, and not until his retirement, Jordan finally realized that he had to protect his "image". During this period, when facing the media, Jordan would try his best to "restrain" his speech. .
Facing the reporter's question, Jordan wanted to ridicule the challenger who was overestimating his abilities, but when the words came to his lips, Jordan showed a warm smile on his face and said:
"Is the young man you are talking about Antoine?"
"The young people are not bad, but they are a bit young and still need some experience."
"I think in a few years, he will be qualified to challenge me."
Jordan's words were both overt praise and covert criticism. If someone carefully tastes the words in the scene, he can taste his disdain for his opponents from Jordan's words.
The reporters present were all veterans. After hearing Jordan's humorous answer, the venue was suddenly filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
But whenever Jordan is happy, there are always blind people who make him feel unhappy.
"Michael, I got a piece of news. Not long before 'our' Bulls defeated the Celtics, the Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Indiana Pacers at home."
"The young Wolf King of the Timberwolves scored 49 points against Reggie Miller."
"You seem to have watched the Timberwolves' game before. What do you think of the young man from the Timberwolves?"
"Compared with Antoine, who is stronger?"
When a young reporter asked a question, he used the word "we" to describe the Bulls. He wanted to get some buzz from Jordan, but at the same time he didn't want Jordan to "remember" him, so when he spoke, he tried hard. Want to express your closeness.
As we all know, Jordan has a bad temper. When faced with some reporters who displease him, he will retaliate by "refusing that reporter's interview."
Once a sports reporter who is involved in the basketball circle is thrown into the "outcast" by Jordan, it will be more or less difficult to continue to be involved in this circle.
In today's league, Jordan is synonymous with "traffic".
"49 points? Reggie Miller?"
Hearing the reporter's question, Jordan looked obviously startled. He subconsciously raised his eyebrows, a little surprised, but a smile quickly appeared on his face and he replied calmly:
"Well, the player you are talking about is the Timberwolves player?"
"I have indeed watched him play, and his ability is indeed outstanding, but I think he needs to share the ball with his teammates more. A young man can't grasp it all."
"You know, a mature player needs to put the team's victory first."
I don't know which nerve the reporter's words touched on in Jordan. Maybe it's because Wu Dao's scoring average from the beginning of the season to the present has been so explosive that it has even surpassed him, which makes him a little unhappy.
After speaking, Jordan paused and continued:
"Wu's problem is actually the same as Antoine's. Maybe after a few more years of training, he will be qualified to stand in front of me."
In front of the media, Jordan smiled and "mentioned" martial arts.
"But as far as I know, the Timberwolves have only lost two games from the beginning of the season to now, and in those two games, Wu Dao was not there."
The young reporter was obviously not satisfied with Jordan's answer and continued to ask.
There is no way, reporters are like this, they always want to make big news every day.
Sure enough, Jordan's face darkened when he heard the young reporter's questioning. The Bulls have reached 10 wins and 7 losses so far. Now, what is the purpose of the reporter pointing out that the Timberwolves have only lost two games since the beginning of the season? Isn't it just to make him look bad?
"Which media company does that guy belong to?"
"I will not accept interviews from that media in the future."
Jordan moved the microphone away from his mouth and whispered to the team staff behind him. Turning his head, Jordan replied with a smile:
"Are you questioning me?"
"Do you question me who has 5 championship rings?"
"This is just the regular season. The playoffs are the test of a player's true ability."
Jordan took out his honor and directly crushed the young reporter.
Subsequently, the post-game press conference ended hastily, and Jordan, who left the venue, also made up his mind to be more serious in the next game.
He will never allow a rookie to step on his head!
The next day, Jordan's remarks began to spread widely through television media channels.
Wu Dao is no longer an unknown player. At the beginning of the season, although his performance on the court was outstanding, his performance was mediocre. However, after Wu Dao knocked down Karl Malone with one kick, Wu Dao immediately became famous and became the most popular player in the league. Attractive newcomer.
Jordan is a well-deserved appearance in the league, and Wu Dao has now shown the style of a young superstar, even ranking first in the scoring average list, and his Timberwolves have an outstanding record, and they are the same in the hellish Western Conference. Steady in first place.
In addition, martial arts is the only yellow core in the NBA. After several additions, martial arts has become a very popular topic.
Jordan commented on this super new star of martial arts. Obviously many people will be interested in this.
Minnesota fans, even more so.
They hope to hear Jordan's praise of martial arts from Jordan's mouth, which is equivalent to "certification". For a rookie, recognition from "God" may be more important than those things like Best of the Week and Best of the Month. Much more useful.
But it is a pity that Minnesota fans were disappointed after all. Jordan is still the same Jordan. "I am the best in the world", this is the Jordan who is well known to fans.
Jordan's remarks were naturally disgusted by Minnesota fans. Although it was true that the Bulls just won the championship last year, so what?
Anyone with a discerning eye can see that today's Timberwolves are rising strongly, and that group of young people have initially developed the ability and potential to compete for the championship. Today's Minnesota fans lack the most basic "respect" for Jordan.
The reason is also very simple, because they already have a super star in Minnesota, and fans believe that it won't be long before Wu Dao becomes a superstar in the league.
The gradually fermenting public opinion environment did not affect the state of the Timberwolves players. After a day's rest, the Timberwolves played another home game against Mickey Richmond (196cm/98kg, guard, 32 years old, known as the Rock) led by the king.
