"Is that all there is to today's game?" In the Staples Center Arena, O'Neal, who was resting on the bench, had an unwilling expression on his face.

Looking at the fans on the field who were still cheering for the home team, and the already depressed teammates beside him, O'Neill clenched his fists.

"No, you can't just give up." As the first regular season this season, the Lakers, who have 67 wins this season, have been given countless hopes. And this season's O'Neal also ushered in the best state of his career, and this season was also considered by O'Neal to be the best opportunity to reach the championship, but he didn't expect this series to end up like this.

As one of the Lakers' nemesis this season, the defending champion Spurs, who have David Robinson and Duncan, have been seen as an obstacle to the Lakers' championship. But since David Robinson retired from injury, after adding two consecutive 55+ games, O'Neal believes that the Spurs can no longer stop their Lakers. But the progress of this round of the series greatly surprised O'Neal, the Spurs not only stubbornly made the big score 3-3, but also in this tie-break between the two sides, the Spurs had the advantage most of the time, more than half of the game in the fourth quarter, 97-89, the Spurs have led the Lakers by almost 10 points.

Looking at the somewhat anxious Phil Jackson, although O'Neal's heart is very unwilling, but it can't change the current situation on the court, since the beginning of this game, the Lakers have been led by the Spurs, and Phil Jackson's on-the-spot command ability is obviously not as good as Popovich. And after the start of the fourth quarter, he wanted to take over the game in advance but failed, the Spurs, who have always been good at playing positional battles, suddenly started a fast break after discovering their intention to take over the game, and in the accelerating pace of the game, O'Neal was also a little powerless, although Phil Jackson slowed down the pace of the game through two timeouts, but the Spurs have opened the score through this time.

"I'm going to win this fight." When he walked onto the court again, looking at the oncoming Tim Duncan, O'Neal secretly swore in his heart. Since the beginning of this season, some media have called Duncan and himself the two strongest in the league's new generation of insiders, although Duncan has won the championship and Finals MVP before himself, but in O'Neal's heart Duncan is still not qualified, in O'Neal's mind, now the entire league inside, to lift his shoes is not worthy, the only one who can make himself respect, is now about to retire, even when he encountered the peak of his life, O'Neal did not have the slightest mistake, let alone the current Duncan.

When Ron Haber received the ball near the center circle, under the close defense of Avery Johnson, after taking two steps forward, without the slightest hesitation, quickly passed the ball to O'Neal below the free throw line, while the rest of the Lakers players quickly pulled away to create conditions for O'Neal's singles.

After O'Neal held the ball, the defense became Tim Duncan, and there were more than 4 points left in the game, in order to limit O'Neal to the greatest extent, Tim Duncan and Samaki Walker, who had already committed 5 fouls, changed their defensive positions, and Duncan will directly face O'Neal in the last few minutes.

"If it was Meng, who was defending Haber just now, I'm afraid O'Neill wouldn't have received the ball so easily." Seeing Ron Harper jumping up in front of Avery Johnson very calmly and passing the basketball to O'Neal, Spurs' assistant coach Mike Budenholzer also shook his head helplessly, Avery Johnson is too short, Ron Haber is a head taller than him, fortunately, Haber's offensive ability is declining very quickly, otherwise it would be enough for the Spurs to drink a pot of Ron Haber to keep playing Avery Johnson.

O'Neal held the ball with his back, leaned directly on Tim Duncan, and used his best strength to push directly to the back, after two consecutive times, Duncan was directly pushed back by O'Neal more than a meter away, although Duncan's strength was good enough, but he was still a little stretched in the face of O'Neal.

"Tim, you can't stop me yet." After throwing Duncan out of position, O'Neal directly turned around and hit a hook shot, and also caused a Duncan foul that blocked himself, and after falling from the air, O'Neal shouted at Duncan, and Duncan was expressionless, running directly to the side of the paint area, waiting for O'Neal to go there for a free throw.

"Big guy, I can't wait to grab the rebound, you better hurry." Seeing O'Neal holding the basketball and aiming at the free throw line, Meng Xu, who was standing not far from O'Neal, pretended to be impatient and said, Meng Xu is not Duncan, and he can ignore other people's provocations. Although his strength is not good, he must not fall behind in words.

"Bastard, believe it or not I'm going to beat you up." Hearing Meng Xu's provocation, O'Neal was furious, but he was a little helpless, his free throws have always been relied on, and there was no way to slap Jordan Bird in the face like that.

Seeing the angry O'Neill, Meng Xu also pouted, such a big man, even Barkley can't get it, and he will intimidate me with such a small body.

When O'Neal's free throw was shot, without the slightest hesitation, Meng Xu rushed directly to the basket, and after taking two steps forward in a row, Meng Xu jumped up quickly, and the others did not have the slightest chance, Meng Xu's bounce height and bounce speed on the defensive end were too buggy, after taking the basketball into his arms in the air, Meng Xu did not launch a fast attack through a long pass like a few minutes ago, but after protecting the ball in place for 2 seconds, he saw that the Lakers' players had retreated through the middle circle, Only then did he pass the basketball in his hand to Avery Johnson.

After running slowly through the half, after making a block with Avery Johnson, the basketball was passed to Meng Xu's hands, after receiving Johnson's pass, Meng Xu did not continue to break through, but moved a few steps laterally, after seeing Duncan come up to cover himself, Meng Xu passed the basketball to Duncan's hands, and Meng Xu signaled the rest of his teammates to pull away and give the ball to Duncan to play alone.

Seeing what Meng Xu did on the court, Popovich's angry mouth on the sidelines was already trembling, if it weren't for the Lakers still having a little hope of turning the tables, Popovich would definitely replace Meng Xu immediately now, and then spray at him.

"Meng is becoming more and more a leader." Looking at Popovich beside him, Mike Budenholzer said with a smile, but Mike Budenholzer's smile was a little weird.

Holding the basketball in his hand, looking at his teammates who had already pulled away, Duncan was also a little speechless, now the situation on the court is not yet the moment when he needs to single-handedly challenge O'Neal, Popovich, who has always been committed to team basketball, is very hateful to this kind of heads-up under the momentary righteousness, but now that Meng Xu has created the conditions for himself to play singles, he can't refuse Meng Xu's kindness, as for the coach's side, after the game is over, he is looking for him. Duncan, who has been crowned the league's No. 1 forward since last year, although he doesn't care much about these titles, Duncan's heart is still very proud, who doesn't want to be No.1?

With his back to O'Neal, Duncan did not go to fight with O'Neal, but turned around two and a half times in a row after a feint, directly erased O'Neal, and rushed into the inner line, how could Robert Hawley, who was making up the defense, be Duncan's opponent, directly against Robert Hawley in the air, after dunking the basketball into the basket, Duncan did not have the slightest celebration, but began to retreat with a blank face.

"Meng, after the game, go to the coach to apologize, understand?" Looking at Meng Xu who ran over, Duncan patted him on the shoulder.