Iverson was originally a very eye-catching player. His unruly personality was much more owed than Zhang, and his opponent would definitely not let this rookie go.

For example, when he entered the NBA, he played the Bulls and made a mid-range shot and was beaten by Jordan three times in a row... But in the fourth match, Iverson got 40+, or 40+ back-to-back...

Iverson's strength, progress speed, and tough personality... are even better than Zhang Hao expected!

...

At noon, the Lakers came to Salt Lake City. Next, there was a continuous game alternating away and home games, playing against the Jazz on the 31st away game and the Jazz on the 2nd home game.

These two games are extremely important to the Lakers.

The Jazz have also played 73 games, with a record of 57 wins and 16 losses. These two games are very likely to become the key game that determines which team is the number one in the West!

Silver Fox and his coaching staff have collected the information they should have collected. After lunch at noon, the Lakers began to prepare in full swing in the afternoon.

The video was studied and the coaching team analyzed the team based on the team's strength and playing style, and the players put forward opinions and discussed them under the guidance of the coaching team...

This is already entering the playoffs mode.

I took a night off, on March 30, it was the last day of the buyout deadline before the playoffs this season.

If the player who still wants to change teams is terminated after today, even if he terminates the contract with the original team and joins the playoff level team, he will not be able to complete the playoff registration.

The Lakers also have players who want to compete for. In addition to Wilkins and Elvin Robertson, there are also some insiders who choose the Suns veteran insider Mark Bryant. This 1988 blue-collar insider, although his data is not outstanding, he has rich experience in the playoffs. He entered the NBA in 1988 and played with the Trail Blazers for many years. Last year, he failed to win the Rockets and was traded by the Rockets in the offseason. He went around to the Suns. Mark Bryant also clearly expressed his idea of ​​termination.

However, because Mark Bryant's intention to join the Lakers was too obvious, Suns coach Danny Angie stood up and made it clear that Mark Bryant had no contract spirit and firmly refused to let the Suns management and Mark Bryant end the contract early.

The Lakers' last chance to strengthen was blocked and they had to give up.

This did not affect the Lakers' preparations. Early this morning, the Lakers came to the Energy Plan Arena to prepare for two games with the Jazz tomorrow and next month on the 2nd.

It is not an isolated case that the Lakers failed to continue to strengthen. This deadline was not a popular deadline, but it was far less important than the trading deadline. Not every team could save a little like a team with a particularly bad football market like the Raptors.

Today is no different from usual. Even a buyout player has not appeared. He really wants to change teams at the last moment, and his team is willing to do so, which has been completed long ago. For example, the Nuggets and Aaron Williams reached an early termination of the contract, and the Supersonics signed Aaron Williams with a three-year contract.

A calm day passed, and at night, the news came!

And, it's explosive news!

At 8:27 pm on March 30, 1997, after 2 hours and 27 minutes of game, the 76ers defeated the Cavaliers 97-91 away.

In this game, rookie Allen Iverson made 17 of 32 shots in the game, including 4 of 10 three-pointers, 14 of 15 free throws, and 52 points, 6 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals!

Iverson led the 76ers alone to end his seven-game losing streak, with an opponent who scored 52 points, and the opponent he defeated was the Cavaliers with the lowest average points per game this season!

"Ordinary rookie" Iverson has become the ninth rookie who can win 50+ in a single game after George McCann, Wilter Chamberlain, Elkin Baylor, Rick Barry, Earl Monroe, Elvin Hayes, Kareem Jabbar and Zhang Hao!

...

Iverson's game made Jordan, who scored 13 points, 16 rebounds, 11 assists and 2 steals on the same night, lost the opportunity to make headlines again...

Having half of the NBA, Jordan feels so miserable. He plays the Knicks, he has a triple-double, the Bulls narrowly win 86-81... This can't make the headlines!

He didn't even score and just wanted to win, but he still couldn't make the headlines...

The end of the season this season is very strange. A veteran who entered the NBA 13 years ago is still the first person in the league. A sophomore high school player is now competing for the scoring champion. A "ordinary rookie" who stole the limelight with such two players at the end of the season... The key is to grab it!

But overall, Iverson and Jordan are both very good.

But another player with a high level of attention is being beaten...

Two days after preparing for the game, on March 31, the Lakers challenged the Jazz away.

After 2 hours and 51 minutes of game, although the Lakers relied on Zhang Hao's buzzer-beating mid-range shot in regular time to tie the score to 99 and dragged it into overtime, they still lost 5-10 in overtime, and finally lost to the Jazz 104-109 away, and were overtaken by the Jazz!

