Chapter 206 Cursing Pippen in the locker room!

“I call this tactic the hound tactic.”

After the game, Coach Bach said with a smile.

He then explained to the reporters what the hound tactics were, which was three big men with strong mobility sweeping the defense, biting the opponent like hounds, and once bitten, they would never let go until the opponent was tortured to death.

Relying on the most mobile forward combination in the league, the Bulls won 11 of the last 8 games and successfully caught the last train to the playoffs as the eighth place.

The fans of the Celtics were the most painful to see the Bulls make it to the playoffs at the last minute. The Celtics had a good combination of new and old players this season and finished first in the Eastern Conference with a record of 56 wins and 26 losses.

Celtics fans never expected that they would meet the Bulls in the first round even though they got first place.
Over the past few years, many Celtics fans have developed Menezophobia, but some fans are also excited about it. The Bulls are not as strong as before, and this is a good opportunity for the Celtics to take revenge.

After the last regular season game, Pippen was very excited. This was his first time to taste the playoffs after four years of playing.

Pippen felt that he was very lucky. If he had stayed with the Kings, he might never have made it to the playoffs.

That night, Pippen went out to get drunk and party all night. The next day he came to team training drunk. Meng Jin was a little worried about his condition and gave him a few reminders.

Pippen didn’t take it seriously. He had a few words with Meng Jin and continued the next day. Meng Jin and Pippen were too familiar with each other, which led to Pippen often not taking the words of Meng Jin, the team leader, seriously.

The Pippen in this parallel universe has many more bad habits than in his previous life. He is not self-disciplined enough in training, and he is more self-indulgent in life. Meng Jin has clearly felt that his jumping height and speed are not as good as in previous years. You know, if you indulge yourself for too long, your talent will be recycled!
Meng Jin had a bad feeling, and sure enough, in the first game against the Celtics, Pippen had a shocking 0 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 turnovers.

Pippen couldn’t find his rhythm at all and shot 7 of 0 in the game. In this game, he deeply felt the gap between the regular season and the playoffs.

The Bulls lost G1 because of this. Now the Bulls’ tactics are mainly based on defense, but it does not mean that they do not need to score. Pippen is the third scoring point in the team, and his poor scoring has a great impact on the team.

In G2, Pippen increased his shots and scored 8 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 turnovers. His poor scoring in the last game made Pippen subject to media criticism. In this game, he had a strong desire to attack and took 14 shots, but only made 4 of them. Such a hit rate coupled with a large number of shots caused more damage to the team than in the last game. The worst thing was that Pippen wanted to show himself too much tonight, which led to him being fouled out in the middle of the third quarter.

In both games, Meng Jin scored 50+, which was more than half of the team’s points. He also became the first player in the playoffs whose team scored less than 50 points in two consecutive games but scored + points personally. Everyone was praising Meng Jin’s scoring ability, but Meng Jin didn’t like the feeling of scoring in vain. In his opinion, the Bulls had a chance to win in both games.

In the first game, Pippen was like sleepwalking on both offense and defense, and the Bulls only lost by 9 points. In the second game, if Pippen could take fewer shots and control fouls on the defensive end, the Bulls would still have a chance.

What made Meng Jin most angry was not Pippen’s performance, but his attitude. Everyone has times when they perform poorly, but one must fight hard. After the game, Meng Jin drove the other teammates out of the locker room and talked with Pippen alone for 10 minutes.

During this time, people outside heard Meng Jin’s roar and the sound of smashing things. Many years later, a group of teammates recalled this scene.

Grant: “MJ was really angry that time. He seriously stopped everyone except Pippen outside the locker room, including the head coach and assistant coach, but no one said anything because MJ was the boss of the team at that time, and everyone understood that the team needed some changes.”

John Paxson: “I couldn’t hear what MJ said in the locker room, but I remember Scottie came out crying. Yes, it’s hard to imagine him coming out like a little girl with tears in his eyes. It was unbelievable.”

