So I am the god of basketball?

Amid the cheers of the audience, Meng Lang held up the regular season MVP trophy.

The last time this scene happened in this arena was in 86-87, exactly 10 years ago. At that time, the "Magic" who was in full bloom won the third regular season MVP in his career.

No one thought at the time that it would be the last regular season MVP of Johnson's career. I never imagined that the next time the Lakers would win the regular season MVP would be 10 years later.

Ten years of cheers gathered at this time.

Meng Lang looked like the "god" in Los Angeles tonight!
All members of the Jazz team were sitting on the bench, watching this scene. Others were fine, but Karl Malone felt bad.

The player ranked third in the regular season MVP vote list is none other than Karl Malone.

Although the gap in votes is quite large, there is almost a gap between Michael Jordan and Michael Jordan, but...

The gap between third and first doesn’t sound very big.

The most important thing is that Karl Malone was full of depression when Meng Lang stepped on his head again.

However, when the game officially started, he realized that just watching Meng Lang win the regular season MVP was really not a big deal!
What really made him feel depressed happened in the next game:

Everyone on the Jazz is holding back a fierce energy and wants to win a victory at the Lakers' home court.

They all know how much pressure they will have in the third game of the series if they return to Salt Lake City with a 0-2 deficit.

For a team like the Jazz, first of all, Jerry Sloan will never allow the team to fall into such a passive situation. Another one, they lost by more than 20 points in the last game. With how bad this team is, how could they not want revenge?
Watching Meng Lang win the regular season MVP before the game was even more intense.

But...

Playing hard is a good thing, but when everyone tries their best, but still can only watch the team widen the point difference, the frustration caused and the feeling of shock are doubled.

The Jazz have worked hard enough!

They also showed their own characteristics. From the first second of the game, it was a meat grinder-style defense. In every round, you can always see one or two big arms mixing together. One quarter lasted less than 5 minutes, and clear scratches could be seen on everyone's arms.

Of course, this does not include "Johnson", Meng Lang, and Barkley.

Because they all have sleeves.

As for "Johnson", no one dared to let him bleed!

But from the obviously deformed sleeves of the three of them, we can actually tell what they have been through...

In terms of effect, it was not bad. At least in the first 7 minutes of the game, the Jazz clung to the score. But the problem is that when the Lakers brought in the "five small lineups", the situation on the court immediately changed.

Not to mention earth-shaking, the changes are also very obvious!

From the offensive end to the defensive end, the stubbornness that came with the Jazz's enthusiasm disappeared.

In other words, they are still working hard to create some difficulties for the Lakers.

But looking at the entire process, the effect is not ideal...

The main reason is that they simply cannot keep up with the flexible rhythm of the Lakers' "five small" lineup. Especially during the transition between offense and defense, the Jazz's No. 5 position rushed to catch up, but they could only watch the Lakers complete the "fast break score"!
At the end of the first half, the point difference widened to more than 10 points.

In terms of the speed of collapse, the Jazz have made progress. At least in the last game the Lakers came up with the "Five Smalls", they were immediately killed and disarmed. At any rate, the game lasted for a while, and it was not until the last minute that the score difference was opened to 10 points.

In the middle period, which lasted for 5 minutes, the score difference fluctuated between 6 and 8 points.

Although this was considered a relatively large score difference in the 90s.

After all, there are relatively few rounds in this era.

But compared to the last game, the Jazz have obviously improved.

But at the last moment of the first half, the Lakers suddenly launched another "5-1" scoring wave, successfully opening the point difference to more than 10 points. The impact this has on the Jazz's mentality is quite obvious.

After holding on for 11 minutes, the Lakers "stealed the tower" at the last moment.

How could this not affect their mentality?
In fact, this also has a lot to do with the Jazz's defensive style.

They are fighting hand-to-hand defense. Needless to say, this kind of defense consumes physical energy. In the last minute of the first half, it looked like they were "stealing the tower". Rather, it was the Lakers who took advantage of the Jazz's lax defense and lack of concentration caused by the Jazz's excessive physical exertion, and successfully played a more perfect wave. shock wave.