In the past few years, this guy has been an All-Star substitute every year. In the 1994-95 season, he even won the AMVP.
In the last season, Rock Mickey Richmond was even able to average 25.9 points per game.
This time against the Timberwolves in an away game, the King also came with the determination to win.
The Timberwolves are gradually gaining a reputation in the league. Seeing that the Timberwolves, which have always been pushed under their butt and have never stood up, have risen strongly this year, the players on the Kings side have not yet completely adjusted their mentality.
They are still a Timberwolf, still a little brother, still a bad team that can be manipulated at will.
But a trip to Target Center showed Mitch Richmond how wrong they were.
In this game, Mickey Richmond still maintained an All-Star level performance when facing Wu Dao. He made 11 of 25 shots, 0 of 3 three-pointers, and 7 of 8 free throws. 29 points, 2 rebounds and 3 assists.
At the age of 32, scoring so much in front of a young man like Wu Dao really shocked Minnesota fans.
This is the first player they have seen who can score so many points in martial arts.
Although Mickey Richmond played very well, Wu Dao's performance against the Kings was still explosive.
He scored 17 of 24 from the field, 4 of 6 three-pointers, and 6 of 7 free throws, scoring a terrifying 44 points. Not only that, Wu Dao also had 6 rebounds, 5 assists, 1 block, and 1 steal.
Not only did he beat Mitch Richmond in terms of scoring, but he also steadily outperformed the opponent in other statistics.
The performance of martial arts turned Mickey Richmond's dazzling performance into a backdrop.
At the same time, the Timberwolves also won this game with 101:90, and the team's record also reached 15 wins and 2 losses.
After the game, the Minnesota fans naturally burst into cheers, and with "The Rock" Mickey Richmond losing his job as the center player, Jordan's remarks in the past two days have been revealed by good-hearted fans again.
Coincidentally, on the same day that the Timberwolves defeated the Kings, the Bulls also defeated the Milwaukee Bucks 84:62.
Although the Bulls won the game, Jordan's performance was dug out by the lively fans. Jordan played a little more than three quarters in this game and had 35 minutes of playing time, but Jordan shot 4 of 16. , 0 of 3 three-pointers, 5 of 6 free throws, an embarrassing answer of 13 points, 9 rebounds and 2 assists.
Fortunately, when the Bulls won the game, the fierce battle between the Timberwolves and the Kings was not over yet. At that time, the real-time score of Martial Arts was only 20+, and the game with the Kings was a stalemate.
Faced with the media's ridicule, Jordan just said calmly: "I have stopped pursuing personal data a long time ago. If you watched the game, you can find that in today's game, 9 players on our team played more than or Close to 20 minutes.”
"This is a game with no suspense. If I want to, I can easily score 60 or even 70 points in the game!"
Jordan's words are still very convincing. There is no way, he has a tough mouth, and at the same time, his strength and honor are also tough.
If the same words are said by other players, they will not be criticized but ridiculed.
After the game against the Kings, Wu Dao and others finally left Minnesota and went to Washington to play against the Wizards away from home.
Today's Wizards are a team led by league stalwarts such as Chris Webber and Juwan Howard. The difference from previous games is that this time, Juwan Howard has returned to the game after recovering from injury.
Amid the frenzied chants of Washington fans, the Timberwolves finally tasted defeat at the beginning of this month.
The Wizards' iron-blooded inside line built by Chris Webber and Juwan Howard and others made Garnett, young Ben Wallace and Cherokee Parks and other Timberwolves inside lines speechless. Come.
In this game, Chris Webber scored 33 points, 12 points and 4 assists, while Juwan Howard also scored 31 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists.
It’s hard to imagine that in this day and age, a team with blurred positions like the Wizards can actually play at such a level. Among the Wizards’ starters, the tallest are Juwan Howard and Chris Webber. The two brothers are both around 206cm.
But it was this group of players that destroyed the Timberwolves' inside line.
Garnett, who faced Chris Webber, only got 14 points, 2 rebounds and three assists. On the contrary, Tom, although he couldn't guard, he knew how to defend the rebounds and scored 11 rebounds.
Wu Dao and Marbury scored 37 points and 22 points respectively.
But it is a pity that the Timberwolves still lost this game 108:114.
In the final quarter, several Wizards players broke out and beat the Timberwolves 38:27 in a single quarter, bringing the game to an end.
Chris Webber was able to score both inside and outside in today's game, grabbing rebounds, mid-range shots, and three-pointers. On the Timberwolves' side, after Garnett was pulled out of the paint, the inside barrier became extremely weak.
Tom tried to make amends, but it was of no use.
Young Ben Wallace still needs to grow, Cherokee Parks has limited talent, and his upper limit is already visible.
The defeat against the Wizards also made Philip, Wu Dao and others realize that the biggest problem of the team is now.
center.
Cherokee Parks is an offensive player. Although his offense is so-so, he is better at offense than defense.
The Timberwolves' interior defense actually relies more on Garnett's excellent defensive ability.
But once the Timberwolves encounter a powerful double inside combination, and if one of the opponents still has the ability to move Garnett out, then the Timberwolves' inside line will no longer have a barrier.
The Timberwolves gained a lot from the game against the Wizards.
(End of chapter)
