novelraw Chapter 399 - 118: Malone the Bully!
Chapter 399 - 118: Malone the Bully!
Screaming inside, "Go in..."
Pre-game warm-up, calm and contained emotions, and the strong desire to attack brought on by rough defense counteracted the fear of the Utah Jazz’s defense...
Zhang Hao made a decisive and clean shot, and it went in decisively and cleanly!
Scored 4 points in a row!
The Lakers lead the Utah Jazz by three points, 15 to 12!
No impact? No! Malone felt that the rookie wasn’t unaffected but had become more resolute!
Offense and defense switch, Utah Jazz on the attack, relying on Stockton’s simple and effective pick and roll, Chris Morris hits a short-range floater.
The pace is still very slow, focusing on success rate, very patient.
The Lakers attack, Zhang Hao continues to look for opportunities, but he finds that the opponent adjusts quickly!
In the previous possession, he just scored by taking advantage of the opponent’s failure to double-team immediately. As soon as he made the shot, the opponent returned to their earlier defense.
No rush, Zhang Hao patiently moves to the right position, helping the Magician organize the offense.
The game returns to its starting state.
The Utah Jazz attack steadily and fiercely. Spectators can feel that whether it’s their offensive tactics and scoring stability or their defensive intensity and effectiveness, the Utah Jazz is stronger than the Lakers.
The Lakers’ defense... is just actively trying, doing well in protecting the paint, but average in other aspects.
Offensively, the Lakers are varied, relying on the Magician’s adaptability. He worked especially hard tonight, always finding the right person for an opportunity.
But it’s also apparent that the Lakers’ regular team plays are not working well, having to rely on the Magician’s organizational ability to drive the offense.
The reason is the Utah Jazz’s entirely different defensive strategy compared to other teams—Lakers’ first shooting point encounters defense not like an off-ball shooter, but similar to ball-handling superstars!
Clearly, the Utah Jazz’s tactics are executed more smoothly and efficiently, even though the Lakers have a slightly better record, the Utah Jazz is indeed stronger.
With 8 minutes 33 seconds into the first quarter, entering a timeout, the Lakers are trailing, 20 to 23, overtaken by the Utah Jazz!
In the past 5 minutes, the Lakers scored only 5 points!
And that was not easy; Stockton was doing nothing else but trying every way to limit the Lakers’ second scorer, Van Exel, and the biggest flaw in this Lakers lineup is the lack of self-scoring ability!
The Magician ground for half a quarter, except for Zhang Hao’s 4 points from fast breaks, the other 16 points were almost all tied to the Magician, with 4 assists in over 8 minutes—it was impressive, but it’s clear he was exhausted.
Del Harris called another timeout!
During the previous official timeout, Del Harris put in George Lynch, hoping to create opportunities for Lynch by using Zhang Hao’s mid-range deterrent, but the effect was poor.
He prepared to switch his thinking.
Sedale Threatt, Doug Christie, Zhang Hao, Donyell Marshall, and Jason Williams came onto the court.
Zhang Hao saw Sloan put in a dual point guard lineup with Stockton and Howard Eisley, and the frontcourt combination of Chris Morris, David Benoit, and Malone was brought on.
Spencer was subbed out for a rest, but Sloan didn’t bring Ostertag in.
"Very targeted, flexible lineup rotations... No wonder he could still coach ten years later, but he probably didn’t expect our old fox to rotate like this..."
Not giving the rookie Kobe any playtime during regular hours, yet subbing him in for a game-winning shot to catch opponents off guard—the coach’s thinking was quite unpredictable.
Even though Kobe air-balled the game-winners in two consecutive games, he indeed got the opportunities, something Sloan had not anticipated.
...
Timeout ends, Lakers’ offense resumes.
With Van Exel and Anthony Peeler not on the court, the Lakers fielded a taller backcourt duo, catching the Utah Jazz backcourt off guard.
Doug Christie is a microwave-type player; generally, he doesn’t have a high scoring desire, just spacing out obediently, but when needed, he’s reliable!
Facing Stockton’s defense, Doug Christie plays tough, uses his stronger frame to force his way inside, getting closer to the basket, looking for a nearer shooting point.
After attracting Malone’s attention, Doug Christie dishes to the cutting Zhang Hao, and Jason Williams, as Malone moves, steps out to block the pursuing David Bentno. However, Chris Morris retracts directly into the lane, and Zhang Hao is pinned down as soon as he receives the ball, with Malone also returning to block Zhang Hao.
No way to force it!
Over a month ago, when Zhang Hao played against the Utah Jazz, he encountered a similar situation under the basket, with Ostertag and Malone. However, times have changed! Zhang Hao’s vision improved significantly, passing just in time before David Bentno could seal off the passing lane inside when Malone and Chris Morris locked him in.
Donyell Marshall catches the ball in the corner!
After several games, Donyell Marshall hadn’t made a single three for the Lakers; no glimpse of the future where he would hit 12 threes in a game alongside Kobe.
He was somewhat frightened to catch the ball! His rookie year went so well, but by his sophomore year, he’d been benched for nearly two months, affecting his mentality.
But catching Zhang Hao’s pass, feeling the fiery gaze from Zhang Hao... that resolute attitude influenced Donyell Marshall. He adjusted after catching, shooting a three over the defense as Cardano Bentno rushed back.
Donyell Marshall indeed has three-point skill, although Zhang Hao saw a post-benching mindset crash, showcasing only a 59 three-point rating, but when determined, Donyell Marshall is exceptionally accurate! He made it!
all!
"...Three-point 59? 82?"
Zhang Hao’s player detection system immediately updated, revising Donyell Marshall’s three-point rating!
"Question mark probably due to uncertain mentality, uncertain shot rights... So regular performance is still unsure? Oh right, other players’ ability ratings are performance-based..."
A fleeting thought, Zhang Hao saw Utah Jazz quickly inbound the ball, Stockton accelerating with the ball, Zhang rushed toward the frontcourt.
Utah Jazz’s tallest on the floor now, Malone, is only 206 cm, the pace quickened!
As Zhang Hao sped up, someone bumped into him from behind, causing him to lunge forward... no whistle from the referee!
When Zhang Hao fell forward, he saw Malone making an "accidental bump" gesture, pausing slightly.
Clearly, Malone did it on purpose!
Seeing no call from the referee, Malone resumed running to the frontcourt.
This was intolerable! As Malone was running up from behind trying to pass him, Mr. Zhang, Zhang Hao got up... and while rising, deliberately extended his leg, precisely tripping Malone’s foot pressing on the floor and about to lift...
Malone, accelerating forward, tumbled face-first!
The referee, running ahead, glanced back, eyes widening! How did Zhang Hao, standing, and Malone, end up on the ground?
Moments later, Malone, getting up and sprinting forward, bumped into Zhang Hao, knocking him down...
Malone, once again standing up to run forward, saw Zhang Hao also climbing up, inexplicably using Malone’s leg as leverage instead of the floor, causing Malone to fall again...
When Zhang Hao was knocked down by Malone, some fans in the crowd cheered; when Zhang Hao tripped Malone, the fans were caught off guard.
By now, the scene had erupted!
The referee paused for a moment, saw the two nearly tangled up and almost brawling, and quickly blew the whistle!
The other 8 players on the court had noticed during the mutual tripping, all watching in amazement, with no one rushing to help...