Chapter 853 - 41: Time for Revenge Again_2

This led to the Spurs being upset in the first round, and at the same time forced the Jazz to face the Lakers in the first round—a matchup where the Jazz didn’t have a high chance of winning against the Lakers.

As expected, the Jazz lost both away games; they had no resistance in Los Angeles and lost both games by wide margins.

In the third game back in Salt Lake City, the Jazz used their home-court advantage and sturdy defense to secure a win, which was also expected.

The crucial fourth game; if the Jazz could win at home, they would still have a chance to fight in Los Angeles in game five, otherwise, they could only go home and fish.

Gan Guoyang watched the live broadcast of the game at home that night, and at the Salt Palace Arena, both sides played intensively.

The Jazz relied on their home to suppress the Lakers firmly in the first three quarters, maintaining a double-digit lead.

The fans on site were insanely excited because they knew if the Jazz lost this game, tonight would be the last battle at the Salt Palace Arena.

Although the Jazz were always leading, by the fourth quarter, Gan Guoyang felt uneasy as he noticed the Jazz’s offensive power was dwindling.

Scoring became increasingly difficult; their reliance grew on piecemeal scores and lucky shots, while solid tactical scoring and strong finish scores dwindled.

The Jazz were hanging by a thread purely with defense, morale, and the earlier lead they had secured. Once that thread broke, this game, including the entire series, would be over.

"Fuck you, Karl, why the hell aren’t you taking the ball and doing something!"

The Lakers started double-teaming Karl Malone at the crucial moment.

AC Green, Edwards, and Sam Perkins took turns storming Malone.

Malone, when catching the ball under double-teaming, could only pass it back, and his passes had almost no creativity, just defensive returns.

This caused the Jazz’s offense to stagnate and become increasingly difficult, eventually leaving Stockton and Jeff Malone to force their plays.

Karl Malone, with an average of 30 points and a 50% shooting rate in the regular season, saw his shooting percentage drop to 42% against the Lakers in the playoffs—a percentage typical for outside players.

The defensive group of the Lakers was originally prepared for Ah Gan; Sam Perkins, AC Green, Edwards, Duckworth, and Elden Campbell were all experts in stuffing the inside.

Now they had the chance to test Karl Malone. Every time in the crucial moments of the third and fourth quarters, they took turns, using a revolving door strategy, one on top of another, to siege with full force.

Once facing such a defense, Malone’s success rate in individual plays plummeted, and he lost his way in the Lakers’ tall lineup.

Once Malone was lost, his on-court performance became abstract, leading to inexplicable low-level mistakes and unforced errors.

"Shit, this dumbass, if you can’t score, find other ways to help the team win! Defense, passing, steals, anything! Why not draw fouls? This idiot..."

Gan Guoyang cursed out watching Malone still not improving on the TV.

Malone was a free throw machine that drew fouls in the regular season, but his ability to draw fouls significantly decreased in the playoffs.

The ref’s whistle was one thing; another was that when he attacked smaller defenders, he was accustomed to ending with a shot instead of strong confrontational attacks.

Gan Guoyang couldn’t understand why, when the touch was mediocre, and the score was tight, didn’t he attack the three-second zone to draw contact? Was all that muscle merely for show?

At that time, the Lakers, continually closing the gap in the fourth quarter, successfully overtook the Jazz as Magic Johnson hit a three from the outside!

The Salt Palace Arena fell silent, and Jerry Sloan could only call a timeout as the Jazz’s offense ran into problems.

Although the UCLA offensive system was sophisticated, the NBA playoffs were like this: at key moments, you need unreasonable abilities.

With Stockton as the ball handler, the offensive weakness and passiveness let Karl Malone shoulder a lot of pressure.

Jeff Malone was an excellent scorer, but only excellent, and he was a defensive disaster.

Magic Johnson completely took over the game in the fourth quarter, showing his consummate control of the situation.

In the past few years, he developed a mid-range, becoming a lethal face-up weapon; this season, he also honed a three-point shot.

