Soul of the Golden State

Chapter 822 One step away

Pippen broke into the penalty area and forced a layup against Kukoc, but was successfully interfered by Kukoc and missed the layup.

In fact, Kukoc didn't move at all, he just stood there with his hands raised high. If it was normal, Pippen would have 100 ways to score the ball.

However, having played for nearly 60 minutes, his stamina bar has already bottomed out, and he can't do it even if he changes direction during a layup.

In the Bulls, people like Pippen are far more than Pippen.

Hubble, Grant, and even Jordan, who has always been good at physical strength, no longer even have the strength to speak at this time.

Seeing that Pippen didn't score a goal, they didn't even have the strength to curse, and immediately turned mechanically and ran towards the backcourt.

Compared with the Bulls, the Warriors' players are not much better. Although their playing time is not as good as the Bulls' players, they have already reached about 50 minutes, which is also their physical limit.

At this time, both sides on the field, all the techniques and tactics are empty, and the competition is their willpower.

Pippen missed a layup, Kukoc grabbed the backcourt rebound, and the Warriors followed the Bulls for another fast break.

At this time, the speed of the Warriors' fast break was completely incomparable with that at the beginning of the game, but even so, when they dribbled the ball into the frontcourt, the Bulls hadn't completely landed.

Therefore, in this case, the Warriors actually completed this not-so-fast fast break.

After coming to the frontcourt, Hubble still entangled Li Weisi to prevent Li Weisi from directly attacking the basket, but Li Weisi stopped after breaking into the inside line, as if he wanted to go out.

Although Li Weisi's abnormal behavior aroused Hubble's suspicion, Hubble didn't have time to think too much, so he could only follow Li Weisi out.

But at this moment, Kukoc who came from behind rushed straight into the inside line. With his back to Kukoc, Li Weisi pulled the ball back with his left hand, just in time to deliver the ball to Kukoc.

After receiving the ball, Kukoc directly chose to layup. Grant noticed Kukoc's move at the first time, but his tired legs made him unable to arrive in time. He was a step slower, but it was this fatal A step that allowed Kukoc to take off while Grant was still in place.

The final outcome is that although Grant had a physical collision with Kukoc, Kukoc still put the ball into the basket, and at the same time caused Grant's foul, two plus one!

The chain reaction produced by this two plus one is very huge.

First of all, as long as Kukoc hits this extra penalty, the point difference between the two teams will come to 5 points. Secondly, as Grant fouled again, Grant also left the field with six fouls after Horry.

Unlike the Warriors, the Bulls don't have so many players who can play. Without Grant, the Bulls' five-small lineup is obviously still unable to continue. There is no other way but to send Price on the court.

With Kukoc's free throw, the game resumed.

When play resumed, Price took over the ball-handling load, and as the most physical player on the team, he needed to take on more of the load, much like Kukoc did with the Warriors.

Facing Li Weisi's defense, Price easily passed Li Weisi through the pick-and-roll. There was no way, Li Weisi's physical strength was also exhausted at this time, and it was difficult to keep up with Price's footsteps in the defense.

After coming to the inside, there is actually not much room for Price to operate. After all, the inside with a forest of people is too unfriendly for short players.

Especially for Price, who is only 183cm tall, it is more than two or three times more difficult than Li Weisi in the interior.

In this case, Price's first reaction was not to shoot directly. After all, Kukoc's long arms were covering him at this time, leaving him with no room to shoot.

Although he can also train Kukoc with his footsteps and speed, time does not allow him to do so. After all, he may be caught up by Li Weisi at any time.

So, in this case, Price decided to pass the ball back to Pippen who had just picked and rolled himself.

Since Grant was sent off, Pippen is the only candidate who can reach the inside center position at this time. After all, regardless of height or weight, Pippen is the most suitable insider among the existing Bulls.

After the pick-and-roll with Price, Pippen began to cut inside. After all, the person chasing him at this time became Li Weisi, which gave him the opportunity to attack the basket directly.

However, when Price returned the ball to Pippen, Li Weisi judged Price's intention to pass the ball in advance. He followed behind Pippen, suddenly rushed out, and touched the ball first.

It's a pity that due to limited physical strength, his speed was a bit slow, so he couldn't completely control the ball. After the basketball was touched by him, he changed the passing route, but unexpectedly fell into Rodman's hands.

In this way, the Warriors set off another counterattack. During the fast break, Li Weisi received a pass from Rodman at the first time, and then led the ball to the frontcourt.

It's a pity that the Bulls reacted quickly. Jordan, who had been silent for a while, caught up with Li Weisi before Li Weisi entered the three-point line.

Feeling the constant pressure from Jordan behind him, Li Weisi quickly made a judgment. He actively slowed down and changed the rhythm. Finally, when laying up, he used fake moves to shake Jordan and then put the ball into the basket.

Scoring this goal is tantamount to a complete death sentence for the Bulls. The 7-point difference is not at all a score that the Bulls can recover in the last minute or so.

In this way, despite Jordan miraculously hitting a three-pointer at the last moment, the Warriors still defeated the Bulls 129:123 and won this crucial Tianwangshan battle in the away game.

In this game, after three overtimes, it can be seen that every player tried his best.

As the losing side, Jordan can be said to have used up his last drop of sweat tonight. He played 61 minutes, made 43 of 19 shots, scored 44 points, 9 rebounds and 6 assists.

In addition, Pippen and Price also scored 20 points. Although Grant only scored 15 points, he made a huge contribution on the defensive end.

However, even though they performed so well, they still couldn't avoid the fate of failure. The main reason for this is that the Warriors performed better.

Especially Li Weisi, at the end of the third quarter, obviously scored 11 points less than Jordan, but after the fourth quarter and three overtimes, he scored a game-high 45 points and 13 assists.

Of course, apart from him, none of the others scored 20 points, but Richmond, Mullin, and Kukoc all scored more than 15 points.

In any case, as the Warriors won this game, they already had an absolute advantage in the entire series. Not only did they lead by a big score of 3:2, but the next games will be held at the home court of the Warriors. There is only one step left.

(End of this chapter)