On October 20, 2003, the Chicago United Center was brightly lit, and die-hard Bulls fans from all directions poured into the arena to watch the first game of the 2003-2004 season.
Since Michael Jordan retired from the Bulls for the second time after winning his second three-peat, attendance at the United Center has gone from bad to worse. The second half of last year's regular season continued to set the worst record in history.
Illinois fans are tired of losing day after day.
Tonight, the attendance rate at the United Center is about 40%, and a large part of them came to watch Pippen... This is Pippen's first game back with the Bulls.
Scottie Pippen didn't start, but when he came in and waved, the biggest cheers erupted. This makes people vaguely see the shadow of the bulls in their heyday.
The Bulls' starting lineup is: Jamal Crawford, Kendall Gill, Jaylen Rose, Eddy Curry, Tyson Chandler.
Su Feng sat with Kirk Hinrich, who had minor surgery this summer and will not play until November.
As this year's No. 7 pick, his treatment is completely different from Su Feng. He already has a place in Bill Carrwright's tactical manual.
Even if he does not play in the preseason, it will not affect his appearance.
So, wearing a suit and tie, he was very calm.
Su Feng is staring closely at the field. He is waiting for the head coach to call his name and is ready to play at any time to contribute his talents.
The two sides fought fiercely, and the rookies pecked each other fiercely.
Su Feng's eyes wandered back and forth at both ends of the field. For several rounds, neither team could score points.
At the beginning, the team's state was not good, and the players were all playing in singles... the tactical level was a mess.
Kendall Gill was having a hard time playing. He asked to be taken off the court shortly after, and when he came off the court, he was cursing: What kind of bullshit basketball was this played?
He is a team-oriented player and he cannot accept this style of play.
Gill comes off and the team replaces Roger Mason.
This shows that Su Feng's position on the coaching staff is lower than Roger Mason. Roger Mason was the 31st pick last season. He is good at offense and defense and is physically strong.
Su Feng must now defeat him to advance further.
Roger Mason came in and hit a jumper.
This made Su Feng feel nervous. Everyone knew that he and Mason were the most direct competitors, and the two of them shared Gill's remaining playing time.
The game continues, with both sides still playing their own game. However, the Eagles' Jason Terry took the lead in finding his touch and scored consecutively.
Jamal Crawford wanted to compete with him, but his hand felt cold.
The first quarter was about to end, and with 1 minute and 21 seconds left, the Bulls head coach made substitutions amidst the boos of the home fans: Su Feng, Scottie Pippen, Marshall, and Eddie Robinson came on.
Four up and four down.
Replaced Jamal Crawford, Jaylen Rose, Roger Mason and Eddy Curry.
When the new lineup comes on, the Bulls have no point guard on the court. Su Feng is the shooting guard, and Eddie Robinson and Scottie Pippen are both small forwards. Donyel Marshall is center.
However, this is not a problem for Pippen, who played point forward in his early years.
"Tony, seize the opportunity. You will most likely only have 1 minute and 21 seconds of playing time. If you don't perform well, you won't be replaced in the second quarter." Kirk Hinrich told Su Feng.
Su Feng nodded seriously.
Scottie Pippen quickly dribbled the ball across half court, and Donyel Marshall quickly blocked Raheem's hand for the ball.
But the chances are not good.
Just when Pippen was about to go solo, Hawks small forward Stephen Jackson swooped in fiercely.
Stephen Jackson is a very strong defender. He has a tough style and dares to fight.
Pippen didn't hold on, he subconsciously turned sideways and pushed his butt against the defense.
Just when he was about to fall into a hand-to-hand battle of attrition, his eyes suddenly lit up.
The rookie Su Feng unexpectedly came out of the diagonal stab. He appeared in his line of sight accurately, and there was no defense in front of or behind him.
He quickly passed the basketball.
Su Feng caught the basketball and jumped directly to shoot... Whoops!
The basketball fell into the net, a beautiful three-pointer.
Cheers erupted at the United Center.
Coach Bill Carrwright also stood up and applauded. What people saw for this goal was Su Feng's beautiful execution of Pippen's assist. What the head coach saw was Su Feng seizing the space for the Eagles to change defense and quickly running back to get rid of Jason Terry. He appeared in the most accurate and suitable position.
Not only did he resolve Pippen's crisis, he also hit the right shot at the right place.
Pippen reached out and gave Su Feng a high-five.
