In the second quarter, the Jazz's resolve wavered a bit, and they found that they couldn't match the Lakers at all than the defense, especially when Zhang and Mutombo teamed up to block the restricted area, and their dominance on the defensive end made the Bulls players in front of the TV look ugly - this defense is too difficult to break through.

Now people still have a deep impression of the defensive dominance during the big dream consecutive championships, which is an all-round superstar who needs to ensure an average of 30+ per game, but also has to be distracted to ensure an average of about 5 blocks per game, and has to block the restricted area.

Mutombo doesn't have the confidence to say "my defense is better than Olajuwon who defends with all his might", but he has the confidence to say "my defense is by no means worse than Olajuwon at that time", and he believes that his form this year will never be inferior to Olajuwon in defence, and even better in the ability to control the penalty area, because he is taller and more flexible.

What about Zhang?

Although Rodman didn't say it, he knew that Zhang Qi was more threatening than him in one-on-one defense, bag defense, and supplementary defense and blocking, which was an advantage brought by that guy's talent.

Mutombo now has the strength to average four or five blocks per game, and Zhang Zhu also has the ability to average more than two blocks per game when he is serious, not counting how many shots are interfered with by the two of them, the Lakers' restricted area has basically become a no-fly zone at the moment, even if it is replaced by Jordan and Pippen, they dare not frequently impact such a defense, it is definitely their own hat.

The Zen master also frowned, if he couldn't hit the forbidden area, then he could only rely on medium and long-range throws to fight the enemy.

But the problem is that the Bulls never dare to say that they are much better than the Jazz on TV in this regard, that Malone is one of the most stable power forwards in the active team, and Stockton is one of the most stable point guards in the current team.

If even these two can't beat the Lakers with mid-to-long-range shooting, how could the Bulls have done better?

The Jazz now at least have a strong interior line available, the Bulls don't have a star-level interior line, and there is no long-range interior line that can pull out the Lakers' two interior giants, and then not only will there be one more Mason on the inside, but Rodman's position will also be very embarrassing, don't look at him He can limit the star-level Mourning and Malone, but even if he can still successfully limit Mason, it doesn't make sense.

To put it bluntly, the current Bulls are using the triangle offense to create single opportunities for the two outside lines to defeat the enemy, but half of the threats from these two outside lines are on the breakthrough, and against the Lakers' defense, wouldn't it be to abolish half of the power first?

On the other hand, the Lakers, if they really face the Bulls in the finals, they can put Mutombo and Mason in the restricted area, one of them walks the technical flow, the other goes the dirty flow, plus a Zhang Zhu who can chase the hat from the wing or behind at any time, this restricted area defense is simply terrifying!

The Zen master really has a lot of troubles now, if it was just like this, they could have found a way to solve it, but the Lakers' three guards are not good at bullying at will.

Starks has been responsible for defending Jordan in the Knicks, and Kidd and Finley have also defended Jordan in the regular season, although the three of them are certainly unstoppable, but it is difficult for Jordan to score forty or fifty points in the wheel battle.

It was likely to be the same as it was on TV at the moment — Starks, Kidd and Finley knew that they didn't have to worry about the interior defense, and that the three of them just had to focus on defending Jordan's outside shots, which even Jordan couldn't do much.

As for Pippen, he was afraid that he would be pressed again.

The Zen master really has no confidence in Pippen, facing an opponent who has no advantage in explosiveness, speed, and agility, but the basketball IQ, strength, confrontation ability, technique, and range are a grade stronger than himself, which is basically the existence of Tianke.

When Pippen first encountered Zhang Qi, he could only barely fight with the rookie Zhang Yan, and the Zen master felt that the current Pippen could not be suppressed too ruthlessly, even if he was qualified, he didn't dare to think about this kind of thing.

The Bulls in front of the TV also think that this Lakers team is too perverted, mainly because there are no weaknesses to be found, and they are too hard.

The Jazz on TV is even more helpless, and at this moment some players actually have the psychology of "fear", which is the cowardice that can only be experienced when facing an invincible opponent.

Once the player's will is shaken, the Jazz will lose a momentum both offensively and defensively, and momentum is something like "if you retreat, he will advance" - if you dare to take one step back, he will dare to take two steps.

The Lakers almost pressed the Jazz in the second quarter, and although it felt more and more casual, it was not that they were purely hilarious, but that the opponent began to break down.

Soon after the start of the quarter, Zhang and Starks each shot three points, although Stockton immediately returned to three points, but the overall collapse of the Jazz is not something that one or two people can hold, as every player of the Lakers played in shape, the situation collapsed very quickly, and the Lakers extended the advantage to 20 points in a blink of an eye.

Sloan had no choice but to call two timeouts in the middle of the second quarter, which stopped the team's rout slightly, but the 20-point deficit in front of him was irretrievable, and the Jazz had only their last breath left.

At the end of the first half, the Lakers led the Jazz by 21 points at 60-39 and scored 34 points in the second quarter, which was a score that made the Jazz near death.

