But the good news for the Mavericks, or for Kobe, is that O'Neal won't be able to play tonight, which is still their biggest advantage tonight.

And Johnson, as a coach who is good at defense, also made another defensive adjustment between the court.

The defensive strategy of the Mavericks changed from Kobe Bryant's single defense on the court to Bell's main defense, and then cut off the connection between Sun Hao and his teammates.

In other words, what Johnson means is that Sun Hao can continue to score 50 points, but don't think about 10+ assists.

And Kobe Bryant maintained the offensive state of the last game, and after liberating the defensive end, he once again scored with Sun Hao.

As a result, although Sun Hao was still full of firepower on the offensive end, scoring 47 points, the Lakers still lost to the Mavericks 89-100 on the road.

It is worth mentioning that except for Sun Hao, only Finley of the Lakers scored more than 15 points.

The Lakers' role players, playing at this intensity, exposed their shortcomings in their lack of autonomous offensive ability.

It was this game that made fans realize one thing: basketball games are always about five people.

Even if he is as strong as Jordan, he has been "educated" by the Pistons before meeting his Pippen.

And to put it mildly, the Mavericks with Nowitzki and Kobe Bryant are no weaker than the bad boy army.

Sun Hao's ability to win the game without O'Neill in the last game is already a miracle.

Miracles are so rare that they are called like this, and if they are as ubiquitous as Chinese cabbage, who would think that they are miracles?

And what more could you ask of a player who has 40+ back-to-back playoff games and scored 100 points in two games?

The good news is that O'Neill is back.

After getting plenty of rest, O'Neal's injury has improved significantly and he is ready to play.

In off-season training sessions between three or four games, O'Neal was like a rookie on his first day in the NBA, and he was extraordinarily engaged.

A person of his character, against Kobe, sat on the court for two games, which really suffocated him.

Even during the full-court confrontation training, he came through Divac with a two-handed strong buckle.

Divac's face was full of question marks: The contradiction between you OK, the final result of the joint work is, I have to be separated by the two of you in turn?

However, Phil Jackson didn't pay attention to Divac's feelings when he saw the ball, and the excitement in his heart was on his face.

In O'Neal's state, the probability of the Lakers winning the next game is at least eighty percent.

After playing against the Spurs, he didn't want to return to Los Angeles with a 2-2 score.

"Shaq, I'll pass you more."

After the training, Sun Hao said to O'Neill, who was impatient.

After two wild performances in a row, he can finally relax a bit.

It feels cool to get a high score, but after it is cool, it is tired.

It's the same thing.

"No, you make more shots on the outside, and I'll contain on the inside."

However, O'Neill's reaction surprised Sun Hao very much.

The meaning of this sentence can actually be understood as: I'll give you a hand!

This doesn't look like something O'Neill would say at all!

Just like when the two talked about MVP, O'Neal would only say "I think it's okay to give you the MVP", instead of "you should be the one who gets the MVP"!

The meaning of the two sentences is completely different!

"Don't look at me like that, I'm 34 years old, do you really think I can still score 40 points and grab 20 rebounds every night?"

O'Neill's words made Sun Hao even more surprised.

The two have been working together for a season now, and O'Neill has never said anything about his age.

It seems that this injury has changed his view of the game.

However, O'Neill's next words made Sun Hao understand what his transformation was.

"You know what? Ever since I was swept by Hakim in the Finals that year, I told myself that I could never lose again, and in order to do that, I had to be strong enough to carry the team on the shoulders of one person.

I've been doing that all these years in L.A., whether it's Kobe Bryant or a hairy kid or he's been playing, and I tell myself that when that kid is not feeling good, I'm going to grab every rebound because I can't lose.

So even if you're in L.A., I'm playing every night and I'm giving it my all, and I know everybody is waiting to see my jokes, and what a stupid decision it was for a manager to choose to keep a 34-year-old veteran.

But in the last two games, I have found one thing, God is fair to me, he first made me meet an extremely selfish guy, and then he let me meet an extremely selfless guy, and this selfless guy is strong enough for me to let go. ”

Sun Hao's face turned uncontrollably red after listening.

