Chapter 900 Return of the Diligent Shark

Can a single encouragement make Ben Wallace better immediately?

Of course not.

But it can help Ben Wallace keep persevering, withstand the pressure from public opinion, and...

After arriving in Indianapolis, he said in an interview: "The reason we lost to the Rockets is on me. Although my teammates never blamed me, I know it’s because I’m not strong enough yet. I will continue to work hard and do my best to help the team."

Ben Wallace is not a fool. Once he pulled himself out of simple frustration, he knew he couldn’t stop trying. Someone is watching him, someone is expecting him to grow, and that person might even be the most gifted talent in basketball history. He got himself back together.

He also understood that at this stage, other than needing to replace Shaquille O’Neal in the starting line-up and in certain other phases of defense, the coach gave him a chance, but the coach might also want him to take responsibility for losses.

The blame has to be taken on, whether he willingly bears it or not, so he might as well take it on proactively.

To gain something, one always has to sacrifice something, and Ben Wallace has no complaints about this. Starting from March 1st, his $250,000 minimum contract was guaranteed in full, so taking that much money, you certainly have to contribute.

After resting for one night, at 5 PM on March 9th, the Lakers’ away game against the Pacers began.

There are many teams tanking this year, but there are also a lot of awkward teams.

The Pacers played well last year, and during the offseason, they traded Ricky Pierce for Jalen Rose, an excellent scoring guard, and also picked Dampier, a substitute center with quite a decent immediate defensive impact, aiming for the championship. Just like the Warriors at the start of the season, who never thought they couldn’t even make the playoffs.

But their performance isn’t particularly bad either. Now they don’t even have the conditions to gamble.

Larry Bird, sitting on the sidelines, now feels very frustrated. Not renewing Mark Jackson last summer was indeed a significant mistake, but it’s done, so nothing can be done, and now trading back has made up for it.

However, at the start of the season, during their worst performance stage, they had the chance to gamble like the Spurs did, but their coach Larry Brown refused and just wanted to diligently win games.

Now, the Pacers are 27-33, tenth in the East, having nothing much to do with Duncan, but unable to make the playoffs.

Tonight against the Lakers, their defense was decent, but due to multiple trades this year, the players have been in chaos. Head coach Larry Brown is always unhappy with one player and dissatisfied with another, and he loves to curse. Whenever they lose, he curses the sky, curses the earth, curses the air, making his relationship with the players very tense...

Look at the Lakers, stable lineup throughout the season, willing to let Ben Wallace replace Shaquille O’Neal to continue honing defense at the cost of some strength impact, with clear goals and direction. Larry Bird also thinks this is very correct.

On the other hand, look at their head coach Larry Brown, who is indeed competent, but whenever a problem arises, it’s never his fault, but someone else’s.

And, considering what Larry Brown has accomplished as a coach...

Larry Bird knocked on his head; he had an idea—"What Brown can do, I can do too, right? I feel like I can do even better."

...

The game against the Pacers wasn’t easy, but the Lakers finally relied on Zhang Hao and Barkley’s key mid-range shots, hitting an 8-3 run in the last 2 minutes and 11 seconds, and the Lakers ultimately defeated the Pacers 92-85 away!

Zhang Hao scored 27 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 assists, Barkley scored 17 points and 14 rebounds, Jason Williams scored 7 points, 10 rebounds; off the bench, Wilkins scored 11 points, and Doug Christie scored 9 points. Kenny Anderson didn’t play much tonight because Brian Shaw played so well and defended even better, scoring 7 points, 6 rebounds, and 11 assists tonight.

Zhang Hao’s words didn’t significantly improve Ben Wallace’s performance tonight. Ben Wallace played 16 minutes, scored 2 points, 4 rebounds, 1 block, and committed 3 fouls, with still low efficiency.

However, at this time, Ben Wallace continued to maintain his previous aggression, which was enough for the Lakers, and it could be seen that he was actively learning. His big block on Antonio Davis at mid-range was quite impressive.

Del Harris just wants Ben Wallace to learn from Shaquille O’Neal’s defensive movement, continue honing defensive coordination methods, find a scapegoat, and also give this hard-working undrafted player a chance. He didn’t place the burden of winning on an undrafted rookie. The ones responsible for winning are Zhang Hao, Barkley, Kenny Anderson, and other stars, so as long as Ben Wallace maintains his aggressiveness, he will have playing time.

...

After finishing the game against the Pacers, the Lakers flew non-stop to the South Coast the next morning. At 6:30 PM, they are set to challenge the Magic away.

The Magic have been making quite a few miraculous moves these past two years. Anyway, after this summer, their core duo that once reached the finals probably couldn’t be held on to anymore.

After the All-Star Weekend and before the trade deadline, the Magic had already tried to put Anfernee Hardaway on the trading block.