The Lakers Have Two Players Who Play Most Reasonably!

The game reached the latter half of the second quarter, and both teams made some adjustments to their lineups.

The Lakers brought on Vujacic.

The SuperSonics brought on Damien Wilkins. His uncle was Dominique Wilkins—the Human Highlight Film—and his father, Gerald Wilkins, had also played in the NBA for thirteen seasons.

Though he possessed outstanding athleticism, he still fell short of the previous generation. Moreover, his basketball talent and skills were nowhere near his father's. The SuperSonics sent him onto the court specifically to wear Kobe down.

"Reasonable!"

"Beautiful!"

"Kobe caught the ball, blew past Wilkins in one step, drove to the basket, then hit a pull-up jumper against the SuperSonics' two-man double-team."

Director Zhang once again transformed into "Weiping Bryant."

But in the next second, Director Zhang began fiercely criticizing Vujacic, who had just replaced Lamar Odom.

"Ah, Vujacic is practically shooting over a defender. That's not reasonable," Director Zhang sighed.

Uh...

Of course, although Vujacic's shot had been unreasonable, compared to Kobe's reasonable style of offense, it was practically the height of reason.

"Sasha, don't shoot over defenders." As he ran back on defense, Zhou Ze scolded Vujacic like a veteran.

As a second-year player, Vujacic found it hard to save face after being scolded by a rookie.

But in order to earn more playing time, so that his "beautiful girlfriend" could come watch him play sooner and witness his prowess, Vujacic endured it.

But only a few possessions later.

Zhou Ze made an off-ball cut from the top of the arc, drawing the opposing help defense. Not only did Lewis eagerly trail behind him, but Ray Allen suddenly rushed over after Zhou Ze received the ball. Zhou Ze could have passed to the wide-open Vujacic, but instead, he fired a corner three over the double-team of the slightly late Lewis and Ray Allen.

"Wow..."

"Little Zhou hit a clean three over two defenders!"

"Reasonable."

After Zhou Ze scored, Teacher Weiping stamped another "reasonable" seal on him.

After scoring, Zhou Ze pretended to remain calm as he ran back on defense, as though that basket had been as easy as drinking water.

That fully maxed-out swagger even made Kobe grit his teeth.

But it also displeased one of his teammates.

"Zhou, did you forget what you said just now?" Vujacic was extremely dissatisfied after being left wide open without receiving the ball, even if Zhou Ze had stepped in dog shit and made a lucky three.

Zhou Ze frowned. "I'm not the same as you."

Vujacic froze slightly.

"I have the ability." After saying that casually, Zhou Ze walked away without looking back.

Leaving only Vujacic, whose teeth ground together with a creak.

Tonight, Zhou Ze had been incredibly comfortable not only on offense, but on defense as well.

Zhou Ze loved defending stretch big men.

Need size? He had size. Need strength? He had strength. Need speed? He had speed. Need wingspan? He had strength and speed.

Although Rashard Lewis had stronger self-created offense than Zhou Ze, it was truly average by league standards. When Lewis's three-point shot stopped falling, he tried posting up Zhou Ze as well, but the results were terrible.

Out of five isolation attempts, Zhou Ze stripped him once and knocked the ball out of bounds once.

Of the remaining four attempts, he made only one shot.

Lewis was too weak, and his post footwork was not refined enough. As long as Zhou Ze applied physical pressure, Lewis's movements became distorted.

Each of the three times Zhou Ze stopped him, he immediately boxed Lewis out behind him. Although two rebounds bounced rather far and were grabbed by his teammate Kwame Brown, in the eyes of Phil Jackson, the Lakers' head coach, Zhou Ze had already done an excellent job protecting the glass.

Once the game entered the second half, the SuperSonics' three-point percentage was lower than it had been in the first quarter.

