"Am I pretending to be too big?"

Zhang Mao muttered to himself in the mirror in the locker room before the game, yesterday's forced seemed to be a little too big.

The Lakers and Jazz game will start in an hour, and the Knicks were already knocked out by the Heat on the road last night!

Mourning's performance was actually average, but Ewing's unexpected injury deprived the Knicks of the core of the team, resulting in a significant reduction in strength. To add insult to injury, Tim Hardaway, who came to the Heat last year for a second spring, broke out in this campaign and scored 38 points, 8 assists and 5 steals, knocking down the Knicks in one fell swoop.

In this way, the Eastern Conference Finals will be the Chicago Bulls vs Miami Heat.

Can this Heat beat the Bulls?

Zhang Wei felt that it was enough, unless Hardaway could explode like this, but this was obviously impossible.

The two teams met head-to-head 3-1 in the regular season, with the Bulls winning three games by double digits, one of which was a 30-point massacre, and the one that lost was a three-point loss, which was still back-to-back.

This head-to-head record is obvious, the Bulls have an absolute advantage in the clash between the two teams, and eighty percent of the Eastern Conference will advance to the Finals.

Now, it's up to the Lakers to get rid of the Jazz.

The league and fans are looking forward to the finals of the East and West, who makes this season's playoffs, the first two rounds of the battle between the strength and weakness of the big difference, can be regarded as the most in the past decade, followed by the excitement is not high.

But fortunately, the schedule enters the regional finals, especially after the finals, and the latecomer can be highlighted.

The division finals haven't started yet, but neutral fans are already looking forward to the showdown between Zhang and Jordan, and they don't pay attention to the Jazz and Heat at all, they just want to see the Lakers and Bulls battle of the century!

David Stern can be regarded as painstaking, and the league's efforts for a season are nothing more than trying to complete such a battle of the century.

I don't know if this is an imitation of La Liga, which is still weak in Europe's top five leagues, but they rely on the attraction of the two giants to drive the competitiveness of the entire league.

The NBA is also in a weak position in the four major leagues in the United States, and this strategy suits them well, because they can use a few big teams to quickly attract the attention of some fans, and then the league can raise the attention of the whole league through continuous star-making campaigns.

The Lakers' entrance ceremony today was a little more inked than usual, but it was expected.

If this league is the most cumbersome and time-consuming than whose entrance ceremony is the most awesome, then the Lakers are undoubtedly the most awesome.

Zhang Wei felt too bad when he entered the venue this time, and the on-site commentary actually read out most of his honors, which is a bit of a nouveau riche temperament and easy to misunderstand. However, when I think of the Jazz players standing in the tunnel and waiting for a long time, it is not that the Lakers are deliberately playing tricks on their opponents.

After the Lakers players entered, as long as they looked around, they could find that the famous names in their team's history were almost here today, much more powerful than last year, and they knew that this year's Lakers had a high chance of advancing to the Finals, but they had no chance of killing the supersonic last year, which was realistic enough.

Famous heroes + young model stars, this is the label that the Lakers' home court has always had, but this year there is another label - rich entrepreneurs, which seems to make the Lakers' title of "aristocrat" more solid.

When the Jazz players entered the stadium, they saw the Hollywood bowls and rich politicians on the sidelines, and the taste in their hearts must have been very complicated, and the jealousy element must have occupied the main emotion.

If you don't blow it up, you don't have to play it, NBA players basically play for two points - one is fame, and the other is profit. Playing on the Lakers' home court, there should be no need to worry about "fame", you can play in front of a lot of Hollywood big names, enjoy the cheers of these stars who are more famous than themselves around the world, and the vanity of the players will be unprecedentedly satisfied.

Nowadays, the Lakers not only have Hollywood stars cheering on their home court, but also those rich people and politicians who are usually more difficult to reach applaud, which makes the vanity of Lakers players more satisfied, helps players become more confident on the court, and naturally play better.

