Almighty legend life

Chapter 205 The end of the regular season tied with 72 wins
1998年4月19日，97-98赛季NBA常规赛最后一轮比赛正式开打。

In recent seasons, the performance of the Jazz has been very stable. They have always been a favorable contender for the No. First, but I have to say that the luck of the Jazz is really bad. Before the rise of the Lakers, the Bulls existed. Now after the rise of the Lakers, they can only suffer in the second place in the Western Conference.

The combination of Malone and Stockton is the top combination in the history of the entire league. One of them is the leader in assists and the other is the leader in scoring. If it is not unfortunate that they are in the same era as Jordan and catch up again With the rise of Liu Han, their combination is likely to have won the championship long ago, and the personalities of these two people are actually quite consistent with the style of the Jazz. This is also due to the Jazz's ten-year trust in the head coach Jerry Sloan, the outstanding star who played brilliantly in the Bulls and had his jersey retired by the Bulls, did a great job as a coach.

Now in the last game of the season, it can be said that the Jazz's old enemy, the Lakers, will play against the Jazz again. The Lakers hope to get 72 wins and tie the best record of the Bulls, and the Jazz don't want to be in the playoffs. Lost to the old opponent before the start, so this game will be the biggest focus of this round.

At the press conference before the game, the two head coaches were very polite. Jerry Sloan first praised Liu Han for scoring 88 points in the last game, and then he also praised the Lakers for their tactical quality. But in the end, he also said that the Jazz will do their best today and take this game seriously.

Lakers coach George Krent told reporters that the entire Lakers team is looking forward to the victory of this game, and they will tie the record of 72 wins created by the Bulls.

The Lakers sit at home, and the star seats on the sidelines are full of celebrities from all walks of life in Los Angeles. Needless to say, Jack Nicholson, a loyal Lakers fan, will hardly miss any Lakers home game. "Terminator" Schwarzenegger also appeared on the sidelines. He and Nicholson had a good talk in detail. There are rumors that Schwarzenegger will enter the political arena, but it has not been confirmed.American music legend Lionel Richie also appeared on the sidelines. Although he is not a native of Los Angeles, he has lived in Los Angeles all year round and loves the Lakers very much.

"Hey, Liu, we will win today, right?" Jack Nicholson stopped Liu Han who was warming up. He had contact with Liu Han at a reception, and of course Safina introduced him. Nicholson helped Safina introduce the film Safina shot in Europe before, otherwise she would not be favored by European directors as a newcomer, so Liu Han is also very grateful to Nicholson.

"Jack, don't worry, we will win, and we will win the championship." Liu Han is very confident about today's game.

As the referee threw the ball high, the battle of focus officially kicked off.

It is still O'Neal who jumps the ball in the middle circle for the Lakers, and their starting game for this game has not changed in any way.

The Jazz replaced Greg Foster with the jump ball in the middle circle. Ostertag's performance this season was sluggish, and he was put on the bench by Jerry Sloan.

Greg Foster's two-meter jump ball was obviously not O'Neal's opponent. After the ball was set aside by O'Neal, it was grabbed by Ray Allen.

The Jazz returned to defense very quickly and did not give the Lakers a chance to play a fast break.This season, the Lakers have launched fast breaks directly after jumping the ball many times, which is quite deterrent in tactics.

Seeing that Ray Allen, who was hopeless in the fast break, handed the ball to Nash, Nash dribbled the ball slowly across the half court.

Stockton rested for nearly a month at the beginning of this season. After returning from injury, his condition has declined, but Nash, who is still very immature in defense, Stockton is still very experienced.

Nash didn't dare to be careless when facing Stockton's defense. I think the old guys like Stockton have experienced the era of "black hands" in the past, so they all have their own "little tricks". Inadvertently suffer blows from the mind to the body at the same time.

Liu Han did not run to the weak side with the defender as usual today, but took the initiative to run to Nash to cover for Nash.

Stockton observed Liu Han's movements from the corner of his eyes. He wanted to bypass Liu Han's cover, but what he didn't expect was that Nash passed the ball to Liu Han at close range when Liu Han ran up.In a normal game, such a very close pass between two players is a taboo on the court, because the receiver of such a sudden pass may not be able to react.However, Nash's pass was designed. It was a tactic specially formulated by Lakers coach George. It used this reverse thinking method to let Liu Han pass the ball inadvertently.

Liu Han's catching the ball really surprised the players of the Jazz, and Liu Han took advantage of the Jazz's trance to suddenly hit a three-pointer, and the Lakers got off to a good start.

