A year ago, All-Star was selected for the main competition.
As the captains of the two teams, LeBron and Durant have selected 20 stars, large and small, leaving only Utah Jazz Gobert and Mitchell .
Host Charles Barkley was indignant:
"How can you turn a deaf ear to the internal and external core of the league's top team!"
At that time, the Jazz had 27 wins and 9 losses, ranking first in the league.
LeBron's answer was even funnier:
"This is not disrespectful to Jazz , but they have always been villains when our generation grew up. Even if we play games, we will not choose Jazz.
Even if they have great Malone and Stockton . "
Yeah, ever since nba came into our sight,
Utah Jazz , so annoying.
They are located in the remote Salt Lake City, Utah, USA. The cold weather, old-fashioned folk customs, and lack of entertainment make every big NBA player shy away.
Their style of play has remained unchanged for twenty years. The legendary pairing of Marlon Stockton has worked together for nineteen seasons. The head coach Jerry Sloan was once the longest-serving coach in the four major sports leagues in the United States. Coach (23 years).
Their style of play is ruthless and cunning. Stockton has been rated as "the dirtiest NBA player" by players for many years with his hidden tricks. Malone has a pair of iron elbows that are unscrupulous. He once knocked an assassin into a hospital with a concussion and a concussion.
In the second half of the 1990s, they were a nightmare for the league's top stars.
In the 1996-97 season, they defeated the Lakers who had O'Neal and Kobe along the way. The Rockets who joined hands with Barkley and Glider reached the finals.
In the 1997-98 season, they eliminated the Rockets and the Spurs, which had just acquired Duncan, and finally killed the Lakers, who had four All-Stars including "ok" and Van Exel and Eddie Jones. Once again, and bull met in the finals.
The older generation's legendary Dream, Barkley, Admiral,
The new generation of superstars Shark, Duncan, Kobe,
they took care of them all in those two years. In the
97-98 finals, they were the last "evil representatives" to challenge the great , Michael Jordan, and the Bulls.
When I watched the NBA at that time, I felt that they were born villains.
By the time we reach the 21st century, Utah Shuangsha is old. Malone went to the Lakers to join "OK" for the last time to chase the championship. Stockton played for 19 seasons and retired with nine assists, as well as records of 15,806 assists and 3,265 steals that are almost unmatched by future generations.
In Utah in the snow, only their head coach "Hard Nose" Jerry Sloan was left.
did not expect that they would become the Rockets in the Yao Mai era and the biggest sufferers.
In the 2007 playoffs , the Rockets with Yao Mai lost in the tiebreaker 3-4.
In the 2008 playoffs, without Yao Ming, even though the Rockets won 22 consecutive games in the regular season, they were still defeated by the Jazz 4-2.
The next year, the Rockets reached fifth place in the Western Conference and met the Trail Blazers . Only then did Yao Ming break the first-round curse.
But the Utah Jazz actually ended the championship dreams of the Rockets and Chinese fans across the ocean for two consecutive years, becoming a mountain that Yao Mai has never climbed.
Speaking of Jazz, let’s talk about Sloan first.
He is to Utah what Popovich is to the Spurs. Not only have
been coaching for a long time (one has been coaching for 23 years and the other has been 26 years), but they have also firmly engraved their own personalities and concepts into the DNA of this team.
Although he led the Jazz to a stunning victory over the Chicago Bulls in the late 1990s, Sloan never received any boos or taunts at the Chicago United Center at that time.
Because to some extent, even Jordan had to accept his status in the Bulls.
The No. 4 jersey flying high in the United Center belongs to him.
He is the real first generation bull.
As a player, he was a real defensive monster.
is tough and ready to fight his opponents when he comes on the court. He has eight fractures in his body in eleven years of his career.
is so strong that the Bulls selected him from and the Baltimore Bullets when they were building the team. On the first day he reported to the team, he said to the whole team:
"We are not weak chickens. Next, we must be ready to kick everyone's ass."
Excellent, during his ten years with the Chicago Bulls (1967-1976), he made two All-Star appearances, four defensive first-team appearances and two defensive second-team appearances. At his peak,
had 18.8 points, 8.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists, and he was just a white guard with a height of 1.96 meters.
