Brian Grant looked at Riley on the sidelines with a little innocent look. Before the game, Riley emphasized that he had let him control the number of fouls, because the Heat were troubled by injuries, not many people could use the inside. Once he made more fouls, it was equivalent to surrendering.

The current situation is that the Heat's No. 1 position was blown up, and the offense is not from the inside out, and it doesn't make much sense to control the foul. After all, he is just a blue-collar worker and is not good at adjusting at any time according to the situation on the field.

The Heat attacked, and the players kept passing through the periphery to look for opportunities. There were still 4 seconds of offense. The ball was touched by Grant and entered the dead ball. Riley took this opportunity to replace Hardaway and replace Anthony Carter.

In this way, the Heat's offensive point was missing.

After the outbound ball was sent, Mason beat Hores one-on-one on the free throw line, forcing the shot while leaning forward, overwhelming the opponent's ball. 26 to 13.

This kind of ball is fooled. If the Heat play so hard every round, they will have to enter garbage time in half.

The Lakers' offense, Guo Xu's single-handed challenge was not so easy. Carter tried hard to find a confrontation with his body, and his defensive attitude was far better than veteran Hardaway.

Although both first and last name sound like stars, Anthony Carter, who is 185cm tall and weighs 86 kilograms, has not been smooth to enter the NBA. He was born in 1975 and only joined the NBA with a basic salary last season, playing 79 games for the Heat, scoring 6.3 points, 2.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists.

Although Carter is not very talented, he trains hard, which impressed Riley, who is known for "torturing" players in training classes.

He was desperate to defend on the court and was known as a "stupid bird". In Guo Xu's previous life, he had average offensive ability and was reimbursed for three serious injuries in the season. He still spent 13 seasons in the league, relying on his attitude.

He is a good person from a slum, and his living environment is unimaginable to ordinary people. In the past, he was drug trafficking and guns were used to play ball with a gun, and he would give money if he didn't play. After he entered the NBA, he often went to help the poor and orphans. In the eyes of slum children, he was a big star. He had to work hard, try his best in every game to strive to get a better contract in the NBA.

Facing the candy-style defense, Guo Xu will be on the coaching staff blacklist if he plays hard. He starts to pass the ball, attracting defense outside the three-point line, and watching O'Neal and Kobe perform.

The ok combination attracted double-teams and passed them to other players. Fox made a three-pointer, and Guo Xu only took another move in the counterattack. After passing Carter's emergency stop and jump shot missed, he was replaced in the last two minutes.

The Lakers led the score 37 to 21 in the first quarter.

Riley let Hardaway, who had been resting for a while in the second quarter, and Jackson also replaced Guo Xu, making a simple adjustment very uncomfortable for the opponent.

Hardaway needs teammates to cooperate, so he lacks confidence in directly fighting one-on-one; Guo Xu asked his teammates to pull away, and as long as the opponent doesn't play double-team, he will fight one-on-one, and it is clear at a glance who is stronger and weaker.

Whether it is a change of direction breakthrough or a step-back jump shot, Guo Xu can always create a mobile phone opportunity. In the first six rounds, he made two goals with four three-pointers, made a counterattack and made a layup, scoring a total of 8 points. He attracted double-team passes and Bowen missed the open mid-shot.

Madson, George, Ryan Bowen, and Horry were mainly responsible for defense and opened up opportunities on the offensive end. The task of holding the ball was handed over to Guo Xu, which was a bit like the 76ers' style of playing.

The Heat players played more team, but only Mason scored 4 points from 2 shots, while former Lakers veteran A Green scored 2 points from mid-range shots, and the gap continued to widen.

Hardaway made a mid-range shot and a three-pointer that missed Guo Xu.

Woodson lamented: "As long as O'Neal and Kobe are not around, Jason will dare to shoot endlessly, and he is very fast in progress, completing an offense in less than 10 seconds. The Lakers have never played like this in the past few seasons."

"When star teammates play, he can also wait for opportunities outside the three-point line, not a cancer," Hovas said.

After the dead ball, Riley was forced to replace Hardaway and replace Carter. After two rounds, Guo Xu and Horry played pick-and-roll in the middle, attracting the inside to switch defense and pass the ball in the middle, Horry made a three-pointer, and the score difference widened to more than 20 points.

After that, both sides replaced the main players one after another, and the Lakers were unexpectedly at a disadvantage in the second half, mainly because O'Neal's performance on the offensive end. The Heat used the "shark-cutting tactic", and O'Neal went to the free throw line again and again, the game was intermittent, and the audience was drowsy.

The Heat leaned against Dan Marley, and Green and the others recovered a little points, falling behind by 16 points in the first half.

Guo Xu scored 23 points and 2 assists in the first half, and faced Hardaway again in the second half.

He played for 8 minutes and his shooting percentage dropped, with a total of 2 of 5 shots, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 30 points and 3 assists in three quarters.

Hardaway made 1 of 5 shots, 0 of 3 from outside the three-point line, and 1 of 1 free throw. Hardaway's only goal was not to face Guo Xu's defense. After the fake moves, he shook Brian Shaw and scored 2+1 in the mid-range shot.

The Lakers are leading by 20 points into the final quarter, which is basically garbage time.

"Zen Master" Jackson arranged for the ok group to rest, and Guo Xu led the substitute to continue playing, and the rhythm was controlled by him, which means that he could throw it at will.

Jackson likes to watch players let themselves go, and he will not force players to complete any fixed tasks, especially players like Guo Xu and Kobe who like to fight indiscriminately. Too many regulations will limit their performance.

If Jackson hadn't been the coach, Kobe might not have had the miracle of 40+ games in his previous life, 50+ games in four consecutive games, 62 points in three quarters, and 81 points in a single game. The prerequisite for players to score high scores is to take infinite shots.

Riley also sent Hardaway to play against Guo Xu, and was behind in a big way. Riley no longer expected to win this game, so he simply let Hardaway play casually, and the players compete with each other. This is what fans want to see the most.

Riley did this to investigate Hardaway and see if his current state can meet the team's requirements. If not, the first thing he did after this season was to throw Hardaway out.

As a business league, the management of many teams lacks human touch, and Riley happens to be one of the most snobbish people. He didn't realize how Hardaway contributed to the Heat, and the team has not reached the finals in recent years.

If a player has poor defense and no offensive end, he will be completely useless. Riley has great power in the Heat and always looks at the problem from the perspective of interests in everything.

Both point guards played for 5 minutes, Guo Xu made 4 of 8 shots, 2 of 4 three-pointers, 2 of 2 free throws, and scored 12 points and 1 assist, helping the Lakers continue to expand their lead.

Hardaway made 1 of 5 shots, 1 of 2 three-pointers, 0 of 2 free throws, scored 3 points and 1 rebound, and had no assists.

Hardaway was broken through again and again, and was angry and pushed down Guo Xu and was replaced after foul. Guo Xu also left the audience after performing two free throws.

In the second half, both sides sent all substitutes to play, taking turns to make a move, and there was no highlight, so many home fans chose to leave early.

Woodson commented: "If the Heat are weak in offense when facing a truly strong team, they will never win the championship by winning the game by defense."

Hovas agreed: "I think the Heat have to rebuild, they need young people who can take responsibility."

The Lakers scored 24 points in the final quarter, while the Heat only scored 12 points, and the Lakers won 111-79 away.

Guo Xu played for 35 minutes, made 15 of 28 shots, 8 of 15 three-pointers, 4 of 4 free throws, and scored 42 points and 4 assists.

He scored 40+ in the rookie season and grabbed the limelight of the ok combination in this game.
Chapter completed!