The DJ on the scene made an unexpected sound effect at this time: Ding!
It's like the sound effect of a microwave heating successfully.
This sound gave very good feedback from the audience.
It is this 'beautiful mistake' that will become Su Feng's exclusive sound for future goals.
The game continues.
Su Feng went to guard Jason Terry.
Terry is known as the Jets. He is a franchise player of the Eagles. He averaged 17.4 points and 7.2 assists per game last season. He is an elite player in the league. Some people think that he has a chance to become an All-Star player in the league.
He is a point guard who is strong offensively and weak defensively, and he has an extremely beautiful jump shot. Moreover, his physical fitness is actually very good. He has jet-like propulsive energy. When he sprints, his explosive power and speed are very strong.
Su Feng followed closely.
Su Feng is not a good defender.
But, he works hard.
Kendall Gill on the sidelines loudly reminded Su Feng of his position: "Don't get too close, adjust your center of gravity, don't let him pass you by, from the left..."
Gill and Su Feng made an agreement with Su Feng three days ago: he taught Su Feng defense, and Su Feng taught him Bajiquan.
Coach Bill wondered why the indifferent Jill had such a good relationship with Su Feng.
However, I have to say that his teaching effect is good. Su Feng enveloped Jason Terry, and although he lost his defensive position at the end, Terry's jumper missed the rim.
Tyson Chandler picked up the rebound and passed it to Pippen.
Su Feng ran forward quickly, with Jason Terry chasing after him. When Su Feng ran to the bottom corner, he quickly went over to intercept Su Feng. He wanted to block Su Feng's further actions.
He maximizes his explosiveness and speed.
However, he did not expect that Su Feng suddenly turned around and avoided him.
Su Feng showed off his agility talent at a glance. He was so agile that he didn't look like a big man with a height of 1.9cm.
At this time, the super agility talent he copied from Stoudemire the Little Flying Squirrel directly absorbed +2.
Sure enough, you still have to practice it. The harder it is, the better you can absorb it.
Su Feng bypassed Jason Terry and took two steps forward... Just as Jason Terry came up to pursue him, Su Feng suddenly turned back and ran to the bottom corner again.
Although Scottie Pippen is older, his awareness is still superior. He quickly seized the offensive opportunity from the bottom corner and passed the basketball immediately.
Pippen has big hands and his passes are comfortable.
Su Feng caught the basketball and jumped directly... As soon as Terry turned around, he tried his best to block the shot.
But it's more than a little off.
Uh-huh!
Su Feng hit 3 points again.
Ding!
The familiar sound of a microwave oven sounded again at the United Center.
The fans quickly accepted this wonderful BGM, and everyone felt that it was just right: this Chinese rookie is basically a microwave oven, and he can make a difference when he comes on stage. Two 3-pointers brought the team from being 9 points behind to only 3 points behind.
The game continues.
Su Feng was still guarding Terry, and Terry made a surprise attack. Although Su Feng was half a step ahead, he kept chasing behind him, and coincidentally drove him into Tyson Chandler's defensive circle.
Tyson Chandler was the second pick in 2001. He has super height and super wingspan. He has strong defensive ability, is very good at assisting defense, and has first-class frame protection ability.
The Bulls have high hopes for him and Eddy Curry. One is good at defense and the other is good at offense. In theory, they even have the opportunity to compare with the Spurs' twin towers and the more distant Rockets twin towers.
Jason Terry forces a shot with Tyson Chandler in defensive coverage... BAM!
Basketball strikes, Su Feng picks up the rebound.
At this time, there were only 3.9 seconds left in the first quarter.
He quickly moved forward, and after three steps, he threw the basketball directly from the three-point line.
The basketball drew a huge arc, and after a long flight, under the concentrated anticipation of the fans at the scene... it completed a miraculous landing action... swoosh!
The basketball penetrated the net.
Three-point hit, effective!
The referee held out three fingers.
The fans at the scene burst into fierce cheers and screams, which was simply a miracle!
Who would have thought that Su Feng would hit three consecutive three-pointers in 1 minute and 21 seconds of playing? Could there be a more magical debut than this?
He is simply a scoring machine.
Ding! Ding! Ding!
The DJ on the scene played this sound effect crazily, and the emotional wave of the scene surged again.
Eddy Curry rushed onto the court, jumped up and collided with Su Feng.
Scottie Pippen also walked over and touched Su Feng's head. He said, "Not bad, little guy. You are as good as I was back then."
