Travel back to be a superstar

Chapter 143 Back to back against the Jazz

The Jazz won 51 games last season thanks to their defense and made their way to the Western Conference semifinals.Coach Quin Snyder has proven that he is one of the most savvy and capable coaches in the NBA, and under his leadership, the Jazz have also built the strongest defensive barriers in the league.It is foreseeable that the Jazz's defensive performance next season will remain at the forefront of the league. As long as Rudy Gobert is still there, their defense is worth looking forward to.

But the departure of the two players who started last season, Gordon Hayward and Hill, is bound to have a huge negative impact on the Jazz.Hayward averaged 21.9 points per game last season while shooting 47.1 percent from the field.The three-point shooting rate is as high as 39.8%. He is the Jazz's biggest guarantee on the offensive end.After going to Boston, the firepower gap left by Hayward needs to be filled by Gobert, Rodney Hood and Ricky Rubio, but whether they can work together to save the Jazz's offense is still a question.Maybe the Jazz can retain hope of making the playoffs with their suffocating defense and Joe Johnson's ability to score in clutch moments, but that's not realistic.The Jazz will slow down the tempo as much as possible, play positional battles with their opponents, and then rely on their passing and defense to win.The Jazz ranked third in the league in defensive efficiency last season, and it's not easy for any team to win in Salt Lake City.

But the problem for the Jazz is that they will lack explosiveness on the other end of the court.Hayward provided the team with a lot of creativity in scoring last season, and Hill also shared a lot in this area. The departure of these two players will lead to the scoring burden falling on players such as Rubio, Hood, Ingles, Johnson, Mitchell, Burks, and Exum. This is a difficult problem to solve, because none of them has the offensive creativity of Hayward.

On the second morning, the Lakers began to gather players and set off for the Jazz's home court, Wiint Smart Home Arena.

After the victory over the Raptors the night before, Brewer and Luol Deng spoke in the locker room in a timely manner, hoping that the players would not go to the nightclub to celebrate, because they would play back-to-back the next day.The young players of the Lakers are all gaining momentum now, hoping to win three consecutive victories, so they all went home and fell asleep.

On the plane, every player's face was filled with energy, which made Walton very satisfied.

After the game against the Raptors, Lina, Wang Sicong, and Xie Fengfeng returned to Shanghai, and those who went to BJ went to BJ.Jiang Dashan's home in Los Angeles was empty, so he simply continued training until 12 o'clock after the game, and then slept directly in the duty room.Uncle Benny in the duty room is now a die-hard fan of Jiang Dashan, especially after tasting Jiang Dashan's Master Kong instant noodles cooked by himself, he is absolutely in admiration.

"It's so delicious, J. Being able to eat this noodles and watch you play at the same time is like meeting God!" Uncle Benny raised his head and praised while sucking on the noodles.

"Uncle Benny, God doesn't want to see you right now. Your body is strong enough to play two goals. Well, Uncle Benny, I'm resting now! I have to go to Utah early tomorrow morning."

"Okay, good night, kid! Come on!"

At 6:30 in the evening, the players of the Lakers and the Jazz appeared on the court on time, and began to warm up, and the game was about to start!
"Welcome all fans to CCTV Sports Channel, I am Yang Yi!"

"He's Su Qun!" The bullet screens on the Internet instantly swiped across the screen. The catchphrase in this game directly became the favorite words of all Chinese Lakers fans and Jiang Dashan fans.

"The Lakers are about to start their game against the Jazz. Previously, with the collective efforts of the players, the Lakers have won the Wizards and the Raptors two strong teams in a row." Su Qun added, "The Jazz against today seems to be not as strong as the previous two teams, and they suffered heavy losses in the summer, and two starters left the team. However, we say that the Jazz is like a shield now!" Su Qun looked at Yang Yi.

"Yes, and the Lakers are like a spear! Even though they are back to back, I hope the Lakers can perform well today! The Jazz's shield can withstand the attack of the Lakers captain's spear, or what, let our game be revealed! Players from both sides came to the field! The Lakers' starting lineup remains unchanged, and the Jazz's starting lineup has changed a lot. They are Rubio at position 1, Hood at position 2, and Gobert at position 5. These three will surely be the new core of the Jazz. Most of the offense is still the pick-and-roll cooperation of Gobert, Rubio and Hood; Ingles at the 3rd position and Favors at the 4th position. The head coach of the Jazz, Quin Snyder, must have thought about it for a summer before making such a decision to let Favors start. Favors was originally the pride of the Jazz, but his injury and Gobert turned out to make him slowly forgotten by the coach. The shooting ability can help the Jazz open up space. However, Favors succeeded in losing weight in the summer and specially trained the mid-range shot, so this may also be the reason to impress the coach.”

"Okay, the game begins! Gobert dialed the ball first!"

Rubio of the Jazz took the lead to get the ball and started to attack. Sure enough, the Jazz who lost Hayward chose a very old-fashioned positional battle on the offensive end. The offensive method was almost the same. Gobert came out to pick and roll, Rubio broke through;

Rubio's breakthrough was defended by Lopez, and Gobert and Lonzo formed a low position at this time.Rubio scored the ball, and Gobert hit a back throw and scored a blood.

On the bench, Jiang Dashan couldn't help thinking, if the Cavaliers replaced Thompson with Gobert, what would happen to the Cavaliers and Warriors?Thinking of this, Jiang Dashan smiled wryly, he is now a Lakers player, okay?
The game continued, and under the leadership of Walton, the Lakers were committed to a small lineup of three-pointers, similar to a replica of the Warriors.In view of the Jazz's tenacious defense, Walton adjusted his tactics before the start of the game, allowing Ingram or Randall to use their personal breakthrough ability to attack after holding the ball in a high position to attract the defense.Aren't you strong inside defense, then my center will come out and shoot three-pointers!

This trick had a miraculous effect. In the next two rounds of offense, Lopez made three-pointers. In just 3 minutes of the opening, the Lakers played a wave of attacks 15-4.Of course, it's not that the Jazz didn't attack, but that their mid-range shots were too low; and Walton's order was to defend three-pointers and put two.The players of the Lakers carried out the order very well.

Quinn Snyder helplessly called a timeout, and replaced Favors with Jerebko, hoping that he could help Rubio or Hudla open up space.

On Wharton's side, Kuzma replaced Randall. After all, back-to-back, he was afraid that the players would not be able to bear it. Ingram topped the No. 4 position, making the Lakers' offensive space easier to be pulled away.

Jebreko came up and hit a two-point jumper on the left side of the three-second zone, helping the team build confidence.

On the Lakers side, Ingram made an inside cut to Kuzma, who missed a three-pointer and Gobert got a rebound.

The Jazz went down quickly, Rubio hit the basket, Pope was blocked by Ingles, Hood received a pass from Rubio and hit a three-pointer. The score came to 9 to 15, and the Jazz were still 6 points behind.

"The Jazz's defensive strength has increased, but the Lakers' transmission is very fast, and the outside firepower is also fierce. On the other hand, the Jazz are basically passively beaten, and the offense is not smooth." Yang Yi explained in the studio. "Well, the main one is that the Jazz's current players, except for Gobert, none of them are the real offensive core in the past. They averaged about 10 points per game. To put it bluntly, the main reason why the offense is not smooth is nothing more than not daring to shoot. I have no confidence! I am afraid that I will miss the shot! The Jazz may completely fall out of the playoffs this year." Su Qun shook his head with some regret.

(End of this chapter)