God of NBA point guards

Chapter 445 Karl Malone: ​​Win?
At 08:30, the game officially started.

Jump ball, Jazz offense.

While still in the backcourt, Jeff Hornacek set up a pick-and-roll for Stockton, who was receiving the ball. The purpose was very clear, trying to get Zhou Quan and Hawkins to switch defenses.

But when Zhou Quan played John Stockton, he never switched defenses. He would rather let Stockton get a small opening.

What's more, he was still in the backcourt, and Stockton was a bit slower than him. After bypassing Hornacek, he caught up with Stockton in two steps.

Zhang Lili said: "This is restraint, especially serious restraint. Stockton's athletic quality is the most ordinary. Playing relies on experience and technology, not quality, but whether it is experience, technology or physical fitness, Zhou The power is stronger, which forms a crushing effect."

"I heard that Zhou Quan's template was him during the previous draft?" Xu Jicheng said.

At this time on the court, the postman pulled up to the high position and set up a pick-and-roll for Stockton again. Stockton took the opportunity to break through with the ball, and Zhou Quan pursued closely.

The postman pushed past Rodman and followed him, but Rodman clung to him, their arms tangled together, and they fell to the ground at the same time.

Stockton forced a shot one step outside the left midfielder. Zhou Quan made a block and blocked the ball. The basketball was taken by Perkins.

"Stockton really can't beat Zhou Quan." Zhang Lili shook his head.

At this time, the Supersonics attacked. The postman and the big insect got up from the floor, their arms still entangled, and after two staggering steps, they fell to the floor together.

Xu Jicheng smiled and said, "Isn't Rodman afraid that the postman will elbow him?"

"He really wasn't afraid. When the postman played against Zhou Quan's team, he was very polite and didn't make any aggressive moves. This is probably one of the reasons why the Sonics restrained the Jazz."

Zhang Lili said something, and then continued the previous topic: "There is a saying that Zhou Quan's athletic qualities were developed later.

Now, after a few years, it seems that no rookie point guard's template is Zhou Quan. "Zhang Lili said with a smile.

"After all, the tonnage is too big. I think it will be difficult for any point guard to have such a tonnage as Zhou Quan in the future, and there are very few shooting guards with a tonnage of 97 kilograms." Xu Jicheng said.

"squeak!"

After Zhou Quan broke through Stockton on the right wing, he stopped and slowed down one position outside the right waist.

Center Ostertag inside can't be guarded because Matt Geiger is on the left side of the basket.

But at this time, the postman finally arrived and stopped on his right waist. But at this moment, Zhou Quan started again, accelerated and stepped past people, and while dribbling, he jumped from the underside of the postman.

The postman also made a small movement, raising his left elbow, trying to say goodbye to Zhou Quan, but Zhou Quan's left elbow also made a protective movement.

The elbows of the two collided, and Zhou Quan's breakthrough movement couldn't help but pause. The next moment, he used the force to stop suddenly and threw a ball while taking a step inside his right waist.

Ostertag saw Zhou Quan burst in and moved from the left side of the basket to the front right side of the basket. When he saw Zhou Quan taking a shot two meters away from the basket, he quickly took off and blocked the shot, but the rhythm was already slow. After half a beat, the ball slipped over his palm.

"brush!"

Splashes appeared and nearly two points were hit.

Zhang Lili praised: "It was a beautiful shot, and the shot was very decisive. Zhou Quan deliberately used the power of the postman to reduce his impact.

If the impact of the emergency stop jump shot is too high, the hit rate will be reduced. It requires very good offloading skills, and it may also hurt the knees. "

Jazz attack.

In the backcourt, he defends and retreats, and occasionally making a steal will make John Stockton nervous.

Faced with Zhou Quan's aggressive defense, John Stockton still used the pick-and-roll to get rid of Zhou Quan. There was no other way.

He has a lot of little tricks, which is why he ranks first among the four villains, but these little tricks are of no use to Zhou Quan, such as hiding elbows, pinching flesh with fingernails, stepping on feet when breaking through, etc.

When Zhou Quan was playing ice hockey in the NCAA, this small move was no different from scratching an itch and had no effect on him.

His athleticism is very average. When he breaks through with the ball, he relies on these small movements. When the small movements fail, his breakthrough loses the threat, and he is prone to mistakes, so he must use the pick-and-roll.

Just as Stockton bypassed Hornacek, Zhou Quan moved around Senacek at a faster speed and blocked the front again.

