With a 0:2 deficit, the defending champion Lakers returned to Los Angeles in a foul mood.
In Game 3, back on their home court, the OK combination unleashed their full firepower!
O'Neal no longer cared about whether his toe injury would worsen, giving it his all in this game!
On their home turf, O'Neal got a whopping 24 free throw attempts throughout the game!
For the Spurs, David Robinson fouled out, and Yao Ming fouled out!
By the end, Duncan had to move to center, with Malik Rose playing power forward.
Although Duncan wasn't particularly afraid of O'Neal, once he moved to center, he lost the dominant advantage he had at power forward. After all, Duncan's size was a class below traditional centers, especially O'Neal.
This game felt like a replay of the Kings' Game 6.
After the game ended, before the Spurs players could say anything, the Kings players, all the way in Sacramento, took to social media!
Webber: "Do I need to repeat myself? The defending champions are getting special treatment!"
Divac: "Mr. O'Neal always gets an incredible number of free throws in Los Angeles! Look at the other side, they don't even get a fraction of that!"
Adelman: "As we encountered before, the officiating in this game is questionable!"
In contrast, after losing this game, Popovich didn't dwell on the refereeing, merely responding calmly, "The series isn't over yet. Shaq can't make 15 free throws every game!"
Yes, not only did O'Neal have a high number of free throw attempts today, but more importantly, his free throw percentage was exceptional!
He made 15 out of 24 attempts, a shooting percentage of 62.5%! This was what annoyed Popovich the most.
In Game 4, under immense public pressure, the referees no longer dared to give O'Neal so many whistles.
However, the Spurs' offense faltered, with their outside shooters collectively going cold. Relying solely on their big men inside, it wasn't an easy task for the Spurs to defeat the Lakers.
With a 2:2 tie, the Lakers had clawed their way back, making O'Neal ecstatic! In these two games, O'Neal had performed exceptionally well, scoring a game-high 37 points in Game 3 with his 15 free throws, and a game-high 36 points in Game 4 with his solid hook shot!
It had to be admitted that although O'Neal's condition had declined due to the persistent toe injury, he remained the most dominant center in the league in the low post and at the rim. No one else came close.
"I know some defeated opponents are unhappy with our victory and are trying to attribute it to the referees! But I want to say, no championship is won by relying on the referees! If you want a trophy, come and take it with your strength! Don't just blabber! If blabbering could win championships, I would have been a champion ten years ago..."
Uh... The Great Shark was indeed a tough guy! While criticizing the Kings for their blabbering, he inadvertently included himself! This was like a master of the Seven Injuries Fist, truly admirable!
When He Xi Meng saw this part, he genuinely gave a thumbs-up to O'Neal on television!
However, for O'Neal to discuss the championship outcome now seemed a bit premature.
Game 5, the pivotal match, saw both teams return to the Spurs' home court.
After enduring for four games, Popovich finally unleashed his ultimate weapon against the Great Shark: the Hack-a-Shaq strategy!
In Game 3, the Spurs didn't want O'Neal to have 20 free throw attempts.
In Game 5, O'Neal was given 18 free throw attempts again, but this time it was a deliberate move by the Spurs!
Whenever the Lakers' offense started to flow smoothly, Popovich would shout "Play Number Four!" from the sidelines.
Play Number Four was the strategy to forcefully hack the Shark!
The five Spurs players would tacitly share the foul load, taking turns to commit fouls and disrupt O'Neal's scoring opportunities. Reading 138.
At first, O'Neal was quite happy!
If they continued fouling at this rate, the Spurs would fall into the same trap as Game 3. Once their big men fouled out, wouldn't the paint be his for the taking?
But as the game progressed, O'Neal realized something was amiss!
The first sign of trouble was that David Robinson and Yao Ming, who were supposed to be guarding him, weren't getting into foul trouble! This meant the other Spurs players were helping them absorb the fouls. It was likely that neither of them would foul out by the end of the game, dashing O'Neal's hope of directly facing Duncan or Malik Rose.
The second issue was O'Neal's "impressive" free throw shooting today! He had already taken 10 free throws and only made 3! His shooting percentage barely reached 30%, which was 20 percentage points lower than He Xi Meng's three-point shooting percentage! If he continued shooting free throws at this rate, the biggest reason for the Lakers' loss might not be their opponent, the Spurs, but O'Neal, the "mole"!
Standing at the free-throw line again, sweat beaded on O'Neal's forehead, too much to wipe away. It was unclear whether he was tired or nervous.
The extremely low free throw percentage had a severe psychological impact on O'Neal, causing him to hesitate to attack proactively in the second half. For any shot that wasn't a guaranteed dunk, O'Neal chose to pass the ball out.
"Kobe, where is Kobe? Don't you love scoring? Come on, you take it..."
O'Neal was trapped by the Hack-a-Shaq strategy, and while Kobe wanted to be the hero for Los Angeles, the Spurs wouldn't let him.
Bowen only attempted one shot in this game and scored zero points, but after the game, he received high praise from head coach Popovich!
Because while the Spurs were fully focused on swarming O'Neal in the paint, it was Bowen alone who single-handedly kept Kobe's shooting percentage below 34%!
In the entire game, Kobe shot 10 for 30 from the field, 0 for 4 from three-point range, and 8 for 11 from the free-throw line, scoring 28 points, grabbing 5 rebounds, and dishing out 3 assists!
If one only looked at Kobe's scoring numbers, some fans might think he played decently! However, considering that Kobe's 28 points came from 30 field goal attempts, it could be concluded that his scoring efficiency in this game wasn't just not high, it was severely low!
He Xi Meng also scored 28 points today, but he only took 21 shots! He went 10 for 21 from the field, 5 for 10 from three-point range, and 3 for 4 from the free-throw line, accumulating 28 points, 9 assists, 4 rebounds, and 2 steals!
105:99, the Spurs won this crucial Game 5 by 6 points!
Following their semifinal series, the Lakers were once again facing elimination in the finals. Could they once again come from behind and complete a comeback, as they did in the semifinals?