The Rockets didn't have time to celebrate their victory after the game, so they had to take a two-hour flight to Los Angeles.

The schedule for the second round of the Lakers has also been officially released-

May 5, Los Angeles Lakers VS Houston Rockets - Great Western Forum Arena, PM, 22:00.

May 7, Los Angeles Lakers VS Houston Rockets - Great Western Forum Arena, PM, 22:00.

May 10, Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets - Compaq Center, PM, 21:00.

May 12, Los Angeles Lakers vs. Houston Rockets - Compaq Center, PM, 21:00.

On May 14, Los Angeles Lakers vs Houston Rockets - Great Western Forum Arena, TBD.

May 16, Los Angeles Lakers vs Houston Rockets - Compaq Center, TBD.

On May 18, Los Angeles Lakers vs Houston Rockets - Great Western Forum Arena, TBD.

That night, the Jazz vs Clippers game took the lead, and the Lakers had to watch in the dark that the winner of the two teams would be their opponents in the next round.

O'Neal's pick-and-roll defense has long been considered crippled, and most teams will increase the frequency of pick-and-roll offense against the Magic and this year's Clippers, whether it's their own skill or not.

The Jazz are the best pick-and-roll team in the league, and arguably the best pick-and-roll team in NBA history.

Therefore, there is reason to be bullish on the Jazz in this round, and O'Neal's career win rate against the Jazz is less than 40%.

Zhang Qi had a feeling when he was playing the Jazz that his team's athleticism was almost a notch higher than that of the Jazz, but the difficulty of the two sides on the offensive end was a little higher than that of the Lakers.

It's strange that the Jazz's seemingly powerless, well-known monotonous pick-and-roll tactics always create good offensive opportunities in their hands.

This may be an example of what is easier said than done, everyone can play "blocking and dismantling", but everyone has a different effect.

The Jazz are blocking anyone, and even more so against the Clippers.

The Clippers have been preparing for this for a long time, and O'Neal only went to the nightclub to celebrate once after the promotion, and then once again restrained his desire to have more physical strength to deal with strong opponents in the game.

He also didn't have the confidence to beat the Jazz, so that restraint was important, and if he was as lazy as he was in the regular season, it was a losing point.

The Jazz's tactics and lineup are destined to inevitably increase their mid-to-long-range offense, which will be a test of the physical strength of the defender, especially O'Neal. At the same time, Malone will also use his ability to break through with the ball and look for opportunities to create O'Neal's fouls.

Now everyone knows that O'Neal is the backbone of the Clippers, and most of the team's tactics are carried out through him. Therefore, if he doesn't perform well, it will be difficult for this team to win, so finding a way to make trouble for him is a shortcut to winning.

O'Neal knows how important he is, so he chooses to stay on the defensive end, first, to avoid his lack of physical strength in the final quarter, and second, to avoid too many fouls. But on the offensive end, he also wants to destroy the Jazz's interior line, especially Malone, as long as he is killed, the Jazz's blocking and pick-and-roll will not be able to play.

Zhang Mao didn't see too much strategy in the first quarter, the two sides seemed to be fighting each other, although there was nothing wrong with it, showing his best side, he could win naturally, and if he lost, his strength was not good, and there was nothing to complain about.

It's just that as a bystander, he still wants to see more information that is useful to him.

But in fact, the Jazz have inadvertently told the Lakers something with their stable, if not dull style of play.

In the first quarter, the two teams can still play back and forth, O'Neal can always make asymmetrical and unbelievable moves with his size, this bastard deserves to have a physical talent comparable to Chamberlain, and is an inside monster when serious.

However, the Clippers' hidden dangers have long been buried, they rely too much on O'Neal's individual ability, unlike the Jazz who can connect other role players through pick-and-roll, and the Clippers cannot extend O'Neal's advantage to the whole team.

This style of play, once O'Neal has a bad hand or is targeted by the opponent, it is likely to be exhausted, because other Clippers players don't know how to create scoring opportunities for themselves around O'Neal, they will only help O'Neal create opportunities.

In fact, that's why the Lakers can't beat the Jazz in another time.

O'Neill is indeed strong, but he only knows how to take at this stage, not to give.

The Magic know that they need to use O'Neal's strength on the inside to create opportunities for others, but this requires the head coach to have a suitable system, O'Neal to have a mature overall view, and other players need to define their roles and positioning.

O'Neal felt that he had sacrificed too much with the Magic, and now he doesn't want to sacrifice at all, and he has to respect me when he comes to the Clippers, just like Zhang Qi did with the Lakers, and that's what he set when he chose the team.