He retired with the Bulls in 1976, and his No. 4 jersey has hung high above the United Center forever. At that time, people thought he was the first and greatest Bulls player until the arrival of Michael Jordan in 1984.
1984-85 During this year, the Utah Jazz did three major things.
① In the 1984 draft, Gonzaga University's white small guard John Stockton was selected with the 16th overall pick in the first round.
②The next year, they selected Karl Malone, a black forward from Louisiana Technical College, with the 13th overall pick in the first round.
③Hire former Bulls legend Jerry Sloan to the team's coaching staff and replace Frank Langdon as head coach four years later.
has since begun an immortal legend.
After the Utah Shuangsha retired in 2004, Jerry Sloan quickly assembled a team that was good at fighting.
In the 2004 offseason, they signed Turkish center Okur, who had just helped the Pistons win the championship, and Carlos Boozer, who made his name with the Cavaliers, for 50 million in six years and 70 million in six years. .
In the 2005 draft, the Jazz selected Deron Williams of the University of Illinois with the third overall pick in the first round.
Okur was a rare "3D center" who could shoot three-pointers and protect the basket at the time. ", and Deron and Boozer will soon become the new Utah duo. Plus the European all-around king Kirilenko in the original team.
The Utah Jazz, which has caused headaches for many strong teams in the league, is back.
In the first year (05-06 season), they had 41 wins and 41 losses, ranking ninth in the Western Conference.
In the second year, they achieved 51 wins and 31 losses, winning the Northwest Division championship and fifth in the Western Conference.
So in the first round of the playoffs, they met the Rockets, who had 52 wins and 30 losses and were fourth in the Western Conference.
That year, Yao Mai showed his due excellence after experiencing a series of injuries in the previous season.
McGrady 4.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.5 assists, the third team of the league,
Yao Ming 25.0 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.0 blocks, the second team of the league.
As long as they are not injured, they are the strongest "internal and external fists" in the league at that time.
In the first game, Yao Ming had 28 points and 13 rebounds, and McGrady had 23 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists. The Rockets relied on such a superstar duo and the league's third-ranked defense. Easily won 84-75.
In the second game, Boozer scored 41 points, but McGrady responded with 31 points, 10.5 assists, and Yao Ming's 27 points and 9 rebounds. The Rockets all scored in double figures in the first half and scored another victory at home 98-90.
led 2-0 after two games. At that time, most people were not thinking about promotion, but whether they could sweep.
But the Rockets kept the problem simple.
Return to the Salt Lake City Energy Solutions Arena where Michael Jordan was once recruited.
In the third game, the Rockets only scored 67 points. Although Yao Ming scored 24 points and 16 rebounds, and Tracy McGrady scored 24 points, except for Battier's 11 points and Alston's 6 points, everyone else scored zero points. The Jazz came back 81-67.
In the fourth game, amid the deafening cheers of Jazz fans, the Jazz frantically strangled Yao Mai on both offense and defense, and the two of them got into foul trouble at the same time. Yao Ming had 20 points and 9 rebounds, and Tracy McGrady had 18 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. Such performance could not lead the Rockets to victory.
In the fifth game, Yao Ming scored 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Tracy McGrady showed his superstar style with 26 points and 16 assists. The Rockets also won with the help of Howard who made 6 of 6 shots and Hyde who hit two consecutive three-pointers. The most important Tianwang Mountain.
But Utah is not worried at all, because they know that the opponent in front of them is already afraid of playing away games.
As expected, the Jazz, who returned to their home court, defeated the Rockets 94-82, successfully dragging the series into a tiebreaker.
In the seventh game, both sides were unable to retreat.
The Jazz led by seven points in the first quarter and led 53-43 by 10 points at halftime. Deron and Boozer scored 32 points together, surpassing the All-Star duo of Yao and Mai (21 points).
Yao Mai scored 14 points in the third quarter, narrowing the gap 24-22.
Yao Ming scored 15 points in the fourth quarter, but Boozer responded with 10 points in the same quarter.
