After taking a deep breath, Zhang Hao opened his eyes. At this moment, his teammates who had been watching him saw the fierceness in his eyes, the desire for revenge!

Just now, Zhang Hao was recalling the frustration of being refused tickets by the New York Knicks, repeatedly reminding himself of that emotion.

Now the emotions are in place! He said to his teammates, "We can definitely win, but I don’t just want to win by about 10 points, that’s not enough, not nearly enough. I want a big win, I want to crush them, I want them to regret not giving me the tickets.

Brothers, help me!"

"Heart Return (Silver) activated..."

Zhang Hao’s influence was already strong, and with the Heart Return effect, the teammates immediately felt a sense of empathy.

"Don’t worry! Brothers will help you crush them!"

"Leave it to us brothers..."

"Dare to humiliate our rookie, your brothers will help you..."

"..."

"..."

Zhang Hao got a bit embarrassed, should have known better than to use that nickname, this group really knows how to seize the key point! Everyone is taking advantage of him!

"..." Del Harris saw Zhang Hao stirring up his teammates’ fighting spirit, and felt like giving a slap - who caused this? But seeing the team being motivated this way, he felt a bit uncomfortable.

He himself would need to spend half a day talking, whereas Zhang Hao just needed a couple of sentences!

Oh well, what’s important now is to win the match, Zhang Hao is playing so well, if they get overturned, he definitely won’t be blamed, but still he needs to shoulder the responsibility, the team must play well.

At that moment, everyone forgot about the previous conflict between Del Harris and Zhang Hao...

...

The Lakers sent out a lineup of Sedale-Srte, Doug Christie, Zhang Hao, Magician, and Campbell.

The New York Knicks sent out Derek Harper, Hubert Davis, Little Anthony Mason, Charles Smith, and Ewing.

Old Nelson really admired Ewing’s leadership qualities, there was actually another chance! Originally, he was planning to give up, the boss was truly furious, at worst he would resign, he was already close to not managing anymore.

But since there’s a chance to win, it’s time to prepare well, first substitute Charles Oakley, who was an unstable factor.

On the other side, Zhang Hao looked at the opponent’s adjustment... in terms of hard lineup, if it wasn’t for Mr. Zhang having his historically strongest and possibly unbeatable off-ball tactics, the Lakers really couldn’t compare with the opponent.

But that’s no longer important now.

In the past half-quarter game, they were too careless and arrogant, but seeing the New York Knicks display a tenacious spirit and performance, Zhang Hao became even more excited!

With such strength, what fun is it to break your scoring record against a weaker opponent?

With such strength, isn’t it better to defeat more resilient opponents?

If the opponent just falls over like that, he goes on to the trash time to brush to 45+, there’s reward, but it’s not satisfying!

From this moment, the game became more intense!

Over at the New York Knicks side, in the past half, they found their mid-long-range shooting rhythm, seeing the opponent even field Campbell, they played more decisively in the mid-long range, unless it’s a layup, Ewing would seize the chance to single out Campbell when Zhang Hao wasn’t near the basket area for a post-up.

For the Lakers’ offense, Magician used Zhang Hao’s threat to string the whole team together, the New York Knicks defended Zhang Hao particularly strictly, they couldn’t accept Zhang Hao scoring like he did in the first quarter.

If the New York Knicks could really completely limit Zhang Hao’s scoring, they could quickly reduce the score gap, after all Zhang Hao is the top scorer of the Lakers.

But clearly, that’s impossible! Without needing to protect the basket, with mid-range shots being opened by the New York Knicks, Zhang Hao’s super strong intuition plus analysis ability now allowed him decisively to reduce his focus on defending the perimeter, defending when possible, while putting more energy into potential counter-attack opportunities.

Although the New York Knicks defended well, Zhang Hao still scored 4 points on counter-attacks, and made a spin three-pointer from beyond the three-point line, totaling 7 points in the latter half of the second quarter.

By halftime, the Lakers led the New York Knicks 72-55, entering the break with a 17-point advantage!

Looking at Zhang Hao’s half-time 35 points, 6 rebounds, 7 blocks, 2 assists, and 2 steals performance but only leading by 17 points... originally the Lakers players were solely focused on the match because of Zhang Hao’s "request", but now, they too realized the New York Knicks weren’t easy to deal with!

If it wasn’t for Zhang Hao’s spin three-pointer made in front of Little Anthony Mason when teammates had no chance, their lead would have continued to erode!

The entire Lakers team shifted from the excitement of wanting to massacre the opponent due to arrogance, into truly valuing the opponent’s strength, knowing that they might be overturned if they don’t fight hard!

Over at the New York Knicks side, Charles Oakley who didn’t play in the latter half of the second quarter kept motivating his teammates while walking back to the player tunnel, he is the true locker room leader of the Knicks, positively doing what he should even when he doesn’t have the chance to play, in the eyes of opponents he is a villain that should be expelled from the NBA, but in the New York Knicks, even Ewing was willing to call him the true big brother.

On the other side, Zhang Hao watched as Ewing who just entered halftime put ice bags on his legs and immediately began preparing for the second half, walking towards the player tunnel a bit later...

Even though Ewing wasn’t likable, always looking bitter and vengeful, Zhang Hao didn’t like him much either, but he felt this veteran was truly a man among men!

points at halftime... breaking the 45-point personal scoring record Zhang Hao felt was no problem at all.

He could clearly feel that as long as he had a capable passer, the temporary strength he gained could compete against anyone, with the Magician being the top historical assists per game elite, he showcased nearly all of his ability perfectly.

However, now, he even more hoped the New York Knicks would continue to unleash this energy, allowing him to fully enjoy a hard-fought game with this temporary strength!