At around one o'clock at noon, the Charlotte Hornets arrived in Detroit and held a press conference in the hotel at the request of the media.
"Larry, are you confident of advancing to the first round?" a New York Times reporter asked.
"Of course, I have the strongest confidence in defeating the Pistons. I can't wait to start the first round series. We are fully prepared." Larry Johnson said excitedly.
"So do you plan to have a rematch with Iron Fist in the offseason?" the reporter asked again.
"Oh, I have considered it, but we have to wait until the playoffs are over to discuss it." Larry Johnson responded calmly.
"Alonzo, I heard that you had a conflict with Larry Johnson in the team?"
The next reporter was a reporter from the Detroit Daily News, and he asked a question that the Hornets hate.
Mourning denied with a cold face: "Of course not, our locker room is very harmonious, full of love and peace."
At this time, David Falk made a call to Bulls general manager Jerry Krause and told him the news.
Klaus was startled and asked quickly: "David, are you sure this is true?"
David Falk said with certainty and some pride: "Of course, my news came from a middle-level manager in the league. And I have received it a long time ago, and I have been suppressing it until now."
"Have you talked to Michael?" Klaus asked again.
"No, I'm not going to tell him," David Falk said.
"What do you mean?" Klaus asked thoughtfully.
"I'm sure you know the value of this news," David Falk said slyly.
The two didn't talk any more and quickly ended the call.
Krause has actually decided to take advantage of the news, not now, but before the second-round series begins.
David Falk just told him that midway through the offseason, the Pistons and the Digital Team had reached a deal in which Barkley swapped weekly rights, but was ultimately rejected by David Stern.
This news has not been exposed, but if it is exposed, it will definitely have an impact on the Pistons, damage their morale, cause a rift between Iron Fist and the management, and even leave.
On April 29, 1993, the first round of the series began.
This evening, there will be four games, namely the Pistons vs. the Hornets, the Cavaliers vs. the Celtics, the Trail Blazers vs. the Spurs, and the Mosaics vs. the Clippers. The former team has the home court advantage.
The first round series of this season is still a best-of-five series, with a 2-2-1 home and away system.
This afternoon, the Palace of Auburn Hills, which is 80 kilometers away from the city, received countless private cars. All parking spaces around Auburn Hills were full.
Fans gathered in the square outside, anticipating the Hornets' arrival and a mental and psychological blow to them.
Unfortunately, the management of the Hornets was very smart and did not arrange for the team to come here for training, but arranged it at the University of Detroit.
It wasn't until 6:30, after dinner, that the Hornets team bus showed up at the Palace of Auburn Hills, and then accepted the boos and abuse from countless Pistons fans.
The game started at eight o'clock, and before seven o'clock, the entire Auburn Hills Palace was already full, and the atmosphere was very hot.
The first-round series between the Pistons and the Hornets was broadcast live nationwide on TNT. The commentators were Robert Guida and Ringo Wilson, the commentators who commented on the Eastern Conference Finals between the Pistons and the Bulls last year.
At 7:30, TNT's live broadcast started, and at this time the two teams also announced their starting lineups.
Hornets: Alonzo Mourning, Larry Johnson, John Newman, Kendall Gill, Bogues
Pistons: Ronny Seikaly, Rodman, Ulrich, Joe Dumars, Zhou Quan
"Linge, who do you think has a greater chance of advancing between these two teams?" Robert Guida asked in the commentary box.
Ringer Wilson smiled and said: "It depends on the on-the-spot performance. It's possible. Ranking doesn't determine anything. With the Hornets' inside strength, the chance of black six is also very high."
"Black Six?"
Robert Guida smiled and said: "The Hornets do have an advantage inside, but the Pistons also have a great outside advantage.
At the second position, Kendall Gill averaged 16.9 points per game in the regular season, shot 44.9% from the field, and defended pretty well. He can actually compete with Joe Dumars.
But at position 1, Boggs is the smallest player in history, with a height of 160 centimeters. I don’t know how he can defend Iron Fist.
On the offensive end, Boggs only averaged 10 points, 8.8 assists and 2 steals per game in the regular season, shooting 45.3% from the field. Although he is firmly in the starting lineup, his offensive power is limited.
