The Golden Age of Basketball

Chapter 618 Just Want to Play Ball

The 1991 Christmas Day game was between the Chicago Bulls and the Detroit Pistons, two long-time rivals in the Eastern Conference.

Although fans and the league are eager for a second season of the Christmas Day showdown between Gan and Joe this year, Portland does not agree.

Although the Christmas Day game between the Trail Blazers and the Bulls in 1988 was very successful, the players suffered a lot from traveling back and forth and missed Christmas.

Furthermore, the league promised in 1987 to temporarily stop scheduling Christmas Day games for the Trail Blazers (after scheduling them for more than a decade), but broke its promise in 1988, which greatly displeased the Trail Blazers.

After Tang Jianguo became the owner of the Trail Blazers, he claimed, "To protect our players' right to celebrate Christmas, I suggest canceling the Christmas Day games!"

Therefore, it's even less likely that the league will schedule a Christmas Day game for the Trail Blazers.

Just like last year, only one game was scheduled this year. The league explained that this was to "focus the fans' attention on one game."

Anyway, the NBA's rhetoric is quite impressive. Back when there was less live streaming, they said "less is more," emphasizing quality over quantity.

In the past two years, revenue and the league's image have improved. A new broadcasting contract was signed with NBC, and the number of live broadcasts across the United States has doubled. The slogan "less is more" is no longer mentioned.

Live stream as much as you can; broadcast fees and advertising revenue all add up to money.

In the past, there were at least two Christmas games, and sometimes three or even four.

Because the team was uncooperative and didn't want to play, he explained by saying "focus your attention," which fully demonstrates David Stern's linguistic artistry.

Before the Christmas Day game, the Chicago Bulls experienced ups and downs in November, but managed to stay close in the standings thanks to their defense, and returned to the top of the Eastern Conference by the end of November.

Entering December, unlike the Portland Trail Blazers, the Chicago Bulls had an easy schedule, with only 3 of their 14 games being away games and the rest being home games.

Furthermore, the Bulls were all healthy, while their opponents were plagued by injuries.

Mark Price suffered a season-ending injury in a game against Cleveland Cavaliers, a strong rival in the same division.

The Cavaliers are reaping the bitter fruits of trading away Kevin Johnson. Without Price, they can only start players like John Morton and Gerald Padio, who are essentially CBA players.

The Cavaliers had always suffered under Jordan's leadership, with many of Jordan's high-scoring games coming against the Cavaliers. Now, with a key player from their divisional rival sidelined, they were even less of a match for the Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls are playing smoothly, completely unlike their struggles in November. They have achieved a 9-2 record and returned to second place in the Eastern Conference, second only to the Boston Celtics.

And so far, the Bulls have not lost a game at their home court.

They defeated the struggling Los Angeles Clippers by 40 points at home – the Clippers were missing Benjamin and Charles Smith.

They once again crushed the Cleveland Cavaliers by a large margin, with Price still watching from the sidelines. The Bulls outscored the Cavaliers 36-5 in the first quarter.

The lack of talent in the league made it very easy for the Bulls to play some games, and the score was very wide.

The Bulls' record is gradually improving, but the internal debate about the triangle offense continues.

Before Christmas, the Chicago Bulls visited Miami to play the Heat, but the Heat's starting center, Sekkali, was absent due to injury.

However, the frontcourt combination of Drexler, Xavier McDaniel, and Anthony Mason gives the Heat the ability to compete with the Bulls in the backcourt.

This was the Bulls' toughest away game in December, and the Heat's rise under Pat Riley's management has been astonishing.

This season, Riley made two very important moves. First, he acquired Anthony Mason from the Trail Blazers in the summer to bolster their frontcourt.

Another option was to trade Glen Rice to the Seattle SuperSonics for Xavier McDaniel, as X-Man could no longer stay with the SuperSonics.

During practice, McDaniel got into a conflict with her teammate Dale Ellis.

McDaniel believed that Dale Ellis was not putting in enough effort during practice, and the two's argument escalated into a fight.

Ellis was beaten bloody; he was no match for McDaniel in a fight. It is said that Ellis's only counterattack was to smash McDaniel with his cell phone.

