Del Harris was quite willing, "Go get treatment quickly. If he really comes back and gets injured again, only getting a level 1 flagrant foul called against him, and then gets sent back in, causing a brawl... He doesn’t want his team to fight. The Heat’s coach is that guy, Del Harris isn’t sure how he’s going to handle it."

After all, the breakup between the Lakers and the current Heat coach wasn’t very amicable back then.

"Might as well let Exel rest for a while too... Why are you staring at me! Staring at me won’t stop me from letting you rest!"

Del Harris, who was thinking about substituting Zhang Hao out, saw Zhang Hao staring at him.

Probably guessing what the coach was thinking, Zhang Hao stood up and said, "Let me in."

It’s obvious that Zhang Hao injured his vocal cords or throat. Although it’s not serious, the dizziness from that moment has subsided, but his neck is definitely injured.

Del Harris didn’t want to say more and responded, "No."

"I want to!"

Hearing Zhang Hao’s hoarse and sharpened voice, Del Harris paused, nodding, "You... don’t fight, don’t forget everyone is expecting you to become an All-Star."

"I’m a gentleman."

After saying this, Zhang Hao shut his mouth, not wanting to speak further.

Pain!

Neck pain, throat pain, even talking hurts, and beyond that, his heart hurts even more!

"Special contract player Zhang Hao suffered a flagrant foul and is equipped with a special card: ’Evil Has Its Reward,’ automatically triggering.

Zhang Hao will suffer from cervical strain, aggravated neck and throat injuries, and non-structural lower back bone fractures, which will all be reflected back to the player who committed the flagrant foul.

’Evil Has Its Reward’ (1)."

Glancing at the Evil Karma Card with only 1 left, Zhang Hao was heartbroken to the point of being unable to breathe!

The neck still hurts because of being pulled by the neck, which was only seen as a foul, while Kurt Thomas’s action pulling him down was the malicious act interrupting his offense after the foul, clearly stated in the prompt, the injury to the neck and throat was transferred back to Kurt Thomas.

"Was I not ruthless enough?"

"No, I’m a gentleman."

"A gentleman waving an iron elbow!"

First of all, the rough confrontation wasn’t started by Mr. Zhang, the Heat went for big moves right off the bat.

Secondly, while his actions to break free of defense were big, Kurt Thomas’s defensive actions were even bigger, it’s just that Mr. Zhang was tougher, and the opponent’s little actions couldn’t stop his aggressive plays.

Finally, he was flagrantly fouled! The pain in his neck, the loss of a powerful card that would likely have a great impact in this era... Although it was precisely because of this card that he avoided a serious back injury, the more it made him furious!

...

Zhang Hao went back onto the court!

His expression remained indifferent, as if nothing had happened earlier.

However, the mark on Zhang Hao’s neck was shocking!

No one could forget the malicious foul he just suffered because of his face that showed little change during the game.

At this moment, teammates who already respected Zhang Hao, deeply moved by his strong personal charisma, were all excited!

Even the referee Steve Javie was surprised, is this really an 18-year-old rookie?

Fans at the venue saw Zhang Hao return to the court, with his expression seemingly unchanged throughout the game... fans at the half-court baseline of the Heat were brought to tears.

It wasn’t anger, nor was it moved, but an indescribable emotion; they felt Zhang Hao’s tenacious will from his immediate decision to continue the game!

The fans at the venue started chanting "X," and it became increasingly synchronized!

It had been too long since such a feeling, Lakers fans had not felt such emotional ups and downs due to a player’s performance on the court for too long, old fans seemingly seeing hope, seeing the future!

The Heat players were also shocked by Zhang Hao’s choice to not rest even for a minute, just icing for a moment before coming back on the court!

Moning couldn’t help but smile—"Honestly, if we traded all our role players for this kid, it would’ve been worth it... but probably not anymore."

No matter others’ reactions, Zhang Hao now has only one thought—must win!

The timeout ended, and the Lakers sent Van Exel, Doug Christie, Zhang Hao, the Magician, and Jason Williams to the court. 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

The Heat sent Koels, Rex Chapman, Owens, Kevin Willis, and Moning onto the court.

Zhang Hao walked to the free-throw line, not only looking calm but incredibly focused! Although not calm, in terms of focus, probably no one could surpass him.

Amidst the cheers from the fans at the venue, after adjusting, Zhang Hao hit both free throws, increasing his score to 13 points this quarter and securing 16 points personally, helping the Lakers overtake with a 36 to 35 lead.

The Lakers pressed on, as the Heat didn’t display any "guilt" due to their player’s flagrant act, what they were thinking was unknown, but their actions became more assertive.

Very professional!

Zhang Hao faced Moning’s defense, whose short-distance explosive speed was no less than Zhang Hao’s; he was a truly superstar-level center.

Van Exel passed the ball to the Magician brought to a high position, Zhang Hao decisively cut along the baseline, Jason Williams fiercely blocked Moning, the Magician distributed the ball, Zhang Hao came out from the baseline, though Kevin Willis was aging, his anticipation was strong, as he rushed to Zhang Hao’s receiving point immediately, Zhang Hao received the ball, back to the basket, stepped forward, turned around, dodged Kevin Willis’s rush, and made a jump shot that went in!