unfinished glory

Chapter 136 Advance to the Western Conference Finals
The Spurs won two games in a row at home, which was basically expected by everyone. Even Jazz coach Jerry Sloan had already prepared for this, and he put his hope of victory at home.

The Energy Solutions Arena is the home of the famous Devils. The Jazz have won a lot of victories here, but unfortunately they have never lifted the championship trophy.

Back at home, the Jazz played very proactively, constantly launching offenses through their well-known pick-and-roll tactics throughout the league.

After the combination of Malone and Stockton retired one after another, Coach Sloan found a second team combination.

Although Boozer's offensive ability is much worse than that of Malone, he is also a good player in offense under the current rhythm of the league.

And Deron Williams is the key figure for the Jazz to rise this season, averaging 16.3 points and 9.3 assists per game in the regular season.

Good overall view and high basketball IQ ensure that he can clearly see through the game trend on the court.At the same time, his style of play is relatively old-fashioned, mainly based on organization and passing, and there is not much demand for shooting rights, which ensures the good operation of the team's offense.

But today he played more aggressively, actively playing singles with the ball, facing Parker's defense at the beginning, hit two mid-range shots, scored 11 points in the first quarter, and helped the team lead the Spurs at home.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Jazz continued their lead on the court. Although the lead was less than 5 points, it was difficult for the Spurs to turn over for a while.

After half a quarter, Popovich took the initiative to call a timeout. He watched the situation off the court, changed his previous steady attitude, and asked the players on the court to show their attitude and overtake the score as soon as possible.

He didn't want to drag this state of implementation to the end. After the away game came to the end, it would be very difficult for the home team to come back.

The tactics he formulates are offense-oriented, or the team's tactical coordination, running more and passing more, and playing as much as possible.

If the situation on the field cannot be opened, Duncan and Li Chongxiao need to stand up and play singles.

After the players re-entered the court, the Spurs failed to score in two rounds of offense, and the Jazz had long been prepared.

Coach Sloan had the same idea as Popovich. He also pinned his hopes on offense and wanted to widen the point difference in the first half, and then use this momentum in the second half to establish the victory in one fell swoop.

However, he chose a different direction from the Spurs. During the timeout, he emphasized defense, and he wanted the Jazz players to strengthen their defense, relying on limiting opponents' goals and success rate to take the lead.

The Jazz's tactics were right and wrong, which just restrained the overall offense that Popovich emphasized, and suddenly opened the point difference to 8 points.

Seeing that the situation was slipping in a bad direction, Li Chongxiao stood up, and in the next round, he took the initiative to ask for the ball and signaled his teammates to pull away, and he wanted to play singles.

The defensive player in front of him is Kirilenko, already the Jazz's best defender.

In a one-on-one duel, Li Chongxiao was fearless. With continuous swaying, he went inside, and before Boozer made up the defense, he dunked successfully and helped the team get 2 points.

The Jazz's offense missed, and Li Chongxiao grabbed the rebound again. Taking advantage of the opponent's unstable foothold, he succeeded in a one-stop layup.

Just when the Jazz shifted their focus to him, they assisted Duncan to score in two consecutive rounds.

With an 8:0 offensive climax, the Spurs evened the difference in one fell swoop.

Seeing that the efforts of most of the halftime came to naught, the Jazz called a timeout.

Combining the previous two games, Coach Sloan realized that it was indeed difficult to defend the Spurs' individual singles. He immediately changed his strategy and took the path of integrating offense and defense.

There are always some guys in the league who can't defend, but that doesn't mean his team can't beat.Either it is to carry out targeted defense, whether it is to defend against individuals or to cut off the team's connection.Either don't follow your rhythm, you hit yours, and I hit mine.

The Jazz is ready to adopt the second tactic, no longer expecting to be able to defend against the Spurs' offense, but to give full play to their advantages wholeheartedly.

This kind of upright matchup is officially the Spurs' favorite. They are not bad tactically, there is no shortage of offensive points, and the lineup is thick enough. If you don't have confidence in this, don't talk about chasing the championship.

The two sides played back and forth like this and finished the third quarter. Although the score was very close and the Spurs won by 3 points, the situation gradually tilted towards the Spurs.

The Jazz started playing vigorously against the Spurs, but gradually became overwhelmed.The Jazz tried their best on every ball, and the Spurs seemed to be able to do it with ease.

At the beginning of the fourth quarter, Kirilenko went off to rest, and the Jazz collapsed all of a sudden.

Li Chongxiao and Ginobili broke out suddenly, and they scored 5 goals in a row, 3 of which were three-pointers.

Kirilenko returned soon, but it was too late.The outbreak of the Spurs is not due to individuals, but the overall momentum of the team has accumulated to a certain level, and it is useless for anyone to come.

The Jazz resisted for a while, and the Spurs' offensive became more violent.Li Chongxiao seemed to be going crazy. In the double-teaming of three people, he forced a shot to score a 2+1.

Then he passed Kirilenko several times in a row, succeeded in three-pointers and mid-range jumpers, and opened up the point difference to 20 points in one fell swoop.

Seeing the situation slipping into the abyss, Sloan called two timeouts in succession, but this only improved the Jazz's offense and had no effect on the defensive end.

The Jazz scored a goal, the Spurs responded with a goal, and the clock quickly ran out.

The third game between the two sides ended with a 20+ victory for the Spurs.

……

After the Spurs won the third game, everyone knew that this basically announced the end of this round of the series.

But the Jazz is a team full of resilience, and they didn't lose heart to fight because of the imminent elimination.

In order to save face, they played extremely tough in the fourth game, developing ordinary physical contact into hand-to-hand combat.

Although the Spurs are not afraid of this style of play, but they face too many disadvantages in the away game, and they dare not let go.

This gave the Jazz a chance. They quickly established a double-digit lead and relied on tactics to keep the point difference to the end.

Deron Williams scored 35 points to lead the team back from the Spurs to avoid a sweep.

After winning this game, the Jazz finally let out a sigh of relief, and the rest of the game was a little slack.

In the fifth game, after the strong attack in the first quarter, it was found that the Spurs could not be dealt with at all, and the spirit of the Jazz players was not so excited.

In the face of the strength shown by the Spurs, the Jazz players were lost as a whole, and Boozer, who scored the highest score, only scored 15 points.

On the Spurs side, they led by 31 points in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Duncan sat on the bench with 25 points and 11 rebounds.

The Spurs eliminated the Jazz 4:1 and advanced to the Western Conference Finals.

(End of this chapter)