One Year Left to Play

Even receiving the ball is difficult for Larry Johnson!

Starks immediately adjusted his tactics, making a gesture to signal Alan Houston to take the lead in offense.

With the temporary change in plans, the New York Knicks struggled to coordinate on offense; Buck Williams didn’t execute the off-ball screen well, and Alan Houston was in a poor position when he got the ball. Kenny Anderson’s help defense was in place, and Fisher successfully navigated the screen and teamed up with Kenny Anderson and Barkley to trap Alan Houston. Alan Houston’s fadeaway jumper just grazed the front of the rim!

Zhang Hao quickly pulled back after his teammates executed the trap and snatched the defensive rebound ahead of Larry Johnson.

Without hesitation, this was a rare opportunity; Zhang Hao pushed the counterattack directly!

Zhang Hao’s ball-handling and fast break seems almost unchanged from before he gained weight and slowed down due to the significant improvement in dribbling.

That’s not important. What’s important is that since all four teammates were positioned below the elbow, Zhang Hao triggered "Single Rider" after just two steps flying out!

Buck Williams and Larry Johnson, in the same line as Zhang Hao, could only watch as he dashed out like a comet.

Starks, who retreated to center court first, turned around and saw Zhang Hao had already charged at him, choosing to step aside...

How do you block that?

Moreover, after Zhang Hao passed Starks, he accelerated again, making Starks feel as if Zhang Hao had intended to crush him!

Zhang Hao charged into the opponent’s interior and slammed the ball into the basket with both hands!

From the perspective of the fans on site: the tallest player on the court completed the fast break dunk with the fastest speed after grabbing the rebound single-handedly!

The opportunity was seized! After the dunk, Zhang Hao quietly retreated on defense.

The Lakers’ spirits were lifted! Such a counterattack was an excellent dunk, and "Dunk Master" was triggered.

It was still the New York Knicks on the offense, seemingly affected by Zhang Hao’s terrifying counterattack, or perhaps because the main shot point had shifted to a shooter, they were trying to execute a complete play.

However, Fisher is still just a fish fry, and quite agile, his speed is impressive at 90, relentlessly chasing after Alan Houston. He is given no room despite being alone on defense, but his awareness to defend off-ball was even more outstanding than Zhang Hao anticipated. In the original timeline, Fisher secured a starting position in the NBA before Kobe under Del Harris, overtaking Van Exel to the bench; there is a reason behind this!

Korcy performed better than expected; Barkley was actively helping at close range, and Zhang Hao covered Starks’ isolation... Ultimately, the Lakers blocked the good shot opportunity the New York Knicks sought; Starks’ forced attack on Zhang Hao in close quarters got blocked down by Zhang Hao with one strong hand, Barkley retrieved the defensive rebound.

Defended!

This time, the New York Knicks retreated incredibly fast; as Starks received the ball back and began his aggressive attack, other Knicks players had already started retreating, clearly prepared for Zhang Hao’s fierce counterattack and choosing to give up on offensive rebounds for retreat defense decisively.

In their half-court setup, the Lakers were now more patient, feeling as if they could block the best opportunities for the New York Knicks just like how the Knicks could always seize the opportunity to block the Lakers’ best chances earlier in the quarter.

It was accomplished through personnel adjustments!

Del Harris’s ability to make personnel adjustments once again earned the trust of the players.

No one could go as far as playing brilliantly even when used as an emergency coach; when in use, it’s genuinely impressive.

So on the offensive end, they had to perform well too. Kenny Anderson decided; along with Barkley’s isolation to attack, if it doesn’t work out, they’ll lay it off to Zhang Hao.

When the New York Knicks had no apparent intention of trapping Barkley upon receiving the ball, Kenny Anderson passed it to Barkley. Barkley pivoted, pushed Buck Williams back a step, forcefully sprinted some distance towards the other side of the basket, and made a backhand layup before Buck Williams could defend in place, scoring successfully.

High-quality ingredients often require the simplest... no, mighty players in playoff-level games should use the simplest methods to best avoid the opponent’s team defense impact.

The premise is being strong enough!

And Barkley is truly strong!

Barkley actually completed a pivot, pushing away Buck Williams with a short-distance drive and a backhand layup in a low post!

Buck Williams’s defense mainly relies on skill and hustle, similar to Korcy, but Barkley demonstrated with his strength that he was simply stronger than Larry Johnson and found a breakthrough point directly.

With the New York Knicks on the offense, Larry Johnson tried the same method as Barkley, but there was still a gap in strength compared to Barkley. When pushing aside Korcy, he raised his elbow. It wasn’t terribly apparent, but Korcy, the seasoned veteran who would have been Finals MVP in 1990 had the Blazers won, had too much experience and fell immediately, exposing Larry Johnson’s elbow raising action.

This deserves a whistle; the referee blows his whistle; Larry Johnson was called for charging!

This round can be counted as a learning session from Barkley for Larry Johnson, who attempted to imitate but couldn’t succeed!

This is purely a gap in physical attributes, it’s brutally real, but that’s basketball.

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