Jordan, who holds grudges, definitely took it to heart.
As for Toni Kukoc, Pippen had already noted him in his little book.
He and Jordan had heard Jerry Krause talk about Kukoc countless times, wanting to bring him to the Bulls.
The most unbearable thing for Jordan and Pippen was losing the 1992 Finals, as Krause kept nagging, "If we had Kukoc, we could have handled Gan Guoyang! He wouldn’t have gotten to the basket so easily..."
Anyway, the main reason for losing in ’92 was the Bulls didn’t sign Kukoc and instead gave the contract to Pippen.
Pippen wanted to retort, but his critical dunk miss in the Finals left him speechless.
The feeling was indescribably uncomfortable, like a fishbone stuck in the throat — no, like a ball (basketball) in the rectum.
Plus, Beelman kept fanning the flames, hoping to use this game to boost the whole team’s spirit and cohesion.
The previous game against Angola was too easy, and post-game media weren’t friendly to the Dream Team.
They needed a solid, powerful victory, exhibiting the team’s relentless morale to prepare for the next games.
One of Beelman’s strengths as a coach is his tournament expertise; the long NBA season wasn’t his forte.
The players’ competitiveness was ignited; Jordan and Pippen were eager to teach Petrović and Kukoc a lesson.
In the game, that’s exactly what happened; Kukoc was isolated and defended one-on-one by Pippen, who stuck to No. 7 tightly with no gap.
At the start, David Robinson won the ball, passed to Barkley. Barkley charged directly to the basket, cleared the defender, and easily made the layup for the first point.
Scoring was lightning fast; this was the Dream Team’s basic strategy for this Olympics — leverage individual talent, play aggressively, and destroy opponents with fast breaks.
Since 1984, when Coach Bob Knight established the "pressing + fast break" as the fundamental tactic, Team USA had been using this strategy.
Croatia also scored quickly; after a series of outside passes, the ball went to Petrović, who faced Jordan’s tight defense, dribbling down the middle.
After the confrontation, as the double-team came, he fed it inside, assisting his teammate for a two-handed dunk!
It was evident that Petrović’s ability was a cut above other national guards.
Other guards facing such pressure from Jordan would find just dribbling control impressive.
Petrović endured Jordan’s defensive pressure and still managed to assist teammates — three years of honing in the NBA wasn’t in vain.
Surprisingly, the opening saw a balanced match; Raja’s strong low post attack on Barkley was fouled, and after two successful free throws, Croatia led Team USA.
Petrović also successfully stole from Jordan; although his counterattack missed, Kukoc grabbed the rebound, cleverly assisting Raja. Raja used a fake to avoid Barkley’s block and scored the layup.
Croatia Team’s talent was undeniably displayed in several offensive and defensive transitions, genuinely pressuring Team USA.
Team USA was starting to get nervous; Robinson almost forced Petrović down on defense, called for a foul by the referee.
In an offensive play, Pippen drove to the basket, attempting a powerful dunk over Croatia’s center, but got blocked — foul called.
The Americans raised their defensive intensity to the maximum; Croatia’s passing began to falter, obviously less fluent, accuracy declined.
Once Team USA stole the ball, ruthless counterattacks ensued from Jordan, Pippen, and Johnson, forcing Croatia to foul.
At this point, Petrović stood up, trying to solve the problem with his ability, but the ball was knocked out of bounds by Jordan.
Kukoc inbounded to Petrović, but his intent was too obvious and Jordan intercepted it.
A coast-to-coast counterattack, Jordan flew in for a slam dunk!
Petrović sprinted behind at full speed but couldn’t catch up.
After the dunk, Jordan shouted trash talk at Petrović.
"You can only do something in Portland, little curly!"
On the sidelines, close to the court, Gan Guoyang heard Jordan’s trash talk.
He shouted to the field: "Fuck you, Michael! Pete, show them something! Beat them!"
Petrović, inbounding from the backcourt, sighed deeply, thinking, "Boss, say a few less words, it’s me taking the hits."