Bulldozer of the NBA’s Restricted Area

Appear again.

Limas glanced at each other and took a deep breath. After all, taking the lead is not victory. Being stable is the championship. Even if the momentum is strong, no one dares to relax a point.

In the third quarter of the game, the Jazz's tactics were as usual, and the Bulls did not change much, except that they made repeated substitutions at the center position.

How to fight against a strong center?

This is a commonplace topic, and all teams have reached a consensus. The conventional method is of course...when attacking, pulling the inside line out of the penalty area to create a hole in the inside defense; while on defense, using manpower and fouls to attack .

However, this approach doesn't seem to work for the Jazz.

Because Malone at the power forward position also has the same offense and defense. If you limit one, you will miss one. You can't mobilize troops from the outside. After all, Stockton has unstoppable organizational ability, vision and overall view. By playing more from the outside and less from the outside, no matter how weak a player is, he can still maintain a relatively high shooting percentage when taking shots in open spaces.

…

With helplessness, the Bulls started the battle for the third quarter.

Jordan and Pippen were no longer as heroic as they were in the first quarter. Although they were not at the bottom of their form, they still maintained a stable and normal performance, but it was still not enough in the face of the Jazz's terrifying efficiency.

impatient.

Every Bulls player present was a little impatient. Jordan and Pippen's charge did cause Li Shengli and Malone to foul several times, but this was a drop in the bucket and did not improve the efficiency of the Bulls team much.

Until the last possession of the third quarter.

The Jazz lead by 12 points, and the ball is in the hands of the Bulls. If they score, it will be 10 points. If they fail to score, they will maintain a 12-point difference. Unless they make a three-pointer or 2+1, the difference will be in double digits.

"Grant, you come and hit this ball!" Jordan said, which was definitely the highest order besides the Bulls coach. In fact, Grant's offensive status was also good, and he had not exploded when facing Malone.

"No problem, leave it to me."

"Listen, no matter who rushes in from me or Pippen, Lee will definitely save it. We will give you the ball when the time comes. Scoring or not scoring is the second priority. What I want is... to make Malone a foul."

Sloan's chasing tactics were just right, but everything has its pros and cons. If the battle is dragged inside, fouls are an unavoidable problem. At this time... Li Shengli committed three fouls, but Malone committed four.

Before the war, no matter how many soldiers, how much food and grass the opponent had, both sides were clear.

If Malone commits five fouls and there is one quarter left in the game, Jazz coach Jerry Sloan may not dare to let Malone continue to play. There is a high probability that he will come on at the most critical moment at the end, and as long as Malone comes off the field...

David Benoit takes the power forward position. The Jazz have no one else who can play at this position, and Pippen, who he was originally guarding, will be liberated to a large extent. Grant will also have an advantage playing Benoit. In this way, … Two horns of the bull’s triangle were released.

As for the most important player - Jordan, Larry did a good job of preventing his shooting, but with Grant having a certain advantage in the paint, it is definitely a good choice to hand over the sudden points to Grant to take advantage of Benoit alone.

The situation of the Bulls has been revitalized?

Of course, the real variable is whether Malone can get his fifth foul in this round.

…

Jordan held the ball at the top of the arc, shook Larry away, and cut straight into the penalty area.

Li Shengli squeezed past Stacey King, who was present at the moment, and went straight to Jordan. He was not worried about Stacey catching the ball and attacking, because this guy was not as good as Cartwright, and Malone would solve all his worries for him.

"Is this coming?"

Jordan was concentrating and holding his breath. The emergency stop jumper was fake, but the sudden pass to Grant was real. Malone was still worried about the missed ball by Stacey, and was about to rush towards Stacey, but he did not expect that Jordan's goal would be It's Grant.

A little strange?

Malone immediately felt a little strange, because Grant did not take action immediately after receiving the ball, but seemed to wait for him for a while.

What does he want to do?

The ever-changing situation didn't give Malone much time to think. The moment he saw Grant about to take action, he quickly jumped up to block it. What's even more strange is... Grant actually had the intention to move forward and was not afraid of being blocked at all?

boom!

The block is on.

Grant fell back in an exaggerated manner. This fall was definitely a fake fall, and the sound effect of the thud added a lot to the painful scene, but Malone was enjoying it.

In terms of game experience, Malone, the top power forward, is much better than Grant. Although he didn't quite understand Grant's purpose at that moment, his physical instincts honed in countless games allowed him to resolve this crisis.

A clean block, even the referee glanced at Grant, which means... little brother, get up, let's stop acting, okay? There will be lunch boxes and chicken drumsticks? !

At this point, the Jazz got the ball back, but there was not enough attack time. The third quarter ended with the Jazz leading by 12 points.

…

The fourth quarter is a crucial final battle.

Of course Jerry Sloan saw the Bulls' intentions, but it's the last quarter and you can't touch Li Shengli. As for trying to kill Malone, there are still two chances for fouls. How can I make you rebel?

Phil Jackson was really upset at this time.

On the opposite side, Lemas, except for Stockton who took a break for half a quarter, has been working until now, and he would never dare to replace Jordan and Pippen, otherwise the Bulls would definitely explode on the spot.

what to do?

Just spend it like this?

But I can’t defeat Jazz at all!

The only way to break the situation is to disrupt the collaboration between Li Shengli and Malone, thereby disrupting the Jazz's arrangement. When there is no hope of chasing points through conventional methods, Malone's number of fouls is the only life-saving straw.

However... using offensive opportunities to create very unstable opponent fouls will undoubtedly reduce the Bulls' offensive efficiency again.

Phil believes that all problems have solutions, but timeliness is the most critical part. If Malone leaves the field with a foul at the last moment of the game, no matter how perfect the solution is, it will be meaningless.

Drink poison to quench thirst.

The current bulls are like drinking poison to quench their thirst.

Knowing that there is a bottle of poison in front of them, they are so hungry and thirsty that they must bite the bullet and drink it to fight for the last glimmer of life.

…

At this time, the atmosphere inside and outside the stadium has reached a climax. There are only 12 minutes left in the game. The Chicago fans are roaring at the top of their lungs, cheering for the defending Lao Wang, while the fanatical die-hard fans in Salt Lake City are already preparing. Welcome the new king's accession to the throne and crown the new king.

A 12-point difference may not kill Lao Wang, but finding a solution to the problem is the poison that Lao Wang has to drink.

12 minutes, 12 points!

It’s the last quarter of the decisive battle.