Reborn in 96, I started by taking charge of the Dallas Mavericks.

With the strong performances of the two teams' star players, the point difference between the two teams remained around 5 points.

For the Mavericks, although the score gap did not widen further, Kobe's physical strength had reached its limit.

Seeing Kobe's condition at that moment, Chen Fang could only call a timeout to let Kobe take a break.

"Kobe, you should take a rest."

Chen Fang is preparing to replace Kobe with Derek Harper, because if Kobe doesn't get a rest, they won't be able to play in the fourth quarter.

"It's okay, I can still fight."

Kobe shook his head and said in a low voice.

He didn't want to leave the field yet; he wanted to continue fighting.

But Kobe was so tired at that moment that he couldn't even open a drink.

Chen Fang snatched the drink from Kobe's hand, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Kobe, saying, "Look at you, you're so tired you can't even open a bottle cap, how are you going to play?"

"I understand how you feel, but if you really want to win, then listen to me and get some rest until the fourth quarter."

Upon hearing this, Kobe realized that it was only the third quarter.

Seeing that Kobe had stopped talking, Chen Fang turned around and began to arrange the tactics.

He had only one request for everyone: to keep the point difference within 10 points before Kobe took the court.

The longer they persist, the more time Kobe will have to rest.

Chen Fang was replaced, and Phil Jackson was also replaced.

After Kobe left the game, Phil Jackson also substituted Jordan out.

After all, Jordan is already 33 years old, and physical fitness is also a concern for him.

The game became less exciting after both teams' star players left the court, but the Bulls still had Pippen and Rodman.

"Ben, pay attention to help defense. If necessary, you can give up marking Rodman."

Chen Fang pulled Ben Affleck, who was about to go on stage, and whispered a reminder in his ear.

Rodman wasn't a strong scorer; even if he had an open shot, he might not make it.

Ben nodded, gave Chen Fang a reassuring look, and strode towards the court.

The game starts again.

Without Jordan as a dominant force, the Bulls adopted a team-oriented approach to basketball, with all five players on the court except Rodman capable of creating their own offense, which kept the Mavericks' defense constantly on its toes.

Cole, in particular, who came off the bench, has been exceptionally accurate today, making all three of his three-point attempts so far.

The Mavericks players had to put more effort into defense, causing them to burn out their energy faster.

However, Ben Wallace and his teammates still accomplished the task assigned by Chen Fang, preventing the Bulls from leading by more than 10 points by the end of the third quarter.

Soon, the fourth quarter began, and the two teams entered the final decisive moment.

With four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Chen made a bold move and sent Kobe back in.

"Go, Kobe, go and win the game."

Seeing Chen Fang put Kobe on the court, Phil Jackson immediately substituted Jordan in as well.

At this point, the Mavericks trailed the Bulls by 12 points, with the score at 79-91.

Trailing by 12 points isn't a huge number, and there's enough time left, but against a strong team like the Bulls, it will be very difficult for the Mavericks to come back.

The home team was trailing by a large margin, which made the fans at the stadium anxious.

Chen Fang paced nervously back and forth on the sidelines. In this era, Jordan and the Bulls were a formidable obstacle for all teams.

Everyone wants to climb over this mountain and reach the summit.

Chen Fang naturally wanted to overcome this obstacle and prove himself.

……

"With less than 8 minutes left in the game, Chen Fang finally substituted Kobe onto the court!"

"Coach Zhang, does this mean the final battle between the two sides is about to begin?"

Inside the sports channel studio, upon seeing Kobe Bryant enter the game, Sun Zhengping hurriedly asked...

Zhang Weiping nodded and analyzed, "That's right, the remaining 8 minutes will be the decisive moment for the two teams."

Judging from the first three quarters of the game, the fact that the Mavericks were able to play against the Bulls in this way was something no one expected.

"There are still 8 minutes left in the game. It's not impossible to catch up by 12 points. I'd venture to guess that this game will end with a last-minute winner."

