On December 26, 1997, the Houston Rockets, who had just finished Christmas at home, came to Salt Lake City to challenge the Utah Jazz.

As of the 26th, the Jazz have a 17-10 record, although they can't compare to the Rockets.

But it's a pretty good record.

This time against the Rockets at home, he held his breath to take revenge on last year's Western Conference Finals.

Malone, Stockton, and Hornacek, the Utah trio, all said before the game that they would do their best to stop the Rockets.

But some reporters also interviewed the Rockets' players before the game, and the answer they got was that it was just an ordinary regular season.

The Rockets don't have any ideas about this game, they just want to play every game seriously.

Both sides are preparing for this match with caution and care.

The only staunch supporter of the Rockets' victory is Rockets owner Tiger Jones.

The young club owner, known as the 'Wonder Boy', had said before this game that the Rockets would win.

On December 26, Jazz's Delta Center Arena.

The regular season for the Rockets and Jazz officially begins.

Jumping balls are a Garnett thing, as usual.

This time, though, he lost to Foster and the ball was caught by Stockton.

Steady on the ball, seeing that there was really no chance of a fast break, Stockton controlled the ball and carried it steadily across the half.

Continue to play Jazz's own pick-and-roll coordination.

Stockton gestured for Malone to come out and do the pick-and-roll.

Malone quickly lifted up and gave Stockton a pick-and-roll.

After switching defenses, Stockton's accuracy was in the hands of Malone.

But the Rockets were already on guard, and Horry, who was defending Byron Russell when he saw Malone getting the ball, had already stepped up.

Stubbornly followed Marlon.

Malone looked at the Rockets' switching defense, very tight, and with one hand, the ball was passed to Byron Russell, who was already empty.

Russell, who received the ball, wanted to make a move.

However, Drexler had quietly followed.

The Rockets' defensive formation is in place, and the rotation of personnel is very timely.

This is a fast and accurate wheel change.

It's not like that team can do it.

But the Jazz's small-area coordination was not bad, just when Byron Russell was being targeted by Drexler.

The Jazz's center Foster is also an up-and-down blocker, and Mark Jackson, who has rotated to defend Hornacek, was immediately blocked again.

As Hornacek ran out of space, Byron Russell was on the ball.

Hornacek catches the ball and shoots in a standard position.

With a "bang", the sound of the basketball entering the basket and rubbing against the net was very crisp.

The Jazz were the first to get the score.

The Jazz's series of exquisite cooperation made all the fans watching the game and professional basketball people amazing.

But the Rockets were fundamentally indifferent, silently serving, Mark Jackson silently took the ball across the half court, and silently handed it to Da Meng, who shook off Foster without any sound, and sent the ball directly into the basket in front of Malone to make up the defense.

The restrained kingly bearing of the rocket can be seen at a glance.

Terrible rocket, maybe the others didn't feel anything, but at least 3 people felt it.

Malone, Stockton, and Sloane.

Malone and Stockton, the golden pair, glanced at each other, and both saw the depression in each other's eyes.

Sloan shook his head slightly from the bench as well.

The Jazz continued to attack, and after another grade, Malone relied on his physical advantage to beat Mark Jackson.

The Rockets are still in that silent situation, silently receiving the ball, silently attacking, and silently scoring.

It was with such a heavy trend that the two sides ended the first quarter of the game.

At 22:21, the Jazz temporarily led by one point.

But at the end of the first quarter, the Jazz players gasped as if they had played half a game.

Sloan knows how much pressure his players are carrying, and the Rockets' offense and defense have allowed every Jazz player to pay 12 points to pay attention and observe.

This consumes the Jazz players' physical strength even more.

Looking at the aging Malone and Stockton.

There was a sadness in Sloane's heart, who could take the place of the two old guys.

Forget it, let's win this game first.

When Malone and Stockton were off the interval, the Rockets' benches were all on the scene.

The second quarter of the game was only 3 minutes bigger, and Sloane Sr. had no choice but to replace Malone on the court.

At least Malone is a little better physically than Stockton.

Even if he was replaced by Malone, the Jazz just had a tie with the Rockets.

