Chapter 172 The Roar of Salt Lake City

Amid the almost roaring cheers in the Triangle Center Arena, the Hornets' coach Alan's face was ashen.

The lethality displayed by the Jazz inside was amazing, but originally... all of this should have belonged to the Hornets. Li Shengli and Johnson cooperated well. Even if there is no point guard of Stockton's level, there is a reduced version of the first-line point guard. Boggs is enough, too.

However, the opposite happened.

The Hornets management sent away Li Shengli, which is definitely the biggest failure in the transaction since the team was founded. The Jeff Malone and Isaac Austin they exchanged are not unusable, but they are definitely not as comfortable as Li Shengli. As for the two Year’s draft picks…

What's the point of this? !

It is possible to get good players, but that is a small probability event. You know... parallel imports with high picks are not common, and good prospects with low picks are also rare.

Alan cursed in his heart, but the game still had to go on.

However, Larry Johnson was about to be beaten to death. Data aside, three fouls were enough to kill him. Although Johnson was tough enough, he still wanted to play for one quarter, but Alan absolutely couldn't agree.

One more session?

Are you going to hit me on the head?

Can't you see that Sir is determined to beat you to death?

In the end... Johnson was replaced and substitute power forward Kenny Gatisson came on. Gominski at the center position was also taken down and Isaac Austin, who had just been traded, played.

…

The Jazz had nothing to say, Jerry Sloan was serious about his words.

Although the score difference was narrowed in the first quarter, he really doesn't advocate this kind of play. Let's not talk about the statistics of the core players. There were a lot of fouls. Li Shengli and Malone committed two fouls each. Fortunately... the Hornets didn't have too many. Their resistance ability should be enough to crush them in the first half.

So the Jazz didn't make any substitutions and continued to play with the starting five. Jerry Sloan didn't even say any unnecessary nonsense, only one sentence... At halftime, I want a 40-point difference.

In the first quarter, with the score at 14:30, the Jazz led by 16 points, and the 40-point difference Jerry Sloan wanted meant another 24-point difference in the second quarter.

Is this a fucking joke?

Leading by 40 points in a game is scary enough, but leading by 40 points at halftime?

Although not no team can do it, the Warriors in the 1991-92 season did this, leading by 47 at halftime and 62 at halftime, which is recorded in NBA history, but it is too difficult to do this.

Moreover...the NBA also has many unwritten rules. During garbage time when there is a big score difference, the main team will generally not appear again, and the leading team will not take the initiative to call a timeout.

However, unwritten rules are unwritten rules. In the NBA, a business league, anything can be done without prohibitions. Especially in this special game with the Hornets, Jerry Sloan didn't care about the unwritten rules at all. He just wanted to hold down the Hornets and play. Let the Hornets management see their shortsightedness.

…

Back on the field.

Seeing that Larry Johnson did not play, the fans at the scene shouted for the Hornets to let the player come up. After all, the first quarter turned the game into a gladiatorial arena. Everyone wanted to watch the fight continue, but it was Larry Johnson who There is no sound.

Section 2.

All the Jazz's starting lineup came on the field, all the Hornets' inside players were replaced, and the game started again.

The Hornets are still weak inside. After all, they encountered the combination of Li Shengli and Malone, so Jeff Malone on the outside was arranged by Alan to be the firepower to save face.

However, Jeff Malone was being guarded by Stockton. Facing his old teammates, Stockton showed no mercy at all and guarded him tightly. The effect was outstanding. The Hornets' firepower once again shifted to Bogues and Newman.

Newman was good at breaking out but not good at shooting, and repeatedly attacked the inside. But Newman was not Johnson. Li Shengli let him go a little bit and let him score a few goals.

Boggs saw that Li Shengli was not happy with Newman. There was no reason to catch him, an old friend with whom he had a better relationship, and beat him, right? So Boggs also launched his charge, making Li Shengli feel for the first time the difficulty of the shortest player in NBA history.

To put it bluntly, Bogues, who is 1.6 meters tall, is bent over. Even if the penalty area is full of big men, he can easily get through a hole. And when he is hunched over and sprinting with the ball, he is not much bigger than the ball.

