Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 195.
On April 4, local time in the United States, the first round of the playoffs between the Timberwolves and the Jazz officially started.

Before the start of this round of the series, the Utah Jazz had only a 4.6% chance of being upset and advancing on the odds list published by ESPN.

I believe that the 4.6% support rate still comes from black fans of the Timberwolves. To be honest, the promotion rate of the Utah Jazz in the public eye is probably less than 3%.

The low promotion rate is not due to the poor performance of the Utah Jazz this season, but because the Jazz's opponent, the Timberwolves, is too strong.

Even if the head star Kevin Garnett is reimbursed for the season, the strength of the Timberwolves is still frightening.

Especially at the end of the season, Gerald Wallace gradually began to integrate into the team system, and the defensive cooperation with Artest and Ben Wallace became more and more tacit, which allowed the Timberwolves to show a hole in the defense line. Make up, until the end of the regular season, the Timberwolves' defensive efficiency still ranks first in the league.

In addition, the growth of Millsap, Spanoulis and others has also become a surprise for the Timberwolves this season.

Although I don't know what kind of performance these young people will deliver in the upcoming playoffs, the Timberwolves already have the embryonic form of establishing a dynasty and are still the biggest favorites in the league today.

Even if the Dallas Mavericks' record in the regular season is better than the Timberwolves, the odds of winning the championship are nearly [-] percentage points less than the Timberwolves. This is the gap between the two teams exposed from the perspective of fans.

This season, the Jazz completed a counterattack under the leadership of coach Sloan. Not only did the regular season win 10 more games than last season, but even the offensive efficiency ushered in a very big improvement.

All this is also due to the growth of the team's master Deron Williams.

Jazz coach Jerry Sloan can be regarded as a living fossil coach in the NBA. Since coaching in 79, Sloan has coached in the NBA for more than 20 seasons.

Among them, 18 seasons were spent in the Utah Jazz. It can be said that Sloan has witnessed the ups and downs of the Jazz team.

Witnessed the combination of Stockton and Karl Malone, until now ushered in a brand new pair of kings, Deron Williams and Boozer.

Mr. Sloan is one of the only coaches with a thousand victories in the NBA. Even though Sloan has never led the team to win an NBA championship so far, Sloan's greatness no longer needs a championship to set off.

Especially for the contribution to pick-and-roll tactics, no coach in the entire history can surpass Sloan in the art of pick-and-roll.

It's just a pity that Cheng also picks and rolls and picks and rolls. Although Jerry Sloan has used pick-and-roll tactics to become one of the only coaches with a thousand victories in the NBA, it is precisely because of his obsession with pick-and-roll tactics that Sloan has never won a championship in his career until now.

Although a small pick-and-roll tactic can evolve hundreds of offensive options, Sloan's coaching philosophy is too rigid. Even if he loses, he still instills his own set of ideas for the team.

It is precisely because of this that at the end of his career, Sloan had conflicts with many Jazz players, until the final breakup left a lot of infamy.

Fans can obviously find that Deron Williams and Boozer have the shadows of Stockton and Karl Malone.

It's not that the playing styles of the two are very close to the old Utah Shuangsha, but that what the two of them did in Sloan's tactical system is exactly what the Utah Shuangsha did back then.

Also, the point guard and the power forward use the pick-and-roll to launch the attack in the high position, and then the center player stands on the outside to open up space, with a shooter on the right bottom corner, and the last one from the left to the inside. Cut the striker.

The core system of the entire Jazz team makes people can't help but think of the Jazz team ten years ago, with the same lineup configuration and the same positioning and playing style, but the faces of ten years ago have been replaced by today's newcomers.

Seeing Jerry Sloan's meticulous appearance on the sidelines, Luke couldn't help shaking his head, and even couldn't bear to break Jerry Sloan's tactical beliefs.

Luke didn't know if Jerry Sloan's spiritual pillar would collapse when the pick-and-roll tactics that Jerry Sloan was proud of were shattered by his own hands.

After all, the era of Jerry Sloan has passed. As the outside world understands pick-and-roll tactics more and more deeply, it is difficult for Sloan's coaching method to compete for the championship.

Especially for Luke, who is nearly 20 years ahead of the current era, Sloan's set is simply a delivery, "he is really a stubborn old man."

The Utah Jazz's starting lineup for this game is: Deron Williams, "Old Fish" Fisher, Kirilenko, Boozer, and Mehmet Okur.

The Timberwolves are: "Glove" Payton, Iverson, Gerald Wallace, Artest, and Ben Wallace.

The Timberwolves continued to use their starting lineup in the regular season, while the Jazz made some adjustments.

Originally, the Jazz's starting shooting guard should be three-point shooter Girisek, which is the role played by "laser gun" Hornacek ten years ago.

However, the Timberwolves' starting No. [-] is the league's scoring leader Allen Iverson. As a white shooter, Gilliek's defense is very broken.

Moreover, Girisek is notoriously dislikes physical confrontation. Facing the league's leading scorer who is good at breakthroughs like Iverson, Girisek's end will be very miserable.

So even if Gillisek's three-point shooting rate was as high as 42% during the regular season, Sloan had to put Fisher, who was better defensively, in the starting lineup, otherwise the Jazz's defense would likely face collapse.

This season, "Old Fish" Fisher averaged 10.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1 steal per game, and his defensive efficiency ranked second in the team after Kirilenko.

However, Fisher's shortcomings are also obvious, that is, the offense is not stable enough.

This season, Fisher's shooting percentage is only 38.2%, and his three-point shooting percentage is 30.8%, still continuing his career efficiency of nothing.

Since entering the league in 96, in the ten seasons, Fisher has only had two seasons in which his field goal percentage was higher than 40%. His career shooting percentage of 38.5% is really appalling.

If it weren't for the excellent core strength and the hard work on the defensive end, a point guard like Fisher with the same poor overall outlook would have been eliminated by the league long ago.

In this game, Sloan's choice to put Fisher in the starting lineup is very obvious. He hopes that Fisher can limit Allen Iverson's offense and prevent Iverson from cutting melons and vegetables in this round of the series.

The Jazz played extremely uncomfortable on the offensive end throughout the first half. The Jazz were originally a team with very strong tactical execution, but when Luke put up a zone defense on the court and kept Ben Wallace in the penalty area, it was impossible to let Okur pulled it to the outside line at the same time.

The Jazz's offensive area can only be pushed to the middle distance on both sides and the three-point line.

However, the Timberwolves are the team with the best forward defense in the league today, and there is no one at all.

There are not many opportunities for the Jazz at the mid-range position on both sides, and Fisher has no advantage against Iverson.

The Jazz could only use the individual abilities of Deron Williams and Boozer to score in the first half.

However, neither of them is a master in one-on-one singles. Deron Williams' advantage is that he is physically strong. When he breaks inside, he can force a layup against his opponent. Even if he is facing "Glove" Payton, he also has a physical advantage. .

But the Timberwolves' excellent defensive ability forced Deron Williams to not easily break into the inside line, which greatly oppressed Deron Williams' offensive space and made Deron Williams' offensive efficiency extremely low.

　Ask for a monthly ticket, ask for a recommendation ticket, thank you, third child!

　　
　
(End of this chapter)