Paul's forehead was covered in sweat; he was nervous.

Winning or losing doesn't matter...

Because the Nuggets absolutely cannot beat the Lakers. Even if they go into the third quarter trailing, as long as Wei Guo and Kobe are on the court, they can easily catch up and win by twenty-three points.

This is about his pride!

Gentry was testing him to see if he could close the gap before the end of the first half.

......

The Lakers are on offense with 2 minutes and 17 seconds remaining.

Paul drove to the basket, but lost his balance in the contact with Camby. However, he still managed to throw the ball toward the rim.

"Bang!!!"

Paul crashed into the backboard.

The referee blew his whistle and called a foul on Camby. Paul didn't care about the foul. He looked up at the basket, where the basketball was circling around the rim... If it missed, it would be two free throws; if it went in, it would be a '2+1'.

Kobe and Weiguo also stood up.

"That ball really spins..."

Kobe laughed and said, "That must be more than ten laps, right?"

It's common for a basketball to circle around the rim. Most of the time, it only goes around seven or eight times before either going wide or going in. Paul's ball, however, has circled more than ten times, keeping him on the edge of his seat.

finally...

The basketball rolled into the hoop, passed through the net, and fell to the floor.

"This is...so long!"

Paul let out a long sigh of relief, stepped to the free-throw line, and easily sank a free throw, completing a '2+1' play.

Wei Guo sat down again. "It seems... we have a good chance of taking the lead in the first half."

With two minutes remaining, the Lakers are only down by two points. It all depends on whether they can stop Iverson and Anthony. One-on-one defense is very difficult, which will test not only Paul's leadership ability but also the Lakers' overall defense.

Iverson dribbles across the frontcourt!

Anthony calls for the ball in the low post, isolates against Bynum, spins and lays off.

"Whoosh!!!"

The basketball went into the net.

"How did you defend?"

Paul yelled, "You let Anthony score so easily?"

Bynum initially wanted to blame himself, but after Paul yelled at him, his stubbornness flared up: "If you're so good, then you defend! Even Wei has never said anything to me, so what right do you have to criticize me?!"

Paul, "!!!"

As expected, it's different from when he was with the Hornets. With the Hornets, Paul had absolute authority, even though he was just a rookie. But with the Lakers... nobody respected him at all. He was anxious, which is why he criticized Bynum a couple of times!

Bynum's lax defensive attitude...is because he doesn't have the same pressure as Paul. He's behind in the first half, so what? When Wei and Kobe come back, they'll definitely teach Iverson and Anthony a lesson. Wei will take care of everything...Bynum is used to sitting on the sidelines enjoying the fruits of victory.

"We had a BBQ..."

Kobe slapped his forehead, "We're going to be behind in the first half."

......

Two minutes later, the first half ended.

53:55!!

The Lakers are down by 2 points.

Leading by 5 points in the first quarter but trailing by 2 points at halftime, the Lakers lost to the Nuggets by 7 points in the second quarter.

The home team locker room.

Paul still ignored Bynum, so Gentry comforted him, "You've done very well, don't blame yourself."

"Old Jin, I tried my best, why couldn't we catch up?" Paul asked.

"because..."

Gentry stroked his chin. "A team can only have one leader."

Paul kept this in mind. After Wei Guo retired, Paul played basketball in the league for more than ten years, partnering with many superstars. Every time he was just one step away from the championship. Paul reflected on whether the problem might lie in what Gentry said: a team can only have one leader.

The Lakers have a strong sense of team cohesion because even Kobe Bryant acknowledges that Wei Guo is the team's leader.

Away game locker room.

George Karl praised the players' performance in the first half, saying that the Nuggets need to polish their guns to a high level if they want to beat the Lakers.

Iverson is full of fighting spirit...

Iverson was deeply worried...

Who wouldn't want to beat the Lakers? But Iverson knew all too well how strong the Lakers were. The things he said to George Karl, seemingly to have Karl give Kenyon Martin some psychological support, were actually a way of telling himself to forget about how strong the Lakers were and focus on playing the game.

......

The second half begins, and the Nuggets are on offense!

Iverson blew past Kobe and attempted a layup, but was fouled by Odom. After falling, Iverson calmly got up.

That's how the older generation of players are...

Iverson could swallow the blood in his mouth and continue the game, so what does it matter if he just fell down?

"bang~~~"

The first free throw missed.

Wei Guo joked, "Brother, you've never really mastered your free throws."

When he first entered the league, Iverson's free throw shooting was criticized by fans. As a guard, a 70% free throw percentage was indeed not good enough... He has improved a lot in recent years, with a success rate of over 80%, and can make eight out of ten free throws. However, he is still not as good as Wei Guo, who can make ten out of ten free throws in a game.

"There has been progress."

Iverson smiled and made the second free throw.

53:56!!

The Lakers are down by 3 points.

3 points?

It only took one three-pointer to close the gap. Kobe backed down in the low post, shook off Kenyon, and then passed the ball to the three-point line.

He clearly had a chance to shoot, but chose to pass the ball... There's only one answer: Wei Guo was out of position!

As expected...

Wei Guo was completely left wide open beyond the three-point line!

When he received the ball, only the alien Cassell rushed over to try to interfere with Wei Guo's shot, but it was too late.

The basketball is still in the air...

All five Lakers players were running backcourt on defense.

"Whoosh!!!"

The crisp sound of the net swishing came from behind.

56:56!!

Wei Guo hit a confident three-pointer to tie the score.

George Karl muttered to himself, "That's absolute trust... After Wei Guo made his move, everyone knew he was going to put that damn ball in the basket."

There are many three-point shooters in the league, such as "Gentleman" Ray Allen, "The Terminator" Miller, and "Larry Bird" Bird, the king of boasting who asked his opponents to agree on who would come in second before the three-point contest even started. But no one has ever been like Wei Guo, whose every shot made the whole world think that the ball was going in.

perhaps...

Two years later, Curry, the young man from the Wei Kingdom, was also able to do that.

......

Wei Guo started scoring, and the Nuggets were struggling to keep up.