One Year Left to Play

to 6, the Lakers lead by 4 points!

Seeing Grant Hill’s emotions getting off track, after Joe Dumars pushed past half court, the Pistons’ head coach Doug Collins called a timeout!

Looking at Grant Hill walking back and then looking over at Zhang Hao heading back to the bench.

Doug Collins said to the identical-looking man next to him: "Scott, your good student has improved again, and we saw it with our own eyes. If we had picked him and teamed him up with Grant..."

"Blame me? Scott Collins rolled his eyes at his brother and said, "If Alan hadn’t left, we really would’ve had a chance to challenge the Bulls, but he left, and the owner had no money for salaries."

"Do you think we’ll have a chance in ’98?"

"I don’t know. Aix is polite and respects me as his teacher, but it’s hard to guess what he’s thinking."

The players came back, and Doug Collins stopped the conversation to make some adjustments.

After thinking for a moment, Doug Collins made a personnel adjustment...

Del Harris sent in George Lynch to replace Barkley, Zhang Hao returned to the power forward position, and Kenny Anderson, O’Neal, and Doug Christie also stayed on.

When Zhang Hao went on the court, he saw Rick Mahon, the most representative figure of the Bad Boys era, returning to the Pistons and replacing Ratliff... this is a bit early.

Moreover, can the Pistons even make use of him now?

Barkley + O’Neal, is Rick Mahon not afraid of getting beaten if he tries anything? Besides, Rick Mahon and Barkley have a good relationship, having been teammates. They even chatted warmly before the game. Now the Pistons are also trying hard to eliminate the negative image of the Bad Boys era, wanting to sell more live games with Grant Hill leading. There’s no worry about ticket sales, but their ticket price increase is far less than other teams with popular stars, and the local economy is really too bleak.

Under such circumstances, sending out Rick Mahon, who is already 38, returned to the Pistons with a 2-year 880,000 US Dollar retirement contract, and in the first month of competition only appeared in exactly 5 games... Zhang Hao suddenly realized!

After the timeout, the Pistons went on offense, Zhang Hao moved in closely, following Edith Soper.

Bringing on George Lynch, Del Harris’s purpose is to reduce Zhang Hao’s consumption in defending on the perimeter alone.

The Pistons played a tactic, with high-low post passing cooperation, finally passing to the weak side sideline in Lynch Hunt’s hands, and Lynch Hunt made the three-pointer from the right sideline.

Generally speaking, unless the coach is very lousy, coming back from a timeout in the first quarter, the first attack is really hard to defend.

The confrontation hasn’t really started yet, the hand feel is not greatly affected, the stamina is still sufficient, the score difference is usually not too big, and the mind is still clear...

Zhang Hao pulled back and failed to grab the rebound. When he picked the ball up and walked out of the baseline, he suddenly said to the Big Fatty beside him: "Mr. O’Neal, could you practice free throws?"

O’Neal didn’t react, and Zhang Hao walked out of bounds and passed the ball to Kenny Anderson, then ran forward.

O’Neal was puzzled, knowing he’s bad at free throws. He was annoyed too, but really didn’t want to practice...

But, when Zhang Hao arranged training before, he only mentioned for him to practice free throws, but he didn’t, and Zhang Hao didn’t say anything either.

Why this time?

O’Neal ran to the frontcourt in confusion, maintained a threat in the left side of the three-second zone, and Zhang Hao pulled out to the left 45-degree angle on the three-point line at the top arc position, maintaining penetration threat against Grant Hill.

Having enjoyed a little over half a quarter of the dream-like teammates’ efforts, it was finally time for Kenny Anderson to take over, using his crossover skills that are no less than Grant Hill’s to cut past Lynch Hunt.

Seeing this scene, Zhang Hao thought of the tough times Van Exel had last year battling Lynch Hunt and Joe Dumars... indeed Van Exel’s scoring explosiveness is stronger, but Kenny Anderson is steady!

Even if Van Exel used all his strength, he couldn’t average 20 points per game, but if Kenny Anderson were leading the team alone, he could do it!

Just as Kenny Anderson went past Lynch Hunt and broke to mid-range, while other Lakers players started moving with the familiar running routes, suddenly, the referee’s whistle blew!

O’Neal instantly understood the meaning behind Zhang Hao’s earlier words.

For Zhang Hao to judge the opponent’s tactical intent, O’Neal wasn’t surprised at all. If one day Zhang Hao due to injury or suspension donned a suit to enter the court and squeezed the old fox to the assistant coach position, he wouldn’t be surprised.

The key was Zhang Hao anticipated the opponent’s tactical intention, which was the Hack-a-Shaq tactic!

Zhang Hao had the audacity to remind him to practice free throws!

O’Neal had just been grabbed by Rick Mahon, the whistle blew, and Rick Mahon was called for a foul!

The Lakers’ Shaq, faced the Hack-a-Shaq tactic for the first time, and it’s the first quarter, too!

Feeling O’Neal’s sorrowful gaze, Zhang Hao turned and ran out of bounds to make a throw-in.

The Lakers continued to attack, originally thinking the opponent would continue using Rick Mahon, who had appeared just 6 times since the start of the season, totaling only 40 minutes in those 5 appearances, as a retirement player to keep hacking Shaq alive.

But they didn’t...

The Pistons were just making a tactical foul to disrupt the Lakers’ offensive rhythm!

Kenny Anderson’s breakthrough this time was clearly not as patient as the last, the strong drive after the crossover didn’t successfully shake off Lynch Hunt, and the mid-range shot was disrupted!

Kenny Anderson’s mid-range shot missed, fortunately, O’Neal grabbed the offensive rebound.

Rick Mahon is truly a tough guy, pressing his face against O’Neal’s arm when O’Neal was landing and about to get up with the ball. As O’Neal lifted his elbow, he was likely to be called for an elbow foul.

O’Neal seems rough, but actually plays quite finely, didn’t take the bait, and smashed the ball towards Zhang Hao, who actively ran to get an open shot, as if wanting to smash Zhang Hao to death... but, before Zhang Hao could catch the ball, the referee’s whistle sounded again, and O’Neal’s arm got grabbed!

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