In 1990, mobile phones gradually became more common, but at that time, mobile phones were like bricks, used for both making calls and self-defense.

When players get into fights, especially key players, it means the team can no longer continue operating with its current roster.

The SuperSonics actually wanted to trade Dale Ellis, but Ellis's performance had declined over the past two seasons, and he had been plagued by off-court problems.

During the 1987 playoff series that defeated the Mavericks, he was involved in a bar fight and was eventually arrested along with his teammates.

He was sued twice in 1988 for a car accident.

In 1989, he was embroiled in a domestic violence scandal and faced charges again.

In January 1990, he was involved in a car accident while driving under the influence of alcohol, which resulted in broken ribs and a collapsed lung.

When Dale Ellis left the Mavericks for the SuperSonics in the 1987 season, he was full of resentment. His frustration in Dallas fueled his immense energy.

He went from averaging 7 points per game to becoming a super scorer averaging 25 points per game, and in the playoffs he defeated his former team, the Dallas Mavericks, which can be considered a satisfying revenge.

In the 1988-1989 season, he was selected as an All-Star, reaching the peak of his playing career.

As a result, he ran into all sorts of trouble in the last two seasons. For a professional athlete, suffering a car accident with fractures and lung collapse is a very fatal accident.

Coupled with various off-court uncertainties, Dale Ellis's trade value has plummeted, leaving the SuperSonics with no choice but to trade McDaniel.

Seeing this, Pat Riley immediately made a move, trading Glen Rice, a young and promising shooter from the team, for X-Man.

This trade is controversial because Glen Rice is still on the rise and has the potential to become an All-Star caliber shooter.

He played alongside Drexler, and the two worked well together. The sudden trade shocked Miami fans.

While McDaniel is quite talented, at 27 years old, he has no more potential to be developed, and he has an eccentric personality and a bad temper.

Whether he will have conflicts with Drexler after joining the Heat is unknown.

Fortunately, after the start of the new season, McDaniel was convinced of Drexler's three rings.

The two teams faced off in the 1987 playoffs, with the Portland Trail Blazers easily defeating the SuperSonics.

Back then, Drexler was Forrest Gump's second-in-command; now, Drexler is becoming the Heat's true leader.

He was never late for training again—though he wasn't exactly early either.

His training volume is second to none on the Heat, and his shooting skills have improved significantly.

At least his shooting form has stabilized and is no longer the epitome of human shooting form.

Since the start of the 90-91 season, the Heat have been plagued by injuries and have been short-handed.

However, the Heat are developing a tough defensive system, relying on the strong physicality of their forwards to disrupt and compress the opponent's offensive space.

At the point guard position, Riley signed John Starks, a CBA guard who had been waived by New York.

This CBA All-Star player performed well in New York, but New York had too many talented guards, and he ultimately failed to stay in the Big Apple's training camp.

Riley found this sharp dagger that New York didn't want and treasured it, because the Heat had so few usable guards.

Starks quickly became the Heat's starting point guard, partnering with Drexler in name only.

Judging from his height, he plays point guard, but he is actually shooting guard, responsible for dribbling and attacking. He is a good offensive player.

While Drexler appears to be a shooting guard or small forward, he is better at ball handling, playmaking, and advancing the offense.

This season, he averaged 7.7 assists per game, surpassing many dedicated point guards.

However, Drexler did not fall behind in either scoring or defense, averaging 26 points per game, and his defense continued to improve.

Drexler is striving to surpass Michael Jordan, so he was very well prepared for this game against the Bulls.

Both teams played their defense to the extreme. At halftime, the Heat led the Bulls 40-39 by one point.

McDaniel elbowed Scottie Pippen in the head during the game, and the two grappled all the way from the court to the scorer's table.

X-Man received a Flagrant Foul 1.

Buck Williams and Anthony Mason were practically wrestling in the three-second zone.

Jordan wasn't on offense tonight, and Drexler put up a successful one-on-one defense against him.

In the first half, he held Jordan to a 40% field goal percentage, which is quite low.

In the third quarter, Phil Jackson instructed that the ball be given more to Bill Cartwright in the paint, using the inside advantage to defeat the Heat who were missing a center.