Although it wasn't as direct as Marlon's, O'Neal was embarrassed to say it.

But there's nothing wrong with that, any player who, at the age of 34, sees his teammates score 100 points in two playoff games, and will willingly play assist.

Although O'Neal is arrogant, he is not the kind of arrogance that Kobe Bryant has.

What's more, Sun Hao and Kobe Bryant give him too different feelings, and they can even be said to be two extremes.

Kobe Bryant is strength has not reached that point, and he is going to compete with him for power, while Sun Hao is already very strong, but he has been passing the ball to him.

Don't say he's O'Neal, a normal person can't stand this kind of goodness.

So on the whole, it is normal for O'Neill to say such things.

"Shaq, you can still dominate the game, you're not old."

Sun Hao opened his mouth and said.

O'Neal's dominance at this age is still there, and his biggest problem is injury.

"Of course, how can Shaq be old, but that doesn't affect what I just said."

O'Neill, it seems, was determined to do that.

Sun Hao nodded, O'Neill said so, it would be inappropriate for him to say anything or if you lead the attack.

"Then, let's take not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4, 5, 6 championships!"

Sun Hao then said what O'Neill had said to him.

O'Neill laughed after hearing this, then stretched out his hand to look at Sun Hao and slapped him in the face.

The two of them have officially reached an agreement!

That night, Game 4 of the Wizards and Pistons series kicked off at Auburn Hills Palace.

The Wizards took a 2-1 lead to take the initiative in the series, and if they can win another game on the road, it would be a high probability that they would advance.

But the Pistons are clearly not going to let them get their way.

Anthony scored 29 points after a slump, telling the world that he was still the same ripe and sweet melon.

And the Pistons did something similar to what the Mavericks did, completely severing the connection between other role players and Yao Mai.

As a result, although Yao Mai and Maddy combined for 55 points, the Wizards still lost 87-94.

Well, seeing this score proportion, Sun Hao felt very familiar.

In those years, the Houston team under Van Gundy's coach always regretted losing by many points, and even the role players combined scored less than 20 points to lose.

Van Gundy's tactical system relies too much on the core.

It turns out that he is really lacking in this area, and even Hamilton is almost being used by him as a normal role player.

With a 2-2 draw, the Wizards and Pistons are about to usher in the battle of Tianwang Mountain.

Jordan won't be happy with the result, but fans are happy to hear it, knowing that they haven't seen a tiebreaker since the playoffs began.

It would be great if there was one of the divisional finals, or two of them to watch.

The next night, Game 4 of the series between the Lakers and Mavericks kicked off at the National Route Center.

It is worth mentioning that the training of both teams today is completely closed and not open to the public.

So before the game, no one knows what both teams have prepared for tonight's game.

This only makes the fans look forward to it even more.

O'Neal's return and mysterious preparations for the game have filled the sense of anticipation of the game.

That night, the National Route Center Arena was full, and the fans were looking forward to it.

The eastern side has already drawn 2-2, and they are naturally looking forward to the Mavericks being able to play another game at home and a battle against Tianwang Mountain.

However, it will not be as easy for the Mavericks to win tonight as it was in the last game, because O'Neal is back on the Lakers' side.

After the pre-match opening ceremony, the starting lineups on both sides were released one after another.

The starting line-up on both sides was largely unchanged from the previous game, with the only change being O'Neal returning to the starting line-up in place of Divac.

Because the Mavericks started with Dampier in the first game, the starting lineup on both sides is also the first time in the series.

The game started immediately, with starters from both sides coming on one side after another.

At this moment, there was a small detail on the court, and O'Neal smiled and glanced at Kobe Bryant a few times when he came on the court.

That expression, as if to say: Brother is back!

"Toot!"

As soon as the whistle blew, O'Neal jumped up first and flicked the ball over Diop's head to give the Lakers the first chance to attack!

One thing can be seen from the opening jump ball: O'Neal's desire to play tonight is no lower than the first game of the series!

