The esteemed Player Qiao originally intended to leave a deep impression on the two youngsters, but unexpectedly, he was playfully toyed with after turning around.
The league's top player naturally wouldn't let it go. He turned around, no longer facing He Ximeng, and instead aimed to challenge Kobe, who had just made a basket.
He Ximeng, of course, wouldn't let Kobe face Player Qiao alone. He immediately rotated to help Kobe defend against Player Qiao.
This time, Jordan didn't drive to the basket. Instead, he chose to pull up aggressively, pivot, and shoot.
The ball bounced once on the rim, then finally settled safely into the net.
"Tsk tsk tsk~ You almost stopped me! Come on, just a little more effort!" Old Joe, with an arrogant smile, turned and retreated.
"I can't stand it! I'm taking this one myself!"
Kobe, also hot-tempered, couldn't stand being questioned and provoked on the court. Even if the provocateur was the God of Basketball, Kobe felt the urge to go all out and see if he had a chance to defeat him.
He Ximeng actually knew that Kobe couldn't defeat Jordan in a one-on-one matchup at this stage. However, this fearless spirit of a newborn calf should not be dampened. Suppressing it consistently wouldn't work either. Since Kobe was willing, He Ximeng decided to let him practice.
Therefore, He Ximeng, disregarding Coach Harris's wary gaze from the sidelines, lobbed the ball to Kobe, allowing him to go one-on-one with Jordan.
"Come on! Little chick! Let me see if your solo skills are as good as a middle schooler from training camp… Oh, sorry, I think I forgot you're a high schooler, so you should be better than a middle schooler, right?"
Faced with Player Qiao's incessant chatter, Kobe's previously boundless reverence for the god crumbled to pieces.
Off the court, Player Qiao was sometimes elegant, sometimes domineering, exuding endless charisma.
On the court, Player Qiao was essentially an immensely powerful, foul-mouthed old rogue…
Kobe backed down Jordan, using his body to create space with left and right shimmies, advancing step by step to the low post.
"Yo! Isn't this my specialty, the post-up jumper? Guess what, can I block you..."
Jordan whispered his threat into Kobe's ear.
Kobe tried hard to overcome Jordan's interference, preparing his moves to the fullest extent. However, in the final moment of his pivot and shot, facing Player Qiao, who had managed to regain position after being backed down, Kobe instinctively adjusted the arc of his shot slightly higher...
This tiny adjustment resulted in a slightly shorter flight distance. The ball grazed the front rim of the basket and bounced outwards.
He Ximeng had already anticipated that Kobe's one-on-one attempt would likely not succeed. Therefore, he was already prepared to go for the rebound.
The moment Kobe shot, He Ximeng started his move, leaving Randy Brown behind. Before Kukoc could react, he reached the ball half a step earlier, grabbed the rebound in mid-air, and immediately followed up with a two-handed dunk for the put-back score!
This play was partly due to He Ximeng's early read and move, and partly due to the fortunate bounce of the ball after Kobe's shot, landing exactly in the direction He Ximeng had predicted!
Player Qiao, who was about to mock Kobe's "soft" fadeaway jumper, lost his appetite for taunting Kobe after He Ximeng's follow-up dunk. All his anger was directed at Randy Brown, who had missed his assignment…
From the end of the first quarter until now, Randy Brown had been consistently outplayed by He Ximeng.
Coach Jackson on the sidelines also showed some displeasure and decisively made a substitution, bringing in Harper, who was a stronger defender.
Harper had an advantage over He Ximeng in height and weight. He Ximeng's only way to get past Harper would be to use his teammates' screens and his superior speed to drive past him, much like what Nick Van Exel did.
He Ximeng also knew how to do this. However, Coach Harris didn't intend to give He Ximeng the chance to execute this in a live game. After Jordan broke through and assisted Kukoc for a layup in the paint, the Lakers also rotated, and their starting lineup players returned to the court.
He Ximeng was the first to be substituted out, while Kobe stayed on for a bit longer.
However, on both offense and defense, Van Exel's support for Kobe was far less significant than He Ximeng's. Kobe struggled significantly in his one-on-one matchups against Player Qiao.
When Pippen returned in the second quarter, his shooting touch suddenly ignited. He made 3 out of 5 three-pointers, and his mid-range game, drives, and dunks – all his skills – suddenly came into play, overwhelming Jerome Kersey!
Jerome Kersey was a veteran player promoted from the bench by Coach Harris, intended to serve as a pure defensive specialist in this game, tasked with guarding Pippen and little else. However, Pippen, in his prime this season, was a force. If the Lakers could shut down Pippen with an average veteran from the fringe of their second unit, what would other teams' starting small forwards do?
In the latter half of the second quarter, Pippen gained momentum and led the Bulls on a scoring spree, not only quickly erasing the deficit from the end of the first quarter but also extending their lead to 8 points, approaching double digits, by halftime.
During the halftime break, Harris attempted to motivate his players in the locker room, especially the big men: O'Neal, Campbell, and Cory Bland. The Lakers' strength indeed lay in their inside game. However, in the first half, under the relentless defense of Rodman, Wennington, and reserves Parish and Simpkins, the Lakers' interior players found themselves in a tough battle.
The reason they led the Bulls in the first quarter was not due to the starting lineup's good performance, but rather to He Ximeng, who came off the bench and hit three consecutive three-pointers from beyond the arc, which unexpectedly gave the Lakers the initiative.
In the latter part of the second quarter, after He Ximeng was subbed out, Eddie Jones struggled to hit three-pointers against Jordan, while inside players like O'Neal were engaged in a tough fight. The Lakers, facing difficulties both inside and outside, being on the receiving end of a Bulls scoring run was, to some extent, unavoidable.
If the Lakers still wanted to win in the second half, they had to open up their inside game!
Of course, Harris had another option he hadn't mentioned: to take a gamble on He Ximeng, making him the second strong offensive threat from the perimeter to cooperate with Eddie Jones. This would significantly increase the defensive pressure on the Bulls' perimeter, potentially allowing Eddie Jones to regain his three-point shooting touch.
However, this was a last resort.
Van Exel's shooting touch was actually quite good today. He had a solid performance with his mid-range jumpers and drives to the basket in the first quarter, but his three-point shooting remained cold. Consequently, when Van Exel had possession, he couldn't create enough perimeter pressure on the Bulls. This allowed the Bulls to continue to pack the paint and focus on guarding O'Neal and Campbell.