One Year Left to Play-Chapter 331 - 106: Is 40+ Really So Easy That No One Would Fail to Get It?
After being shaken off by Grant Hill, Sibaros caught up and grabbed the ball!
His first reaction after getting the ball was to look for Sedale-Srte, but as soon as he turned his head to find someone, he felt the ball’s force slipping away, and the ball was stolen!
Thinking it was Grant Hill who stole the ball, Sibaros immediately wanted to steal it back, only to see Zhang Hao awkwardly dribbling to push the fast break!
Dumas, retreating to defend in time, didn’t expect this scene, Zhang Hao had already dashed past the three-point line!
Dumas hurriedly turned to attempt a steal, but was a beat too slow. Zhang Hao’s speed soared after surpassing the three-point line position ahead of Sedale-Srte, narrowly dodging the oncoming Dumas and heading straight for the opponent’s half!
Luckily, without being Thompsonized, although with a bit of an off-hand dribbling feeling, Zhang Hao smoothly rushed inside the opponent’s basket, leapt high, and smashed the ball into the basket with both hands!
A block + a steal from a teammate for a full-cycle counterattack!
The fans at the scene were very excited seeing Zhang Hao’s counterattack dunk, cheering loudly!
However, nearby, teammates and opponents who saw Zhang Hao retaliate were stunned—stealing from a teammate? What kind of divine maneuver is this!
Sibaros stretched his neck upright. He wasn’t angry, as Zhang Hao completed the fast break and scored two points, further cementing the lead.
He wished he could say—"You dash ahead and I’ll pass to you, buddy can rack up an assist!"
However, thinking about it, even Sibaros didn’t fully trust his long passes...
As the match has progressed, some of the media watching were prepared to write about Zhang Hao’s talent, but there were also others awaiting to write negative stories.
Trendy topics always require conflict to become engaging. Without it, a topic struggles to catch fire, unless it’s a major achievement; for rookies, there must be conflict-driven topics to lead fans into debates.
Seeing Zhang Hao steal from a teammate, the topic instantly sprung to life—Lakers rookie steals from teammate for stats.
They would detail the facts in the articles, yet intermingle a lot of content, enough so that fans might not want to read closely, ensuring the title’s impact takes effect.
This play seemed to break the overly tense atmosphere on the court.
Teammates and opponents felt odd; Zhang Hao seemed to always want to break something.
The Pistons quickly took the initiative at the start, dropping the Lakers’ morale, and Zhang Hao broke the deadlock with a dunk.
This time, Grant Hill wanted to spur forward with the ’genius’s rage’, yet was left speechless with Zhang Hao’s dunk as a stolen teammate counterattack!
The drive within, it’s not something that comes just because you want it.
This kind of impulse allows a player to forget the team’s strength difference, ignore the pressure of trailing, and even potentially burst with far higher-than-usual performance.
Grant Hill was ready to act aggressively due to the covering impulse originally reaching its peak, but seeing Zhang Hao’s counterattack dunk after stealing from a teammate, he abruptly withdrew from that state, the pressure of a 12-point deficit wrapped around his heart.
After all, he was only a sophomore; despite being mature, he was only 23, and this season the Pistons changed their coaching staff, coupled with his and Alan Houston’s improvements, just becoming a playoff-level team.
While he calmly responded to the current situation, he found it less effective than being impulsive. Impulsiveness allowed disregard, while calmness let rationality tell him tonight’s challenge was tough.
Grant Hill struggled to stabilize his inner unease; at this moment, affirming his belief, he wanted to score himself.
Successfully breaking into close range, but his hands shook on release—the layup missed!
Zhang Hao boxed out Edith Soper, and Sibaros grabbed the defensive rebound.
Zhang Hao dashed to the front court first, while Sibaros passed to the awaiting Sedale-Srte, feeling somewhat empty inside, discovering he unexpectedly felt a slight anticipation...
But amidst the crowd, Zhang Hao definitely wouldn’t carry the ball forward, just dash fast, if there’s a chance for a pass, great, else it’s fine.
However, the Pistons, being a team relying on their starters to win, tonight their starters played a lot of minutes, stamina started declining!
Zhang Hao’s playing time was comparatively shorter, only 13 minutes in the first half, his stamina ample, plus with the "Single Rider" bonus, unstoppable!
When he surpassed the earliest retreating Pistons players, no one could catch up to him!
Sedale-Srte’s long pass arrived a bit late, yet no worries, Zhang Hao received the ball at the left sideline of the three-second zone, took a step to jump, and softly dunked with one hand.
With Zhang Hao successfully scoring with this dunk, his personal score rose to 24 points! Surpassing Grant Hill’s 23 points! It’s the highest of the game!
Because of the ’steal’ situation in the last possession that failed to trigger the "Dunk Master", but completing consecutive counterattack dunks in two rounds, this time, "Dunk Master" activated!
In the following few possessions, Pistons’ score if successful is fine, but if missed, they could only watch Zhang Hao counterattack.
This was a moment Zhang Hao had been waiting for before the match, the Pistons’ guard line being short-staffed, once in a deadlock, with the opposing guards afraid to substitute weaker ones—relying on Dumas, Alan Houston, Lynch Hunt for rotations—by the latter half of the third quarter, his optimal counterattack timing arrived!