Fortunately, the game time was approaching, so the Jazz escaped!
The two quarters of the second half also proved this.

After resting for 20 minutes, the Jazz, who had regained their physical strength, once again played tough defense from the beginning of the third quarter. During this period, the Lakers' touch was up and down, and they once closed the point difference to 8 points.

But in the second half of the fourth quarter, their physical fitness reached its peak. The Lakers successfully launched an "8-1" scoring wave. Jerry Sloan called for rectification after the timeout, which had some effects. The difference has reached more than 15 points. In the last 2 minutes, all the Jazz can do is to ensure that the point difference will not be widened.

115 is better than 98!

Judging from the point difference, the Jazz improved in this game and lost "only" 17 points. But from a mental point of view, this defeat was a bigger blow to them than the previous one.

Because in the last game, they were able to play without preparation, but they didn't expect the Lakers' "five players" to be so strong.

But Jerry Sloan studied this game and conducted targeted training. At the same time, the Jazz team was full of motivation in this game and regarded this as the "final battle" of the series.

But in the end, they still lost, by more than 15 points!
Bill Walton believes that the impact of this defeat is likely to last to the next game: "The Jazz were very focused in this game. Everyone can see that they want to win. But they still lost in the end. With a big point difference, returning home is their advantage, and their fighting spirit will immediately become high, but they will definitely have doubts in their hearts, whether we can really beat the Lakers. They may be able to eliminate this! Thoughts, but they will definitely have similar thoughts. The good news is that the Lakers have Jerry Sloan. If the Jazz regain their fighting spirit at their home court, then Jerry Sloan must have adjusted their mentality." The team's home court burst into cheers, and with the buzzer sounding the end of the game, the cheers reached another level. In the eyes of Lakers fans, this is not only the end bell that rings at the end of this game, but it is also the death knell for the entire Jazz series.

Winning by 17 points again tonight, in the eyes of Lakers fans, the Jazz have completely lost the possibility of defeating the Lakers.

This seems to be evident from the way the Jazz players left the field. This group of notoriously stubborn guys had their heads lowered when they left the field this time. If they weren't pessimistic about the rest of the series, why would they look like this?

It’s just that past history has shown time and again that opening champagne in advance is a taboo and a very dishonorable act.

In the third game of the series, the first game in Utah, the Lakers' feel seemed to be affected by the freezing plateau. They missed several shots in a row at the beginning. In the end, Meng Lang scored one against Russell. With the ball in hand, Barkley stuck his butt out to open a path in the paint, officially blowing the Lakers' offensive horn tonight.

But the Jazz, who returned to their home court, became more focused like fish entering the sea.

Jerry Sloan did have a moment. Everyone in the Jazz team, who left the Lakers Arena with their heads lowered, returned to Utah for a day's rest and quickly regained their previous enthusiasm. There was no sign of them carrying a 2-0 score in this game. The pressure is on the ball.

Everyone knows, especially someone in the future, that playing under pressure is a very hard thing. If you are not careful, you will create "a mountain in Puerto Rico" and leave a single player in the most critical battle of the finals. Such a shameful performance of 8 points per game.

Pressure can stimulate players' fighting spirit. Similarly, it can also shake players' actions on the court, causing people to accidentally fall into caution and not dare to try any bold shots.

But in this game, there was no such thing as the Jazz. They were in very good condition. Before the Lakers got the "5 small" lineup, they relied on the Lakers' offensive power outage to take a 5-point lead.

After the Lakers' "five players" came on the court, the Jazz also made adjustments on both offense and defense.

The defensive end no longer pursues locking down the opponent, but only needs to provide enough confrontation and interference.

They spent all the energy they saved on the defensive end on the offensive end.

