Bishop: since 1998

Chapter 20 Fighting the Utah Jazz!
Los Angeles, Great Western Forum.

August 99, 2, night.

In the second round of the regular season of the 98-99 season, the Lakers played against the Utah Jazz at home.

In the arena, there are no empty seats at this time, and the fans are very face-saving. However, while there is expectation on their faces, they are more nervous and worried.

"Nick, get out!
I thought I wouldn't have to worry about his terrible [-]-point shooting.

As a result, I found that the Lakers lineup has not become better than before! "

"Didn't you watch a game? Our Lakers have changed and become stronger.

That's the Rockets, the Rockets of the Big Three, couldn't withstand the impact of the Lakers, and swallowed a 42-point fiasco! "

"The Jazz is different, it is a mature team that has been attacking the front line of the championship, it is different from the Rockets, which was assembled temporarily.

Moreover, in the past few years, the Lakers faced the Jazz, but they couldn't get it right. They lost more than they won, but this time..."

"Shaq and Kobe are both growing up. The three elders of the Jazz are one year older. I feel that the Lakers can withstand it."

"Take what?

Look at the Bulls that created the dynasty, aren't their core players old?They didn't lose a few games seriously. "

"The core players of the Lakers have grown, but Phil Jackson was not invited to the head coach position. Against Ridge Sloan's famous coach, what use is Li Mu without being handsome?"

"Don't brag about the old man Sloan. Apart from the pick-and-roll tactics, he doesn't have any tactics."

"However, the Lakers are afraid of pick-and-roll tactics!"

"..."

After the warm-up is over, the starting lineups of the two teams are as follows:
Five Lakers, Billups, Kobe, Bowen, Big Ben, O'Neal.

Jazz 5 people, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek, Brian Russell, Karl Malone, Greg Ostertag.

"Beep beep beep~~"

As the game whistle blew and the basketball flew into the sky, O'Neal easily beat Ostertag and dialed the ball back.

Greg Ostertag was given the nickname 'Big Pyrenees', and he was a clumsy, floor-moving center from his name.

O'Neal is not too fat to jump, the first attack is the Lakers.

……

Billups catches the ball and dribbles a step, the flounder glances forward, suddenly his eyes light up, the movement of his hands is not slow, he pushes the ball with both hands, the basketball hits the floor, from the defense between Hornacek and Stockton through the gap.

At this time, a figure rushed out and rushed into the inside line, as agile and swift as a cheetah.

"It's Kobe Bryant, he bursts through the crowd and catches a surgically cut pass from Chauncey Billups."

"One more move, Kobe, the only thing left in front of me is the basket..."

Dribbling the ball and taking a big step, Kobe exerted force on his feet and jumped up. He wanted to catch the ball with one hand, but he couldn't grasp it steadily. He looked at the basket in the air as Li Mu's smiling face.

"Fuck it, play off the ball!"

Bang-dang-!
Grabbing the basketball with both hands and putting it on the back of his head, Kobe gritted his teeth and slammed it hard into the basket.

Kobe scored 2 points in a sneak attack and went to the next city first.

"The Lakers' offense was too risky.

The offensive rhythm is too fast, and it is not a good thing to play against the old-fashioned Jazz! "

TNT radio head Huadan continued to explain this focus battle.

Mike Breen knew that if the Lakers challenged the Jazz and wanted to win, they had to make different changes from before, but now that the tempo has changed so much, it is too easy to show flaws in front of the Jazz.

Groom Albert doesn't think so. The Lakers are a youth team, so what kind of bad intentions can there be if they are full of vigor?
"what?

Defensively, the Lakers continued their tactics against the Rockets in the last game.

Still pressing! ! "

On the field, Stockton's face was calm, or in other words, the whole Jazz team had a calm face, as if they didn't regard the Lakers as "alive".

Facing Billups' pressure, Stockton elbowed his right hand, protected the ball sideways, swayed his shoulders, and dribbled the ball to change direction, avoiding the steal like a freehand.

Ball control, in a word, is stable, like sticking to your hands.

Obviously looking slow, but can easily dodge the defense.

Folding back and continuing to rush, Billups just got close, Stockton changed direction with a cross dribble, like playing a violin, left and right, continuously changing directions, Billups was out of breath as if he couldn't hit the bullfighter's end bull.

When Stockton changed direction and turned again, Billups knocked Stockton, who was doing the action, to the ground as if he couldn't stop the car.

That's pretty cool!

Karl Malone rushed over from the flank of the three-point line, pushed in front of Billups, pushed, stared fiercely, and just about to say something harsh, O'Neal rushed over to separate, and Bowen also came over, With cold eyes on the side.