But Jordan didn't do that. He was very unhappy about being suppressed by Drexler in the first half. Not only was his offense blocked by Drexler several times, but he was also dunked on by Drexler in defense.

Jordan was very unhappy, and in the third quarter he got into more one-on-one situations, trying to turn the game around with shots and drives.

But tonight the Heat taught the Bulls a lesson, as Jordan failed to perform at his usual level under Drexler's defense.

The Bulls fell behind the Heat in the third quarter, with John Starks making a crazy drive to the basket and dunking over Bill Cartwright.

This play ignited the entire Miami Arena, bringing the Heat's morale to its peak, while Jordan and Phil Jackson got into an argument on the bench.

Jackson insisted that Jordan must pass the ball, while Tex Winter said that when Jordan and Pippen drove to the basket together, it wasn't a triangle offense at all.

While Jackson was drawing on the whiteboard, Jordan tapped it with his hand to express his dissatisfaction.

However, in the fourth quarter, Jordan still listened to Jackson's advice, passing the ball, driving to the basket, passing the ball again, and facilitating his teammates' offense.

This worked, and the Bulls gradually recovered from their deficit, eventually closing the gap to just one point in the final stages.

With the score at 87-88, the Bulls were only one point behind. It was time for Jordan to deliver the decisive blow.

But Jordan's game-winning shot was blocked by Drexler and missed.

After Anthony Mason grabbed the rebound, he made a long pass to the frontcourt. Drexler received the ball, ducked, sprinted, jumped, and began to glide.

Jordan chased desperately from behind, but once a glider takes off, no one can catch it.

Drexler completed a game-winning dunk, securing the victory for the Heat.

The Heat defeated the Bulls 87-90 at home, securing an important victory and handing the Bulls their third loss in December.

This loss infuriated Jordan. Although he still scored 32 points, Drexler on the other side had 28 points, 11 assists, and 6 rebounds.

The Heat secured the victory, and now some believe Drexler might be the better option.

Jordan was a better scorer, but Drexler was more well-rounded and had three championship rings.

Even though Drexler acquired the three rings along with Forrest Gump, he still played a very important role in the process.

This argument greatly displeased Jordan, who never took Drexler seriously and saw him as nothing more than Forrest Gump's sidekick.

Now, one of Forrest Gump's little helpers has come to the South Coast to build a team, only to sink himself, which is even more painful for Jordan than losing to Forrest Gump.

Phil Jackson explained after the game, "The floor in Miami was a bit too slippery, and we weren't quite used to the court here."

Tonight, the Bulls players fell countless times, partly because the floor was slippery, and partly because the Heat played very roughly and physically. But Jordan may not have understood the implied meaning of that statement, or perhaps he believed that no reason could justify losing.

So after hearing Jackson's words, he stood in the locker room and shouted outside, "Don't make any excuses, we lost!"

This loss had a positive impact on the Bulls. Jordan was annoyed, but that often means he's determined to make more changes instead of constantly complaining.

He accepted Phil Jackson's decision to reduce his playing time to 37 minutes or less, while demanding more shooting opportunities in the first quarter.

Because he needed to get into good offensive form early on, he told Jackson, "You can't expect me to just pass the ball around in the early games and then score in the crucial moments. I need to shoot and find my rhythm."

Jordan is like Forrest Gump in this respect; they could play longer, but they made adjustments for the sake of a better team.

Jordan then stated his willingness to play more as a team player at other times, and that he would play like a traditional shooting guard, dedicating himself entirely to the team.

"I play better off the ball than any other shooting guard in the league," Jordan told Jackson on the plane back to Chicago.

Jackson knew Jordan wasn't making empty promises; he had watched Jordan play at North Carolina, where he was a complete team player under Dean Smith.

His three years at university cultivated good playing habits in him. He is proficient in various tactics, has excellent court awareness, first-class positioning ability, and extremely solid basic skills.

His decision to play a lone wolf style after joining the Bulls was out of necessity, because the Bulls were so bad, because the NBA encouraged isolation plays, and because no one was guiding him to become a player who could contribute both to the team and to himself.

Phil Jackson believed that this was the year Michael Jordan would undergo a transformation.

On December 25th, the Bulls will host their old rivals, the Detroit Pistons, in their only Christmas Day game this year.

