"Who are you trying to scare?"
Zhou Quan had only one reaction. He jumped up one step in front of Oakley, blocking the front with his left elbow and holding the ball high in his right hand.
"Damn Iron Fist King!" Oakley cursed secretly.
If it were anyone else, even Jordan, he would definitely defeat him with one arm, but this is no one else, this is the Iron Fist King.
In his career, he has used rough fighting style defense against too many opponents, but for people like the postman, his defense is much gentler and he will not use particularly bad moves. The Iron Fist King is more ferocious than the postman. It’s not like he’s never suffered from a role that’s ten times bigger, and now he doesn’t dare to try it.
So he kept his arms raised high, even if Zhou Quan bumped into him, he didn't hit him downwards.
But he still had a little movement, his elbows were leaning out.
The next moment, Zhou Quan used a huge impact. He pushed Oakley's elbows with his left elbow and knocked him over. At the same time, he held the ball with his right hand like an ax and chopped it down wildly.
"boom!"
"Oh ho!"
As the violent sound of the basket exploded, the entire Central Gymnasium burst into joy.
"Hey, Old Oak, are you okay?" Zhou Quan extended his right hand to Oakley.
"Get away!"
Oakley slapped Zhou Quan's hand away, got up in shame and annoyance, and shouted in a low voice: "Iron Fist, if you dare to challenge me again, don't blame me for pulling you down."
Zhou Quan chuckled and said, "You remember to protect me, or I'll blow your head off."
Oakley roared angrily, bumped Zhou Quan away with his shoulder and ran towards the frontcourt.
Knicks offense.
Childs did not dare to hold the ball in front of Zhou Quan, so Alan Houston received the ball and pushed it into the frontcourt. Then he made a fake shot and hit a mid-range shot.
Sonics offense.
Zhou Quan and Hawkins started a pick-and-roll and moved to the right three-point line. Alan Houston and Childs switched defenses to confront Zhou Quan.
After Alan Houston was selected by the Heat, he was traded by the Heat for Gary Payton a year later. After playing for the Pistons for two years, his rookie contract ended and the Knicks offered him a big contract.
Facing Alan Houston who is 198 centimeters and 93 kilograms, Zhou Quan also played the fake shot that Houston just used.
His fake moves caused Jordan to suffer countless losses, let alone Alan Houston?
"Oops!"
Alan Houston knew something was wrong after he was shaken.
"brush!"
The next moment, Zhou Quan broke through from the left and reached the right elbow area. Facing Oakley's defense, he calmly stopped for a jumper and hit a mid-range shot.
On the sidelines, Jeff Van Gundy shouted: "Guard his breakthrough."
Zhou Quan was startled and glanced at Van Gundy, "Mr. Coach, my shooting touch has only declined slightly. My season shooting percentage is still over 50%, and my outside mid-range shooting percentage is over 40%. Do you really want to let me go?" Shooting?
Ewing missed a mid-range shot, Rodman grabbed the rebound, and Zhou Quan took the ball to the frontcourt.
This time he was too lazy to use a pick-and-roll. Facing Childs' defense, contrary to the last offense, he made a fake shot.
Childs kept in mind Van Gundy's guidance just now and was shaken back cleanly.
"brush!"
Zhou Quan took an open three-pointer from the top of the arc and hit it.
Seeing that Childs was shaken back a big step, little Van Gundy was a little angry. He touched his head and rubbed it hard several times, causing a few hairs to fall off.
Which head coach doesn't study Tekken? He has also studied it specifically. He knows that Tekken's shooting touch is not good this season. He mainly relies on breakthrough points and a large reduction in outside jumpers. This is why the players focus on guarding his breakthroughs.
But just because you focus on guarding against breakthroughs doesn't mean you don't guard against shots at all. If you guard against shots completely, is there something wrong with your understanding?
"Forget it, even if Charles becomes Jordan, he still can't guard against Iron Fist."
After thinking about it, he was no longer angry. How to defend against Iron Fist in the future? He thought it would be better to let John Starks come up. After all, Starks was selected to the defensive second team in 1993 and was the Knicks' best outside defender.
When the Knicks attacked, Zhou Quan took the initiative to switch to guard Alan Houston. Childs had no strength and he didn't want to defend anymore. It was boring.
Seeing Zhou Quan coming to defend him, Alan Houston was obviously a little nervous.
"Snapped!"
In the next moment, Zhou Quan successfully stole the ball. Amid the cheers of the audience, he played a fast break and ended the counterattack with a flying dunk.
