After the opponent scored, teammates who instinctively glanced at the bench saw Del Harris’s composure and Zhang Hao’s calmness, which reassured them, allowing them to play with patience.

An 8-point gap, the Warriors’ stars played well tonight, meaning that the stars can always step up when a score is needed, making it difficult for the Lakers to catch up.

However, Zhang Hao’s patience paid off, and at 5:37 in the fourth quarter, Van Exel found his touch and hit a three-pointer!

Soon after, at 6:02, Van Exel hit another three-pointer, reducing the gap to just 4 points!

Then, Warriors’ Joe Smith missed a baseline jump shot, a switch in offense and defense saw Van Exel advance to the frontcourt, feigning another shot to draw a double team, and passed to the nearby Donyell Marshall, who showed no mercy against his former team, hitting a three-pointer!

This 9 to 2 run helped the Lakers close the score to 101 to 103, narrowing the gap to two points! The Warriors called a timeout!

The game had 5 minutes and 20 seconds left! Entering the last official timeout!

The Lakers scored 16 to 14 in this half-quarter, with Van Exel scoring 6 points, Campbell scoring 5 points, Doug Christie 2 points, and Donyell Marshall 3 points.

Campbell played 22 minutes tonight and scored 28 points and 8 rebounds, achieving quite a high scoring efficiency, setting a season high, just 4 points away from his career-high of 32 points, and with limited playing time, it was very efficient. However, with his massive weight, he moved actively, trying to block shots with little help from Zhang Hao, and played exhausted.

Having gradually gotten used to Zhang Hao’s help in close-range defense, and Zhang Hao’s increasingly effective close-range defense, the absence of Zhang Hao’s aid was profoundly felt by both Campbell and the coaching staff, marking Zhang Hao’s irreplaceable importance to the team.

Zhang Hao, who rested for most of the quarter, was called by name, and had started warming up as soon as the timeout began and listened to Del Harris’s plans on the sidelines.

Del Harris emphasized for a long time, and Zhang Hao summed it all up in one sentence—Go up there and give it your best!

...

After the official timeout, the Lakers sent out a lineup of Van Exel, Doug Christie, Magician, Jason Williams, and Zhang Hao.

The Warriors deployed a lineup of Tim Hardaway, Spree, Chris Mullin, Joe Smith, and Ronnie Selika.

Oliver Miller wasn’t put back on; Oliver Miller was already too exhausted to run! Resting for about 20 minutes wasn’t nearly enough for Oliver Miller to recover from the previous 20 minutes of game time.

The King of Cross Step has 24 points and 4 assists, Madman has 28 points and 6 assists, and the God’s Left Hand has 18 points and 2 assists... These three almost scored 70 points just through isolation plays! It’s unbelievable!

Zhang Hao easily judged that the opponent intends to spread out beyond the three-point line and take turns in isolation plays, all three can shoot threes, and when their shooting form is good, spreading out for isolation plays is the best way to solve the issue in crucial moments.

As expected, when the game resumed, Spree received the ball at midcourt and passed it to Chris Mullin beyond the three-point line, as the Magician tragically went to defend him... and then failed to stop him, watching as Chris Mullin made a mid-range shot with his left hand.

Thankfully, back on the offensive end, Zhang Hao drew a double team from Joe Smith and Chris Mullin, allowing the Magician to receive a pass from Zhang Hao close to the hoop and score with a hook shot, keeping the Lakers close!

There’s no rush, play slowly, the Lakers are already accustomed to this situation from an entire night’s grind, slowly catching up, and while a half-quarter may not be long, it’s also not short.

Generally speaking, a team with a poor record will often leave a bad impression on others, especially when it has players with a bad reputation.

Before going against the Warriors, Zhang Hao’s impression of them was similar to the extremely poor impression he had of the Brooklyn Nets before joining them, although there was no animosity with the Warriors, just the fact they had a No. 1 draft pick, the impression was still bad.

But after actually facing them, he found that whether it was Spree, Tim Hardaway, Chris Mullin, Oliver Miller... even Joe Smith showed a lot of positivity and effort to win.

At this point, Zhang Hao and Joe Smith were not concerned about "who deserves the No. 1 draft pick" and focused on actively doing their parts.

However, in crucial moments, stars are often more reliable than the team as a whole, around 11:08, the Warriors relied on scoring in three consecutive possessions to widen the gap to 6 points!

to 114, the Warriors forced the Lakers to call a timeout!

Del Harris made a very simple arrangement, simplicity was of the essence, there wasn’t much time, and an aggressive approach was needed.

After the timeout, the Lakers subbed out the Magician and fielded Van Exel, Anthony Peeler, Doug Christie, Donyell Marshall, and Zhang Hao.

The ball in the Lakers’ frontcourt, Van Exel advanced to just outside the three-point line and faced rough defense from Spree, a player of the All-Defensive Team caliber, passing on the task of isolation to Zhang Hao!

Zhang Hao was truly exhausted tonight! Previously competing in physical battles with a Big Fatty who, despite lacking explosive power, was even heavier than O’Neal, but at that moment, he was still active in the left-side mid-range baseline area, trying to post up against Ronnie Seikaly for the ball.