So I am the god of basketball?

Pat Riley also found himself falling into the pit that Chuck Daly had dug for him.

But, I have to say, there is nothing we can do about it.

Because Shaquille O'Neal has been performing very well this season. According to Pat Riley's past understanding, once this kind of superstar wins his first regular season MVP, it often means that he has entered the peak period of his career.

During this period, he always gave a reassuring performance.

The most typical example, need I say more?

Michael Jordan!

So he believes Shaquille O'Neal will always be the mainstay of the Heat.

So when the situation was unfavorable, his first thought was to put Shaquille O'Neal on the court, let him play in the most difficult situation, and turn the Heat around.

But unexpectedly, he became the breakthrough point.

And it also brought a series of troubles that he had to clean up.

The first thing Pat Riley thought of was Shaquille O'Neal's physical problem.

Unexpectedly, before he could come up with a solution, the Lakers took Divac off the court, put him in a "small five" lineup, and began to increase the pace.

Although the height is gone, the problem is that the Lakers don’t care how many goals you score, they are only responsible for increasing the speed.

Not only did they play at a fast pace themselves, they also forced the Heat to play at a fast pace with them.

For teams with outside ball-handling cores, forcing them may help them find the right offensive opportunities. But for teams like the Heat that specialize in playing inside, positional warfare is their foundation. The Lakers' constant double-teaming and forced quick shots put them under pressure wave after wave.

Shaquille O'Neal showed enough dominance in the early stages of facing the "small five".

Scoring continuously!

Watching him score at will under the basket, Meng Lang thought of a very interesting question n years later:

Can Shaquille O'Neal end the "Small Ball Era"?
Looking at him at this moment, Meng Lang can give a definite answer:

can!
However, the Lakers' "small five" is not an ordinary small five. Among these players, except for Ben Wallace, they all have strong "individual combat" capabilities. Compared with the later Warriors' "small five", it is different.

At least Klay Thompson has absolutely no ability to attack with the ball.

That "Death Five" team relied on Green to pass the ball, used three-pointers as a regular season tool, and used Kevin Durant's singles to score in critical moments.

The Lakers' "Death Five" is different, although it's not yet complete.

But each of them has excellent personal qualities on both the offensive and defensive ends, especially Barkley and Ben Wallace, who are both "short inside players" who can hold off Shaquille O'Neal, limit his quick shots, and give opponents time to double-team.

This means that the Lakers can consume Shaq's energy by constantly rotating.

He was indeed scoring goals, but his physical energy was also being consumed.

Given his scoring area, it is difficult for him to create a mismatch and score easily.

Not to mention, the Lakers have been deliberately speeding up the transition between offense and defense.

After Shaq scored, they immediately served the ball, and when the Heat didn't score, they counterattacked faster.

After 5-6 minutes, the Lakers were gasping for air. Shaquille O'Neal was even worse, and it seemed like he needed a ventilator to breathe normally.

It was also for this reason that he was in a daze and somehow, during the defensive round, he suddenly followed Ben Wallace in front of him to the high position.

"No!"

Pat Riley put his head in his hands. He could already foresee what was going to happen.

Meng Lang did not let his worries go in vain, as he immediately went into a one-on-one match against Shaquille O'Neal.

During the All-Star Game, Shaquille O'Neal often switched to the perimeter to face off against guards.

But that was only during the All-Star Weekend.

When it comes to the actual game, few people believe that he can still keep up with the defenders.

This is not Orlando, this is Miami!
As expected, with a graceful and drastic change of direction, Shaquille O'Neal watched Meng Lang break through in front of him. He did not dare to follow. His body warned him at that moment:
If you try to stop Meng Lang's breakthrough this time, you will become one of the classic "background boards" in the NBA.

The "Great Shark" is very tired.

When his teammate was about to serve, he stopped him and said actively: "I'll serve, I'll serve!"

This bought him two or three seconds of rest.

In fact, he would have liked to rest longer if the referee had not already given him a warning with his eyes.

This ball was the turning point of the second quarter, and also the turning point of Shaquille O'Neal's second quarter.

Before this, he acted like a giant who could destroy everything. After this round, he became the most obvious position where the Heat missed a player. Anyone on the Lakers could easily finish the attack.

The Heat's basket became a bus, anyone can get on and anyone can get off.

There is a lot of people coming in and out, it's so lively.

Pat Riley could not ignore this situation, and he decisively called a timeout. But the one-minute break was not enough for Shaquille O'Neal to catch his breath. The "magician" also knew that Shaquille O'Neal needed a break.

But the Lakers had no intention of changing players, so he could only keep Shaquille O'Neal on the court.

At this point in the game, Chuck Daly's plan had been completed perfectly.

Shaquille O'Neal's physical condition has become a "time bomb" for the Heat.

Even though the Heat trailed by only 8 points at the end of the first half, Shaquille O'Neal's turnover rate skyrocketed about 5 minutes into the fourth quarter. Chuck Daly gave a "heartwarming blow" at this time and arranged another "shark-cutting tactic".

At this time, Shaq's legs were weak and his hands were stiff. His limited touch was completely gone. The first ball hit the rim, and the second ball was even worse, hitting the backboard.

Shaquille O'Neal's mentality collapsed.

Fans began to leave the audience seats one after another.

Obviously, they knew there was no suspense in this game.

Wait for the next one!

In the end, the Lakers won the Heat's home court with a 105-point victory, 90-15, and got off to a good start in the finals.

Shaquille O'Neal scored 6 points from free throws alone in this game.

It seems like a pretty good number, but he took 16 penalties today!
This means that his free throw percentage tonight was only 37.5%!

