Chapter 127: The Sword is Immortal

The Delta Air Lines Center, the future energy solutions arena, the arena that can accommodate nearly 20,000 people, is now full, although Salt Lake City is not an industrial city, it is not a big city in the United States, and the Jazz were not born here, but since the Jazz moved here from New Orleans, the residents of Salt Lake City have a deep affection for this team for decades.

It just so happened that it was Friday again, and the weekend was coming, and the fans of Salt Lake City came to the home court of the Jazz to watch the game with their families, as a pastime for the weekend, the popularity accumulated over the years is really not to be underestimated, and there are no NBA teams around Salt Lake City, where the Jazz are located, the more such a team in a corner of the country, the stronger the support of the fans,

The Jazz vs. Knicks game was not broadcast live in the United States, and five years ago, the Jazz game was definitely the object of live broadcast in the United States, but now although both teams have a star combination, but for the media, they are all outdated stars, Utah and Big Apple's double guns, they are all people in their thirties, not to mention that the black and white are forty, for the NBA league with new talents year after year, the media are chasing those people who attract attention, Forget all these old guys in the corner,

Liang Xiao was in the locker room, preparing for the next game, Sprewell was lying next to him, the physiotherapist put bandages on his feet, and he ran all year round, putting their feet under great pressure, and now these injuries have become commonplace.

"Are you guys ready, can you do it tonight?" Sprewell patted Liang Xiao's ass and asked if Liang Xiao could bring out his state now under altitude sickness.

Liang Xiao turned his head and said to Sprewell: "Old guy, you should still worry about yourself, don't lose face for me when the time comes." So saying, he turned around and put the things in the closet,

Sprewell slapped Liang Xiao's ass again and said: "You kid is sharp-toothed now, next time in training session, I will definitely not show mercy, it seems that you are lively and jumpy, there is nothing to do, tonight I am going to fuck those two old guys of the Jazz to the ground, I know no, they are the old guys." ”

"There are no problems, remember to cooperate with me when the time comes, otherwise, I will not show mercy in the next training session." Liang Xiao raised his right hand to make a knife shape, and said to Sprewell,

That's when the Knicks' assistant coach came into the locker room, clapped his hands, and yelled at the players, "Hey, guys, hurry up, hurry, the game is about to start." "The players started moving, tidying up, tucking their shirts into their pants, and walking towards the players' tunnel.

Gradually the human voice is boiling, into the ears, Liang Xiao whenever he hears such a sound, unconsciously the blood surges, the initial kind of altitude sickness brought a trace of discomfort is gradually covered by this blood, Liang Xiao and the fans in the aisle one after another, in the DJ sound of the scene, the players began to go to the center of the field, waiting for the start of the game,

In this game, the Knicks still maintained the original starting lineup, Liang Xiao sat on the bench and watched the Jazz starters, the No. 1 position is the absolute main force of the Jazz, Stockton, No. 2 Cheney, No. 3 Haplin, No. 4 postman Malone, No. 5 Ostertag, the Jazz and the Knicks are the same veterans, only Harpling is 26 years old, Cheney is 31 years old, the center is 29 years old, Malone and Stockton are 40 years old, which is an advantage for the Knicks.

Liang Xiao thought in his heart that this was really a funny situation, Liang Xiao also knew that now in 2002, in the past two or three years, all these old players have gradually begun to fade out of people's sight, and in 2003, the league will welcome fresh blood, and the 03 generation with high-quality draft quality will be opened, but now all the processes are slowly moving towards the beginning, and the new one is in the state of not germinating,

This game basically did not cause much sensation among the 29 teams in the league, even if it was not broadcast on many TV stations in China, and there was no news from Imperial Court Channel 5, but there was still a group of loyal fans watching Liang Xiao's game in front of the computer.

At the beginning of the game, Harrington and the opponent's center, from Ostertag, Texas, engaged in a scrum, I don't know if it was affected by altitude sickness or other reasons, Harrington actually lost to the other party in the scrum, it stands to reason that this is unlikely, Harrington was a little slow to react when the referee's whistle blew,

Stockton faced Easley, who was a little smaller than himself, but in terms of technology and speed, Stockton did not look old at all, the first ball in the opening game was the classic blocking tactics of the Jazz, Malone and Stockton, the old partners who have worked together for more than ten years, did not give face to the Knicks, who are younger than themselves, although the Knicks' group of people are also veterans.

