The Lakers' strategy to start the game was to open up space and O'Neal attacked hard, hoping to increase Jordan's singles.

The Bulls' shooting percentage so far this season is 46.9%, and Jordan is 48.1%. No matter how excellent their team's offense is, Jordan is the most accurate one, averaging 23.3 shots, 11.2 shots, hits, and hits, are all the best in the league.

The Lakers hope to use O'Neal's singles offensive to influence the Bulls and consume Jordan.

But Jiang is still so old. Jordan saw through the Lakers' strategy at a glance. No matter what, he played well, and passed the ball when there was a pinch, and played singles without pinch.

The Lakers led the Bulls 16-14 with O'Neal's 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in the first quarter.

Relying on O'Neal's fierce attack, the Lakers played an advantage in the field, but the score difference did not widen, nor did they see Jordan still hit hard while being double-teamed and maintaining a shooting percentage as they expected.

With 4 points, 1 assist and 1 steal, Jordan's data in the first half of the first quarter did not seem particularly outstanding, and there was only one assist, but he launched the attack, and Horry and Rodman supported it. The Bulls scored 14 points in the first 6 minutes and 37 seconds, and performed very well.

Obviously, even if the Lakers look at the Bulls' strength very highly, they still underestimate the Bulls in terms of stability.

Even if Pippen is missing, they will still improve their stability to one of the best in the league after the middle of this season.

Zhang Hao scored 3 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist, and returned to the bench, it felt very difficult to deal with!

O'Neal was not that easy to beat Luke Longley, and he still had a lot of effort.

The Bulls have the chance to change centers in the summer. Obviously, Bibi Deller, who held their thighs last year, was stronger. The Bucks sent away Wen Baker and got Teelon Hill. Because they wanted to continue to play badly, the Bucks took the initiative to send Teelon Hill, a former All-Star, to the Bulls, who averaged 12.9 points and 10 rebounds per game last season, wanted a lower salary and a shorter contract period. At that time, they had to give up renewing their contract with Luke Longley and make up a little space to match their salary, and they could get an All-Star insider with better off both offense and defense.

But the Bulls refused, and they also renewed Luke Longley with a three-year contract of $12.36 million.

In the end, the Bulls exchanged Jason Cafe for David Vaughan, who averaged 4.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in the early stage of this season, averaged 4.5 points, 5.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game, was reimbursed after three games...

This operation is indeed worse for the Bulls to play against other opponents. If Luke Longley is replaced by Teelon Hill, the Bulls will be at least half a level stronger when playing against other teams.

Just look at the Bucks. Teelon Hill is a fighter. In addition to being strong and having strong tactical command ability, it can also drive the entire team. The Bucks' team atmosphere like a scumbag can be brought to him. Currently, the Bucks have played 48 games and have achieved a record of 20 wins and 28 losses, with no hope of playing.

But in order to deal with O'Neal, the Bulls really have to keep Luke Longley. They once had 5 centers in the team last season, but finally found that only Luke Longley consumed O'Neal. Rodman was consumed by Luke Longley in O'Neal's most powerful stage and the best way to defend O'Neal was to be.

From the perspective of championship competition, the Bulls did a good job.

The silver fox knocked on the tactical board and thought.

Although he is already very optimistic about the Bulls, the Bulls show better strength than he originally expected.

If you don’t feel it yourself, it’s really hard to imagine that Jordan will still be so strong in leading the team alone without Pippen…

Now, it is a problem to let O'Neal continue playing or change the established rotation.

It’s not because I’m afraid of the Bulls’ strength, but as a coach, I have to think of better strategies and fight head-on, and I always face various unexpected factors.

Zhang Hao was not surprised. Originally, Lippen had a 38-game break in the regular season, almost half of which. When he came back, he also played the lowest defensive efficiency since his second grade and the lowest offensive efficiency since the 89-90 season. However, Jordan still led the Bulls to a regular season record of the same as the Jazz, and robbed Malone an MVP.

For some reason, after entering the pause, Shi Buddha and Yinhu stood together and were thinking together.

The silver fox thought for 30 seconds and was about to give up. He first followed the established rotation and dragged it. While thinking slowly, he suddenly found that there was a stone Buddha next to him!

The hand unconsciously clamps the tactical board...

Then, the silver fox heard Shi Buddha say, "Coach, I have a suggestion..."

"Don't build it! I don't listen... I'll say anything!"

...

The Lakers sent Boggs, Doug Christie, Rick Fox, Jason Williams and Zhang Hao.

The Bulls sent out a combination of McGrady, Jordan, Scott Burrell, Kukoc and Rodman.