This is worse than his usual free throw percentage.

All I can say is that Chuck Daly knows how to torture people.

He made Shaquille O'Neal impatient, consumed his physical energy, and then made him shoot free throws, which he was not good at, when he was tired and anxious.

This is what "killing people and destroying their hearts" means.

The most uncomfortable thing about Shaquille O'Neal is that he could foresee that Chuck Daly would treat him the same way in the second game of the finals. This guy is not the kind of person who will change his style in the next game after winning this game in this way. He is the kind of person who will keep using this style until you can adapt to it.

"Shaq, you need to work on your free throws more!"

Pat Riley said so.

But he also knew very well...

No soft use.

Even if Shaquille O'Neal made all 10 free throws before the game, he would miss free throws when the game started because he faced a lot of confrontation under the basket and his finish was often a dunk.

With this style of play, it is really difficult to maintain good free throws unless you have a very stable touch.

But he still said it, so just take it as some psychological comfort.

Anyway, even if we analyze it from the perspective of his playing style, his free throw shooting percentage in the first game was too outrageous. Later on, Shaq was even a little afraid of free throws. When he stood at the free throw line, he looked like a 3-pound fat kid without support.

This will give him more psychological hints and increase his self-confidence.

Chuck Daly wanted to demonstrate O'Neal's psychological resilience.

If he had encountered such a "tragic moment at the free throw line" in the previous game, he would not even dare to touch the ball in the second game of the series. Shaquille O'Neal was holding back his energy and wanted to show his presence on the court.

Well, he is indeed a "super giant"...

Even though he was a little lazy and didn't take some games that seriously, no one could deny Shaquille O'Neal's fighting spirit and his desire for the championship and especially to prove himself.

For a player as talented as Shaq, as long as he has a little bit of competitive spirit, he can definitely become a historical superstar. There is no way around it, his talent is just too great.

Free throws can only be said to restrict his possibility of becoming the "best player in history", but there is no problem at all for him to become "one of the best players in history".

Divac didn't seem to expect Shaq to start the game so fiercely, which made him suffer a loss in defense and he committed a foul early. As a result, he was even more afraid to defend Shaq O'Neal in the next game.

This "great shark" seemed to have returned to the sea, causing a lot of trouble.

For Chuck Daly, this foul also made him afraid to use the "Hack-a-Shaq" tactic early, because the number of fouls accumulated too quickly, making the rest of the first quarter a "hot time" for the Heat to break through.

After all, after 5 fouls, as long as the whistle blows, whether it is a shooting foul or not, the Heat can take free throws. ——And this trend is becoming more and more obvious. It can be seen that Pat Riley emphasized aggressiveness today.

At 7 minutes and 45 seconds into the first quarter, Shaq's score in the game had reached 10 points.

The Heat did not play the "triangle tactics", it was just the result of Shaquille O'Neal's recklessness.

This proves his destructive power under the basket.

In this game, Pat Riley also paid great attention to the use of Shaq and controlled his time very well.

Bill Walton has a question: "Shaq left the court so quickly, who should be responsible for the Heat's offense during this period..."

The Heat do have Tim Hardaway.

Can……

The Lakers' perimeter defense is top-notch in the league. Is just Tim Hardaway enough?

The answer came quickly. In addition to Tim Hardaway, there is also...

Mashburn!
The two of them took turns holding the ball, while the others saw the right opportunity to set pick-and-rolls or screens for them. The Lakers' defense is strong in mobility, but they are not superior in absolute height.

On the other hand, the Heat had a 2m player on the court after Shaq left, and another 10m player on the court. They were both strong men with outstanding athletic ability.

Pat Riley and George Karl are the two head coaches in the league who like to use "beast forwards" the most.

No matter what the player's skills are, as long as he can run and jump, they like him.

In their view, it is enough for the forward to "catch the ball".

If everyone can hold the ball, there is only one ball on the court, how should it be divided?

Tim Hardaway showed his ability to break through and pass the ball during this period.

After watching him play two rounds, Bill Walton said very seriously: "I have to apologize to Tim Hardaway. His breakthrough was so sharp!"

Whether it is Kobe or Eddie Jones, they can limit his first step after starting, especially the cross-leg dribble breakthrough, coupled with his height, it is really amazing.

However, the best Heat player during this period was someone else:
That's Mashburn!
In the previous game, he also opened up the situation.

In this game, he obviously got more trust from Pat Riley and got more singles opportunities.

Mashburn's singles ability is definitely top-level for the small forward position, but he has always been in a weak team, so he has not had the opportunity to blossom. Even so, he once became a draft template for Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James.

In 02, he was once the league's top small forward.

In fact, Carmelo Anthony's final outcome is just a Mashburn with slightly more honors.

They are known for their scoring ability, but have never led a team to prove themselves.

But a guy like this, as long as he is not the boss of the team and is placed in a suitable position and only needs to focus on scoring, he can burst out with a strong presence.

Meng Lang was the one responsible for defending him.

During this period, Mashburn failed to defend Meng Lang, but similarly, Meng Lang failed to defend Mashburn who was in good form.

This scene takes us back to the summer of 92.

Bill Walton also introduced: "I have to introduce Jamal Mashburn to everyone. He was one of the college students who played against the Dream Team with Dream. He and Dream actually knew each other for a long time. There are rumors that Dream was beaten by him when he faced him for the first time! Of course, he couldn't stop Dream's shooting..."

Marsh was somewhat competitive, especially now that Meng Lang had become the face of the alliance.

He wanted to prove himself. Even though the honors were far behind, he was still the guy who could fight with Meng Lang.

This is not only proven to the outside world, but also to Meng Lang! (End of this chapter)