Chapter 121 We Are Going to Create Miracles
　　On the court, after using a dead ball for a substitution, the Bulls inbounded the ball directly to "His Airness".

　　With Su Qiao's matchup tonight, that one-handed ball-grabbing picture was enough to make someone hide in a corner and cry every time they saw it.

　　If there were such a thing as "model monsters" in real life, then Su Feng and Jordan would undoubtedly be them.

　　On the court, the Bulls players gathered on the left half of the court, leaving the right half for Jordan and Su Feng.

　　This was the Bulls' last resort.

　　In Zhang's words: "Wow, everyone spread out, letting Jordan isolate!"

　　Jordan, sticking out his tongue, chose to attack head-on.

　　After straightening his body and dribbling between his legs several times, "His Airness" suddenly lowered his center of gravity!

　　This was one of Jordan's classic raise-up moves. Unlike the future streetballers who used this move to show off, you only knew how difficult it was to defend against this raise-up move when you faced Jordan.

　　With the center of gravity suddenly changing from high to low, suddenly switching from a standstill to a pull-up, or suddenly switching back to attack mode, "His Airness," with his incredibly flexible waist, made you have to defend everything but a three-pointer under this raise-up move.

　　In that instant, Su Feng's A3 shoes rubbed against the floor, creating a frantic sound.

　　Maintaining a certain amount of space to slide while ensuring he could affect Jordan's offensive rhythm, the difficulty of Su Feng's defense was imaginable.

　　In an instant, this PK determined the winner.

　　The more高手过招 (gāoshǒu guòzhāo, lit. masters exchange blows), the less possible it was to drag things out. On the court, Jordan suddenly stopped, faked Su Feng into the air, and leaned back for a shot!

　　Swish!

　　Unbeknownst to anyone, Jordan had also scored 23 points tonight.

　　76 to 69.

　　The United Center, which had been slightly quiet, was instantly ignited!

　　After Jordan missed a shot, Da Ben (Ben Wallace) secured the rebound. Now... it was the 76ers' turn to grind in the half-court.

　　This attack consumed the offensive time until there were only 6 seconds left, and then Iverson dribbled into the paint.

　　Pippen wanted to help Harper double-team Iverson, but alas... Stackhouse's previous basket gave Pippen a psychological shadow.

　　This was the importance of having an excellent sixth man like Stackhouse on a team.

　　Clang!

　　However, Iverson also missed this shot.

　　Iverson, who had just been asking about Su Feng's physical condition, was now suffering from the backlash of his own declining stamina.

　　His short-range shots were also affected by the decline in physical strength, bouncing out after hitting the rim.

　　In the Bulls' paint, Rodman was firmly pinned behind him by Da Ben. Both Da Ben and Rodman had moves on their hands, but the referee didn't care since there was no blood.

　　So, here came the problem.

　　Rodman and Da Ben were entangled, so what was Ratliff doing on the other side?

　　Of course, he was helping Kukoc get breast augmentation surgery!

　　Bang!

　　After elbowing Kukoc open, Ratliff霸气 (bàqì, overbearing) grabbed this offensive rebound.

　　Now, the entire Bulls team was starting to get anxious.

　　Especially Pippen.

　　Seeing that Rodman had failed to protect the defensive rebound again, Pippen was not just grinding his teeth in anger at this moment?

　　The hell, did he even deserve 9 million a year?

　　In Su Feng's previous life, Rodman was a mess in the 96/97 season playoffs, and Pippen was just as difficult at the beginning of the 97/98 season.

　　If the boss of this Bulls team wasn't Michael Jordan, no one could suppress these two.

　　After consuming the offensive time, the 76ers continued to let "the Answer" isolate.

　　Clang!

　　Iverson still didn't score!

　　But don't worry, Alabama's fierce warrior Ben Wallace was here in the Bulls' paint!

　　Come on, let's take a break and continue to isolate!

　　"Dennis!"

　　Jordan was angry and roared at Rodman.

　　What a joke. The second chance clock in the NBA wasn't 14 seconds now...

　　If the 76ers continued to consume the 24 seconds like this, how long would it take to make up the 10-point deficit?

　　It was fine if they couldn't get offensive rebounds, but if they couldn't protect defensive rebounds, the Bulls couldn't come back.

　　Because of the 76ers' insane three-point shooting, Jordan and Pippen couldn't help out, and the only way for the Bulls to protect rebounds was to bring in someone who could help Rodman box out.

　　But replacing Kukoc?

　　Then how would they attack?

　　The scales of victory had completely tilted towards the 76ers after Iverson's two missed attacks.

　　To be fair, if Iverson had scored on the first attack, the blow to the Bulls' morale wouldn't have been as good as the effect of his teammates grabbing the rebounds after his two consecutive misses.

