After a two-day break, the NBA Western Conference Playoffs Finals of the 97-98 season officially kicked off on May 16, 1998 local time in Los Angeles, and the Jazz team, just like the Western Conference Finals last season, came to the Great Western Forum Arena in Los Angeles to challenge the Lakers, who won 72 wins in the regular season and entered the playoffs without a defeat.

Compared with the ignorance when he played in the playoffs last season, Liu Han this season has been recognized by the entire league, and he is already a top player who is not inferior to Jordan, and it can even be said that in terms of offensive firepower, Liu Han wants to surpass Jordan, after all, Jordan himself has not scored 88 points.

Before the start of the game, the Lakers formulated a strategy according to George Crent's advice with his old friend Li Rui, and Liu Han would defend Stockton in this game and be responsible for controlling the Lakers' offensive tempo. Although Liu Han's defensive strength has not been recognized by everyone, it is undeniable that he does have outstanding single defense ability, and in the finals last season, he limited Jordan's play very well, and he was able to release Jordan, facing Stockton, Liu Han still has a very advantage.

The Jazz's expression on the side was quite solemn, and Jerry Sloan hadn't figured out how to deal with Liu Han until he came to Los Angeles, and he was still struggling with whether the Jazz should fight with the Lakers on defense or offense. Jerry Sloan feels that the first game is a drill, let the Jazz play according to the conventional tactics, how to attack, how to defend, even if you lose, at least you can gain a lot of experience, and the next game can make targeted changes.

Coming to the Western Conference Finals, Hollywood movie stars who are usually scattered all over the world have appeared at this time, the "star seat" of the Great Western Forum Arena is star-studded, and the cameramen on the sidelines also frequently capture the figures of these stars, no matter in which way, the Western Conference Finals of the NBA playoffs are mutually beneficial to these stars, the players on the court, and the entire NBA league.

The commentators invited to this game are still Miles Albert and Reg Sager, of course, the Lakers' famous Magic Johnson, since the last comeback failed, Johnson devoted himself to the career of commentary, fortunately he is famous enough, although he did not sign a TV station, but a variety of commentary invitations are indispensable, and Bill Walton is also doing a good job in the commentary career.

At the beginning of the game, the Lakers jumped ball to win, Liu Han grabbed the ball, and he was very excited to play at the beginning of today, which was different from the usual games.

The Lakers tried to launch a fast attack, but the Jazz defended the Lakers very tightly, and in the end, Liu Han had to slow down and switch to positional battles.

In the positional battle, O'Neill wanted to hold the position on the inside, and Liu Hanma passed into the inside. Greg Ostertag, who was able to compete with O'Neal last season, was abandoned by Jerry Sloan this season, but Greg Foster, who had been on the bench before, officially took over.

Although Greg Foster is not as tall or heavy as O'Neill, he is more experienced and dares to work hard. However, O'Neal now is also very different from a year ago, he directly turned his back and shook off the overly powerful Greg Foster, and then scored two points with a violent dunk.

The Lakers played very aggressively at the beginning, although Liu Han just passed the ball, but he contained the Jazz defenders very well on the outside, otherwise, O'Neal would definitely encounter the Jazz's various bags and cuts as soon as he received the ball on the inside.

As soon as Stockton received the baseline ball from his teammates in the backfield, he met Liu Han's face-to-face defense.

Liu Han actually used full-court pressing against Stockton from the beginning.

Under the pressure of Liu Han, Stockton dribbled very hard, and finally managed to pass the half with the help of his teammates, but this has delayed the Jazz's offensive time.

Sure enough, in the end, although Stockton passed half the court, he still faced the tight defense of Liu Han of the Lakers, and Stockton, who was under a lot of pressure, did not dare to be careless, so he had to hoist the ball to Malone who was in an important position on the inside.

Malone received the ball and leaned his back against Robert Horry, then turned and hooked his hand into the goal. The Lakers' defense of Malone was only one-on-one, which made Stockton feel like an opportunity.

While the Lakers couldn't defend against Malone's offense, they didn't seem to care.

Liu Han still dribbled the ball steadily across the half court and met Stockton's defense, and the Jazz team had no choice but to let Stockton defend Liu Han, because now in the Lakers' lineup, the shortest is Liu Han who controls the ball, but this is also 1.96 meters, and it is simply unrealistic for Stockton to defend against other people who are taller than Liu Han.

In the face of Stockton's defense, Liu Han didn't dare to be careless, the person who had defended on the other side all scolded the other party's shamelessness, Liu Han still heard of these, he knew that the seemingly honest and harmless middle-aged white man on the other side was actually an extremely fierce guy.

Sure enough, those rumors are well-founded, when Liu Han tried to beat Stockton with his back, he found that Stockton always tried to insert his legs between Liu Han's legs, and even had the action of pushing up, the direction of the top is self-evident, almost the softest part of the human body.

Although Liu Han has played with this before, it is the first time he has encountered such a treatment as today, but he did not have the slightest fear, but took advantage of the moment when Stockton raised his leg to directly turn around and throw a backward jumper, he leaned back a relatively large amount, and the raised right foot just kicked on Stockton's raised knee, Liu Han also used his own movements to fight back at Stockton's "small action".

The basketball fell into the basket without the slightest accident, but Stockton was taken aback, he didn't expect that Liu Han, who had always given people a silly look, now has some "old fritters" trend.

The Jazz team continued to attack, Stockton still met Liu Han's defense as soon as he received the ball, this guy is determined to stare at Stockton today, and seriously, Liu Han's kraft candy-like defensive mode also makes Stockton, who is extremely determined, a little irritable, although Liu Han will not use some small actions, but he is like a plaster, if he wants to take it off, he has to endure the pain of breaking the skin.

Liu Han's defense really worked, although Stockton relied on Malone's cover to temporarily get rid of the defense, but Liu Han still relentlessly entangled, and finally this attack ended with Stockton's helpless random shot, and the ball flew out of the bottom line without even touching the basket.

Jerry Sloan couldn't help frowning, he didn't expect the Lakers to be so targeted.

"Rego, maybe you won't believe it, in fact, I think Liu can be selected for the defensive team, his single defense ability is the best among the outside players I have ever seen, even Jordan is estimated to be inferior to him now, after all, Jordan is also older, and his physical base has regressed." The Magic still praised Liu Han at the beginning, and this wonderful young man reminded Johnson of his own youth.

"Erwin, I can see that Liu's defense is really good, but not as good as you say, but I think he can be called the best player in the league as long as he has that super accurate three-point ability." Rego Sagar was first conquered by Liu Han's three points.

"You're right, Rego, I guess Liu is likely to break the playoff three-point record in the playoffs, so far, he has made a total of 30 three-pointers in the first seven playoff games, and now the most three-pointers in a single season in the playoffs is Reggie Miller of the Pacers, who made 54 three-pointers in the playoffs in the 94-95 season, of course, that's a total of 17 playoff games, and Liu is likely to break that record this season." Melf Albert is also now quite impressed by Liu Han's three points.

"Indeed, I have to admit that this young man is the best three-point shooter in the history of the league, so let's wait and see how he performs." Reg Sagar said. (To be continued.) )