The Jazz's offensive routine is still their classic pick-and-roll cooperation that has not changed for many years.Stockton held the ball at the top of the arc, and Malone mentioned the up-line screen, and then Stockton broke in along the screen direction. If the defensive player chases Stockton, Malone will get an offensive opportunity. If he does not guard Stockton Then he can drive straight in.

However, the Lakers' defense today was very focused. Nash went around Malone's screen and chased Stockton closely, while Robert Horry firmly resisted Malone and refused to let him go down.In this way, although Stockton will have a chance to break into the inside, O'Neal's supplementary defense will put Stockton under great pressure.

Sure enough, Stockton met O'Neal's supplementary defense after breaking into the inside line. He didn't dare to force it, so he hit the ground and gave the ball to Foster who was open. Foster made a gesture to jump up and dunk, but he Liu Han's preparations were as slow as a sloth, and Liu Han, who was returned to the inside to fill his position, came down directly from behind.

The ball that Liu Han slapped fell into Malone's hands by accident. After Malone got the ball, he made a mid-range shot. Horry didn't pay much attention to Malone's shot because he turned around and got stuck just now, allowing Malone to make a mid-range shot.

Judging from the start of the two teams, the Lakers seem to play more easily than the Jazz. Compared with the Jazz's first offense, the Lakers' first offense is obviously more exciting.

The game continued. After Nash dribbled the ball through the half court, he directly lobbed the ball to O'Neal inside. Greg Foster had better strength and speed than Ostertag, but his skills were really rough, and O'Neal's defense was just He resisted with brute force, and was thrown away without a trace by O'Neill's quick turn around.Facing the empty basket under the basket, O'Neal will certainly not be soft-hearted. A dunk made the Jazz's basket creak.

Jerry Sloan was holding his head in pain off the court. Compared with other teams, the inside line of the Jazz is undoubtedly excellent, but for the strong teams in the league, the inside line of the Jazz is not very good. Except for the aging Malone, no one on the Jazz can help Malone in the interior. This was the case with Ostertag in the past, and the same is true with Greg Foster now.

But then the Jazz's offense was impressive. Although Greg Foster was completely ignored in the offense, other Jazz players were still very good, otherwise they would not have won 62 wins.

Jeff Hornacek hit a three-pointer with a breakthrough from Stockton in the corner.The score came to a 5-5 tie.

Next, the Lakers' offense has always been based on the inside. O'Neal played exceptionally well against his rough brother Foster. His opponents are all top insiders in the league, so he rarely uses his own skills, which makes people feel that O'Neal has nothing but physical advantages, but now as O'Neal is getting more and more used to what Li Rui handed over to him The way he worked out, he started playing like a true traditional center.Half-turned with a small hook, then turned back and then turned forward to shake off the defensive player's hitting board. O'Neal was possessed by Olajuwon at this time, and Greg Foster couldn't find the North when he hit.

Jerry Sloan couldn't bear it anymore, replaced Foster with Ostertag, and asked the players to prepare to double-team O'Neal inside.

Ostertag's play and the attention of the Jazz finally stopped O'Neal's offense. However, after the Jazz increased the defense inside, there were loopholes on the outside. Liu Han and Ray Allen made three-pointers respectively. Gradually widen the gap between the two teams.

The Jazz are not to be outdone, both Malone and Stockton have started to exert their strength, and they don't want to lose the game so easily.

As the players on both sides gradually began to exert their strength, the game became more and more exciting, but the movements of the players on the court became more and more serious, especially on the Jazz side. Malone's waving elbow hit the defense more than once Liu Han and O'Neal.

The referee Joey Crawford finally couldn't bear it anymore. He called Malone aside and warned him to restrain his movements.

Malone wants to ignore this big bald head who is partial to the Lakers, but it is not worthwhile to think about being called a T now, and for the Jazz, their desire not to lose this game is actually not that strong, compared to the Lakers The result of the pursuit, this game is not so important to the Jazz, the most important thing now is the upcoming playoffs, so Malone nodded to Crawford to indicate that he would restrain himself.

As Malone gradually restrained his actions, the Jazz's defense was no longer so "iron-blooded". The first quarter ended quickly. The Lakers ended the first quarter with a 34-28 lead of 6 points. There were not many shots in the first quarter, and only scored 8 points, but grabbed 4 rebounds and sent 3 assists.

(End of this chapter)