"Carl, don't make trouble, what bad thoughts can Chauncey have, this is just an ordinary foul!!"

O'Neal was very responsible, almost rushing over from the penalty area to fight, so that this conflict was quickly extinguished before it intensified.

"Chauncey Billups was in a hurry. He was played continuously. No one would be sane. Then, he made a retaliatory foul."

Mike Breen concluded.

"Of course, this is also a way to show toughness!"

"The two teams regard each other as rivals who will break through from the West this season. It is also necessary and inevitable to not give in to each other and get angry."

Groom Albert analyzed.

clap clap-!
On the sidelines, Li Mu applauded the field, and then gave O'Neal and Billups a thumbs up.

Fans outside the stadium also booed and cheered like a tsunami.

"That's how they should be done!!"

"For the Jazz, we must be tough, don't let them play wild in the Forum Arena!!"

"That's right, don't be fooled by that bad old man Stockton, his hands are not 'clean', and the movements of his hands are amazing!"

"..."

The Jazz have never won by relying on offense, but on rough moves and iron-blooded defense.

To put it bluntly, the Jazz are not a constructive team. They are more about destroying the opponent's offense on the court, and then relying on rich experience and pick-and-roll to defeat the opponent.

This style is like Mourinho's iron-blooded football. After stealing a goal, he immediately turns to defend.

Rather than letting Mourinho's team score another goal to kill the game, it is more efficient for them to use iron and blood defense to disrupt the opponent's offense.

The style of the Jazz is like this. The "goal" is a pick-and-roll tactic, and the rest is iron-blooded defense, using "destruction" to keep the victory.

In the strong dialogue, Li Mu naturally does not think that the Lakers can come up with a constructive offensive tactical system in a short period of time without going through a break-in, to defeat the Jazz team in front of them, which can be called the "uncrowned king" .

Since construction is not enough, it is nothing more than a comparison of destruction to see who can demolish the house better.

……

The Jazz have the ball.

On the sideline, Malone served to Stockton, and Billups immediately surrounded him.

With Malone's cover, he finally got rid of Billups' press.

In Li Mu's previous life, Billups was strong defensively, but he entered the second team of the best defense for the second time and the second team of the best team once.

The only thing that weighed on him was Kidd, the strongest point guard in active service at the time, "Ki does not attack".

No matter how famous Stockton is, he is now just a 37-year-old bad guy, and his decline in strength is inevitable.

At this moment, at the right time, he should give back what he got before.

This is called a new generation to replace the old ones, shooting dead on the beach is their way out.

Billups' first hurdle was broken, and immediately, Kobe rushed forward and continued to press.

O'Neal emptied Ostertag and also pulled it out. Regardless of whether the defense is effective or not, the Jazz's offensive space must be compressed for him.

At this point, the Jazz had only 12 seconds left to attack, and Stockton finally, finally pushed the basketball to the frontcourt.

At this time, the Lakers players returned to their positions. Malone has no three-point ability, and Stockton has three-point ability, but he is not used to shooting three-pointers.

Long-distance three-point shots from the outside were unimaginable in the late 90s, especially for the conservative Jazz.

In this way, the Lakers can calmly lay down the third line of defense, which is called zone defense.

Empty the outside three-point shot, force the ball holder, and shoot away from the basket.

Seeing that the Jazz didn't have much time to attack, Malone was entangled by Ben Wallace again, and the Jazz fell into a passive position. Of course, the move was a pick-and-roll tactic.

I saw Hornacek and Stockton playing a pick-and-roll tactic.

Hornacek got rid of Kobe's defense, caught the ball, dribbled one step, and against Billups' defense, he made a two-point jumper and shot at a much faster tempo to avoid the block.

Boom-!
"The 'Dead Light Gun' ran out of ammo and fired an empty shot.

The Jazz's first attack was lost under the layers of defense of the Lakers. In the end, they made a hasty shot and missed the shot. "

On the sidelines, at the Jazz coach's bench, Sloan frowned, and soon his face became calm again.

That's it?

Compress the offensive rhythm and fight defense to win?

This can be their second magic weapon for the Jazz to win. With no experience and no running-in, what can they use to win them?
Suddenly, Sloan's eyes sharpened, and his eyes moved to the court.

"Catch the ball, go forward for me!!"

On the court, O'Neal took off the rebound, took a step with the ball, pushed with both hands, and quickly passed the ball to Billups. After that, O'Neal also took big strides and rushed forward.

……

(End of this chapter)