The starting line-up of the two teams today is little changed from the semifinals, with the Lakers' Finley still on the bench, Starks (86) and Kidd (85) continuing to partner the guard line, and the two forwards are Zhang (96) and Mason (84), and center Mutombo (89).

The Jazz's Stockton (87), Hornacek (85), Brian Russell (83), Karl Malone (93) and Ostertag (82) all featured.

When Zhang Qi peeked at the ability values of the players of the two teams before the game, he found that many of the players' attributes were very weird, and there were many changes from the previous round.

Mason's attributes have decreased a lot compared to the previous round, which can be seen that although he shouted "I can watch Malone alone", he actually has no confidence in his heart, and in fact, he really can't watch Malone alone.

But except for Mason, who is afraid that he will be blown up by Malone, the Lakers are not at a big disadvantage in the rest of the positions, and even as a substitute Finley, his ability value has risen to 85 strangely, it seems that he does have experience in defending Lao Huo. In other words, his cut is a big threat to the Jazz.

Zhang Yu wanted to laugh when he saw Russell, this thing became famous from provoking Jordan back then, and provoked himself last year, although he did have two brushes, but this kind of death-seeking behavior is far beyond his ability, resulting in the fans of the two now have to laugh at him before stopping.

There is an interesting situation on the Lakers' home court today, and the slogans and graffiti that humiliate Stockton and Malone on the scene are not as Russello, which shows that this kind of ugly way of becoming famous has worked in this era.

Russell didn't provoke Zhang Qiu again this time, mainly because this provocation didn't have any effect on Jordan or Zhang Qi, and even Hill ignored his provocation, which always had the opposite effect in the end. Therefore, now that he is facing these three people, he will not casually open his mouth to cause trouble. Otherwise, it has the opposite effect, and it must be operated by the three elders in the bathroom afterwards.

"I've heard about your Dragonborn powers." When Stockton hugged Zhang Fu before the game, he whispered a word, which surprised Zhang Ji a little, but the old rascal then said, "That's very naïve, it seems that you are really a high school student." ”

"Is this garbage talk?" Zhang Wei was stunned, and then shook his head, "I heard that you are the most annoying guy in the league, but it must not be because of your trash talk, otherwise you should be the funniest guy"

Stockton was a little angry when he heard this, is his trash talk so bad?

"Don't believe it, it's so bad!" Zhang Yu seemed to be able to see through what he was thinking, and said mockingly, "You, let's show your real skills, otherwise I dare to guarantee that you will be even more unlucky than last year." ”

Zhang Qi continued to stimulate this guy who dared to take the initiative to find himself to talk about it, but these words made Kidd's face on the side a little ugly, because he was the one who was going to confront this guy who "did all kinds of evil" for a while, and Zhang Qi didn't think it was a big deal.

Kidd, like Mason, said that he could kill Stockton, but he didn't have that much confidence in his heart, and the decline in his ability value compared to the previous round is proof, after all, he is only in the third grade, and his peak has not officially arrived, so he is somewhat lacking in confidence in the face of Stockton.

This is the embodiment of not having an S-level physical fitness, if you have an absolute physical advantage like Zhang Mao, then you will not be intimidated when you encounter an awesome opponent.

Iverson dared to challenge Jordan and Zhang Qi in his rookie season, that is, he was absolutely confident in his speed, and if he gave Kidd a physical quality like Wei Shao and Wall, then another legendary superstar was born.

"Hmph, isn't it just relying on your body, what's there!?"

Russell also thought the same thing in his heart, he felt that if he gave himself a body like Zhang Yi, then he could also achieve the other party's current results.

Zhang Wei can't refute this concept, "if" is the best excuse for losers, where is there so much if in reality.

After the start of the first quarter of the game, the Jazz team was really well prepared, and as soon as they came up, they were mainly anti-visitors, and Malone, Lao Huo, Stockton and center Oster Tag hit 4 consecutive goals to lead the team to play a perfect 8:2 start!

