So I am the god of basketball?

The moment that really boosted the morale of all Lakers players happened in the last 2 minutes of the first quarter, when Barkley came on as a substitute. At this moment, all the Lakers players stood up and applauded him.

Barkley had experienced big scenes before, but the look on his teammates' faces at the moment made him wave his hands awkwardly. He was not used to such warm moments.

However, he also knows that coming on as a substitute is not the only contribution he can make. Next, he can help the team open up a bigger score.

The Lakers were united in their hatred of the enemy, so even after the timeout, the Supersonics stabilized the situation, but they were still left behind by about 10 points. What Barkley had to do was to widen this 10-point gap.

If the Lakers win the "Decisive Battle" with such a big score difference, it will be a huge help for them when they return to their home court.

One can imagine what kind of psychological advantage they will gain by then.

Barkley was full of energy, and when facing the Sonics' bench, he was like a wolf among the sheep, biting them indiscriminately.

The Sonics' bench rotation was completely powerless to resist.

At the end of the first quarter, the score difference had already opened up to 12 points. George Karl had no choice but to put the starting lineup back on the court in advance. Barkley continued to play with the starting lineup at the beginning of the second quarter. Due to the reduced playing time, he did not have to worry about his physical fitness problems at all, and he went all out for every shot.

Among the fans watching this game, if there are fans of the Suns sitting next to them, they will definitely be very familiar with Barkley.

This is the on-court presence of “Peak Barkley.”

The Lakers scored 6 points in a row, and the gap between the two teams widened further. If Gary Payton had not used his somewhat rusty skills during this period, the gap would have been widened to more than 15 points.

When Barkley left the court, thunderous cheers rang out from the Lakers' home court thousands of miles away.

In total, Barkley was on the court for 5 minutes and 34 seconds, scoring consecutively and scoring double digits, with a terrifying efficiency of 2 points per minute.

As Chuck Daly put it, he has once again become the "X factor" of this game.

However, even though Chuck Daly knew that this would allow Barkley to play without any scruples, he did not expect Barkley to perform like this. It was really beyond his expectations.

He patted Barkley on the shoulder affectionately when Barkley left the court.

The result of this game was actually over when Barkley left the court.

After the first four games, the two sides had never opened up such a big gap, and the Supersonics had never narrowed the score with such a big gap. So the victory of this game was already won.

Another point:
Barkley is resting now, but he can come out of the bench in the second half to help the team continue to score points.

It's like platinum in the first game of the 2024 Finals.

No one on the Supersonics could stand up to match him, which led to the fact that once Barkley exploded, the Supersonics would be defeated.

Barkley's performance is much more stable than Platinum.

Him playing against the Sonics bench was the equivalent of nuking Hiroshima.

That's enough destructive power to last for 60 years.

Sure enough, the Supersonics failed to launch any effective counterattack, and at the end of the game, they were trailing by more than 20 points.

孟浪在这场比赛稳定发挥，拿到了38分6篮板5助攻；巴克利全场一共打了14分钟，却效率极高低砍下了16分，另外还有3篮板1助攻。

As he focuses on scoring, the Sonics deserve some attention on the defensive end.

George Karl's expression during the post-match interview said it all. This was not the first time the Sonics had run into problems. After the first game of the finals, he was actually very calm because he knew where the problem was.

Now, he still knew where the problem was, but the problem was...

This problem seems difficult to solve!
Because he couldn't find someone to match Barkley on the bench.

This is too extravagant, they let a "Top 50 Superstar" play as a substitute...

"Next game, I hope you are all ready to play 48 minutes!"

As the plane was about to arrive in Los Angeles, George Karl turned around and said these words to the other members of the Supersonics.

This was the answer he gave after thinking about it. There was no other way but to fight.

In fact, it is not the end of the world for the SuperSonics. As long as they fight for two 48 minutes, they can advance to the finals. Of course, if they lose one 48 minutes, they will be kicked out...

The other members of the Supersonics team had no objection, and they also knew that this was their only chance of winning.

On the Lakers side, the atmosphere was better on the plane back, after all, they had the match point and had some room for error.

And it was a big win.

Barkley sat next to Meng Lang, and at this moment he felt extremely happy.

As long as he continues to stand up from the bench in the next game, he will still be a "killer weapon".

It feels really good to be the “x factor” of the series.

This made him feel his importance.

Without him, the Lakers would have a hard time getting through this series.

There is a feeling that Barkley's final season is perfect.

Players like them care more about their importance than the face of the starting position!
Because only in this way, when he wins this series, or even n years after winning the championship, when he talks about this matter again, he can tell the person interviewing him without any guilt: "If I hadn't stood up from the bench, that series would have been even more difficult..."

Great story, isn't it?
Meng Lang glanced out the window and said, "We won't be returning to Seattle this season."

These words seemed to be spoken to Barkley, but also seemed to be spoken to himself.

Well, this is actually what I said to Barkley.

But there was one more thing he didn't say:

You have made your contribution, so I have to shoulder my responsibility. We will not give the Supersonics a chance to win again. We will not return to Seattle this season!
No matter how difficult the next game is, Meng Lang will make sure this series ends in Game 6...

Are you kidding? Barkley has sacrificed so much. If he causes twists and turns in the series, would it be worthy of Barkley's sacrifice?

There is one sentence he will tell Barkley after the finals:
You are the best partner I have ever worked with!

And the day after the Lakers won the decisive game and returned to Los Angeles, the Eastern Conference Finals also ushered in their "Battle of the Kings".

To be honest, before the start of the Eastern Conference Finals, Shaquille O'Neal really didn't expect that the Eastern Conference Finals would be so difficult, considering that they had swept the Pistons during the regular season.