As a Kobe fan, Coach Zhang naturally sided with Kobe and the Mavericks.

"Oh, a last-minute winner?" Hearing about a last-minute winner, Sun Zhengping also became excited. "Then who will be the last-minute winner?"

"It's hard to say."

After the timeout, the Bulls inbounded the ball from the frontcourt.

Jordan received the ball at the top of the key with the help of a teammate's screen, then pulled up for a jump shot but missed.

Rodman fought hard to grab the offensive rebound and passed the ball to Jordan again.

This time, Jordan didn't miss the opportunity and made the jump shot.

With Jordan's jump shot, the gap between the two teams reached 14 points.

The Bulls now lead the Mavericks 93-79, a 14-point advantage.

After making that jump shot, Jordan's personal score exceeded 30 points.

In contrast, Kobe has only scored 23 points so far.

Besides trailing in scoring, Kobe also trailed Jordan in assists, rebounds, and other statistics.

Judging from the game, Kobe was consistently outplayed by Jordan tonight.

But compared to his previous life, Kobe's stats are already quite explosive.

In his previous life, Kobe Bryant faced Jordan for the first time, coming off the bench and scoring only 5 points.

The Mavericks are on offense, Zydrunas Ilgauskas inbounds the ball, and Steve Nash drives the ball up the court.

Once Kobe crossed half-court, he started asking for the ball, and Nash passed it to him without hesitation.

Kobe didn't choose to waste his energy on a one-on-one play, but instead called for his teammates to come and screen for him.

Although he longed to beat Jordan one-on-one, his priority now was to lead the Mavericks to victory, rather than achieving an individual win.

Big Z came up to set a screen for Kobe, and Kobe used the screen to drive straight to the basket.

Seeing Kobe drive into the paint, Rodman immediately stepped forward to help defend and prepare to block Kobe's shot.

As Kobe was about to force his way through Rodman's block attempt, he suddenly saw Ben Wallace behind Rodman point upwards.

Kobe immediately understood, tossing the ball over Rodman's fingertips toward the basket. Ben Wallace received Kobe's perfect pass and connected for an alley-oop, scoring the ball in the basket.

Kobe was individualistic on the court, but it depended on who he played with.

He's willing to pass the ball as long as his teammates can put it in the basket.

The Mavericks narrowed the gap to 2 points, but still trailed by 2.

But this play ignited a deafening roar of cheers from the Mavericks fans, who had been silent for a long time.

Possession changes, Bulls attack.

Instead of going up to receive the ball, Jordan proactively approached Kobe, who was retreating on defense.

"You could have gotten onto the ground yourself, so why did you pass the ball?"

Are you scared? Afraid of being covered up?

"A true strong person is one who takes control of their own destiny, rather than giving opportunities to others."

Just as Kobe was about to retaliate, Jordan received a pass from his teammate.

Kobe stopped wasting words and decided to show Jordan through his actions.

Jordan was dribbling on the perimeter when Kobe deliberately created an opening for Jordan to break through from the left.

Jordan did not disappoint Kobe, and indeed broke through from the left wing.

Kobe used his tough defense to force Jordan to go to the baseline, and then Zydrunas Ilgauskas went to the basket and spread his arms to block Jordan's passing route.

Actually, Jordan didn't intend to pass the ball; he just wanted to do it himself.

With Zydrunas Ilgauskas blocking his path and Kobe Bryant chasing from behind, Jordan jumped and executed a layup.

Jordan deftly dodged the double block from Kobe and Zydrunas Ilgauskas, drifting from the left side of the basket to the right before unleashing a layup.

The moment the basketball left his hand, Jordan knew he had it.

Before he could even land, a pair of large hands pinned the basketball to the backboard.

A spiked hat!

Ben Wallace suddenly appeared and delivered a thunderous block to Jordan!

The Mavericks combined the efforts of three players to stop Jordan's attack!