Chapter 478: Chapter 144: Games Always Defy Expectations

At halftime, the Lakers led 70 to 59, ahead by 11 points as they went into the break.

Sometimes this game is really unpredictable. Del Harris watched as Zhang Hao played 19 minutes in the first half scoring 21 points, Van Exel played 16 minutes scoring 20 points, and these two alone scored 41 points in the first half. Who would have thought they could play so well?

On the Utah Jazz side, Sloan had no solution. This first half, they were truly outplayed and had no answer! They defended like that, and still, the Lakers scored 27 points in the second quarter.

In the third quarter, the Lakers scored 30 to 27, and in the fourth quarter, they scored 32 to 29...

Total domination!

They dared to shoot, anyone outside with a chance dared to shoot, very proactive, and the more accurately they shot, the more confidently they shot!

Ultimately, without overtime, the Lakers went on a scoring spree, hitting 132 points! With a 132 to 115 victory over the Utah Jazz!

Although the point difference was only 17, it felt like a big win, as the Lakers’ offense exploded throughout the game.

of 9 shooting, including 1 of 2 from three-point range, plus 9 of 10 free throws, Zhang Hao easily scored 28 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 block, and 2 steals.

"If I had made one more, I could have gotten my 15th 30+... If I had known, I wouldn’t have passed that ball before coming off the court, shooting by myself would’ve been much better... 20+5+5 isn’t bad, it’s rare to have so many assists..."

That might have been the criticism, but Zhang Hao felt tonight was too enjoyable! They were on the attack the entire time, only slightly hindered in the second quarter, while scoring over 30 points in each of the other three quarters!

From the start of the game, he felt his teammates’ desire to win this game was no less than his! Their luck was great too, and they were on fire, 132 points... Zhang Hao was stunned!

The Magician scored 22 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists, Van Exel scored 24 points, 8 assists, Campbell scored 19 points... the Lakers nearly had four players scoring over 20 points.

Only 6 blocks against them, only 8 turnovers in the whole game, hitting 53 of 85 shots with a super high shooting percentage, and 13 made three-point shots... the Lakers’ offense was at its peak tonight.

Malone looked at his crazy performance with 39 points from 27 shots made 15, and 9 of 11 free throws, along with Stockton’s 16 points and 17 assists... and still lost!

Where’s the iron elbow? Forgotten to swing it!

Didn’t that rookie say he wanted to challenge the elbow?

wins, 9 losses! The Lakers have become the only team in the West this season to have finished the first half of the season with fewer than 10 losses!

...

...

No one predicted the outcome of the last game of the season’s first half to be like this before the game started.

The Utah Jazz hoped to even out the head-to-head results, while the Lakers were sure that the opponent would fight desperately to even out the disadvantage, and were fully prepared.

But the course of the game proved a theory - the Earth is round, and anything can happen.

The more fun a game is to win, the quicker it goes by, Zhang Hao had no chance to savor... it was already over.

However, that night, he replayed the game in study mode, reliving that feeling... Focusing on replaying the game, analyzing what they did well during their good states, and striving to apply it in regular games.

The next day, on the morning of February 7th, Zhang Hao woke up and looked at the wall calendar... feeling quite emotional, half the season had passed in a blink of an eye.

Seeing the 885 days of life left, it was like a lifetime had passed!

Finally, there was a short break. The Lakers’ All-Star weekend break was from February 7th to February 13th, a total of 7 days.

Personally, since he withdrew from the rookie game, the official photo shoot was done the afternoon when the All-Star starters were announced, and on the 9th, he needed to take a group photo, the only other official activity was the All-Star game day on the 11th.

However, he had a few sponsorship brands that wanted to take advantage of the All-Star weekend heat to do activities in San Antonio, which was set for tomorrow, meaning he had to go today.

The Magician’s fame and influence were much stronger than Zhang Hao’s, and naturally, he had work too, so Lakers owner Jerry Buss sent a private plane for them.

Regrettably, at 9 a.m., the league announced the All-Star reserve lineup, and no one from the Lakers was selected, not even Van Exel, who averaged 17.5 points and 6.8 assists, made it as an All-Star reserve.

Nevertheless, seeing Mitch Richmond, Jason Kidd, Kemp, Malone, Payton, Stockton, and David Robinson on the Western Conference All-Star reserve lineup, Zhang Hao felt that with such good performance, it wasn’t too surprising that they didn’t have a third All-Star.

He didn’t really see who Van Exel could replace.

The Eastern Conference’s All-Star reserve lineup included: Glenn Rice, Terrell Brandon, Reggie Miller, Ewing, Vin Baker, Juwan Howard, and Moning.

Look at the Bulls, with a record of 40 wins and 6 losses, breaking the NBA’s first-half lowest loss record, yet they only had Pippen and Jordan making the All-Star, without even one All-Star reserve, and Rodman didn’t make it.

...

"Ah... I’m gonna die, gonna die, All-Star, watching the All-Star from the sidelines, can’t watch it..."

On the other end of the phone, Pierce wailed.

Zhang Hao silently hung up the phone. The other side probably needed to howl for a while longer, so it was better not to waste the phone bill. Once the howling was done, they would call back.

As an All-Star game participant, he could bring people to watch the game live. Not long after the All-Star reserve lineup was announced, Zhang Hao received an official call asking how many tickets he needed, and he asked for four tickets, but Pierce couldn’t go. 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝙚𝙬𝓮𝙗𝒏𝙤𝒗𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝒐𝓶

After hanging up with Pierce, Zhang Hao called Pierce’s mom to inform her that Pierce couldn’t make it.