Bishop of the Abyss

Chapter 196 196. Easy crushing: full suppression!
The Timberwolves kept Ben Wallace in the penalty area throughout the first half, and the defense system of "Glove" Payton, Artest, Gerald Wallace and others brought great trouble to the Jazz.

And Deron Williams can only shoot in the middle and long distances. Once he uses the pick-and-roll to break through the inside, Williams will face at least two DPOY-level double-teams.

Because the Timberwolves' defense rotation is very fast on the defensive end, even if Williams faces double-teaming, it is difficult to find opportunities in the first place.

As for Boozer, he became soft under Artest's tough body. He only made 9 of 3 shots in the first half, and only contributed 7 points including free throws.

Boozer is 117 meters tall and weighs [-] kilograms. He is definitely a very strong and powerful power forward.

However, Boozer's style of play is very inconsistent with his appearance. Most of Boozer's shots are from the middle distance on both sides.

From the only average of 0.3 blocks per game in the season, it is not difficult to see that Boozer has a body, but he does not have a macho heart.

Although Artest is only [-] meters tall, he is on par with Boozer in terms of weight. Throughout the first half, Artest confronted Boozer toughly. The offense had a big impact.

Artest's close defense made Boozer lack of shooting space, and Boozer was much slower than Artest in terms of speed. It is undoubtedly a dream to break through Artest head-on one-on-one.

This also led to Boozer having to force shots under Artest's defense in most cases, and the offensive efficiency dropped significantly compared to the regular season.

The defensive crisis faced by Deron Williams and Boozer caused the Jazz's offensive system to collapse in half.

After all, apart from Deron Williams and Boozer in the starting lineup, only Okur is barely a threat. As for Kirilenko and Fisher, both Timberwolves are fully committed.

These two made 20% of their three-pointers in a season, and 30% of their three-pointers in one season. As long as they didn't cut to the basket, the Timberwolves didn't bother to defend on the court.

Just put the remaining defensive focus on center Mehmet Okur, and the Jazz will naturally fall into a passive position.

Relying on the excellent defensive restrictions against the Jazz on the defensive end, at the end of the half game, the Timberwolves led the Jazz by 14 points at home to end the contest.

.........

"boom!"

"Damn it, there were many intentional fouls in the first half and the referee didn't call the penalty. This is simply a blatant black whistle!"

During the halftime break, in the Jazz locker room, Carlos Boozer angrily punched the locker.

In the first half, Artest's defense against Boozer was very tough, and the two had muscular collisions throughout the whole process.

Artest, who was already irritable during the collision, couldn't control his strength at all and knocked Boozer to the ground many times, but the referee did not whistle.

Body whistle is not as serious as it is in later generations. As long as it is not a foul that directly affects the scoring rhythm, and some body collisions that may cause sparks, the referee will not hold on to it.

Especially in the playoffs, frequent physical confrontation has long become commonplace.

Boozer tried to get the whistle from the referee many times by flopping, but the referee was always indifferent, which made Boozer extremely angry at halftime.

"In the second half, we changed our strategy and shifted our offensive focus to Mehmet."

"The opponent kept Ben in the penalty area through zone defense in the first half. Even if Mehmet was also marked on the outside, Mehmet's shot environment is obviously better than others."

"Deron, in the second half you used yourself and Carlos' pick-and-roll threats to create opportunities for Memet."

"Now we are a full 14 points behind the Timberwolves. If we continue to play at the previous pace, we will definitely face a loss in this game."

Animating the tactical run of the second half on the tactical board, Jerry Sloan looked at everyone with a serious face.

"I will try to create opportunities for Mehmet." Deron Williams agreed slightly unhappy.

…………

Back in the second half of the game, Iverson was still brave on the offensive end. Facing the defense of the "old fish" Fisher, Iverson was at a disadvantage in physical confrontation, but in terms of speed, Iverson could beat Fisher by two. There are more than one street.

Using Artest's off-ball pick-and-roll for himself, Iverson can easily leave Fisher behind. In most cases, Fisher can only stop Iverson's scoring through fouls.

Excessive hand movements also caused Fisher to get the fifth foul of the game in just over three minutes of the third quarter, and had to be taken off the field by Jerry Sloan in advance.

Fisher, who made the fifth offense, sat off the court with helpless eyes. Looking at Iverson's heroic personal state on the court, Fisher seemed to have regained the feeling of the Lakers and 76ers in the round of the finals.

In the round of the finals that year, Iverson was as brave and fearless as this game, and Fisher also had nothing to do with Iverson on the defensive end, so he could only let his teammate Tyronn Lue defend.

It's a pity that Fisher had two stars, Kobe Bryant and "Shark" O'Neal, by his side back then. Even if the entire series was riddled with holes by Iverson, Fisher followed the team to win the finals that year. champion.

But now the teammates around Fisher are not so good.

It wasn't until this time that Fisher discovered that the 76ers lost the finals not because Iverson was too weak, but because the teammates around him were too strong!
Throughout the second half, Iverson's excellent personal performance basically took over half of the Timberwolves' points.

Even though Jerry Sloan once double-teamed Iverson, Iverson's sharp breakthrough directly tore through the Jazz's defense, allowing the Timberwolves to firmly take the initiative.

If it weren't for Jazz center Mehmet Okur's outstanding performance, I am afraid that the Jazz will enter garbage time early after the end of the three quarters.

In the third quarter, Okur hit three three-pointers in a single quarter from beyond the three-point line, helping the Jazz complete a wave of life extensions.

However, the two core players, Deron Williams and Boozer, have not been able to find their status. Even if Okur scored 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists in the third quarter, the Jazz are still about 15 points behind the Timberwolves.

Okur averaged 17.6 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2 assists per game this season, making him the Jazz's second-leading scorer besides Boozer.

And as a center player, Okur averaged 4.2 three-pointers per game, and his three-pointer percentage was as high as 38.4%.

There is nothing wrong with Sloan choosing to shift the offensive burden of the second half to Okur, but Okur is not a player with explosive scoring ability after all.

What Okur is best at is the catch and shoot after opening the space, and the low defense on the defensive end.

Jerry Sloan let Okuru take on the offensive burden of the Jazz in the second half at halftime, and it was really helpless.

Unfortunately, Okur was able to continue the firepower output for the Jazz for two to three rounds, but when the Timberwolves gradually shifted their defensive focus to Okur, Okur's offensive efficiency began to plummet.

When the Timberwolves began to focus on defending Okur's off-ball shots, forcing Okur to attack with the ball, Okur's situation became extremely embarrassing.

Okur has no advantage in defense against Ben Wallace in the penalty area, and Okur does not have this ability in singles with the ball from the outside.

Until the end of the game, Okur, who scored 26 points in three quarters, only scored 3 points in the fourth quarter.

The helpless Utah Jazz also lost to the Timberwolves by 22 points, forcing the total score of the series to be rewritten to 0:1.

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

　　
　
(End of this chapter)