Chapter 867: The Diligent Shark! (9K)

In the previous round, O’Neal defended like this, and Garnett thought it was an accident.

After all, it’s O’Neal! A super center, why would he bother with the dirty and tiring work of helping with defense?

Helping with defense is one thing, and there’s nothing wrong with assisting defense under the basket.

But this is mid-range contraction + expansion for assisting defense, which is the job of power forwards and small forwards. Garnett thought O’Neal couldn’t possibly do this; the last time was definitely an accident.

Yet in the second round, the cooperation between O’Neal and Zhang Hao in defense required no training or discussion; it was just so seamless…

Garnett felt like his own team’s logo had been violated!

He avoided O’Neal because he didn’t want to play center, yet when O’Neal faced his Timberwolves, he actually chose to play power forward… Garnett felt targeted!

In fact, O’Neal was also helpless. Previously, it was Horace Grant who helped him with defense, but now, he needed to help another “center” with mid-range defense!

But even so, O’Neal had no way out; with such a teammate, what else could he do?

Luckily, he lost some weight, spending nearly three weeks to get his weight back to between 131-133 kilograms, turning back into that Magic super center with leaping ability comparable to a small forward!

Otherwise, with how he started right after returning, it would have been impossible to defend this time.

In short, after slacking for half the season, O’Neal decided to get serious after the All-Star Weekend.

The reason… not being selected as an All-Star starter made him very unhappy; he wanted to compete for the best lineup!

His competitors were two: Olajuwon and Ewing.

Although both of them weren’t as efficient as Big Fatty, they were both healthy, and while Big Fatty had advantages in stats and ruling power, they weren’t significant. Olajuwon was warming up, and Ewing, after losing weight, was playing the most efficiently since being selected for the first team in the 89-90 season. After competing for so many years, O’Neal knew that with his current appearances + stats + overall performance, he couldn’t compete with these two, so he could only compete with Moning, who like him, missed about 10 games in half the season, for the third team.

But he wasn’t satisfied! Those two were both selected as All-Star starters, and he wanted to compete with them for the best lineup.

So he had to strive to play hard.

At this moment, he rarely thought of reciprocating, with Zhang Hao accommodating him on the offensive end, so he could only accommodate Zhang Hao on defense.

Fortunately, though it was a reluctant move, the cooperation turned out to be quite effective.

The three wolves were extremely compatible, but Garnett and Marbury were still young, one 20 and the other 19. O’Neal took the initiative to change his defense style, cooperating with Zhang Hao, and found a way to stop the opponents!

Plus, O’Neal changed his offensive tactics, actively ball-handling to distract Guglielota, creating cut-in opportunities for teammates, combined with Zhang Hao’s second pass in motion, Kenny Anderson hit a three-pointer, Byron Scott hit a long two-pointer, and Zhang Hao missed a three-pointer but O’Neal got the rebound for two points… The Lakers started the second quarter with a 9-to-2 run, quickly widening the gap to 7 points!

When O’Neal put his pride aside for his performance and to win, and actively adjusted his play style according to his teammates, the Lakers’ defense saw a qualitative change between the first and second quarters!

The fans on-site thought they would play head-to-head with the Lakers tonight… The first quarter was indeed closely contested, but at the start of the second quarter, the power gap suddenly widened!

The balance was broken. Previously, the Timberwolves couldn’t defend, but they could find ways on offense to wear down; now, they couldn’t!

In the second quarter, led by O’Neal’s all-out defense, the Lakers went on a 9-to-2 run, making the score 42 to 35, leading by 7 points.

The Timberwolves’ next fierce attack only resulted in a 7-to-5 run, bringing the score to 42 to 47,

By the second half of the second quarter, the Lakers went on a 16-to-9 run, ending the half at 63 to 51, expanding their lead to 12 points!

Throughout the second quarter, with O’Neal cooperating with Zhang Hao to protect the rim and ensuring mid-range and basket defense, the Timberwolves’ strategy of relying on their two forwards for shooting, Marbury’s breakthrough, and role players cutting in was rendered ineffective, scoring only 18 points in the second quarter!

Marbury got 11 points and 4 assists by halftime, Garnett had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists, Guglielota had 9 points and 2 assists, and the three had already played at their best.

If O’Neal had continued playing post-All-Star break the same way as before, getting about twenty points, ten rebounds, and two to three assists per game, the Timberwolves would indeed have had a chance to keep pace with the Lakers, and the outcome might have been uncertain, especially since the Lakers were unfortunate enough to have another slacker in Er Pang?

However, when O’Neal played seriously and collaborated proactively, the advantage was clear! Far stronger than when Barkley played seriously!

Offensively, Barkley might produce similar stats, but defensively, even if Barkley tried his hardest, he couldn’t do what O’Neal did!

Into the third quarter, Zhang Hao, who had been used as a decoy point in the first half by Kenny Anderson, got the opportunity to be the main attacker.

The Timberwolves, young and filled with spirit, with Philip Sanders, the talented young coach, set up a very aggressive offense during halftime, and indeed had a good effect when O’Neal wasn’t on the floor, but the defensive problems emerged! They played rapid shooting, and with a good feel, their offense was decent, but rapid shooting picked up the pace!