Zhang Qi only made 12 shots in the first half, but hit 7 shots, plus free throws, a total of 20 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks.

But the most commendable thing in the first half is not his offense, this kind of offensive performance is only a normal performance for Zhang Mao, what really deserves attention is his performance on the defensive end - 7 rebounds, 3 steals and 2 blocks, which is clearly a top defensive interior statistic, but in fact this is a superstar who can contribute 20 points at the same time.

Jazz players can only have one name in their minds now - Olajuwon.

That's right, when they met the Rockets in the division finals, they thought it would not be a big problem to deal with a mere Olajuwon, but in the end, they experienced the tragic experience of being ruled by one person on both offensive and defensive ends, which is terrible to think about!

Back then, Olajuwon, who was in his prime, led the Rockets by himself while giving away at least four or five big hats per game, and he couldn't count the shots he blocked and interfered with.

At that time, the Jazz obviously had the pinnacle trident, but they were overturned by a big dream, and they only won one victory in the entire series, and they were almost shaved off. This is also a big stain in the careers of Malone and Stockton, that defeat made the historical status of the two instantly stretched away by the equal Olajuwon, and also made Da Meng the first of the four centers, and his status was close to Jordan.

So the question is, the Rockets team, which was obviously inferior to the current Lakers, can beat the Jazz that is stronger than the current one to 4:1, so what kind of virtue should the current Jazz be beaten by the Lakers to be considered normal?

"I think it's going to be 4:0!"

Zhang was no longer ready to let the Jazz win even one game, and perhaps he didn't have such big ambitions before the series began.

But when in the first game, the Jazz tried to snatch the next victory as soon as they made a move, but failed to succeed in the Lakers' poor state, he knew that this opponent was afraid that he would not even want to win a game.

On the Jazz side, in the first half, it relied on the output of the two elders to maintain a glimmer of life, but to be precise, only Stockton played well in the two elders today, and Malone was also a little lost in front of the Lakers' steel defense.

Stockton shot 8-of-12 from the field and made three free throws in the first half to finish with a game-high 21 points and three assists.

This score is already his limit, and maybe a certain "son of the wind" more than ten years later can feel Stockton's helplessness at this moment.

None of them are the heroes of the main scorer, but the team can only rely on them to score, which only shows that the team has been cornered and has nothing to do.

Malone only shot 3 of 9 in the first half, plus 9 points from the free throw line, but Lao Huo, the third-highest scorer, only scored 5 points, which hurt the Jazz.

The most hurtful thing is that the Jazz only had four people score!

Salt Lake City fans don't know how to complain, 22 points + 9 points + 5 points + 2 points, take a look at this scoring order, and then look at the data on the Lakers' side, and play a chicken!

Although the Lakers are in a seven-man rotation, in addition to Zhang Zhu's 20 points, Starks also scored 12 points, Mason 8 points, Kidd 8 points, Mutombo 7 points, and Finley 4 points.

What's even more terrifying is that the Lakers have a 20-point lead, but Zhang Qiu still reminded his teammates not to be careless when he was halfway.

In the second half, the Lakers can play a little more relaxed on the offensive end, but when it comes back to the defensive end, everyone still has to concentrate on coping. Whoever dares to relax defensively will have no share of this year's playoff bonuses and team bonuses.

Zhang Fu didn't dare to say this, but there was naturally no problem for him, the rich second generation, to say it, anyway, he wouldn't ask for these two bonuses, and in the end it was all distributed to his teammates, so who didn't contribute or wanted to do something, then don't blame him.

Originally, Zhang Mao wanted to donate this kind of bonus, but his agent reminded him that not only could not buy people's hearts, but also made his teammates complain, so it was better to divide it equally among his teammates.

Zhang Wei felt that it made sense, and his threat at the moment was much more useful than Harris, or his own words to remind everyone not to underestimate the enemy. Although the league does not offer many playoff bonuses, the playoff bonuses within the Lakers are not a small amount, especially the championship prize is higher than that of the Knicks.

If Zhang Qi gives up his share of the bonus, each of the Lakers players can get a reward of 180,000 US dollars, which is very tempting in this era, and most of the base salary players do not have as much as 150,000 after tax.

The Jazz also bottomed out after halftime.

This is naturally due to Sloan and the two elders, especially Stockton's frantic offense that has reinvigorated his teammates.

Unfortunately, the Jazz's direction after bottoming out is defense, and they still can't do anything about Mutombo and Zhang on the offensive end.

In the first half, Malone was almost dumb in front of Mason and Mutombo, except for Stockton and Lao Huo, everyone else only had a 1-of-12 shooting percentage, which can be said to be unsuccessful.

In the second half, this situation still existed, and the entire Jazz did not have a shooting crosshair.

In the second half, Stockton once again turned into an attacking guard, constantly using difficult pull-up jumpers in an attempt to save life for the Jazz.

Starks, a similar broken name, performed well today. But in the face of the first evil of the small universe, he found that his grade was actually more than one level lower. This guy who has always been known for his passing organization in his career, once he explodes on the offensive end, how can he be so powerful?

