Chapter 881: Nobody Understands How to Make a Comeback Better Than Me!

Just as Del Harris predicted, by the fourth quarter, the Lakers, who had been cruising smoothly for the past two quarters, faced a wild counterattack from the New York Knicks!

With a 7-2 run, the Knicks narrowed the gap to 5 points, bringing the score to 58-63, and Del Harris called a timeout!

The opposing player is injured, and it’s their strongest player injured; would the Knicks feel it’s not fair to win? Impossible, they’re playing harder than before, giving the Lakers no chance to adjust to O’Neal’s absence, no opportunity to adapt; they pressed the Lakers hard from the start of the fourth quarter!

To this, the Lakers players don’t see any problem.

If the Knicks had a player injured and out, the perfect gentleman Mr. Zhang Hao of the Lakers would definitely seize the opponent’s phase of pain and press them hard.

After calling a timeout, Del Harris put Barkley on the floor, Kenny Anderson and Zhang Hao continued to play, and Doug Christie, who was clearly affected by the high-intensity defense and shooting from the past two quarters, was substituted out. Interior scoring was hindered, and George Lynch, who was only at a first-class defensive level without O’Neal assisting, was swapped out, with Byron Scott and Jason Williams coming in.

At this time, the Lakers were banking on Barkley to do something, and Barkley really wanted to play seriously now.

But having watched O’Neal and Zhang Hao showcase in the first three quarters, Barkley was relaxed, and now tightening up, he couldn’t perform well at all; at 6 minutes and 7 seconds into the fourth quarter, with Alan Houston’s baseline wraparound pull-out long two-pointer hit, the Knicks reversed the Lakers with 69-68, by one point!

The Lakers called a timeout, entering the official timeout period.

…

Zhang Hao stood at the sidelines, hands on hips, with a jersey dangling from his mouth.

More than two minutes ago, he had already consumed sweat water, restoring his stamina to how he felt at the start of the second half.

Actually, without consuming sweat water, his stamina was sufficient, but he habitually maintained his stamina at the best possible state.

Listening to Del Harris emphasize decisive shooting, active crashing, defensive effort… no specific tactical adjustments, just stress on positivity, Zhang Hao realized the old fox was out of ideas.

Zhang Hao also thought tactically himself, finding nothing to adjust.

After three quarters of defensive battle, role players lost their touch from the outside, consumed by the continued scrapping defense from the Knicks in the early fourth quarter, Kenny Anderson went 0 for 3 in the first part of the fourth.

Without O’Neal, defense suffered most; accustomed to having O’Neal, the league’s top-notch rim protector, it was now Mr. Zhang’s turn, doing pretty well but without O’Neal’s secondary defense, just decent.

The Knicks spent three quarters dealing with O’Neal’s rim protection, now it was Mr. Zhang’s…

By halfway through the fourth quarter, the Lakers only scored 7 points, while the opponent got 18 in that span.

Clearly, O’Neal’s injury and exit not only brought a decline in strength but teammates’ morale took a heavy blow; the Knicks’ fierce counterattack maximized the Lakers’ negative emotions!

Otherwise, Del Harris wouldn’t emphasize positivity during the official timeout.

With waning morale, Zhang Hao anticipated it upon seeing O’Neal’s injury, and even tried to uplift teammates’ morale through performances post-start of the fourth, but the opponent shot too accurately, leaving no good counter-attack opportunity, trapped in set plays, hindered by Barkley’s poor performance and lack of O’Neal’s leverage, he found it tough to penetrate.

NBA injuries are routine; it’s common for a team to collapse mid-game due to a player’s injury.

Zhang Hao keenly sensed teammates wanting to give up after O’Neal’s injury and being pressed by the Knicks for half the quarter.

He’s unsurprised; the better a star performs for a team, the greater the team’s impact when that star is injured.

Future Warriors will be a clear example.

Such examples have been common in NBA history over recent decades… except for the Lakers legend with jersey number 22 who retired due to injury.

Not just teammates, Zhang Hao felt the audience also started accepting the reality of being overturned after half the game; despite Del Harris’s motivation, it seemed he was merely doing what a head coach should…

If they lost this match, there’s reason, and likely won’t be criticized, given how well they played with O’Neal.

Most Lakers players also think this way; after a few games post All-Star Weekend, they’ve internally acknowledged O’Neal could be the Lakers’ strongest player.

O’Neal’s undeniable attraction lies in his easy gain of teammates’ approval with just diligence.

To give up? Accept reality? Zhang Hao doesn’t want to!

At this moment, he’s truly relaxed, not aiming to prove anything, has no thoughts like winning for O’Neal; he just feels…

End-of-quarter break nearing end, Del Harris also ended his eloquence, preparing final summarization now, urging team to fight, winning unduly relying on luck… at this time, a self-proclaimed 206 cm tall number 8 power forward “tui” spat his collar from his mouth, drawing teammates’ attention.