May 30, 1994, Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
At eight o'clock, both sides announced the starting lineup.
Mosaic: Olajuwon, Ostie Thorpe, Robert Horry, Vernon Maxwell, Kenny Smith
SuperSonics: Sam Perkins, Rodman, Schrempf, Kendall Gill, Zhou Quan
"Victory! Victory! Victory..."
In the Compaq Center Arena, when the home team started the game, huge cheers came one after another. Houstonians were very excited, and everyone was looking forward to the victory in the G4 game.
Facing such a strong home atmosphere, except for Zhou Quan and Rodman, everyone in the SuperSonics began to sweat nervously.
The same goes for head coach George Karl. His psychological quality is average. After losing the last game, he was a little panicked. Now the game has not even started and he is already sweating profusely.
Fortunately, Zhou Quan didn't mess up, and everyone calmed down a bit when they saw him.
In the NBC commentary box, Big O looked serious and said: "Mosaic's momentum is very strong, the home court advantage is greatly reflected, and the team's will to win the G4 game is very firm."
Elgin Baylor nodded and said: "This game will be difficult for the SuperSonics. They won the Mosaic in the G3 game and their momentum is stronger than the last game."
Big O said: "Once they lose this game again, and the Sonics are tied after winning two games first, their momentum will definitely drop, and the initiative will be transferred to Mosaic, and it will be really difficult to win."
Having said this, he added: "The more critical the moment, the more important thing to consider is the leader's ability. The team leader must withstand the pressure at this time, otherwise he will lose."
"victory!"
At half past eight, after a shout, Zhou Quan led his team onto the field.
"Zhou Quan, come on!"
Zhang Lili and Sun Zhenping shouted loudly.
Jump ball, the Mosaics attack.
After the midline, Zhou Quan defended Kenny Smith. He immediately prepared to pass the ball and did not want to give Zhou Quan any chance to steal him.
Crazy Maxwell came over to take over, and Smith immediately passed the ball.
But at this moment, Kendall Gill, who is good at predicting the direction of the opponent's passing, suddenly inserted into the passing route.
The passing and receiving route was cut off, and Kenny Smith, who had already combined the ball, was in trouble, and the ball was not passed.
And at this moment, Zhou Quan stepped forward and raised the ball with great accuracy, and the ball in Ken Smith's hands was lifted into the sky.
"Oh, steal the ball!"
Sun Zhenping shouted loudly.
Zhou Quan grabbed the ball. At this time, Kendall Gill had turned around and stepped down. He immediately passed the ball over and then started to drop off himself.
"Shh!"
Mosaic fans started booing crazily, trying to put pressure on the Sonics.
Gill rushed forward with the ball, and Madman chased him on the left. He went to the basket and made an emergency layup, but he missed. He used less force and bounced out of the front.
"Ouch!" Zhang Lili was shocked.
"There's more!" Sun Zhenping shouted.
At this time, Zhou Quan and Kenny Smith rushed to the basket almost at the same time and took off almost at the same time.
Kenny Smith is known as a jet, he can jump, jump, and is fast, but when he jumped together with Zhou Quan, his weakness in confrontation was immediately revealed. As soon as he jumped up, he was pushed to the side and he did not jump completely. , while Zhou Quan was slightly affected and jumped up.
"boom!"
In the next moment, Zhou Quan grabbed the ball with both hands and smashed it forward, exploding the Mosaic basket.
"..."
The huge boos in the Compaq Center Arena came to an abrupt end at this moment.
"Oh ho!"
But the two thousand visiting team fans cheered with excitement.
"Defense!"
Zhou Quan reminded his teammates loudly.
"Defense!"
Kendall Gill and others immediately responded loudly, and their nervousness was relieved to a certain extent.
Only Rodman is still smiling. As a veteran of three championships in three Finals, games like the Western Conference Finals put no pressure on him.
Mosaic attack.
Kenny Smith didn't even catch the ball and ran directly to the frontcourt. Madman Maxwell received the ball in the backcourt and advanced.
Big O said thoughtfully: "From the individual to the team, Mosaic's defense against Tekken has reached a point of great concern. This is actually very disadvantageous. Kenny Smith cannot hold the ball too much, and Mosaic's organizational function is serious. Suppressed.”
At this time, Maxwell missed a jump shot, Rodman controlled the backcourt rebound, and Thorpe blocked the front. He first passed to Kendall Gill on the right wing, and Gill immediately passed the ball to Zhou Quan who was already coming down from the top of the arc.
Zhou Quan received the ball, and Kenny Smith had already run to the front. He also accelerated, passed the midline, and then rushed through the top of the arc and went straight to the basket.
"The quick attack is done." Big O shook his head.
Kenny Smith ran into the paint, looked back, and saw Zhou Quan rushing behind him. He immediately turned around and dodged to one side.
He also had to dodge from the front, because he was only 77 kilograms, and his tonnage was not at the same level, so he could not withstand Zhou Quan's impact.
Zhou Quan slowed down, then hit a layup and scored another goal.
"Vernon, give the ball to the inside." Tomjanovich shouted loudly from the sidelines.
