Bulldozer of the NBA’s Restricted Area

April 24, 1997.

The first day of the playoffs of the 1996-97 season.

The weather forecast was originally inaccurate, but no one expected that the Lakers were fine when they arrived at the Jazz's Triangle Center Arena, but the game was about to start, and suddenly there were clouds and thunder outside.

"Is it going to rain heavily soon?"

"Damn, why is the weather suddenly like this?"

There were a lot of complaints in the Lakers locker room. It could be released earlier or later, but holding it in like this would be a big problem, because Salt Lake City has a high altitude and low air pressure. Coupled with the low air pressure on the eve of the rainstorm, it was really hard to breathe. Feeling out of breath.

At this moment, Da Ben ran to the window and stretched his head to look out. A bolt of lightning flashed across the night, followed by an ear-piercing thunder, which almost scared Da Ben to the point of peeing.

"Damn, what a bad luck!" Ben cursed to cover up his embarrassment.

"Li, tonight it seems..." Crotty frowned.

"There's nothing similar. You can fight as you should." Li Shengli glared at the fretful Ben, then glanced at Kobe who was preparing, "A good thing, this should be a good thing. I hope this rainstorm will come harder. No one can run away tonight!”

Li Shengli was still talking to a few teammates, and Harris hurried over to convene a meeting with all the players. The pre-game meeting was nothing more than determining the starting personnel and setting up game tactics.

Li Shengli, Ben Wallace, Horry, Crotty, Kobe, this is today's starting five.

To be honest... due to suspensions and injuries, the Lakers had a poor record before, but now entering the playoffs, the lineup has been completely restored, which is very different from the lineup against the Jazz in the previous game.

Li Shengli's matchup at the center position is an absolute advantage.

It's time for Ben, a defensive warrior, to truly test his defensive skills, because he is facing off against the top power forward Karl Malone.

Considering that Big Ben’s outcome against Malone is unknown. Harris simply put Crotty in the starting lineup, and the defensive end was responsible for suppressing the Jazz's outside firepower Hornacek.

Because if Malone feels the defensive pressure, the Jazz's shots will shift, Hornacek's shot proportion will increase accordingly, and Crotty's functionality can be brought into full play.

This kind of targeted starting seems to be in line with the current situation, but Harris knows... Ben and Crotty, two defensive warriors who are neglectful of offense, will make a lot of shots, and the Lakers need someone to digest them.

Li Shengli is of course the most perfect candidate in Harris' mind. He is always stable, always efficient, and can combine offense and defense. Now Kobe Bryant also occupies a scoring position for the Lakers. His growth in just one season has surpassed the former starting mainstay Eddie Jones. Today, There’s nothing wrong with starting late.

…

At this time, the temperature outside dropped sharply, and Salt Lake City was a bit depressing under the overcast clouds. However, as tonight's protagonist, the Triangle Center Arena was in full swing. As soon as the two sides came on the stage, bursts of cheers broke out. All fans watching the live broadcast of the game became excited.

It's the eve of a rainstorm outside, and there's a peak showdown on the field.

There is nothing more comfortable than watching such a game on a rainy day. There was nothing special about the two sides before the game. The Jazz's starting lineup remained the same as before.

After some warm-up, the wind outside became even worse. On the eve of the low-pressure rainstorm, even people became anxious.

…

Beep!

As soon as the whistle blows, the game officially begins.

Jazz's starting center Greg didn't even bother to jump the ball this time. He gave up the first-round offense and defended with the team. After Li Shengli called Crotty, the performance officially began.

Crotty held the ball and advanced beyond the three-point line. Hornacek immediately rushed up and defended one step away. His attitude was quite obvious. He could let Crotty shoot, but he would not break through and score.

at the same time……

Greg moved forward frantically, even if he couldn't squeeze, just to put pressure on the Lakers.

Stockton, Malone, and Bryan also guarded the passing route, making early steals and blocking passes.