I'm sure that in this series, the Pistons will definitely keep an eye on Boggs. Whether it's Joe Dumars or Iron Fist, they will all keep an eye on him. "
Ringo Wilson said: "There is no doubt that the most powerful threat to the Pistons now is the Iron Fist, offense, and passing. If they can't be guarded, it will be very troublesome. So I think the Hornets should switch defenses and would rather let Joe Dumars play. Even if you blast Boggs, you won’t let Iron Fist do whatever he wants on Boggs’ head.”
Robert Guida nodded and said: "Indeed, Iron Fist and Joe Dumars are about the same height anyway. Iron Fist has not announced his latest height, but I think he is not shorter than Joe Dumas. The height of his shoes should reach 190 centimeters."
Ringo Wilson said: "Even though he is 190 centimeters, Kendall Gil's shoes are 196 centimeters high, his defense is also good, and his tonnage is 88 kilograms. I think he can make Iron Fist very uncomfortable."
At this time, the two teams met in the player tunnel.
"Hey, Mom."
Before he even got close, Zhou Quan greeted him with a smile.
Larry Johnson hated his nickname more and more. Hearing this, he snorted coldly: "Iron Fist, are you interested in a rematch?"
"you?"
Zhou Quan came to him, with obvious contempt in his eyes, and shook his head and said: "You must prove that you have professional standards first. I don't want to be criticized by professionals and say that I can only fight amateur boxers.
In fact, I think they are right. I don't want to score on you. It gives me no sense of accomplishment. It is a waste of life. "
"Ha ha……"
Rodman immediately burst into laughter.
Larry Johnson glared at Rodman angrily and said to Zhou Quan dissatisfied: "Iron Fist, what do you mean?"
"I just look down on you."
Rodman exclaimed with a grin.
"Big insect, do you want to fight?"
Larry Johnson became angry and glared at Rodman.
"Boy, this is the Palace of Auburn Hills. As long as you dare to cause trouble, I guarantee that your grandma can walk out of here, but you can't." Rodman shouted.
"Ha ha……"
Zhou Quan couldn't help but laugh, as did Joe Dumas, Sekali and Ulrich.
"We showed up."
At this time, Mourning couldn't stand it anymore. He walked between Zhou Quan and Larry Johnson, blocked their sight, glanced at Zhou Quan coldly, and then walked outside.
Zhou Quan glanced at Mourning thoughtfully. This rookie was very powerful and not afraid of him at all. Could he be very good at fighting?
Next, the Hornets received shocking boos.
Behind the Pistons' bench, Christina Yeri, who was dressed casually, immediately covered her ears when boos sounded.
When it was the home team's turn, the boos immediately turned into cheers.
Zhou Quan made the finale. When he walked out of the passage, the roaring cheers suddenly surged and swept through the Auburn Hills Palace.
After two seasons, with his outstanding performance, he has become the absolute core of this team, the most influential signature star, and the most famous sports star in Detroit.
Of course, if you want to truly establish a huge influence in this city, you still need constant hard honors to support it. An All-Star AMVP is far from enough, and cross-border influence is far from enough.
Therefore, his current influence here is only a flower in the water, and it cannot completely replace the assassin's influence in this city.
Zhou Quan greeted his teammates and went to the sidelines to greet others.
The Palace of Auburn Hills is not attractive to Hollywood stars, but many local wealthy people and politicians came to watch the game, many of whom played golf with Zhou Quan.
Golf has also been of great help to Zhou Quan. Basketball allows him to get to know these upper-class people, but it does not allow him to get involved in that circle. He does not have the qualifications, but golf is a sport that allows him to get in touch with the upper-class circles.
A higher social status and greater influence will allow him to have a more stable career in the discriminatory country of the United States, with less trouble, and the level of commercial sponsorship will be higher.
Then he came to the bench and greeted all the fans with Christina sitting in the back facing the TNT live camera.
This behavior undoubtedly made many Americans very unhappy with him, and everyone was jealous because he had found another beautiful white star, and she was also a French beauty.
As we all know, Americans all have a British complex, but British people all have a French complex, so Americans also have a French complex.
"We are tenacious, tough, iron-blooded, and we are fearless..."
Before going on the court, all the players put their hands around Zhou Quan and chanted the Pistons' team training together, and then the entire Auburn Hills Palace rang out with a neat and loud shout.
