Due to the shortened season, the teams only have two days off to start their playoff journey.

Win and move on, lose holiday fishing!

Before the start of the playoffs, the Nuggets had a day off and the rest of the day to start a training camp, focusing on team tactics.

In the past two days, Ji Liang has been training every day, putting all his mind on training, trying to adjust his condition and prepare for the playoffs.

This is Ji Liang's first playoff game, and he is more or less nervous, but he is also excited, but it is still necessary to maintain good condition.

In the process of joint practice, D'Antoni prepared the tactics, in the end is the 'rookie coach', the offensive end can be described as running and running, with the Jazz's aging lineup, as long as they succeed in picking up the tempo, there is a great hope of victory.

Of course, if you want to speed up the pace, you have to ask Stockton, the 'old demon', at least whether it is Chi Liang or Van Exel, they are not sure.

At the same time, in order to deal with the Jazz's blocking and dismantling tactics, the Nuggets also did some targeted defense, and there were not many ways, mainly to speed up the run, even if they couldn't prevent it, they had to try to entangle the opponent and consume the opponent's physical strength.

However, with Jerry Sloan's shrewdness, he must have been prepared, and no one knows if it will be effective.

In addition to dealing with the Jazz, the Nuggets did not focus on other teams, no way, judging from the record rankings, the Jazz have a better winning rate.

They are not the Spurs, and before the playoffs have even begun, they have started gathering information about their opponents for the next round. The Nuggets will have to concentrate and do everything they can to beat the Jazz and do everything in their power to win.

In addition, both teams have their own strengths and weaknesses.

The Jazz team is aging badly, and the biggest advantage is that they have extremely rich playoff experience, and after having Stockton and Malone, they have entered the playoffs almost every year.

Contrary to the Jazz, the Nuggets' biggest advantage is their age, the players are all young, and there is not even a player over the age of 30. But the shortcomings are also obvious, in addition to the lack of run-in, the playoff experience is even more lacking, and few players have participated in the playoffs.

With just two days of rest, the first playoff game is about to begin, and for the players, the rest time is obviously not enough, and it feels like the regular season is continuing, that is, in a different way, with more intensity.

On May 8, 1999, Energy Solutions Arena, Salt Lake City, the first game was about to kick off as night fell.

It is worthy of the famous home court of the devils, and after entering the playoffs, Jazz fans have become more and more crazy, the arena is full of people, and the frenetic atmosphere is a little stronger than the regular season.

"It's noisy!"

Chi Liang frowned, such a noisy atmosphere made him a little uncomfortable. It's not just him, but almost all of the Nuggets players have been affected.

No one can deny home field advantage, which covers all sports, and it is always easier for a team to win at home.

The NBA is also a league with a very clear home-court advantage. Throughout the league's history, 98.6% of teams have a better home record than on the road.

Whether it is the familiarity with the home field, the influence of the fans, the favoritism of the referee, or the leisure work, or the psychological effect, this is also the reason for the high win rate of the home field.

In the Jazz lineup, the most eye-catching is Carl Malone, whose 'unicorn arm' is still strong, while Stockton, who looks taciturn, gives people a sense of harmlessness.

After the warm-up, the two teams entered one after another.

At this time, the starting lineups of both teams were shown on the big screen.

Nuggets: McDyce, Fortson, Ji Liang, Billups and Van Exel!

Jazz: Greg Ostertag, Malone, Brian Russell, Hornacek and Stockton!

In terms of arrangement, the two teams are still the same, and they are expected by the other party.

From the perspective of the lineup, there is not much difference in the strength of the two sides, but the Jazz team has a clear advantage in the interior height.

Beep~

As the referee's whistle blew and the basketball was thrown high into the air, McDyce and Ostertag jumped to their feet, stretched out their long arms in unison, and flicked towards the falling basketball.

McDyce bounced stronger, but Ostertag was 218 centimeters tall and had the advantage of his height and reach, and he was the first to touch the basketball.

However, due to the urgency, Ostertag's force was too high, causing the basketball to start flying towards the empty area.

At the first time, Ji Liang rushed over, grabbed the basketball first, and then rushed towards the opponent's half.

At the same time, the Nuggets will start to kick off and want to take the Jazz by surprise.

In the blink of an eye, Chi Liang was about to rush to the penalty area, and Hornacek hurriedly ran over to block it.

Before Hornacek stepped forward, Ji Liang suddenly stopped, his movements were more casual, and he reached out and threw the ball above the basket

Bang dang~

It was also at this time that McDeis, who was advancing at the same time, immediately flew up, his bounce was excellent, his head was almost level with the basket, and he easily pressed the ball into the basket.

In the first ball, in the form of an aerial relay, the Nuggets scored a lot, which also eased the tension of the players a lot.

However, Jazz fans were not appreciative, and they let out strong boos and invectives in an attempt to influence the Nuggets' performance.

After the Nuggets scored their first goal, the Jazz were unaffected, even if it was an aerial relay, but it was only two points.

Being older also has the benefit of being older, and the more you have seen, the less likely you are to be affected.

Of course, the passion is not as good as that of young players.

The Jazz's first shot was naturally the same blocking and dismantling tactics.

Defended by Van Exel, Stockton began to break through with the ball.

Van Exel tried to block and began to move to the side, but he hit a wall of flesh and almost fell to the ground, and when he looked up, he saw Marlon's hideous smile.

Physically, the two are not on the same level at all.

After successfully blocking, Van Exel did not move, but followed Marlon closely.

On the other side, Fortson immediately chose to switch guards and pounced on Stockton.

At the same time, Malone began to pull to the side, attracting the attention of many Nuggets players.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Hornacek began to run towards the bottom corner, which also involved a certain amount of defense.

Stockton didn't go hard and immediately hoisted the ball to Malone before Fortson could help defend.

This is also the most comfortable position for Malone, ignoring Van Exel's defense, Malone's accurate mid-range shot, easily scored two points.

Looking at the opponent's smooth blocking and dismantling tactics, Chi Liang was also very helpless, they cooperated too tacitly, and they were able to better play each other's strength.