Malone, who couldn’t find a good offensive rhythm in the first quarter, still couldn’t break Gan Guoyang’s defensive chains in the second quarter.
The team’s offense fell into a quagmire, with the core players unable to score in one-on-one situations, making the situation exceptionally difficult for the Jazz.
In the current NBA environment, a core player’s strong one-on-one scoring ability is an indispensable part of a strong team.
With the defensive side having the upper hand and mainly relying on man-to-man defense, high-efficiency solo plays are the key to winning in the playoffs.
Without Malone driving the solo play point, the Jazz’s offense fell into a complete standstill.
"Malone catches the ball at the baseline corner, this is his sweet spot, he spins and charges the basket, but his layup is swatted from behind by Ah Gan! Oh my, Malone still can’t score!"
"Ah Gan is playing nearly perfect on defense, deliberately dodging Malone’s impact, allowing him into the Three Second Zone and then blocking his layup!"
Bill Walton obviously understands Gan Guoyang’s defensive habits well, luring opponents in before using his height and wingspan advantage to block their shots.
Malone at the zero-degree angle was originally his signature solo move, a surefire trick.
If the opponent sticks close, he breaks through to attack the basket directly.
If the opponent backs off to guard against the breakthrough, he pulls up for a high-percentage mid-range shot from the zero-degree angle.
During the regular season, even when Gan Guoyang was guarding him at this spot, he couldn’t always stop Malone.
Because in the regular season, Gan Guoyang often let shooters try their luck, and wouldn’t let Malone charge to the basket.
But the playoffs are different. Going all out, Gan Guoyang set a trap for Malone, first allowing then blocking, making Malone’s layups fruitless.
After regaining ball possession, the Trail Blazers launched a fast break; Gan Guoyang started directly from the backcourt, catching a long pass from Chris Mullin.
Gan Guoyang stormed down the court like a football running back, caught the ball, and laid it in, as the Jazz’s defensive line completely lost its formation and intensity.
The lead continued to widen. As Malone repeatedly missed, Stockton tried to break the stalemate with personal offense like last season.
But Brellock’s defense was much tougher than Van Exel’s; his one-on-one defense was very tight, and he’d fight through every pick, making it tough for Stockton to get open shots.
Hornersek managed to hit two shots, but his scoring was just a drop in the bucket and couldn’t change the situation.
Without Malone scoring, the Jazz had little hope of victory.
Malone’s first points of the game came in the eighth minute of the second quarter when he finally drew a defensive foul from Gan Guoyang in a solo breakthrough.
The referee called a block on Gan Guoyang, and with a bit of acting, Malone got a trip to the free throw line, slowly sinking both shots to get his first points of the game.
Gan Guoyang was quite unhappy with the referee’s call, muttering during Malone’s free throws: "Without the refs, you wouldn’t score tonight, Karl."
"Make sure to thank the ref well, he took pity on you and gave you two free throws, make the most of it."
Even as the Trail Blazers led by more than 15 points, Gan Guoyang didn’t relax for a second, fighting for every possession.
He knew that the Jazz were a crafty, sly team.
If you give them even a sliver of a chance, especially in the first half, they would definitely try to hold on and find a way to turn the game around.
So after Malone made his free throws, Gan Guoyang immediately attacked the basket on the offensive end, scoring consecutively.
A successful layup followed by a 2+1 play, adding 5 points to further extend the lead.
47:29, the Trail Blazers led the Jazz by 18 points at the half.
The Jazz couldn’t even manage 30 points by halftime, and this wasn’t the first time in the playoffs.
In the previous round against the Supersonics, although the Jazz won the series 4-2, they were crushed 62-91 in the third game.
This is typical of the Jazz—they can go completely cold in certain games, with their offense performing terribly, followed closely by their defense being overwhelmed by the opponent’s quick attack.
Such a significant flaw makes it difficult for the Jazz to become a championship team unless they have extraordinary luck and face even worse opponents.
In fact, the late ’90s NBA environment was quite favorable for the Jazz, with major powerhouses declining and new stars yet to rise.
Unfortunately, in the 1997 and 1998 windows, they ran into Michael Jordan and Ah Gan.
In the third quarter, after halftime adjustments, the Jazz’s offense showed no improvement—this was identical to the third game of the previous round against the Supersonics when they scored only 9 points in the third quarter.
In this game against the Trail Blazers, it was impossible for Malone to figure out how to handle Ah Gan’s defense after just a 15-minute break, so the Jazz resorted to increasing pick-and-rolls in an attempt to boost their backcourt offense.
But with Stockton and Hornersek under the Trail Blazers’ tough one-on-one defense, their shots kept missing.
Without Malone as a tactical focal point, the aging backcourt dual guns found it too difficult to rely on personal skills.
Gan Guoyang was like adhesive on Malone, but this did leave Ostertag and Brian Russell with some chances to attack the basket.
However, the two could only provide fragmented offensive support, especially Russell, who as a small forward, couldn’t attack the Trail Blazers’ weakest spots, leaving the Jazz stuck in a hopeless scoring drought.