Chapter 822 - 257: Different Types of Gentleman (3)

Barkley had one more reason to be more active tonight—he had a chance to be selected as an All-Star starter!

Well, since joining the Lakers, after the Lakers signed O’Neal directly and acquired Kenny Anderson, Barkley placed himself as the fifth most important position on the team, expecting the rest of the team to perform better than him during the regular season. Even with an average playing time of around 20 minutes, it hadn’t increased after O’Neal’s injury; he originally had no thought of being an All-Star starter.

However, in the first round of voting, he was the second among forwards, and in the second round, his lead over Shawn Kemp increased! So, of course, he had to give it some effort; there are only six games this month, a bit more push, and he might make it to the All-Star starting lineup!

Right from the first attack, Barkley played very hard.

The Pistons anticipated that the opening would be tough to defend; only they wouldn’t give up any opportunity to defend, at least not letting Zhang Hao rush into the paint for a dunk at the start. The sort of outrageous leadership ability to boost morale when Zhang Hao completed a fast-break dunk was valued by all strong teams.

In transition, the Pistons didn’t slow down the pace. This season, apart from the initial games where opponents slowed the rhythm to limit the Lakers’ offense, later as the Lakers’ cohesiveness improved, the chemical reaction set in. Slowing down the rhythm was no longer an effective strategy against the Lakers; intentionally slowing down the pace impacted the rhythm of the teams facing the Lakers instead.

Watching the Pistons steadily advance, fluidly start their offensive coordination, and Joe Dumars hit a mid-range shot after receiving the ball on the baseline, Del Harris felt the opposing coach was really quite skilled.

However, Del Harris had anticipated as much; after the shot by Joe Dumars, when Zhang Hao picked up the ball and passed it to Kenny Anderson, George Lynch and Barkley had already started running down the court!

After Zhang Hao made the pass, he also sprinted quickly with Kenny Anderson; only Doug Christie was a bit slow, but the Lakers completed a full lineup fast-paced run-and-gun style!

Though they are yet to find a tactic that can truly leverage the full strength of all their stars, maybe they’ll never find it, there’s only one ball. The Lakers players have diverse styles; to cooperate well, each has to make sacrifices, and their core lineup isn’t the type that’s perfectly compatible.

But Del Harris wasn’t giving up either; he was still exploring more possibilities. From the beginning of the season to now, the players’ states have fluctuated quite a bit, but their coordination and teamwork have been improving day by day, and his contributions are significant.

However, the Pistons retreated very quickly! Mainly because the Pistons have good speed conditions; in the last game when the Lakers faced the Blazers, they had signs of speeding up the starting lineup, only limited by Sabonis’ quarterback-style long pass counterattack and Nash’s counterattack organization ability, the Lakers dared not fully run.

The Collins Brothers incorporated defensive strategies into the preparation for this. As Zhang Hao rushed over using Barkley and George Lynch cutting in to compress the defense and receiving Kenny Anderson’s pass outside the three-point line, Grant Hill expanded out in time.

The Pistons’ defense of shrinking and expanding, rotation, and position fill were done very well! Their league third-best average of 89 points allowed per game is no joke.

The combination of Grant Hill, Edith Soper, and Ratliff had already become the most terrifying inside barrier in the league by mid-season; all front-line players felt headaches facing them.

Facing Grant Hill now, Zhang Hao felt a headache; he spun directly to cut in, not hard, with the strongest first step combined with Malone’s elbow, there would be no problem, but inside was Ratliff...

Still, Zhang Hao chose to spin and directly break through, reaching the free-throw line position, stopping quickly, jumping, and shooting...

Miss!

Edith Soper grabbed the rebound before Barkley, and Zhang Hao immediately retreated defensively. At that moment, he thought about giving up the advanced goal of the "Mr. Evil" mission.

When Lynch Hunt advanced to the front court, George Lynch was ready to defend Grant Hill’s catch for a single, but Grant Hill suddenly spun and cut inside. Lynch Hunt hurried to pursue but still couldn’t stop Grant Hill from receiving the ball.

Grant Hill cut inside and avoided Zhang Hao’s defensive challenge to score with a layup!

With this play, Zhang Hao exclaimed what the—.

Previously he was always the one learning from opponents, who had longer playing careers, more game experience, and more methods to initiate and finish attacks... Unexpectedly, today it’s his turn to be mimicked by others!

Previously, some mimicked his shot, and now there are people mimicking his cuts!

The crucial thing is Grant Hill really learned quite well, possessing the conditions of height and strength, having speed advantages... the intricate work of inside offense was even stronger than him!

When it was the Lakers’ turn to attack, they could clearly feel that the Pistons had significantly improved compared to the matchup early in the season, their defense had made huge progress.

By mid-season, the Pistons’ record was still stable, not falling behind in the East’s second-place contention with the Knicks, Hawks, and Heat, mainly relying on their outstanding defense.

Kenny Anderson was troubled by Lynch Hunt; Zhang Hao barely managed to break through the opponent’s blocking of his passing and receiving lines, reached the free-throw line position to receive the ball, and was immediately guarded by Grant Hill. With the three-point line shortened, within the current three-point line area, teams like the Pistons with five-position players who excel in mobility and are all above-standard in defense made off-ball playing increasingly difficult!

Zhang Hao took a step at the free-throw line, couldn’t shake off the defense, couldn’t exert fully towards the basket due to close guarding, facing the second-highest block rate in the league by Ratliff was asking for trouble, he could only force a mid-range shot under Grant Hill’s defense...

Miss!

As Ratliff was ready to grab the defensive rebound, a meatball with a head full of bullets flew into the paint, pressing the ball into the basket over Ratliff!

"Indeed, the one saving the team is Sir Barkley!"