Chapter 853: Unprecedented Lack of Chemistry (8k)_3

Chapter 853: Chapter 265: Unprecedented Lack of Chemistry (8k)_3

On the Western Team, Sheriff Raheem and Roy Rogers from the Grizzlies, Derek Fisher from the Lakers, Stephon Marbury from the Minnesota Timberwolves, Samaki Walker from the Mavericks, Steve Nash from the Blazers, Lorenzen Wright from the Clippers, Todd Fler from the Warriors, and Matt Maloney from the Rockets were selected.

The rookie class of ’96 is undoubtedly talented, and there are some highly anticipated first-round European players who have yet to join the NBA.

The rosters for the All-Star Game and the Rookie Challenge have been announced, and fans are eagerly awaiting the lists for the three-point contest and slam dunk contest.

However, at the moment, not all the games before the All-Star Weekend have been played.

Today, there are 5 games to be played.

Among them, the games between the Lakers hosting the Bulls, and the Knicks hosting the Heat are seen as preludes to the All-Star Weekend. The game between the SuperSonics and Utah Jazz is also highly anticipated.

Originally, the game between the Spurs and Rockets was also a popular one in the league’s schedule at the start of the season, but both teams have disappointed in different ways.

At 3 p.m., the game between the New York Knicks hosting the Heat at Madison Square Garden kicked off, opening the day’s multiple high-profile games.

After a nerve-wracking, tough battle, the visiting Heat defeated the Knicks 86-79, achieving a small feat of having at least one win against all top four teams of the East and West!

The game wasn’t spectacular, but it had many highlights. It was intense, with multiple physical confrontations, so intense that it was regrettable it didn’t escalate into a bigger fight.

Zhang Hao also watched the live broadcast of this game, and after watching, he was regretful as well…

After the Knicks and Heat game, the games between the SuperSonics and Utah Jazz, the Spurs and Rockets, and the Bullets and Clippers started simultaneously.

Except for the Bullets and Clippers game, the other four games today were broadcasted live, more or less, by different TV stations.

Zhang Hao did not continue watching the live broadcast. At 5:30 p.m., he began warming up for the game against the Bulls…

…

Sometimes, luck is really unpredictable.

Before the game between the Lakers hosting the Bulls started, an unexpected event occurred!

The unexpected event happened to the Bulls. During warm-up, Rodman hadn’t returned to the team, but the Bulls remained calm.

Even by the time the entry was about to happen, Rodman still hadn’t shown up!

The Bulls only found out about Rodman from the news – after arriving in Los Angeles yesterday morning, Rodman directly flew to Las Vegas, and is still gambling in Las Vegas!

This isn’t the first time. This year, Rodman has missed more games than O’Neal, and mostly not due to injuries.

Thus, by 8 p.m., the Bulls were forced to face the Lakers without Rodman.

Rodman’s absence was something they were quite accustomed to, and most of the time, they could handle it steadily.

But tonight’s opponent is the Lakers! And the Lakers with O’Neal back after playing a few games!

Even though Jordan shot 10 of 19, including 3 of 7 three-pointers, plus 7 of 7 free throws, scoring 30 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists, Pippen scored 26 points, 7 rebounds, and 11 assists, and the role players also performed well in scoring, the Bulls scored a total of 104 points.

The Bulls’ defense was good, keeping the pace low, and maintaining an efficient shooting performance, they suppressed the Lakers’ counterattacks.

However, their rebounding was catastrophic! They had only 32 rebounds in the entire game, while the Lakers had 54!

The Bulls made only 71 shots in the entire game, while the Lakers made 92! Despite the Bulls’ 49% team shooting percentage being higher than the Lakers’ 44% team shooting percentage.

In terms of assists, the Bulls’ 30 assists also exceeded the Lakers’ 26 assists.

But the Lakers had high shot attempts, and their shooting percentage wasn’t particularly bad. O’Neal had 19 points and 12 rebounds, Barkley had 18 points and 11 rebounds, and Jason Williams had 11 points and 14 rebounds. Just these three players had more rebounds than the entire Bulls team, with 37 of their rebounds, 17 were offensive rebounds… Regular scoring wasn’t high, but second-chance scoring was explosive!

With the three big men reasonably getting 48 points and 37 rebounds, Zhang Hao wildly shot 29 times, making 12 of those shots, including 3 of 9 from three-point range, plus 7 of 8 free throws, explosively scoring 34 points, along with 6 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 blocks.

Adding Kenny Anderson’s 12 points and 11 assists, and Doug Christie’s 11 points and 4 assists…

The Lakers defeated the Bulls 115-104, handing the Bulls their 8th loss of the season!

After the final whistle, Jordan turned his head and walked directly towards the players’ tunnel.

This scene was so familiar, even the Bulls players found it so.

As long as the opponent standing opposite was that former youngest player in the league from the ’95 ninth pick, Jordan always did this after the game.

Actually, the Bulls had already started preparing for this game, and before departing from Chicago, they were fully prepared to have a good showdown with the Lakers in this game.

However, the more prepared they were, when the unexpected happened, ordinary surprises were fine, but losing a top defensive titan in the forward position, losing a player of a giant caliber, that surprise, there was simply no way to adjust.

If it weren’t for the Lakers’ poor defense, the Bulls might have pulled a 28-22 run over the Lakers in the third quarter, otherwise, the point gap would have widened long ago.