But he didn't know at the time that Zhang Qian had already understood this truth, but even if he did this last season, the Lakers' lineup would not be able to win the championship, so it was better to let the whole team fulfill themselves; In this year's regular season, he was constrained by tasks, but there were also some games that showed his vision of the big picture.

In fact, to put it bluntly, the Clippers and the Lakers in another time and space lack a mature system, and O'Neal only wants a system that completes himself, and it is strange that he can win the championship.

But it's not that Bill Feige's coaching ability is not good, but that he won't fool, although he is not bad in terms of qualifications, but he is still a little short of holding down O'Neal. The most important thing is that if a person like O'Neill is not pressed to the ground and rubbed a few times, he will never learn to be obedient, and he will never become mature.

The timing of the Zen master coming to the Lakers is too good, after being eliminated for several consecutive years, O'Neal has realized the shortcomings, and the pressure on him from the media fans is too great, so the arrival of a dynasty coach, he is naturally willing to cooperate, and some sacrifices are also willing to do, so Kobe Bryant can rise smoothly and the Lakers can usher in a dynasty.

This is basically the same as Jordan back then, if the gang leader hadn't been pressed to the ground and rubbed for the first seven years, he wouldn't have become mature.

Therefore, in the second quarter, when the Jazz increased the offensive and defensive pressure, especially after increasing the interception of O'Neal's ball, the Clippers began to be unable to keep up with the rhythm again.

Especially on the offensive end, the speed at which the Clippers players handle the basketball is obviously not able to keep up with the defensive intensity of the Jazz players, and as soon as the transmission of the basketball is difficult, the operation of the whole team begins to have problems.

Fans in front of the TV found that the Clippers passed the basketball around, but the basketball always failed to pass to the key point, so it was naturally difficult to create a real threat to the Jazz.

This situation makes people feel that they simply do not have a clear tactical idea, the players lack the ability to judge on the spot, or their adaptability is problematic, and they lack a commander who can understand the situation on the battlefield.

The kind of pressure that the Jazz gave was something that the Timberwolves couldn't give in the last round, so in the first round, the Clippers couldn't see their ability to resist pressure at all, and they could only see Fat covering the sky with one hand under the basket.

Now when encountering the Jazz, the pressure on the Clippers is not the same, and it is necessary to test the players' adaptability and ability to withstand pressure, but the answer of the Clippers is "no"!

The Clippers really don't have many refreshing tactics, and as for adaptability, they don't exist......

Let's put it this way, the Jazz players can execute the tactics according to the coach's intentions, but the Clippers can only execute the tactics by one person, and this is the difference between a strong team and a pseudo-strong team.

This kind of game, where will you have the opportunity to play default tactics and routines, basically the tactics are destroyed in the middle of the execution, you have to make changes according to the defense, which requires players to be able to adapt on the field, especially the head must be clear, so as to make the right moves.

What about the Clippers?

They certainly don't have such a sober mind.

In the regular season, you will see a lot of fierce players who cut points like chopping vegetables, and when they come to the division semifinals or division finals, they become brainless.

This is the lack of clarity in the head, the lack of tactical execution, and in layman's terms, it can be classified as a low ball quotient.

In the regular season, basically the default tactics are played, except for a few teams, most of the teams do not change much in their tactics, at this time you can rely on your body to eat, and then brush the data very beautifully.

But at this stage, everyone's physical fitness will not be too different, and it is not only the body that fights, but also the brain, consciousness, teamwork, and tactical execution......

No matter how strong your individual ability is, how many points can you score in a game in this situation where you have to be blocked every time you shoot? How efficient can it be?

O'Neal's answer in the second quarter was: 4 points, 7 shots.

In this quarter, even if he was as strong as O'Neal, he only scored 4 points with 7 shots.

The whole team of the Clippers is like a headless fly, at first glance there are a lot of masters, but it is difficult to see that they have any eye-catching cooperation, most of them are strong and brute, or a few blind fights without any clear intentions, one word "chaos", no rules at all.

The Jazz are as steady as ever, and they are not like the Lakers, who often score more than 30 or even 40 points in a single quarter...... They scored a dismal 25 points in the second quarter, but the three elders allowed the Clippers to score a measly 14 points, somehow leading by as many as 13 points in the first half.

"It's a bit of 'he's strong, he's strong'!"

