"Michael, you can’t keep playing like this. You won’t outlast Gan."
During the break, Phil Jackson crouched in front of Jordan, pointing out the dilemma Jordan was facing.
Jordan performed excellently in the first quarter, but the Bulls were still behind.
In Jackson’s view, Jordan had fallen into Gan Guoyang’s trap.
Since the 1989-1990 season when he became the Bulls’ head coach, Phil Jackson’s coaching work has been consistent in two areas up to now.
The first is emphasizing defense.
The second is persuading Jordan to become a team player and give more opportunities to his teammates.
Jackson succeeded in these two things, forming the foundation for the Bulls’ three championship titles.
Of them, persuading Jordan to become a team player, in Jackson’s view, is his most magnificent, complex, and meticulous psychological construction in his coaching career.
He made Jordan lower himself from his high position to understand the feelings of ordinary role players, participating in the team’s offense purely as a team player.
This was not an easy task. When he first took over the Bulls, Jordan was the most formidable scorer in the league, Chicago’s absolute core, and Doug Collins’ favorite.
If he couldn’t do this, forcing Jordan to sacrifice his ball-handling and stats for team play, Jackson might not last more than one season as coach of the Bulls.
Jackson did it, with his unique charm, superb interpersonal skills, and flashy psychological techniques, he gradually made Jordan accept his team-oriented role, only turning into a superhero to win games when needed.
However, all this often loses effectiveness against the Trail Blazers and Gan.
Jackson didn’t know whether this method really didn’t work or if it was that whenever he faced Gan, Jordan couldn’t control himself.
Tonight, Jackson believed it was the latter, because during the regular season Jordan played normally and even won a game, handing the Trail Blazers one of their five losses.
Listening to Jackson, Jordan glared at him while drinking water, did not respond, and continued drinking.
"I know you don’t like hearing this, but fitness has always been Gan’s strong point. You have your strengths too, you should leverage them. For years, I’ve emphasized teamwork, emphasized getting everyone involved in the offense."
Jordan finished drinking and said, "Look at the situation on the court, Phil. I trust my instincts, wait and see."
The second quarter began, and Jordan had a few minutes of rest on the bench.
In the finals, both teams are unlikely to let their second units play for long periods.
Key rotational subs come in to let the starters have a brief rest, only to quickly rejoin the game.
Yet, in just those few minutes, the Trail Blazers quickly gained the upper hand.
The Bulls players, having rested only three days after a seven-game series, were exhausted, while the Trail Blazers, rested for a week, were physically fresh.
From the bench, young players like Kobe and Little O’Neal charged fiercely as soon as they hit the floor.
The Bulls used experience and solid defense to withstand three strong rushes from the Trail Blazers—Kobe’s layup and Little O’Neal’s rebounding battles were unsuccessful.
Steve Kerr even hit a three-pointer, cutting the difference to 1 point.
However, following Kerr’s three-pointer, the Trail Blazers’ Brellock answered back from outside with a three.
Next, Pippen missed a shot, Rodman grabbed the offensive rebound, but made a pass error, leading to a Trail Blazers counterattack.
Kobe quickly countered and finally made a layup, pulling the gap open to 5 points.
Then, the Trail Blazers applied full-court pressure defense, forcing the Bulls to move the ball quickly.
During the successive passing sequences, the Trail Blazers chose to empty out Rodman.
Rodman hesitated after receiving the ball, then tried to drive inside.
The result was an awkward floating shot that missed, and the Trail Blazers snagged the defensive rebound to counterattack quickly again.
The Bulls tried to steal on the spot, to curb the fast break in their front court.
But Kobe, like a swimming dragon, slipped through the Bulls’ tight defense, penetrating to the basket with a beautiful behind-the-back pass.
Following up, Little O’Neal caught the ball and dunked successfully! Drawing a foul from Dennis Rodman!
In front of 37-year-old Dennis Rodman, 20-year-old Little O’Neal looked like a boundlessly energetic wolfhound.
Perhaps Rodman could find a way to deal with the young ones using experience and skill in the later games.
But the issue is, Little O’Neal just needed to perform in these few rounds, as he was merely a substitute.
He could partner with Kobe in the transition phase, unleashing all his vitality and speed, wearing down the aging Bulls, making his performance a success.
With the free throw made, the Trail Blazers widened the gap to 8 points, a margin difficult for the slow-paced Bulls to handle.
Jordan told Jackson, "See that?"
Jackson replied, "This is precisely the result of our other players not being involved in the offense."
"No, Phil, I don’t see it that way."
In Jordan’s view, if he didn’t give his all on offense, the gap would only widen.
The Bulls are too old; they’re the oldest team in the league.
And the Trail Blazers are younger, especially their bench, which is very lively.
When the Bulls let Toni Kukoc start, it meant their bench firepower would struggle to keep up with the Trail Blazers’ pace.
After three rounds of high-intensity effective defense, any slight lapse would immediately be hammered by a counter-pause run.