Steve Kerr understood; the opponent's plan was to target him.
This wasn't uncommon; he was the defensive loophole on the Bulls' periter. He quickly chose to stick close to his man, not allowing easy mid to long-range shots. Up close, Rodman would be there, and Langley was under the basket.
Edwards drove to the mid-range but had no chance, so he passed the ball back to Kenny Anderson. As Kenny Anderson received the ball, he started his move, using the space from Jordan stepping back and his speed advantage to successfully break into the basket. Under Jordan's aggressive defense, he shot quickly... and missed!
Rodman held his ground, turning to block out Jason Williams. Seemingly without a chance, Kenny Anderson had already started backing up, but then saw the ball flying in his direction!
After the ball hit the rim, Almon Gilliam, taking advantage of Jason Williams, a top-notch rebounding expert, being drawn to Rodman, rushed and grabbed the offensive rebound!
Before Jordan could pounce, Kenny Anderson decisively took a mid-range shot... it went in this ti!
They didn't have the Bulls' individual strength, nor could they defend well, but they were fighting tooth and nail not to let the score widen!
Fortunately, Kenny Anderson was in hot form!
Regardless of the opponents' strength, Kenny Anderson unusually displayed leadership, fiercely battling the Bulls with his teammates in Zhang Hao's absence.
But after the tiout, Jordan's shots weren't as accurate as in the first half of the first quarter, giving the Brooklyn Nets an opportunity.
Fight! Just fight!
In the last attack of the first quarter, Kenny Anderson broke through to the basket and made a high bank shot under a double team!
His touch was blistering hot!
During the 5-minute rotation period despite the Bulls still scoring 13 points and achieving 33 points in this quarter, thanks to Kenny Anderson's 10 points, Almon Gilliam's 3 points and two offensive rebounds, and Edwards' 4 points, they managed a 17 to 13 run!
At the end of the first quarter, the Brooklyn Nets trailed 29 to 33, narrowing the gap to under 5 points!
...
During the break, the fans in the venue kept cheering!
Initially, they had no expectations for their team; in fact, most of the fans had co to see the Bulls play tonight.
But after all, it's the local team, and when Kenny Anderson, the forr All-Star starter, perford so well in extrely unfavorable circumstances, his fighting spirit got the rest of the team fired up. When the team's leading scorer was benched, they managed to catch up, getting the fans genuinely excited!
The teammates had been standing up and cheering for a while; Zhang Hao was also standing and applauding for his teammates on the court.
Almon Gilliam went back to the bench and walked directly beside Zhang Hao, whispering, "I told you, I'm not a wimp!"
Zhang Hao's expression didn't change: "Of course, you never were. Rest up well, you'll need to deal with Langley when he's on again; I can't handle him."
"I knew it would still be down to !"
Seeing Almon Gilliam back to his brash self, Zhang Hao couldn't help but smile.
However, then he saw Jason Williams walking back with a dejected face.
"I'm just a rookie... Why do I have to worry about so much..."
Thinking this, Zhang Hao quietly moved next to Jason Williams: "What's with the exhausted look on your face?"
Normally, Jason Williams would have jumped with anger, but this ti, he just looked at Zhang Hao in frustration and said: "Aix, do you think I'll never be able to beat Rodman? Although he's my idol, I still hope to win against him."
What's the situation? Zhang Hao quickly recalled… understood, he'd been out-rebounded by Rodman…
The Bulls' shooting percentage wasn't high in the latter half of the quarter, but their offensive success rate wasn't bad, mainly because Rodman grabbed 3 offensive rebounds in 5 minutes, practically explosive! And Jason Williams should have been protecting those rebounds.
Without answering, Zhang Hao asked back: "Do you know where you're worse than Rodman?"
"I'm much worse than him."
"..."
Zhang Hao was speechless, so much self-awareness?
"No, in fact, you're not much worse at rebounding than he is, at least not in protecting defensive rebounds. But you're not as shaless as he is, nor as annoying."
Jason Williams made a genuine black question mark face.
"I'm talking about the attitude and approach on the court; he's shaless, more annoying during the ga, and he succeeded, becoming recognized as the best rebounder. And you, not many know you're great at rebounding. Before we beca teammates, I didn't even know you existed."
Jason Williams held his heart, looking at Zhang Hao's serious face, feeling even more hurt — as teammates, couldn't you speak a bit less bluntly?
Sincerity isn't ant for this ti, is it!
However, having learned to rebound by analyzing, as Rodman taught, and idolizing him, Jason Williams felt that Zhang Hao might be right...
He used to just think Rodman was cool and aweso, with a natural filter over him in Jason's eyes.
When the filter broke, he realized that, as Zhang Hao said, shalessness and being annoying were also reasons why Rodman played so well...
...
Kenny Anderson, who scored 12 points in the first quarter alone, was subbed out, feeling excited and elated, for he had led the team to catch up in the score!
Seeing Zhang Hao take off his training gear ready to sub in, Kenny Anderson walked up, reaching out his hand to pat Zhang Hao's shoulder: "It's up to you now."
Zhang Hao nodded and went on the court with Chales, Edwards, Jason Williams, and PJ Brown.
Looking across at the lineup of Steve Kerr, Judy Buichler, Pippen, Kukoc, and Wennington.
This lineup, though with Jordan resting, was still very strong.
But this was one of the weakest combos for the Bulls. Having narrowed the points gap, Zhang Hao aid to seize the mont when Jordan and Langley were off, to surpass the score, or at least maintain it.
To lose... is not unacceptable, but!
Never let down your teammates' efforts!
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