The substitute players were exhausted, while Kobe and his three friends returned from vacation.

The substitute players wouldn't complain about this; they wished Kobe and the other three could rest a little longer, as playing with Wei Ge was just too comfortable.

No wonder...

The teams Wei Guo played for before, especially the Knicks and Trail Blazers in the last two seasons, all saw their teammates' value skyrocket because of Wei Guo. He has a championship title, and you can really learn a lot from playing alongside him, especially on the court. Don't be fooled by Wei Guo's occasional 50 or 60 points and 20 or 30 rebounds.

Those matches were close because no one could step up.

In these three games, Walton, Ariza, Farmar, and Turiaf's average stats far exceeded their season averages. This is related to their playing time, but more importantly, it's because they were able to unleash their full potential playing alongside Wei Guo!

And this...

This will also be key to their demand for large contracts.

......

After a week's rest, Kobe and his teammates were no longer fatigued from their winning streak.

Another 12-game winning streak...

Since the start of the 2007-08 season, the Lakers have achieved a 32-game winning streak, just one game away from their franchise record.

In the 1970s, the Lakers, led by Chamberlain and West, went on a 33-game winning streak, which is the longest winning streak in Lakers history. The Lakers also won the championship trophy that season, which was the team's first championship trophy after moving to Los Angeles. However, their record that season was only average, with 69 wins.

More than 30 years later, the Lakers, led by Wei Guo and Kobe, are about to set a new winning streak record.

Away game against the Magic!

This is the Lakers' 33rd game, and also one of the most anticipated games of the week, streamed live across the entire network!

The Lakers have also encountered some minor difficulties recently. Turiaf is out due to injury, Gasol is out due to injury, Paul is out due to injury... Few players can play a full 82 games. Sometimes, even a simple muscle strain will cause them to miss a few games, as long as it's not a season-ending injury.

The Lakers are just having a bit of bad luck.

The impact of Turiaf's injury is simply that the key players will have to play for another ten minutes or so.

As for the other two... perhaps the rest period made Gasol and Paul complacent, which led to their injuries.

Gasol strained his thigh muscle during a game, but Paul fared even worse... In a game against the Nuggets, the Lakers won by a whopping 58 points. After the game, Paul was jumping around excitedly, but he accidentally twisted his ankle while going down the stairs.

The Magic are all healthy!

and...

Led by Howard, the team has the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, second only to the Celtics.

......

Starting lineup for this match:

Lakers: Wei Guo, Kobe, Walton, Odom, Bynum

Magic: Nelson, Turkoglu, Lewis, Evans, Howard

......

In this league, only those who have been teammates with Wei Guo truly like him. Others' feelings towards Wei Guo tend to be more of admiration, fear, or hatred. It is undeniable that there are a few people in this league who truly hate Wei Guo, such as Bogut, the number one draft pick from the previous two years.

There's also Takeru Kimura, who lost his job due to a malicious foul on Wei Guo. He has now returned to his country to work as a film actor, and he looks much thinner than when he was a player.

Paul was injured for personal reasons, but Gentry didn't let him rest. With his foot bandaged, he traveled with the team to the away game to learn how to play the point guard position. To put it bluntly... Gentry was still not satisfied with Paul's performance.

Paul's teammates also joked about his foot injury.

Kobe also said that if they win by another 58 points, Paul's foot injury will be cured.

On the Magic's side...

Howard is growing rapidly, averaging 20 points and 15 rebounds per game, gradually surpassing Yao Ming and Amar'e Stoudemire, and seems poised to take over the title of the league's best center from Shaquille O'Neal.

This alliance is really bizarre!

The media likes to rank the best center, the best point guard, the best shooting guard... Players also care about the media's rankings, but in recent years, Wei Guo's name can't be seen on the list. The media with a conscience will add a zero after ranking the first, second, third, fourth, and fifth, and that is Wei Guo.

"Beep!!!"

The whistle blows, the game begins!

Howard and Bynum jumped for the ball. Although Bynum is very strong in running and jumping, he is still not as good as Howard.

Howard easily passed the racket to Nelson!

Nelson had just received the ball when he was suddenly confronted by a 2.16-meter-tall giant. He panicked and slowed down his dribbling by half a beat.

This kind of opportunity...

How could Wei Guo possibly fail to grasp this?

Kobe easily intercepted the ball from Nelson's hands and turned to run towards the frontcourt... The two had excellent teamwork. Wei Guo dribbled on the left side, and Kobe followed from the right. When they reached the basket, Wei Guo slammed the ball to the ground without even looking, and ran towards the backcourt with his hands raised high.

After Wei Guo's death...

"Bang!!!"

Kobe caught the bounced basketball and slammed it home!

The Lakers' bench cheered for the brilliant play, with Cummings quipping Paul, "Could you even pass that ball out?"

"Of course, no problem!"

Paul's answer was quite confident.

"Keep bragging..."

Cummings scoffed, "Williams had his back to Kobe, and without even turning his head, he tossed the ball over the rim. That's a classic no-look pass."

really...

The difficulty of this pass lies in the fact that Wei Guo didn't even turn around. He judged Kobe's position simply by the sound of his footsteps. Moreover, he didn't throw the ball into the air, but rather slammed it to the ground. His control over the timing was extremely precise.

After a powerful dunk, Kobe excitedly tugged at his jersey.

......

The Magic are on offense, and Howard is positioning himself under the basket to receive the ball!

Howard draws the defense under the basket. If he gets double-teamed, one of the players will be left open. Nelson and his three teammates pass the ball around the perimeter. If there's an opportunity, take a shot. Even if you miss, it doesn't matter. Howard will grab the rebounds!

This is the Magic's tactic...

Thanks to this tactic, the Magic are currently ranked second in the Eastern Conference, with a better record than LeBron James' Cavaliers and the Wizards' Big Three.

pity...

This tactic is completely ineffective against the Lakers.

Wei Guo and Howard were boxing out in the paint, a battle between the point guard and center positions. This has only happened once before with the Lakers. In the 1980s, Johnson played center in the Finals, and more than 20 years later, Wei Guo took over. Wei Guo played point guard on offense and guarded the center position he was facing on defense.

Howard had absolutely no way to deal with Wei Guo.

However, in the last game against the Rockets, he dunked over Yao Ming, who is 2.26 meters tall, so when he received the pass from his teammate, he used his big elbow to push aside Wei Guo and jump!