Throughout the first quarter, Ji Liang perfectly completed the task assigned by D'Antoni, not only limiting Stockton's play, but also dominating both offensive and defensive ends.

32:17

Soon, the first quarter of the game ended, and under the leadership of Chi Liang, the Nuggets quietly led the Jazz by 15 points.

Under the defense of the Nuggets, the Jazz played extremely hard, especially Malone, who not only had to pass the Fortson level, but was also often harassed by McDyes.

Under the targeting of the Nuggets, Malone scored 4 points in the first quarter, plus free throws.

However, the reason why the Nuggets were able to lead by so many points was due to Chi Liang's greatest credit.

Under his defense, Stockton was very limited, scoring just 1 point in the first quarter.

On top of that, under Ji Liang's close defense, Stockton struggled to organize the team's offense, and his best organizational ability was severely limited. He also dished out 2 assists in the first quarter, leaving the Jazz's offense without any discipline to speak of.

The best players for the Jazz were Ellis and Anderson, and if it weren't for the two of them, the Jazz might have collapsed in the first quarter.

On the Nuggets' side, Ji Liang performed the best, not only on the defensive end, but also on the offensive end with 15 points, 3 assists and 3 rebounds.

Aside from him, the best performer was Fortson, who showed a rebounding maniac side, scoring just two points in the first quarter but grabbing six rebounds.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Nuggets fielded a semi-main lineup, with Clarke and Fortson on the inside, and the rest being Van Exel, Stich and Williams, respectively.

On the other side, seeing that Chi Liang and McDyce were resting, the Jazz team wanted to take the opportunity to narrow the gap and sent the main lineup again.

Van Exel was helpless in the face of the Jazz's pick-and-roll tactics, and with Stockton's organizational ability, their efficiency in packing was very low.

But if he changes defenses, he will have to face Ma Long, he is not Chi Liang, he does not have enough height, arm span and strength, and the restrictions on Ma Long are minimal.

In this case, Malone began to explode, hitting consecutive mid-range shots.

In addition to Malone, Hornacek is also constantly working hard, and his running skills are excellent, running out of open positions again and again, and hitting two three-pointers in a row.

Seeing Hornacek hit consecutive open three-pointers, D'Antoni was a little angry, pinching his waist and shouting at Steich: "Entangle him, don't let him run out of the open position!" Nick, Eric, you need to be more careful! ”

At D'Antoni's behest, Van Exel's and Williams began to pay more attention to Hornacek, and as soon as he ran out of space, he immediately went close to help.

The Jazz's flaws are too great, and whether it's Stockton or Russell, their scoring ability is not outstanding.

Under the Nuggets' targeting, Hornacek began to smudge and never got an open spot again.

However, the Jazz didn't take advantage of it, as they struggled to stop Van Exel.

The Pinnacle Jazz are very similar to the Pistons' 'Bad Boy Army' back then, both are known for their rough defense and iron will, and they are the most advocating for physical confrontation.

But now, unlike before, their defense is starting to decline, especially the point guard, which is often blown up by other teams.

Stockton's defense is almost useless to Van Exel, often as long as he accelerates, he can easily complete the breakthrough, his hand is very smooth, and he uses the pull-up jump shot again and again to score.

In the first five minutes of the second quarter, Van Exel scored 11 points, which also caused the Jazz to not close the gap.

Beep~

At this time, Sloan called a timeout and wanted to limit Van Exel's play, but when the timeout ended, he reluctantly found that D'Antoni chose to change and changed to the starting lineup.

Seeing Chi Liang playing, Stockton suddenly had a headache, because before they could serve, the goods were posted on him again.

However, Stockton was not out of the question, and under the cover of his teammates, he temporarily got rid of Ji Liang.

But when he received the basketball, like a dog skin plaster, Chi Liang pasted it up again, taking the initiative to seek physical confrontation.

Under the targeted defense, Stockton didn't even want to take a walk, let alone organize the attack.

I have to admit that it can really play a very good role against players like Stockton!

As a result, Stockton was greatly limited, and his physical strength was depleted at an accelerated rate.

In desperation, Stockton had no choice but to use the block to temporarily get rid of Chi Liang. It's just that in the face of Fortson, who changed the defense, Stockton didn't have much to do, so he had to pass the ball to Malone again.

In the face of Chi Liang's strong resistance, Ma Long was limited to a certain extent and could only intermittently transfuse blood for the team.

At the same time, with Ji Liang and Fortson defending in turn, his stamina ran out quickly.

The offensive end couldn't be opened, the defensive end was not much better, and the Jazz couldn't prevent the Nuggets' offense at all, and the point difference began to continue to widen.

Sloan was anxious and called two timeouts in a row, but the Jazz still couldn't save the situation on the court, and could only watch the point difference get bigger and bigger.

The unstoppable pick-and-roll was limited, which greatly affected their play, and in a sense, the Nuggets were the nemesis of the Jazz.

In these few minutes, Ji Liang made another effort and led the Nuggets to play a 14-6 shockwave, extending the lead to 23 points in one fell swoop.

In the second quarter, Ji Liang scored 9 points again, and 24 points in the first half alone.

The most painful thing is Stockton, in the first half he was blown up by Chi Liang, and he got 2 points and 4 assists.

In addition, under Ji Liang's death entanglement, his physical strength was consumed a lot, and there were not many opportunities to play in the second half.

"It's time to settle the opponent in waves!"

Looking at the score difference between the two sides, Chi Liang made a decision in his heart, he didn't want to bring the suspense to the fourth quarter.

So, after the halftime break, Ji Liang played again, and he activated the dynamic vision state.

Compared to the first half, the Jazz have strengthened their defense and increased their defensive aggression.

But in the face of Chi Liang, who was full of firepower, the Jazz team didn't have much to do, and the entire third quarter seemed to have become Chi Liang's personal scoring show.

Three-point**, pull-up jump shot, step-back shot, back-to-back single, pull-up layup......

For a time, Chi Liang's efficiency was extremely high, which led to the score difference being further widened. Before the end of the third quarter, the lead was more than 30 points.

Naturally, it became garbage time, and if the two sides had a tacit understanding to replace the starting lineup, Chi Liang did not continue to appear and began to save strength for the next game.

108:81

At the end of the game, the Nuggets beat the Jazz by 27 points, and Ji Liang performed the best, even if he didn't play in the last quarter, but in the limited time of 30 minutes, he still scored 42 points, 7 assists and 6 rebounds.