Johnson also trembled inexplicably, is O'Neal going to stage the first shark out of the cage game tonight?

But soon, he realized that the reality was a little different from what he had thought.

O'Neal did not sink directly to the basket to catch the ball like in the first game, but twisted his big ass and ran to a high position to block and dismantle Sun Hao.

This choice surprised Johnson and relieved him.

If O'Neal eats the Mavericks alive on the inside again, then he really can't stand it.

However, what Johnson overlooked was that O'Neal had just returned from injury, and it was unlikely that he would play like that again.

If you really fight and lie down again, it will obviously outweigh the losses.

Bell hit the south wall again, and Sun Hao took advantage of the cover to shoot directly with three points.

This is a classic combination of him and O'Neill.

"Phew!"

It's a pity that his first shot misses the frame and smashes out.

It can be seen that the past two games have taken a lot of physical toll on him.

Johnson was ecstatic when he saw this.

O'Neal didn't go to the basket again, Sun Hao was over-consumed, and the Mavericks won more than imagined tonight!

Not to mention, he also has a killer plan for tonight.

In his excitement, he had already gotten up and walked to the sidelines shouting for the team to speed up the attack.

Kobe, after playing a pick-and-roll with Nowitzki, and after the pick-and-roll, he passed the ball to Nowitzki!

Everyone was stunned!

You must know that in the past three games, to be precise, it should be the season from Kobe Bryant to the Mavericks, he basically went it alone after getting the ball, including blocking and dismantling Nowitzki, just to create a misplaced single opportunity.

But now, he's actually passing the ball!

This is Johnson's killer feature.

Some people may say that Kobe Bryant's current character is impossible to pass the ball to Nowitzki.

That's true, but everything is variable.

This variable has to start with Nowitzki's hug and words of encouragement after the second fiasco.

Just like O'Neal recognized Sun Hao, after that incident, Kobe Bryant also recognized Nowitzki.

So he may still not trust others and is reluctant to pass it on to others, but Nowitzki, he does.

Nowitzki, mid-range shot after receiving the ball.

"Huh!"

Still the familiar silky shot, Nowitzki sent the ball into the basket steadily!

The Mavericks, come out on top!

The scene was thunderous with cheers.

In the opening offense and defense, the Mavericks completely pressed the Lakers to play.

The signal is: they can win tonight!

"Defend! Defend! ”

This also made the fans at the scene excited, and spontaneously opened to cheer for the home team.

Although, the game has just begun!

The Lakers advanced to the frontcourt, and Johnson's eyes were still on O'Neal at this time.

With his understanding of O'Neal, if a teammate doesn't grasp an opportunity to block and pick-and-roll, O'Neal will probably go to the basket and attack by himself.

As long as Diop can fight to prevent O'Neal, then the "momentum" is completely on the side of the Mavericks.

Playing at home, the role of this "momentum" will be incomparably huge.

Forehead...... O'Neill ran to block Sun Hao again.

Johnson was stunned for a moment.

I didn't expect you to be such a big shark!

O'Neal's opening performance is clearly assisting Sun Hao!

It's incredible.

Not to mention this season, even when he was with Kobe, O'Neal gave Kobe a limited number of times to block and dismantle.

If in O'Neal's own words, it is so easy for Lao Tzu to score under the basket, and it is purely a waste of physical strength to block and dismantle.

But now O'Neill has changed, and Johnson doesn't know him.

Then, Sun Hao used O'Neill's blocking and demolition to break through directly and quickly this time!

The first shot made him realize that he was not feeling good tonight, and he started to kill more under the basket!

Diop's reaction obviously couldn't keep up, and he struggled to chase Sun Hao, but the block of the last shot covered a loneliness, and he watched Sun Hao's fast low-handed layup score.

Sun Hao got the Lakers' first 2 points tonight!

O'Neal looked as happy as Sun Hao, he waited for Sun Hao to come over and took the initiative to high-five him, and turned his head to look at Kobe.

Well, he's back, and he's going to continue to show affection with Sun Hao!

.fxck！

Kobe Bryant was rough.