　　So, who said that missing shots couldn't help the team win?

　　Iverson...

　　Iverson had clearly used "strategic misses"!

　　(Iverson fans: Yes, yes, you're absolutely right!)

　　Clang!

　　After three consecutive misses, Rodman finally managed to grab the rebound.

　　By the way, after handing it to Harper, Rodman kept complaining to the referee that Da Ben and Ratliff were suspected of offensive three seconds.

　　Referees in the 90s generally wouldn't give players technical fouls for such friendly discussions, but in the future, someone would be miserable...

　　Because a certain bald referee would prove with practical actions that players were not allowed to laugh even when they returned to the sidelines to rest.

　　On the court, there were only 5 minutes and 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter. The Bulls attacked. This time, Jordan accelerated past Su Feng's defense and made the basket with Da Ben in his face.

　　79 to 71.

　　Even without divine intervention, it would be difficult to stop "His Airness" at this moment.

　　…

　　Atlanta. Because the Hawks' game against the Pistons started half an hour earlier, the Hawks players, who had just won their first playoff game, were watching the 76ers' game against the Bulls in the locker room.

　　"How... did we sweep this 76ers team in the regular season?"

　　After the team's core outside player, Smith, asked this question, the entire Hawks locker room fell silent.

　　Mutombo scratched his head with his big hand and said, "It seems like we just won while playing?"

　　"The 76ers are... truly unfathomable," Blaylock commented.

　　In fact, it wasn't just the Hawks players who couldn't understand this game.

　　New York. Van Gundy was getting anxious.

　　Because he couldn't solve the 76ers' equation!

　　Therefore, to see things clearly, you had to find the root cause.

　　When the camera returned to Chicago, the "Zen Master" was already planning for Game 2.

　　Despite the "Kentucky Fried Chicken spokesman's" calm demeanor, he was probably the first to accept that the Bulls would lose to the 76ers in Game 1.

　　As early as when Jordan returned and the Bulls were sent home by the Magic, Jackson knew how trash the Bulls' interior was.

　　Otherwise, what was the point of the Bulls acquiring Rodman?

　　The斗兽棋联盟 (dòushòuqí liánméng, Animal Chess League) was like this. Whether it was the Pistons or the 76ers, Mutombo was their nemesis.

　　If the Bulls had this "African Mountain" in their interior at this time, then there was no point in playing. The NBA would just announce the end of the season.

　　However, in the "Zen Master's" opinion, although the Bulls were likely to lose this Game 1, he still firmly believed that the Bulls would have the last laugh in this series based on the process of the game.

　　The 76ers players had all performed above their usual level in this game, and once the Bulls made some adjustments and stabilized in the second game, they would still have the initiative in their hands.

　　…

　　On the court, Jordan, who thought it was too slow to chase 2 points at a time, tried two more three-pointers in the final moments of the fourth quarter, but...

　　Three-pointers were destined to be out of reach for Jordan tonight.

　　In the United Center, when the timer went to zero, the Bulls fans on the scene were all holding their heads, their eyes dull, and their expressions dazed.

　　88 to 80. The Windy City was captured by the 76ers!

　　Everything that happened on this night was destined to detonate the entire basketball world the next day!

　　At the same time, Manchester United, who were relying on a bunch of youngsters to make their mark, wanted to give the 76ers a cross-border thumbs up!

　　Who the hell said you couldn't win games with a bunch of kids?

　　Looking up at the dome of the United Center, Jordan, who was 13 of 27 from the field, 0 of 5 from three-point range, and 8 of 8 from the free-throw line, scored 34 points on this night, sighed at the end of the game...

　　Perhaps he really needed to prepare himself mentally to take 5 games to win this series.

　　Squinting his eyes, Jordan hugged Pippen and silently walked back to the locker room after using his remaining strength to straighten his chest.

　　"We have to treat this series like the Finals, Scottie." Under Jordan's affectionate gaze, Pippen, who felt very wronged tonight, nodded.

　　On the 76ers side, Su Feng still couldn't believe it when the timer went to zero.

　　There was no Jordan going berserk like in the cartoons, no 76ers making a reverse-killing play, and no passion or blood at the last moment like in novels. All there was was the dog-like scoring style of the 76ers' youngsters for the sake of victory.

　　Statistically, Iverson, who was 9 of 24 from the field, 2 of 6 from three-point range, and 15 of 18 from the free-throw line, and scored 35 points, one point more than Jordan's 34 points, was the 76ers' number one contributor.

　　But after the game, even some harsh American media believed that Su Feng was the key to the 76ers' victory in this game.

