Barkley then said, "So now the Lakers' bench has stretched the lead to 14 points. The Pistons will definitely put their starters back in."
"The big question is whether the Lakers can withstand the impact of the Pistons' starting lineup in the fourth quarter."
O'Neal replied, "That depends on Wang Yi. He'll have to explode and offset the impact of the Pistons' starters."
At the Lakers' resting area on the sideline, Head Coach Phil Jackson saw that the Pistons had put their starters back in.
Wang Yi immediately stood up, ready to go back in, but Phil Jackson shook his head and said:
"Wang, rest for another two minutes!"
Phil Jackson knew that letting 40-year-old Wang Yi rest to replenish his energy was extremely important.
Wang Yi hesitated briefly, then nodded. "Yes, Coach."
Then he substituted for the bench players at three positions:
Point Guard, Small Forward, and Power Forward.
The starters took over at all three positions. At center, Aiton stayed on the bench while Akur went in.
First, Aiton was already getting on in years and needed plenty of rest, too.
Second, there was actually little difference between Aiton and Akur on defense.
Either way, the Artificial Giant, Antoine, would overpower them in the paint.
On the other hand, Akur was more mobile on defense. He could get from the perimeter to the paint quickly, then rush back out to the perimeter.
And on offense, Akur had an advantage Aiton lacked: he could shoot threes.
With Antoine guarding the paint, driving inside for a layup was incredibly difficult. Even Wang Yi needed a perfect opening to get to the basket.
That made the three-pointer one of the Lakers' major weapons, so they needed more players taking threes.
That was why Akur was a better fit to stay on