It was unbearable, and when he got to the frontcourt, he took the ball and began to rush inside.

His breakthrough in the last game was tried and tested, and in this one, Christie still couldn't stop him.

He broke through the defense and broke into the interior and got up to ...... What do you think!

O'Neal is back, and the Lakers' interior strength is not at the same level as before.

Kobe Bryant faced O'Neal and wanted to play dunk or something, it was simply unrealistic, he could only show his waist and abdomen strength in the air and stage a difficult back.

O'Neal's defensive pressure was too great, and Kobe's shot finally smashed out of the frame!

O'Neal turned around and grabbed the defensive rebound!

In another section of the court, Johnson couldn't help but reach out to his forehead.

His killer move, it seems to have disappeared in just one round!

That sentence is right, the country is easy to change, and the nature is difficult to change!

Kobe Bryant could try to make some changes when he was rational, but after being stimulated by O'Neal, he was back to his original self!

This is probably the biggest difference between him and O'Neill.

Well, O'Neal continued to mention blocking and dismantling Sun Hao in the high post, and his goal tonight is to become the first support in the NBA.

Another block went inside, and the Mavericks' defense line walked towards Sun Hao's side, and Sun Hao threw the ball directly into the air.

He was never a player with only the basket!

O'Neill soared into the air almost at the same time.

A natural tacit understanding from the Instant Kill Combo.

"Bang!"

In the exclamation of the fans at the scene, O'Neal grabbed the ball in the air and smashed the ball into the basket with both hands!

The City of Empty Connections!

The slightly lower presence in the previous rounds made some fans feel that O'Neal became afraid to play after his injury.

But this ball just now is announcing to everyone: the big shark is back with full blood!

The scene was agitated.

The "momentum" that Johnson was expecting did not materialize.

On the contrary, it was this cooperation just now that made the Lakers bench boil for a while, and the Lakers had the intention of getting up.

Kobe Bryant, a pull-up jump shot after the breakaway!

Johnson said that his heart was a little unbearable, this half angel and half devil, normal people will have heart disease sooner or later.

4 to 4!

The opening performance on both sides played a different flavor from the previous games, but what is certain is that it is also more exciting than the previous games!

O'Neill, continue to block and dismantle Sun Hao!

Sun Hao used the feint of blocking and dismantling to break through this time, forcing Diop to take a big step back.

The lethality of Sun Hao's previous two breakthroughs is too great, and the MVP aura bonus is not a joke with you.

But it was precisely because of that that that Diop was clearly overreacting.

Then you may not believe it when you say it, because O'Neill blocked Bell to death, and Sun Hao got a completely empty opportunity.

He made a rare adjustment to his breath and aimed at the basket before making a move.

Because the first shot didn't go in, he was looking for a shooting rhythm.

The shot is almost a textbook action of a one-action shot.

The ball swirls in the air and crosses a perfect parabola.

"Huh!"

Then with a crisp sound, the basketball fell steadily into the net bag!

Sun Hao's three-point shot is in!

The Lakers' bench is boiling again.

Everyone knows how important it is for Sun Hao to get back to the Lakers!

Johnson, of course, knows it too!

This time, he didn't hold his forehead again, but rubbed his forehead vigorously.

"Momentum", on the side of the Lakers!

Kobe Bryant, and then broke through after the pull-up jump shot.

But just as he struck, a huge shadow swooped down on him.

O'neill!

Kobe Bryant never thought that O'Neal, who was too lazy to move on the inside, would pounce!

O'Neill really refreshed his perception tonight!

He thinks he knows O'Neill well enough to play with him.

He was forced to angle his shot too high, and the ball went over O'Neal's fingertips, but it was clearly off the rails.

"Phew!"

Kobe Bryant's continuous shots hit the iron!

Malone recycled and protected the defensive rebound!

"Shaq looks a little different tonight."

On the commentary bench, Kenny Smith also noticed that O'Neal was different tonight.

"This guy acts like Sun's little brother."

Barkley deserves to be a big mouth, and he has a lot of grievances with O'Neal, although he is now a "Lakers fan", but he still has to be black when he seizes the opportunity.