Zhang Wei doesn't quite understand why the Clippers are playing so stupidly, they didn't play the Jazz like this, why are they acting like this bear now?

Kidd saw more than he did, because he was a point guard, so seeing Van Exel's performance in this position, he felt the most!

However, he had the same question about Van Exel's performance: "Why such a stupid"!

"If it's me?" This was the thought that came up most of Kidd's thoughts in the first half, and he disagreed with many of Van Exel's choices, and couldn't even understand why he should stop, not slow, not fast, not pass, and not suddenly...... Well, it's hard to understand other than the good shooting options......

Well, Kidd's last thought can be ignored, because Zhang Yi is even less understanding of Van Exel's choice to make a move.

But Kidd really has a lot of opinions and doubts about the choices Van Exel's made in terms of organization.

In the second half, the Clippers remained passive.

O'Neill's form has recovered, but it is not the same as the previous round, and even if he can score some star shots, it would be a fool's dream to expect to win with such difficult goals.

The Jazz's offense is the opposite, the goal can be scored, the star ball will occasionally appear, and every player on the court can join in the offense, can do their part, and contribute to the final goal.

That's where the gap lies, and the Clippers have a maximum of three players on each offense, which is not bad. The Jazz are a true five-man team that makes decisions.

After the third quarter, the Lakers knew that the Clippers were afraid of getting cold.

In the last quarter, the 16-point gap was against the Jazz, and there was not much probability of a comeback for the Lakers and Bulls.

The Jazz didn't give it another chance and eventually won their first home court without danger.

O'Neal finished with just 22 points and 12 rebounds, and nine of those points came in the first quarter, and it seems that his abstinence has not worked.

The Jazz three elders scored 68 points in this game, Malone alone scored 32 points and 15 rebounds, O'Neal was once again rubbed by his predecessors, I don't know if he will repeat the tragedy of two years ago and be swept out by his predecessors?

Zhang Mao looks cool now, O'Neal's performance is not good, not only lost, but also loses his personal performance, which is definitely an encouragement to him, and it is best for the Bulls to hit the street for a while, it will be perfect.

However, this idea is also a bit of a pipe dream.

The Hornets, who didn't get Anthony Mason this year, were able to reach the second round by the Pistons, and they were basically not on the same level as other teams that entered the second round.

Although the Clippers were beaten by the Jazz without temper, if they meet the Hornets, I am afraid that it will be the rhythm of the last round of hanging the Timberwolves.

Since even the Clippers can be beaten, the Bulls certainly won't have a problem.

In the first game of the Eastern Conference semifinals, Jordan and Pippen didn't talk nonsense, and both cut 30+, easily taking away the Hornets whose morale was not high.

This battle also indicates that the series between the Bulls and the Hornets will not exceed five games, and it is good for the latter to get a home victory, but it will be taken away directly by the Bulls 4:0, which is a very likely result.

With the first day of the second round over, the eyes of fans can turn to the Lakers.

The next day, the Rockets players didn't show up until 3 p.m. for an hour of acclimatization, as well as an hour of shooting drill.

After watching the Rockets' pregame training, the Los Angeles media knew that the Lakers' first game was nine out of ten.

The Rockets' Big Three combined yawned at least five times in two hours, which means they rushed to Los Angeles after the game last night, and eighty percent of them didn't even get enough sleep.

Back-to-back games in the regular season are easy to win by the weak, but now in the playoffs, the Rockets' opponent is the Lakers, who are stronger than themselves, if they can't win it, the Lakers won't mention winning the championship again.

The Rockets players are not hiding their eyes, and most of the players are really tired and sleepy.

After the game yesterday afternoon, the players rushed to Los Angeles after eating something, and naturally slept badly. Last night, there were Los Angeles fans who deliberately made noise outside the hotel, and there was no yawning today, even if the hotel's soundproofing equipment was good enough.

In fact, even if they slept well, their physical strength would not recover.

The Big Three of the Rockets are all veterans of thirty-four or five-year-old, this age is in this era, it should be time to retire, and it is really no fun to play back-to-back away games.

They themselves know this, and today's game is 80% to concede a game.

Tang Shuai also told his players that he would treat this round of the series as a 0:1 game.

This is not a frustrating word, Tang Shuai is also very helpless, he has the ability to arouse the fighting spirit of the players, but there is really no need for this.

In this case, it is easy for the three elders to have an accident, and once someone fights too hard and gets injured, they don't have to think about defeating the Lakers.

