At the end of the first quarter, 30:20, the SuperSonics led by 10 points.
With Schrempf and Rodman absent, the main lineup's offensive and rebounding capabilities are insufficient. Zhou Quan can only strengthen offense and defense, rush for rebounds, and use his own abilities to make up for the losses caused by the absence of the two.
After 11 minutes of the first quarter, he made 6 of 10 shots on the glove head, 2 of 4 three-pointers, and 4 of 4 free throws. In a single quarter, he scored 18 points, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 0 turnovers, and 0 fouls.
He did not rush to the basket to attack. He was very worried about the defense of Mourning and Kurt Thomas. After breaking through with the ball, he usually made a pull-up jumper.
Payton also played 11 minutes in the first quarter, but he was actually replaced with one minute left before Zhou Quan came off the field.
He was guarded by Zhou Quan and made three mistakes in the first quarter. He made no more shots after making 0 of 3 shots. He scored 0 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls.
However, two of the Sonics' main players were absent, and there were problems with the lineup rotation. The substitute lineup in the second quarter was not strong enough, so the Heat regained 6 points in the second quarter and trailed by only 4 points at halftime.
The second quarter started quickly. Payton did not play at first, but he stood up from the bench when there was a dead ball at one minute.
"Damn bastard! He's after me."
Seeing Zhou Quan on the bench next to him standing up and getting ready to play, he couldn't help but curse.
Some Heat players were very helpless when they heard this. You were talking nonsense before the game. If Iron Fist didn't target you, who would it target?
"Are you targeting me?"
Payton, who didn't say a word to Zhou Quan in the first quarter, asked bitterly.
Zhou Quan looked dumbfounded and asked in surprise: "Why can a mad dog speak human language?"
"you?"
Payton was so angry that he almost vomited blood.
In the second quarter, Zhou Quan still focused on Payton. His main focus was on organization, passing, and defense. Due to physical distribution, he reduced part of his offense and scored 8 points, 4 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, and 1 turnover.
Because his main focus was on the defensive end, Payton still couldn't score a point for the second time. He was also marked and rarely made any shots, making only zero of two shots.
"Hey, Glove, how many points did you score? You have to perform well, otherwise the Heat might trade you." When entering the tunnel, Zhou Quan asked with concern.
"What does it have to do with you?" Payton was so angry that his voice became shrill.
"You idiot, I care about you."
Zhou Quan laughed loudly after saying this, and a bunch of Sonics players also laughed.
"asshole!"
Payton looked at Zhou Quan's back and was shaking with anger.
Mourning next to him suddenly said: "Gary, either we have a fight with him, even if you are unreasonable, as a teammate I will help you.
Either don't provoke him anymore. With his current status, you can't afford to provoke him. If something goes wrong, the league will only punish you and not him. "
Payton was furious, glared at Mourning, and walked to the front faster.
After a fifteen-minute break, the second half begins.
At the top of the arc, Payton used a tentative step to fake a real shot, and suddenly shot a three-pointer.
"predict!"
But Zhou Quan, who took half a step to defend, reacted too quickly. After retreating, he immediately jumped up to block the shot. After the basketball was released, he hit the lower part of the ball in time and fired the ball up.
"Block, beautiful!" John Moore shouted.
"Snapped!"
Zhou Quan took off for the second time, grabbed the ball, then turned around and passed Payton behind, and started to play quickly.
Payton secretly grabbed Zhou Quan's jersey and tried to slow him down, but Zhou Quan opened it with one hand and fell behind, forever falling behind.
"boom!"
He took off from the free throw line and with a tomahawk dunk, the Heat's backboard was exploded.
"28:0." Zhou Quan said to Gary Payton.
"I will endure!"
Gary Payton gritted his teeth and said to himself.
The Heat attacked, and Payton pulled to the right and passed the ball to Mourning in the low post on the right. Mourning arched Earvin Johnson, and then turned over and shot a jumper.
At this moment, Zhou Quan pounced from his right elbow, and with a wave of his hand, he slapped the basketball Mourning had just shot.
He controlled the force and direction when fanning, and fanned toward the basket, where he was caught by Matt Geiger under the basket.
"The SuperSonics didn't play much low-post offense today, and there were few offenses at the basket. This is because they have concerns about the Heat's interior defense." James Worthy said.