Smith, after thinking for a moment, nodded earnestly.

The scene drew Barkley into a maniac laugh.

He didn't expect Smith to nod!

Smith seems to have only just realized that he was also following Barkley to black O'Neal.

"Shaq did a lot of the same thing tonight as Carl did last time, but he can obviously do a lot more."

To cover it up, he explained.

Barkley couldn't stop laughing.

But there was also a lot of happiness in his laughter.

Because he knows that O'Neal is doing this, it means that he has really given up the position of the Lakers' boss.

belongs to Sun Hao's Lakers era, and next season is coming at the earliest!

The Lakers played a defensive counterattack, Sun Hao ran after receiving the ball, dodged Fisher's steal, and dunked with both hands.

Because of the fierceness of the rush, he only swung around the basket after the whole person dunked before landing.

Los Angeles Coot!

The scene was agitated.

If it weren't for the fact that Sun Hao was wearing a purple and gold robe, they would already want to cheer for Sun Hao!

This used to be their Sun Hao!

But now, it can only be someone else's!

4 to 9!

The Lakers are starting to pull away from the score.

Nowitzki's independent back-to-back shot after Nowitzki received the ball was also missed.

After the "momentum" fell to the side of the Lakers, the offense of the Mavericks began to be affected.

And this ball O'Neal grabbed the defensive rebound and then made a long throw, Sun Hao once again staged a one-stop fast attack, and scored a basket after avoiding Fisher's defense in the air!

4 to 11!

Johnson, forced to call a timeout.

O'Neal didn't score much after his comeback, and only scored two points after playing almost five minutes.

But the Lakers quickly built up a lead.

There is no other reason, simply because of defense!

After O'Neal's return, the Lakers' interior defense ability has improved exponentially.

Kobe Bryant is asking for it on the inside like he did in the first two games? No way!

Even the Mavericks have become difficult to rush for frontcourt rebounds.

As Sun Hao knows, O'Neill's strength in this period is still at the ruling level, he just has hidden injuries!

After the timeout, Kobe Bryant pulled away to contain the defense.

Johnson shifted his offensive focus to Nowitzki.

And the Mavericks started playing what they do best, misplaced singles.

Nowitzki misplaced O'Neal and hit a step-back jumper.

is still the "Silver Horn King" familiar to fans, this action is like a defender.

6 to 11!

Johnson's timeout was a success.

But looking back, Sun Hao then played blocking and dismantling with O'Neal.

And he didn't rush to shoot after he went out, but waited for O'Neal to cut in a through ball.

There is really a tacit understanding between the two, O'Neal is already ready to receive the ball, and after getting the ball, he grinds Bale to score with an easy basket.

6 to 13!

The Lakers' offense is simple and rude, but the Mavericks just can't prevent it!

It was at this time that fans found that O'Neal's output was still ridiculously strong after he changed to assist!

Nowitzki played O'Neill again, and this time Malone had a helping defense.

Nowitzki distributes the ball to Diop.

Diop's dribbling layup was directly covered by O'Neal, who returned to defense!

Diop is a player, how good the defense is, how bad the offense is!

Otherwise, if he also has offense, he would not be a role player, but at least an absolute workhorse like Okafor!

Christie showed his scalpel reflexes, saw where the ball landed and pounced to grab the ball, and then lay on the ground and threw the ball to Sun Hao.

Sun Hao took the ball and broke quickly, and this time he passed the ball to Finley who followed up on the other side, and Finley's flying layup went in again.

6 to 15!

The difference has reached 9 points!

Johnson's timeout did work, but it was clear that it wasn't enough.

Kobe Bryant took the ball again and started to go it alone.

Johnson's tactics didn't work, and he began to play his own.

However, he showed his ball intelligence, which called for Diop to come out and block it, dribble to the free throw line and throw one.

O'Neal couldn't expand that position, and although Christie's shot interfered a little, Kobe Bryant's shot still threw the ball in with his excellent individual ability.

8 to 15!

After the goal, Bryant reached out and clenched his fist.