After the postman Malone blocked Easley, Thomas also followed Malone, but when he was about to go down the low post, Thomas did not have Malone's vigorous and resolute state, Malone and Stockton went down the low post on both sides of the three-second zone, and after blocking and dismantling a step to the three-second zone, Stockton gave the ball to Malone, and Malone hit the shot,

Jazz fans watched their favorite players still grow old, and they all gave their warm applause to these two players who have played in Salt Lake City for many years.

The Knicks attacked, Easley did not choose to break through in the face of Stockton's defense, although he had an advantage in the grade, and the speed was faster, but the Jazz team was definitely not defending alone, all the players were paying attention to the movement of the ball, this is the overall basketball of the Jazz team playing a role, the ball was assigned to Houston's hands, Houston chose this to solve the problem simply, Cheney in the second position is technically not compared with Houston, directly is a mid-range projection,

Changing sides, the Knicks defended, although they were physically stronger than the Jazz, but in Liang Xiao's view, the Jazz team was definitely a model of hand-to-hand combat, throwing themselves directly into the pile, the opponent's Harplin and Sprewell were in the opposite position, after receiving Stockton's pass, pressed Sprewell to send the ball to the basket, but the ball did not go in, Sprewell looked at the opponent's forced layup, and felt that he was a little too Sven,

Thomas and Harrington were guarding on the inside, but there was postman Malone squatting in the three-second zone, directly pressing Thomas to get up, directly grabbing the frontcourt rebound in front of the Knicks' two big interior lines, and was about to get up for the second time to hand the ball into the frame, at this time Thomas couldn't hold it back, you grabbed the rebound on my head, and such a reckless shot, how can I give you such a chance, Thomas is a slap, slapped the hand raised by Malone down, and the ball also flew down, and it was less than a minute before he was on the court, Thomas has already committed a foul for the first time,

Karl Malone slapped the ball twice at the free-throw line and spun around twice on his left hand, hitting both free throws.

The Knicks really don't have much to do with Malone, he has the physical fitness of a football player, has a good sense of running, is not very slow, and is not weak in scoring means, which is definitely a big problem for Thomas.

Switching sides to attack, the Knicks pushed forward in Easley, everyone began to run, standing apart from each other, the ball was distributed to Sprewell, the madman wanted to break through alone, he didn't pay attention to the opponent who defended himself, but Halprin was born as a football player, with the physical quality of a black man, fierce on defense, Sprewell didn't take him seriously, but Halprin didn't see it that way, and when the Jazz's black and white duo was getting old, he became the first focus of Sloan's men，

Haprin directly used his body against Sprewell, and he didn't break through to the three-second zone and had no stamina, so he had to pass the ball out, at this time Houston saw Harrington pull it out, and quickly poured the ball to Harrington, and the middle shot was successful, and after two rounds, the Knicks' offense could not reach the inside, which made Van Gundy, who was standing on the sidelines, very anxious, and originally thought that his players could win at the Jazz's home court, but if this state continues, it is estimated that it will be difficult to get a good opportunity later,

The score on the court has always been very close, from 4-4 to 11-11 later, the Knicks' players only have an excellent performance in Houston, in Harrington's occasional pull outside the three-second zone, the first quarter of the game reached 4 minutes and 22 seconds, there was not much fast break on both sides, and the lethality of Malone on the rebounding end was very strong, and it was also an important scoring point for the Jazz, Stockton mainly passed and received the ball, many years of experience, experienced and gorgeous, Halplein, as the Jazz's second scoring point, is only equal in front of Sprewell.

Van Gundy stood on the sidelines and thought that what his players urgently need to solve now is how to break the overall basketball of the Jazz team, the Jazz's defense has a fierce flavor, as long as there are Knicks players who choose to attack, they will put pressure on the Knicks' offense, Van Gundy is now trying to find a player to break this state, enter the Jazz's interior line, cause a breakthrough in defense, and finally either score or break through the ball to create opportunities for other teammates,

With a timeout gesture to the referee, the Knicks made their first lineup adjustment,

Liang Xiao looked at the Jazz's group of old guys off the court, he really didn't expect that they were all almost forty years old, how could they be so good, they were really not old, Liang Xiao saw that the Jazz scoring points were actually not so many, Malone didn't say, Stockton was basically just under the glory of the past, but the Jazz's defense couldn't break through, and the scoring was not in place.