At eight o'clock, the game officially begins.
Jump ball, this is the weakness of the Hornets, there is no height inside, Sekari touches the ball first, and the Pistons attack.
"Oh, sure enough I was right, the Hornets switched defense, Kendall Gill switched to the Iron Fist, and Bogues switched to Joe Dumars."
In the TNT commentary box, Ringo Wilson shouted excitedly.
Robert Guida also immediately shouted: "Iron Fist passed the ball, the Pistons were all stretched out, and Joe Dumars singled out Bogues. The height difference between the two sides was 30 centimeters, and with the wingspan, it was at least 60 centimeters."
"brush!"
Joe Dumars did not dribble after receiving the ball, but instead hit it high to avoid being intercepted by Bogues and hit a three-pointer from the right wing.
"pretty!"
In the live commentary box, the bearded John Lowes yelled: "Joe Dumars, the scoring leader of our Detroit Pistons, hit a three-pointer in the opening game. His touch is hot!"
At this time, the Hornets served, and Boggs realized something was wrong. Zhou Quan was in front of him, not Joe Dumars.
"Oh, the defensive iron fist is back again, and he defends Bogues himself?" Ringo Wilson said in surprise.
Robert Guida smiled: "Although Joe Dumars' defense is very good and has been selected to the defensive first team three times and the second team once, the iron fist's defense may really be better than him now, at least younger than him. This season In the four regular season games with the Bulls, Jordan was defended with an iron fist.
Iron Fist is very likely to be selected for the All-Defensive First Team this season. Anyway, he can't escape the second team. The defender who can defend better than him, counting the whole league, is Michael Jordan. "
Zhou Quan did not press in the backcourt, and after retreating to the backcourt, he did not press closely. Against Boggs, the shortest point guard in the history of the league, the press was very easy to be broken.
Moreover, Boggs is too short, and his dribbling height is very low. His assist-to-turnover ratio is very high, and he makes very few mistakes. Almost no one can intercept his ball, and the risk of pressing him closely is too high.
He mainly defends breakthroughs because Boggs has a weakness, that is, he does not have three-pointers.
In other words, it is still due to the height. If you shoot against a defender on the outside, it is easy to be blocked, so Bogues rarely shoots three-pointers. His offense is all about pull-up jumpers after breakthroughs, or driving for layups.
When Boggs attacks with the ball, his center of gravity is usually very low, which forces the defender to also lower his center of gravity. Then he can find an opportunity to make a sudden attack. If the opponent does not lower his center of gravity, he will directly attack. Go in.
Zhou Quan let Borg go by two meters, which, together with his wingspan, was one step away.
At this time, Boggs lowered his center of gravity while dribbling.
Zhou Quan leaned forward slightly, but did not lower his center of gravity too much.
He is not afraid of Boggs bursting into the paint area at all, because he is also good at getting through people's gaps.
Upon seeing this, Boggs immediately broke through with the ball, brushed around Zhou Quan like a mouse, passed around the left elbow from the top of the arc, and entered the paint area.
Zhou Quan did not relax and chased directly into the restricted area, one big and one small, just like a squirrel chasing a mouse, very agile in a crowd of people.
Boggs is really agile, while Zhou Quan relies on his ability to have full panoramic vision.
Boggs turned left and right, thinking he had gotten rid of Zhou Quan, then dodged Rodman in front of the basket, rushed to the front right side of the basket and threw a small throw.
But at this moment, Zhou Quan suddenly appeared from behind Rodman, and directly grabbed the ball with one hand.
"What?"
Boggs was startled.
"Oh, grabbing the hat with one hand, beautiful!" Bearded John Lowes roared excitedly.
"Pa bang bang..."
There was also warm applause at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Coming to the frontcourt, Bogues is still defending Joe Dumars.
This time, Joe Dumars was not going to throw a three-pointer. After all, the three-pointer was not a conventional weapon, but a mid-range shot. He came to the right elbow area and asked Zhou Quan for the ball.
After Zhou Quan passed the ball, he immediately moved to the right along the three-point line and took Kendall Gill away to prevent Joe Dumars from being double-teamed.