In these two seasons, Johnson’s three-point attempts exceeded three per game, and his percentage was quite impressive.

If the opponent dared to let Johnson shoot, he really could punish them with threes.

The Jazz team had no player on defense able to handle Johnson, whether it was Stockton, Jeff Malone, or starting small forward Blue Edwards, none could defend Johnson.

Jerry Sloan could use timeouts to stabilize player emotions and adjust tactics, but he couldn’t conjure up a player able to restrain Johnson for the Jazz team.

After the timeout, the Jazz ran a play where Stockton used a pick-and-roll and passed the ball to Malone, who cut inside and scored a layup, retaking the lead.

But Johnson quickly used a fast break to slash inside, drawing a foul from Jeff Malone, scoring and earning an extra free throw.

With the successful free throw, the Lakers led again by 2 points. Subsequently, the Jazz’s offense once again stalled while the Lakers resolutely double-teamed Karl Malone cutting inside, leaving Stockton to attack on his own.

Stockton, in hesitation, chose to shoot a three-pointer, but it was off and missed, and this miss nearly sealed the Jazz’s hope of winning.

Duckworth grabbed the defensive rebound, and with not much time left, the Jazz had to use fouling tactics, sending Lakers players to the free-throw line.

The devoted Jazz fans didn’t leave; they believed there was still a chance for a miracle.

But with Duckworth making both free throws, leaving the Jazz trailing by 4 points, their hope was slim.

Sloan called what might have been the team’s last timeout of the season.

After the timeout, Stockton attempted another desperate three-pointer.

The ball hit the neck of the rim and still didn’t go in, leading to scrambles underneath.

Malone got the offensive rebound, but his layup was blocked by AC Green; grabbing it again and another attempt still didn’t go in.

Time ran out as the red timing lights lit up, ending the game.

NBC TV Station’s commentator said, "The Los Angeles Lakers beat the Utah Jazz 3:1! They will face the Portland Trail Blazers in the semifinals! Another Lakers vs. Trail Blazers showdown."

The TV reporter interviewed Magic Johnson, the player of the game, who was calm, as passing the first round was too easy for them.

Since they were eliminated by the Rockets in the first round of the 1981 season, the Lakers haven’t fallen in the first round again, and 3:1 series like this one were rare, mostly 3:0 sweeps.

Johnson also explicitly said, "The real challenge is in the semifinals, waiting for us, Portland people."

Johnson seemed to know Gan Guoyang was watching the live broadcast, gave a deep look into the camera.

Gan Guoyang turned off the TV, shook his head, thinking: What kind of lousy teammate did John have? Faltering at the critical moment, not even as good as Magic Johnson.

To Gan Guoyang, Johnson was already considered barely average at critical moments because locking him down was relatively straightforward, simpler than locking down Michael.

And whenever Karl Malone needed to step up, he didn’t perform well; you could tell this player’s mental fortitude was mediocre, making movements erratic and choices less composed at crucial points.

Moreover, Gan Guoyang discovered the biggest problem with Malone: the player played without imagination, methodically and rarely surprising.

At the most critical moments of a match, players must have imagination, breaking conventions, making passes others dare not make, taking unexpected shots to defenders.

In this regard, Malone didn’t do well enough; everything he did was predictable, and in the opponent’s anticipation, in the end, it was just a hard clash.

Pure hard clashes, without the additive of soft imagination, become stiff and jarring, breaking one’s own teeth, and ultimately failing to win tough battles.

After turning off the TV, Gan Guoyang was still a bit angry and called Stockton at night.

Stockton was rather calm, saying he gave all his effort to win during the match, and when the game was over, it was over.

"I’m not dead yet; I’ll keep going next year until I meet you, Sonny."

Gan Guoyang ended up being the more agitated one, bashing Karl Malone over the phone.

Stockton chuckled, saying, "Not everyone has your ability and conditions, Sonny. By the way, I have to entrust you to avenge me again this year."

"I will, John, have a nice vacation."