In the past, it was always the Utah Jazz using aggressive fouls and confrontations to disrupt their opponents’ rhythm.

Not only did they not feel that this was wrong, but they felt it was an honor and a display of toughness.

Opponents couldn’t understand them; teams capable of defeating them relied on skill, calm responses, more accurate shooting... and other quite conventional methods to beat the Jazz.

Generally speaking, as opponents, they inherently resented the Jazz’s behavior.

Just like the Bad Boys era, opponents all thought about how to beat them from a strength perspective; no one wanted to counter them with violence.

The direct reason is—there are bullies on the other side.

The members of the Bad Boys don’t need much explanation, and Malone of the Jazz is a notorious bully, with many memorable malicious foul clips.

But the Lakers chose to approach it from a different angle, not considering themselves as retaliating with violence, but as Zhang Hao said—they’re delivering justice!

Top-tier teams’ defensive players are keen to defend against Malone because curtailing Malone is equivalent to crippling half of the Jazz.

But there are only a few top-tier teams, and even a team like the Spurs, David Robinson is unwilling to defend Malone or even to match up against him.

For stars of not-so-strong teams, they can’t win the championship anyway, and they don’t need to worry about playoff matchups. Making the playoffs would be great; losing a couple of regular-season games is okay—preserving life is more important. That’s the approach most teams’ players take when facing notorious teams.

But tonight, since Zhang Hao’s aggressive defense, the Lakers players have been eagerly and assertively "delivering justice."

They believe their aggressive movements are not retaliating with violence but enforcing their justice!

This has left the Jazz quite dumbfounded...

Even Malone had never encountered such a situation; back in the Bad Boys era, he had faced the Pistons quite a few times, 17 matchups between the Jazz and Pistons in that era with evenly split outcomes and hardly any significant confrontations—barely even minor disputes because both sides feared each other.

Even the Bad Boys dared not deal with him this way, yet the Lakers dared!

This made Malone wonder whether he should go through with his plans for a malicious foul.

Seeing the Lakers’ stance, he believes that as soon as he moves his elbow, the Lakers would dare to gang up on him!

Malone isn’t afraid of fighting, but it depends on who the opponent is and when.

In mid-season at this stage, at most, it’s just a regular-season game outcome; the opponent is the Lakers, a team that seems to be playing well in the regular season, but that’s about it.

All Jazz players perceive themselves as the championship contender tiger but facing the Lakers turned vicious dogs in pursuit of the crown—the Lakers become a pack of vicious dogs.

In such a situation, it makes Malone and the Jazz players hesitant to make big moves on defense.

Causing a conflict, really fighting, something truly happens, they will undoubtedly suffer more!

The older one gets in the arena, the smaller the guts—not that they’ve lost courage but they have more concerns.

Malone starts to fear the Lakers’ crazy frenzy, and the Jazz players have been affected. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚

Consequently, from the game scene, the Lakers start to hold the advantage! The score also evidences this!

In the latter half of the third quarter, Zhang Hao’s baseline cut and mid-range turnaround fadeaway scored, the Lakers lead the Jazz by 4 points, 67 to 63!

The shot attempts are decreasing, they were already fewer at the start, and when the Lakers wanted to focus the offense around him, his shot attempts were restricted by the opponent, many shots had to be forced through tactical errors, and from the last 3 minutes of the first quarter until now, Zhang Hao’s shooting frequency had been declining.

Especially after starting the third quarter with that big foul and igniting the Lakers’ "justice enforcement" flame, his defense encounters became tighter, however, he felt the opponent’s movements weren’t as aggressive anymore.

On the contrary, it was the Lakers whose actions became increasingly aggressive!

Nonetheless, the more so, Zhang Hao cherished every shot opportunity more, focusing intensely each time... His least lacking trait is focus!

It’s the Jazz’s offense again, Malone’s pick-and-roll received the ball, faced Zhang Hao’s defense, and his fadeaway shot clanked!

In the past more than half of the quarter, from mid-range, Zhang Hao, the Magician, reserve Donyell Marshall, and Jason Williams fiercely confronted Malone; as Malone approached the basket, Campbell brusquely engaged him, fouling didn’t matter, they just wanted to confront Malone and wear down his shooting touch.

Malone missed the shot, Campbell blocked Spencer, Donyell Marshall passed to Van Exel, and Zhang Hao initiated the fast break!

Malone’s elbow was raised but never swung...

The Jazz’s outside was prepared to retreat defensively long ago, since the first mid-third quarter fast break Zhang Hao executed while the Jazz missed, they have been defending fiercely against Zhang Hao’s break.

Van Exel quickly advanced himself, passed to the following-up George Lynch, George Lynch cut in for a layup and scored!

to 63, the Lakers lead by more than 5 points for the first time tonight!

Sometimes, when accustomed to one situation, another appears, especially one that seems "cowardly," it can become a significant blow to a team’s morale.