He won't throw in the towel easily!

Sun Hao, and O'Neal blocked and hit another three-point shot.

“……”

O'Neill is determined to play support tonight, and Sun Hao is also constantly upgrading and beginning to show his strong output firepower!

8 to 18!

The Dallas fans, who were originally full of momentum and were cheering for the home team at the beginning, began to lose their energy.

In half a quarter, the score difference is already in double digits!

Maybe that's when they realized one thing, the first game of the series was a big defeat!

After the next two games, I was able to be anxious with the Lakers, and that was because O'Neal was injured!

But now, O'Neill is back......

Well, at this moment, there is an uncontrollable despair in the hearts of the fans.

And then, this despair of theirs lasted for the whole time.

Facing the output support combination of Sun Hao and O'Neal, the Mavericks couldn't resist it at all.

Some people may think that the Mavericks are not so weak, but in fact, the issue of playing style and tacit understanding is really important in the basketball game.

If Kobe Bryant can continue to play and block and cooperate with Nowitzki as Johnson explained, then the Mavericks still have a dozen.

But it's a pity that Kobe's personality in this period determines that he won't do that.

If you use elementary school mathematics to measure the combination of the two sides and the two teams, O'Neal and Sun Hao are 1+1 is much greater than 2, while Kobe Bryant and Nowitzki are less than 2.

Coupled with O'Neal's presence, Kobe Bryant couldn't score by hitting the interior as he did in the past.

So it's no surprise that the game played like this.

In the end, the result of the first game was about the same, and the Lakers defeated the Mavericks 105-89 on the road!

The 2-2 Tianwangshan game that fans were expecting did not appear, and the Lakers took a 3-1 lead after winning this game.

They've got the match point for the series!

Unlike the first game, O'Neal didn't kill all sides tonight, he "only" scored 21 points, 21 rebounds, 5 assists and 6 blocks in the whole game.

The Lakers scored the most points, with a game-high 37 points, almost creating the first playoff game in NBA history with 3 consecutive 40+ games.

It's a shame not to be able to set a record, but it's not a pity at all in the face of this result.

And Dallas fans who watched the game were even more desperate because they found themselves unable to find a point where the Mavericks could turn the series around.

This is hard for them to accept.

You must know that the Mavericks, Lakers, and Spurs were recognized as the first tier teams in the West.

The Spurs and Lakers played Game 6 and fell behind after Sun Hao scored 51 points.

But the Mavericks, after four games, caught O'Neal's injury and couldn't play, so they only won one......

It's so much worse than they imagined!

However, it was also at this time that fans discovered how strong the previous Spurs were with the comparison of the Mavericks.

"The strongest team that can stop them has been eliminated in the semi-finals and now no one can stop them from winning the title."

Towards the end of the game, Barkley started his big mouth again.

Smith on the side nodded in no hurry at this time.

The Wizards and Pistons in the East are very strong, and even if the Lakers can win, it will not be easy to win the championship.

Of course, Barkley's habits he knew, and it wouldn't be him if he didn't say a big thing.

The post-game press conference, which the Lakers took as the visiting team behind the Mavericks.

Unlike the previous dreary and even desperate atmosphere, the Lakers' press conference can really be described as lighthearted.

"I don't know why Sun and I combined for 58 points, maybe it's because Sun won 58 points when he was in Dallas before?"

When O'Neill is happy, he is even more comic in style.

It's just that after the report came out tomorrow, a certain wolf king in Minnesota said that he was offended.

"We didn't notice in the game that you didn't attack much with the ball, was it because you had just returned from injury, or because Sun had a better hand?"

The reporter asked O'Neill such a question.

It wasn't just the players and fans on the sidelines who could feel the difference in O'Neal's style of play tonight, and the media reporters also noticed it.

"Neither."

O'Neill smiled and shook his head.

This move stunned the reporter for a moment, and also made other reporters look at O'Neill.

They always felt that O'Neill was going to say something very important next.

Their hunch turned out to be right.

"Because now Son is the boss of the Lakers."

O'Neill said unhurriedly.