The timing of O'Neal's comeback is critical, as it happens to be when the Lakers are about to begin their four-game trip to the Western Conference.
It was also O'Neal's comeback that gave Lakers fans a shot in the arm.
Many fans cheered online: "Shaq is back, and the game is stable! Shaq is back, and the championship is guaranteed!"
If it weren't for the vast majority of active fans, those who didn't know would have thought it was O'Neal's trumpet account.
However, the fact is that as the fans said, O'Neal's return did help the Lakers stabilize the situation, and the Lakers started winning again.
On January 2, O'Neal's first game back, the Lakers arrived in Seattle to play away against the SuperSonics.
O'Neal only played 25 minutes, and he made 11 of 16 shots, 3 of 9 free throws, and scored 25 points, 12 rebounds, 2 assists, and 4 blocks, helping the Lakers easily defeat the SuperSonics 104-89.
Also because of O'Neal's comeback, although Duan's ball rights have shrunk a bit, his assist data has increased again.
Duan was just in the triangle offense, playing the small guard in the pick-and-roll, and passing the ball to O'Neal inside. He easily shot 9 of 15 shots, 1 of 3 three-pointers, 2 of 3 free throws, 21 points, 5 rebounds and 10 assists. Double-double data.
In the days without Malone, it would be difficult for Duen to reach double figures in assists, and he could only keep thinking of ways to score.
Now with O'Neal, Du En's burden is much lighter, and he can return to the original Du En.Team Basketball En.
Of course, O'Neal's return is not all a good thing for Duan.
O'Neal returned to the Lakers with the style of "Shaq is here to help you win the championship". Even a thorn like Payton had to play around O'Neal.
Since Payton no longer takes the initiative to play fast breaks, Duan's opportunities for fast breaks have also been reduced by 70 to 80%.
In the past, Duan had at least three or four opportunities to switch offense in a game, but now he only has one opportunity at most.
There were also fewer simple points, and Duan had to turn to more simple assists.
As time went by, Dunn's mastery of Pippen's template further deepened, which gave him a more thorough understanding of the triangle offensive tactics and the tactics of passing the ball to Jordan.
Time flies to January 4th, at the Staples Center, the Lakers play against the Clippers.
Logically speaking, this game is the Clippers' home court.
But sorry, at Staples Center, the Lakers have 43 regular season home games a year, while the Clippers have 39 home games.
With the support of 70% to 80% Lakers fans present, the Lakers, led by OK, easily defeated the Clippers.
It is worth mentioning that when O'Neal was interviewed on the sidelines after the game, he actually called on the fans in Los Angeles to vote for Payton, Kobe, Duane, Malone, and himself for the All-Stars.
However, instead of being angry, Clippers owner Donald Sterling was happy that Lakers fans came to Staples Center to give him money.
After all, the Clippers' ticket price is almost half that of the Lakers.
The two games between the Clippers and the Lakers at home each year are basically the time when the Clippers make the most money.
As for selling playoff tickets, in today's Wild West, how can the Clippers make it to the playoffs?
Therefore, Sterling doesn't care at all that Lakers fans are singing and dancing at his home court to vote for the All-Stars for Lakers players.
As a quick aside, the initial All-Star voting is on-site voting. That is, after the All-Star voting opens, home fans who purchase tickets will automatically gain the right to select the Eastern and Western All-Stars.
Now keeping pace with the times, online voting channels such as official website voting, wireless voting, and electronic voting have been added, as well as NBA sports brand offline physical store voting and NBA cooperative cinema voting.
Domestic fans are most familiar with logging into the NBA official website to vote.
Originally, NBA officials considered that the number of fans watching online was limited, so they did not set any restrictions on voting on the official website.
As a result, the vast number of domestic fans created the feat of pulling down O'Neal, who had just won three consecutive championships and was firmly the league's number one player, to step down from the altar and serve as an All-Star substitute for rookie Yao Ming.
Also seeing the influence of Chinese fans, NBA officials had to reduce the proportion of official website voting, and at the same time divided the official website voting into dozens of different countries and regions, each occupying a certain proportion.
However, this also underestimates the number of Chinese overseas students.
After Yi Jianlian entered the NBA, he almost relied on official website voting to become the starting forward of the Eastern All-Stars. The NBA had to modify the rules for this...
This moment is exactly like that moment! Today, Du En, like Yi Jianlian, has won the support of a large number of domestic fans.
In addition, Duan also has the support of local fans in Los Angeles!
There are two NBA teams in Los Angeles! Not to mention that tickets for the Clippers are relatively cheap.
It is precisely because of this that the Lakers stars have a greater advantage than other teams in becoming the starting All-Star.