As long as Boggs takes off, Li Shengli's block is too easy to foul, because the target is so small, who knows where his big hand will hit. Although Boggs can't even see the basket, his assist ability But he was there, making free throws and failing to pass the ball, which gave Li Shengli a headache.

…

"If you two come in again, I won't be able to bear it anymore!"

"Li, please give me some face. Let me score another 10 points, and I will promise not to rush inside." Newman smiled crookedly. Johnson was not present. Although the score difference was huge, the two sides were peaceful.

"I want it too. Don't keep blocking me, you guy. I want 10 points too." Boggs jumped angrily because Newman scored, but he only got a few assists.

"Damn it, you're ten points and he's ten points. Curry will come up and ask for another ten points later. Can we still play this game?" Li Shengli was amused. "Get out of here and come in again. I'll make it look good for you!"

The three of them laughed, and on the other side... Jeff Malone looked at Stockton with resentment. Li Shengli was making his debut, and he was also making his debut with the Hornets, but he was really guarded. Stockton showed no respect at all.

"John, let's discuss something..."

"no way!"

"I didn't even say anything!"

"Needless to say."

"Brother, can you give me some face?"

"No!"

Jeff Malone jumped angrily, but Karl Malone on the side saw the younger brother of the Malone Brothers in an awkward situation and waved, "Hey, Jeff, hit me."

"Oh, my God, Carl, you are such a good guy, let me shoot a few in a minute!"

"Well, why?"

"Didn't you ask me to hit you?"

"But I didn't say let you score!"

Jeff Malone was so angry that he yelled at the two of them: "You two... are not human beings!"

Karl Malone and Stockton looked at each other and smiled, "Brother, you should have known this."

…

In the following game, because both sides had their own old teammates, although the offense and defense in each round were very serious, there were no small moves, which made the game on the right track, which was different from the first quarter when they bullied Johnson in a different way and slightly affected the offensive efficiency. , the Jazz's combat effectiveness completely exploded in the second quarter.

You know, the Jazz itself used the strong to defeat the weak, and coupled with the previous accumulation of momentum, the Hornets collapsed completely.

Jeff Malone was suppressed, Newman and Bogues were also beaten out by Li Shengli, but the Hornets' inside line also exploded. Isaac Austin and Kenny Gadison were not strong individually and were paired together for the first time. Let alone cooperation.

So the Jazz slaughtered the Hornets for a whole quarter, and the fans in the entire Triangle Center Arena were ignited. Tens of thousands of people roared across Salt Lake City tonight. Even Charlotte in the east felt the roar from Salt Lake City.

…

The score difference...

Jerry Sloan wanted 40 points, and the Jazz generals gave him 40 points directly. Not one point more, not one point less. The score between the two sides was 33:73.

Except for Li Shengli, the other four Jazz players all scored in double figures, but Li Shengli didn't care about statistics... When Johnson was away and the Jazz were leading by a big score, no one else mattered. He himself had to give face to his old teammates and coach Alan, and even if he shot this point The difference won't be any greater.

Although there were no points scored, other statistics were still growing, even to an abnormal level, and the Jazz home fans were dumbfounded.

The scoring was dismal. Compared with the 1 point in the first quarter, he made one free throw in this quarter, 2 of 2, and scored 3 points in total.

Blocked 11 shots. Boggs and Newman personally made Li Shengli's 7 blocks in double figures in the first quarter. It wasn't because they did it on purpose, but because they didn't expect...Li Shengli actually pulled up his pants and refused to recognize anyone. The two brothers scored 4 consecutive shots. What a big hater, I will never play with Li Shengli again.

22 rebounds, 15 in the first quarter, and 7 in the second quarter. After all... Malone can be said to have given him a lot of face in this game. In the third quarter, the Jazz's main players may be rotated. Next, he would naturally reciprocate the favor and make Malone's statistics even higher.

As for assists...

Because Johnson was off the court, the Jazz did not have to deliberately feed Malone the ball, so Li Shengli grabbed the rebound and threw it to the outside. The Jazz led by Stockton received the ball from the outside and shot, causing his assists to soar from 1 to 6.

3 points, 22 rebounds, 11 blocks, 6 assists.

This abnormal data was obtained by Li Shengli at halftime. Of course...because of Boggs and Newman's attack on the inside, he suffered several fouls, and the number of fouls also changed from 2 to 4.