The Lakers were a little slow to heat up today, and that's the gap in preparation.

The Jazz's first four offenses were all unguarded routines, which were to play the rhythm of offense as soon as they came up, and strive to gain a certain advantage first and suppress the young and vigorous Lakers.

Sloan's tactical goal was achieved, and the Jazz's four offenses were dazzling, although they still started with blocking, but the follow-up passes and changes were so fast that people didn't have time to react, and it was obviously an offensive tactic that had been practiced for a long time.

Harris hurriedly asked for a timeout, the division finals were really different from before, the Jazz were better than the Rockets on the offensive end, four offenses were scored by four people, this is a real team, but the Rockets are a little less team, the scoring is more dependent on the Big Three, and the cooperation between the three is not so close.

Now that the Jazz have opened the game into their own style, Harris means that the Lakers have to play their own style as well.

The style of the Lakers is different from that of the Jazz, who rely on their individual ability to lead the whole team, while the Jazz use the team to play their individual ability, which is the biggest difference between the two teams.

Some fans may think that the Jazz's style of play is the real basketball, but it is also important to know that the Jazz rely so much on teamwork, which is not a compromise taken in the case of individual ability.

The Lakers have always been a "star" plan, and Zhang Qian also believes that there is no team in the NBA that does not rely on individual ability to win the championship, and the right path should be the star first and then the team, because he is the star.

"Better teamwork than we do?" Zhang Yu looked at the Jazz bench in the distance, and the corners of his mouth showed a touch of disdain, "I, baby koala, put my words here today - no matter how strong the team is, it will never be able to compete with strong individual ability." ”

Big Ben seemed to suddenly notice something at the moment, first silently glanced at Zhang Qi, and then looked at the Lakers jersey on his body, and suddenly had an indescribable feeling in his heart, which was a feeling that was difficult to explain.

Well, it's really hard to explain......

After the game restarted, the Lakers first strengthened their defense, but it didn't have much effect, because Kidd always missed Stockton's blocking and breaking, and this guy was like a loach every time he blocked and dismantled with Malone, and Kidd couldn't catch his trajectory at all, so naturally he couldn't limit his passing.

"Strange, how does he seem to know my prejudgment?"

Kidd has a bit of a sense of being targeted at every turn, and Stockton can always trick him with feints and tricks, and then slip into the interior as soon as he slips away, and at the moment, whether it's passing to Malone or passing the ball to other Jazz players, he can drive it as he wants.

This is why the Lakers underestimate Stockton, last year Payton in the next few games has become more and more difficult to watch Stockton, the reason, of course, is that people will not be the same, since the defense can analyze the offensive players by watching the video, the offensive players can also reverse the habits of the defensive players.

Kidd's defense is a division of Payton, and although he is forming some of his own styles every year, which will slowly become more and more different, there are still many traces of Payton.

As long as Stockton combines the experience of dealing with Payton last year and studies it carefully according to Kidd's defensive habits, there will naturally be a corresponding way to crack it.

"Evil" is indeed not as good as it was back then, but his footwork is still flexible, and his experience is far beyond Kidd, coupled with top awareness, small movements and improvisation, unless Kidd really has the top physical fitness like Wei Shao, otherwise once he is shaken or deceived, there will be no second chance to defend, and Stockton will not give him a chance to chase and remedy.

The blocking and dismantling of the two elders of Xuan Ming couldn't be watched, and the Lakers' defense was a little useless after the opening, and it seemed that it was broken through by the Jazz's simple blocking and dismantling.

But fortunately, after the timeout, the Lakers' offense also played out.

Zhang Yu used his inexplicable personal ability, and after scoring 4 points for the team in a row, he assisted Mason to complete the mid-range shot, but the difference was narrowed by the Lakers.

But the defensive problem still needs to be solved, and now it is clear that Kidd doesn't have much to do about Stockton's coquettish break, so he has to find a way.

