One Year Left to Play

Kenny Anderson orchestrating the offense was giving him a headache. For every single offensive play, he had to rack his brains to analyze and think about exploitable areas in the opponent’s defense. The slow pace gave the opponent an advantage, allowing them to make better defensive adjustments.

Every possession required full effort. Otherwise, it was hard to even create opportunities, let alone score.

On the other hand, the Knicks had a simpler playstyle with more unsolvable options.

Alan Houston and Ewing’s shooting created great spacing. Charles Oakley maintained the threat of crashing the boards, John had precise three-point passes, and Larry Johnson had plenty of isolation opportunities.

After Larry Johnson had a few isolation plays, John and Ewing’s pick-and-roll might not be as strong as Karl Malone and John Houston Stockton, but it had solid offensive stability.

The Knicks’ offense wasn’t ferocious, but under high-intensity, slow pace, it was stable.

In the 90s, the Knicks’ investments really hit the mark. They signed Alan Houston during the off-season for 5 years at $50 million, traded for Larry Johnson, whom the Hornets didn’t want to keep, with a 7-year $67 million contract remaining, and for the 97-98 season, his salary doubled to $10 million from $5 million in the 96-97 season. Ewing was re-signed early with a contract totaling over $80 million for 5 years.

With a slow pace, utilizing the shortened three-point line for defensive advantages, and spending over $100 million close to $200 million on building a highly stable half-court offensive lineup... Iron Blood New York — the Van Gundy era has arrived!

Midway through the first quarter, with the Lakers trailing 8 to 13 by 5 points, they were the first to call a timeout!

It was torturous. Zhang Hao had scored 6 points by himself, but the entire Lakers team took 6 minutes and 2 seconds to score 8 points!

As they walked to the bench, Kenny Anderson complained to Zhang Hao, "Aix, playing against them feels like, feels like..."

For a moment, Kenny Anderson couldn’t describe the feeling. It was familiar, but he couldn’t quite recall.

Zhang Hao responded, "It’s like playing in the playoffs."

"Right!" After responding, Kenny Anderson appeared a bit despondent, as it had been many years since he made it to the playoffs. But now he definitely could! Yet with teammates like this...

Seeing Kenny Anderson’s constantly changing expressions, Zhang Hao assumed Kenny Anderson was sad about not making the playoffs for three years, and comforted him, "Boss Kenny, you’ll get used to it. From now on, you’ll lead us into the playoffs every year."

"..." Kenny Anderson wanted to say that wasn’t what he was concerned about!

Forget it, Kenny Anderson started pondering how to play next.

Zhang Hao had gone 2 for 4 on field goals, and 2 for 2 on free throws, performing well. One of the shots he missed was a tough pass, after which Kenny Anderson stopped giving Zhang Hao those passes and instead, he himself went 0 for 2.

Kenny Anderson, although feeling like smashing a pot to pieces, did somewhat follow through. However, to play freely, as per Kenny Anderson’s playstyle, there must be someone to pass the buck to. But joining a team like this, Kenny Anderson didn’t want to pass the buck casually. The point guard of a championship team in his mind should be able to solve all offensive troubles.

Moreover, he didn’t want to put the blame on his junior, keeping the habit he had from his time with the Brooklyn Nets.

With Kenny Anderson seemingly under immense pressure and anxiety, Zhang Hao sensed it.

Over the past half a quarter, Zhang Hao clearly felt that Kenny Anderson was trying too hard to be perfect. Facing the Knicks, how could one be perfect?

Might as well, like the Knicks, play to their strengths.

Just as Kenny Anderson returned to the bench, intending to first listen to what the coach had to say and clear his mind, he heard Zhang Hao beside him say, "Boss Kenny, just play as we did before. Don’t worry, if there’s truly no chance, just pass it to me like you did before."

Kenny Anderson looked up at Zhang Hao’s calm face, and at that moment, Kenny Anderson inexplicably felt so reassured.

Taking a deep breath, Kenny Anderson smiled, "Can I believe in the light?"

Zhang Hao thought of the end of the preseason when Tsuburaya Productions began promoting the upcoming "Ultraman X" airing on American Cable TV Station’s midnight block and Time Warner Cable Sports’ afternoon block in Los Angeles. A clip that became popular featured him, Mr. Zhang, saying that line before a game-winning shot, with Zhang himself doing the voiceover...

The human identity of Ultraman X was set as the Lakers’ young star Aix-Zhang... To push the Chinese and Asian markets, the NBA and Lakers had freely authorized the use of this background series.

Zhang Hao seldom showed a change in expression, shrugging his shoulders and responding in a casual tone, "Of course."

On the other side, Del Harris was preparing to remind Kenny Anderson during the official timeout that his mindset was off. He also noticed Kenny Anderson was under too much pressure. Kenny Anderson was working hard to utilize his teammates’ strengths, doing a good job. But it was evidently not enough to handle the Knicks’ defense because the crucial ball-handling, essentially Kenny Anderson’s own strength, hadn’t come into play like in the beautiful second possession’s drive and kick, which wasn’t seen again.

Of course, there wasn’t an identical opportunity later, but Kenny Anderson didn’t attempt to create similar simple and direct opportunities.

However, before Del Harris could act, he saw Zhang Hao and Kenny Anderson chatting for a few moments, and then, Kenny Anderson’s expression of anxiety disappeared...

"This damn kid! Stole my job again!"

At that moment, Del Harris felt a deep sense of crisis!

Right, there was another task to do. Barkley’s enthusiasm needed to be stirred up. Del Harris quickly sought out Barkley; he had to at least grab a job opportunity.

Then, he noticed someone else was faster!

And it was that damn kid again!

Del Harris was already within a meter of Barkley when he saw Zhang Hao move like lightning in front of him and say to Barkley, "Mr. Barkley, have you regressed to the point where you can’t even handle that Auntie?"

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