During the break between sessions, Scales did not plan any more tactics. By this time, in fact, more tactics were useless.
The game has reached this point. In the third quarter, after Chen Jie faced off against the Celtics alone, both sides became jealous.
Now, the Bulls players on the field are mainly responsible for defending and grabbing the boss. They help Chen Jie contain defensive players when attacking. They have no other role.
Although the Celtics seem to have several players still scoring, such as Gary Payton and others, Skiles and Chen Jie also know that in the fourth quarter, they can only rely on Paul Pierce.
At this time, it is time to look at the individual abilities of the stars. Occasionally, one or two role players may emerge as saviors, but such things are rare. Moreover, it cannot be arranged by tactics.
In the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, Paul Pierce had been sitting on the bench. It seemed that Rivers was also preparing to let him come on for a direct victory.
Chen Jie didn't rest because he couldn't rest now. Unlike Paul Pierce, the Celtics could still attack without him, but without Chen Jie, the Bulls' young players couldn't find their way at all.
Just as Pippen thought, the Bulls are now a group of talented young people with promising prospects, but few of them can fight tough battles.
Chen Jie counts as one, but besides Chen Jie, who else is there?
Luer Deng? Duhon? Hinrich? Or maybe Chandler?
These people may give support to Chen Jie at critical moments, but if they are to take the lead alone, there is still a long way to go.
As a rookie, Chen Jie is so valued by the team. His importance in the team is so high. This is a challenge and an opportunity.
At least, if this continues, there is no doubt that Chen Jie will become a superstar in the future. However, with such high-intensity competition and playing like this as soon as he enters the league, it is also surprising how long Chen Jie's career will be.
Very worried.
But now, this is not the time to think about it.
In the eyes of Chen Jie, Skiles, and all the fans at the United Center, what is more important at this moment is to win this game first.
In three minutes, Chen Jie added five more points. The score in this game has reached 45 points, only six points away from his career high score of 51 points.
If the current situation continues, it is certain that Chen Jie will set the highest score in his career. The only question is how many points Chen Jie can score.
60 points? Or more?
This year, Kobe has yet to score 81 points, and Zhang Dashuai's 100 points is regarded as an unsurpassable record.
These days, any player who scores more than 60 points is enough to become a long-lasting classic in the league. Even 50 points is enough to shock the league, just like the game when Chen Jie scored 51 points.
If Chen Jie can score 60 points in this game, you can imagine how panic the league will fall into. The popularity of Chen Jie as a rookie and the importance other teams attach to him will definitely reach a new level.
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Perhaps even at that time, Chen Jie's status in the league could be compared with super scorers such as Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, and Tracy McGrady.
60 points can be said to be a hurdle. It is completely different from 50 points. Which player who scores 60 points is not a superstar? Is he not a future Hall of Fame player?
In this game, the fans at the United Center were not only looking forward to victory, but also looking forward to Chen Jie scoring 60 points.
United Center, it has been a long time since I tasted what it feels like to have a player score 60 points.
Since Jordan retired, no Bulls player has scored 60 points at the United Center.
Even when Jordan was here, he rarely scored 60 points. At that time, the defensive intensity of the league was not the same as it is now.
If Chen Jie can score 60 points in this game, then there is no doubt that no matter how he falls in the future, the United Center and the Chicago Bulls will never forget him.
Ever since Michael Jordan scored 60 points against the Orlando Magic in 1993, the United Center has been waiting for this kind of individual heroics for a long time.
In fact, the entire alliance has been looking forward to it for a long time.
After entering 2000, there have been very few 60-point performances. In March of this year, Tracy McGrady scored 62 points in a game against the Wizards, which is the closest 60+ performance to date.
Counting further back, in 2000, Shaquille O'Neal scored 61 points against the city rival Clippers.
After entering the new century, NBA has only had two 60+ performances in total. If Chen Jie can do it today, then he will be the third player in the new century to score 60 points in a single game.
Such an honor is even greater than winning this game, entering the playoffs, and being an All-Star!
Many fans at the United Center actually expected Chen Jie to score 60 points rather than win the game.
But at this time, Chen Jie, who was dribbling the ball on the court looking for a breakthrough opportunity, didn't know that many people had such expectations for him.
In his heart, the first priority is to win this game.
It's not that he didn't have the confidence to score sixty points, or that he saw through such personal glory, but that he didn't think about it at all.
So what if you scored 51 points in that game? Weren’t you questioned by the media afterwards?
Chen Jie didn't think that if he scored 60 points, people in the league would start to worship him.
Breakthrough, three-man attack, pull-up, layup, ball in, fall, get up quickly, return to defense...
This kind of scene has appeared to Chen Jie more than once in this game.
Every time he fell down and got up again, Chen Jie felt that his steps were a little heavier.
However, he can't rest yet, he still needs to fight.
After the Celtics' baseline ball was sent, Payton took the ball across half court and called a timeout.
Skiles knew that at this time, Paul Pierce should come on the court.
Next, comes the most critical decisive moment of this game.
Can Chen Jie still have enough physical strength?
That's what Skiles is most concerned about right now.
With eight minutes and 36 seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Bulls led by four points, 78 to 74.
This score is very low. Moreover, out of the 78 points, 45 points and nearly two-thirds of the points were scored by Chen Jie.
From this data, we can see what the plot of this game is like.
After the timeout, Paul Pierce went into battle. At this moment, everyone understood that the decisive battle had come!
The atmosphere in the United Center is awesome.
Even Scottie Pippen and Jessica Alba couldn't help but stand up. (To be continued...)