Harris is equally aware of all this, and the Lakers must play more savage against such a Rocket...... The bigger the action, the better...... The more rude the play, the better...... They can learn from the playing style of the Pistons Bad Boy Army back then, even if it doesn't matter if there are more fouls, it will definitely be worth it!

Those old guys would never dare to go toe-to-toe with themselves, and if they did, it would be the best.

Harris is confident that even if Barkley comes to fight Zhang, he won't be able to last four games and will have to fall apart.

Those pairs of butts are no longer the slap horses of his twenties, and now Barkley can not only arch in static confrontation, but also be killed by Zhang Qi when he moves.

The Lakers did the same in the game, not going to play positional battles with the Rockets at all, the dead camels in this area are bigger than horses, and they will speed up the offensive and defensive rhythm at every opportunity, whether you follow or not, anyway, I just want to play fast.

Today, Harris demanded that his players must attack aggressively, defend savagely, and speed up the pace when they have the opportunity, and it is best to consume the vitality of the Rockets in the next game.

The Lakers players did these eight words, and even the offense was brutal!

Zhang Mao's pair of iron elbows slammed the Big Three one by one today, and he was almost ejected from the game with six fouls and received a technical foul, but this style of play made the Rockets players slightly collapse, resulting in a game full of physical contact that was extremely unfavorable to the Rockets.

Mr. "Los Angeles Murderer" is even more hateful than Zhang Fu, once Barkley was provoked by Zhang Yu and couldn't control his emotions, and finally returned an elbow, but in the next round, Mason was maliciously knocked to the ground from the air, and his ass almost fell into three petals!

This is Mason's duty, anyone who dares to provoke Zhang Zhu, he must come forward to get the field back, and no matter who makes the first move, in short, you can't fight back.

Of course, this is just the way of playing today, not a strategy.

The Lakers' defensive strategy today is to "play one trap and two releases", that is, to see Barkley to death and let Drexler and Olajuwon go to attack.

This strategy seems to be inferior to the SuperSonics, and the lineup is inferior to the Lakers, but it doesn't say that two people will be released to attack.

Of course, the Lakers will not be so cowardly, Harris deliberately put Drexler and Olajuwon to attack today, he has his own plans.

For the Lakers, victory is not a problem, it was originally a 1:0 without suspense, so only achieving this result cannot be regarded as the best result.

Of course, they can trap the Big Three together, but this will make the Rockets collapse prematurely, enter garbage time early, and will also allow the three to retain their vitality, and the next battle will be difficult to say.

The best result for the Lakers was to win and consume more of the Rockets' physical strength.

Today they are sure that even if they fall behind in the first three quarters, they can take the Rockets away in the fourth quarter, so of course they have to make the Rockets expend a little more strength.

Therefore, the real purpose of the Lakers' battle is to "attrition", or "killing".

Drexler and Olajuwon are exerting too much energy and will surely affect the next game. To put it mildly, if one of the three elders has three longs and two shorts, then the battle can really end early.

But if they don't change their defensive strategy, if the Rockets give up their strategy early, it will keep them alive, so they have to put two people on offense.

The Lakers even trailed by 2 points in the first half, because there were a lot of fouls, giving the Rockets a lot of free throw opportunities, and with the efficient play of Olajuwon and Drexler, the Rockets even saw a chance to win on the road.

Tang Shuai didn't expect that this might be a conspiracy of the Lakers, but no team would give up the game when they were ahead, even if they knew that the opponent might be trying to get away, the Rockets had to bite the bullet and rush to do it at this time.

But in this kind of competition full of physical conflicts, the physical exertion is extremely high, especially for Drexler, "Glider" has been suffering from minor injuries this season, this kind of competition that is slapped on the ground at every turn, and every time he falls to the ground is a test of his old bones.

The Rocket team is not without counterattacks, but Zhang Mao's skin is rough and thick, his body bones are really strong, and his nerves react quickly, so it's too difficult to get him injured, unless he is a black hand!

But the question is, who would dare to be ruthless to a super-rich second generation?

Today's "Great Western Forum Arena" sat a lot of business and political bigwigs, governors and mayors were all watching the game, half of the top ten richest people in the United States came, everyone knew that they were here for the spin-off of the Dragonborn company, and these people were the existence that David Stern also wanted to stammer.

Barkley is mixed up enough, but he also knows that the energy of these capitalists is stronger than that of the governor and mayor, who dares to touch a hair!

Even if you are told that this is a society under the rule of law, will an ordinary person be intimidated when he sees the real rich second generation?

