In the last game against the Jazz, He Xi Meng had a burst of energy in the final quarter. In this game against the Spurs, He Xi Meng was largely submerged for the entire match. His biggest contribution was 10 assists. With 11 points and 10 assists, He Xi Meng seems to be trending towards becoming a "pass-first" player since the start of the season...
However, since the Lakers won the game, Head Coach Harris didn't dwell on He Xi Meng's lack of scoring.
After the game, Duncan took the opportunity during their embrace to whisper in He Xi Meng's ear, "If you're unhappy playing for the Lakers, you're welcome to come to the Spurs anytime..."
Uh, Duncan assumed that He Xi Meng's lack of shooting in this game was due to him not being able to fight for the ball or get enough possessions. He Xi Meng had no intention of clarifying this "misunderstanding." Let it be a misunderstanding. It would be best if the entire league formed this misunderstanding. That way, He Xi Meng could still be the Lakers' trump card in crucial moments...
After bidding farewell to Duncan, the Lakers immediately headed to Denver to challenge the Nuggets.
The Nuggets were active in trades during the offseason. They acquired Billups from the Timberwolves, Van Exel from the Lakers, and McDyess from the Suns... Coupled with this year's third overall draft pick La Frentz and veteran Stern, the Nuggets assembled what seemed like a decent starting lineup.
The impression the Nuggets gave fans was that their roster was never short of potential rookies or star players in their prime, yet their performance always lagged behind other teams. Especially in the playoffs, they consistently underperformed, squandering their seemingly strong lineups. In short, they were a mysterious team.
In this game, rookie La Frentz would face O'Neal in the paint, a daunting task.
Whether it was the fearlessness of a rookie or an attempt to bolster his courage, La Frentz boldly declared before the game that he would teach the "Big Shark" a lesson.
O'Neal was initially indifferent to La Frentz. He was just a rookie entering the league; there was no need to get agitated with him. However, when La Frentz stepped up to provoke him, O'Neal, whose patience had its limits, immediately unleashed his power and gave the rookie big man a lesson on who could be provoked and who couldn't!
Previously, O'Neal had played 37 minutes and racked up 37 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 blocks! That's an average of one point per minute. While this efficiency might not be remarkable for an outside shooter, for an inside player like O'Neal who operates near the basket, this scoring efficiency was quite high!
By the end of the game, La Frentz was dejected, completely lacking the spirited demeanor he had before the game.
In fact, La Frentz had no reason to be so disheartened. In the league, he was not the only center who had been dominated by O'Neal. He was not the first, nor would he be the last.
Billups reunited with He Xi Meng again. Unfortunately, he had long been discarded by the Celtics and had drifted from the Raptors to the Nuggets. Although he was still a starter, Billups wasn't playing smoothly. He was a bit lost about his future, unsure of his career positioning. Was he a point guard or a shooting guard... Because on the Nuggets, Head Coach D'Antoni played Billups at shooting guard and Van Exel at point guard.
Billups was working hard to adapt to the shooting guard role on the Nuggets, but the results weren't very good. When facing true shooting guards in the league, like Kobe Bryant, Billups could only hold his ground defensively and struggled to put much pressure on Kobe offensively. Such a shooting guard, especially a starting one, was actually not very qualified.
He Xi Meng didn't know how to comfort this late-blooming player with a big heart, so he could only offer him a few words of encouragement: "You just haven't found the team that suits you best... Keep working hard. The most suitable position isn't shooting guard..."
Van Exel, a former Lakers player, was a loser who lost his starting position to He Xi Meng and eventually left Los Angeles. In this game, he naturally wanted to prove his worth and get revenge on his old team. However, He Xi Meng did not give Van Exel that opportunity.
After two games of coasting, He Xi Meng, uncharacteristically, showed a stronger desire to score in this game.
Head Coach Harris was naturally pleased to see this. He didn't want He Xi Meng to weaken his offensive attributes. Because a point guard with poor offensive ability would struggle to create space for the big men. And O'Neal needed a guard who could help draw attention and create space, otherwise, O'Neal's individual offensive advantage wouldn't be fully utilized...
With He Xi Meng and O'Neal working together inside and out, the Lakers were already capable of defeating the Nuggets.
However, Kobe and Eddie Jones were vying for the Lakers' second-best player status, competing in every game, fearing that if they scored less, they would lose the support of the Lakers fans. Thus, with the Lakers firing on all cylinders, the Nuggets were in a tragic situation...
By the end of the third quarter, the game had entered garbage time. Ultimately, the Lakers decisively defeated the Nuggets 113-91, leaving the Nuggets, who were quite confident before the game and aimed to make a mark in the Western Conference this season, disheartened.
The Lakers, meanwhile, continued their winning streak, heading to their next arena, the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to challenge the Timberwolves in a back-to-back game!
Before the season began, the Timberwolves had let go of their former core Gugliotta and officially elevated Garnett, building their team around Garnett, Marbury, and Joe Smith.
Garnett was first, Joe Smith second, and Marbury third. Of course, Marbury was unwilling to admit this ranking. Marbury had always wanted to be the big brother of the Timberwolves, not Garnett's little brother.
However, Marbury was still young, just like He Xi Meng, both from the golden generation of '96. They had just exited their rookie years and didn't have as much say in the team as the two older brothers from the '95 class.
The Timberwolves' current strength was not considered formidable, at least not enough to pose a significant threat to the full-strength Lakers.
However, O'Neal applied for leave for this game. He seemed to have symptoms of the flu and was not feeling well.
Horry returned in place of O'Neal. But overall, the Lakers' strength had declined. This significantly increased the Timberwolves' chances of winning!
Before the game, Garnett delivered a passionate and rousing speech, essentially stating that they needed to defend their home court and that the Lakers were nothing special.
Marbury immediately echoed Garnett's speech, adding a dash of spice to Garnett's "chicken soup for the soul" to make it more potent...