One Year Left to Play

Chapter 337 - 107: Sorry, I’m Not the Center You Want

As Zhang Hao was thinking about how to score big tonight, Sibaros came over, patted him on the shoulder, and said, "Aix, you see, as long as you play well, you’ll have the best fans."

Wherever you play well, you’ll have the best fans... Zhang Hao thought to himself, then suddenly his eyes lit up and he said, "Hmm, that’s great, but that guy on the other side is really annoying."

"That guy on the other side, you mean the rookie?"

"That’s right, I want to beat him, I want to score more than him."

Sibaros thought for a moment. In his understanding, Zhang Hao was usually not affected by outside influences, but he quickly figured it out: "Right, this afternoon he told the media he just didn’t want to score 40 points, or else he could always shoot more and get there."

Is that so?

Zhang Hao hadn’t noticed this.

This is an assist from the opponent!

Sibaros saw the fighting spirit in Zhang Hao’s eyes and laughed, "Don’t worry, we will definitely win! Tonight, shoot more, you must score higher than that guy, if you miss, I’ve got it!"

Someone appeared and was about to say "me too," but then saw Zhang Hao say to Sibaros, "Really! That’s awesome, Cedric, you’re truly reliable!"

Then the two of them returned to the bench to discuss their shooting and rebounding strategy.

Zhang Hao is a shooter, off-ball style, can assist, but mostly takes shots from mid to long range, perfect for pairing with Sibaros, so Sibaros cared for Zhang Hao like this.

Zhang Hao shoots, Sibaros uses his rebounding ability to grab boards, it was already a great tactic, Sibaros and Eddie Jones used to pair like this.

Jason Williams followed back to the bench with a touch of resentment...

Soon, the game was about to start, and the starting lineups were on the court.

The Lakers still had the combination of Van Exel, Anthony Peeler, Sibaros, Zhang Hao, and Campbell.

The Raptors put out their lineup with Damon Stoudamire, Elvin Robertson, Doug Christie, Carlos Rogers, and Oliver Miller as starters.

Watching Zhang Hao walk up to the court after wiping his hands with chalk, Damon Stoudamire was incredibly envious and jealous.

In their first matchup, Damon Stoudamire didn’t like Zhang Hao and even got roughed up by him.

Now, he’s even more envious and jealous.

Los Angeles! The City of Angels! The Lakers!

He wanted to play here too!

Suddenly, Damon Stoudamire felt a chill running down his spine, and he noticed that the other four players on the opposing team were whispering and occasionally glancing at him... was there a plot?

After Zhang Hao took to the court, the prompt for the final stage of the "This is My Stage" objective appeared, but his attention was instead on Doug Christie, not Damon Stoudamire, whom he was facing tonight.

The latest scouting report on the Raptors showed that this guy was previously a player for their Lakers team, drafted by the SuperSonics in ’92, placed on the inactive list for half a season because the SuperSonics originally wanted to draft Robert Horry but were beaten to it by the Rockets, so they randomly picked someone who stayed unused. Later, Logo Man brought him to Los Angeles, and after adapting in his rookie year, he put up averages of 10+3+2 in his sophomore year, capable of defending positions 1 through 3, quite versatile. But after Eddie Jones with All-Star potential was picked in ’94, Logo Man gave up on this versatile swingman with no chance of becoming an All-Star.

After being traded to the New York Knicks, Doug Christie only appeared 12 times last season, as there was simply no place for him. This season, he finally got his chance on the Raptors, who play whoever performs well, after a month of hard work.

Indeed, Eddie Jones is better; history proved Eddie Jones truly made it to the All-Star team, while Doug Christie never had All-Star capability. Selling him for just a second-round pick back then was truly unfortunate; if they had kept him for another year, they could have had the Raptors’ top-rated defensive swingman with a defensive rating of 84 right now.

At 7:30 PM, the game kicked off.

Oliver Miller really is a unique player, somewhat like a future Eddie Curry, with a weight so enormous that even O’Neal found it hard to match, yet he still won the jump ball against Campbell!

Del Harris once again felt uneasy... winning less than twenty percent of the jump balls! He recalled how before he started coaching the Lakers, during the ’93-’94 season, Campbell weighed only 110 kilograms, and when he was drafted by the Lakers in the 27th pick of the first round — the last pick — in 1990, Campbell was only 98 kilograms. Now he really can’t run or jump.

"Should we let that kid take the jump ball next time? His opening fast break... no way! Can’t let him get too cocky! Can’t let everything go his way..."

On the court, the Lakers players were already prepared, even in the face of Oliver Miller, Campbell’s teammates weren’t careless, immediately retreating into defense.

The beloved fast break that Zhang Hao liked to start the game with hadn’t worked for three straight games, and he really felt bummed, considering that P.J. Brown could win 9 out of 10 jump balls.

What defines the difference?

When the Raptors started their offense, a huge gap between the Lakers and the Brooklyn Nets was apparent; Oliver Miller couldn’t budge Campbell inside, so Zhang Hao didn’t have to desperately front the defender! A feeling of happiness welled up inside him as he stuck by Doug Christie. He wasn’t fazed by Doug Christie’s speed of 88, and Doug Christie hasn’t seemed to develop an off-ball skill set yet, as the scouting report identifies him as the Raptors’ third on-ball option on the perimeter and a spot-up shooter.