The Bulls players were quite surprised, and the Lakers replaced O'Neal early.

Zhang Hao couldn't help but look at Rodman's player detection report again.

The Bulls have the highest attendance rate, highest defensive efficiency, highest playing time...especially, limiting their opponents to score 97 points per 100 rounds, which is simply a matter of comparison. For inside players who average more than 35 minutes per game, O'Neal limits their opponents to score 101 points per 100 rounds, Mutombo limits their opponents to score 94 points per 100 rounds, Mooning limits their opponents to score 96 points per 100 rounds, Duncan limits their opponents to score 95 points per 100 rounds, and David Robinson limits their opponents to score 101 points per 100 rounds.

The Lakers attacked, Boggs advanced to the frontcourt, using Jason Williams to get rid of McGrady's straight attack from the basket, and made a quick layup before Rodman retracted to the position.

This goal reminded the old Bulls players of the fear of breaking through and tearing the defense after being picked and rolled by Boggs in the first round of the playoffs in 1995.

Boggs is now 33 years old, not as strong as he was in his 30s.

Especially physical strength, Boggs averaged 10.8 points, 4.1 rebounds, 10.1 assists and 1.7 steals at his peak. Now he plays for 20 minutes in a game and is so good that he can break through and score with the fastest speed. He will lose his game in a few minutes. He can only use two times in a game, and at most, he can play for more than 10 minutes.

But the Lakers don't need him to play for as long as he or the main substitute. What they want is that he plays a role at this time.

This situation is really beyond the Bulls' expectations. Such veterans are generally used when the team's point guard is short of people.

Both Lakers' point guards are in excellent health. To be precise, the Lakers' health is in good health this season because of their depth. Except for Zhang Hao and O'Neal who play more than 35 minutes, the highest player is Kenny Anderson's average of 31 minutes per game.

Except for O'Neal who missed 3 games due to injury, Brent Barry who missed 2 games due to injury, and Sean Lux who missed 8 games due to injury, although others have suffered minor injuries, they have not affected the game.

Generally speaking, for teams like the Lakers who are in good health, veterans like Boggs usually act as spare tires and hold water dispensers. When a player is injured, he needs to directly push up and play a role immediately.

Even if it is not used this way, it will be placed at the critical moment of the key opponent, using his experience and finishing ability to chase points or play key balls.

After the Lakers got Boggs this season, they have been using it as usual.

Tonight, the Bulls were played, and only four players were placed in the interior, including Zhang Hao, O'Neal, Jason Williams, Ben Wallace, and Boggs replaced Sean Lux and entered the 12-man roster. But tonight, Boggs went directly during the first rotation!

Originally, the Bulls thought that the Lakers would continue to use O'Neal as a restraining point, but at this time O'Neal could already use Rodman to defend. The Bulls' defensive pressure will be much less, so they are expected to take the initiative in the second half of the first quarter and even overtake the score to gain a lead.

But this time the Lakers' rotation beat the Bulls from the offensive end.

Although Boggs is only 160 cm and his weight of 65 kg is not as good as most short players on the street, he has never been afraid of anything in the NBA court where there are many people.

When he came to the Lakers, Boggs was ready to not be able to play for half a season, but at some point he suddenly made him make contributions. As a veteran in his 11th year of his career, he made such preparations in order to win the championship he had always dreamed of.

Zhang Hao held Rodman, Boggs scored a sudden goal, Rick Fox responded, Doug Christie was ready to catch the ball, Jason Williams took a cake after pick-and-roll, and the Lakers played very well at this stage of the offense.

With more than 4 minutes, Boggs scored 5 points and 1 assist. Instead of letting the Bulls narrow the gap, the Lakers played an 11-9 wave, widening the gap by two points!

Using Boggs and Jason Williams to attack Jordan and Kukoc, the Silver Fox didn't expect this magical operation to be really successful!

If Boggs were three or four years younger, they wouldn't have gotten it back.

At 10 minutes and 39 seconds in the first quarter, the Lakers led the Bulls 27-23 by 4 points!

It was the Lakers' offense again. Boggs pretended to borrow a pick-and-roll and directly sent the ball to Zhang Hao. Zhang Hao helped Doug Christie with the wing to receive the ball and hit McGrady single. He turned around and took a step back. Bo made a foul.

The Zen master was in rotation, and both Jordan and Rodman were replaced, and replaced with a combination of McGrady, Steve Cole, Scott Burrell, Horry, and Kukoc.

This time, the Zen master did a very beautiful job. In the end, the Bulls accelerated and beat the rhythm so fast.

