On October 31, 1997, the NBA regular season of the 97-98 season officially began, and the rejuvenated Lakers will host the old enemy Utah Jazz last season, although the two teams have a matchup in the previous preseason, but it was a less important preseason game, both sides are playing with the purpose of training, but now the regular season is about to begin, and the Jazz will not give up this good opportunity for revenge.

Last season's Western Conference Finals, the Lakers and the Jazz fought seven games, and finally the Lakers relied on Liu Han to successfully turn the tables, eliminated the Jazz team, and finally defeated the invincible Chicago Bulls in the finals to win the championship, which made the Jazz team always resentful, especially Karl Malone, 97 years is coming to an end, and Malone is about to enter the age of 35, which means a gradual decline in the body for a player, and Malone has not won a championship so far. Originally, last season was a good opportunity for the Jazz, their roster was very good, and the players were all in order, but Liu Han suddenly appeared and ruined all this.

In this game, the Jazz's Stockton did not play, but was on the injury list, in the training before the start of the season, Stockton accidentally sprained his ankle and had to rest for a while, and started the game as a backup point guard Howard Ellis.

The Lakers' starting lineup is point guard Steve Nash, scoring guard Liu Han, small forward Michael Finley, power forward Robert Horry, and center O'Neal.

Jumping ball in the middle circle, Ostertag was not O'Neal's opponent before losing weight, not to mention that now this O'Neal has lost a lot of weight and has a better bounce.

Michael Finley grabbed the basketball, Liu Han and Nash had already killed the Jazz in the half of the court with a left and a right, Finley did not wait for his teammates to fall into place and directly launched a long pass, Nash received the ball outside the 45-degree three-point line on the left side, and after receiving the ball, Nash did not pause at all, but quickly threw the ball to the opponent's basket.

Liu Han had already jumped up at this time, and he tilted his head slightly to avoid hitting the rebound. Nash's pass timing was very good, Liu Han received the ball just when he reached the highest point, and he held the ball with both hands and smashed it into the basket.

The Lakers declared themselves strong to the Jazz with a sharp fast break.

The Jazz were a little confused by this fast attack, three people, three touches, two passes, and one dunk, and the entire offensive time was less than 4 seconds.

The Jazz offense, without Stockton, the Jazz's blocking and dismantling are not as sharp as before. Although Nash's defense was not very good, it was enough to deal with Howard Easley, and Horry, who was strong enough, also withstood Malone, and the Jazz's offense came to a standstill, and finally when the offensive time was approaching, Hornacek made a foreign shot from the three-point line, and the ball was deflected out of the basket under Liu Han's interference.

O'Neal got the rebound, handed the ball to Nash, and the rest of the Lakers players quickly settled into position.

O'Neal came to the top of the arc to block Nash, Nash broke through with the ball, hit the ground and handed it to the misplaced O'Neal, O'Neal received the ball and forced Ma Long to make up for the defense, O'Neal who had increased his strength directly squeezed away Ma Long and scored two points, and the 35-year-old Malone couldn't stop the 25-year-old O'Neal at all.

The Jazz's offense was thrown into disarray because of the absence of Stockton, and this is where Jerry Sloan is helpless, he will have a hard time finding players who can control the pace of the game as much as Stockton, and even if he does, he will not be willing to come to the Jazz to play on the bench.

The Lakers seized the opportunity of the Jazz's poor offense to fight back, and after four minutes, the Lakers led the Jazz by eight points.

Seven minutes into the first quarter, Nash came off the floor to replace Ray Allen, and the Lakers began to look for opportunities to shoot three-pointers from the outside.

After Liu Han controlled the rhythm, he was a little different from Nash in that Liu Han's attack was more powerful, which made the Jazz very jealous, and the rest of the Lakers players got a lot of shooting opportunities, and Ray Allen made two shots from outside the three-point line, expanding the gap between the two teams to more than 10 points.

At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led the Jazz by 13 points, 29-16.

Liu Han scored eight points in the quarter, and had three assists and three rebounds.

In the second quarter of the game, Liu Han rested, Nash, Brent Barry, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, and Kittels played, this lineup was faster, and the counterattack was sharper, and the Jazz's bench was beaten to the ground.

In the second quarter to 6 minutes, Liu Han came out to replace Nash, O'Neal came out to replace Campbell, the Lakers began to fight a positional battle, just a quick offense, sharp counterattack made the Jazz scratch their heads, and when they just adapted to the game, the Lakers slowed down the pace of the game, which made the Jazz even more depressed, compared to the chaos of the Jazz, the Lakers controlled the rhythm of the game in their own hands.

At halftime, the Lakers extended their lead to 22 points, Liu Han slashed for 12 points in the remaining six minutes of the second quarter, and O'Neal also scored eight points.

The second half continued, George let Nash and Liu Han play at the same time, but let Michael Finley organize the offense, which made the Jazz even more confused, because they had no way to determine who was the initiator and finisher of the Lakers' offense, and every Lakers player on the court had the ability to finish the offense and the ability to pass and assist.

Before the end of the third quarter, the Lakers opened the gap to 30 points. The Jazz team is not as good as the average team in the league after the loss of Stockton, Malone is not good at attacking with the ball, no, it should be said that no one in the Jazz team is good at attacking with the ball, and their previous strength has relied on Stockton's organization.

Liu Han went off the break with two minutes left in the third quarter, and he only played 28 minutes, but he had 30 points, 6 rebounds, and 7 assists. O'Neal also went off the break, and he also scored a big double-double of 20 points plus 15 rebounds.

The fourth quarter of the game was reduced to garbage time, the players on the Lakers bench had a chance to play, George felt that the team did not raise idlers, any player has his value, even if the ability is not enough, as long as you have a good attitude and are willing to play, George will give a chance.

In the end, the Lakers beat the Jazz by 37 points at home, and the two teams that played inextricably last season are now completely two performances, these young people of the Lakers have shown amazing strength in the game through George's tuning, and the Jazz have thrown the team into chaos because of the absence of Stockton, it can be said that the Lakers have performed much better than the Jazz in terms of bench depth and player ability.

Steve Nash played 33 minutes in this game, got 10 points and 14 assists, although not many points, but the assist ability he showed was amazing, and the Los Angeles media also praised the player who participated in the draft with Liu Han after the game, and they said that the Lakers' management did a good job this year and found such a good point guard for the Lakers.

The rest of the Lakers' players have also been praised by the media and fans for their performances, and George Crent, who was praised by the media for having a perfect debut, is a surprise change for the Lakers with the "rookie" head coach.

Although it was only one game, some experienced old fans found that this Lakers team had the shadow of the Lakers in the glory days of "SHOWTIME", which made them ecstatic, you know, at that time, the Lakers can be said to be a real sweep of the league. Fans are hoping that this Lakers team can also perform like before. (To be continued.) )