One Year Left to Play

On the Lakers’ side, O’Neal made 14 of 23 field goals, along with 6 of 10 free throws, exploding for 34 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. Zhang Hao made 12 of 23 field goals, including 3 of 7 three-pointers, and 5 of 5 free throws. His shooting stability drove both the Warriors and O’Neal crazy, as he scored 32 points, 6 rebounds, 3 assists, and 1 block.

The two together contributed 66 points, almost helping the Lakers to win the game, but were tied at the last moment.

In the final moments, Del Harris simply didn’t call a timeout, letting the players handle it themselves.

At the critical moment, the Magician, knowing Zhang Hao would be double-teamed, chose to pass the ball to Byron Scott, who had been 0 for 4 the whole game. Byron Scott made his last three-point shot, winning the game 112 to 109 for the Lakers against the Warriors, narrowly avoiding consecutive losses!

...

Narrowly winning, victory is the best way to cover up conflicts.

After playing the Warriors, the Lakers returned to their home court to face the Utah Jazz.

This time, the Magician emphasized the importance of this game before the match. O’Neal managed to calm his competitive mentality, and in the back-to-back game against the Utah Jazz that night, the Lakers played patiently and worked hard.

However, despite their efforts, their teamwork was not quite there. It was the last game of five in four days, and their current cooperation wasn’t as strong as the Jazz, who were at their peak, and they were beaten by them!

Despite O’Neal hitting 11 of 24 shots and scoring 26 points by making 4 of 10 free throws, Zhang Hao scored 20 points with 6 of 12 shots, including two three-pointers, and 6 of 6 free throws. Kenny Anderson also performed with 16 points and 11 assists.

But on the Jazz’s side, Malone made 14 of 21 shots, scoring 37 points with 9 of 11 free throws. Stockton had 16 points and 13 assists; Horace scored 21 points; and Ostertag demonstrated extraordinary talent in defending O’Neal, limiting his solo plays.

The Lakers suffered a devastating 113 to 97 loss to the Utah Jazz, their third loss of the season!

With 9 wins and 3 losses, the Lakers temporarily ranked second in the West due to the Supersonics’ loss, only to be caught up by them again.

Losing to the Jazz, who were first in the West with a 10-1 start, was understandable.

But after a night’s rest post-Jazz game, on November 22, the Lakers played at home against the Rockets, narrowly losing 85 to 90, and experiencing their second consecutive defeat. After the game, conflicts erupted!

...

In the entire game against the Rockets, O’Neal was frustrated, requesting the ball relentlessly and receiving it 20 times, successfully taking 14 shots. Though his solo effort with 8 of 14 shots was decent and included grabbing 14 rebounds, with 6 being offensive, making 2 of 4 attempts, he showed 10 of 18 shooting performance, coupled with 3 of 5 free throws, earning 23 points, 14 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks. However, he committed 6 turnovers in solo plays, totaling 8 turnovers that felt reminiscent of the 1995 finals, where O’Neal averaged 5.3 turnovers per game against Olajuwon.

After the game, O’Neal shouted at Zhang Hao, "Don’t you know how to pass the ball more? You took the last two shots and missed them both! Can you stop with those damn threes? Coward!"

Although he missed, Zhang Hao felt guilty but firmly believed he should have taken the shots. Facing the furious and embarrassed O’Neal, Zhang Hao, despite his dissatisfaction, maintained a calm expression: "I made 5 of 7 three-pointers earlier, so I should have taken those last two threes. If you hadn’t made so many mistakes against Divac and Olajuwon, we wouldn’t have scored only 85 points. Also, I missed, couldn’t you have grabbed the rebound?"

O’Neal, furious, laughed, "Are you saying it’s my fault we lost?"

Zhang Hao nodded seriously, "Yes, before you came, I had never lost in consecutive games."

That statement hit hard!

When O’Neal and Zhang Hao began arguing, their teammates panicked. Just as the Magician was about to intervene, Zhang Hao unleashed a strategically sweeping blow.

It was heart-wrenching!

The Rockets, still celebrating their victory, were upbeat. Divac was thrilled with his 23 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals, while Olajuwon’s 18 points, 12 rebounds, 2 steals, and 3 blocks effectively targeted O’Neal. Despite O’Neal’s 10 of 18 shooting and the rebounding difficulty, they slowed the pace, as the Lakers took only 71 shots, half of which were taken by Zhang Hao and O’Neal, locking the Lakers down.

Little did they expect the opposing young stars would have internal strife!

The disappointed fans initially prepared to leave but paused to watch the argument.

O’Neal’s ability to mess around was clearly stronger than the Magician anticipated.

Although angered by Zhang Hao’s words, O’Neal had a new angle, "Why don’t you handle them yourself, and leave the inside to me!"

"If I could handle them inside, why would we need you?"

This...

O’Neal was caught off guard by Zhang Hao’s response, and other Lakers players, trying to figure out how to mediate, were also surprised, feeling something was off.

Zhang Hao remained calm, unfazed by the loss and argument, speaking, "I’m not arguing to create hostility between us. I want us to discuss how to solve the problem. The issue we’re against is losing. I believe with you, Mr. Barkley, Mr. Magician, Boss Kenny, Doug, Mr. Scott, Mr. Xiao, George... we should not lose to lower-ranked teams."

Suddenly, the debate returned to a normal discussion!

The Lakers players watched the King of Messing Around, O’Neal, left speechless, amazed yet unsurprised.

This is the Zhang Hao they know! Their leader!

The Rockets players who came to watch were also amazed that Zhang Hao, while initially launching a strike, managed to stabilize the situation.

However, the adjectives about the Rockets were excessive!

Okay, having beaten the Lakers, they were only 4-8, so Olajuwon chose silence.

Then, just as O’Neal was about to drop a harsh remark and retreat to plan his next argument, Zhang Hao spoke again—

"I may not know how a center should play, but Mr. O’Neal... no one understands better than I do how you should play!"

This statement, heard by others, sounded as if Zhang Hao had invested a lot of time and effort in studying O’Neal, figuring out how best to leverage his abilities.

Moreover, the teammates felt there was nothing wrong with this, as Zhang Hao indeed had the talent and capacity to become a player like Russell, Lanny Wilkens, or Larry Bird!

As O’Neal found himself speechless and others admired Zhang Hao’s handling of O’Neal’s challenging argument, a message suddenly appeared before Zhang Hao’s eyes!

"Specially signed player Zhang Hao expertly handled the tricky Shaq O’Neal’s argument, delivering a powerful sensory impact on his teammates and leaving a deeper impression on the top 50 superstars of other teams. Due to Zhang Hao’s bold declaration at the end of the debate, the task: King of Understanding triggered..."

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!