Facing the Nuggets, who were ranked ninth in the West with a record of 19 wins and 26 losses, the Lakers crushed the Nuggets by 21 points with a score of 99 to 78!

The Lakers were indeed in good form during this period; being thrashed by the Bulls was a true demonstration of the disparity in skill, but the form was still there. Otherwise, Zhang Hao couldn’t have scored 21 points on 8 out of 11 shooting attempts in the last quarter against the Bulls.

The Nuggets’ highest scorer tonight was Mutombo, who scored 20 points and grabbed 17 rebounds on 8 out of 10 shooting attempts, while the entire Nuggets team only scored 78 points, showing that the Lakers’ defense has been pretty good lately.

The highest scorer for the Lakers was Zhang Hao, with 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks on 11 out of 21 shooting, 0 out of 2 from three-point range, and 5 out of 6 free throws.

The Magician performed best tonight, playing for 33 minutes with 3 out of 5 shots, and 10 out of 12 free throws, achieving 16 points, 10 rebounds, and 13 assists, being Zhang Hao’s greatest aid in mid-range.

The most prominent feature of this Lakers game was that the whole team felt very relaxed!

Doing what they should be doing, unlike in some previous games when they got anxious at trouble. In the first half, the Lakers only scored 40 points but patiently restricted the Nuggets to 33 points, and then scored 59 to 45 in the second half, decisively defeating the Nuggets.

...

With 36 wins and 9 losses, the Lakers immediately ended the slump after the Bulls game. Upon returning to Los Angeles, they were greeted with flowers and applause...

"Aix, the league invites you to participate in the slam dunk contest!"

"...Turn it down, I’m still waiting for that person to arrive."

"You’re also invited to the three-point contest!"

"The league wants to see me make a joke, not going!"

"Aix, a production company from Japan called Tsuburaya invites you to be their spokesperson."

"..."

"They also want to invite you to shoot movies and TV dramas when you’re free for a series of developments."

"..."

"They have money, offering a very high price!"

"I refuse!"

"The guaranteed combined salary is 5 million."

"Yen?"

"USD!"

"Tell them I’m a loyal fan of special effects films and would love to have a deep collaboration with them."

"..."

Hanging up the call with Pelinka, Zhang Hao deeply felt what it means to say "rookies are always right," of course, this is based on his consistently good performance.

Otherwise, it’s "rookies are always wrong."

Just like Grant Hill last season; despite his team’s poor record, his personal performance was stellar, earning him the title of All-Star vote leader directly.

"Today is the 4th, and the voting deadline is at noon. The final results will be announced at noon tomorrow. My All-Star starting position should be no problem, right? Will I become the vote leader?"

It’s impossible to say there’s no anticipation for such matters; naturally, there’s indifference when there’s no chance, but now his popularity absolutely matches last season’s Grant Hill, even exceeding it, the boost from the wave of 17 consecutive wins has been enormous, and with the final votes about to be revealed, he’s certainly anticipating it a lot.

"Better prepare properly for the last two games before the midseason! Wondering if we can become the second team to lose fewer than 10 games by midseason?" 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Thinking of his team’s record of 36 wins and 9 losses, Zhang Hao is genuinely excited.

The Bulls on the other side have only lost 6 games so far, with only one match left before the All-Star Weekend, naturally securing a record of fewer than 10 losses by midseason.

However, these two opponents...

Brooklyn Nets, Utah Jazz; the former is manageable, but the second opponent is the Utah Jazz on a home back-to-back!

At the beginning of the season, the Lakers lost once to the Utah Jazz; he, Mr. Zhang, hadn’t arrived at that time. After he joined, the Lakers won twice.

Once was when the Utah Jazz were in decent form, with the Lakers winning head-to-head, and the second win was when the Utah Jazz duo were in a slump.

Currently, they’re leading 2 to 1... as a potential opponent in the second round, this season’s final regular season matchup, Zhang Hao figures the other side will definitely play hard, no one wants to enter the playoffs with a psychological disadvantage of trailing in the regular season...

While Zhang Hao was contemplating, suddenly a caption appeared in his vision.

He didn’t even see the content and knew it was not good...

"Hey buddy, I’m just thinking, no need to be that serious!"

...

...

On February 5th, the Lakers will welcome their first game of the final back-to-back before the All-Star Weekend, hosting the Brooklyn Nets.

The morning preparation... they were preparing for tomorrow’s game against the Utah Jazz, not much, just one training session. At 11 o’clock, Del Harris announced today’s preparation was over.

As for tonight’s opponent...it’s hard for anyone on the Lakers to predict what kind of game or cooperation the Brooklyn Nets themselves will play; it’s really difficult for the Lakers to forecast!

Better to perform spontaneously when the time comes.

However, after training, the players didn’t leave and gathered in the lounge, hotly discussing and debating.

The Magician, who always smiles in the face of anything, was a bit nervous today.

His rookie year was an All-Star starter, but due to coach Paul Westhead forcing him to play power forward in his second year, which led to him getting injured, and then him openly expressing displeasure with Westhead, who was quite prestigious in Los Angeles at the time, and hoping the Lakers would replace the coach, his reputation suffered; he didn’t make the All-Star starting lineup in his second and third years. It wasn’t until winning the championship again in his third year that he made it as an All-Star starter in his fourth season, and continued to do so until retirement, including the 91-92 season in which he didn’t play a single game.

At this time, the Magician really wanted to drag the rookie, who was still looking calm, to the bathroom for a good kick...

Zhang Hao was also anticipating, but he’s already used to maintaining a calm exterior in crowds.