With one minute left in the game, Yao Ming made two free throws, once chasing the score to 97-99, but the Jazz used a stronger will and more determined tactical execution to get free throws in two consecutive rounds.
As Boozer and Kirilenko made four of four free throws, even if McGrady finally completed a breakthrough layup, he still could not prevent the Rockets from losing 99-103 at home to their opponents.
At the time, the Rockets, with two All-Stars starting the game, suffered a moderate upset.
Compared with the disappointment in 2007, the Rockets' another setback next year was not so surprising.
Although they achieved 22 consecutive wins in the regular season, the second best record in history at the time, the Jazz (54-25) actually only won one less game than them. It is also the team with the league's first offensive efficiency (113.8).
Deron, who was in his third grade, gradually became another qualified commander under coach Sloan, averaging 18.8 points and 10.3 assists per game. It was then that the joke about "eating, sleeping and playing and Paul " came into being.
More importantly, Yao Ming was injured. In February 2008, he suffered a stress fracture in his left ankle, which resulted in the season being reimbursed and almost delaying the Beijing Olympics.
Then they faced the Jazz again in the playoffs. McGrady, who was no longer in the same state due to a back injury, had to shoulder the responsibility as a leader.
That was probably the most tragic series of McGrady's career.
Compared with the previous year, Yao Ming was missing from his side, but Scola was added in his rookie year. Opposite him was the wolf-like Utah pack.
lost the first two home games at the beginning and fell behind 0-2. At that time, only despair permeated the Rockets.
But this time at the Jazz's home court, the Rockets burst out with a tenacious desire to survive. Tracy McGrady scored 27 points, Scola had a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Alston scored 20 points and 5 assists with 4 three-pointers.
Rockets 94-92, abruptly snatched a victory from Salt Lake City .
In Game 4, the Jazz won again 86-82. McGrady had a near triple-double with 23 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists. He was also the only Rockets player to score more than 20 points.
But at least they brought the suspense back to Houston ,
In the fifth game, the Rockets played a suffocating defense at home, allowing the Jazz to only score 67 points. McGrady scored 29 points, Scola scored 18 points and 12 rebounds, and Alston scored 14 points. The Rockets won 95-69 by 26 points!
But at this time, McGrady's body couldn't bear it anymore. At the age of 29, he not only suffered from a back injury, but also had knee problems that season. After five games with the Jazz, his knees no longer allowed him to play anymore.
So he made a decision that most people couldn't understand and that completely ruined his final peak: closed the game
Although the sixth game was in Utah, the Rockets were eventually eliminated by the Jazz 91-113 for the second consecutive year.
But McGrady was the last to give up.
He made pull-up three-pointers, he killed inside, and he made emergency mid-range shots. He ignored defenders and injuries time and time again and bombarded the basket as if he was still the two-time scoring champion with 13 points in 35 seconds.
40 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 18 free throws.
Those who say McGrady is not ruthless, tough enough, or doesn’t want to win should really review this game.
Since then, Tracy McGrady has never returned to his All-Star level. The next year, he even fell out with the management and directly announced that he would have surgery and be reimbursed for the season.
The Yao Mai era is over. Is
Jazz strong? Of course strong.
In the Wild West of the 2000s, they only missed the playoffs one year.
But compared to the Spurs, Lakers, Mavericks, Suns in the same period, they still cannot reach that level.
They eliminated the Rockets for two consecutive years, and were easily eliminated by Kobe Bryant's Lakers for two consecutive years.
They also reached the Western Conference Finals, but they eliminated the Rockets and the Black-8 Warriors along the way, and then were swept by the Spurs 4-1 in the Western Conference Finals.
They are a playoff team with excellent overall performance and outstanding style, but with limited core level and low ceiling.
never reached championship level.
However, it was such an iron army that eliminated Yao and Mai for two consecutive years when they were at their peak, and even indirectly caused McGrady to end his peak early. Is
a strength gap? Boozer and Deron have only made six All-Star appearances and three All-NBA teams combined. Not even anyone in Yao Mai can compare.
For two consecutive years, the Rockets have held the home court advantage, but they just couldn't put the nail in the coffin any closer to victory.
Maybe, this is life.
