Chapter 753 - 235: As If He Were in Another Era (2)
When Isaiah Rider broke through, the other Blazers players were already prepared to retreat on defense.
Zhang Hao advanced to the frontcourt by himself, settled into a half-court setup, and outside the three-point line, shot over the defense of three players... but missed.
It was obvious that Zhang Hao, with 57 points already, stopping outside the three-point line was definitely to shoot.
Finally, Sabonis stepped up and hit a three-pointer from the left 45-degree angle, 103 to 117, narrowing the gap to 14 points with 9 minutes and 02 seconds left, the Blazers still had hope!
On the offensive and defensive switch, Zhang Hao continued to advance to the frontcourt by himself, reaching the same spot as the previous play.
Isaiah Rider and Stacey Augmon immediately double-teamed him, but this time, Zhang Hao shot a three-pointer even faster and more decisively against Rashid Wallace's defense!
From exactly the same position as before, Zhang Hao attempted another three-pointer...
This time, unlike before, it went in!
After scoring, Zhang Hao didn't say a word, just clapped his hands and turned around to retreat on defense.
Even though Zhang Hao didn't speak, nor did he make any taunting actions, everyone understood the message he wanted to convey.
"I'm going to score here, no matter how many players you have!"
After the fourth quarter started, apart from Zhang Hao's counterattack, every shot he took faced at least a double-team, and he was even triple-teamed just now.
Despite this, Zhang Hao still exploded for 12 points in just under 3 and a half minutes at the start of the fourth quarter!
60 points, 9 rebounds, 9 assists, 5 blocks, 4 steals!
The key point is that Nash and Rashid Wallace together scored only 50 points!
The big screen promptly displayed their stats, Zhang Hao's points minus 10 equals Rashid Wallace's points plus Nash's points!
Previously, when the score they combined for was within 10 points of Zhang Hao's, they were still persisting and trying hard.
Nash hit 8 out of 14 shots for 21 points tonight, and Rashid Wallace hit 12 out of 20 shots for 29 points, both of them had worked really hard.
Even when the score difference widened to over 15 points, they didn't give up.
But when Zhang Hao's points truly surpassed theirs by 10 points, their mentality crumbled...
From three-man defense on Zhang Hao to single-man defense on him, the transition was very quick. After Zhang Hao hit 60 points, when the Blazers missed a shot, O'Neal boxed out, Zhang Hao grabbed the defensive rebound and found the defense had switched to stop him from assisting rather than scoring.
Zhang Hao now had 60 points, 10 rebounds, and 9 assists!
At this time, James Robinson, Doug Christie, and Brian Shaw were all desperately running into position, asking for the ball!
When Zhang Hao passed the ball to Brian Shaw, he didn't even dribble, shooting immediately over the defense... but missed.
Once didn't work, they tried a second time the next play.
And on the Blazers' side, their mentality had completely collapsed.
They didn't consider how to cope with such a situation, but Zhang Hao's 12 points in the final quarter came too fast: a catch-and-shoot mid-range shot, a fast-break dunk, two three-pointers, a tip-in... he was already at 57 points.
By the time they realized that double-teaming wasn't enough and moved to a triple-team, he had taken two more shots, reaching 60 points...
At this moment, their only option was to stop Zhang Hao from achieving a triple-double.
However, the Blazers players knew the probability of stopping Zhang Hao from getting a triple-double was low, so purely out of effort, their most significant collapse came offensively, firing shots very arbitrarily.
Therefore, after both teams' offensive peak at the beginning of the fourth quarter, both offenses suddenly stalled, with only O'Neal drawing a foul and hitting both free throws to score two points within two consecutive minutes.
Finally, at 5 minutes and 44 seconds, the Blazers' complete collapse moment arrived. As Brian Shaw cut in to catch a pass for a layup opportunity and attracted Sabonis's early movement, Zhang Hao passed directly to the basket. Isaiah Rider had switched to defend O'Neal receiving the ball, but he was easily blocked by O'Neal who received the ball and didn't intentionally make it difficult for Zhang Hao, at least tonight, he surrendered!
O'Neal caught the ball, jumped directly, Isaiah Rider jumped up with both arms hooked around O'Neal's shoulders, legs locked around his waist, but still couldn't stop him.
O'Neal slammed the ball into the basket with Isaiah Rider hanging on him!
The referee confirmed the basket was good!
With this assist, Zhang Hao's stats improved to 60 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists!
Everyone in the arena stood up, cheering wildly, this night, the Lakers fans felt like they were in a sea of joy!
...
Finally, the score froze at 138 to 114, the Lakers slaughtered the Blazers with a 24-point margin!
At 7 minutes and 31 seconds in the fourth quarter, the Blazers threw in the towel, and the Lakers subbed out Zhang Hao.
He was subbed out because the Blazers had taken Rashid Wallace and Nash out.
At 6 minutes and 02 seconds into an official timeout, Zhang Hao wasn't taken out because the opponents didn't bench Nash and Rashid Wallace after the official timeout.
In the 1 and a half minutes after the official timeout, Zhang Hao added 2 points, 1 block, 1 steal, freezing his stats at 64 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists, 6 blocks, 5 steals!
Nash scored 21 points and dished out 14 assists, achieving his career's first game with over 20 points, first game with more than 10 assists, first 20+10 game, first starting appearance... so many firsts, only for Zhang Hao to bloody him thoroughly!
Rashid Wallace also recorded 31 points, 9 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks tonight.
However, the two of them combined only scored 52 points, 12 points less than Zhang Hao!
In the last 4 and a half minutes, sitting on the bench, they felt like they had fallen into an ice cave, their hearts utterly chilled!