The powerful attack power of the rocket hit the Jazz's defense again and again.

Under Bodi Roga's stunning performance, the rocket is as powerful as a spacecraft with nuclear fuel.

Looking at the maturing trio of the new generation of rockets, Sloane's heart was full of sadness.

Look at the young people of Rocket, look at the young people of Jazz.

It can't be compared.

The Jazz stubbornly stopped the Rockets bench from wreaking havoc on the court on their home court.

That's all I can say.

At halftime, there was silence in the Jazz locker room.

Malone and Stockton didn't know what they were whispering to each other.

The others were either silently wiping their sweat or drinking water.

Just then, Sloan slowly walked into the locker room.

Then, without saying anything, he picked up the tactical board and indifferently talked about the specific tactics of the second half.

Those tactical plays, which have been deeply ingrained in the bones of the Jazz, were told by Sloan.

Before the start of the game.

Sloan put down his tactical board.

Silently looked around at the Jazz crowd and said, "Do you know what it feels like to be a champion?" ”

The jazz shook their heads, but they didn't dare to reply.

"I don't know, but I want to taste it, but I know that there is a team outside the door that is the biggest obstacle for us to taste this taste, if you don't want to be invincible by their mark on your heart, then you go and bravely defeat them, do you have confidence?" Sloane grew louder and louder, and by the end he was literally growling.

"Yes," the jazz replied.

"I can't hear what you're talking about, are you all degraded enough to play the WNBA." Sloane continued to growl.

"Yes." The jazz crowd, stimulated by Sloane, also began to roar.

"Okay, that's a bit of a man. Go, go and defeat them, and go and carve in the hearts of your opponents that you are invincible. ”

"Roar." The jazz crowd is like a beast from the wilderness.

At the beginning of the third quarter, the Rockets faced this group of beasts from the wilderness.

Tenacious, tenacious, iron-willed, unscrupulous for victory.

Such a group of people caused huge problems for the Rockets in the third quarter.

Malone waved his big elbow and ran rampant on the field.

Stockton's small moves have always been criticized by all league guards.

As Hornacek breaks through and shoots, the movement is getting bigger and bigger.

Byron Russell's defensive scale is also getting bigger.

For a time, the Jazz almost turned into a wrestling team.

On the other hand, the Rockets were almost blinded at the beginning of the third quarter.

However, led by a group of old guys such as Olajuwon, the Rockets fought back with a tougher attitude.

Malone was stabbed in the chest by the tip of Garnett's elbow, and he didn't breathe for a long time.

Stockton was almost touched by Mark Jackson's hand.

Hornacek was directly knocked down by substitute Shanton Anderson.

It almost sparked a brawl between the two sides.

In this way, the third quarter of the double serve ended almost in a state of foul, hand-to-hand combat, in foul, in hand-to-hand combat.

The game in the third quarter left the twins almost exhausted.

67：65.

The Rockets took a two-point lead heading into the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter, the Jazz's main players were almost unable to run.

The hand-to-hand combat in the third quarter consumed too much of their physical strength.

However, rockets are different.

Players who can play almost all of the team.

After being hit by two consecutive three-pointers from Ray Allen in the final moments, the Rockets completely took the advantage.

And kept the advantage until the end.

88：82

The Rockets won a hard-fought victory on the road.

However, the rocket also paid a price.

That's the injury of Big Dreams.

In the fierce battle in the third quarter, Da Meng was pulled down from the air by the palm of the 'Big White Bear' Ostertag and directly sprained his ankle.

Such a scene has the scene of Shanton Anderson slapping Hornacek down.

The two sides almost got into a fight.

After being examined, the Rockets announced that Olajuwon will miss 10 games and will not be back until mid-January.

This disappointed all Rockets fans, and everyone knows that Don't look at Big Dream's getting older.

However, as a spiritual leader, the role of the big dream on and off the field is more obvious.

In the younger and younger Rockets, there is an irreplaceable role.

Olajuwon's injury has provoked the snooping of other teams' Rockets for a while.

The Houston game was in crisis for a while, can the Rockets get through it?

We'll see.

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