Salt Lake City's teams, ahead of the start of the season, are generally favored.

The reason is also simple, outside leader Gordon Hayward continues to improve, and the hard work in the summer will inevitably pay off this season, and at the same time, the interior core Rudy Gobert has also made great progress.

The two leaders played well, and the whole team naturally took on a new look and made a qualitative leap.

Visiting Orlando, they dominated both ends of the floor for most of the first quarter.

At 23:17, neither team scored highly, but it was clear from the field that the home team was in some trouble.

"Rudy Gobert is guarding the basket, and Nikola Vucevic has no way to use his punches." At the end of the first quarter, the ABC commentary on the sidelines was also very helpless: "Once the core of the interior line is not turned, the home team will fall into the offensive swamp." ”

"They have completely fallen into the trap dug by the Utah Jazz!"

"That's right, although both teams don't score very much, but Orlando has put too much effort into overcoming the opposing defense." Another commentator nodded: "The impact of this problem will be slowly felt in the course of the game!" ”

The so-called bystander Qing, the two commentators can indeed detect many things that the players who are struggling on the field have not noticed from the perspective of God.

Of course, as the head coach of the team, Frank Vogel looked at the sweaty players in front of him, and his heart was not happy.

"Coach Frank, it's so tough on the other side, I've never been so tired!"

On the bench, before Vogel could speak, while wiping his sweat, Magic forward Aaron Gordon was the first to complain: "And that damn Rudy Gobert, I don't even dare to kill the basket casually!" ”

"Of course, Aaron, that's the way the Utah Jazz have always been, and as a regular on the team, you have to get used to it." Vogel frowned, and his face was not good-looking: "You have to overcome it too." ”

To be honest, the opponent's defensive intensity is very high, which makes his own players a little uncomfortable, plus the inside core is held down by the opposite side, Vogel knows that the problems faced by the Magic are very troublesome now!

But even if he knew that the problem was serious, for a while, Vogel couldn't think of a solution, and the second quarter was about to begin, and he could only adjust the lineup slightly.

The Magic have no way to take the Jazz's defense, which is exactly what Jazz head coach Quin Schneider wanted to see, and the head coach with an emphasis on defense kept Gobert on the court in the second quarter while replacing Gordon Hayward.

He needs plenty of rest from the team's main players, and Schneider is not at all worried about the team's attacking level.

Because the Jazz also made a difference in the free agent market this summer, they took the former Hawk king - Joe Johnson!

"Coach Quin Schneider kept Gordon Hayward on the field and replaced Joe Johnson!" The commentator on the sidelines saw the Jazz lineup at this time and couldn't help but sigh: "Although Joe Johnson is no longer young, his singles ability is still not to be underestimated!" ”

And that's why the Jazz won him!

Joe Johnson, known as the singles Joe, will naturally not disappoint Coach Schneider, at the beginning of the game, the Magic's first offense was rejected by Gobert's long arm, and then it was the Jazz's turn to counterattack, singled Joe with the ball and singled the defender, skillful back single, turned over and jumper, and easily scored two points!

On the other hand, on the Magic side, there is no way to even take the Jazz's release of the starting lineup, let alone the current second lineup, whether it is the guard line or the forward line, the Magic's bench is like not knowing how to play, and it is uncomfortable to handle the ball.

The final result can also be imagined, shooting iron, being beaten back, opening up the point difference, everything seems to be logical, and then, what awaits the magic will only be a defeat.

It's a slow death!

At 26:18 in the first quarter, both teams did not score high, but the lead was still the Jazz, who had a 49-35 lead over the Magic at home by 14 points after halftime!

"There are two questions left for Coach Frank Vogel right now." Looking at the technical statistics of the half, the commentator sighed: "One is offense, the other is defense." ”

In the locker room, Vogel kept a straight face, looking through the team's technical statistics for the first half, the 32.7% shooting rate was very dazzling, not to mention the pitiful 20% shooting rate of the three-point shot, if he could, he didn't even want to watch it.

What disappointed Vogel was far more than that, the opponent Jazz was also inefficient in scoring in the first half, but the gap between the two teams in rebounding was also obvious, Rudy Gobert is not only a defensive giant, a skilled center, but also a good rebounder!

"Coach, with Rudy Gobert under the basket, we can't open the game!" Although he was reluctant, Vucevic still said directly: "With him present, the defense of the Utah Jazz is like a turtle shell!" ”

"Nikolai is right, we need a guy who can break through the French barrier!" Sergi Ibaka on the other side shook his head: "Otherwise, we will only die slowly!" ”

"Breaking through the French barrier?"

Ibaka's words made Vogel stunned.

The current Magic have big problems on both offensive and defensive ends, but they simply don't have the energy to solve these two problems at the same time, so they can only choose the most fundamental problem, which is the offensive problem.

Just like Vucevic said, the core of the opponent's defense is Rudy Gobert, how to break through Rudy Gobert, this is the solution of the Magic team!

"Coach Frank!"

At this moment, in the locker room of the magic team, there was a voice that had not sounded for a long time.

Wu Rui stood up from his seat and took the initiative to ask the head coach: "Please let me play, I want to try it!" ”

"Michael?" Seeing Wu Rui standing up, Vogel was stunned for a moment: "What do you want to try?" ”

"I want to try to break through the French barrier." Wu Rui said, moving his legs: "Use my legs!" ”

"Michael, are you crazy!"

As soon as Wu Rui's voice fell, the first one to jump up and oppose it was Biyombo, who faced Gobert in the second half of the first quarter and the first half of the second quarter.

"Hey, Bismarck, do you believe I can block Cole Aldridge?" Biyombo's objection seemed to be expected by Wu Rui, and he shrugged his shoulders: "That's a big man of 2.11 meters!" ”

"Rudy Gobert, why can't it be the next Cole?"