"Indeed, the inside mainly plays secondary offense, and the outside is responsible for the main offense. Iron Fist scored 26 points at halftime, Hawkins 10 points, and Gilliam, who played small forward today, scored 7 points. Now in the second half, Iron Fist should strengthen its personal offense." John Moore analyzed.
"brush!"
Zhou Quan came to the top of the arc and suddenly shot up, even an unreasonable three-pointer. Payton didn't even react.
"31:0."
Zhou Quan's trash talk started again, and Gary Payton's face turned dark purple.
"Haha, my gloves were completely blown out by the iron fist today." John Moore laughed.
"He only likes Jordan and doesn't like Iron Fist. It is very normal for him to be beaten by Iron Fist. With Iron Fist's current status, it is impossible for him to tolerate Gary Payton. It is inevitable to teach him a lesson." James Worthy laughed. road.
John Moore said: "Actually, the relationship between Gloves and Jordan is also average, and there have been conflicts on the court, but he has greater opinions on Iron Fist."
James Worthy shook his head and said: "Iron Fist went to Seattle because he was traded, and I didn't deliberately steal his position. To be honest, Iron Fist stayed with the Pistons that year, and maybe there was hope of defending the title."
"It's hard to say, the management won't keep Rodman. They want to save costs. Without his rebounds, it will be very difficult to defend the title." John Moore said.
Payton held the ball to the top of the arc, and Zhou Quan took half a step to defend. He was a little uncomfortable being defended.
Take a step back. There is no threat if he is too far from the three-point line. He does not have the ability to make three-pointers from far away. If he is too close, he will be easily intercepted.
At this time, small forward Billy Owens, who was two steps behind the left three-point line, leaned against Gilliam and asked him for the ball.
Zhou Quan blocked Gary Payton's left hand, leaning slightly to the left. He also saw Owens, who was below him, asking for the ball.
But he pretended not to see it and suddenly reached out to poke the ball.
Gary Payton immediately turned around to protect the ball and then passed to Billy Owens.
But Zhou Quan's steal was just a fake move to lure the opponent to pass the ball. When Payton turned around, he quickly used the jump step in his boxing pace and grabbed the opponent's right side.
"Snapped!"
The moment Payton passed the ball, he stretched out his right hand, intercepted the ball, rushed forward, and started a quick counterattack.
"What?"
Payton was shocked and quickly chased after him.
"boom!"
Zhou Quan succeeded in counterattacking steals from outside the top of the arc nine times out of ten, and once again ended the attack with a tomahawk chop.
"Payton's turning and passing movement is actually very fast. He turns around to combine the ball and then pass the ball. The technique is very good, but unfortunately Iron Fist's stealing ability is too good!" James Worthy said.
"Was it intentional, or was it anticipated that Payton would pass the ball?" John Moore asked.
James Worthy pondered for a while and then said: "It should be intentional. Iron Fist often uses the action of poking the ball to force the opponent to make mistakes in single defense."
"I think I also had a prediction. Iron Fist should have noticed that Billy Owens was about to arrive and saw that he was asking for it, so I predicted that Payton might pass the ball." John Moore said.
"It makes sense. I predicted that Payton would pass the ball, and then deliberately dug a hole for Payton by poking the ball, and finally completed the steal." James Worthy said.
"A very classic defensive trap. Iron Fist is the best hunter, and he is best at this kind of defense." John Moore praised.
In this game, 105:85, the Sonics finally won by 20 points.
The Sonics relied entirely on offense from the outside, and also played some inside, but under the strong defense of Mourning and Kurt Thomas, the efficiency was very low, so there was never much offense.
The interior offense was limited, and Schrempf, the second scoring point last season, was absent. Zhou Quan was full of firepower. He played 46 minutes and scored 51 points again. This was his third 50+ score this season, and he also had 10 assists. Data of 6 steals and 4 blocks.
Hawkins played 44 minutes and scored 14 points, Gilliam scored 15 points and 8 rebounds in 40 minutes, and Vincent Estiu came off the bench to score 15 points in 36 minutes. The four of them combined for 95 points.
