Before all the 76ers starters appeared on the court, Brown had already instructed them, to be precise, to ask Reed alone, that is, not to work Szczebiak, turn on the offensive firepower with all his might, and play against the Lakers. It stands to reason that Brown could have fielded a small lineup that did wonders last season, but he's still a stubborn academy coach at heart, and he will never go off the rails when he can use a normal lineup.

Chang Wei is also helpless about the old coach's persistence, but it is impossible for him to persuade Brown to give up his long-standing coaching style, even if this coaching style will soon be eliminated by the trend of the league's development. In fact, Chang Wei admired Brown's persistence, and it was this persistence that he was able to build the Pistons into the most unpleasant Predator in the league in his previous life.

Sure enough, after not paying too much attention to the defensive end, Reed's firepower began to recover, and his huge containment on the outside also made the Lakers a little careless. And Richmond, the Lakers' backup point guard, has allowed his aging and slowness to show his old age, and he has let Iverson whizz past him again and again, completely unable to do anything effective.

Under the leadership of Iverson and Reed, the 76ers quickly equalized the score, but they could not complete the comeback, and Mutombo was greatly reduced this season without the constant power bonus, and he was simply powerless against O'Neal on the inside, and could only watch the Sharks continue to grab offensive rebounds on the interior and then add the ball to the plate.

Lewis obviously couldn't help, even if he had done his best to build muscle in the offseason, and that small body was not enough for O'Neal to even plug his teeth, let alone follow Mutombo to grab rebounds. In order to ensure rebounding, Brown chose to switch to Teylon Hill and Mutombo with 3:28 left in the second quarter, hoping to ensure that he grabbed the rebound first, and then consider the team's offense and defense, after all, rebounding is quite important for any team.

Of course, Bowler had a great performance off the bench before, grabbing a total of five rebounds, including two offensive rebounds, which is already a rare thing for a rookie. But Brown also plans to observe again, now is the critical moment for the 76ers to chase points, and he does not dare to rashly let the rookie go up to face the Lakers' starting inside.

After replacing Hill, although the 76ers' offensive firepower has decreased, it is still within the acceptable range, at least now the 76ers' rebounds are no longer at a complete disadvantage. However, at the end of the first half, they still trailed by 8 points at 52-60, and scoring 52 points at halftime can only be said to be less than the normal level of the 76ers.

At half-time, Brown was furious in the dressing room, yelling at the players: "Are you still in holiday mode? Look at your soft-footed shrimp on the field, I'm so ashamed of you! How dare you claim to be the defending champion? I know it's away and we had a lot of difficulties at the Staples Center in the finals last season, but that's not a reason to be sluggish! In the 24 minutes of the second half, can you come out with a little energy? I don't want to start our season with a loss, because our goal is still to win the championship! ”

In Brown's opinion, there is nothing wrong with the team's tactical system, the main thing is that the players don't have a good attitude towards the game, and they don't know that they are fooling around all summer. So he didn't make any adjustments to the tactics, but tried to boost the morale of the players, and Brown believes that as long as he can boost morale, it will not be a problem to beat the Lakers.

After the old coach's hairdryer-style performance, the 76ers finally showed the demeanor of the defending champions at the beginning of the second half, after Iverson and Reed hit consecutive three-pointers, the 76ers played a wave of 12-0 scoring climax, and instantly completed the overtake. Their stormy outside projection directly stunned the Lakers, especially Szebiak, who performed well in the first half, did not react at all in the process of the 76ers' scoring climax, and was also won by Reed in a row.

Looking at the numbers on the scoreboard, the Zen master's face was pale, he was still very sure of the victory of this game in the first half, but he didn't expect that less than two minutes after the second half began, the situation on the field changed dramatically. Although they are now only four points behind, the 76ers have a very clear advantage, and such a situation is the most difficult for the head coach to handle.

Although the Zen master is very fond of philosophy and behaves very Buddhist in many cases, anyone who has read his resume knows what kind of guy he is in his bones. The Zen master has always been haunted by the loss to the 76ers in the finals last season, so this offseason only added Szzebiak and Richmond two big players, and by the way, he also made minor repairs to the lineup, with the aim of regaining the championship this season, and the opening game against the 76ers was considered the beginning of the shame.

However, now he was slapped hard by the 76ers, Szczebiak is really good, fully qualified for the third scoring point next to Kobe and O'Neal, although Richmond is average on the defensive end, but the offensive play can vaguely see the appearance of rampage with Mullin and Hardaway in the Warriors. But they still need to continue to run in with the original veteran players, as long as they are a little more insider, it can be seen that the Lakers still have a lot to improve.

Relatively speaking, the 76ers' roster is more stable, although it seems that Brown wants Arenas and Dyham Porter, two rookies, to contribute in the new season, but at least their starting lineup is exactly the same as last season, which means that they don't need time to run in, and they can play much more power than the Lakers.

However, this situation will not make the Zen master surrender on this move, and now the Lakers are not far behind, with the scoring ability of Kobe and O'Neal, the difference can be erased in minutes. But the key problem is that tying the score and winning the game are two different things, judging from the mental state of the 76ers players since the third quarter, their morale has improved a lot, which makes the Zen master feel a little tricky, is it still necessary to try a new lineup like last season's Finals?

But the Zen master quickly thought of one of the opponent's weaknesses, that is, the inside, Mutombo's ability to control the rebound is not as good as before, and it is impossible to protect the basket, which is also the fundamental reason why Brown wants to put Teylon Hill, a tough guy on the court, to partner with him, if O'Neal insists on opening up the situation on the inside, it may also get good results.