O'Neal's vote for Payton and Malone may not help Payton and Malone become Western Conference All-Star starters, but he will have the opportunity to help Dunn.
Of course, the specific situation will depend on the results of the All-Star voting.
Closer to home, on January 6, the Lakers visited Minnesota to face the Timberwolves, who had just formed a three-headed monster.
Cassell is a seriously underestimated player. He doesn't look strong, but he can catch the elderly Payton with ease.
Duen had to take the initiative to defend Cassel, but he was unable to restrict Cassel from connecting the team.
And the madman Sprewell, faced with Kobe's strict defense, suddenly became crazy again.
He made 1 of 6 shots in the first quarter, 6 of 8 in the second, 3 of 10 in the third, and 3 of 5 in the fourth.
It is also because Garnett, the leader of the Timberwolves, is better at defense and cannot absorb too much ball power on the offensive end.
The Madman tends to have the disadvantages of taking possession of the ball and taking advantage of the touch, and coming to the Timberwolves just complements each other.
The Madman's offense, Garnett's defense, and Cassel's organization just transformed the Timberwolves into an extremely perfect championship team.
Even though the Lakers won two consecutive games after O'Neal returned, they still lost to the Timberwolves.
Then, on January 7, the Lakers arrived in Denver to play a back-to-back game.
Originally, the climate in the Denver Plateau had a great impact on the away team's condition, and the Lakers happened to be participating in back-to-back schedules.
In this game, because O'Neal couldn't run at halftime, the Lakers could only clock in for three quarters, put their weapons and weapons in storage, and voluntarily admit defeat.
After losing two games in a row, the Lakers locker room naturally became less stable.
Kobe thinks O'Neal is too heavy and should practice more to lose weight.
O'Neal renewed his big contract and no longer has the motivation to practice hard.
Faced with Kobe's cynicism, O'Neal directly adopted the attitude of "I'm afraid of everything if I get money" and was unwilling to quarrel with Kobe.
Kobe gritted his teeth and hated the iron, so he could only hold the ball and practice alone after the game.
But he was about to return to Los Angeles, and Kobe didn't practice for long before he followed the other players on the bus to the airport.
After returning to Los Angeles, the Lakers started winning again, and the good news came one after another.
First, 67 to 113, the Lakers defeated the Hawks by 46 points at home, sweeping away the haze of defeat.
Immediately afterwards, the league announced the results of the first round of All-Star voting.
Kobe received 426,000 first-round Western Conference guard votes and is currently the Western Conference All-Star vote leader.
With 167,000 votes, Payton is temporarily ranked third among Western Conference guards.
O'Neal received 389,000 votes for Western Conference center, but still fell behind Yao Ming's 415,000 votes.
Dunn received 355,000 votes for Western Conference forward, ranking third among Western Conference forwards. Malone received 134,000 votes, ranking sixth among Western Conference forwards.
Above Duane are Garnett with 415,000 votes and Duncan with 387,000 votes.
It can only be said that Duncan is too low-key! Now with two championships, MVP and FMVP in hand, with such honors, he has caught up with Olajuwon and become the top ten goalkeepers in history.
However, looking at the popularity, it is actually not as good as Garnett!
Also because he is temporarily ranked as the third forward in the Western Conference, Duane, as a first-year rookie, wants to become an All-Star player.
You have to kill one of Duncan or Garnett, and then enter the next Los Angeles All-Star Game as a starter in the Western Conference All-Stars!
Duncan is far more powerful than Garnett, but his reputation is not as good.
This also sounded the alarm for Du En, making Du En more convinced that he should cooperate closely with Nike to strengthen his own marketing.
In order to become the starting forward of the Western Conference All-Stars, Dunn called Nike boss Phil Knight overnight to discuss how to market and operate his plan to replace Duncan and Garnett and become the starting forward of the Western Conference All-Stars.
Phil Knight supports this because Duncan and Garnett are both Nike traitors.
Now that Duan has the opportunity to unseat one of them, Phil Knight said that even if he loses money and makes a profit, he will help Duan.
Ever since, in the next period of time, marketing advertisements for Duen, Asia's number one defender, appeared one after another in the Four Asian Tigers and Four Little Tigers regions.
In North America, Nike also released a promotional video for the Dune 1 generation.
The Duen 1 generation has actually been designed. The next step is to see whether the OEM on the other side of the ocean can complete the order in time and then ship it to North America for distribution.
Having said that, Duan has been waiting for half a season and finally has to play against James.
On January 12, James, who had solved the problem of Ricky Davis, arrived at the Staples Center with the Cavaliers.
