NBA restricted area bulldozer

Chapter 193 Unfavorable Start

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

According to the rules, only 6 people can stand inside the line when making free throws. Excluding Li Shengli who made the free throw, the Supersonics have 3, Cage, Kemp, and Ricky stand on both sides of the penalty area, and the Jazz has 2 people. Malone and Tyrone also divided Standing on both sides, if the second free throw is missed, 6 people will participate in the rebound competition.

at the same time……

Stockton waited outside the three-point line, and if the Jazz got the rebound, he could assist his teammates in the offense.

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

The positions of the two sides are like this, very routine, the key is that Li Shengli missed the second free throw.

……

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

With his current free throw percentage of 70.1%, it is really a pity to miss the first ball, but Kemp and Cage were just hit by Li Shengli, and they were happy to see this ball missed, at least A foul on Cage was not in vain.

Based on a purely 70% shooting percentage, the probability of him missing two free throws is 9%. This probability is very low, but there are many uncertain factors on the court, and the probability is only an approximate statement.

Boom!

Missed the second free throw.

Kemp and Cage launched instantly, one stuck Malone, the other galloped to catch the rebound, and Li Shengli was the farthest away from the backboard landing point, so Cage caught the ball and threw it to the waiting point guard outside. Vinette McMillan.

McMillan speeded up 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.

……

The next game.

The situation of the Jazz is worrisome, because not only the half-quarter lead of 4 points was filled, and even the Sonics went ahead by 4 points, and as many people predicted, the Jazz's inside performance was indeed restrained.

First up is Malone...

Facing Kemp's doggy defense, his field goal percentage was far worse than the 55.2% in the regular season this season. He made 6 of 2 shots in the first quarter. Fortunately, he went to the free throw line twice and made all 4 free throws. 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, it shows a rapid upward trend. According to this momentum, this is not his peak period.

……

Followed by Li Shengli.

Everyone knows that Cage's single defense against Li Shengli is to give points, so when the Supersonics feel cold in Malone's hands, Li Shengli is the focus of care.

If there is no ball, they will block the pass and run wildly to block it; if they get the ball, they will team up to double-team and bombard with trash talk; if they cannot guard, they will foul early.

Throughout the first quarter, Li Shengli was disturbed tirelessly. Because of being fouled by the opponent in advance, several shots were not counted in the technical statistics, so his real shots were very few, 3 of 2.

3 of 2, one of which is 2+1, looks good, and walked to the free throw line 3 times, made a total of 5 of 3 free throws, and scored 7 points in total.

……

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

Against the supersonic McMillan, Crotty was not as talented as others, so he used his life to make up for it. Crotty was in a running state almost all the time, contributed a lot on both ends of the offense and defense, and found a few shots, 4 of 2, Scored 2 goals.

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

Gary Payton, the No. 90 pick in the [-] draft, serves as a shooting guard. While his offensive ability is outstanding, his defense is also fierce. Unlike Stockton's small moves, Gary Payton added a little trash talk to his small moves as As for the seasoning, Stockton was also disgusted.

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

Leaving aside the defense, when attacking, Ricky Pierce, the small forward of the Sonics who was facing him, always had his eyes on Li Shengli. This gave Tyrone a lot of opportunities and 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 Sonics replaced Ricky Pierce at the small forward position, because the fouls that restricted Li Shengli were basically on him.

In order to ensure that the main force will not be affected by the number of fouls and can fight at critical times, the supersonic bench bandit Eddie Johnson, nicknamed 'Express', can be seen from this nickname, this guy is very fast. On the one hand, Tyrone, who is marking the Jazz, and on the other hand, Li Shengli, who can attack the inside.

Trailing by 4 points into the second quarter.

After all, this is the playoffs, and both sides must compete in every game, so even if it is the first game, even if the game is not even half over, the court is full of gunpowder-flavored trash talk.

On Malone's side, Kemp's solo 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 is true for Li Shengli. Cage frantically circles forward to defend. As long as Li Shengli holds the ball, the new Eddie Johnson will inevitably rush to replace Ricky Pierce as the main foul. not tall.

This quarter is still the same, Stockton rarely takes shots, and Crotty's shot position is not ideal. Tyrone once again became the last point of fire for the Jazz.

……

60: 46.

The Jazz fell behind by 14 points at halftime, and the situation was very bad. Even if they had the home court advantage, this advantage could not be turned into a leading point difference.

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

No one thought that the Jazz, which was favored by everyone, would be defeated by the Supersonics. With a 14-point halftime difference, the Supersonics had far greater chances of winning than the Jazz.

The most terrible thing now is that the Jazz have no outstanding firepower points in this game. If they can't break through the blockade in the second half, without one or two firepower points to exert their strength, the first defeat seems to be a foregone conclusion.

……

After the intermission, the third quarter started quickly, and the lineups of both sides were rotated.

The first is the Supersonics. Ricky Pierce at the small forward position appeared again, and he played alternately with substitute Eddie Johnson, just to block Li Shengli's shot.

On the Jazz's side, Li Shengli and Crotty were replaced together, veterans Mark Eaton and Jane Furhenlis played, and Jerry Sloan didn't see a smile on his face. Speaking of face, the following games will also become difficult.

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

As for Crotty, he does his duty on both ends of the offense and defense, but runs wildly all the time. Jerry Sloan doesn't want to waste him.

……

In the third quarter, the gong started the war.

Li Shengli sat watching from the sidelines, his expression extremely ugly. Although he scored 13 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, and 3 blocks at halftime, the Jazz as a whole was still on the verge of collapse.

Originally, he was ambitious and wanted to win a wave of championships, but the reality was that he was slapped severely. After all, the first game of the first round was beaten like this, and no matter how much he said, it was just a joke.

The Sonics will use players to clamp him down, what about other teams?

Obviously, in the future games, even if he defeats the Supersonics and enters the second round, he will still be the focus of attention, and his existence seems to be to attract defensive power to his teammates?

Thinking of this, Li Shengli was even more annoyed.

In this regard, the head coach Jerry Sloan didn't say anything. No one can blame him in the current situation. It's not just Malone's poor performance. The festival has been played until halfway through, and this problem has become more serious.

Bad start!

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

(End of this chapter)