It's not your normal Stockton, but his projection is at the top of the range of active defenders.

Stockton's first three seasons saw a three-point shooting rate of just over a dozen percent, and if it weren't for those three seasons, he'd be a monster on track to reach a career 180 club.

This kind of person, if he doesn't throw indiscriminately, once he throws it wildly, it is just in time for his hand to go against the sky, and cutting 40 points is not an impossible task, but the Jazz's system and Stockton's style limit him to get high scores.

Zhang Fu doesn't care in his heart, a person who hasn't even had 40+ in his career, even if he gets 40+ once, what can he do?

This kind of performance is just a normal operation for himself, not to mention that the Lakers still have 20 points of insurance in hand, and no matter how much Stockton scores, he can't turn the sky.

In the third quarter, the game was once again in a stalemate, and the Lakers played a little relaxed on the offensive end, shooting a little haphazardly, resulting in a slight decline in efficiency.

But on the defensive end, the Lakers players maintained high intensity and high concentration under the threat of bonuses, which made it difficult for the Jazz to score consecutive points, and the game finally turned into a real defensive battle.

The Lakers like this rhythm now, and you don't get many points in this kind of game, so it's great that if you score 20 points and I score 18 points, then I'll win.

Stockton also broke the jar, scoring 12 points in a single quarter in the third quarter, and 33 points after three quarters, which is about to break the single-game scoring record of his career.

However, even with such crazy play, the Jazz only managed to chase the score to 79-61, and they only narrowed the gap to 18 points in this quarter.

It is worth mentioning that Zhang Qian played the first three quarters, and still did not go down to rest when he came to the last quarter.

Today, Zhang Zhu changed the infinite singles style of the first game, and most of the offense in the whole game was without the ball, so the loss of physical strength on the offensive end is not fast, even if the physical strength consumed on the defensive end, he has the energy to play at least five more minutes of high-intensity games.

These five minutes are the five minutes that the Lakers have to win the game.

Zhang Qi suddenly stopped playing without the ball, and the Lakers suddenly reverted to the unlimited singles tactics of the previous game.

The poor Jazz, before the crazy comeback in the fourth quarter was launched, found that the Lakers were more like the lagging side.

Zhang Yu suddenly continued to hold the ball and attacked, and suddenly stunned the Jazz again, scoring 6 points in a row in 2 minutes, helping the Lakers successfully expand the difference to 21 points.

It was embarrassing, and it only took two minutes for Zhang to undo Stockton's entire quarter's efforts.

The blow was so big that it was almost a face-to-face slap.

No matter how big Stockton's heart was and how tough his nerves were, he couldn't bear such humiliation and blows, so he immediately hit Kidd and took the initiative to receive a technical foul, and then was replaced by Sloan, and never came up again in the final quarter.

No way, now everyone knows that the Jazz are cold, and Stockton, who is almost exhausted, is unlikely to help the Jazz recover the 21-point deficit in the final quarter.

Sloan was unwilling, but he also knew that there was no suspense in this game, so there was no need to let the two elders of Xuan Ming continue to stay on the court and waste their physical strength.

Zhang was on the court for another two minutes after that, and Harris didn't replace him immediately because he found that his core didn't seem to be at risk of injury.

It's not because of his quick reactions, good health, or special cleverness, but that no one dares to hurt him on purpose.

Not to mention anything else, just like the scene just now, Stockton obviously wanted to find someone to vent his anger before he got off the court, but he didn't go to the most hateful Zhang Zhu, but picked a Kidd who looked easy to bully, which was a bit excessive, obviously bullying the soft and afraid of the hard!

Kidd rubbed his aching crotch part off the field, and he was also clever if he lost it, otherwise he would have been beaten by Stockton just now, and his key parts would have been hit hard if he didn't do well, which was really dangerous!

In the end, Zhang Mao brushed up on 34 points, 12 rebounds, 5 assists, 4 steals and 3 blocks for himself, and enjoyed the cheers of the fans in the audience, and happily walked off the court to enjoy the joy of victory.

With a full-time score of 107:84, the Lakers' own score did not look like a playoff game in the end, but they managed to make the Jazz's score look like a playoff game, and the final result naturally made Lakers fans very satisfied, and the current total score of 2:0 also announced that the fate of the Jazz throughout the series began to cool.

Zhang Yi was interviewed on the spot after the final whistle sounded, which shows that after getting the total score of 2:0, he was extremely happy.

"We always knew what we were going to do. We're going to Salt Lake City, we're going to the Finals, so we're going to have to win the first two games so we're sure we're going to get out of the opposition's turf. You know, the games in Salt Lake City are always tough. And now, we have a huge advantage, I believe that no doctor can cure them, no one has ever been able to get the score back from 0:2 in the final, and we will not give them a chance to do a miracle. ”

Kidd rubbed his thighs, still not forgetting to pat Zhang Zhu's ass, and then he stood not far away, and said to reporters: "He is a veritable MVP, he is too strong, if there is no Lyon, we are not a real championship team, people can't imagine what the Lakers would be like without Lyon." ”