Xiao Fan called a timeout, and after the players came down, he shouted excitedly: "I need you to focus all your attention on the game and don't let the iron fist steal the ball easily, okay?"
But no one paid attention to him. He had been an assistant coach with the Knicks for many years and had also followed Pat Riley. However, it was his first time as a head coach and he had little prestige. Like the previous head coach Nelson, he was unable to control the locker room at all.
Ewing and Oakley squeezed out Nelson in order to maintain his status in the Knicks. He was slightly better to Van than to Nelson. After all, he is an old man of the Knicks, but that's all.
Next, after much fuss, he replaced Alan Houston and put on Starks.
Starks was very happy. Coach Riley promoted him to the starting shooting guard. However, as soon as Alan Houston arrived with the Knicks, Van Gundy Jr. took away his position as the main shooting guard. In fact, he was unconvinced and very unhappy. Van Gundy Jr.
After the timeout, the game continues.
Zhou Quan still switched to defense against Starks.
Starks' speed is very average, otherwise he would not have been selected in the first place. Zhou Quan is the same height as him and weighs 15 kilograms, but he is faster than him. This makes him very helpless and moves without the ball. When he was there, no matter how he ran, he couldn't get away from Zhou Quan.
"Hey, I always restrain anyone named John, why don't you change his name?" Zhou Quan teased.
"Get away!"
Starks had a bad temper. He, Oakley, and Mason, who had been traded away, were the three bad guys of the Knicks. They were so angry that Zhou Quan's trash talk made his nose smoke, but faced Zhou Quan. Right, that's all.
Starks was marked, and Childs could only pass the ball to Ewing in the low post on the left wing.
Ewing faced Matt Geiger's full defense and did not rush to hit the basket. This was just a regular season game, and there was no competition between the Sonics and the Knicks, so he turned around and hit a side hook at will.
"boom!"
It's a pity that the touch was not good, and Geiger was still making a little movement below, so the hook missed.
The Knicks are not willing to play on the road in the Western Conference, especially against a strong team like the SuperSonics. There is no need to fight to the death.
But the SuperSonics playing at home is completely different. With so many home fans watching, whether it is a Western or Eastern team, they cannot lose if they can win.
With a completely different mentality, the Knicks did not fully unleash their strength and were eventually defeated by the SuperSonics quite easily.
63:98, a total loss of 35 points.
It’s not that the Sonics want to win so much. Zhou Quan clocked out in the third quarter and only played 30 minutes. None of the other main players played more than 30 minutes. It’s that the Knicks’ offense was not able to play at all under the strong defense of the SuperSonics. .
Ewing made 6 of 18 shots and his shooting percentage was only 33.3%. With the core of the team like this, it is not surprising that the Knicks were defeated.
On the 22nd, the Supersonics arrived in Salt Lake City.
On this day, after John Stockton was injured for more than two months, the Jazz officially announced his return.
After training at the headquarters in the afternoon, Stockton was stopped by reporters outside as he was driving away.
"John, did you come back today on purpose?"
"Not really."
"John, do you wish for revenge?"
"I don't have any personal disputes with Iron Fist, and there is no revenge. It's just that I can come back now, and it just happens to coincide with the game against the Sonics."
"In the past few seasons, you have been severely restrained by the Iron Fist. This is also an important reason why the Jazz were restrained by the SuperSonics. So do you think it is your fault that led to the Jazz's failure to achieve a breakthrough in the playoffs?"
This question embarrassed Stockton. At this moment, the sound of the car door closing was heard from behind, and the postman's voice sounded: "Get out of the way and let John pass. I'll answer you if you have any questions."
"John, please leave quickly."
Karl Malone came up from behind, and while driving away reporters, he patted Stockton's car door to signal him to leave first.
"John, do you encourage the postman to leave the Jazz?" A reporter still asked loudly.
"Let's go." The postman signaled again.
Stockton, whose eyes were a little red, nodded, stepped on the accelerator and left.
As soon as he left, reporters immediately surrounded the postman and asked all kinds of questions.
"Postman, do you think Stockton is holding you back?"
"Postman, are you really not going to leave Jazz?"
"Karl, stay, don't leave."
"Karl, don't apply for a trade, stay in Salt Lake City, this is your home."
Hearing the reporters' questions, the postman felt a little melancholy and was in no mood to answer any questions.