Zhou Quan still directly stared at Kenny Smith in the backcourt, which he had not done in the previous three games. He had not used a full-court press defense against the Jets before.
Mosaic had no other choice. They didn't want Kenny Smith to hold the ball to face Zhou Quan's sharp steal, so they had no choice but to let shooting guard Maxwell hold the ball.
Maxwell pushed to the right side of the frontcourt. At this time, Dameng ran to the right low post to ask for the ball, and Thorpe went to the left low post.
"boom!"
Dameng shook Perkins after receiving the ball, and then slipped to the bottom. Rodman quickly helped to defend and blocked him. He stopped to throw, but he missed.
Zhou Quan had already rushed in and grabbed the ball before Thorpe.
Rodman has a very heavy task to help defend Da Meng, and his control over rebounds will decrease, so he must strengthen his rebounding.
Especially if the backcourt rebound is lost, with Mosaic's inside strength, the success rate of the second attack is very high.
In the positional battle, Zhou Quan held the ball to the top of the arc, leaned down, and kept dribbling the ball with his hips, making preparations for a breakthrough.
Kenny Smith took a step to defend and mainly defended the breakthrough.
In the first three games, Zhou Quan almost broke through with the ball, so his defensive strategy was to focus on breaking through.
But the next moment, just as he leaned down one step away, Zhou Quan jumped up.
"..."
He wanted to defend back, but it was too late. Zhou Quan's shot was very fast, and the ball flew over his head. He turned around and saw the basketball falling from the basket.
"brush!"
The moment the water splashed, the cheers from the SuperSonics side immediately started.
"Defense!"
Zhou Quan turned around and shouted to his teammates.
"Defense!"
Everyone responded in unison, and the tension in their hearts was released again and replaced by excitement.
"Beautiful! Zhou Quan made three of three shots, 7 points, 1 rebound and 1 steal." Sun Zhenping said excitedly.
"I entered the state right from the start. It seems that the home atmosphere of Mosaic did not affect Zhou Quan." Zhang Lili said with a happy smile.
At this time Mosaic served and then called a timeout.
After being beaten 7-0, the home fans were very confused at this time, and the crazy Compaq Center had cooled down.
Big O said: "Mosaic failed to score a point and was directly stopped by a wave. This situation is probably not expected by the home fans."
Elgin Baylor laughed: "What they thought was to win another game and tie the score. I guess they didn't consider the possibility of losing."
Big O said: "I think Tekken's defensive deterrence is too great, forcing Mosaic to not let Kenny Smith lead the team's offense. The organizational function is destroyed. It mainly relies on the strength of the inside to play the game, and the outside lines each work alone. The team does not form a whole, and once there is a problem with Dameng's performance, Mosaic will easily lose the game."
Elgin Baylor said: "Da Meng's performance is still very stable. Together with Thorpe, the Sonics' inside line can't handle it at all. If the Sonics' inside line is stronger, it should be easier for the Sonics to win. .”
Big O laughed: "Then you won't let other teams survive? The SuperSonics are already very strong now. They have Iron Fist on the outside, Rodman on the inside, Schrempf at No. 3 and Kendall Gill at No. 2. He is a qualified starting main player, with only one obvious weakness at the fifth position.
If you paired the Bulls with a strong inside man, whether it was a center or a power forward, Michael Jordan would have won three consecutive championships.
"Haha, you're right." Elgin Baylor laughed.
The timeout ended and Mosaic served from the frontline.
Kenny Smith received the ball near the left sideline, and Maxwell was setting a pick-and-roll screen. He wanted to take the opportunity to create a free throw.
Maxwell's tonnage is 82 kilograms. Zhou Quan's way to break the pick-and-roll is very simple, that is, to directly squeeze away the opponent and chase Kenny Smith.
This method is very rough, but it is also the most effective way to break the pick-and-roll. As soon as Kenny Smith was about to bypass Maxwell, Zhou Quan followed him, and the pick-and-roll tactic was broken as soon as it started.
If it was at home, Zhou Quan would definitely take the opportunity to steal at this time, but this was an away game, and he didn't do that, as he might be fouled by the whistler. He just blocked Smith again, and at this time Kendall Gill pounced on Smith. Behind him, the two completed the double-team.
"Oh, I didn't throw it away," Zhang Lili said.
"Double-teamed." Sun Zhenping shouted.
"Snapped!"
Being flanked from both sides, Kenny Smith immediately passed the ball to Maxwell, but at this moment, Zhou Quan reacted very quickly and knocked the ball away with a wave of his hand.
Kendall Gill grabbed the ball as it bounced off the floor, turned around and started going down quickly.
"It's broken, it's broken again!" Sun Zhenping shouted excitedly.
Gill carried the ball into the paint area, with Kenny Smith and Maxwell chasing on both sides. He knew that Zhou Quan must be behind, so he pushed the ball back and then rushed out of the baseline.
"boom!"
The next moment, Zhou Quan caught the ball and hung on the basket.
"9:0, Zhou Quan sent in his second steal at the beginning and scored 9 points in a row. He had a super explosive start." Zhang Lijia shouted excitedly.
