Chapter 205 If We Had Done This Earlier, It Would Have Been Over
On April 4, the Bulls went on the road to challenge the Magic.

The Magic have only won 26 games so far, and can be said to have bid farewell to the playoffs early.

A small incident occurred in this game which was not very suspenseful.

Before the game started, a small man named Gary Payton walked up to Meng Jin and challenged him: “I will beat you tonight and score 30 points on you if you dare to defend me.”

The arrival of Meng Jin brought some changes to the draft. The Supersonics, who were supposed to select Gary Payton, unexpectedly chose him. The reason was simple. The Supersonics already had Kevin Johnson, an All-Star point guard, and there was no need to select a potential new star in the same position.

The Supersonics selected Denis Scott, a small forward with strength, shooting ability and speed, in this year’s draft.

The Supersonics have now become the most promising team in the league. In addition to the potential rookie Dennis Scott, they also have Kevin Johnson, an All-Star point guard who averages 24+10 per game, Shawn Kemp, a beast power forward, Derrick McKay who was selected to the All-Rookie First Team in the same year as Meng Jin, big man Benoit Benjamin who transferred from the Los Angeles Clippers to the Supersonics in the middle of this season, and former Bucks super sixth man Ricky Pierce.

This season, the SuperSonics have lived up to expectations and are currently ranked third in the Western Conference, behind only the Trail Blazers and the Lakers. This is a very good record for a young team.

The Magic took Gary Payton with the fourth pick. The Magic management felt that they had gotten a great bargain. Gary Payton was selected as the best college player in the United States by Sports Illustrated in 1990.

But there are some players on the Magic who are unhappy with Gary Payton, such as point guard Skiles.

The Magic management intends to develop Gary Payton, which greatly reduces Skiles’ playing time and even spends more than half of this season sitting on the bench.

In his previous life, on December 1990, 12, Skiles made 30 assists in the Magic’s 155-116 victory over the Denver Nuggets, breaking Kevin Porter’s single-game record of 30 assists. That season, Skiles averaged 29 points and 17.2 assists per game, twice the data of the previous season, and Skiles was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player that season.

But in this parallel universe, because of the presence of Gary Payton, Skiles did not have the amazing performance of 30 assists in a single game. Due to the shortened playing time, his average stats were only 12.1 points and 5.9 assists.

What made him even more unhappy was that Gary Payton’s performance after taking up a lot of playing time was worse than his own. Gary Payton averaged only 8.8 points and 5.8 assists per game this season. He is a slow-warming player.

Unlike Gary Payton, Skiles was not a high draft pick. He was selected by the Bucks with the 86nd pick in 22, then wandered around the Pacers, and then was selected in the expansion draft by the Orlando Magic.

Last season, Skiles, who played as a backup guard, averaged 21 points and 7.7 assists in 4.8 minutes per game.

This season, he was expected to become the team’s starting guard, but the emergence of Gary Payton shattered his dream. It’s not that Skiles couldn’t accept being a substitute, he just couldn’t accept being a substitute for a rookie who was not as good as himself. Since the middle of the season, the relationship between the two has been very strained, and they often swore in the locker room.

The league is not limited to the former Bulls’ internal discord. Almost half of the teams’ locker rooms are not peaceful. Every family has its own problems.

Before the game against the Bulls, Gary Payton and Skiles had another argument over a trivial matter. Skiles said during the argument: “It’s not a skill to talk trash to me. If you have the guts, talk trash to your opponent!”

Gary Payton retorted: “Why don’t you just go and spray it?”

Skiles yelled, “I’m not the main point guard!”

Gary Payton shook his head and said, “Okay, okay, I will. I will trash talk everyone in the game. This is my usual style.”

Scales said: “No, you don’t dare, Meng will teach you a lesson.”

“Just watch, I’ll prove to you whether I dare or not during warm-up later.” Gary Payton said gritting his teeth.

So the scene above happened.

It was a very deceptive provocation, but Gary Payton was fooled. At this time, he was still a brave and aggressive young man. Looking at Gary Payton’s immature and serious face, Meng Jin was not angry, but couldn’t help laughing.

It has been a long time since Meng Jin saw anyone dare to provoke him.

He turned his head towards Pippen and made a gesture of wiping his neck in front of Gary Payton.

Pippen nodded in understanding, and the main task for tonight was decided.

At the end of the first half, the Chicago Bulls led by 65 points, 49 to 16. Gary Payton scored 3 points, 2 assists and 4 turnovers in the first half. Pippen had made it difficult for Gary Payton to defend, but Meng Jin was still not satisfied because his idea was to shut out Gary Payton.

In the third quarter, Meng Jin took the initiative to apply to defend Gary Payton, and Coach Bach did not refuse. Meng Jin has a high status in the team, and as long as he does not hit anyone on the court, the coach will basically agree to any of his requests.

Gary Payton calmed down during the halftime break. He recalled Pippen’s defensive actions and habits in the first half and decided to make some attempts and changes in the second half. When he regained some confidence and stood on the court again, he saw Meng Jin’s warm smile.

At this moment, Gary Payton’s sky seemed to be falling.

In the next 6 minutes, Gary Payton missed all 3 shots and was on the verge of emotional collapse.

At this moment, he suddenly seized an opportunity and reached out to cut the ball off when Meng Jin was dribbling the ball through the gap!
After getting the ball, Gary Payton ran towards the frontcourt regardless of anything.

Just as he was about to shoot a layup, Meng Jin’s figure appeared from behind him.

“boom!”

Meng Jin intercepted the ball with a brutal two-handed shot.

After disrupting Gary Payton’s counterattack, Meng Jin turned around and launched a counterattack of his own, playing 5 against 4, and easily assisted Grant to make a dunk.

When Meng Jin returned to the defensive half, Gary Payton slowly stood up from the backcourt. The impact of Meng Jin’s block was so strong that it knocked Gary Payton away.

Meng Jin glanced at Gary Payton, his eyes seemed to say, “I’ve given you a chance, but you’re useless.”

This was the closest Gary Payton ever came to scoring in the second half.

After playing for about 2 minutes, he was replaced by the coach.

The coach felt that he could no longer play because if his self-confidence was shattered it would affect his entire basketball career.

Scales was secretly happy on the sidelines; this was the situation he wanted to see.

Gary Payton did not play in the entire fourth quarter, and the Bulls eventually won 109-85 away from home.

In this game, the Bulls won again on the defensive end. You know, the Magic averaged 105 points per game this season.

Tonight’s two starting guards, Nick Anderson, scored 5 points and Gary Payton scored 4 points. The combined score of the two was less than double digits, and the Magic’s forwards were not much better.

Seeing the team’s performance, head coach Bach couldn’t help but want to slap himself twice. What tactics did he arrange in the dozen games after Jordan left? Wouldn’t it have been over if he had played like this earlier?
(End of this chapter)