He originally thought that the Eastern Conference Finals would be the easiest series. The first game was won just as the new "regular season MVP" said.

But when the second game started, it was obvious that something was wrong. The Pistons came prepared and used all kinds of unexpected "Hack-a-Shaq" tactics to disrupt the Heat's rhythm. Shaq was also really good. Facing the "Hack-a-Shaq" tactics, he only made 6 of the first 2 free throws and didn't make any of the next 6 free throws.

They lost 10 points on free throws alone.

The Heat ended up losing by just 10 points.

The momentum was on the Pistons' side.

After returning to their home court, they continued their "Hack-a-Shaq" strategy and won the second game of the series, with the score at 2-1.
Fortunately, Pat Riley used his tactics to put the Pistons' inside line into foul trouble in the fourth game, otherwise they would have lost the fourth game. In the end, the Heat escaped from the Pistons' home court with a 102-98 advantage of 4 points.

Back at home, the "Battle of the Mountain King" begins.

Compared with the one-sided situation in the West, the battle in the East is much more intense.

Rasheed Wallace is worthy of being the future "main force of the Trail Blazers and Pistons against Shaquille O'Neal". In this game, he was not afraid at all when facing Shaq's strong attack under the basket.

Shaq's problem was revealed at this moment. When he was unable to cause huge damage in the interior, he needed his partner on the outside to perform at the top level.

This was the case with Kobe in the Western Conference Finals of the “three consecutive championships”, and also with Wade in the 06 Finals.

Unfortunately, Tim Hardaway disappointed him in this game. Grant Hill and Alan Houston cooperated well to limit him.

The Heat are once again on the brink of a cliff. They are luckier than in the Eastern Conference semifinals because:

Facing the Bulls, they were trailing 1-3, and facing the Pistons, they were trailing 2-3.

The score that needs to be caught up is 1 point less.

Shaq: You think you're funny?
It's time for the Heat to once again test the value of their regular season MVP.

"The Big Shark" discovered that this regular season MVP is really poisonous. Before getting it, the Heat were going smoothly without any problems and even had the best record in the league in the regular season.

But since winning the regular season MVP, they have started to stumble.

What Shaq didn't know was that starting from this season's regular season MVP, there would be a "curse" for the next ten years.

Anyone who wins the regular season MVP, especially players from the Eastern Conference, ultimately misses the championship.

It wasn't until the 11-12 season when LeBron James formed the "Heat Big Three" that the curse was broken.

And this is 14 years later.

In other words, no Eastern Conference regular season MVP won a championship in the 00s.

The power of this "spell" can be seen from this.

Shaquille O'Neal came to the edge of the cliff, and the "last stand" for the Supersonics officially began the next day.

The cheers at the Lakers' home court were deafening, especially when Barkley came on the court.

After the last game, Barkley's popularity in Los Angeles has reached a new level.

For the team's diehard fans, they don't look at your historical status, they only look at your contribution to the Lakers. Barkley's sacrifices for the Lakers are obvious to all. In the eyes of diehard fans, his popularity naturally goes up a level.

"Come on, if we win this game, we can at least have one more day to rest!" Chuck Daly didn't say anything inspiring, because the Lakers' fighting spirit was already burning to the point of exploding, and they really didn't need him to add fuel to the fire or anything.

The start of the game was just a little unexpected for the excited Lakers fans:
10-7…

It was the Supersonics who took the lead at the start!

In fact, the Lakers were in very good shape today, but the Supersonics got into the game faster.

Chuck Daly chose to call a timeout to adjust first.

However, this timeout did not work. The Sonics played more and more bravely and kept leading. Seeing this situation, Chuck Daly was not in a hurry. He was ready to leave the game to the Lakers.

He believed that the Lakers could win the game even though the SuperSonics played at their best.

In Chuck Daly's view, as long as the Lakers patiently play at their own pace, they will not lose to anyone.

His belief was not reflected by the Lakers players in a short time. The Supersonics still maintained their lead. Even before the end of the third quarter, the Supersonics widened the gap to 6 points.

Barkley's performance in this game was still very eye-catching and he was very aggressive in scoring points.

But the Sonics were able to respond to his scoring every time, which meant that the damage he caused was not as great as in the previous game.

As the game entered the fourth quarter, his role became smaller and smaller.

After all, on a stage like this, with the team trailing by 6 points, everyone's attention will be on the absolute core.

Meng Lang's next performance is the key to whether the Lakers can win.

George Karl's expression was very serious.

To be honest, he had to admit that this was their best performance since the Western Conference Finals. Almost everyone played to their best. That was also the reason why they couldn't win this game.

All I can say is that it was a complete defeat.

Because this is already their best state.

And it determines whether this game can be won...

Gary Payton looked at Mourning. They both knew that the fate of the Supersonics tonight would depend on them.

Just look at this. When Meng Lang completed a mid-range shot against Perkins on the wing and narrowed the gap to 4 points, Mourning quickly responded under the basket, and then Gary Payton took the initiative to stand in front of Meng Lang.

The Lakers showed their sharpest sword.

In this situation, as the only outside player to win the "Best Defensive Player Award" after Jordan, he must stand up and use his defense to defend the Supersonics' defense.

Defense is his most confident ability, so he is very confident.

Meng Lang watched him walk in front of him, with no intention of passing the ball. He signaled his teammates to move away and continue preparing for the singles game.

Bill Walton saw this and said, "I have always felt that if Dream is the best scoring player in the league, then Gary Payton is the best defensive player. Now the strongest spear and the hardest shield are facing each other!" (End of this chapter)