Harris thought about it for a while on the sidelines, and after seeing that Starks's equally coquettish running defense effect against Lao Huo was also average, he had an idea.

The two short guards of the Jazz have made the Lakers' two more athletic players a bit of a chicken in terms of running ability, so it is better to let the two swap defenders.

Some people say that Kidd is 193cm, and some people say 196cm, which is basically his height with and without shoes, and he is a bit inclined to the No. 2 position.

At 191cm, Starks is a little shorter than Kidd, which is a standard two-way guard.

On the Jazz side, Stockton is 185cm tall, he is a typical point guard figure, and Lao Huo's height is 191cm, which is also a two-way guard figure, which can already explain a lot of problems.

Kidd is more than 10cm taller than Stockton, and he is not a particularly flexible type, and the flexibility of the two is naturally much worse, which is why Kidd can't keep up with Stockton's breakthrough, while Payton, who was a little shorter and more athletic last year, can guard against Stockton, and this is the real reason.

Starks, on the other hand, was quicker on his feet than Kidd and was a better fit for Stockton, and the two of them should have switched defenses from the start.

As soon as the Lakers changed formations, it had an immediate effect, although Starks couldn't contain Stockton, but the effect of defense was indeed better.

What really worked after this change of formation was the alignment between Kidd and Lao Huo, who relied on erratic running on the offensive end, looking for long-range shooting opportunities around Malone and Stockton, who acted as arrows, relying on his understanding of the system and his role, the grasp of offensive opportunities, and excellent running awareness, but not so much on physical fitness.

And this aspect is exactly what Kidd is best at on the defensive end, so he can completely keep up with Lao Huo's movements and ideas, as long as he substitutes himself on the offensive side, he can naturally guess how the opponent is going to run, and even predict in advance and block your receiving route first.

Kidd is a defensive player who relies on awareness more than his body, and after changing the lineup, he easily choked the Jazz's most reliable contact point on the outside, which made the rest of the Lakers players only need to focus on Malone and Stockton, and the Jazz changed a lot less after the pick-and-roll.

Sloan sighed inwardly, his team still lacked a key point - the No. 3 position.

Russell is only qualified defensively and has practiced three-point shooting, but his offensive awareness is limited after all, and his overall view is not very good, and this aspect is where he can make limited progress in practice.

What the Jazz lack now is another outside contact point outside Lao Huo, and even this person has to have excellent off-ball cutting ability, so that the offense of the whole team can be considered complete and three-dimensional.

And this candidate, Sloan thinks that the Lakers' Finley is very suitable - this person is young, has excellent physical fitness, not only has excellent cutting ability, but also has a good three-point shot, and his awareness and overall view are also enough to be competent for the Jazz system, the key is that his salary is low, if he can get such a swing man, the Jazz will really take off in the past two years.

"It's a pity!" Sloan saw that the Lakers relied on Zhang Zhu's non-stop attack in the first quarter and chased the score to 26:29 at the end of the first quarter, while his favorite Finley could only show up in the last two minutes, and he could only sigh in his heart: "The good cabbage has been arched by the pig." ”

After the first quarter, the Lakers couldn't be happier, and they found that half of the pre-game preparation was ineffective, especially against Stockton and Malone.

However, the Lakers have long known that it is difficult for them to stop the blocking and demolition of the two Jazz elders, so they simply prevent all the other three except Stockton and Ma Long, as long as the remaining three cannot contribute output, can they only rely on the firepower of the second elder to kill the Lakers?

The Lakers are now lagging behind, mainly because their offense did not play well in the early part of the first quarter, and they were slightly slow to enter the state.

But it is not without hidden dangers, Zhang Qian contributed 16 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist in the first quarter, this score accounted for most of the team's scores, and the Jazz will inevitably strengthen Zhang Zhu's bag in the second quarter, and then the Lakers must be asked to have someone else stand up.

