novelraw Chapter 62 The 1st dirtiest person in NBA history!
Chapter 62 The 1st dirtiest person in NBA history!
Having left Los Angeles and completed another road trip, the Bulls are now entitled to two more days of rest.
In the past two days, Jackson has become almost violent, locking the doors of the training facility and prohibiting anyone from coming to the facility outside of training hours. He also made it clear that:
"If anyone messes up their game because of spite or fooling around, they'd better go sit on the bench!"
"No matter who it is, including Jordan, Pippen, and everyone on the team!"
After Jackson's near-furious outburst, both Jordan and Pippen finally behaved themselves. Although they still had to compete with Lin Tian in training, they finally stopped using their outrageous double-team tactics in practice.
After a few days of rest, the Bulls finally showed their form as one of the league's top teams, defeating the visiting Nets and the league's newcomer Raptors in succession at home. In the two games, the Bulls won by a total of 47 points!
They shook off the gloom of their previous upset loss to the Clippers and hit the road again!
In these two games, Lin Tian also played in perfect form, scoring 20+ points in both games and playing more than 20 minutes in each game!
The system's task of giving him 20 minutes of playing time in 10 consecutive games has finally started counting again.
As the Bulls got back on track and the season progressed, Jackson once again began to adjust his lineup. The Bulls' five starting lineups were no longer fixed. In addition to Jordan and Pippen, even Rodman played two games off the bench!
Even though it's only January, Jackson, who is aiming for the championship, has already started preparing for the playoffs, working on team chemistry and finding the best lineup!
What's most surprising is the incredible consistency the Bulls displayed during this period!
Throughout January, the Bulls changed their starting lineup a total of 7 times, with 9 players starting, including Lin Tian who started twice. However, during this period, the Bulls only lost 1 game, achieving an absolutely perfect record!
No matter how they change their lineup or increase bench depth to experiment with different combinations, they can still win game after game and maintain their position as the league's number one team!
By January 31st, the Bulls had once again achieved a 9-game winning streak!
Their overall record has improved to an astonishing 41 wins and 6 losses!
Not only does he still hold the top spot in the league without any doubt, but Jordan is also averaging 31 points per game this season, while Hakeem Olajuwon, who is second in scoring, is only averaging 27 points per game! This 4-point lead means that Jordan has essentially secured his 8th scoring title 3 months in advance!
The Bulls are averaging 105 points per game this season, ranking first in the league, and allowing only 92 points per game, the second fewest in the league!
In other words, the Bulls have the best offense and the second-best defense this season!
Their average point differential is undoubtedly the best in the league!
Chicago's terrifying dominance had already swept through the entire league by the time the season was halfway through! It had the whole league trembling in fear!
This season seems to be coming to an end prematurely!
And the Bulls' goal has unknowingly changed from winning the championship to achieving the best record in NBA history!
After all, based on the Bulls' current winning percentage, their winning percentage in the first half of the season is the second highest in league history!
Second only to the invincible Lakers of the 1971-1972 season! That Lakers team that achieved a 33-game winning streak, a perfect record of 69 wins and 13 losses for the whole season, and finally broke the Celtics' monopoly to win the championship!
Now, the Bulls are the most likely team to break the Lakers' record and become the first team in NBA history to achieve 70 wins in a single season!
Everyone had high expectations for them!
On January 31, 1996, the Bulls, who had won nine straight games, hosted another strong opponent at the United Center in Chicago.
Jordan and the Bulls' old rivals, the second-ranked team in the West, the Utah Jazz, led by the Utah duo of Karl Malone and John Stockton!
For the Bulls, the Jazz are definitely a formidable opponent. This season, they are second in the Western Conference, only behind the SuperSonics, who are also led by two superstars.
The duo of Malone and Stockton is a well-known golden partnership in the NBA! They played together for nearly 20 years and won countless honors together, except for the championship, of course!
Besides being known as the Utah Twins, the duo of Malone and Stockton also have another particularly resounding nickname.
Utah Double Dirty or Utah Double Black!
These two players are incredibly dirty when they play!
Throughout NBA history, there have been countless players known for their dirty play, including Laimbeer, Mahorn, Oakley, Mason, and later Bowen, Beverley, Pachulia, and many others.
It's worth noting, however, that most of these players are role players, not the core of the team. In other words, while the true star players might be tough and make dirty moves, most top stars wouldn't stoop to doing dirty work to injure others.
I can't afford to lose face like that!
Malone and Stockton are the absolute outliers on this list!
Both of them can be considered superstars in the league. In terms of ability, status, and statistics, they are all top-tier players in the league!
But these two people have a peculiar love for dirty tricks, underhanded tactics, kicking, and crippling people with elbows!
They're dirty, and they love to do things themselves!
Therefore, if you were to pick the dirtiest person in NBA history, opinions would be divided, and many people would be nominated.
However, if we were to add the prefix "top star" to this selection, then sorry, looking at the entire history of the NBA, there are only these two!
Dirty and good at fighting are their best labels!
Perhaps it is their shared love of playing dirty that has allowed these two guys to work together seamlessly and fight side by side in Utah for nearly 20 years!
Birds of a feather flock together!
Therefore, the Jazz are not only one of the top teams in the league, but they are also the most unpopular team in the entire league! Especially after the Detroit Pistons' Bad Boys disbanded, they became the most hated bastard team in the entire league!
It's fair to say that outside of Utah, they can hardly find any fans!
Who would like decent people like them?
The Chicagoans were actually quite unhappy about facing the Jazz at this time.
This marks their third nine-game winning streak this season.
On their previous two occasions, they both suffered defeats when they were aiming for a 10-game winning streak.
This is their third attempt to achieve a 10-game winning streak!
But at this very moment, they encountered the toughest nut to crack in the league, and also the most dreaded and hated opponent!