Defending champion

Chapter 388 The rapidly changing pattern of the alliance
Chapter 177 The rapidly changing pattern of the alliance
After finishing with the Minnesota Timberwolves, the Hornets won five consecutive victories.

At this time, the pattern in the alliance has also undergone tremendous changes.

The Dallas Mavericks, who previously ranked ahead of the Hornets, have won all of their past 10 games without exception.

The Mavericks have thus become the only team that hasn't lost at home or away since March.

Contrary to the Dallas Mavericks, the San Antonio Spurs, which had always been the leader in the league before the season, had the exact opposite situation.

Since entering March, the Spurs have never won a victory since they got off to a good start in March.So far, the Spurs have achieved 8 consecutive losses.

The Spurs' 8-game losing streak also caused the Spurs' chrysanthemum to explode again.

The Spurs were not only bombed, but they were bombed twice in a row.Therefore, the leader in the West also fell to the third position in the West.

It wasn't just the Spurs who were killed, the Phoenix Suns were also not spared.

The 10-game winning streak of the Dallas Mavericks has risen to the No. [-] position in the Western Conference.Ranked second in the West is the Phoenix Suns, and the Spurs are third.

The New Orleans Hornets are behind the Spurs, ranking fourth in the West.

The Hornets are only 1.5 games away from the San Antonio Spurs ahead.The Hornets have the possibility of blasting the Spurs' chrysanthemum, thus rising to the third place in the West.

The five, six, seven, and eight in the West are the Denver Nuggets, Houston Rockets, Los Angeles Lakers, Golden State Warriors and Utah Jazz.

The Golden State Warriors and the Utah Jazz have the same record, so they are tied for eighth in the league.

It can be seen that the competition in the west is so fierce.

In the East, it is not so intense. The first place in the East is the Detroit Pistons.

What followed was the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James, known as the "little emperor".

The third place is the Toronto Raptors led by Chris Bosh, and last year's defending champion Miami Heat has a very poor record this year.Their current position is only ranked fourth in the West.

The Chicago Bulls ranked fifth in the league, the New Jersey Nets ranked sixth, and the Wizards and Magic ranked seventh and eighth respectively.

If this momentum continues, then the Hornets' opponent in the first round must be the Denver Nuggets led by Carmelo Anthony, or the Houston Rockets...

After the Timberwolves, the Hornets ushered in a five-game winning streak, but at the same time as the five-game winning streak, the Hornets also fell asleep in the next two games.

After the end of the five-game winning streak, the Hornets faced the challenge of the Orlando Magic and the Bobcats, the two Eastern Conference underdogs.The Hornets have lost without exception.

The Hornets suffered a two-game losing streak, and the San Antonio Spurs, who are ahead of the Hornets, have also begun to find the rhythm of winning after losing 10 games in a row.

In the next two games, they won consecutive victories and won two consecutive victories.

Because of this, the Hornets were thrown off by the Spurs again.The Spurs and Hornets are separated by 3.5 games.

For the Hornets, there is even more bad news, that is, the Denver Nuggets behind them also started to exert their strength.

After the Nuggets napped for two games, they ushered in a three-game winning streak. The Denver Nuggets are currently only 0.5 away from the Hornets' victory.

The Hornets are in danger of being spent.

After experiencing a losing streak, the Hornets also achieved a record of 1 win and 2 losses in the next three games.

Fortunately, the Denver Nuggets missed two games because of the team's core player Carmelo Anthony's ankle sprain.In the two games without Anthony, the Dandong Nuggets still failed to create miracles.

They lost to the San Antonio Spurs and the Phoenix Suns respectively. Without Anthony, Denver lost to these two teams, which is not wronged at all.

It is also because the Denver Nuggets lost two games in a row, which caused the Hornets not to be blown up.

Although the Hornets have suffered successive blows during this period of time, there is still good news for the Hornets.

The good news is that the core point guard of the Hornets-Chris Paul has recovered from injury and can pay this weekend.

Paul's comeback is great news for both the Hornets and Jack...

However, before Paul pays, the Hornets still face this serious test-an away game to the Utah Jazz.

Currently, the Utah Jazz are ranked ninth in the West.They are only 0.5 wins away from the Golden State Warriors in front of them.Moreover, the Utah Jazz played one game less than the Utah Jazz.

The Utah Jazz desperately need a victory to blow up the Golden State Warriors ahead of them.

If you want to select the most stable team in the league, there is no doubt that it is definitely the Spurs.

As long as they all play, there is almost no ups and downs. This can be seen. As the best team in the first decade of the 21st century, the Spurs' stability is beyond doubt.

And the Jazz coached by old coach Sloan is also an absolutely stable team, but their home and away record is a bit too far, which is also related to their home game being called the devil's home game. Can't hit the ball well.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, all the members of the Hornets arrived.

At 7 o'clock in the evening, the game between the New Orleans Hornets and the Utah Jazz officially started.