The Hornets' defense, when Seikaly pulled to the left wing, it was Larry Johnson who was following, and Mourning was sitting at the basket, so when Joe Dumars received the ball, Mourning came out of the basket and went to the right elbow Fast-moving.
Joe Dumars caught the ball, turned around, raised the ball high, and was about to hit Bogues' head. When he saw Mourning rushing over, he couldn't help but feel shocked.
But at this moment, Zhou Quan quickly emerged from his side, passed Mourning, and reached out to him for the ball.
It turned out that Zhou Quan saw Mourning guarding him, so he immediately changed direction and cut towards the basket.
Seeing this, Joe Dumars quickly passed the ball with both hands, and the ball was thrown from Mourning's head to the basket.
"boom!"
The next moment, Zhou Quan, who rushed into the paint area, stood up, caught the ball in the air, smashed it with both hands, and exploded the Hornets' basket.
Mourning, who turned around to return to defense, was more than a beat too late and was completely too late. He watched helplessly as Zhou Quan smashed his basket.
"Oh ho!"
The whole place was in an uproar.
"Tekken's air cut was too timely. He took advantage of Mourning's gap from the basket. Joe Dumars' pass was also crucial and they cooperated very well."
Robert Guida laughed in the TNT commentary box.
Ringo Wilson said: "This time the Pistons' offensive tactics fully mobilized the Hornets' interior defense through passing, and then used the Iron Fist to score an empty basket. The key to the problem is Bogues."
Robert Guida said: "Don't underestimate Boggs' defense. He can stand firm in the league and serve as a starter. His defense is passable. He will use his own advantages to defend the big one with small ones. If Joe Dumars is careless, You will probably suffer a loss.”
Ringo Wilson said: “Judging from these two attacks, Joe Dumars was not careless. He did not dribble after receiving the ball, but instead hit it high and did not give Boggs a chance to steal the ball.
Boggs defends the ball with a small force, that is, he sticks to the body during the movement. He can jump into the arms of the center and grab the ball, but if he hits it high, there is nothing he can do. "
Robert Guida nodded and said: "How should I put it? Boggs' steal data is indeed good, more than Joe Dumars, but his defensive weaknesses are indeed quite obvious. This is a flaw. Defending Joe Dumas is obviously a bit difficult. It’s beyond our capabilities.”
The game continued, and the Pistons did not keep staring at Boggs' attack. After Joe Dumars played a few balls, Sekali played a pick-and-roll and air-cutting tactic with Ulrich on the wing, and the effect was also good.
Zhou Quan organizes in the middle, controls the offensive rhythm, and promptly adjusts offensive tactics and direction according to the Hornets' defensive tactics.
However, the Hornets are not easy to deal with. The offense is very strong. During the regular season, they ranked first in the Eastern Conference in scoring at 110.1 points per game, second in the league, second only to the Suns' 113 points.
Bogues later changed his tune. He rarely took any shots and just guided his teammates. Coupled with the inside offense of Larry Johnson and Mourning, he still played well.
Larry Johnson and Mourning performed extremely well in the low post, and both shot over 50% from the field.
But the Pistons still had the height advantage, and Seikali and Rodman also grabbed more rebounds.
Especially Rodman, who played 42 minutes and grabbed 17 rebounds. The two combined to grab 26 rebounds.
Mourning and Larry Johnson only grabbed 19 rebounds in total, a difference of 7 rebounds.
In addition, the Pistons' outside rebounding ability is stronger than that of the Hornets. The team grabbed a total of 44 rebounds, while the Hornets only had 34, a full 10 rebounds less.
In addition, Sekali played Larry Johnson in isolation on the wing, shooting 55% from the field, two percentage points higher than Larry Johnson, and scored 24 points.
Joe Dumars played Bogues in isolation, shooting 61% from the field and scoring 28 points.
In 43 minutes, Zhou Quan, defended by Kendall Gill, made 8 of 17 shots, a shooting percentage of 47%, 2 of 5 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws. He scored 22 points, 7 rebounds, 11 assists, 3 steals, 3 turnovers, and 3 fouls. The data.
With the advantage of rebounding and high mismatch, three people scored 20+ points, plus Zhou Quan's assists, the Pistons finally won the G1 game at home with a score of 105:115.
(End of chapter)