Cartwright: “This incident impressed me. Although there were some noises in the locker room, I am very sure that the two did not fight or even quarrel in the locker room because I only heard Meng’s voice throughout the whole process.”

Cartwright’s recollection was not wrong. For nearly ten minutes, it was Meng Jin who was attacking Pippen. Meng Jin wanted to scold him to wake him up, to tell him not to play so muddle-headedly, to toughen himself up, and to stop hanging around in nightclubs after the game.

In March, Meng Jin and Pippen talked about this. Meng Jin said that Pippen’s body was damaged by alcohol and sex. Pippen retorted: “You drink and pick up girls more than me!”

This time Pippen didn’t dare to refute, because Meng Jin could score 50+ in the playoffs despite drinking and picking up girls, while he could only score zero points.

Pippen felt very humiliated after being scolded by Meng Jin. He sat directly on the team bus without even taking a shower. He thought a lot on the bus alone. His poor performance in the playoffs was due to his own strength. His shooting ability was not strong to begin with, and this shortcoming would be further magnified when encountering more intense games.

But level is not the only reason. Pippen’s bigger problem lies in his mentality. His first playoff opponent was the Celtics, a powerful team. He was a little timid, and after not performing well, he gave up on himself.

In short, Pippen’s character flaws are still very obvious. Meng Jin originally wanted to play with him as a brother, but after half a season, Meng Jin found that it didn’t work. Pippen is a typical person who responds to hard things but not soft things. If you indulge him too much, he will definitely give you the opposite surprise on the court.

The news that Meng Jin closed the door and cursed Pippen in the locker room soon spread, and the media reported widely that Meng Jin was a domineering ball and team bully, and that the Bulls locker room would never be harmonious with him around.

The Boston media took the opportunity to fan the flames. They fabricated some news, saying that Meng Jin had a fight with Pippen in the locker room, and that Meng Jin beat Pippen for an hour, and that Pippen was finally carried out on a stretcher.

These days, all kinds of negative news about Meng Jin are flying around, and everyone thinks that the Bulls’ season is over.

Even the Celtics players thought so. They felt that the Bulls were now in disarray, and it would be a natural thing for them to win the third game and sweep the Bulls.

But in fact, there was no rift within the Bulls, and they became more united.

In the next few days of training, Pippen was the second one to arrive at the training hall. Pippen was very active whether running tactics or training games. After G2, Meng Jin not only scolded Pippen, but also told him the consequence of continuing like this, which was that he would not get the next contract. The Bulls would never sign a weak player who scored 0 points in the playoffs.

This scared Pippen terribly. You know, Pippen values ​​money more than his life. His biggest wish after coming to the Bulls was to sign a long-term contract. Pippen’s family was in financial difficulty, and he needed a contract to support his family.

Meng Jin’s words gave Pippen pressure and motivation. Last-minute training is useless in the NBA, but Pippen’s change is not just hard training. He overcame his fear and his fear of fighting. In the first defensive round of G3, he blocked Larry Bird!
Larry Bird used the off-ball screen to go around the corner and even glanced at the frame after receiving the ball. Larry Bird felt that Scottie Pippen had been blocked by his teammates and could not defend the ball at all. However, he underestimated Pippen’s determination tonight. Pippen squeezed past “Chief” Parish and rushed towards Bird.

His talent of height, long arms and amazing jumping ability is undoubtedly revealed!

Pippen played an obvious role on the defensive end in the first quarter, but his performance on the offensive end was still not ideal. He scored 3 points on 1 of 2 shots in the quarter. In the first two games, Pippen had lost confidence on the offensive end. Once a player’s confidence is knocked down, it is difficult to regain it in a short period of time.

The Bulls only scored 22 points in the first quarter, but they still held a 2-point lead. They were tough on the defensive end, tougher than in the previous two games. Bach’s “hound tactics” were very effective.

At the end of the first half, the Bulls still relied on defensive tactics to take the lead, and their offense mainly relied on counterattacks and Meng Jin’s positional warfare. In the second quarter, Meng Jin made several passes to Pippen in fast breaks to help him regain some confidence.

