The Jazz are strong, and in the past two seasons, they have made it to the Western Conference and reached the Finals, only to lose to the Bulls in both ends.

Broadly speaking, in the past two seasons, the Jazz have only been worse than the Bulls who founded the dynasty, and all other teams, and in the case of the dynasty Bulls' disintegration this season, the Jazz are nominally the strongest team in the active NBA.

In fact, both on paper and on record, the Jazz have met expectations.

They started the tournament with a 13-3 record, which is not only first in the West, but also first in the league.

On paper, they have two top-10 players in the league, Karl Malone is currently the first in the league scoring list, John Stockton is currently second in the league in assists, and Bryan Russell has also improved tremendously this season and is starting to carry the team's offensive banner.

Jeff Hornacek's form has declined badly, but he's still one of the league's most reliable outside shooters.

The main reason is that the Jazz's lineup is stable, almost unchanged from last season, and secondly, their tactical system is stable, Jerry Sloan has led the team for ten years, and the Jazz has also played ten years of blocking and dismantling tactics.

In Qiao Hai's view, the only weakness of this Jazz team may be the aging of the core lineup, Karl Malone is 34 years old, Jeff Hornacek is the same age as him, and John Stockton is one year older than him.

So after thinking about it, Qiao Hai decided to start with physical fitness.

The Energy Solutions Arena in the Utah Plateau, arguably the hottest home stadium in the United States, has long since turned the crazy Utah arena into a world-famous devil's arena.

Qiao Hai was in the away team's locker room, and his ears were filled with noise from inside the stadium.

Even before the game even started, Utah fans were already creating a home atmosphere.

"Okay guys, today we have a strong opponent, first in the West, and we're still playing away, so we have to make some changes......"

Before the game, Qiao Hai and his coaching staff discussed the style of play of this game, and Byron Scott came up with an idea that he thought could increase Shaquille O'Neal's possession, let Shaq go one-on-one with Karl Malone, and then use the physical wing group to break down the Jazz's defense at critical moments.

Joe Hai affirmed Byron Scott's proposal and made some improvements.

Eventually, the game was played into: "We're going to increase Shaq's possession in this game, Shaq, you don't have any opinion, right?" ”

Shaquille O'Neal smiled, "Of course. ”

Give him more ball brush data, O'Neal is naturally happy, now O'Neal ranks third in the scoring list, and the first Karl Malone is only more than 2 points away, last season O'Neal 0.4 points difference failed to win the scoring title, this season O'Neal still wants to fight for it.

"In addition, we play more inside, Kobe Bryant, Scott, more inside breakthrough passes, in addition, we play some blocking and dismantling tactics to create Kobe vs. Karl Malone, Shaq vs. Karl Malone's single opportunities......"

The Jazz's interior and exterior defense is balanced, with Brian Russell on the outside and center Greg Ostertag on the inside, but the interior and exterior defense is not strong, especially on the inside, Greg Ostertag has average strength and moves too slowly.

Therefore, the Lakers chose to target the interior to attack and consume Karl Malone's physical energy to the greatest extent.

……

In the home team's dressing room, Jerry Sloan set it up and finally mentioned a tactic that he thought was quite interesting.

"Greg (Ostertag), get ready, you might have to commit a foul off the ball on Shaquille O'Neal in this game."

Greg Ostertag was confused, and John Stockton smiled and helped explain: "The shark slashing tactic, the battle for fame of the current head coach of the Lakers, is used in this tactic." ”

Greg Ostertag suddenly.

At the beginning of the game, the Lakers' starting lineup did not change, and the Jazz did the same, in this era, the strong teams will not easily change the starting lineup because they do not have many bench players to rotate.

NBC broadcast the game live, which was scheduled to be broadcast live in the United States before the season, and the commentary was still McBrin and Mav Albert, after the Lakers' successful recovery, McBrin and Mav Albert did not dare to comment on the Lakers' head coach issue anymore.

Now, when Joe Hay is mentioned, McBrin says, "Joe Hay did a good job, he's a good coach." ”

This game, in McBlin's view, belongs to the strong showdown in the West, although the Lakers are only seventh in the West, and the Jazz is the first in the West.

"The Lakers play the Jazz, this game is really hard to say, the Jazz is the first in the West, the Lakers are 2-8 in the first ten games of the season, but after Qiao Hai served as the head coach, the Lakers have achieved a wave of strong 8 consecutive wins, which have encountered many strong teams such as the Suns, SuperSonics, and Rockets, and the gold content of the winning streak is quite high."

"Both teams are in great form, who wins and loses this game, I think it will depend on the arrangement of the coaches of both sides......

Marv Albert set his "sights" on the head coaches of both teams, on one side was Jerry Sloan, although he never led the team to win the championship, but in the Jazz, Jerry Sloan was already a godfather-level coach.

On the other side is Qiao Hai, the youngest head coach in the NBA, who saved the Lakers from danger.

"I'm not going to make any predictions or evaluations about this fight." McBrin didn't mean to pick up the stalk at all.

This embarrassed Mav Albert, who burst into laughter and then pulled away from the topic.

"The game started, there were no changes to the starting line-ups between the two teams, the jump ball, Shaq won! The Lakers' offense, the basketball was picked up by Scott Pippen, and the Lakers were in the running position...... Kobe Bryant catches the ball and singles ......"

Kobe Bryant's singles, his goal is the basket.

"Kobe Bryant, he chose to break through, Brian Russell tried his best to defend, Kobe Bryant basketed a second pass! Sark! Catch the ball and go to the basket! Pretty! ”

In the first shot of the opening game, Kobe Bryant made a breakthrough to attract the defense, O'Neal received the ball and made an easy layup, and the Lakers scored two points.

Jazz offense, Karl Malone drove the ball in the backcourt, John Stockton advanced with the ball, Karl Malone blocked and dismantled, and the blocker Karl Malone received the ball and missed the shot.

Scott Pippen grabbed the rebound inside, and the Lakers immediately began to fight back......

Before the game, Qiao Hai also mentioned the handling method when switching offense and defense, Qiao Hai asked the team to seize every opportunity for the opponent to shoot and hit the iron, and strive to play every wave of fast attack counterattack, so the players on the court did exactly what Qiao Hai requested.

Scott Pippen launched a fast break, and Kobe Bryant ran forward, and when he rushed to the frontcourt near the three-point line, he looked up to ask for the ball.

Catch the ball and rush into the inside line, one flies, bang, violent dunk!

There was a boo in the energy plan arena, and the noise made everyone's ears rumble, and Qiao Hai had to blow up his throat when he said two words.

4:0, the Lakers played smoothly at the beginning.

However, the Jazz also adjusted quickly, and they didn't even need Jerry Lone to step out, and on the court, John Stockton and Karl Malone completed the adjustment.

In the case of the Lakers' continuous strong attacks on the inside, the Jazz first opened their own offense and slowly bit the score.