On the bench, Jordan and his teammates were chugging Gatorade, drenched in sweat.
In the third quarter, to counter Magic's rapid passing, the Bulls' key players expended too much energy and stamina on defense.
Now they didn't even have the spare energy to talk, all busy trying to recover.
Actually, this was the norm for the Bulls after the third quarter; the veteran squad always seemed exhausted after a sprint.
But if they were five years younger, they could have played two quarters of defense with the quality of just now.
Yet now, just playing that level of defense in the third quarter nearly cost them half their lives.
However, in previous games, the Bulls could afford the price of sacrificing half their lives, using a defense as ferocious as a bear trap to directly kill the game.
In the repeated mistakes and counterattacks by the Bulls, countless opponents saw their confidence eroded by the end of the third quarter.