Although the record has been ups and downs, the Lakers are still the team with the longest time in the West this season, and were overtaken with 8 games left!

The Jazz, with 58 wins and 16 losses, topped the Western Conference, while the Lakers with 57 wins and 17 losses fell to second place.

In this game, Zhang Hao made 11 of 23 shots, including 1 of 4 three-pointers, plus 5 of 7 free throws, and scored 28 points, 10 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks, and his performance was not bad.

Barkley also had 12 points, 8 rebounds and 2 assists. Kenny Anderson's scoring performance was relatively poor. He only scored 6 points for 2 of 8 shots, but 8 assists were still good. The Lakers' overall performance was not bad.

However, O'Neal's inside play against the Jazz is a bit disappointing... Faced with the attack from the White Bears Ostag and Malone, O'Neal played 44 minutes in the game, which made Zhang Hao and Barkley play very well. This is the role he provided. The shooting percentage of 5 of 10 shots was not bad. He scored 16 points, 13 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 blocks, but 6 mistakes... This reminds people of the famous scenes of O'Neal facing Olajuwon's successive mistakes in the 1995 Finals.

However, Zhang Hao, who was unable to rush forward in the Jazz, was criticized after the game. His scoring was basically based on jump shots and he could not make it into the inside.

After playing against the Jazz, on April 1, the new month arrived. The Lakers returned to Los Angeles and rested for a night without making any adjustments. On April 2, the Lakers ushered in the Jazz challenge at home.

Today's preparation is also very simple. Although after losing the day before yesterday, yesterday I have been praising the Jazz, praising the double evil spirits, and belittling the Lakers news... I finally caught the opportunity, but I don't have to try harder. The Lakers have never won the Jazz this year... But Del Harris did not make adjustments in his style of play, but only emphasized the details.

At 6:30 pm, the Lakers' home game against the Jazz began.

The process is similar to the previous game. The game is full of hand-to-hand combat, confrontation, close-range and like a meat grinder at the basket. Stockton's defense of Kenny Anderson's scoring is very limited. The season is at this stage, and it is another game between the Lakers and the Jazz. The referee's dictation scale does not require players to test, so he directly calls the scale at the playoff level.

O'Neal's play is still normal, and he looks at the hit rate and data, and his turnover rate is still very high... But he did better than the last time in terms of defensive end and restraint tonight!

But tonight, Zhang Hao, Barkley and Wilkins performed well in mid-range and long-distance shooting!

Zhang Hao significantly increased the number of shots tonight, throwing 31 times, including 10 of 19 shots in the middle distance, and several counterattacks. He used O'Neal to restrain the tip-in and scored two three-pointers. He made 17 of 31 shots in the game, including 2 of 5 three-pointers, plus 8 of 8 free throws. With O'Neal's restraint and support, Zhang Hao played for 45 minutes, 44 points, 11 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block!

Barkley scored 18 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists, while Wilkins scored 14 points, 4 assists.

Although O'Neal did not score double-digit points in this game, he only scored 9 points, but he scored 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 3 blocks, and made 5 mistakes. However, after being humiliated by Malone's 32 points and 16 rebounds in the first game, he tried his best to help his teammates in this game... He personally couldn't do it to get the Jazz Double Towers, so he found a way to help his teammates score!

With Zhang Hao, Barkley and Wilkins scoring 76 points together; O'Neal, Zhang Hao and Jason Williams teamed up to score 36 rebounds, the Lakers revenge the Jazz 107-97!

Zhang Hao won the 11th time of the season, breaking the record of the highest number of times of the season of 40+!

...

Everyone thought the Lakers would be swept by the Jazz. Judging from the previous few matches, the Lakers were definitely at a disadvantage.

However, under the pressure of public opinion, the Jazz won the first three matches, and returned to home, the Lakers won the last game!

The Lakers' style of playing seems to have no improvement, but they play better.

The most distinctive one is that Zhang Hao is investing!

In this game, the Lakers had 26 assists in the whole game, and Zhang Hao scored 17 goals. Among these 17 goals, 12 of them were passed by teammates and scored directly.

No one expected that the Lakers' style of play would be like this, which made Zhang Hao very excited to shoot.

At the post-match press conference, Del Harris was asked about the adjustment tonight. Del Harris responded: "I read the news you wrote and said that Aix did not perform as much as he should in counterattack, so we added counterattack tonight."

The reporters didn't know whether Del Harris was scolding them or praising them...