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Lewis clanked two consecutive threes, but fortunately, Ray Allen, one half of the Twin Stars, stepped up. He stopped the bleeding for his team with a textbook three, cutting the deficit back to within fifteen points.

However, Kobe immediately answered with a three on the next possession.

Answer ball!

Three-pointer made!

The gap returned to seventeen points, making the score [53:70].

Ray Allen refused to be outdone and answered once again.

The two put on the "superstar duel" that fans loved most.

The two scored six points in succession, knocking down two difficult threes over defenders that nearly made people forget to breathe.

Ray Allen was the first to clank one.

The Lakers seized the chance to launch a fast break. Zhou Ze drew special attention in transition, forcing Lamar Odom, who had wanted to pass to him, to slow down as the SuperSonics sprinted back on defense.

Kobe stretched out a hand and shouted for the ball.

Clearly, Kobe had no intention of letting this semi-transition opportunity slip away.

On the break, Kobe faced Ray Allen's defense and slipped past him with a silky behind-the-back dribble. He lowered his body and accelerated toward the SuperSonics' basket. Facing Wilkins, who had retreated quickly to protect the rim, Kobe rose high, sought out contact in midair and bumped him aside before calmly putting up a layup. But the instant the ball was exposed, the SuperSonics' power forward, Collison, disrupted it again.

The ball bounced off the rim.

"Ah, what a shame. Kobe made the right choice on that drive, but his luck was a little off..."

Before Director Zhang could finish, a figure descended from the heavens. Just as Kobe was preparing to jump again and the ball began to fall, the Lakers' number-zero jersey came into view.

Boom! A thunderous rim-rattling dunk echoed through the Los Angeles night.

"A Kobe-style assist!"

"Zhou's putback dunk!"

"You can tell that, at the moment, the Lakers player with the best chemistry with Kobe is Zhou."

Director Zhang exclaimed.

Hearing that objective assessment, Chinese fans in front of their TVs could not help but laugh. "Yeah, the entire Lakers team only has two players making the right plays—Zhou Ze and Kobe."

At the same time, Zhou Ze hung from the rim with both hands. Worried about injuring his knees on the landing, he tugged on the rim. As his body swayed, he accidentally bumped into Kobe below him.

Kobe first raised a hand in disgust to block Zhou Ze's thigh. He was genuinely afraid that this bastard would suddenly spread his legs and let that thing hit him in the head.

But jokes were jokes. After showing his disgust, Kobe still steadied Zhou Ze by the swaying waist.

The cameraman at the arena really knew how to capture a moment. From a certain angle, it looked as though Kobe was holding Zhou Ze.

After the game entered the fourth quarter, the Lakers' lead hovered around twenty points. With no hope of a comeback in sight, the SuperSonics eased up defensively, and the Lakers did the same.

But Zhou Ze still looked as though he had been injected with adrenaline. In just three minutes, he took three corner threes.

Clearly, though, Zhou Ze had overestimated the boost from [Corner Three-Point Shooter (Bronze)]. Getting a little carried away, he actually shot over defenders. Clang! Clang! Clang! Three straight bricks.

Fortunately, the opponents were in even worse form, and the Lakers still held the lead.

In the end!

98:115!

The Lakers won again, this time by 17 points.

Kobe, whose touch was good tonight, was mediocre finishing at the rim and from mid-range, but he went 4-for-5 from three. He finished 12-for-26 overall and 6-for-8 from the free-throw line, scoring 34 points with 5 assists and 2 rebounds.

Zhou Ze's three-point shooting tonight was a classic case of starting strong and fading late. He went 4-for-10 from three, 8-for-15 overall, and 1-for-2 from the line, finishing with 21 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals, and 1 assist.

After the game, in the Lakers locker room, Kobe held an A4 sheet with the player statistics in his hand and looked seriously at Zhou Ze. "Man, my efficiency was too low tonight."

"Kobe, when did you become an Excel fan too?" Zhou Ze shot back, the corner of his mouth twitching.