As soon as the electronically synthesized bell rang on the court, the game officially started. The Jazz team deserved to be the Jazz team. They played a wave of attacks from the very beginning of the game, and their determination to win was clearly evident.

In this game, the Utah Jazz seem to be determined to fight the Hornets to the end.And this can be seen from the defense of Jack.

In the face of Sir Jack Utah, he also tried his best to use all kinds of martial arts, such as horses, monkeys, peaches, etc., with great proficiency.

But in the face of absolute strength, the jazz gangsters can't take much advantage of Jack.

Especially in terms of rebounds, whether it is the Turks Okur. Neither "Traitor" Carlos Boozer nor "AK47" Andrei Kirilenko can shake Jack's dominance inside.

In the first quarter, the Hornets relied on Jack's strong personal force. Jack scored 28 of the Hornets' [-] points and slapped Okur with a hat.

"Uh...Fortunately, I've already understood the tone of you hooligans after watching the Rockets game?"

Jack muttered to himself while practicing Tai Chi with the Jazz players, using both hands and feet.

To play against the Jazz, you have to have 'kung fu'.This is the first experience of Jack's game with Jazz the gangster.

At the beginning of the game, although the Jazz relied on the devil's home court and high pressure to seize the initiative.

However, the Hornets also played very tenaciously here, and the score has not been opened. After Jack blocked a shot, Butler's gliding dunk.

At the end of the first quarter, the score of the two teams was not much, 28-32, and the two teams did not start an offensive battle.

At the beginning of the second quarter, taking advantage of the Hornets' rotation time, the Jazz launched a tide-like offensive.

Coming to the Utah Hornets, the bench performance was at a loss. In the first few minutes, he beat the Hornets 17-6, more accurately 11-0.

Because apart from David West's two three-pointers at the beginning, he hasn't hit a ball yet.

The score was stretched to 34 to 49, and the point difference came to 15 points. The Hornets' substitute players seemed to be beaten...

Byron Scott made a decisive timeout, and he could only rely on Jack to attack the Jazz to prevent the score from further widening.

As soon as Jack came up, he played back singles in the low post, which caused a foul by Carlos Boozer. With a bang, the basketball hit the net, and Jack made a strong "2+1" success.

The Utah Jazz missed a shot and Jack grabbed the rebound!

Jack at the basket encountered a double-team. Jack had quick eyesight and quick hands. The basketball was thrown by Jack, and the basketball came to the hands of Peja Stockovic, who was ambushing in the corner of the three-pointer.

Hand up and down!
With a bang, the basketball hit the net!

…………

Jack's performance gave the Supersonic players a reassurance. Mason also smiled, and this guy said to Jack with a smile:
"Jack, I'll run on the next ball."

There's an expression you know written all over his face.

Jack smiled, nodded, and quickly backed away.

The Jazz succeeded by relying on the rugby player Harprin to hit the inside, and then it was the Hornets' turn to attack.

"Give them back one!"

Mason pretended to organize an attack at the top of the arc while talking to everyone.

"Peja, catch the ball!"

Seeing Peja running over, Mason immediately passed the basketball, and Peja grabbed the basketball before Girisek's right hand.

Girisek immediately prepares to defend, but Peja has already staggered him by half when receiving the ball.

Peja Stockovic was selected as an All-Star athlete in the past, it was definitely not a piece of shit luck.

Peja ignored his opponent, dribbled directly to the left, then took a step back and jumped up.

Girisek and Peja just staggered a little bit, and Peja's jumper was caught off guard and had a fallback, which made him completely unable to defend.

At this time, Sir Earl Watson rushed to Peja.

However, Watson found that the basketball left Peja's hands far away and flew to a place on the basketball court.

Mason received the basketball, rolled and crashed into the net between his soaring arms, causing a circle of milky white flowers.

The sound of the basketball passing through the net is still extremely crisp.

"Mason!"

The DJ's voice was limp, followed by boos from the audience.Regardless of whether it is mainly the visiting team in this arena, it will become the object of the Utah Jazz's booing.

Despite Peja's strong support in the second quarter, the Hornets still trailed by 6 points to end the first half.

In the first half of the game, the situation on the field was turbulent. Compared with the first half of the game, fundamental changes have taken place.

In the second half, the Jazz Shuangsha played a pick-and-roll.

Deron spent most of the first half passing the ball. The more Deron was like this, the more he would suffer for David West who was defending Boozer.

A short insider like Boozer cannot be defended by the current David West.

When Boozer is mentioned, people's first image is "traitor" or "anti-boned boy".

In the first two seasons, Boozer, a 2002 rookie and a member of the Dream Six team, has already made his debut with his outstanding strength.

But what made him truly a household name was not because of his record, but because he "betrayed" the Bulls and transferred to the Utah Jazz.

The Jazz believed that Boozer had broken his promise, but Boozer claimed that he never made any promises to the Jazz.