After Zhang Hao made both free throws widened the gap to 6 points, Kukochi broke through 2+1, scored 3 points, and made a breakthrough and passed the ball to Steve Cole with a three-pointer. A lob in the counterattack gave McGrady two points dunks, and a 8-5 wave. The Bulls relied on Kukochi's outstanding performance to chase the score to 31-34.

The Lakers led by 3 points and entered the break.

...

Why Kukochi is called the European Magician? In the fifth year of his NBA career, basketball fans around the world finally learned about it.

Without Pippen, Kukoc, as the tactical core of triangular offense, is no worse than Pippen. As a pure core, he can play from No. 2 to No. 5, break through, shoot, pass, pass, and instigate counterattack... At 208 cm tall, he achieved his peak performance at the age of 30.

Of course, even at its peak, Kukoc is still stronger than Pippen now.

But Pippen's departure did give Kukoc the opportunity to show his talent as a core player.

Seeing that the score difference was almost widened, the opponent's rotation lasted for a small climax, but he still failed to achieve a clear advantage. Silver Fox looked at the other party's bench with regret and glanced at the charlatan, which was really amazing!

The Zen Master also looked at Silver Fox and was also surprised by the rotation of Silver Fox this time. Although this old coach was shocked by the basketball world more than ten years ago, he had a rich tactical library, excellent coaching ability, and dared to adapt... But even though the Zen Master lost the championship last season, he always felt that Silver Fox's tactical system was outdated and he dared to adapt. However, after winning the best coach in the 1994-95 season, when the era of the 1995-96 season began to change, in the Zen Master, the Silver Fox obviously did not keep up with the times, that is, his fate was good, and Zhang Hao, Barkley, O'Neal, and Kenny Anderson successively obtained it.

But since mid-December last year, Zen Master heard that the Lakers began to change their playing style in advance, and quickly adjusted to their current state in mid-January this year. Zen Master’s view on Silver Fox has greatly improved!

Just talking about the adjustment after the official suspension in the first quarter, it is not just about being brave enough to adapt, but also about being brave. It is very good at using the experience of playing games that have occurred in the past!

The age of 60 has opened up again. The Zen master secretly sighs that this opponent is worthy of being an old coach who was able to lead the team to the finals more than ten years ago. We cannot underestimate it!

When the silver fox saw the Zen master looking at him too... Although he didn't understand why the other party's eyes were so strange, he didn't care.

Unfortunately, the opponent scored three goals in the last minute and a half to narrow the gap, but the current situation is beneficial to the Lakers!

O'Neal continued to maintain a lead during the rest of the quarter, which is too important for them.

After returning from the break during the holiday, the Silver Fox sent a combination of Fisher, Brent Barry, Brian Shaw, Rick Fox and O'Neal.

After playing in the first quarter, Zhang Hao scored 9 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block, and was replaced and rested.

Zhang Hao did not intervene in the regular rotation, and he was not good at this. He also needed to learn from Silver Fox how to perform the most suitable regular rotation, the most suitable tactical choices and lineup choices.

I didn't have to play when I was replaced, but sat quietly, observed the game, and thought about how to get an advantage after playing on the court.

The Bulls sent a combination of Ron Harper, Steve Cole, Jordan, Rodman and Luke Longley.

It seems that the Bulls have a more advantage in this lineup, and it is indeed the case after the start of the second quarter.

But although the Lakers lost the initiative in the field, O'Neal took this lineup and bit the score!

The rest of the quarter was not a waste of time. After O'Neal unexpectedly played out the advantage in the second half of the first quarter, the Lakers discussed with Silver Fox how to play in the second quarter.

The conclusion reached is very simple. O'Neal will chisel him for half a section!

There is no need to consider physical distribution, no need to worry about other things, concentrate on singles scoring, and the center on the opposite side is not Campbell, Sabonis, Mooning, Ostertag, etc., who can really defend him to a big level of performance.

This is very simple for O'Neal.

Singles, balls, rushing, and frame protection... O'Neal fought for half a quarter, made 2 singles, scored 2 points, and scored 1 of 2 free throws in a counterattack. He took the ball and turned and threw the ball and was fouled and made 1 of 1 of 1, 6 minutes and 11 seconds, got 8 points, 4 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block, helping the Lakers score 14 points!

Jordan and Rodman were desperate to play an advantage in this period of time and also gained some advantage, but they were dragged down by O'Neal with three wing pitchers and a support player on the free throw line!

The Bulls also have substitutions, replaced McGrady to enhance their athletic ability, and replaced Kukochi to enhance their shooting ability... But no matter how good they play, the Lakers relied on O'Neal to play with their lives, and their performance was not bad, and they could not play O'Neal, who had a pitching group.
To be continued...