Chapter 841 Teammate Showdown
Chapter 841 Teammate Showdown
The Triangle Center Arena, which was put into use in 94, has been full of seats since the first day of use.
In Salt Lake City, the Mormon stronghold, coming here to watch the game is the biggest embellishment to their boring life.
The Jazz, with Karl Malone and Stockton as the core, has never won a championship or even entered the Western Conference Finals, but these years, it is still a force that cannot be ignored in the Western Conference.
The lineup of the Jazz this season has not changed much from last season. The only important personnel adjustment is that veteran Tom Chambers has left the Jazz and even left the NBA. He crossed the ocean this summer and joined Israel. Maccabi Tel Aviv of the league.
In addition, the general lineup has continued, and even the introduction of former Nets forward Chris Morris, the strength has not declined but increased.
As a forward with a strong body, Chris Morris once smashed a rebound in a game against the Bulls in 93.
But his scoring average is not outstanding. He only had 13.4 points in the Nets last season. After coming to the Jazz, due to the limited playing time, his scoring average has declined, but even so, Morris still gave the Jazz The team provided bench depth.
Of course, this also means that there is no Morris in the Jazz's starting lineup.
The Jazz started five players, still continuing last season's lineup, John Stockton, Jeff Hornacek, David Benwall, Karl Malone and Felton Spencer.
For the Warriors, it is rare to put Rodman back into the starting lineup, sending Li Weisi, Richmond, Jaylen Rose, Rodman and Divac to the starting lineup.
As the referee tossed the ball into the sky, Spencer and Divac took off at the same time, and the game officially began.
Even though Divac was taller than Spencer, it was Spencer who hit the ball first.
After the basketball was taken by Stockton, the Jazz quickly launched an offense.
The Warriors retreated quickly, and the timely return prevented the Jazz from finding a fast break opportunity, so the Jazz immediately played a pick-and-roll.
Stockton and Malone's pick-and-roll is extremely powerful, although everyone knows that the Jazz will play this way, but they just can't guard against it.
This time was no exception. Malone, who received a pass from Stockton, took advantage of the fleeting opportunity that Rodman needed to defend against two, and immediately rushed to the basket.
Although Rodman was a step slower, his reaction was very fast, coupled with his rich defensive experience, and Karl Malone was his research object sooner or later, so he had already judged Malone's actions, and he was clearly behind. He quickly caught up with Ma Long and stood in front of him.
This is the gap between Horry and Rodman's defensive ability. Compared with Horry, who is quite satisfactory, Rodman's ability to surprise people and turn the impossible into possible is exactly why he can occupy the Warriors' starting lineup for a long time. The important reason is also the reason why he was still arranged by Nelson to start this game even though he was in a bad state after his comeback.
Facing the sudden appearance of Rodman, Malone was not surprised as the power forward with the most comprehensive offensive ability in the league today. clean up.
However, just as he was about to make a shot, Rodman rushed over again and did not lose his position.
Faced with this situation, it was impossible for Malone to change his tactics halfway. He could only choose to force a shot. The basketball bounced off the basket after hitting it. However, Spencer, who had been neglected all along, grabbed the offensive rebound.
As Mark Eaton's successor, Spencer's scoring ability is not worth mentioning, but because he adapts to the Jazz's system, he is the pivot position in rebounding and defense, so he has secured the team's starting position .
Therefore, with some strength in rebounding, he successfully grabbed the rebound, but due to lack of offense, Spencer did not find a suitable shot.
At this moment, Hornacek got rid of Richmond's pursuit, successfully ran out of the open space and alerted Spencer.
Spencer passed the ball back to Hornacek, and the latter immediately chose a three-pointer after receiving the ball. Richmond, who was defending him, was a step slower, and the ball fell into the basket accurately. The Jazz led 3:0 in the opening game. .
Faced with Hornacek's strength, Richmond was naturally not far behind. When it was the Warriors' turn to attack, Richmond leaned against Hornacek and asked for the ball. After receiving a pass from Li Weisi, Richmond Started post-up singles.
After these years of tempering, Richmond's strength should not be underestimated, especially his skills, which have almost no shortcomings. The only one who can be called The shortcoming is probably that his speed is relatively not fast enough.
However, no matter how fast the speed was, it was enough in front of Hornacek. After shaking continuously, he immediately turned back and passed Hornacek cleanly.
But over the years, although Hornacek's speed has not improved much, his defensive experience has been increasing. After all, he has defended Jordan a lot these years.
Therefore, Hornacek actually followed Richmond's footsteps when Richmond made a shot, and his outstretched arm also interfered with Richmond's shot.
However, Richmond's offensive ability, of course, will not be so easily defended. He adjusted the arc and increased the angle of inclination. He successfully avoided the interference of Hornacek, and the basketball fell into the basket accurately. Basket, 2:3, Richmond opened the scoring for the Warriors.
No one expected that the game would be a duel between these two former Warriors teammates. What is even more surprising is that the performance of the two is quite good.
In addition to being accurate outside, Hornacek can also be used as an offensive starting point other than Stockton. For a while, the Warriors' defense was caught off guard. After all, the Warriors focused their defense on Malone and Stockton. .
And Richmond's outburst also disrupted the Jazz's deployment. Originally, the Jazz aimed their main defensive lineup at Li Weisi, but when they saw Richmond scoring consecutively, the Jazz had to face the fact that the Warriors had changed. As a result, the Jazz had to spend time and energy to adjust, even if they were absolutely unwilling in their hearts, they still couldn't change the development of the game situation.
In this way, after the opening, the two shooting guards took the lead in the duel.
However, the two of them took the lead as the arrows, which was okay for a while, but it couldn't be like this all the time. It was the team's face that really decided the outcome of the game.
Therefore, in the first quarter, the game was inextricably linked. In the second quarter, as the core players of both sides began to make moves, the game finally had its first change.
(End of this chapter)