Bulldozer of the NBA’s Restricted Area

On the court, Li Shengli stepped to the free throw line.

According to the rules, only 6 people can stand in the paint during free throws. Excluding Li Shengli who took the free throw, the SuperSonics have 3. Cage, Kemp, and Ricky stand on both sides of the penalty area. The Jazz have 2 people, Malone and Tyrone are also divided. Standing on both sides, if the second free throw is missed, 6 people will participate in the battle for the rebound.

at the same time……

Stockton waits outside the three-point line and can assist his teammates in attacking if the Jazz get a rebound.

Crotty is near the midfield. If the Sonics get a rebound, he is responsible for blocking the opponent's fast break.

The positions of both sides were like this, very routine. The key was that Li Shengli missed the second free throw.

…

Unfortunately, Li Shengli failed to make the first free throw.

With his current free throw shooting rate of 70.1%, it is really a pity that he missed the first shot. Kemp and Cage had just been hit by Li Shengli. When they saw that the shot missed, they felt happy. At least A foul on Cage was not in vain.

Simply based on a 70% shooting rate, the probability of him missing two free throws is 9%. This probability is very low, but there are many uncertainties on the court, and the probability is only a rough statement.

Boom!

The second free throw was missed.

Kemp and Cage activated instantly, one caught Malone and the other ran to grab the board. Li Shengli was the farthest away from the rebound point, so Cage caught the ball and threw it to the waiting point guard outside. Wynnette McMillan.

McMillan accelerated and ran with the ball, and cooperated with shooting guard Gary Payton who was waiting for a fast break opportunity in the midfield, and successfully scored another goal.

…

Next game.

The Jazz's situation was worrying, because not only was the 4-point lead in the half quarter wiped out, the Sonics even went ahead by 4 points, and as many people predicted, the Jazz's inside performance was indeed restricted.

First up is Malone...

Facing Kemp's dog-skin defense, his shooting percentage was far lower than the 55.2% in the regular season this season. He made 2 of 6 shots in the first quarter. Fortunately, he went to the free throw line twice and made all 4 free throws. He scored in the first quarter. 8 points.

It has to be said that Kemp still has some abilities. This is his fourth season in the NBA. Looking at his past average data, he shows a rapid upward trend. According to this momentum, this is not his. peak period.

…

Next is Li Shengli.

Everyone knows that Cage's defense against Li Shengli alone is to give away points, so when Malone feels cold, the Sonics focus on Li Shengli.

If there is no ball, block the incoming pass and run around to block it; if you get the ball, team up with double-teams and trash talk outsiders; if you can't prevent it, foul in advance.

Throughout the first quarter, Li Shengli was troubled. Because he was fouled early by his opponent, several shots were not included in the technical statistics, so his actual number of shots was very few, 2 of 3.

2 of 3, including a 2+1, which looked good, and he went to the free throw line 3 times, and made 3 free throws in 5 times, with a total score of 7 points.

…

The Jazz were also aware of their current predicament, so their shots in the second half of the first quarter were tilted towards the outside.

Crotty faced off against McMillan of the SuperSonics. He had to work hard to make up for his lack of talent. Crotty was in a running state almost all the time. He contributed a lot on both offense and defense. He also found several shooting opportunities, 2 of 4. Scored 2 goals.

The Sonics arranged to mark Stockton with their core player Gary Payton.

Gary Payton, the second overall pick in the 1990 draft, served as a shooting guard. While his offensive ability was outstanding, his defense was also fierce. Unlike Stockton's little moves, Gary Payton added a little trash talk to his little moves. As a side note, Stockton was also grossed out.

As for Tyrone Corbin, his situation is the best one.

Let's not talk about defense. When attacking, the Sonics small forward Ricky Pierce, who was facing him, always had his eyes on Li Shengli. This gave Tai Long many opportunities and he also scored 3 goals.

…

At the end of the first quarter, the score between the two sides was 31:27.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the SuperSonics replaced Ricky Pierce at the small forward position because most of the fouls that restricted Li Shengli came from him.

In order to ensure that the main force is not affected by the number of fouls and can fight at critical times, the SuperSonics bench gangster Eddie Johnson is replaced, nicknamed "Express", and from this nickname, it can be seen that this guy is very fast. On the one hand, Tai Long is guarding the Jazz, and on the other hand, Li Shengli can attack the inside.

Trailing by 4 points entering the second quarter.

After all, this is the playoffs, and both sides must compete for every game, so even in the first game, even before half of the game has been played, the field is filled with a strong smell of trash talk.

On Malone's side, Kemp's single defense was more effective than in the first quarter. The collision and trash talk between the two reached a climax, and they almost clashed several times.

The same goes for Li Shengli. Cage frantically went forward to defend. As long as Li Shengli held the ball, the new Eddie Johnson would inevitably rush in and replace Ricky Pierce as the main fouler. He accurately hit Li Shengli's free throw rate in this game. not tall.

This section is still the same, Stockton rarely takes shots, Crotty's shot position is not ideal, and Tyrone once again becomes the Jazz's final firepower.

…

60:46.

The Jazz trailed by 14 points at halftime, and the situation was very bad. Even though they had the home court advantage, this advantage failed to turn into a leading point difference.

Although Jerry Sloan rotated his players several times in the middle, the effect of breaking the game was not ideal, and he still fell behind by 10 points in the entire second quarter.

No one expected that the Jazz, which everyone was optimistic about, would be beaten to this stage by the SuperSonics. With a 14-point halftime difference, the Sonics had a much greater chance of winning than the Jazz.

The most terrible thing now is that the Jazz have no outstanding firepower in this game. If they cannot break through the blockade in the second half and do not have one or two firepower, the first defeat seems to be a foregone conclusion.

…

After the intermission, the third quarter started quickly, with both teams rotating their lineups.

First came the SuperSonics. Ricky Pierce played again at the small forward position, taking turns playing with substitute Eddie Johnson to block Li Shengli's shot.

On the Jazz side, Li Shengli and Crotty were replaced together, and veterans Mark Eaton and Jane Verhenris came on. There was no smile on Jerry Sloan's face. After all, if he lost the first game and it was at home, no matter Speaking of face issues, the subsequent games will also become difficult.

Li Shengli was very uncomfortable being blocked, but his free throw percentage was not high in this game. Mark Eaton came on the scene. Even if he was injured and could not fight for too long, his role would not be reduced much. Let's fight for Li Shengli. Break time.

As for Crotty, he did his duty on both ends of the offense and defense, but he ran around desperately all the time. Jerry Sloan didn't want to run him out. It was also a good thing for Jane Fhenris to go up and find his touch.

…

In the third quarter, the gong was sounded to start the battle.

Li Shengli sat off the court and watched with an extremely ugly face. Although he scored 13 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks at halftime, the Jazz were still in a state of collapse as a whole.

He was originally ambitious and wanted to win a championship, but reality gave him a slap in the face. After all, the first game of the first round was like this. No matter how much he said it, it was just a joke.

The Sonics will use players to suppress him, but what about other teams?

Obviously, in the future games, even if the Sonics are defeated and advance to the second round, he will still be the one to be taken care of, and his existence is as if he is to attract defensive power to his teammates?

Thinking of this, Li Shengli became even more angry.

In this regard, head coach Jerry Sloan didn't say anything. No one can blame him for the current situation. It's not just Malone's poor performance. It seems that in this game... the entire Jazz army has fallen into a trough, and the third The game lasted until halfway through, and this problem became more serious.

Bad start!

It was just the first game of the first round, no one expected the Jazz to encounter such a big resistance!