Chapter 398 [Sweeping the King, Hanging the Lakers]
The media published the news and reported Yang Jian's words truthfully.
Some people think Yang Jian is arrogant, while more people think it is normal. In his words, he "stated a fact."
The SuperSonics are indeed difficult to beat. They didn't lose to the Bulls until the Finals last season and swept the first three rounds. This season they are likely to complete the feat of sweeping and advancing in the Western Conference again.
The SuperSonics performed even better in Game 2, beating the Kings 122-78 by 44 points.
Yang Jian only played a total of 25 minutes, making 6 of 8 shots, 3 of 5 three-pointers, 8 of 8 free throws, and scored 23 points, 7 rebounds, 6 assists and 1 steal.
Kemp played 31 minutes, making 8 of 12 shots, 1 of 1 three-pointers, 6 of 9 free throws, and scored 23 points, 15 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks.
After Kemp hit the pick-and-roll, he caught the ball from the outside and hit a three-pointer. How could the opponent win?
The SuperSonics scored 122 points, but this was still due to the abnormal performance of veteran Sam Perkins. Perkins played 19 minutes in this game and made 0 of 6 shots, 0 of 4 three-pointers, and 2 of 2 free throws, scoring only 2
Points, 4 rebounds and 2 assists.
The third game was played in Sacramento. The Kings finally performed better with the home buzzer, and still lost by 17 points.
The Kings players couldn't guard against the Sonics' internal and external combination, and they couldn't compete offensively. Of course, they could only end up being swept out of the game.
Mitch Richmond averaged 25.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 1.5 steals in the regular season. Entering the playoffs, his numbers dropped to 20 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3 assists.
Yang Jian's defense was much tougher than in the regular season. Many of Richmond's points were scored in garbage time after Yang Jian came off the field. After the game, no one said that Richmond was overrated, which is even worse, because
He has no popularity and the media doesn't bother to mention him.
In other Western Conference series, the Jazz swept the Timberwolves 3-0.
Kevin Garnett was bullied a bit miserably against Karl Malone, and was beaten every game. Garnett averaged 17.1 points on 17 shots per game, and averaged only 1 free throw per game. He couldn't get into the penalty area against Malone.
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Malone is now in his prime, and cannot be compared to Garnett, a second-year player who floats around shooting and is afraid of confrontation. Even so, the Timberwolves management is still prepared to provide Garnett with a super-large contract extension. Garnett can at least attract
Fans come to watch games at home, but if he leaves, the Timberwolves will have nothing.
Stockton also guarded Marbury on the outside. Marbury's mentality was almost broken due to various small moves. The shooting percentage in the series was only 38.3%. Stockton scored 14.3 points, 4.3 rebounds, 11.3 assists and 2
Stealing, shooting 52.2%.
Stockton's statistics are very similar to those of the regular season. He doesn't score much, but is more stable. Marbury averages 18.3 points, 4 rebounds and 7.7 assists per game. It looks good, but in fact he is like an undercover agent on the court, disrupting the team's rhythm.
who.
Timberwolves boss Gugliotta also shot only 44.2% from the field and scored 18.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.3 steals.
On the other side, the Lakers did not show much advantage and eliminated the Trail Blazers 3-1. The Lakers lost by 8 points in the third game and narrowly won the fourth game 95-91.
Only O'Neal performed well in the Lakers. He averaged 3310 points per game in the series and was unstoppable. However, the Lakers' outside perimeter was easily defended. Eddie Jones, who scored the most points, only averaged 12.5 points, 4 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game.
Point guard Van Exel is terrible, averaging only 8.5 points, 3 rebounds and 6.5 assists in 36 minutes per game, while shooting 30% from the field.
Kobe was still just a rough rookie, averaging 10 minutes off the bench, 7.5 points, 1 rebound and 0.5 assists per game.
The most intense series was the Rockets vs. the Suns. The two sides fought for 5 games, and the Rockets narrowly won at home 96-91 to advance.
The Rockets' weakness is that they don't have a good point guard and rely on Drexler to organize the offense. The Suns, on the other hand, were beaten in the paint and could only rely on fast breaks to deal with the Rockets, and their scoring efficiency was slightly lower.
It was very difficult to win in the first round, and Rockets fans were not happy. The team still did not have the strength to compete for the championship, and it was certainly no match for the SuperSonics.
Charles Barkley was eliminated by the Rockets again, and his mentality is calm. He is confident that the Rockets will be miserable next season, and his teammates will be much better than now.
In the first round of the Eastern Conference, the Bulls and Knicks swept their opponents to advance.
The Heat eliminated the Magic 3-2.
Anfernee Hardaway showed off his power in the last four games, averaging 31 points, 6 rebounds and 3.4 assists in the series.