Sloan really chose to wrap up in the second quarter, and the koala baby went into battle without resting, but under the Jazz's layers of interception, he could only choose to hand the ball to his teammates to organize, and this is when they can play their role.

However, I don't know if the Jazz's defense was too good, or if the Lakers were really slow to heat up, Finley and Starks missed back-to-back shots, and only Mason helped the Lakers score two points in the first four minutes.

The Jazz's state is still hot, Malone scored 6 points in a row, and the veteran Antoine Kyle hit a three-point success, and the Jazz gradually opened the score, which made the Lakers' home fans a little unacceptable.

Zhang Qi couldn't accept it, especially when he saw Starks wasting opportunities continuously, he couldn't help but think of the championship that the Knicks were about to get in New York back then.

At the critical moment, it was Mutombo who grabbed two frontcourt rebounds under the basket after coming on the court to stop the bleeding for the Lakers, and soon after Kidd also replaced Starks, forcing Stockton to add another 4 points.

When the Lakers were caught in Zhang, they actually relied on these two guys who are not good at scoring to get points to stop the bleeding for themselves.

However, there is still a credit to Zhang Mao, if he hadn't attracted a lot of defense, these Lakers players who were voluntarily released by the Jazz would not have so many scoring opportunities.

The two teams have since formed a stalemate again, and the Lakers have not stepped up to score consecutive points in the second and third points, and Zhang Qi will not be freed from the bag.

But the Jazz's offense is actually very limited, but they are well prepared, and they can always rely on some subtle transfer and cooperation to create scoring opportunities, but the Lakers are powerless against these offensive routines of the Jazz, and some Qi Sect masters encounter Sword Sect masters, and they are overwhelmed for a while, and they are in a hurry.

The Lakers' coaching staff will be holding a small notebook to memorize the Jazz's tactics, and many of these routines are very fresh, and they are obviously tricks used by the Jazz in key games after private drills.

But this kind of thing can still surprise in a game, as long as the Lakers go back and study it thoroughly, there will not be much threat next time. And this routine cannot be inexhaustible, the Jazz did their best in the first game, obviously trying their best to grab the next away game first, so that the next game will be much easier.

In the last 2 minutes and 30 seconds of the second quarter, the Jazz relied on the exquisite coordination of the elimination and play, and actually led the Lakers by 10 points, which was a score that they were very satisfied with.

But the problem is that the Jazz no longer have the strength to maintain a high-intensity bag defense against Zhang Zhu, Russell was beaten into three fouls, and the restraint on Zhang Qiu finally disappeared.

Sloan has no way to deal with it, and can only pray in his heart at the moment, hoping that Zhang Mao, who has not rested in the first half, is also tired, and more than two minutes have passed in such a hurry, so that the Jazz can make tactical adjustments in the midfield, and there will be a good chance to keep this lead in the second half.

It's a pity that after Zhang Fu handed over the ball in the second quarter, the physical consumption was actually not very much, and his physical strength was enough to support a greater consumption than this, at this time he was not like the old guys like the Jazz, who still needed to stop and take a breath.

Soon, Zhang Qi shot the second three-pointer of the day from 26 feet away, taking advantage of the fact that Russell, who was defending himself, was beaten into three fouls, and the Jazz players' physical strength declined, he was on fire again in these two minutes, scoring 7 points in one go, and the 10-point advantage that the Jazz had worked hard to save became 5 points in a blink of an eye, and the Lakers ended the first half with 57:62.

Harris also breathed a sigh of relief, the Lakers players were not in good shape today, but the Jazz's offense was unexpectedly ruthless, and this backwardness was completely acceptable.

Today, as long as the Lakers don't fall too far behind in the first half, it is not difficult to counterattack in the second half with home-court advantage and physical advantage.

Therefore, the current situation is not only not backward, but also a little better, as long as the game can be dragged out to the late stage, they have a lot of chances of winning than the Jazz.