In the eyes of many NBA fans, Boozer is a dishonest person.All of this, Boozer is silently bearing, what he can do is to move forward in the criticism, and use data and performance to resist all gossip and doubts from the outside world.

Deron dribbled the ball outside the three-point line, Boozer stepped forward to cover, and Kirilenko on the same side ran without the ball, opening up space for Deron, Deron suddenly accelerated and cut in, at this time, the defender Boozer David West had to give up Boozer to chase Deron.

Immediately after Deron passed to Boozer, Mason had no threat to Boozer at all, and Boozer was a clean jumper.

Boozer and Deron had a lot of fresh tricks, playing the pick-and-roll endlessly, while the Hornets barely survived the collapse by relying on the high-spirited Jack Okur to hit the inside.

force!
Byron Scott shook his head, the game couldn't go on like this, he hastily called a timeout.

"Jack, you can focus on defense, you can just defend Carlos!"

Byron Scott looked at Jack next to him and said.

Jack nodded after listening to Byron Scott's words.Because, Jack also felt that confronting Okur must have no feeling.

Okur may be able to defend Yao Ming, but there is no way to defend against Jack's brutal rampage.

Another point is that today I have scored 28 points, almost 3 points.However, the Hornets still failed to open the score.Therefore, Jack found that the key factor for the Hornets to win is not their own offense, but defense.

Therefore, Jack decided to focus on defense.

"Butler, wait a minute, your main task is to limit Deron, and you can't let them control the rhythm, understand?"

Butler nodded emphatically.

The Jazz is definitely not a fast-break team, and Sloan will never let his disciples fight there.

Once the Jazz have mastered the rhythm, the Hornets will be very difficult to play.

If the Jazz are thrown out of rhythm, they will almost lose.

Like the Warriors and the Suns, it is not unreasonable to play running and gunning sometimes, just like the so-called punching the master to death.

The Hornets did exactly what Byron said when they returned to the court. Jack did not play individually, but served as a point of fire to contain the Jazz and drive the Hornets to play overall basketball.

The Hornets returned to the field to complete a beautiful overall coordination.

Jack supported in a high position, Peja ran past to attract the defense, and at the same time Mason made an empty cut inside.

This series of dazzling moves disrupted the Jazz's deployment, and finally Butler made a three-pointer from outside the line.

Seeing the Hornets scoring, coach Sloan frowned. He originally thought that the Hornets lacking Chris Paul and Tyson Chandler would be nothing to worry about.

However, judging from the performance of the Hornets today.Today's game is not as simple as I imagined.

The Hornets scored consecutive goals and gradually equalized the score. The Jazz realized that Jack was the most threatening guy for the Hornets.

Deron and Boozer were still tricky, and a few possessions later they used a pick-and-roll to get Boozer off Jack.

With one less barrier in the absolute domination of the penalty area, Boozer finally felt a sense of enlightenment in front of him.

He can finally not worry about that nasty guy interfering with his shooting.Replaced with a David West who was only a few centimeters taller than him to supplement the defense.

He is confident that his strength can overcome the opponent's defense.

Dribbling, sudden acceleration, breakthrough in a change of direction, and he is about to be double-teamed by Butler and David West.

Boozer squeezed a way with his strong body directly against David West's body.

Erase to the right bottom line, perfect turn.

Facing Butler, who was not yet in place for supplementary defense, Boozer had already chosen to jump high, using his good ability to stay in the air to rise in the air, and directly smashed the basketball in his hand into the basket, venting his depression Shortly after the anger.

"what!!!"

Anti-Bone Boy beat his chest hard, inciting the emotions in the entire stadium, and he wanted to vent his depressed emotions.

He wants to vent his depression to Jack, and he wants to tell everyone that the Jazz is absolutely right in choosing him.

Boozer unexpectedly walked beside Jack and shouted:
"Rookie, what are you?"

This move is unbelievable. The ball is completely Boozer using the pick-and-roll to score, and it has nothing to do with Jack Bird.

Jack couldn't help getting angry, you just need to score a goal, and he still pretended to be aggressive in front of Lao Tzu, saying unceremoniously:
"Bone boy, you have the ability to score goals in front of me, don't dodge like a girl!"

The sound was like a bolt from the blue, Boozer couldn't close his open mouth, and his face was as red as a pig's liver.

Jack is not a soft persimmon that people can pinch as they please.Faced with bullying Boozer who was directly at the door, Jack chose to fight back unceremoniously.

————————

The Hornets continue to attack. When they attack, Jack must try his best to pull the opponent's inside defense out of the three-second zone as much as possible.

He either chooses to play alone inside, or he has to pave the way for the breakthrough of outside shooters.

Now the offensive direction of the Hornets must be from the inside to the outside. Jack is the first point of attack. He must become the axis of the entire team's operation and connection between inside and outside.

(End of this chapter)