Showtime! Lob City?

"Used to it," Zhou Ze replied calmly to Lamar Odom's question.

Odom froze for a moment, then rolled his eyes and thought with amusement, No wonder this guy always pisses Kobe off so badly. He really knows how to put on an act.

Odom, who was in fine form tonight, was in an especially good mood. After all, he had shown off in front of his wife, sister-in-law, and younger sister-in-law.

"Haha. Honey, you're my lucky star," Odom said, not forgetting to flatter Khloe Kardashian.

"Honey, your chemistry with Zhou is practically a dunking feast," Khloe Kardashian replied with a smile, giving Zhou Ze a sultry look at the same time.

By Chinese beauty standards, Khloe Kardashian was hardly considered a stunning beauty, but her figure was genuinely incredible.

Zhou Ze's little brother nearly responded politely, but when he thought of the Kardashian Family's reputation, it immediately quieted down.

As Zhou Ze became increasingly familiar with the timing of alley-oops, his chemistry and mutual trust with his teammates grew by the day, significantly improving the team's fast-break ability.

Not long after Zhou Ze checked in during the second quarter, he completed a breathtaking one-handed alley-oop dunk on a fast break. As Zhou Ze once again looked straight at the rim in midair, the arriving Kirk Hinrich immediately stopped, instinctively looked up, and watched helplessly as Zhou Ze slammed the ball home.

"Is this guy playing on the second floor?" The explosive dunk and the buzzing, trembling sound of the rim left Hinrich shaken, but also faintly relieved.

Good thing I didn't try to stop him.

But in the next instant, Hinrich watched Zhou Ze sway on the rim with a mix of laughter and disbelief. He was not deliberately hanging there to show off.

Zhou Ze was merely cushioning his descent, doing his best to protect his knees when he came down.

But he hung there a little too long, to the point that even the referee could not stand it anymore and was about to blow the whistle for a technical foul.

"Sorry, this guy's timid. He's scared of hurting his knees. You know, he's a softie," Kobe, with his extensive on-court experience, immediately explained to the referee.

At the same time, he shouted at Zhou Ze, "Asshole, are you waiting for me to carry you down?"

Zhou Ze was not angry at all. Instead, he smiled and nodded.

That immediately earned him a death glare from Kobe.

Interesting guy. Sometimes he's as fierce as a beast, and other times he's more delicate than a woman, Kirk Hinrich thought to himself.

After that fast break, the Chicago Bulls adopted a targeted defensive strategy, cutting off the passing lanes between the ball handler and Zhou Ze. It was indeed effective. Zhou Ze did not complete another fast break for the remainder of the second quarter, but his fast-break threat still created three good offensive opportunities for his teammates.

Odom had completely transformed into a left-handed magician tonight. After setting Zhou Ze up for a one-handed monster dunk, he set Kobe up for dunks twice in a row.

Even the home commentator began shouting the long-unheard "Showtime."

"Wow, the Los Angeles Lakers are playing like they're on the second floor now!"

"They're Lob City!"

After Kobe left the court, Sasha Vujacic, who replaced him, also received an assist from Odom, though his was an alley-oop layup.

"Man, why didn't you dunk it?" Odom asked.

Sasha Vujacic blanked for a moment.

"My pass was at a pretty good height. If it were Zhou or Kobe, they might've even pulled off a 360 windmill."

"Oh..."

"Sorry, I forgot. You don't have that..."

Odom, high off his passing spree, suddenly remembered halfway through his sentence that the target of his alley-oop had been Vujacic.

Those words were extremely insulting to Vujacic—and deeply hurtful.

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Vujacic really wanted to lose his temper, but he could tell that Odom did not seem to be deliberately mocking him. With anger in his heart, Vujacic could only swallow it.

50:62. The first half ended, with the Lakers extending their lead to 12 points.

In the second half, the Chicago Bulls still had no good answer for the Lakers in front of them. Although they prevented Zhou Ze from terrorizing the rim with alley-oop dunks, they allowed him to hit two three-pointers and get to the free-throw line three times.

Zhou Ze did not necessarily need alley-oops to finish fast breaks. He could also catch the ball and finish with a layup.

It was just that Zhou Ze's finishing ability was rather poor. His conversion rate on contested layups was not reliable.

Moreover, his catch-and-go drives were somewhat laggy.

When Kobe caught the ball in stride, he could immediately drive smoothly, but Zhou Ze's first step after receiving the ball was somewhat delayed. This was mainly because his feel for the ball was lacking—in other words, his ball-handling ability was insufficient.

That gave defenders opportunities to recover and provide help defense.

Of course, the flaws did not overshadow the strengths. Zhou Ze's overall performance tonight was quite good.

The Chicago Bulls power forward matched up against Zhou Ze was Michael Sweetney.

This short, stocky big man, standing 203 centimeters tall and weighing 125 kilograms, was, in the words of the commentator, being walked around the court like a dog by Zhou Ze.

Zhou Ze used his three-pointers to pull him out of the paint. Once Michael Sweetney left his comfort zone, half his arsenal was gone.

What troubled him most was that whenever Kobe or another perimeter teammate missed a shot, Zhou Ze could rush to the basket immediately. Michael Sweetney lacked the agility to stop him.

That allowed Zhou Ze to grab 7 rebounds in tonight's game, including 3 offensive boards.

Still, as a short, stocky interior player who focused on offense, he had a sturdy build, long arms, and polished post footwork. Zhou Ze could barely handle all of that, but Sweetney's little hook shot left him utterly helpless.

After backing Zhou Ze down, Michael Sweetney would always use his broad body as a shield before going for the hook.

Zhou Ze simply could not block it.

Michael Sweetney isolated against Zhou Ze 9 times throughout the game and succeeded 4 times, shooting under 50%.

Uh...

That was not because Zhou Ze's one-on-one defense had been good. It had everything to do with Lamar Odom, who had been playing terribly tonight.

Odom was an extremely emotional player. When he was fired up, he was an all-around warrior; when he was down, he became a burden to the team.

After performing brilliantly in front of his wife, sister-in-law, and younger sister-in-law tonight, Odom grew more excited as the game went on, repeatedly helping Zhou Ze on the defensive end.

The game ended.

93:113!

The Lakers had claimed another resounding victory.

It was enough to make Lakers fans want to shout those five words.

But anyone who knew even a little basketball understood that starting strong meant nothing; it was the late surge that counted.

Every season, there would be one or two teams that charged ahead at the beginning, only to return to being bottom-feeders by midseason, after the All-Star break.

Tonight, because the Lakers had sealed the win early in the fourth quarter, Kobe played 34 minutes and finished with 38 points, 5 rebounds, 4 assists, and 2 steals.

Zhou Ze put up 23 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, and 2 steals.

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