　　Su Feng, who was 6 of 14 from the field, 1 of 5 from three-point range, and 3 of 4 from the free-throw line, scored 16 points and 6 rebounds, didn't stand out statistically, but you only knew how eye-catching Su Feng was in this game if you watched the entire game.

　　He played for 48 minutes, running around with Jordan everywhere, and dragged Pippen into his own brick-laying cycle at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

　　Wake up, Su Feng was guarding Jordan and Pippen tonight.

　　Su Feng dared to daydream about defeating the Bulls, but he never even thought about blowing up Jordan and Pippen.

　　For the sake of victory, what was kdA?

　　Stackhouse scored 12 points in this game, the third-highest scorer for the 76ers, while Ratliff and Da Ben grabbed a total of 33 rebounds, turning the two teams' paint into their own back garden.

　　In front of the TV, whether they were American fans or Chinese fans, they were full of expectations for the remaining games between the two teams.

　　Now, "I want to defeat Michael Jordan" was no longer an arrogant and provocative statement.

　　Because...

　　At this moment, no one dared to underestimate this 76ers team.

　　They brought their robber-like style into the playoffs.

　　Philadelphia. The 20,000 76ers fans at the 中州 (Zhōngzhōu) Arena, who watched the game on the big screen, felt like they were the happiest people in the world.

　　Although Su Feng and Iverson couldn't hear the earth-shattering cheers, Philadelphia had become a city that never sleeps on this night.

　　Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou... the bunnies in Bunny's house were also partying.

　　Then...

　　The consequence of young people partying during the day was naturally a warning from the neighborhood committee aunt...

　　Ahem, but that wasn't important!

　　The important thing was that the 76ers won their first game!

　　Maple, you're awesome!

　　…

　　After the game, at the press conference, Phil Jackson gave a formal answer to the media's questions and left.

　　The pressure had now completely shifted to the Bulls.

　　NBA games, especially playoff games, were very fond of playing the one-game theory, no matter which country the fans or reporters were from.

　　The "Zen Master" knew the media's tactics, so he didn't want to put any more pressure on the players.

　　When Davis brought "Ai Feng" to the press conference, the media from other places applauded them, except for the media from Windy City.

　　Dynasties were like this. As early as when the 76ers fired the first shot against the Bulls, the media from other places had become allies of Philadelphia.

　　In Su Feng's previous life, even during the Lakers dynasty after Jordan's farewell, the NBA was in a state of division.

　　In Hawkeye's words in "Avengers 4": "Don't give me hope."

　　At this moment, after the 76ers gave hope to other teams in advance, Su Feng had no idea how much the 76ers' victory over the Bulls would affect this year's playoffs.

　　"Su, hello.

　　Can you tell us what your purpose was in jumping on the technical table and saying 'I want to defeat Michael Jordan' shortly after the start of this game?" a reporter from New York asked curiously.

　　"As you all know, Michael Jordan is my idol.

　　In my opinion, the way to pay tribute to an idol is not to fear him, but to try every means to defeat him.

　　For this reason, I said when I participated in the draft that the purpose of skipping college was to have a match with Michael Jordan.

　　In a basketball game, someone wins and someone loses.

　　Although I am still very young, I don't want to waste the opportunity in front of me," Su Feng replied, taking out his prepared statement.

　　Well... if he lost tonight, Su Feng had another heartfelt statement of 3,000 words.

　　"Su, congratulations on winning tonight's game.

　　Before this series started, you said that the outcome of your game against the Bulls was fifty-fifty.

　　So, in your opinion, after winning this game, what positive effects will it have on your next games?" a reporter from Los Angeles asked.

　　"Of course, the positive side is obvious, but I don't think winning this Game 1 is the same as winning this series.

　　The Bulls are still the strongest team in this league. We must do every detail well and seize every opportunity to continue to create miracles in the next games.

　　We will continue to work hard and strive to play our own style in every game." Rigorous, low-key, and meticulous, wave when you should, be steady when you should, this was Su Feng's usual routine.

　　The reporters on the scene were once again surprised by Su Feng, because if Su Feng's act of jumping on the technical table made you think he was a 19-year-old kid, then now...

　　Everyone began to think again, was this guy really only 19 years old?

　　Sentimental Melo, rational Emperor, isn't it fun to switch between personas?

　　"Looking at it this way... the nickname 'Flash' is indeed not suitable for me," Su Feng thought silently after the press conference...

　　…

　　ps: A total of 15,000 words have been updated! (Although it's across days) I'll work on another chapter tonight, and go to sleep after finishing 20,000 words, and then recharge my energy to fight the tough battle at the beginning of May. (I'll open another chapter later, because I want to answer the questions that several handsome readers are most concerned about)