Old players always like to praise their juniors like this. Praises such as "This kid is just like me" are also very popular in the United States.
However, Kendall Gill broke the news: "You seemed to have been scolded by Jordan in your rookie season, right?"
Uh...cough cough cough.
Pippen suddenly suffered from throat discomfort.
Su Feng returned to the bench, and he was praised by Coach Bill.
Kirk Hinrich also gave him a thumbs up very happily. He whispered to Su Feng: "You will have a chance to continue playing next. Miracle boy."
Su Feng didn't expect that he would perform so well.
Coach Bill then announced that Su Feng would continue to stay on the court. He only made slight adjustments to the lineup. He replaced Eddie Robinson and Tyson Chandler and replaced them with Eddy Curry and Jaylen Rose.
Beep!
The whistle blows and the game continues.
The new lineup made Su Feng uncomfortable.
Because the basketball stopped and stopped flowing.
As soon as he came on the court, Scottie Pippen went crazy and made a turnaround jump shot.
Jalen Rose then began to take over the ball on the wing and he went into isolation mode.
His singles performance is pretty good.
Although Su Feng did not receive the ball, he still ran quickly and made three three-pointers, allowing him to fully mobilize the Eagles' defense.
In fact, this also helps Jalen Rose spread out the defense.
Jaylen Rose obviously will not thank Su Feng. When he sees Su Feng, he will think of the 100,000 US dollars and Rolex gold watch he lost.
After playing for 3 minutes, the two singles players from both sides went back and forth with similar efficiency, and the score also increased alternately.
At this time, Coach Bill made a new experiment on a whim. He added another singles player: Jamal Crawford.
However, he did not replace Su Feng, but Pippen.
The Bulls' lineup became a purely offensive lineup, with no defensive purity at all.
Eddy Curry, Donyel Marshall, Jaylen Rose, Su Feng, Jamal Crawford, no one will be confused by this lineup.
Is one basketball enough to score points?
When Crawford came on the court, he showed off his signature double change of direction, jumped into the penalty area, and scored the basketball with his left hand.
After scoring the goal, he pointed at Su Feng.
He didn't thank Donyel Marshall, who was covering for him, because he didn't use the screen.
However, he wanted to thank Su Feng.
Because when he was changing directions behind him, Stephen Jackson was about to go over and flank him... Such a fancy move can easily make mistakes once it encounters a flank attack.
But in the flash of lightning, Su Feng ran over and suddenly turned back. He successfully attracted Stephen Jackson's pace.
This allowed Jamal Crawford's ultimate move to be executed smoothly.
Therefore, Crawford is very grateful to Su Feng.
He is willing to admit that Su Feng's running has suddenly reduced the defensive pressure he faces. Any singles player hopes to have a pitcher who is good at positioning as a wingman.
This way, they can play more comfortably.
Except for Jalen Rose.
His prejudice against Su Feng was like a mountain of one hundred thousand dollars, weighing heavily on his heart.
The game continues.
Although the efficiency of both sides is not high, they are both playing singles.
But Coach Bill never substituted Su Feng.
Roger Mason, who was sitting on the bench, was extremely anxious. Am I going to be relegated to the sidelines? Am I going to be the team's third shooting guard? Look at me, look at me!
He wanted to play so bad.
Su Feng took a break at the 6th minute and 35 seconds of the second quarter. Although he only hit one 2-pointer and picked up 1 rebound in the process.
However, his presence is like a lubricant, making the main attacker silky smooth.
This is something Roger Mason cannot bring to the team.
After Su Feng came off the field, Coach Bill did not replace Roger Mason, but asked Kendall Gill to come on.
Paired with Tyson Chandler.
Coach Bill wants to create some defense.
"Nice debut, Su!" Kirk Hinrich, sitting next to Su Feng, said: "As of now, you are 100% Mr. You have never missed a shot."
"You will definitely be able to gain a foothold. Any team likes a defender like you who can move well and shoot at an elite level." Kirk Hinrich said to Su Feng.
"I think you can set a goal now and make the first-year All-Star roster next year."
First-year roster for the rookie game?
Su Feng hasn't thought that far yet.
This means that Su Feng must become one of the eight best players among rookies.
This is very difficult.
Because this year 2003 is full of talents.
Su Feng's pick was only ranked 37th, and he was considered overvalued.
It's so difficult to get into the top eight.
…
