The Lakers played methodically, and the Jazz gradually found a rhythm.

However, in comparison, the Lakers' offense played better, everyone in the Big Three played, and the Jazz could only rely on Karl Malone's singles, but fortunately, Malone was in good shape in this game, and continued singles to help the Jazz stabilize the situation.

In the second half of the first quarter, Jerry Sloan made further adjustments and replaced the bench, with Shanton Anderson and Howard Ellis sitting on the Jazz bench, providing some vitality to the Jazz lineup.

With these minor adjustments, Jazz further consolidated the situation.

After the first quarter, the Lakers led the Jazz by 5 points at 29-24.

However, the Jazz's decline has been revealed, they can't play too effective pick-and-roll offense, and if it continues, it is only a matter of time before the Jazz lose this game.

During the intermission, Jerry Sloan urgently made adjustments, the Lakers' starting one-on-one defense is indeed strong, but at the same time, the Lakers definitely need to make substitutions, the Lakers' bench defense will not be as strong as the starters, and Jerry Sloan has always believed that the reason why the team could not play an effective blocking offense at the beginning of the first quarter was because the team was limited by the Lakers' targeted defense, and after the adjustment, the Jazz still had a chance.

The Lakers did make substitutions, but surprisingly, Qiao Hai abandoned the veteran backup point guard Derrick Harper, who played in the second quarter, and the point guard who played in the second quarter was Tyronn Lue, and Tyronn Lue's defense was also good, although it was not as good as Bruce Bowen, but the role of limiting John Stockton could still be played, at least the defense was better than the veteran Derrick Harper.

On the inside, Sean Lukes played, Robert Horry, who came off the bench in the second half of the first quarter, also continued to be on the court, plus Ruben Patterson at the small forward position, led by Kobe, the Lakers' lineup in the second quarter was quite young and energetic, and Qiao Hai's idea was to use this lineup to play fast and break the rhythm of the Jazz.

However, there are also problems with this lineup, the lack of O'Neal on the inside, and the deterrence in the restricted area is suddenly gone, and the Lakers can only rely on Kobe Bryant to open the situation.

Fortunately, the Jazz also made a substitution, and Karl Malone, who played consecutive singles in the first quarter, had a huge physical exertion, and Jerry Sloan was forced to replace Karl Malone, and he could only use John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek, who had been resting in the second half of the first quarter, to force the second quarter.

The Lakers attacked first in the second quarter, and Kobe Bryant held the ball from the outside.

Scott Pippen and O'Neal are not present, he is the boss of the Lakers on the court, and he controls all the ball, and the Jazz let the substitute Shanton Anderson defend Kobe, and Shanton Anderson is not much different from Kobe Bryant in terms of size, and the defense is above the level.

But Kobe Bryant was very resolute, and the two were both drafted in the NBA in '96, but in the third year of their careers, the two have already separated the gap.

Kobe Bryant is already a star player in the league, while Shanton Anderson sat on the bench for a season with the Jazz and started to enter the rotation last season, performing well, hitting the basket and defending, but only as a role player.

Shanton Anderson tried his best to defend Kobe, and Kobe Bryant broke through directly and made a mid-range shot.

Bang, didn't enter.

Jazz bench interior Greg Foster grabbed the rebound, and John Stockton got the basketball and organized a wave of counterattacks.

However, as the Lakers maintained the vitality of the bench lineup, the Jazz's counterattack was fruitless, and the cooperation of John Stockton and Jeff Hornacek still failed to play, Stockton held the ball through Adam Keefe's cover, and Jeff Hornacek rushed into the bottom corner from the other side.

John Stockton wanted to pass the ball, and Bryant jumped straight behind Jeff Hornacek for a steal!

The Energy Solutions arena was full of exclamations, and Kobe Bryant grabbed the basketball!

"Steal, Lakers counterattack!"

Counterattack! Aggro!

This is what Qiao Hai wants to see, a few seconds later, with a bang, Kobe Bryant rushed to the frontcourt, made a powerful dunk, and scored 2 points directly!

The Jazz was helpless, re-serve in the backcourt, and John Stockton couldn't bear Tyronn Lue's stubborn play, and shot directly from the middle distance after breaking through, but didn't score.

Robert Horry won the rebound, Kobe Bryant received the ball and had to fight back, this time the Jazz's retreat was very timely, especially Shanton Anderson, who went directly to Kobe Bryant and blocked Kobe.

Kobe Bryant rushed to the frontcourt, failed to find too good an opportunity, and directly pulled out three points from the outside and hit the iron.

Qiao Hai covered his forehead on the sidelines, and if he didn't get Scott Pippen, Qiao Hai would have to put up with some of Kobe's poor offensive options.

Fortunately, the Lakers quickly suppressed the Jazz with their youthful energy on the court, and the point difference was widening again, and Shanton Anderson obviously couldn't prevent Kobe, and after playing for a few more minutes, Jerry Sloan couldn't stand it anymore and called a timeout and replaced it with Brian Russell.

Qiao Hai is also very shrewd, he knows that the Jazz will not replace Karl Malone at this time, and the Jazz's rotation lineup is very limited, and it is Brian Russell who can be replaced at this time.

Scott Pippen has a good set of dealing with Brian Russell, so, after a pause, Qiao Hai also directly replaced Pippen.

A set of counterpoint substitutions, Jerry Sloan's adjustments were once again targeted......

Not only that, after replacing Scott Pippen, the Lakers' offense is more threatening, after Scott Pippen came on the court, he took over the ball, sorted out the offensive rhythm, and played a fast attack counterattack in an orderly manner, this new style of play is similar to the Heat who won the four finals in the 21st century, Scott Pippen played the role of LeBron James, Kobe played the role of Wade, the two cooperated well, and the score expanded rapidly.

As the Lakers took the lead and extended their lead to 15 points before halftime, the boos at the Energy Scheme arena continued unabated.

In the second half, Jerry Sloan switched back to the trident of Karl Malone, Jeff Hornacek and John Stockton, still wanting to make a last-ditch effort.

Qiao Hai can use a lot of people here, and he is also very simple, Scott Pippen plus O'Neal, role players with Derek Fisher, Bruce Bowen and Robert Horry, O'Neal on the inside suppresses Karl Malone, Bruce Bowen on the outside continues to defend John Stockton, and Scott Pippen turns around to deal with Jeff Hornacek, although there is no Kobe, the overall lineup, the Lakers are still suppressed.

Karl Malone is in really good shape in this game, O'Neill can limit Karl Malone, but he can't prevent Karl Malone.

Karl Malone still keeps scoring, the Jazz control the difference, and the Lakers' lead has been hovering between 10 and 15 points, unable to pull away.

Qiao Hai is not in a hurry, he still has a backhand, that is Kobe.

Kobe Bryant never played, just waited for the Jazz's trident old halberd to withstand the fight, replaced Kobe, the last rush, and the victory of the game was within reach.

In the second half of the third quarter, the Jazz set off a wave of counterattacks to narrow the gap to 10 points, but then, Qiao Hai directly switched back to Kobe, and the last wave of impact in the third quarter directly played an 11:0 offensive high-tide, expanding the difference to 21 points.

In the fourth quarter, Bryant, O'Neal and Scott Pippen took turns playing, and the 21-point lead was maintained until the end.

In the end, as Qiao Hai said, relying on a more adequate rotation lineup, the Lakers snatched an away victory at the Energy Solutions Arena!