Defending champion

Chapter 96

The Hornets beat the Celtics in the game, but they seemed to keep their touch in Boston.

The Hornets had a very unfavorable start against the Utah Jazz. They were beaten 14-0 by the Utah Jazz in the first game. The Hornets' tactics seem to be unable to perform since they came to Utah.

Byron Scott called a timeout in time, but the effect of this timeout still didn't play much role.Then the Hornets had an 8-0 spurt.

Byron had no choice but to replace the surprise soldier Jack in advance.What Jack came up with has a certain effect on defense. He can limit Boozer's performance and can also strengthen rebounds.

However, that's only limited to defense.Jack still doesn't have Kobe's terrifying scoring ability, so Jack has no way to lead the team's offense when the team is in a downturn.So, at the end of the half, the Hornets were 35 to 50, leading by 15 points by the Jazz.

In the second half, the players of the Hornets still hadn't been able to thaw out. At the beginning of the third quarter, the Hornets only started to make a tip-up by Jack in the eighth round, breaking the deadlock.At this time, the Jazz have already led by 30 points.

In this game, it was very difficult for the Hornets to win.What's more, there is still his Jazz's home court here.

At the end of the fourth quarter, the Hornets still lost the game 80 to 102.Jack's performance in this game was fairly stable, scoring 18 points, 13 rebounds and 2 blocks. However, he had three turnovers in this game.

After losing this game, the Hornets are still 2 games away from the top-ranked Lakers. They want to reach the eighth place in the Western Conference before the All-Star Game, and they will fail.And to make matters worse, the Lakers' game against the Nuggets at the Staples Center is also drawing to a close.The Lakers lead by 5 points, and there are 12 minutes left in the game. The Lakers will definitely win this game.
It seems that before the All-Star Game, there is no hope of reaching the eighth position in the Western Conference.

After playing the Jazz, the Hornets returned to Oklahoma immediately, preparing to play against the Memphis Grizzlies and the New Jersey Nets.

Jack had just returned to the team, and was immediately informed by the team that he and Chris Paul were invited to participate in the All-Star Weekend Rookie Challenge.

Jack was also very surprised that he would be invited by the league, because it was too unexpected.There is no reason to refuse Jack's invitation this time, not to mention that Jack also wants to see and feel it.At the same time, he also has a greater ambition-one day he can become a superstar in the NBA and participate in the All-Star Game as a star.

However, the Hornets still have two games to play before the All-Star break, against the New Jersey Nets and, right behind, the Memphis Grizzlies.

The Memphis Grizzlies lined up against the Hornets. After winning the Cavaliers on the road, the Grizzlies have only one game against the Hornets before the All-Star break.The Hornets are now one game behind the Grizzlies, so the Hornets must win this game.

The New Jersey Nets certainly haven't forgotten the last time they lost to the Lakers. This time they played this game with a heart of revenge, and immediately gave the Hornets a blow.

"The Nets attacked first. As soon as Kidd came up, he suddenly shot a cold arrow, and a three-pointer pierced the hearts of all the soldiers of the Hornets."

Paul immediately wanted to fight back, but the ball went out of the basket and the rebound was taken by the Nets.Carter broke through the Hornets' penalty area, pulled up and dunked directly, and scored the ball.Paul's pass was intercepted by Jefferson, and he immediately launched a fast break, and it was another highly entertaining split dunk.

The Nets' three guns played at the same time, but the Hornets encountered very big trouble.However, the Hornets are one of those teams that is more motivated when it gets harder.Paul led the team to counterattack, assisting David West under the basket to score a dunk, and then took advantage of the moment when the offense failed to score at the basket.A quick counterattack, jr Smith scored a fast break.The Hornets also found their own rhythm and played a protracted quarter.The first quarter was a double tie.

In the second quarter, the Hornets successfully extended the score to 8 points by relying on the performance of the substitute players.After that, the Hornets entered the third quarter with an 8-point lead.

However, the Nets still haven't found the key to cracking the Hornets' pick-and-roll, whether their offense can score.The Nets team had 20 shots in the third quarter, but they only made 5 of them and only made 25% of them. The Hornets shot 60% and made 20 of 12 shots.

Not only that, the Nets only had 10 rebounds in the third quarter, and the Hornets had twice as many rebounds as the Nets.He scored 20 rebounds in the third quarter.

Is it strange that the Nets don't lose in such a game?
In the fourth quarter, the Nets still struggled in the first half.However, they still persisted for 6 minutes.Seeing that their persistence had no effect, they decisively gave up the game.

In the end, the Hornets lost the game 108-94.

Jack continued his wonderful performance, scoring 20 points, 14 rebounds and 3 blocks in the game.

Among them, the most classic is that when Jefferson was fast-breaking, Jack chased and defended from behind, and pressed Jefferson who wanted to dunk.

Jefferson was so frightened that his face turned pale, and he sat on the ground for a few seconds before calming down his excitement.This block may become a lingering nightmare in Jefferson's heart for a long time.

In this game, there is another thing worth mentioning.This game is completed with Paul and the pick-up, the succession of the point guard.Kidd handed over the mantle of the number one point guard in his own league to Chris Paul.

In this game, Paul's performance can be called phenomenal.Paul scored 15 points on 20 of 13 shots, 3 assists, 3 steals and [-] rebounds.The most important thing is that under Paul's connection, the Hornets played an unusually smooth offense, successfully suppressed the Nets, and won the game.

After the game, Kidd continued to praise: "My mantle can finally be passed on. Paul will be the number one point guard in the league in the next few years."

"The Hornets are a very young team and very competitive. They can definitely achieve better results than last year."

"Michael Jack is an amazing player. He is improving every moment. He can improve like this in less than half a month. To paraphrase a very popular saying: maybe The only limit is the sky."

After the Hornets won the Nets, the Hornets' record and the Grizzlies' record became the same.Who is the ninth place in the West depends on the game the day after tomorrow.

(End of this chapter)