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Chapter 207 The True Secret of Lying and Winning

The highly anticipated second round of the playoffs has finally begun.

On the west side... On May 5th, the Suns played against the Spurs, and on the 11th of the previous day, the Rockets played against the Jazz.

Houston Rockets.

In 84, he captured Olajuwon, the current No. 85 pick, and rushed out of the Western Conference in the 86-[-] season. He joined forces with the Celtics in the Eastern Conference in the finals. Although he failed to win the championship that year, he also accumulated a lot for the Rockets. experience.

However, the embarrassing thing is that after that, the Rockets' record went from bad to worse, with occasional second-round tours, frequent first-round tours, and even the shadow of the Rockets in the playoffs in individual seasons.

As for this season, Olajuwon's data is still strong, and his regular season record looks good, but he played a 3:2 with the Clippers in the first round. Mars, Rockets coach Rudy Tomjanovich expressed headaches.

Throughout the Rockets' game, this is a single-core team built by a center. Olajuwon is the core of the core, and his performance is the most critical factor affecting the victory or defeat of the game, so the most annoying thing for the Rockets is to hit The most feared thing about going to a strong inside team is that Olajuwon will be blocked.

In view of this, the Rockets have prepared Olajuwon's right-hand man inside, power forward Otis Thorpe.

Thorpe and Olajuwon entered the 84 draft at the same time, and the 9th pick in the first round was won by the Kings. The pick is not high, but Thorpe averaged 20.8 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in the last season of the Kings. , It can be described as a first-class power forward at the time.

Although when it comes to the Rockets, he became Olajuwon's second child, and his statistics have declined, but Thorpe can provide Olajuwon with a lot of help. The key factor for the Rockets to rank second in the Western Conference this season.

However, compared with the Jazz... don't talk about other things, just talk about the inside.

At the power forward position, Thorpe and Malone match up.

In terms of strength, Thorpe is not as good as Malone; in terms of statistics, Thorpe's peak data is not as good as Malone, and in this position, the Rockets' disadvantages have basically been determined.

As for the center position, the match between Olajuwon and Li Shengli.

This season's Olajuwon, just looking at the data, can be called the strongest center, but the new generation of center Li Shengli who has suddenly emerged cannot be underestimated. The gap between the two is not as big as that of the power forward position, so just look at these , The Jazz have even greater advantages.

Although the game is not better than the past data, the data is just a reference, and it really depends on the on-the-spot performance, but the Rockets coach Rudy is still worried. After all, the Jazz still has an assist king outside, Stockton...the crazy average of 12 assists , Far from being comparable to the Rockets point guard.

luxury!

Even luxury!

The Jazz's lineup made Rudy a little envious of Jerry Sloan. After all, with Lee Mars in hand, he could sleep on the sidelines or on the floor when he encountered a weaker opponent.

Lay to win!

This is a real win by lying down!

Sleep until the end of the game, and then go to the post-match interview to brag and praise the opponent's sportsmanship. This is definitely the highest treatment for the head coach.

But Rudy is envious. There are no weak teams in the playoffs, let alone the Rockets. The Jazz want to make the next move in Houston, and Rudy must be the first to refuse.

After all, the Rockets, who have Olajuwon and are slowly running in, are already very strong. What they have to do is to maintain their current competitiveness and wait for an opportunity to overcome the hurdle of the Jazz.

……

Utah Jazz VS Houston Rockets, the second round of G1 battle officially started.

Jazz starters: center Li Shengli, power forward Karl Malone, small forward Tyrone Corbin, point guard John Stockton, shooting guard John Crotty.

Seriously, the weakest link in this starting lineup is shooting guard Crotty, but there's no way...you have to lose, Jeff Malone was used to trade Li Shengli.

This position was originally played by Jane Furhenlis, but let Crotty start, and Jerry Sloan took a fancy to his defensive ability.

Play defense with a shooting guard?

Shooting guards don't score, sounds like bullshit.

But in fact... the Jazz does not lack sporadic firepower from the outside. Even if Jeff Malone is still there, there will be a lot less shots from the outside, so Crotty is the most suitable candidate, a shooting guard who focuses on defense and ignores scoring. .

……

Rockets starters: center Hakeem Olajuwon, power forward Otis Thorpe, small forward Robert Horry, point guard Kenny Smith, shooting guard Vernon Maxwell.

Needless to say, there are two guards in this lineup. Kenny and Vernon are worth mentioning, because they both like to shoot three-pointers.

Although in this era of poor three-pointers, Vernon still averaged 5.1 three-pointers per game, and his shooting percentage was 33.2%.

Two-pointers are hard to kill, but three-pointers are fine. If Vernon and Kenny can make a straight three-pointer, it will be quite difficult for the Jazz to catch up with two points from the inside, and this is why Jerry The reason why Long started the defensive shooting guard Crotty.

Crotty and Stockton are the main force to restrain Vernon and Kenny, and at the same time... Crotty also likes to shoot three-pointers.

……

In the jump ball stage, Li Shengli and Olajuwon met in midfield.

"Lee, we meet again!"

"Yeah, we meet again, brother!"

"I want to win this game, you... don't resist!" Olajuwon's face was calm, but looking at Li Shengli, he felt blocked in his heart.

He was the only quadruple-double record holder among active centers, but Li Shengli also scored a quadruple-double and successfully joined him.

He is the holder of the single-game rebound record in the playoffs, but Li Shengli played in the playoffs for the first time, covering his record of 32 rebounds with 26 rebounds in the first round.

Always feel that this kid is chasing after his own ass? !

In this regard, Olajuwon also felt the pressure from the new generation of centers.

"Brother, I'm sorry, I have to win this game, but...you can resist, but it's useless." Li Shengli was also expressionless.

The best rookie award was inexplicably awarded, and O'Neal met Olajuwon several times, including the All-Star Game, and was completely embarrassed by Olajuwon, so he has 1 reasons to play in Olajuwon. Zhu Wang proves that...he is better than O'Neill!

"Then let's touch it!"

The two looked at each other, suffocating all the strength in their bodies, and the real, all-out confrontation between the old and the new was shown in front of the entire league for the first time, and it was also the biggest highlight of this game.

……

The referee tossed the ball to the highest point, and the two started instantly. Even if it was just an unimportant jump ball, they used all their strength. However, Li Shengli's height still had the advantage. He successfully dialed the ball with superman wingspan and sent it to Stoke accurately. Don's hand, launching the Jazz's first round of offense.

(End of this chapter)