Facing this player, Doug Christie with poor athletic ability can’t defend one-on-one at all.

Chris Mullin, despite injuries over the past two years and a new coach who dislikes him, has seen his stats decline. However, he was once an All-NBA player with multiple seasons averaging 25+ points. He is in his prime...

When these three are playing hard and performing well because their opponents are a team with a 16-game winning streak, the Lakers’ perimeter is being torn apart.

The Lakers are doing their utmost to secure the 17th consecutive victory, and Zhang Hao disregards tasks and data issues to strive for a leading advantage, just as the Warriors are doing their best.

Warriors aim to become the team that ends the Lakers’ winning streak!

Because they have such a strong lineup, yet haven’t had any real presence for a while, finally having an opportunity, they naturally need to seize it.

In the second quarter, Zhang Hao sat on the bench for a long time, feeling exhausted after the latter part of the first quarter.

Obviously, Del Harris’ ideas and Mr. Zhang’s defensive methods were both wrong.

There are times when strategies fail, and this time they encountered one.

Due to mistakes in the first quarter, the Lakers were still at a disadvantage in the second quarter, making errors at every turn. Zhang Hao returned with more than 4 minutes left in the second quarter, just blocked a hurried layup by Ronnie Seikaly, and Adelman replaced Oliver Miller.

Although his adaptability may not be strong, Adelman was able to judge what kind of matchup puts their Warriors in a more favorable position.

In this game, Adelman didn’t care about the players playing the tactics. He wanted to win! He’s been with the Warriors for half a season, and nothing has come of it. With such a good lineup performing like this, he needs a solid performance to see if it can bring about some changes. Beating the 16-game winning streak Lakers is a golden opportunity.

Oliver Miller continued to position himself after coming on, and the Lakers really had no solution. If the Warriors’ perimeter iso and mid-range shots don’t open, then letting Oliver Miller go one-on-one against Jason Williams or Donyell Marshall is fine too, but the problem is the Warriors’ perimeter is doing well tonight with shooters opening up.

The Warriors timed their substitutions well, only replacing Oliver Miller when Campbell, constrained by his stamina, was substituted out, specifically targeting Zhang Hao...

Del Harris hadn’t thought of targeting Zhang Hao from this angle because, except for the Warriors, few teams have this capability. Teams with top centers clearly wouldn’t use their center’s stamina to wear down Zhang Hao...

Unexpected situation, but it happened.

Initially intending to let Zhang Hao rest a while longer to recover his stamina before leading a wave of offense, but that didn’t work out. By halftime, the Lakers trailed 51 to 58, entering halftime down by 7 points.

During the halftime break, the atmosphere on the Lakers side was quite tense.

Since the official timeout in the first quarter, their morale hadn’t lifted.

Retaliating back was tough, Zhang Hao had no opportunity, and in the set offense, driving to the basket was difficult. In the latter half of the first quarter with Zhang Hao on the floor, Oliver Miller stood there like a large wall, always ending up between Zhang Hao and the basket, even if it meant giving another Lakers’ interior player a good high-post opportunity.

The key issue is Zhang Hao, Jason Williams, Donyell Marshall can’t all be on the floor at once tonight, or the defense will completely collapse. Partnering Zhang Hao with Donyell Marshall inside doesn’t secure rebounds.

Sometimes rebounding ability can’t just be assessed by ability values or data. For example, Campbell’s rebound stats aren’t high, but his sturdy physique and good positioning often leads to Lakers winning rebounds when he’s on the floor.

Oliver Miller has these traits too, gifted mobility and immense weight.

When Zhang Hao partners with Jason Williams, the Lakers’ scoring efficiency struggles, as Jason Williams can’t stretch the floor, and at close range, when there’s no defensive three seconds, Oliver Miller is still useful.

Thus, Del Harris was somewhat at wit’s end...

Spree scored 14 points with 6 assists, Tim Hardaway 12 points and 3 assists, Chris Mullin 9 points and 1 assist... the three of them combined for 35 points and 10 assists, and most of the scored points were from players other than these three.

At this point, Del Harris looked at Zhang Hao sitting next to him.

Only Zhang Hao seemed completely unbothered, sitting wherever he was supposed to, while everyone else was busy with things they didn’t really understand, waiting for the coach to summon and set tactical adjustments.

Del Harris had a sudden thought and quietly asked: "What do you think we should adjust in the second half?"

Zhang Hao didn’t even turn his head, responded: "There’s really nothing to adjust. Our tactics weren’t wrong, defense wasn’t wrong, offensive coordination wasn’t wrong, none of it was wrong; it’s just that their iso plays were accurate."

"We’re on a 16-game winning streak!"

"What can you do? We can’t win every time... and we haven’t lost yet, have we? Their perimeter three-star players are playing so well, and we’re only trailing by 7 points. If their performance is always this good, how can they only have 18 wins?"

Del Harris found it surprisingly reasonable! Although the reasoning didn’t exactly make sense, Zhang Hao’s calm demeanor somehow made it feel reasonable.

Watching Zhang Hao finish speaking and head to the restroom...

Del Harris suddenly snapped awake!

"This kid is way calmer than me, the head coach! Wasn’t my agitation earlier just foolish? And there’s even someone to compare with! Clearly, he and I don’t mesh well!"

Elsewhere, Zhang Hao reached the restroom, found all the stall doors open and confirmed no one’s there... He found a toilet, closed the door, and slumped...

"I’m done for, I’m done for... failing two tasks tonight..."