On May 23, U.S. time, the fourth game between the Lakers and the Jazz began.

The Jazz want to refuse to sweep, they did break out in this game, John Stockton was hot in the first quarter, and hit long-range shots in a row against Derrick Fisher's defense, Karl Malone fell a lot, but he also contributed 9 points in the first quarter.

Relying on the play of the Utah double, the Jazz tied with the unmatched offensive Lakers in the first quarter.

At 27:27, the Jazz got off to a good start in Game 4.

Qiao Hai also noticed the hot John Stockton, who hit a series of outside shots, and even let Jeff Hornacek find some touch, which is obviously not good news.

Qiao Hai's goal is to solve Jazz within four games, not because of the tasks released by the system, for the side quests released by the system, there is neither punishment nor high rewards, Qiao Hai has long been out of care about these tasteless and regrettable side quests.

Four games to solve the Jazz, this is the goal set by the Lakers, if this Jazz refuses to sweep successfully, the next game back to the Utah Plateau, the Jazz sit on home-court advantage, the Lakers will be dragged into the series of the vortex, no longer have such a huge advantage.

Or to put it another way, the Lakers will face the Western Conference semifinals with a little bit of difficulty.

Therefore, the Lakers must win this game.

Although the Jazz were tied in the first quarter, and John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek were recovering, Qiao Hai had a way to limit the current Jazz team.

In the second quarter, Qiao Hai put on a surprising lineup.

Point guard Tyronn Lue, scoring guard Kobe Bryant, small forward Bruce Bowen, power forward Ruben Patterson and center Scott Pippen, the ultimate five, Joe Hay is about to give up the inside, Kobe Bryant against Jeff Hornacek, Bruce Bowen against John Stockton, Scott Pippen against Karl Malone.

Qiao Hai didn't think that an anonymous substitute could break out at all, so he relieved himself to empty the Jazz's backup center Greg Foster, and implemented the defense against Karl Malone in the first three games - Scott Pippen defended alone, and it didn't matter if he could defend if he could, or if he couldn't prevent it.

The Lakers' defense is focused on the perimeter, and as long as they kill John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, the Lakers can replicate the first three wins.

And after completely abandoning the interior, the Lakers' offensive rhythm will be raised to the maximum, Qiao Hai wants to defeat the Jazz in one fell swoop in the second quarter, and this is a replica of the last game, the last game, Qiao Hai put on a big and four small lineup in the second quarter, and the result was directly defeated by the Jazz, locking a double-digit lead at halftime.

In this game, Qiao Hai put on a shorter, faster and more thorough lineup, and completely let it go.

At the beginning of the 27:27 tie, the Jazz's possession, John Stockton took the ball first.

John Stockton once again encountered Bruce Bowen's defense, his offense instantly became uncomfortable, and the Jazz had the advantage of inside rebounds after breaking through with the ball, but Qiao Hai had already ordered all the players on the court to rush for rebounds.

Scott Pippen, who was at his peak, was good at controlling rebounds, especially defensive rebounds, and he stood up early, held off Karl Malone, and successfully grabbed this defensive rebound.

After winning the rebound, the Lakers fired several arrows in the frontcourt, Kobe Bryant, Tyronn Lue, Ruben Patterson...... One after another, they are running wildly, this is an undisguised fast attack!

Scott Pippen controlled the rebound and made a long pass directly, Kobe Bryant took the ball in the front court, passed Jeff Hornacek at an astonishing speed, and faced Brian Russell who was in front of him, Kobe made another pass to the faster Ruben Patterson.

Bang!

With a muffled dunk, Ruben Patterson just came on the court and immediately scored 2 points through a dunk in the fast break.

A few minutes later, the Lakers' fast break became more and more comfortable, Kobe Bryant and Ruben Patterson exploded, and the Lakers directly hit a wave of 12:2 shockwaves, and took a 10-point lead in the small half quarter.

Jerry Sloan hurriedly called a timeout, but in the second half, Qiao Hai suddenly changed his style, changed back to O'Neal, put on a positional battle posture, relying on the crushing of the lineup, and at halftime, the Lakers established a 16-point lead.

With a 16-point lead at halftime, the course of this game was different from the previous game, and the result seemed to be similar.

Also with a double-digit lead at halftime, the Lakers stepped further in the second half, leading by 21 points in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, it relied on the combination of Kobe Bryant and Scott Pippen to stabilize the situation and ensure the final victory.

In the end, the Lakers defeated the Jazz with a difference of 109:90 and 19 points, successfully swept the opponent 4:0, and advanced to the next round!

The timer buzzer at the end of the game sounded, and the Great Western Forum Arena was suddenly cheered, and the cheers were deafening, and there were fans at the scene who shouted Qiao Hai's name in an organized manner.

3:0 in the first round and 4:0 in the second round, Qiao Hai conquered countless Lakers fans with a two-round series.

But his departure from the Lakers after the season is a foregone conclusion.

Qiao Hai enjoyed the cheers of the Great Western Forum Arena, the Western Conference Finals, he will definitely seize the opportunity and do a good job, he wants to use a successful playoff trip to prove his ability!

In the post-game press conference, the Jazz expressed their disappointment.

Karl Malone said they would come back next year.

Jerry Sloan also said that this year's defeat does not mean anything, although their squad has aged, but with a little reinforcement next year, they still have a chance.

However, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek's post-game speech was a little pessimistic, this series, John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek performed badly, and the two obviously declined seriously, if it wasn't for Karl Malone's excellent performance, covering up the decline of John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, maybe there would be no need to go to the Western Conference semifinals at all, and the Jazz would have shown their original form.

After the game, John Stockton said that he was going to reconsider his career plan, which implied that John Stockton was going to consider retiring.

Jeff Hornacek put it more bluntly: "I'm getting old, maybe it's time for me to retire." ”

Jeff Hornacek directly said that he wanted to retire.

After the Western Conference semifinals, some fans sighed: "The 20th century is really coming to an end, the era of Michael Jordan and Karl Malone is going to pass, and the next thing will be the era of Shaquille O'Neal, Tim Duncan, Grant Hill, and Jason Kidd......"

Indeed, after the disintegration of the Bulls, the Jazz's fiasco, and the semifinals of the Eastern and Western Divisions, only Patrick Ewing of the Knicks is left behind in the Jordan era, and although David Robinson of the Spurs is still there, the role of the team has long become the No. 2 leader for Duncan.

The old times are over, and the new ones are coming......