Chapter 680 - 57 Mountain_2

Jordan still harbored doubts about Jackson, before the Bulls could seriously contend with the Portland Trail Blazers.

The players were about to go out for warm-ups, the reporters were asked to leave the locker room, and Phil Jackson began burning sage and beating a hand drum to gather the players for the pre-game strategy meeting.

This game’s strategy by Phil Jackson was completely different from the previous battle with Gump.

He wrote a big name on the whiteboard: "Gump".

Then he marked a big cross over the name.

Horace Grant asked, "Are we going to kill Gump?"

Jackson shook his head and said, "You might as well kill me."

Everyone laughed, maintaining peace was important in the game against the Trail Blazers.

Jackson continued, "We need to encircle Gump in defense, suppress his efficiency."

"Bobby Beelman loves efficiency, and Gump is the most efficient scorer in the league."

"We cannot let him shoot in the sweet spot area, we need to push him into uncomfortable offensive zones, forcing him to pass, and prevent him from finding his rhythm. Also, pray that he has a poor shooting night."

"We need to win this game, we need to forget past failures, and turn our disadvantage against the Portland people with a victory."

"They were better than us in the past, but the world is always changing, we are becoming better."

Jackson was honest, he didn’t shy away from Gump’s strength, and admitted that defending him required a lot of luck, which is an important reason why he was supported by the players as a head coach.

He was a former player, he knew what the players were thinking, and while a grandiloquent speaker could temporarily inspire everyone and energize everyone, a sincere and earnest coach who honestly points out and resolves issues is the one who can truly make players serve him with their hearts.

Then, Jackson specifically asked Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant to assist Bill Cartwright in defending Gump.

Cartwright was an experienced, tough center, but in the previous match against the Trail Blazers, he was completely overwhelmed by Gan Guoyang, zeroed out on both offense and defense.

Now, with Gump moving to the power forward position, logically, Cartwright should be matched against Sabonis, yet Jackson did not plan to let Cartwright off the hook.

He asked Cartwright to primarily defend Gump, allowing him to also partly focus on Sabonis, then, Pippen and Grant would deal aggressively with Gump.

This was the most effective strategy against Gump developed by Dick Motta, relying on flexible and strong forwards to timely, ruthlessly, and desperately double-team Gan Guoyang to barely suppress Gump’s frightening firepower and reduce his efficiency.

Scottie Pippen had displayed his exceptional help defense in the paint during his rookie season.

His extraordinary physical capabilities and awareness granted him a comprehensive defensive presence.

Whereas, Horace Grant was also a defensively promising power forward; although slightly at a disadvantage in size (claimed to be 6’10" but actually about 6’9"), he brought an advantage in agility that allowed him to manage both inside and outside the paint.

By comparison, Charles Oakley was a purer inside player; Jerry Krause, recognizing the potential in Grant, traded Oakley to the Knicks and retained Grant for nurturing.

This brought up an issue: Jordan always found Grant displeasing.

When Jackson asked Grant to mark Gump, Jordan scornfully said, "He’s going to get torn apart by Gump, then eaten piece by piece."

Faced with Jordan’s negativity, Grant straightforwardly responded, "I won’t, I will contain him."

Jordan looked sharply at Grant, stating, "You better keep yourself alive; I’ll remind Gump to put some pressure on you."

Grant did not say more, only lowered his head and avoided Jordan’s gaze, a surrendering gesture.

Inside the Bulls, no one could challenge Jordan; it was normal not to feel submissive internally, but outwardly, Jordan held absolute control.

Phil Jackson did not stop Jordan’s chastisement of his teammates, as this was exactly what he wanted to see.

He told all players that Jordan was the absolute leader, not to please Jordan—this was the difference between Jackson and Doug Collins; Collins always tried to please Jordan.

Jackson did so to tell Jordan, "You are the leader, so you need to lead by example, do the most, bear the greatest responsibility. You must take on many things that ordinary players don’t, including motivating the growth of teammates."

Back in 1984, in the U.S. Olympic basketball team, Bobby Knight had positioned Jordan this way.

You are the core of the team, if something goes wrong, I only scold you, because you, as the leader, did not lead the team properly.

Thus, in the Chicago Bulls, being "the boss" is not just an honor, it implies not just privileges but also unrestricted responsibilities and the heaviest burdens.

"Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," a saying of Gump’s, would accompany Jordan throughout his basketball career, urging him to keep moving forward.

In this game, Jackson put Pippen and Grant against Gan Guoyang, one important purpose being to urge the growth of the two players.

Phil Jackson viewed the building of the Bulls team with a developmental perspective; regular season games were not just for racking up records for him, the growth and progress of young players were equally important, or even more important than records.

A coach who only cares about current records, not valuing player development and future prospects, is bound to be just a transient coach.