NBA: This flower path is a bit strong.

Karl Malone is 206cm tall and weighs 113kg.

At the power forward position, he is indeed one of the best inside players in the NBA.

He made 1476 appearances in his career, fourth on the all-time list;

He averaged 37.2 minutes per game and never averaged less than minutes per game in a season.

But compared with flower arrangement, he has a fatal flaw!

That is – height!

Hanamichi is 214cm tall, 8cm taller than Karl Malone, and this is enough for Hanamichi to do many things, such as - [Iron Blood Jump Shot]!

The fact is, throughout history, in terms of mid-range shooting accuracy and number of hits, the only ones who can be better than KG are the German veteran and the [Old Rogue], plus a future Du Shubao who loves to drink bath water. No one else can compare to him.

The 46% playoff shooting percentage is second only to the 48% of "Old Rogue", the 49% of the German driver, and the 47% of the future Durant.

He is the type of player who is highly productive and efficient, much better than Karl Malone who is highly productive but inefficient.

And ever since he got the same [Iron Blood Jump Shot] as KG, Hanamichi has already mastered it to perfection.

Hanamichi not only possesses extremely outstanding physical fitness and basketball talent, but his shooting point is also astonishingly high.

His amazing jumping ability allows him to easily complete shooting above the opponent's head, leaving the defensive players far behind.

In addition, his shooting point is extremely high, and his height, wingspan and vision are also advantages.

This undoubtedly creates a huge advantage for him on the offensive end of the court.

This advantage became even more apparent when he faced defensive stalwart Karl Malone.

Although Karl Malone is a legend in basketball, he also finds it difficult to face an opponent like Hanamichi.

With his outstanding physical condition, Hanamichi can handle both offense and defense with ease.

Although Ma Long tried his best to prevent Hanamichi from scoring, he was still unable to effectively restrict his opponent.

Because of Hanamichi's height, wingspan and broad vision, he can always find the best shooting opportunities and put the ball into the basket in various unexpected ways.

So, at this time, Karl Malone did seem a little overwhelmed when defending Hanamichi.

Throughout the second half of the first quarter, the court became a sea of ​​joy of jump shots.

The incarnation of Hanamichi [Admiral] made 7 out of 4 jump shots, plus two free throws, which can be said to have stunned Karl Malone!

The Raptors also lead the Jazz 31:20.

In fact, judging from the Raptors' score in a single quarter alone, the Jazz had already failed in defense!

To make matters worse, when the team was behind in the first quarter, Karl Malone's shooting hand injury relapsed!

His wrist injury was not avoided by the butterfly effect of flower path.

His shooting hand was accidentally injured when he faced the Mosaic trio in the Western Conference finals.

But in order not to affect the morale of the army, he did not make the news public.

The only people who know about this situation are center Greg Ostertag, trainer Mike Smenski and coach Jerry Sloan.

(And historically, it was because of the revelations of center Greg Ostertag and trainer Mike Smensky that everyone knew that Karl Malone played the series against the Bulls with an injury.)

However, as an opponent, Hanamichi clearly felt that Karl Malone's right hand was relatively less powerful than his left hand, as if he was protecting something!

Especially when shooting free throws, Karl Malone would always look at his shooting hand before taking the free throw.

As a result, Hanamichi played more and more happily on the offensive end, and he even began to use brute force to beat Karl Malone.

The Jazz also began to desperately chase points, and in the second quarter, the two teams were evenly matched.

In other words, the score gap between the two teams has not narrowed.

In the third quarter, Karl Malone, who had rested for a while, chose to continue playing.

But head coach Jerry Sloan chose to bench him.

"I think you should rest more now, and try to trust your teammates!"

The truth is that during the halftime break, the Jazz's team doctor told Jerry Sloan that he must control Karl Malone's playing time and give his wrist enough rest.

"But the competition..."

Jerry Sloan said nonchalantly:

“What can one game prove?”

"There are seven games in the finals! We have to learn how to make choices!"

"Besides, your teammates are not planning to give up in this game."

"Now you need to rest as much as possible in the third quarter. It won't be too late to play later!"

"If... it's really irreversible, then you should recover and prepare for the next battle!"

Jerry Sloan had the right idea.

For the head coach of the Jazz, this moment is filled with worry and anxiety.

But not only could he not show it, he also had to act as if nothing had happened to stabilize the morale of the troops.

If Karl Malone were allowed to insist on playing while injured, the consequences would be disastrous.

If this happens, Malone's injury is likely to worsen further, and may even become irreversible.

This will not only have a huge impact on Malone's personal career, but the entire team will also face unprecedented difficulties in subsequent games.

After all, without Malone, the core player, the team's combat effectiveness will be greatly reduced, and it will be almost a fantasy to win the next finals.

Therefore, how to weigh the pros and cons and make the right decision has become a difficult problem facing the head coach.

In the original history, Karl Malone's injury worsened in the third game against the Bulls, which eventually led to the loss of the game.

Otherwise, just Pirlo's words "the postman doesn't work on weekends" probably wouldn't have been enough to prevent Karl Malone, who had good free throw statistics, from missing two free throws and losing the chance to win the championship.

Karl Malone relies heavily on free throws, and he has led the league in free throws made eight times.

This season he has taken 690 free throws and made 521 of them, both ranking first in the league.

Some people also say that Karl Malone’s free throw shooting is not his strong point and his free throw mentality is also very poor.

But as mentioned before, Karl Malone is like a card that can be upgraded and advanced. He continues to grow in the league and improves his skills every season.

His free throw shooting was really bad in the early days of his career, comparable to that of the Shaq, so much so that his opponents would intentionally foul him, just like the Hack-a-Shaq tactic.

But after continuous training, his free throw shooting percentage can reach as high as 80% in training.

Although he is not the best in the league, it is definitely not his weakness.

But now, unfortunately his shooting hand is injured!

And because of his action of applying an ice pack off the court, anyone who was paying attention could tell at a glance that something was wrong.

Bill Walton at the commentary desk was once a legendary NBA athlete. He knew very well what it meant when a player applied an ice pack during his rest period, especially when the ice pack was applied to the wrist instead of the knee or ankle!

"I have to admit that the Raptors are really lucky!"

"First, Michael had a severe cold in the life-and-death game; and now it seems that the Jazz's core player has also had some problems!"

"If it's really as we think, the fans who expect the Jazz to win the championship will be greatly disappointed!"