Especially for the Knicks players, who had lost hope in New York fans, after being crushed in the first quarter, they were not expecting the fans to cheer for them. But the unexpected cheers greatly invigorated them!

Soon, the second quarter began, and the Knicks opened with a successful three-pointer!

Despite leading by so much, the Lakers’ long-unseen noble affliction struck again, as they conceded a three-pointer. Van Exel pushed past the half-court wanting to retaliate, but his reckless three-pointer missed!

At the start of the second quarter, the Knicks scored in three consecutive rounds, launching a 7-0 run within one and a half minutes!

Just as Del Harris was about to call a timeout, Zhang Hao ran past the half-court and actively asked Van Exel for the ball, causing Del Harris to pause his timeout decision.

However, if the next attack didn’t score, a timeout was inevitable.

If they overturned their 21-point lead from the first quarter...then the Lakers would be nailed to the wall of shame.

Zhang Hao arrived at the left baseline position, received the ball, and before the double team arrived, turned fiercely, using his arm to fend off Charles Oakley, directly rising up and releasing a mid-range shot...

Simple and direct, clean and efficient, this style demanded some energy, creating space through confrontation, but Zhang Hao could only get a quick shot opportunity through this method.

Still, the shot went straight in!

Mid-range shot hits!

to 28, the Lakers continued to maintain a 16-point lead.

Zhang Hao’s solo play was almost equivalent to forcing a shot; besides the accuracy, it didn’t carry any technical value.

This style was, in reality, quite insulting, as it could deal a significant blow to the opponent’s mentality in the case of a big lead.

However, over at the Knicks’ side, there was no negative influence and they remained very active! Although the next few rounds didn’t have as high a hit rate as at the start of the second quarter, they fiercely contested every ball, whether in offense or defense.

Zhang Hao did a great job on defense under the basket, so Ewing led the team with a mid-to-long range play style mainly, and crucially, they scored! Ewing’s signature move — the mid-range turning step-back shot was very accurate!

On the Lakers’ side, relying on Zhang Hao’s terrifying ruling power in the basket defense tonight, in the second quarter at 3:16 and 5:11, he gave the opponent a block each time in the three-second area, defending the basket very well, but in the first half of the second quarter, the defense against mid-to-long range shots wasn’t good overall.

Fortunately, on the offensive end, Zhang Hao scored 6 points in half a quarter. Though his teammates were reckless, overly confident, even arrogant, their offensive rhythm was good, and the good touch from the first quarter was still there, scoring 14 points in half a quarter, they barely held off the Knicks’ desperate attacks in the first part of the quarter.

With 6:38 left in the second quarter, the Lakers led 56 to 41, entering the official timeout with a 15-point lead.

Over at the Knicks, they were incredibly excited; a differential of over 20 points almost equaled despair, but they managed to chase the difference down to 15 points in half a quarter, launching a 20 to 14 counterattack surge, proving they still had a chance!

Too inflated, Zhang Hao felt he was too inflated as well, not just the affliction his teammates suffered but also his own arrogance. However, this night favoring him, after scoring 22 points in a single quarter, he couldn’t help but swell with pride.

Zhang Hao wanted to toy with and bully the Knicks to vent the anger inside him!

He could hold back, make himself calm down—without the temporary ability rating of 94, he wouldn’t have been so arrogant at the start of the second quarter.

But anyone with suddenly gained powerful ability would puff up; even as calm as Zhang Hao, he still did,

However, it was precisely because of his calmness that he could quickly pull himself out of self-importance, reengage, actively guide his teammates to attack well, preventing the Knicks from continuing to narrow the gap after the 7-0 burst, instead extending the lead by another point later.

At that moment, Zhang Hao recalled the future of the Grizzlies, leading close to 30 points for most of half time, humiliating the Clippers with a wipe out, yet the Clippers managed to put up a 40-18 run in a single quarter, tying the score, and in the end, the Grizzlies were overturned.

They had only been playing for a quarter and a half!

Zhang Hao had calmed down, but the rest of the Lakers were still inflating—though the opponent was playing well, they also bit down hard into the score.

Just play casually, we can win—Lakers’ noble affliction.

The group returned to the bench, Del Harris directly shouted at Zhang Hao: "Look what you’ve done? Don’t you want to win?"

Teammates were stunned for a moment, what’s going on?

Even though in this half-quarter of the second quarter, Zhang Hao made 4 shots and 2 hits, and 2 out of 2 free throws scoring 6 points, plus two blocks on defense under the basket, collectively 6 points, 1 rebound, and 2 blocks, his performance was still the best on the team.

Didn’t score 10 points in half a quarter, is that why he’s being scolded?

Teammates noticed Zhang Hao closing his eyes, taking deep breaths several times, his chest expanding then contracting, expanding then contracting again...this felt like suppressing anger...what’s going on? Is our rookie about to fight the coach?

No, exactly what’s wrong? Why is the coach so irritable, and the rookie seems very upset too? What exactly happened?

Del Harris was a bit intimidated, what did I say...well, so what! Try and hit me! I, Del Harris, am very tough!

Dare to hit me, and I’ll dare to fall!

Teammates saw Zhang Hao taking deep breaths "restraining his anger," saw Del Harris’s very tough expression, felt like their coach might end up beaten to death!

About Zhang Hao’s strength, teammates knew very well; only Campbell could completely suppress him, while the Magician was just slightly winning.