The Chicago Bulls faced off against the Detroit Pistons with a vengeance; without them, the Bulls would have been the ones in the NBA Finals last year.

This season, the Pistons have shown signs of aging, losing to the Trail Blazers in November and suffering a crushing defeat to the Bulls in early December at Auburn Hills.

After the league introduced targeted new rules, Detroit's fortunes seem to have turned against them.

Isaiah Thomas put on a mask before the game started. Forrest Gump's elbow caused not only physical injury but also psychological trauma.

Even though his cheekbone had healed, he decided to continue wearing the mask during the competition, and would take it off when he felt more relaxed.

Enemies meeting are bound to be hostile, and despite the new rule against malicious fouls, the two teams still played quite roughly.

Horace Grant was ejected from the game after colliding with Joe Dumars and receiving a Flagrant Foul 2.

But this did not prevent the Bulls from maintaining their lead. They held the Pistons to just 14 points in the third quarter, and their superior defense suffocated the Detroit Pistons.

Jordan scored 37 points on 14-of-23 shooting, a 60% field goal percentage, helping the Bulls easily defeat the Pistons by 15 points.

However, the Bulls players were not very excited about winning against the Pistons. Hodges said in a post-game interview, "We should have won at home, and we beat the Pistons three times last season, so it doesn't mean anything."

The Bulls remained calm, knowing that the season had just begun and that the regular season and the playoffs were two completely different things.

The Bulls' marketing staff were also unhappy about this only Christmas Day game, as they had hoped to have the Bulls players wear red jerseys instead of the required white for the Christmas Day home game.

However, the league rejected the request; they did not want to make an exception for the Chicago Bulls.

In retaliation, the Bulls refused when the league wanted them to wear green holiday jerseys on St. Patrick's Day.

Why not be a proper red bull and instead become a green bull?

Phil Jackson was averse to the league's bizarre business practices.

This includes the home crowd's cheerleaders, mascots, and blues dancers who perform at the start of the show.

Jackson complained, "Why can't we have basketball as the only form of entertainment at the Garden, like the Boston Celtics do?"

Jackson's response was, "That's the NBA now, that's business."

Meanwhile, someone told Jackson, "The Portlanders have the best marketing, but that won't affect their chances of winning the championship."

These words infuriated Jackson and the entire Bulls organization, yet they were speechless. The Portland Trail Blazers remained a thorn in the hearts of the Bulls players.

After the Christmas Day game, before it was even dark, Jordan invited his younger brother, Scott Williams, a fellow North Carolina student, to his home for dinner to celebrate Christmas together.

Jordan always took good care of Scott Williams, not only because he was a student at North Carolina, but also because Williams was a poor guy who had lost both his parents.

Williams graduated from Glen Wilson High School in California and was McDonald's best player in the nation.

He is 6 feet 10 inches tall, strong, and has an excellent wingspan. In California, he was often compared to Forrest Gump from years ago.

UCLA wants to sign him; they don't want to miss out on any promising big men since they missed out on Forrest Gump.

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and John Wooden both called him, hoping he would come to UCLA.

But ultimately, Jordan, James Worthy, Sam Perkins, and other North Carolina staff invited him to join North Carolina.

He had a decent season at North Carolina and was just starting his sophomore year when, in October 1987, his father and mother had a falling out due to emotional estrangement.

Ultimately, his father, Al Williams, shot and killed his wife, Rita, in his car before committing suicide. Scott Williams suddenly lost both his father and mother.

This incident caused him irreparable trauma, turning him from a brilliant basketball prodigy into an ordinary player who could no longer shine.

Krause's selection of him to join the Bulls was one of Jordan's most satisfying choices, and Jordan treated him like his own little brother.

In the final moments of tonight's Christmas Day game, with the Bulls holding a commanding lead, Phil Jackson intended to send Scott Williams into the game.

However, in the last two minutes, the referee did not call a foul, the ball did not go out of bounds, and there was no dead ball situation.

Scott Williams sat on the floor for two minutes without getting a chance to play.

In the locker room, the vulnerable Williams shed tears.

If Horace Grant or Scottie Pippen were crying in the locker room, Jordan would definitely mock them and take a picture with them as a souvenir.