Sun Zhenping said loudly: "After a wave of nine to zero, the SuperSonics' momentum has been unleashed, but the mosaic momentum of the home game has been knocked down by Zhou Quan."
Kenny Smith looked at Tomjanovich on the sidelines. The head coach just asked him to use the pick-and-roll to get rid of the iron fist, organize the offense with the ball, and restore the team's organizational functions. Do you want to continue now?
Tomjanovich continued, saying that he could not deny the tactics just arranged with just one goal. That would be self-denial. Frequent changes in tactics would leave the team at a loss.
Mosaic attack.
Zhou Quan began to press in the backcourt, preventing Kenny Smith from catching the ball, and continued to suppress the Jets, thereby destroying the organizational function of Mosaic.
Smith couldn't catch the ball for a moment, and Maxwell could only catch the ball first. After advancing to the right wing of the frontcourt, Ken Smith ran to his side and used a pick-and-roll screen to catch the ball.
This time Zhou Quan didn't get in front in time, Kenny Smith immediately broke through, trying to get past Kendall Gill and get in.
However, Kendall Gill's defense was not bad either. He switched defense decisively and caught up with Smith.
At this time, Zhou Quan also chased after him very decisively and began to carry out the most ferocious flank attack on Kenny Smith.
"here."
Maxwell, who was parked outside the three-point line, shouted.
But Kenny Smith had no chance to pass the ball to the outside, because Kendall Gill was on the left side, and there was the sound of sneakers rubbing behind him. It was obvious that Iron Fist was chasing behind him.
He could only give the ball to Thorpe in the low post on the right wing, and then ran to the right corner.
Zhou Quan didn't even look at Kenny Smith and pounced directly on Thorpe who received the ball, while Kendall Gill chose to go back to defend Maxwell.
When Thorpe saw Zhou Quan coming, he didn't have the strength to take action in a double-team. He immediately threw his hands and passed the ball to Kenny Smith from Zhou Quan's head.
"Whoosh!"
The ball was passed high, and Kenny Smith, who was running toward the right corner, was caught off guard and missed the ball. The ball flew directly out of the right sideline.
"ah!"
This was the defensive system he created. George Karl pumped his fists and roared excitedly, and his nervousness was replaced by excitement.
"pretty!"
Big O praised: "The fierce and decisive continuous flanking attack forced Mosaic to make another mistake."
Sonics offense.
Zhou Quan caught the ball in the backcourt, and Maxwell, who was switching defense, wanted to retaliate and not let him catch the ball, but the tonnage of 10 kilograms was a huge gap. He looked two times smaller than Zhou Quan, and was killed by Zhou Quan with just one arm. Get out of the way.
"This is the confrontation advantage, this is the strength advantage, and this is the tonnage advantage." Zhang Lili was so happy that he talked about the three advantages in succession.
Zhou Quan held the ball to the top of the front arc and made a tactical gesture.
Perkins in the low post on the left wing immediately ran towards the three-point line, and Thorpe followed.
Schrempf ran to the left corner and took Horry away.
Kendall Gill approached the right sideline along the three-point line, taking out Kenny Smith and putting some distance between himself and Zhou Quan.
In this way, all teammates are separated, and Zhou Quan has no possibility of being double-teamed in the high post. Whoever wants to double-team him will definitely have a big gap on the outside of the SuperSonics.
Playing sideways, he began to crush Maxwell toward the free throw line.
"Eat it raw, this is O'Neal at No. 1!" Big O couldn't help but sigh.
Elgin Baylor was startled, then laughed and said, "Big O, when you say that, it's true."
From the left baseline, Schrempf suddenly started and cut along the baseline toward the paint area. Horry was a step slower, but kept chasing him.
Zhou Quan reached the free throw line and did not stop, but continued to run down.
Dameng pounced decisively and began to double-team Zhou Quan.
But at this moment, Schrempf cut into the paint.
Almost at the same time, Zhou Quan suddenly joined the ball, then turned right to hold Maxwell with his right elbow, passed the ball with his left hand, and the basketball flew towards Schrempf.
After receiving the ball, Schrempf stepped up and scored an easy layup.
Horry, who was chasing behind him, was one step behind and failed to defend the ball.
"11:0, SuperSonics played a suffocating defense, Mosaic was in trouble, couldn't score, and the offense was severely suppressed." Big O said.
Elgin Baylor said: "After the timeout, Kenny Smith called pick-and-rolls continuously. He definitely wanted to attack with the ball and restore the team's organizational functions, but he failed under the SuperSonics' defense.
This idea is right. Without restoring organizational functions, the Mosaic team will not be able to win this series. It is impossible for Dameng to perform the terrifying all-round performance in every game. "
Big O nodded and said: "The key is that if he can't get rid of the iron fist, Kenny Smith will not be able to hold the ball, unless he has the strength of Michael Jordan."
"Last year, the Flyers were intercepted five times by the Iron Fist in a single game, and the Bulls were defeated by the Pistons." Elgin Baylor laughed.
(End of chapter)