Stockton was in a very complicated mood when he left. He didn't stop the postman from leaving, but he didn't encourage him either. Of course he didn't want the postman to leave.
However, the postman is his brother, the best brother to him, the brother who can stand up for him. When Iron Fist knocked him over several times during the attack, he had a conflict with Iron Fist, causing three of his ribs to be broken. , such a brother, can he really watch him waste his entire peak period in the Jazz?
The speed of the car became slower and slower, and finally it stopped on the side of the road. He sat in the car and began to think about this issue as a brother.
The postman sent away a group of reporters and drove away from the headquarters in his own car. He didn't drive far when he saw Stockton's car parked on the side of the road. He quickly parked behind it and then got out of the car to take a look.
"Snatch!"
Seeing Stockton in the car, who was dazed and didn't notice him, he knocked on the car window and shouted: "John, what are you doing? Is the car broken down? Why are you parked here?"
"Oh, Karl, there's nothing wrong with the car. Come up here, I have something to tell you." Stockton reacted and said with a complicated mood.
"OK."
The postman walked around the front of the car and sat in the passenger seat. He half-turned and asked, "John, tell me if you have anything to say. Are you in trouble? Leave it to me and I'll help you solve it."
Stockton sighed, opened his mouth, and closed it again, but under the expectant eyes of the postman, he still said: "Karl, after playing this season, you'd better go."
"What?" The postman was startled.
As soon as Stockton's words came out, he felt relieved and much more relaxed, and said: "I can't deal with Iron Fist at all. We suffered too much at the No. 1 position. The Jazz can't beat the Sonics at all.
You go, go to a strong team, or just go to the East. Jordan is old. Even if he wins Iron Fist this year, it will be the Iron Fist era in the future. Only in the Eastern Conference can you have a chance to reach the finals. "
"John, you?"
The postman was speechless for a moment. He did not expect that his good brother would take the initiative to ask him to leave.
"We have played three games against the SuperSonics this season and lost them all. Why don't we have a good game against the SuperSonics tomorrow night? If we win, you stay. If we still lose, you leave. ?”
Stockton said in a joking tone, giving the postman a step down.
The postman hesitated for a moment, but nodded and said, "OK."
Stockton was very sorry. It seemed that Karl really wanted to leave, but he also thought about it. Just leave. Staying would just be a waste of time. The two of them couldn't get through the Iron Fist level at all.
No. 23, Delta Center Arena.
At eight o'clock, both sides announced the starting lineup.
Jazz: Ostertag, Karl Malone, Brian Russell, Jeff Hornacek, John Stockton
SuperSonics: Matt Geiger, Rodman, Sam Perkins, Jose Hawkins, Zhou Quan
"There is a lot of news that Postman is leaving the Jazz. In fact, there were rumors last year. When Dameng applied for a trade, Mosaic also tried to trade Postman, but the Jazz did not agree. There were media reports on this matter, but there was no specific information. Transaction information." Zhang Lili said.
Xu Jicheng smiled and said: "I'm afraid it's not easy to trade. The Jazz's lineup has been honed for many years, and it's getting better and better. In fact, it just can't beat the SuperSonics. They lost three games in a row this season. Against Mosaic, they lost two games this season. Win one, and fight the Bulls, it’s a win and a loss.”
Zhang Liji said with a smile: "Stockton at No. 1 was beaten too hard by Zhou Quan. Against Mosaic, Stockton could have won against Tim Hardaway. But against the Bulls, there was nothing Ron Harper could do." We can’t get to Stockton, so we’ll lose or we’ll win.”
Xu Jicheng analyzed: "If Postman really wants to leave, he will definitely only go to a strong championship-level team.
However, there are only a few teams in the league, the Bulls, Knicks, and Heat in the East, and the Jazz, Mosaics, and SuperSonics in the West. The possibility of a trade is too low, so how can there be room for him? "
Zhang Lianda said: "Not counting this season, the postman still has a two-year contract, which is an annual salary of more than 5 million. The contract is not big, about 11 million US dollars.
In fact, salary space is not a big problem. It should be enough to free up one main player and one substitute. The main reason is that his transaction value is too high. Without good bargaining chips, the Jazz will not agree at all. "
Xu Jicheng nodded and said: "The Jazz have no money to bring in stars. The postman might really leave. By the way, the postman is almost 34 years old, right?"
"Yes, his peak period has probably been in the past two years. He should be at the end of his peak now, so he is anxious! It is understandable to seek transactions." Zhang Lili said.
(End of chapter)
