O'Neal was also stunned.

If it were Wei Guo, he could accept it.

but...

He was actually dunked on by Francis head-on.

Holy crap! That's awesome!

Wei Guo rushed over and shoved Francis hard. Mobley also came over and shoved Francis, using this method to vent their emotions.

Hehehe...

Francis was grinning foolishly.

The dunk over Shaq was one of today's top ten plays, and it might even be the top play of this series.

He finally stole the limelight from the State of Wei.

......

The game had to continue, and Francis's dunk boosted the Rockets' morale.

Gentry looked smug!

Francis's courageous performance must be thanks to the ghost pepper.

"You go defend over there!"

Once Wei Guo calmed down, he took the initiative to switch positions with Yao Ming on defense.

Shaquille O'Neal's temper...

After being dunked on by Francis, he was determined to get revenge. Yao Ming couldn't stop the enraged O'Neal, and the rhythm of the game changed with this dunk. Wei Guo needed to abandon Kobe and instead defend O'Neal.

O'Neal was provoked, which had both advantages and disadvantages.

The downside is that O'Neal is about to go on a rampage.

The advantage is that once O'Neal starts playing one-on-one, his coordination with Kobe will decrease significantly. Basketball is a five-person sport, but there is only one basketball on the court. If O'Neal gets the ball, Kobe can only stand aside. At this point, as long as the Rockets can defend O'Neal, they have a 70% chance of winning.

As expected...

After Fisher dribbled the ball up the court, both O'Neal and Kobe called for the ball at the same time.

This put Fisher in a dilemma. Kobe was running and stretching out his arms, waiting for Fisher to pass him the ball, while O'Neal was directly positioning himself under the basket.

Give me that damn ball!

When O'Neal saw Fisher hesitate, he roared.

"Whoosh~~~"

The basketball was passed to O'Neal.

Fisher understood that passing the ball to O'Neal was the wisest choice at this moment. O'Neal had just been dunked on by Francis and was determined to get revenge. If the ball wasn't passed to O'Neal, O'Neal would be angry... But Fisher also saw Yao Ming and Wei Guo switch positions, and now Wei Guo was guarding O'Neal.

O'Neal received the ball and tried to push behind him, attempting to knock the defender away, but that familiar feeling made him turn around and look, "Wei Guo?"

"Didn't expect that, did you?"

Wei Guo chuckled and said, "Let's score under my defense first, then we'll talk about everything else."

Last season...

Even in his rookie season, Wei Guo gave O'Neal a lot of trouble under the basket. Compared to last season, Wei Guo's attributes were close to perfect, and his skills and physique had improved significantly.

Just because he played small forward this season has made people overlook the fact that Wei Guo is actually the league's top interior player.

O'Neal and Wei Guo battle it out under the basket!

The two are the same height, but Wei Guo is stronger. However, O'Neal is much larger. He used his size advantage to find space to shoot and hook shot!

"bang~~~"

The ball hit the neck of the rim and bounced away.

Wei Guo easily jumped and grabbed the defensive rebound over O'Neal's head.

O'Neal had just found space to shoot, but Wei Guo's defensive pressure on him was too great, and coupled with his lack of composure in his rage, this hook shot that seemed like a sure thing missed.

"Shaq, don't force a fight against Weiguo!"

The Zen Master stood on the sidelines and shouted, "Your teammate has created an opportunity, pass the ball to him first."

The head coaches of all teams in the league understand one thing: Wei Guo's two consecutive DPOY awards are no joke; he can defend against any player in the league.

Relatively speaking...

The pressure of defending Shaquille O'Neal was not as great as the pressure of defending Allen Iverson.

Iverson is only 1.83 meters tall, with a low center of gravity and high speed. When Wei Guo defends him, he has to lower his center of gravity, which greatly affects Wei Guo's lateral movement speed. O'Neal is the same height as Wei Guo, but Wei Guo has a longer wingspan, better jumping ability, faster speed, stronger strength, and more comprehensive skills.

Wei Guo passed the ball to Francis.

Francis drove to the basket again, and O'Neal rushed in to try and block Francis's shot.

But...

Francis isn't stupid.

He didn't think he could dunk on O'Neal twice in a row, so when O'Neal pounced on him, Francis caught the ball in mid-air, wrapped his arm around O'Neal's thick waist, and passed the ball to Yao Ming.

"Bang!!!"

Yao Ming jumped from the spot and dunked with both hands to score.

"Great pass!"

Yao Ming celebrated with Francis by giving him a high five in front of Shaquille O'Neal.

54:50!!

At the start of the third quarter, the Rockets quickly established a four-point lead.

Although Francis didn't dunk on O'Neal, his play with Yao Ming was incredibly skillful, which made O'Neal feel like he had been tricked, and he went berserk again!

O'Neal still remembers...

Before the game started, he made a bold statement, hoping that Gentry would let Wei Guo play the 5 position, and that he would give Wei Guo some competition.

........

Riding this momentum, the Rockets went on a 13-3 run, extending their lead to double digits.

"Lakers request a timeout!"

Horry walked to the sidelines and saw the Zen Master with a dark expression, and fell silent.

The failure to stop the Rockets' offensive surge wasn't primarily Horry's fault, but he's not a superstar like O'Neal or Kobe, and Horry was worried that Phil Jackson might take his anger out on him.

"Shaq!"

Kobe walked behind O'Neal and said in a harsh tone, "You should pass the ball to me. You can't beat Weiguo."

That statement was correct, but to O'Neal it sounded like he was being mocked.

Fortunately...

The Zen Master promptly stopped Kobe and Shaq's argument, saying, "Shut up, you're only down by 10 points, it's not like we've lost all hope of winning."

This is the playoffs.

It's a terrible thing for the team's star player and second-in-command to have internal conflicts during a game.

If Kobe and Shaq continue arguing, and their opponent is the formidable Rockets, the Lakers might as well surrender early.

The Zen master said a few words.

Kobe and Shaq calmed down, and then Phil Jackson made another adjustment to the lineup, replacing George with Stanislav.

Stanislav is an international player who is nearly 2.1 meters tall. Phil Jackson's idea was to have Stanislav limit Yao Ming, so that O'Neal could focus his energy on defending Yao Ming.

........

The timeout has ended, and the game has resumed.

The Lakers have made roster adjustments, while the Rockets still have five starters on the court.

Kobe received the ball near the free-throw line, and O'Neal cut to the basket to receive the pass. He grabbed the basketball with both hands and charged toward the basket like a tank.

Wei Guo had already established himself under the basket, seemingly waiting for O'Neal to charge in!