In the third quarter, Pippen made two mid-range shots in succession. Before the end of the third quarter, Pippen and Meng Jin cooperated in a fast break, but this time it was Meng Jin who passed the ball. Meng Jin threw the ball high, and Pippen overpowered Reggie Lewis and slammed the ball into the basket.

After landing, Pippen looked up to the sky and howled, releasing the pent-up emotions in his heart from the past two games!
At the end of the third quarter, the Bulls led by 5 points.

Although his teammates’ performance tonight was still not perfect, it was enough for Meng Jin. Entering the final quarter, Meng Jin started to take over the game.

John Paxson successfully stole the ball at the beginning, Pippen picked up the ball and threw it forward, Paxson took two steps and made a horizontal pass outside the three-point line.

Meng Jin followed up and took two big steps after receiving the ball, then swung the sledgehammer and smashed it hard into the basket!
There was a slam dunk at the beginning of the final quarter, and the fans at the Chicago Stadium went completely crazy!
The Celtics were not affected too much. Bird and McHale made two consecutive mid-range shots to help the team stabilize the situation. The Celtics are already leading 2-0 in the total score. Now their mentality is very stable. If they win this game, they will sweep the team. If they don’t win, they will still have the advantage.

With 5 minutes and 30 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the score was 78-78, the two sides were tied, and the Bulls had the ball.

Meng Jin got the ball at the top of the arc, and two Celtics players surrounded him directly.

The Celtics don’t care anymore. They want to use five players to defend Meng Jin.

Meng Jin dribbled the ball with his left hand, took a step back, then changed direction and rushed to the right!

This is a method Meng Jin often uses to break a double-team. He creates space before the double-team is formed and then breaks through in the direction of one of the defenders.

Meng Jin broke into the dragon’s den alone and accelerated into the inside. The remaining three Celtics players retreated to the inside, and Meng Jin pressed them and made a layup.

In this round, Meng Jin was almost 1V5, but the Celtics still couldn’t stop him.

Back on the defensive end, the energetic Meng Jin swept from the left corner to the right corner, then intercepted Larry Bird’s pass and assisted Pippen to score 2 points on a fast break.

In the Celtics’ next attack, Reggie Lewis’s cut was blocked by Grant.

The Bulls’ “hound tactics” are in force again.

On the offensive end, Meng Jin asked for a screen, Brian Shaw switched defense, and Reggie Lewis let go of Paxson and chased after him.

Entering the fourth quarter, fans could no longer see Meng Jin’s unstoppable singles because he had no chance of 1V1 at all.

Meng Jin dribbled the ball and took a step back, while looking to the right side of Brian Shaw. Brian Shaw was a smart player. He keenly captured Meng Jin’s little movement and moved his body one step in the direction of Meng Jin’s eyes.

However, Brian Shaw would soon learn what it means to be too clever by half. Meng Jin did not break through to the right as he did in the previous round. Instead, he pushed his right hand forward, trying to get through the gap between the two defenders.

The two of them shrank inward at the same time. Their reactions were already very fast, but not faster than Meng Jin’s.

The moment the door was about to close, Meng Jin rushed forward and the two men’s defense collapsed instantly.

Meng Jin broke into the inside again and scored hard!

In the next two rounds, Meng Jin received the ball on the weak side, then turned around and forced his way to the basket.

There were no fancy dribbling, no gorgeous pull-up shots, and no explosive dunks. In the final few minutes, Meng Jin shattered the Celtics’ dream of a sweep with his mechanical and ruthless goals.

110 to 102, the Chicago Bulls won the crucial battle and survived from the brink of the cliff.

After the game, Meng Jin took the data sheet handed over by the staff: 55 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.

Reporters rushed to tell Meng Jin that he became the first man to get a 50+ triple-double in the playoffs. Meng Jin was very happy, partly because he broke the record, but more because the team won. For him, nothing is more joyful than winning.

The reporter also told the Celtics players the data. The Celtics did not praise Meng Jin too much because they were already used to Meng Jin’s explosive data.

(End of this chapter)