Jerry Sloan seems to have accepted the fact that it is impossible to stalemate with the Lakers' "five small players" on both offense and defense, and began to make choices. The Jazz were more fluid offensively tonight. Especially the frequent pick-and-roll cooperation between Karl Malone and Stockton.

This is the second point Sloan wants to understand:

Since the Lakers can frequently use the cooperation between Meng Lang and Barkley, why can't they always let Stockton and Karl Malone play pick-and-rolls?

This is also the reason why the Jazz did not work as hard on the defensive end tonight as before.

The Jazz team is full of old men, and their physical fitness cannot cover both offense and defense.

Of course, the reason why Jerry Sloan determined this style of play also had something to do with the Jazz taking the lead tonight.

If you can't guard the opponent, use offense to maintain the point difference.

Judging from the rest of the game, Jerry Sloan must have made the right bet. After the Lakers' "five small" lineup came up, through running cooperation in air cuts, gradually one and two found their own way. Feel.

The Jazz couldn't stop it.

But at the same time, the Jazz's offense became more and more fierce.

This is a rare offensive battle between the two teams so far in the series.

At the end of the first half, the Lakers scored 53 points, which is not uncommon. But the Jazz scored 58 points in this game, which is really rare. Let’s not talk about this series. Since the start of this year's playoffs, the Jazz's half-time score has never been so high!
Now the Lakers fans in Los Angeles were no longer in the mood to open champagne, and they all became trembling with fear.

In the third quarter of the game, the Jazz still took the initiative with a 4-5 point advantage. At the end of the third quarter, the two teams battled 87 to 82. Just when Jazz fans thought that they had not achieved anything in the third quarter. The Lakers, who have led even once, will suffer their first loss of this series tonight. At the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Lakers obviously changed their tactics in the fourth quarter.

The previous "five small" cooperation was gone. From the first round starting in the fourth quarter to the end of the last round, the Lakers' style of play was very simple. Meng Lang took the ball and Meng Lang hit. If Meng Lang couldn't beat, Barkley would do it. Fight, if Barkley is not easy to fight, let Meng Lang fight.

Anyway, these two people are restraining each other, and whoever has a better singles opportunity will take action.

Then the light in the eyes of the Jazz fans gradually dimmed as the two of them played singles again and again.

Whether it's Barkley or Meng Lang, the Jazz don't have a good solution to these two's singles. They don't dare to use a lot of double-teams, which makes it too easy for the opponent to get open. Another reason is that in the fourth quarter of the game, the Jazz's old guys' legs and feet were swinging here, and they were no longer allowed to use high-frequency double-teaming tactics.

As a result, Meng Lang and Barkley's singles frequency gradually increased.

In the fourth quarter of the game, the Jazz spent most of the time with the other four watching one of them defend.

The singles between Meng Lang and Barkley is destined to become a nightmare for some Jazz fans tonight.

With a 5-point difference, the Lakers had a hard time chasing, and they couldn't catch up after three quarters. But in just half of the fourth quarter, the Lakers successfully evened the point difference.

In the first half of the quarter, the Jazz's initial offense continued the firepower of the first three quarters. But Meng Lang and Barkley's goals were too tight, which made them feel pressured.

After the point difference changed from 5 points to 1 point, or even evened out, the pressure suddenly became full, and the Jazz's offense began to fluctuate. However, Barkley and Meng Lang got better and better as they played. Less than 2 minutes after tying the score difference, the Lakers successfully opened up a 4-point gap.

This was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The Jazz are a little out of sorts.

The 0-3 deficit that was about to become a reality was like a big stone pressing on their chests. Even Stockton, who had always been stable, made a passing error. Fortunately, Karl Malone saved the ball. Just before the Jazz fans could take a breath, Eddie Jones jumped out of nowhere and slapped the ball out of his hand.

Meng Lang took the ball in his hands, and the Lakers counterattacked easily and the score difference came to 6 points. The Jazz were completely defeated.

Falling behind 0-3 is just around the corner! (End of chapter)