One Year Left to Play

Jerome Williams, looking like a street punk, stepped up to the free throw line and got lucky, he made the shot.

On O’Neal’s side, he was doing alright today, having made 3 out of 5 free throws before, and this time he sank 1 out of 2.

Well, it’s like we did it for nothing!

With the offensive and defensive transition, Joe Dumars scored two points in a one-on-one against Brian Shaw. Jerome Williams was already ready to foul again, and with his foul from the last play, the Pistons had committed three fouls in 6 minutes and 2 seconds of the second quarter. But at this moment, the Lakers called a timeout!

Leading by 14 points with a score of 53 to 39, the Lakers called a proactive timeout.

After the official timeout, the Lakers sent in a lineup of Zhang Hao, Kenny Anderson, Byron Scott, Brian Shaw, and Barkley.

At this point, the Pistons only then realized they mistakenly thought their "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic was effective, forcing the Lakers to bench O’Neal. Actually, the Lakers never planned on using O’Neal like how he did solo plays with the Magic; they just let him pound away without caring about his stats. Whenever the Hack-a-Shaq tactic appeared, they simply benched O’Neal.

This left the Pistons players feeling incredulous—was this really how the Lakers used the strongest center of the middle generation?

The Pistons players all looked at O’Neal, who was gritting his teeth, glaring at the incoming Zhang Hao...

Isn’t this worrying about internal conflict?

And isn’t hiding it at all, right!

After the second quarter began, it was obvious that the Lakers’ strength with or without O’Neal on the court was markedly different.

With O’Neal on the court, the rim protection was better. His size and athletic ability could largely offset the issue of insufficient close-range defense, and with O’Neal present, the Lakers’ second-chance opportunities were more effective. O’Neal himself was no longer as actively rebounding as he was during those frightful games against the SuperSonics where he averaged four double-doubles in five games, leaving a deep impression on opponents, allowing George Lynch and Jason Williams to more easily grab offensive rebounds. The Pistons’ players’ attention was all on O’Neal.

Thus, in the first half of the second quarter, when Zhang Hao and Barkley were absent, the Lakers were able to widen the gap more smoothly than in the latter half of the first quarter.

The players on the court could feel it quite clearly.

Zhang Hao was well aware of this, even if O’Neal was not aggressively playing solo or cooperating much; such a strong rim protector and immense offensive threat, who could also get into fast breaks and pass in transition, was better than any rim-protecting blue-collar center. When O’Neal rested, they definitely lost strength.

But what could anyone do?

He and Kenny Anderson could only work hard to lead their teammates in scoring.

The Pistons couldn’t quite figure out what bizarre thing was happening with the Lakers, but they could see they had a chance!

Tonight, the Lakers’ three shooters performed superbly: James Robinson, Brian Shaw, and Byron Scott scored five three-pointers, and when O’Neal was on the court running fast breaks, the Pistons were totally helpless.

Now the situation was that they had used the Hack-a-Shaq tactic to get O’Neal off the court.

A quarter and a half had been played, and with the Lakers’ unexpected all-out attack, the Pistons’ coaching staff and players had gotten over the initial phase of being bewildered.

Defending the Lakers’ offense was difficult; Zhang Hao could even fake a move from the perimeter and break past. Grant Hill was now guarding Zhang Hao closely outside the three-point line, willing to be beaten directly just to prevent Zhang Hao from gaining acceleration space.

Unless they increased intensity, but it wasn’t a high-intensity game from the start, and increasing intensity mid-game would probably invite stricter refereeing, except at a crucial end-game moment.

That being the case, the Pistons also opted to play offense!

Grant Hill, with Joe Dumars, Michael Curry, Jerome Williams, and Edith Soper, went head-to-head with the Lakers!

Grant Hill faced the heaviest defense, feeling that the opposition valued him more than other strong teams did!

The triple-team treatment inside was a bit excessive, even during turnaround chances in mid-range it was a double-team, yet Grant Hill couldn’t fully grasp it; he couldn’t always score on one-on-three plays or during turnaround jump shots. Their Brian Shaw’s defense was good too... anyway, Grant Hill made good use of this.

Grant Hill’s timely passing allowed the Pistons to shoot well even though they couldn’t reduce the lead in the last five-plus minutes of the first half!

Entering the third quarter, the Lakers were looking to close out the game in this quarter, but they didn’t succeed. Not only did they fail, but the Pistons also narrowed the gap to five points, having an impressive quarter of 34 to 25; at 88 to 93, the Pistons closed the quarter behind by five!

The Pistons didn’t continue the Hack-a-Shaq on O’Neal in this quarter; O’Neal was 4 out of 7 in free throws in the first half, not bad. The key was their own offensive rhythm was good, and the Hack-a-Shaq tactic had been around long enough; there’s a pattern: championship contending teams use it less, and teams with good offensive rhythm generally don’t use it because Hack-a-Shaq not only disrupts the Lakers’ offensive rhythm, but also breaks the offensive rhythm of the team using it.

Missing the defense phase affects everyone significantly; it requires adjustments in rhythm, with continuous Hack-a-Shaq, it feels like it’s the same play over and over again; with transitions, there’s a sense of "starting the offense anew".

At the end of three quarters, Grant Hill, who had played for 32 minutes, scored 9 points, 8 rebounds, 11 assists, and 2 steals, achieving near triple-double stats!

After playing 18 minutes in the first half and over nine minutes in the third quarter, Zhang Hao tallied 28 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 blocks. Looking at O’Neal’s 21 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 blocks in three quarters, and Barkley’s 11 points, 4 rebounds...

Forget it, a skyscraper starts from the ground; winning can only depend on oneself!

Zhang Hao tugged at his collar, sipping...

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