Matt Geiger played 40 minutes, grabbed 11 rebounds, and scored 6 points. His performance was not bad. Although his rebounding ability was not as good as Rodman's, it was not bad either.
Earvin Johnson had 2 points and 7 rebounds, but his performance was not as good as Geiger.
McMillan played 24 minutes before suffering an injury and leaving the game, scoring only 2 points.
As for the Heat, Zhou Quan used strong defense to destroy their organizational functions, thereby suppressing their offense.
Payton was completely targeted by Zhou Quan. He made 0 of 11 shots in 46 minutes and scored 0 points, 5 assists and 9 turnovers. Mourning had 26 points, 10 rebounds and 3 blocks, Kurt Thomas had 13 points and 7 rebounds, and Billy Owens had 11 points, Rex Chapman scored 10 points, and the five main players scored 60 points together.
After the game, James Worthy shook his head and said: "SuperSonics defeated the Heat with a broken lineup and won by 20 points. This is good, but I think this is an overdraft. The playing time of important rotation players has increased significantly. It is an overdraft." It's their physical ability.
The Sonics are suffering from injuries, and Iron Fist has relieved them. However, Schrempf and Rodman are far from coming back, and now that McMillan has been injured again, there will be big problems with their rotation. "
John Moore said: "If more fringe players are used, the record will definitely decline. If the main rotation lineup significantly increases playing time, the possibility of injury will increase.
Gilliam is 31 years old and Hawkins is 29. In fact, they are not young anymore. It depends on their luck whether they can survive this. "
"Iron Fist performed so well in this game, scoring 50 points and zero blocks against Payton. Is this a response to Payton's glove?" an NBC reporter asked in the post-game interview.
"What's the response?" Zhou Quan looked surprised.
The reporter laughed: "He said yesterday that it is not difficult to beat the Sonics, and that Michael is still the number one active player. Didn't you respond to him by scoring 50+ points and zero blocks against him?"
Zhou Quan smiled and said: "Of course not, who is he? Do I need to do anything because of his words? There is no need at all.
The team had serious injuries and I had to perform better to win. This is the only reason why I got 50+. "
The reporter laughed to death in his heart. It’s not because of Payton that you are evil. People all over the world know it.
Zhou Quan also laughed when he saw the reporter's expression, and then said: "Okay, I admit, I gave Gary Payton a small lesson. I hope he will remember this lesson and think about it when he speaks in the future. .”
"Ha ha……"
Several reporters and photographers laughed.
An hour later, the post-match press conference was held.
"Gary, the Iron Fist hit you 50+ points, and you didn't score a single point. Do you want to say something now?" a reporter from the Los Angeles Daily asked.
Payton's face was so dark that he opened his mouth and uttered a slang curse word, which meant "fuck you", and then said angrily:
"I was knocked over by him nine times today, and my bones were almost broken. He could have called an offensive foul every time he made an offense, but he didn't call it once. I doubt this is his home court, Shet!"
"Ha ha……"
The reporters below were delighted.
"Farke!"
When Payton saw this, he gritted his teeth and cursed again, but he didn't dare to curse loudly. Only those who were close to him could hear it.
"So now do you think Jordan is still the number one player on active duty?" a reporter asked loudly.
"Yes! I will never admit that he is the number one active player." Payton yelled, then stood up and walked away.
"Ha ha……"
A group of reporters behind laughed.
The next day, the media evaluated the performance of Zhou Quan and Gary Payton in this game.
"Gary Payton said that defense is his major and offense is just an amateur job. He is wrong. In front of Iron Fist, his offense is amateur and his defense is amateur. He is an amateur basketball worker." Seattle. daily.
"In front of Iron Fist, there is no difference between Gary Payton and John Stockton. So we suggest increasing the weight of the gloves. If you increase the weight to 95 kilograms, you may be able to compete with Iron Fist." Los Angeles Daily.
"Injury problems forced the Iron Fist's strongest offense, with 50+ points three times. The Iron Fist is targeting the number one player currently on active duty." Detroit Worker Daily.
"The consequences of provoking the No. 1 player on active duty is to score 50 points on your head and get a clean sheet on you." Seattle Sports reported.
However, the Sonics received bad news. McMillan's injury report came out. He will be out for at least 30 games and may not return until early March.
…
(End of chapter)