…

To deal with the Lakers and Li Shengli, Jerry Sloan could only think of this way... All members would do everything possible to restrict Li Shengli from catching the ball.

Even if you can catch it, you can't catch it from deep.

Because Li Shengli receives the ball from deep position, few people in the league can suppress him, either scoring goals or making free throws. This is something Sloan, Malone, and Stockton firmly believe in.

But if Li Shengli is allowed to directly catch the ball from the high position and play in singles.

It takes time to go from the high post to the basket, or from the high post to Li Shengli's most stable shooting area. This time difference is enough for the Jazz's defense to activate. In theory, Li Shengli can be stuck in the high post area and limit his efficiency.

In this way, the starting point of all the Jazz's defense is Li Shengli. Although Jerry Sloan has considered the moves of other Lakers players, this account is easy to settle. Letting Li Shengli go is like drinking a bottle of poisonous rat poison and burping after drinking it. , but let go of others, even if the hand feels good, the Jazz can still make up for it.

So with this arrangement, the Jazz's performance in the first round was very stable.

…

"Li, don't think about it."

"The old man is angry. He wants us to beat you into a fool tonight!"

"Don't wait for the pass, Crotty can't pass it in."

Malone chased Ben and didn't have time to look at Li Shengli, but he still yelled a few words. Although Li Shengli also noticed that the Jazz's defense was very targeted, he was not anxious at all. He turned away from Greg and yelled: "Do you think you are watching?" Will it work if you just stay with me? Crotty, come on!"

Crotty? !

Hornacek took a small step away and stared at Crotty with a smile. After all, with such a tight defense, it was very difficult to pass the ball from a single point, but Crotty didn't think so...

Pass it in?

Who told you I was going to pass it in?

Crotty sneered and started to rush to the left side of Hornacek. Hornacek suddenly retreated and found that Crotty had retreated and made a shooting movement, so he hurriedly rushed forward again.

"Kobe!" Crotty jumped up and passed Kobe from behind.

"Here it comes!" Kobe found his position around Crotty.

At this time, Hornacek was too late and Stockton was blocked. Kobe shot up from the ground and shot a long-distance two-pointer. The embarrassing thing is... there was not even the sound of iron, the ball turned out to be Ridiculously absent-minded, Li Shengli didn't even have a chance to supplement offensive rebounds.

…

"Hahaha, Li, do you still dare to say that suppressing you won't work?" Ma Long laughed.

"Okay, Karl, counterattack!" Stockton called Malone and started the Jazz's counterattack.

At this time, the Lakers returned to defense, and Li Shengli didn't say anything, but the fans at the scene booed Kobe, and Kobe looked a little ugly, because it was understandable to be a blacksmith, but it was a bit outrageous to not stick to the three.

…

Not taking it seriously, the game continued.

After the Jazz made a mid-range shot from Brian, the non-key attacker, it was time for the Lakers to attack again, and this time... the Jazz's defense was still in place, still restricting Li Shengli. As for Crotty's face, there was no fluctuation. The same movements and the same cooperation allowed Kobe to shoot again.

The result was still the same. Although this time it was not a three-way game, the rebound was still too far away and was collected by Stockton. The Jazz launched a counterattack and scored again.

…

As time went by, the atmosphere in the center of the triangle gradually became more lively.

Although Ben's suppression of Malone and Crotty's pressure on Hornacek was very good and achieved the desired effect, Bryan in the third position actually shot a 4-for-4 shot, which became a double disaster for Utah. the largest variable outside.

On the other hand, look at the Lakers.

Unlike Bryant, who shot 4-for-4 in the opening game, Kobe shot 0-for-4. What's even more terrible is that there were two non-touches in these 4 shots.

At this moment, all the fans in the audience were excited as they watched the home team Jazz's offensive climax at 4:12. They watched the Lakers' young No. 8 player and sent waves of harsh boos, and this was only 4 minutes in the first quarter. A little over a minute later, Harris couldn't sit still and immediately called a timeout.