But Jordan wouldn't do that with Williams. Instead, he would invite him to his home for Christmas, have dinner, play cards, smoke a cigar, and drink a beer to relax.

They would chat about interesting things about North Carolina, and talk about Coach Dean Smith. Jordan is a very nostalgic person, extremely nostalgic.

Jordan promised Scott Williams, "As long as I'm with the Bulls, you'll always be with the Bulls. Don't worry about jobs; all you have to do is play well."

Williams nodded. He believed Jordan was telling the truth. Jordan was a very sentimental person and treated his friends very well.

However, Williams knew that who stayed and who left was often not up to Jordan, but rather Jerry Krause.

If Jordan had the final say, Oakley wouldn't have left, and Horace Grant wouldn't have stayed.

But he is still grateful to Jordan. Without Jordan's comfort and encouragement, it would have been difficult for him to persevere in the highly competitive NBA.

However, apart from rookies like Scott Williams who had a past connection with him, Jordan was indifferent to the other rookies.

His only criterion for deciding his attitude is whether you can play well on the court. If you play well, I will play well with you.

If you don't play well, I won't bother with you anymore. Let you fend for yourself, or maybe you'll be traded away someday.

BJ Armstrong is a case in point.

As a second-year rookie, he began to feel unwell at the start of this season.

During his rookie season, he was able to comfortably play as a substitute because he was a newcomer.

The following year, he felt he had made great progress and performed better than John Paxson in training.

He should be able to replace Paxson as a starter, instead of always being Paxson's substitute.

When communication proved ineffective, he requested a trade from Jerry Krause at the end of December, just before 1991 began.

He said, "If you don't want me to start, if you don't like the way I play, you can trade me instead of keeping me on the bench."

Jerry Krause brought in Phil Jackson, who reprimanded BJ Armstrong without holding back.

He told Armstrong that the reason he wasn't starting wasn't because he wasn't good enough, but because he didn't know how to play well.

"Your individual ability is stronger, but you're not playing for the team on the court, you're playing for yourself. You're just looking for scoring opportunities instead of contributing to the team! Your job is to be the leader of the second unit, but you always want more ball possession. Do you think you can replace Michael?"

“John is different. He knows how to be part of a team and do his job, which is why Michael and Pippen prefer playing with him to you!”

When Jordan learned that Armstrong wanted to leave, he said he didn't care and that they could probably get someone better in return.

Jordan wasn't like this in the past. He tried to get everyone on the team to give their all, hoping to win all 82 games and give 100% every night.

Now, Jordan knows that's impossible; he can only ask this of himself and one or two like-minded people.

In fact, he occasionally felt a little tired of basketball.

As December begins, All-Star voting has started, with Jordan and Gan Guoyang leading the pack.

When reporters tried to ask Jordan if he would participate in this year's All-Star Slam Dunk Contest, they were unable to get in touch with him at all.

He didn't even want to tell the reporter, "I don't want to participate anymore," and instead directly rejected the question.

He was tired, weary, and occasionally lost. He had gained money, honor, and fame, but he also left behind a carload of doubt and resentment.

Jordan thought, "Would it be better if I won the NBA championship this season? Would it be better?"

On New Year's Eve, December 31, 1990, the Bulls had a rest and no game.

During a break at a party, Jordan went to a secluded corner, took out his phone, and dialed a number.

The outside was still noisy, and the dial tone sounded rather faint.

It rang many times before finally being answered.

“Sonny, this is Michael.”

"I know it's you, so spit it out!"

Are you busy?

"Yes, I'm practicing three-pointers."

"Are you going to participate in this year's Three-Point Contest?"

"Oh no, I'm not interested. One three-point title is enough for me. That's all, I just want to play basketball. What do you want?"

"No, it's nothing. I'm also thinking about playing basketball and I'm about to go to practice. I look forward to seeing you in Chicago. See you in the Finals in June."

"See you at the Finals! I've been waiting for you for so long, and you always break your promise. Anyway, my hands are getting cold. Happy New Year, Michael! Congratulations, you're going to be number two in the world this year!"

"Fuck you, Sonny, Happy New Year."

(End of this chapter)