Seeing that the pick and roll failed, Hornacek immediately pulled away and asked for the ball. Stockton quickly passed the ball, but at this moment, Zhou Quan quickly stepped in, stretched out his arm, and made everything.

"Snapped!"

With a precise strike, the steal happened instantly.

"It's over!"

Stockton and Hornacek quickly turned around and chased, but how could they catch up with Zhou Chuan who was going down quickly?

"boom!"

Zhou Quan crossed the free throw line in a few steps and then took off. He grabbed the ball with his right hand and raised it high. He spun 360 degrees in the air and then dunked like a tomahawk, blasting the Jazz's basket.

"I'm curious, why doesn't Zhou Quan participate in the dunk contest?" Xu Jicheng said excitedly.

"We haven't really asked him. When he first entered the league, he was very reluctant to dunk, but later he was able to jump, and he probably has no interest in the dunk contest anymore." Zhang reasonably guessed.

"I really can't beat it!"

Stockton and the postman looked at each other and sighed to themselves.

The Jazz are a team that plays as a team. The Iron Fist limits Stockton, and the Postman does not have Stockton's thread. When he plays with the SuperSonics, his performance is usually limited and he can only rely on playing alone.

"We agreed, let's fight with all our strength." The postman cheered.

"Yeah." Stockton nodded.

In the 7th minute of the first quarter, at 18:10, the Jazz were 10 points behind at home and could not execute their offensive tactics.

At this time, the Jazz attacked, Stockton gave the ball to Hornacek, and Hornacek handed it to the Postman, who singled out Rodman on the left wing.

Holding the ball in front of his chest with both hands, he propped up a pair of elbows and swept left and right, trying to get space for his shot.

But Rodman's upper body was tilted back, his hands kept waving, but his feet did not take a step back, like nails nailed in front of the postman.

The postman had no choice but to turn around and rely on the ball. Rodman immediately defended with all his strength. The former forced his turn and shot a jumper, but he missed.

At this time, the SuperSonics center was Laettner, who grabbed the backcourt rebound and passed it to Zhou Quan outside, who immediately started to counterattack.

Later, Rodman and the postman got entangled again and accidentally fell to the ground.

"hiss!"

The moment he fell to the ground, Rodman felt his left ankle sprained and felt some pain, so he quickly released his arm from the postman.In the frontcourt, Zhou Quan stopped at the top of the arc.

"boom!"

At this time, Glider made a diagonal pass from the right wing and cut to the basket. He threw the ball into the air in front of him. Glider took off from the right waist position, caught the ball in the air, and completed a one-handed dunk.

"Iron Fist, Dennis seems to be injured." McMillan shouted at this time.

Zhou Quan was startled, looked back, and saw Rodman lying on the floor, holding his left ankle, and hurriedly ran over.

"how?"

"Iron Fist, I didn't mean to be lazy, I sprained it when I fell." Rodman said with a smile.

Zhou Quan was helpless for a while, what the hell, you just came back not long ago, Schrempf hasn't come back yet, and you're injured again?
"George, let me come back, I can do it." Schrempf, who was sitting on the bench, said at this time.

George Karl turned around and said: "Let the team doctor give you another detailed examination. The regular season is not important. Our goal is the playoffs. You have to recover as well as possible before you come back. Don't worry, we still have people available."

"OK."

Schrempf could only nod.

However, misfortunes never come singly. In the 11th minute of the first quarter, McMillan fell to the ground during a defense. His old left knee injury recurred and he was helped down.

The team doctor quickly checked and found that there was something wrong with the cruciate ligament. It was not broken, but it was probably torn or seriously strained.

Regardless of the possibility, McMillan will not be able to play in the regular season, and if he undergoes surgery, he will not be able to play in the playoffs.

"The injury should be quite serious. He may be reimbursed for the season, which will be troublesome. McMillan can play three positions on the outside. Without him, there will be problems with the rotation." Xu Jicheng was so anxious that he broke out in sweat.

Seeing McMillan being carried away on a stretcher, Zhang Lili said: "The SuperSonics' injury problem is very serious this season. Rodman and Schrempf are injured, which will inevitably increase the playing time of others.

That is to say, the lineup has a good thickness, so that it can persevere when the two main players are injured, and also achieve the second place in the league and the first record in the Western Conference. This situation is similar to the situation last season.

Schrempf and Rodman are indeed not too young. Schrempf is already 34 years old and Rodman is almost 36 years old. "

"And Zhou Quan has never returned to his form last season." Xu Jicheng said.