Even if you are not afraid of power, will you deliberately do it?

Of course not, there is a difference between "not being afraid of power" and "looking for death".

Therefore, even if Barkley is overshadowed, he will pay back an elbow at most, but he will never dare to do a black hand, otherwise people will make him embarrassed just by legal means, and the fool will ask for trouble.

Zhang Qi rarely hacked people this season, so he basically never was maliciously violated.

When the worst guys in the league saw him, they didn't dare to use any crooked brains, at most, they harassed him with small actions like Rodman, but there were no hurtful actions.

Sometimes, Zhang Wei even wanted to shout "Who dares to hurt me" three times in a row!

But fortunately, he heard his Lao Tzu talk about Wei Yan's deeds and knew that this method of death was not advisable.

In the third quarter, the Rockets became more and more tight on both offensive and defensive ends, and the Lakers began to go all out, and this was the beginning of the game.

But at this time, the Rockets were no longer able to deal with the Lakers in the afternoon, and could only maintain a three-point offense, and the seven-point strength was forced to be used on defense, which was basically pressed and beaten.

Tang Shuai will feel that he is hanging in mid-air, and although the Lakers are strong, they have not played an attack wave, which makes the Rockets very uncomfortable.

The current Rockets team really can't advance or retreat, they should have given up strategically early on, but now they have fought for half a game, and they gave up as soon as they were tight, wouldn't their previous efforts be in vain?

But if the stalemate continues, it seems to be even more detrimental to them.

This embarrassing situation of not being able to advance and retreat has been going on since the end of the third quarter......

With a score of 71:64, the Rockets only trailed by 7 points in the first three quarters, and there is still a chance to recover such a gap, so should the fourth quarter be more energetic, or should the strategy be abandoned?

Tang Shuai is also in a dilemma, this situation is already difficult to ride a tiger, he can't enter, and he can't retreat!

Zhang Qi said that Lao Tzu played three irons in the last two minutes, in order to let you see the hope of winning and continue to use your strength in this game.

However, he also felt that this move was a bit risky, and the previous three goals were his own initiative.

Harris won't let him let go of the water like this, because he can't afford the responsibility, and the 7-point advantage has the possibility of overturning, and if it is self-defeating, it will be a big joke.

So, he wanted to kill the Rockets in the third quarter.

But Zhang Wei disagreed, he felt that since he had to do enough to act, only three quarters would not hurt the Rockets' vitality, but it would be different if it dragged on for four quarters, and then the pre-game task was completed.

Of course, this is very risky and easy to get away with.

But when you think that the Rockets only finished a strong conversation with the supersonic yesterday, the risk is worth the risk anyway.

Their head coach is worried about taking the blame, and Harris's position with the Lakers is unstable and he can't afford to take this responsibility.

But he is not afraid, he can bear it.

Besides, even if he is tied after three quarters, he is confident that he will beat the current Rockets in the fourth quarter, not to mention that they still have a 7-point advantage, if they can lose, then the Rockets will be the champion.

In the fourth quarter, the Rockets were still hung in mid-air by these 7 points, and they couldn't retreat if they wanted to.

They can't give up the game now, otherwise they won't be able to account for the fans, and the loss of confidence will be incalculable.

Now as soon as you retreat, the morale is gone.

This is also the reason why Zhang Qiu deliberately put the point difference in single digits, and if he is behind by double digits after the third quarter, then the retreat becomes reasonable.

In the last quarter, Zhang Qi stayed on the court, and he was also worried about getting off.

However, the Rockets may really be running out of energy, and in front of the steel defense formed by Mutombo and Mason, Olajuwon actually hit 4 shots and 0 in the final quarter.

Zhang Qi didn't expect this to be the result, the Rockets seemed to be self-killing in the fourth quarter, shooting 0 of 9 in the first five minutes, and they were beaten 10:0 by the ill-prepared Lakers.

And then...... Of course there is no then...... Tang Shuai naturally had a reason to withdraw his troops at this time, and quickly played GG.

"This TM...... It's deliberate, right? ”

Zhang Wei said that this was definitely deliberate, this was Team Rocket's ploy to preserve its strength, it was so cunning!

But whether it was intentional or not, I'm afraid it won't be known until the autobiography of the Big Three comes out after they retire.

After retiring, these NBA stars will find someone to write an autobiography with a pen, revealing some true and false insider anecdotes to attract people to buy, such as whether the Rockets today are deliberately retreating? Or are they really so tired that they don't hit 9 goals in a row? There should be an answer then.