One Year Left to Play

Zhang Hao played 21 minutes in the first three quarters, substituted in the middle of the third. He shot 15 times, hit 11, including 2 for 2 from three-point line, and 6 for 6 on free throws, effortlessly scoring 30 points, 6 rebounds, 1 assist, and 3 blocks before clocking out.

Finally, with Zhang Hao’s 30 points, Kenny Anderson’s 12 points and 7 assists, Magician’s 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists... the Lakers had six players scoring in double figures. They slaughtered the Spurs 119 to 88, improving their record to 7 wins and 1 loss!

Zhang Hao observed the Spurs’ rotation, allowing the 37-year-old Wilkins to play 41 minutes, while Avery Johnson, Fulong Maxwell, and Sean Elliott’s starting time during David Robinson’s era was all below 30 minutes. Instead, players whose names are hardly recognized got more playing time than the starters.

He looked at Greg Popovich, the successor of the resigned Bobo Hill due to David Robinson’s injury, now the Spurs vice president and interim head coach...

This tanking strategy, not hiding it at all!

However, it seems somewhat decisive. Indeed, Zhang Hao also believes hesitating will lead to chaos. Wilkins is in great shape, given his ability rated at 83, plus Elliott who has an 86-rated All-Star level ability, the Spurs might win about 30 games, but it would be meaningless. With David Robinson’s solid power, the team could achieve 60 wins, but with him out, keeping dignity is completely pointless.

Instead, from the Spurs, Zhang Hao felt the determination of a team hoping to acquire Duncan...

....

....

After finishing two consecutive matches in Texas, the Lakers returned to Los Angeles, and the schedule remained tight, with as many as 17 games in November.

Upon arriving in Los Angeles, they immediately returned to the Time Warner Training Center to hold a tactical meeting.

Del Harris started by saying, "Rest well today and tomorrow, we won’t be training..."

Zhang Hao and his teammates understood why; up next, there will be four games in five days!

Five days, four games with home-away-away-home setup, starting at home against the Phoenix Suns, then away for a back-to-back against the Clippers, then away against the Warriors, and finally back home for a back-to-back against the Utah Jazz.

Before the season started, when Zhang Hao saw that December and January had only 14 games each, he thought playing more in November would be good, making the most while the energy is high, and it would be more comfortable by mid-season.

But when the time truly came for four games in five days, it was really frustrating.

In the tactical meeting, Del Harris thoroughly analyzed the upcoming four opponents. Finally, he announced some news, "Shaq will be back after these two days of rest!"

This news was like a shot of adrenaline, getting Zhang Hao and his teammates very excited.

Finally, he was going to team up with O’Neal!

It’s just Zhang Hao felt that letting O’Neal return during four games in five days might be...

"Forget it, forget it, this year there’s no saying about resting core players afraid of injuries or not playing back-to-back. O’Neal shouldn’t be so delicate, right."

O’Neal’s excitement was written all over his face. Watching Zhang Hao and Kenny Anderson shine at the start of the season while people dubbed him a "glass man," he was utterly envious!

Hope the team loses... that’s impossible. O’Neal is also a competitor; however, when the team won without him, it really felt like how last season when Anfernee Hardaway led the team to 13 wins and 3 losses at the start, he felt marginalized, and some media even said the Lakers were almost the same with or without him.

If that’s the case, coming back and winning together, is that not a solution?

....

During one and a half days of rest, Zhang Hao thought about how to better coordinate with O’Neal, and the preparation time flew by. Finally, November 16 arrived, marking O’Neal’s return!

Finally, the Lakers’ "Lakers-All-Star-Starts" ensemble would make its debut, attracting tremendous attention. Time Warner Cable Sports announced first that they would be broadcasting this game, and the American Cable TV Station along with its CBC branch would also be airing the Lakers-Suns game across the North American region.

Following the principle that sometimes when time is short, it’s better to go straightforward and not make overly complex preparations, Del Harris began arranging a simple coordination training only this morning.

During preparation, the Lakers weren’t at all nervous, just excited!

Other Lakers players were beyond ecstatic just seeing five players who had been All-Star starters stand together for interviews, especially Korcy, who came just for this opportunity, almost willing to kneel and call them gods.

At 6:30 PM, a half-hour before the game began, Time Warner Cable Sports kicked off the broadcast, showcasing sibling network enthusiasm with blatant coverage!

The American Cable TV Station showed no courtesy towards their parent company’s NBA team, the Knicks, by declaring O’Neal would become the number one center in Los Angeles...

Under heavy promotion, the game arrived as scheduled, and by 6:43 PM, after the visiting team finished entering, the Great Western Forum was in a frenzy!

Tonight’s Lakers lineup had something special, the submitted starting list included Doug Christie, but Doug Christie ran with the backup players to stand at the player tunnel entrance during entry.

When the onsite DJ called "the world’s strongest center," as O’Neal appeared illuminated by the spotlight at the tunnel entrance, the scene reached explosive excitement!

Center! The Lakers’ tradition!

Since 10 years ago, when Jabbar, aged 39, made his last All-NBA First Team appearance in the 85-86 season, for 10 seasons the Lakers hadn’t had a best-team-level center nor a player who could vie as the league’s best center, and now they welcomed O’Neal!

Nevertheless, Lakers fans haven’t forgotten the old for the new. When Zhang Hao came out second, the crowd erupted in cheerful screams of such intensity it made O’Neal quite jealous.

But forget it, he earned the team’s second most spotlighted position!

Then Barkley, Kenny Anderson came out, the cheers never stopped, though slightly toned down.

Finally, when Magician came out for the headliner, the Lakers’ five titans stood together under the spotlight...

On the other side, Kidd looked at the exaggerated lineup across from him, listening to the crowd’s insane cheers.

What’s the point of playing against this?

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