"Zhou Quan's performance this season is actually very good. He also plays top offensive and defensive all-around, better than Jordan, but not as good as last season." Zhang Lili said.

Xu Jicheng said: "Now that Schrempf is not back and McMillan is injured again, the No. [-] position can only be supported by Sam Perkins.

On the back line, without McMillan, the main substitute is only Glider. Now I am more worried about him. He is almost 35 years old. His playing time will increase in the future. What if he gets injured again? "

"If he's going to be injured, the Sonics will be in real trouble. I guess he's not that unlucky, right?" Zhang Lili said after being startled.

"Schrempf should be back soon. During the warm-up just now, he went up and shot a few balls. After he comes back, he can alleviate the rotation problem." Xu Jicheng said.

In this game, after Rodman and McMillan were injured and went off the field, the situation gradually favored the Jazz. George Karl did not want to fight to the death with the Jazz. There was no need. At the end of the game, the team fell behind by ten points, so he replaced him. Zhou Quan.

The Jazz finally seized the opportunity and achieved the fourth and only regular-season victory of the two teams this season.

This makes Karl Malone very embarrassed. He promised to stay if he won. Now that he has won, does he really want to stay?
Stockton was the same. He thought about it and said, "Karl, their injury problem is very serious. Do you think this is our opportunity?"

The postman was also a little excited. He calculated that Rodman was almost 36 years old, Schrempf was 34 years old, and Glider was also 35 years old, right?At a combined age of 105, the Sonics' lineup is really aging.

"Let's talk after this season. If they enter the playoffs and fail to solve their injury problems, this is our chance." He finally said.

"OK."

John Stockton nodded quickly. The confidence of the two was restored due to the Sonics' injury problems.

The Sonics returned to the locker room, followed by some reporters.

"Iron Fist King, it's February now, do you think the team's injury problems will affect the playoffs?" a reporter asked.

Zhou Quan said as he walked: "As professional athletes, injuries are an unavoidable problem for us. It depends on their specific situation. I can't tell you at the moment. I can't give you an answer."

"Both Schrempf and Rodman have just renewed their long-term contracts for three and five years, and both have annual salaries of almost 500 million, but they are already 70 years old combined. Do you think the management's contract renewal is correct? Yes?" a reporter asked.

"I believe they can still play, and I believe in the management's decision." Zhou Quan said.

"Detrev, will you choose to come back early?" A reporter asked Schrempf later.

Schramff said: "I can already come back. I have been doing training with the ball in the past week. Even if I come back now, it is not too early. But the team requires me to have another physical examination, and then I will come back."

Back in the locker room, as soon as I took a shower, I received information about the injuries of Rodman and McMillan.

Rodman sprained a ligament in his left ankle and needs to rest for about six weeks. He should be able to return before the end of the regular season.

McMillan suffered a torn cruciate ligament and chose conservative treatment. The season was reimbursed. Whether he can play in the playoffs depends on his recovery.

After thinking about it, George Karl said: "Detrev should be able to come back. He and Sam rotate at the third position, no big problem.

On the inside, Matt Geiger rotates two positions with Laettner, Steve Scheffler, and Cummings, and there is no big problem.

On the back line, Iron Quan, Hawkins, you only have David Wingate as a substitute, but Bob just said that he will find someone from the free market, and we only have twelve people.

In addition, McMillan can be said to be reimbursed for the season. We can apply to the league for an injury exception. His annual salary this season is 130 million US dollars. We can apply for an injury exception of 130 million US dollars and try to find a better free agent. , slow down the intensity of the rotation, so that you will not be overtired and affect the playoffs.

The most important thing now is that you have to rest well, we can't have any more injuries.Especially important rotation players. "

After explaining to the players, George Karl and Whitshit went outside the locker room to discuss the injury issue.

"Bob, the trade window has just closed. Now we can only find people from the free market. It is estimated that they will be useless." George Karl said helplessly.

Whithit nodded. Thursday of the 16th week of each season is the fixed trade deadline. This season's deadline was February 2th, which just passed.

After thinking about it, he said: "The physical condition of the veteran Terry Cummings is also not good, and we have to consider the problems if he gets injured.

We need to fill up all fifteen rosters and apply for the injury regulations. I will arrange for McMillan to undergo an official physical examination by the league immediately. "

Having said this, he thought for a while and then said: "Try to control the playing time of the glider and try to avoid injuries.

He only played 52 games in Mosaic last season, and this season he only stopped 5 games in front of us. If he has problems, it will be even more troublesome. "

George Karl nodded, his head a little big.

(End of this chapter)