Ronnie Brewer, who replaced Korver and returned to the starting lineup, is also a fast break expert.
Although the decrease in interior height caused the Jazz to be single-handedly broken through the paint by Qin Yue in the second ga.
But Sloan went against the grain and once again confird the speculation he had made during the regular season.
Due to the Warriors’ incomplete lineup, they were unable to give Qin Yue ample rest ti during the team’s rotation phase as they had in the past. Coupled with the fact that Qin Yue’s physical conditioning this postseason was clearly not on par with the past two years, as long as the Jazz played fast enough, they could instead use more ga possessions to wear down Qin Yue’s stamina.
Therefore, Paul, who totaled 12 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds for the Jazz in the second ga, dramatically claid his first playoff victory against Qin Yue in his career with an easy win.
It was a ga that left Qin Yue extrely frustrated.
Because in the ga, he repeatedly encountered double-teams on the strong side by the Jazz, and apart from astonishingly scoring 39 points for the Warriors, he also delivered nurous brilliant passes to his teammates on the outside.
However...
The assist figures that Qin Yue ultimately displayed on the stat sheet...
were only 7.
Moreover, Paul, with such a lackluster performance, dared to show his smug face after the ga, saying, "A winner is a winner, no matter how flashy the stats, a loser never has the right to hold their head high in front of the winner."
...
In the third ga, the match shifted to the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake City.
To earn the right to hold his head high in front of Paul, Qin Yue, who had been stewing for two full days, engaged in substantial three-point shooting practice before the ga.
Qin Yue knew very well that relying solely on dominating the paint...
he was destined to find it difficult to break free from the traditional limitations imposed by the way gas were played.
Only by further optimizing his shot structure could he ensure that when his teammates turned into liabilities, he could use his individual prowess to inflict greater damage on this Jazz team.
On the court, in the first offensive possession after the ga started, as he simulated to drive using a scissor step initiated by Sam God, Qin Yue quickly pulled the ball to the other side and took a step back.
In the previous two gas, Kirilenko, who had grown accustod to Qin Yue using his physical advantage to overwhelm him, was caught off guard and could only watch as his opponent took a pull-up shot slightly right of the arc.
Swish!
Then, two possessions later, Qin Yue, who had already settled into a low post, suddenly took advantage of Brown’s screen and strode to the right corner.
This unexpected repositioning, which left Kirilenko defenseless, allowed Qin Yue to secure an excellent shooting opportunity in his most confident three-point shooting hotspot of his career.
Swish!
On CCTV, Zhang Weiping comnted on Qin Yue’s two successful three-pointers, saying, "Qin Yue truly has a big heart; at the Salt Lake City Plateau ho court, he hit two consecutive threes right at the start. Jerry Sloan now has to make adjustnts."
Will Sloan adjust his defensive setup because of those two three-pointers?
On the Jazz’s bench, veteran coach Sloan made a decision in the subsequent ga that was entirely contrary to Zhang Weiping’s prediction.
Granted, Qin Yue’s accuracy from three-point range was frightening.
But since the Jazz was a team with limited defensive resources, Sloan could only gamble that Qin Yue, who changed his offensive style, would miss those threes under Kirilenko’s strong interference.
In the first quarter, it seed Sloan’s gamble paid off.
Because Qin Yue’s additional three-point attempts in the first quarter all bounced off the rim.
However, the Jazz intentionally decreased their interior height, and with Brown further reinstating his athleticism...
resulted in the Jazz not effectively utilizing Qin Yue’s missed three-pointers to pressure the Warriors after securing the defensive rebounds and launching fast breaks.
Instead, the Warriors successfully used second chances retrieved by Brown to effectively slow down the Jazz’s fast break offense.
Moreover, as Qin Yue found his shooting touch again in the second quarter...
Kirilenko was forced to expand his defensive range, even to the extent of sticking to Qin Yue from the half-court in an attempt to prevent him from receiving passes.
However...
Unlike traditional centers who overly rely on teammates passing, Qin Yue could always receive the basketball at the high post using screens from his teammates and his wingspan advantage.
If in the low post, the defenders could continually increase the difficulty for traditional centers to receive passes through fronting or double-teaming.
Then, from ten thousand miles away on the three-point line...
Not even Kirilenko could stop Qin Yue from successfully receiving the ball in that nearly infinite space.
On the court, Qin Yue, who regained his touch, fired from beyond the arc seven tis in the second quarter and made four of them.
Qin Yue’s adept outside shooting in the first half put unprecedented pressure on Kirilenko.
Because always wary of Qin Yue’s powerful attacks in the paint...
When facing three-point opportunities obtained utilizing his personal dribble rhythm and absolute height advantage, Kirilenko’s defense clearly displayed signs of hesitation.
In one particular defensive possession, watching Qin Yue, who always managed to find the shooting angle during the offensive, Kirilenko felt that as long as he wanted to shoot, he could keep shooting right in his face.
So, after halfti, to prevent Qin Yue from continuously shooting, Kirilenko gritted his teeth and zealously guarded against Qin Yue’s outside shooting.
This "AK47" was successful in his second-half periter defense.
Because under his relentless defense, Qin Yue, who attempted two three-pointers in the third quarter both bounced off the rim, made a decisive storm-like attack on the Jazz’s interior to show respect for this top league defender.
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