But the Lakers' win in this game is really closely related to the counterattack score of 10 points more than the previous game.

However, after careful analysis after the game, experts found that the Lakers' victory was related to O'Neal's use of the opponent's defense in the middle and close range and defense at the basket.

The Lakers are the team with the highest scores at the close and basket this season, with 47.9 points per game in the close and basket scoring, accounting for the highest proportion in the league.

Among them, when Zhang Hao and O'Neal played at the same time, they were the only two of them who contributed almost 30 points in close range and scored at the basket in each game.

O'Neal took the ball tonight in the interior, which was actually more times than the previous game, but the mistakes were reduced by 1. Although the number of assists did not increase significantly, the probability of sending the ball without making mistakes was obviously higher than the previous game.

This gave Zhang Hao more direct reception of O'Neal's pass and shot or O'Neal's score after he scored the ball, and others attracted the number of shots to Zhang Hao after making up for defense. Of course, Zhang Hao grasped it very well. His performance of 10 of 18 shots in the middle distance was astonishing...

The Lakers and Jazz are the last time the two teams face each other in the regular season this season, with a lot of attention, and three TV stations broadcast the whole country live.

The Lakers won the last game 0-3, which was undoubtedly a hot topic. Zhang Hao scored 44 points and surpassed Jordan with 30.96 points and temporarily topped the league's first place, which was also a hot topic... But Zhang Hao also enjoyed the feeling of not being able to grab the headlines...

An hour after the Lakers and Jazz game, after two days of rest, facing the challenge of the Toronto Raptors, Iverson scored 44 points in a single game and beat Damon Stoudemire, the best outside line in 95, and led the 76ers to narrowly defeat the Raptors 98-93, winning the 18th game of the season! Only one victory was left to get rid of the top three in the league.

And the fourth-last is the Spurs.

According to unreliable gossip media, a vice president and head coach of the league team who did not want to be named bought dozens of boxes of fireworks to congratulate Iverson...

Iverson has 40+ games in 5 consecutive games. It is indeed as dazzling as it is, as it is, as it is, as it is, even Zhang Hao and Jordan have not been able to do it in their rookie season!

In Chicago, I got a three-day rest time. A player No. 23 who was waiting to play the fourth time of the season with the Heat, who was unwilling to be named, wanted to cry...

In addition to the two years of retirement, in 9 full seasons, for the first time a player surpassed his average score in the scoring list in April. For the first time, he was not at the top of the scoring list in April, but he failed to make the headlines!

Also, Iverson has 40+ 6 times in the rookie season, and it is only 1 game away from his 7 times in the second place in modern basketball, which is 40+ in a single game!

"Isn't it just retired for two years? Why does the entire NBA seem to have changed after I come back? Hill, Zhang, Iverson... Are the rookies nowadays at this level? By the way, Iverson is still the ordinary rookie you say...F..."

...

...

Compared to a player wearing No. 23 jersey, the Lakers player wearing No. 8 jersey is quite calm about Iverson's performance.

He had known that Iverson had the ability to do this, and such a famous scene really happened... He was not in a state of trouble at all, he just wanted to open a bottle of salt soda, pretending it was champagne, and he had to soak it...

After defeating the Jazz in a difficult situation, Zhang Hao deeply felt the strength of the Jazz entering its peak stage in these two games!

Taking out the players one by one, Zhang Hao felt that the Lakers could definitely beat the Jazz, but the game was not like that, there was only one ball...

With cooperation, O'Neal is difficult to deal with Malone + Osttarger in the interior, but this is also an opportunity. Judging from the situation in these two games, O'Neal also had a huge restraint on the opponent's interior. Kenny Anderson was also focused on the defense by Stockton and Hornersek, which gave him and Barkley and Wilkins more shooting opportunities.

In terms of clear advantages, both sides have...

"It depends on the on-the-spot performance, just like the Bulls and Jazz have played 6 games in the finals in two years in time and space. The gap in strength is not very big, so it depends on the on-the-spot performance, mentality, and performance of key balls...

If I remember correctly, Jordan won the championship in Game 6 of the 1998 Finals, and if the ball was not scored, the Jazz chased from 1-3 to 3-3...

You cannot give up if you have a big score at a disadvantage, and you cannot be careless if you have a big score at a big score..."

...

The record of defeating the Jazz was 58 wins and 17 losses, the same as the Jazz, but due to the disadvantage of the match and falling behind 1-3, the Lakers are still behind the Jazz and ranked second in the West.
To be continued...