Heat point guard Tim Hardaway was blown away, averaging 14.4 points, 4 rebounds and 9.8 assists per game, while shooting only 30% from the field and 25% from the three-point range.
The Heat's weaknesses have been revealed, and they don't have any championship appearance. They lack super scorers. Tim Hardaway has a poor touch and takes many shots. If he doesn't stand up and take shots, it will be even harder for his teammates to score.
The Hawks eliminated the Pistons 3-2.
The Pistons' outside offense was better, but the Hawks beat them inside. Mutombo performed well, shooting 70% from the field in the series, averaging 18.2 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.6 blocks in 9.4 shots per game.
Because the Pistons' defense in the penalty area was so poor, Mutombo didn't even look like a blue-collar player.
At this point, except for Yang Jian, all the young stars that the league promoted were eliminated in the first round.
In a life-and-death battle, Grant Hill made 9 of 24 shots, 3 of 6 free throws, 21 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. He turned undercover. More and more people suspected that Hill was overrated. The media always said that he was strong, but in the first round
If you can't get through it, where is your strength?
The second round of the playoffs began, and the SuperSonics took the lead again, beating the Lakers 103-77.
The SuperSonics' defensive strategy is to resolutely guard O'Neal alone and guard against others. O'Neal is playing alone outside the penalty area, and the players try their best to interfere. When O'Neal hits the penalty area, the players immediately foul and send him free throws. He holds the ball for a while to attack, and the Lakers outside players have long-term interference.
If you can't catch the ball, the player will be cold.
O'Neal took 24 free throws and made 14 of them. He scored 34 points, 11 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. This performance was not enough to lead the team to win.
As long as the combination of Van Exel and Eddie Jones is completely destroyed by Payton and Yang Jian, it is impossible for the Lakers to win.
Kobe bravely challenged Yang Jian when he came on the court and played 14 minutes. He made 1 of 7 shots, 1 of 5 three-pointers, 3 points, 2 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 fouls.
Yang Jian forced a breakthrough during the counterattack, playing pick-and-rolls to find opportunities for mismatches. Kobe was so close that he even used a swinging arm to draw a foul, which made Kobe miserable.
Kobe was inexperienced. After being fouled twice, he was furious. His mentality was a bit broken, and his shot selection was even worse.
Yang Jian played 39 minutes, making 11 of 21 shots, 3 of 8 three-pointers, and 9 of 10 free throws. He scored 34 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists, and 4 steals. He also made 4 turnovers, but it doesn't matter, he was already a complete player.
The best performer on the field.
Kemp, who scored the second most points for the Sonics, only had 16 points and 8 rebounds, while Payton and Schrempf had 10 points each.
In the second game, the SuperSonics still used the shark-cutting tactics. O'Neal also had a mental problem and played very poorly. He made 10 of 21 shots, 8 of 17 free throws, 28 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 blocks, and 5 turnovers.
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The Lakers' twin-tower tactics were not easy to defend against pick-and-rolls, and the ball was too concentrated. Eldon Campbell made 2 of 5 shots and 3 of 4 free throws, and only scored 7 points and 6 rebounds.
Substitute power forward Donyel Marshall performed at a superb level and made 7 three-pointers but was unable to help the Lakers win.
108 to 98, the SuperSonics won again, leading the total score 2-0.
Yang Jian played 43 minutes, making 14 of 26 shots, 5 of 10 three-pointers, 7 of 8 free throws, and scored 40 points, 8 rebounds, and 7 assists. He made zero mistakes and only committed 4 fouls.
Eddie Jones was completely beaten by Yang Jian. He played 28 minutes, made 0 of 3 shots, did not score a point, and only had 2 rebounds and 5 assists.
Kobe played only 4 minutes, scoring 2 points and 1 assist on 1-of-1 shooting. Lakers coach Del Harris would rather let veteran Byron Scott play more than use Kobe.
In addition, Harris also asked 35-year-old veteran Jerome Corsi to play defense against Yang Jian for a long time, but the effect was not good and Kobe was not used. Jerome is 201cm tall and has average speed, so it is very difficult to defend Yang Jian.
Payton also guarded Van Exel, who shot only 35.3% from the field and scored 15 points and 12 assists inefficiently.
The Sonics are leading 2-0, and those who said O'Neal restrained the Sonics have shut up. Those who said Yang Jian was not good at defense, and Eddie Jones, who is also an All-Star and can compete with him, were also slapped in the face.
Yang Jian's defense was not good in the regular season, but as long as he defended carefully, it would be difficult for Eddie Jones to score in double figures in a single game.
At present, it is impossible for the Lakers to win against the SuperSonics. It will take two years to adjust.