On April 24, local time in the United States, the first round of the playoffs between the Timberwolves and the Jazz officially started.

Before this series starts, the Utah Jazz's odds announced by ESPN are only 4.6% chances of advancing to advance in the unexpected.

I believe that the 4.6% approval rating also comes from the Timberwolves black fans. To be honest, the Utah Jazz's promotion rate in the public eye is about 3%.

The low promotion rate is not because the Utah Jazz performed poorly this season, but because the Jazz's opponent Timberwolves are too strong.

Even if the star Kevin Garnett is reimbursed for the season, the Timberwolves' strength is still terrifying.

Especially in the late season, Gerald Wallace gradually began to integrate into the team system, and its defensive cooperation with Artest and Ben Wallace became increasingly tacit, which made the Timberwolves' defense line that had exposed a hole to make up for. Until the end of the regular season, the Timberwolves' defensive efficiency was still topped the league.

In addition, the growth of Millsap, Span Norris and others has also become a surprise for the Timberwolves this season.

Although I don't know what performance these young people will perform in the upcoming playoffs, the Timberwolves have already established a dynasty and are still the biggest favorite to win the championship in the league today.

Even if the Dallas Mavericks' regular season record is better than the Timberwolves, they are nearly eight percentage points less than the Timberwolves in terms of championship odds. This is the gap exposed by the two teams from the perspective of fans.

This season, the Jazz completed a counterattack under the leadership of the old coach Sloan. Not only did they win 10 more games in the regular season than last season, but they even experienced a great improvement in offensive efficiency.

All of this is also due to the growth of the team's main controller Deron Williams.

Jazz head coach Jerry Sloan is a living fossil coach in the NBA. Since 1979, Sloan has coached for more than 20 seasons in the NBA.

18 of these seasons have been spent with the Utah Jazz, and it can be said that Sloan has witnessed the ups and downs of the Jazz team.

Witnessing the combination of Stockton and Carl Malone, until now, the new king of Deron Williams and Boozer has been ushered in.

Mr. Sloan is one of the only coaches in NBA. Even though Sloan has never led the team to win the NBA championship so far, Sloan's greatness no longer needs a championship to highlight.

Especially in terms of contributions to pick-and-roll tactics, no coach in history can surpass Sloan in the art of pick-and-roll.

It's just a pity that Cheng Ye was defeated and picked and rolled. Although Jerry Sloan used pick and roll tactics to become one of the only coaches in the NBA, it was precisely because he was obsessed with pick and roll tactics that Sloan still has no championship in his career.

Although a small pick-and-roll tactic can evolve hundreds of offensive choices, it cannot withstand Sloan's coaching philosophy too rigid. Even if he loses, he still instills his own ideas into the team.

It was precisely because of this that Sloan had conflicts with many Jazz players at the end of his career, and he left many infamous names in the end.

Fans can clearly find that Deron Williams and Boozer have the shadows of Stockton and Carl Malone.

It’s not that the two of them play styles are very similar to the Utah Double Evil in the past, but that what the two did in Sloan’s tactical system was exactly what the Utah Double Evil did back then.

The point guard and power forward also launched an attack with pick-and-roll at a high position, and then the center player stood on the outside to open up the space, with a shooter on the right corner and the last forward player who kept cutting from the left to the inside.

The core system of the entire Jazz team makes people think of the Jazz ten years ago. The same lineup configuration and the same positioning style are the only faces ten years ago that have been replaced by the newcomers today.

Seeing Jerry Sloan standing on the sidelines meticulously, Luke couldn't help but shake his head, and even felt a little reluctant to break Jerry Sloan's tactical beliefs.

Luke didn't know whether Jerry Sloan's spiritual pillar would collapse when his proud pick-and-roll tactics were broken by his own hands.

After all, the era of Jerry Sloan has passed. As the outside world's understanding of pick-and-roll tactics becomes deeper, it is difficult for Sloan to compete for the championship in coaching.

Especially for Luke, who has been ahead of today's era for nearly 20 years, Sloan's set is simply a delivery, "I'm really a stubborn old man."

The Utah Jazz's starting lineup in this game are: Deron Williams, "Old Fish" Fisher, Kirilenko, Boozer, and Memit Oku.

The Timberwolves are: "Gloves" Payton, Iverson, Gerald Wallace, Artest, and Ben Wallace.

The Timberwolves continued to use their starting lineup in the regular season, while the Jazz made some adjustments.

The Jazz's starting shooting guard should have been three-point shooter Girisek, the role played by "Laser Gun" Hornersek ten years ago.

However, the Timberwolves' starting second position is the league's scoring champion Allen Iverson, and as a white shooter, Geelysek's defense is very disappointing.

And Girisek is notoriously disliked physical confrontation. When facing an league scoring champion like Iverson who is good at breaking through, Girisek's fate will definitely be very miserable.

So even if Geelysek's three-point shooting percentage during the regular season was as high as 42%, Sloan had to bring Fisher, who was better at defending, to the start, otherwise the Jazz's defense would face collapse.

This season, "Old Fish" Fisher can average 10.1 points, 1.8 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1 steal per game, and his defensive efficiency is second only to Kirilenko.

However, Fisher's shortcomings are also obvious, that is, the offense is not stable enough.

Fisher's shooting percentage this season is only 38.2% and his three-point shooting percentage is 30.8%, which still continues his career efficiency of nothing.

Since entering the league in 1996, in ten seasons, Fisher has only had two shooting percentages higher than 40% in the season, and his career shooting percentage of 38.5% is really terrible.

If it weren't for the excellent core strength and the defensive end, Fisher's point guard with an equally poor overall view would have been eliminated by the league.

In this game, Sloan's choice to take Fisher to the starting lineup is very obvious, and he hopes that Fisher can limit Allen Iverson's offense to avoid Iverson cutting melons and vegetables in this round of the series.

The Jazz played extremely uncomfortable on the offensive end throughout the first half. The Jazz were originally a team with very strong tactical execution. However, when Luke played a regional joint defense on the court, Ben Wallace remained in the penalty area and could not let Oku pull him to the outside.

The Jazz's offensive area can only be pushed to the middle distance on both sides and the three-point line.

However, the Timberwolves are the best team in the league's forward defense today, and there is no such thing as any.

The Jazz doesn't get much chance at this position in the middle distance on both sides, and Fisher's position against Iverson has no advantage.

The Jazz can only use the personal abilities of Deron Williams and Boozer in the first half to score.

However, neither of them are masters in one-on-one singles. Deron Williams' advantage lies in his strong body. He can force a layup against his opponent when breaking into the inside. Even if he faces the "gloves" Payton, he has a physical advantage.
Chapter completed!