Chapter 904 The Diligent Shark Returns

After this game, the Lakers were overtaken by the Utah Jazz, who had a 51–15 record, and fell to second place in the West!

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Kenny Anderson’s injury and dropping to second in the West was quite a blow for the Lakers players.

There was good news too: O’Neal’s recovery from injury was going very well. Although he hadn’t managed to come back after just two weeks of rest like in the ideal scenario, his recovery was still very good. By the next road trip, when they had consecutive away games, O’Neal would basically be able to return.

After finishing the game against the Clippers, they had a day off, and on March 16, the Lakers hosted the Raptors at home.

Small guards had been getting injured a lot this season; the physical battles they faced were intense. The Lakers’ Kenny Anderson was hurt, and over on the Raptors’ side, Damon Stoudamire had also gone down at the start of the month, already missing his sixth straight game.

Even though Ben Wallace, limited by fundamentals, experience, and so on, couldn’t possibly make some huge defensive leap in just a few games, the rest of the Lakers had significantly improved their defensive coordination during this stretch.

Although their offense took a massive hit, facing a Raptors team without Damon Stoudamire, the Lakers still beat the Raptors solidly, 97–88, improving their record to 51–15. Their record once again tied the Utah Jazz, but because they were at a disadvantage in head-to-head results, they were still ranked second in the West.

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After finishing two straight home games, the Lakers got two days of rest.

March 17 was a rest day for the Lakers. On the 19th they would start a four-game road trip by playing the Heat on the road, so the Lakers planned to head to Miami tomorrow.

Zhang Hao once again arrived early at the Time Warner Training Center to practice.

Previously he hadn’t really felt any pressure, but when O’Neal and Kenny Anderson were both out at the same time, he finally understood what pressure really meant.

Even though the public was quite forgiving when it came to judging his ability to lead a team, the situation itself was a form of disrespect toward his leadership, as if they thought his ability to carry a team on his own wasn’t on the same level as Grant Hill, Anfernee Hardaway, Kidd, and those guys.

The thing that annoyed him the most, that really made him feel egg-pained, was probably this—no, definitely this!

"When nothing’s going on, that Three-Fats loves to come bug me and chat. How come he’s not here now? I need comfort! I need encouragement!"

Zhang Hao angrily kicked off today’s set of crossover dribble move training.

Quite a few teammates came to the gym to train today. Seeing Zhang Hao show up early yet again to practice gave everyone a big boost.

The teammates all knew that their youngest teammate Zhang Hao was the kind of player with a lot of technical flaws. In their eyes, Zhang Hao was that type of player with extremely pronounced strengths in certain areas. They weren’t going to blame him for the team’s record slipping.

As for comforting him or whatever, seeing Zhang Hao working this hard to strengthen his self-created offense—did he still need comforting?

This was their lighthouse lighting the way forward for them!

No one quite knew when it started, but Zhang Hao’s role within the team was no longer limited by his age.

A little after 10 in the morning, O’Neal arrived at the facility for another physical examination.

Normally, if they were playing big-market teams like the Heat, Bulls, or SuperSonics on the road, and they had extra time to rest, they would definitely head to the road city a day early.

This time, the Lakers weren’t going to the road city so early. Most of the players came to the gym to practice mainly because O’Neal was coming in for his physical!

They said they were there to train, and at first they really did practice, but once O’Neal arrived at the gym, Zhang Hao was the only Laker left still training on the Time Warner Training Center’s court. Everyone else had gone over to watch O’Neal’s exam.

Zhang Hao wanted to go watch too, but he had just started a new set of drills. After thinking it over, he stayed put—whether he went to watch or not wouldn’t change the results of the examination.

Not long after, with just a corridor between them, Zhang Hao heard Brian Shaw’s shout of joy.

Brian Shaw was O’Neal’s best friend on the Lakers; the two had already been close back when they were on the Magic.

Hearing Brian Shaw’s shout, Zhang Hao knew that O’Neal’s injury must be fine.

"Shaq O’Neal, 26 years old, 216 centimeters, 134 kilograms..."

O’Neal’s physical tools were just insane. At over 130 kilos, he sprained his ankle and it really was just a sprain. The elbow joint injury had fully healed last week. A few days ago, an MRI on his ankle also showed it was almost recovered. For the past three days he’d been doing rehab work, and today, after the team doctor examined him again, they confirmed he was fully healed.

What surprised Zhang Hao most was that despite being out nearly three weeks, O’Neal had actually kept his weight under control!

"Playoffs are coming up, and O’Neal has really started putting in the work. A diligent Shaq, huh..."

Zhang Hao kept practicing for a bit. At 11:22 a.m., his third hour of training for the day wrapped up.

The other teammates still hadn’t come back to their side of the practice court, but the other gym across the corridor was buzzing.

The Time Warner Training Center had two courts. They were a Los Angeles team, and the Great Western Forum was a hugely popular multi-purpose arena. There were often concerts by big stars, other sports events, or various expos and conventions. It wasn’t like they could always arrange for the visiting team to practice at the Great Western Forum the day before every game. So the practice facility had two courts, just in case.

Zhang Hao went to the locker room showers for a quick rinse, changed into a set of workout clothes, grabbed a small case, and headed to the other court.

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On the other court, O’Neal was undergoing a full range of physical and skill testing.

Since Zhang Hao was practicing, to avoid disturbing him, they had arranged for everything to be done over here.