As a Kobe hater, he was actually teammates with Kobe!

"Hey, man, here I come! Here I come! Here I come!" In the next defensive round, Zhou Ze took the initiative to request to switch defense with Chris Mihm.

Francis asked Howard to go forward for a pick-and-roll, but the latter refused and started to fight for position.

Howard, whose shoulder width reaches 73cm, is half a size larger than Zhou Ze, whose shoulder width is 66cm.

Magic fans are full of confidence in their No. 1 pick.

"Dwight, kill this wimp!"

"Dwight, crush him!"

"Dwight, dunk on him!"

It was just a brief and intense struggle for position, which did not allow Howard to move to a deeper position.

Zhou Ze, who was behind him, pushed him out of the paint area with a look of disappointment in his eyes.

In an instant, the Magic fans fell silent.

Seeing that Howard hadn't gotten into position for a long time, Francis chose to break through on his own. He used the explosive power of his first step to wipe out half a body length of Death God Parker and then went to the basket.

Odom's timely assist forced Francis to take a difficult shot. After the shot was missed, Lakers center Mim protected the rebound and the Lakers launched a fast break.

"Dwight, you are good for nothing except catching rebounds under the basket." Zhou Ze, who did not let Howard reach his comfort zone, immediately participated in the team's fast break after talking trash.

Howard's slender calves prevent him from beating Zhou Ze with his back to the basket, but his explosiveness and speed are truly exaggerated.

Zhou Ze found it difficult to shake off Howard, so he simply ran to the bottom corner to provide sufficient space under the basket for the players following up. After Odom received the pass from Death God Parker, he pushed aside Grant Hill and went straight to the basket.

Howard, who was pulled away by Zhou Ze to the left corner, quickly came to provide backup defense, but just when Howard was about to block Odom, the latter passed the ball to Zhou Ze in the corner in the air, and with a "swish", he made a three-pointer.

17 is better than 15!

The Lakers overtook by 2 points.

Howard, who was defended by Zhou Ze, was somewhat unwilling to give up, and continued to ask for the ball in the low post in the next round.

Although the position was too far outside, Howard insisted on taking it, and Francis had no choice but to pass it.

But after Howard received the ball, he couldn't push Zhou Ze at all. His left and right movements with his back to the basket were also seen through by Zhou Ze, who was like a moving city wall, blocking Howard in advance.

Seeing that the 5 seconds for back-to-the-basket play were almost up, Howard, who still hadn't taken a single step towards the basket, forced himself to half-turn, hoping to use his shoulder to push Zhou Ze away and gain better shooting space.

With a "click", Zhou Ze stole the ball while Howard was halfway through his turn.

"Dwight, it's impossible for you to score a single point in front of me in the next period of time." Zhou Ze said in a very pretentious manner after completing the cut.

Howard kept a straight face and said nothing.

But in the next two rounds, he worked even harder to play singles against Zhou Ze.

Howard paid the price of sweating profusely, but missed one shot and had the ball blocked out of bounds by Zhou Ze's cut.

Zhou Zefang’s defense wasn’t particularly easy, it could only be said to be relatively simple.

Zhou Ze's strength was originally 121, and with the buff of [Penal Area Defense Master], it reached a terrifying 126.

For Howard, who only relies on brute force, Zhou Ze does not need to worry about his hook shot or his backward turn. Moreover, his offensive intention is very obvious and his footwork is rough. Zhou Ze can easily keep up with him.

After all, Howard hasn't developed his hook shot yet.

...

...

In the first half, Howard played against Zhou Ze 9 times in total, but only 5 of them were successful in shooting. 2 of them were directly stolen, and 2 of them were blocked by Zhou Ze's cut and out of bounds. In short, it was an unsuccessful steal.

Of these five shots, Howard missed four and was called by the Magic's home whistle once.

The result was that both free throws were missed.

In the matchup with Zhou Ze, Howard did not score a single point. Of course, Howard still scored 4 points in the fast break.

Howard's post-up singles can no longer be described as inefficient, it is simply zero efficiency, which has seriously hurt the team.

Even though Francis and Grant Hill were in good shape tonight, they combined to score 30 points in the first half.

But the Magic still trailed the Lakers by 13 points.

60 is better than 47!

...

...

After the game entered the second half, Howard faced Zhou Ze again in a half-transition of the Lakers.

Howard stood in front of Zhou Ze, blocking his way.

Zhou Ze tried to use an induced counter-run to get rid of the Warcraft, but Howard's footsteps were indeed fast and Zhou Ze did not succeed.

Zhou Ze quickly retreated from outside the three-point line. At the same time, Howard called on Tony Battie who was returning to defend against Zhou Ze. He was going to the inside to make up for the defense and rushed to Kobe under the basket with the ball.

The moment Kobe reached the free throw line, Howard showed his defensive flexibility and immediately completed the assist defense for Kobe. However, Zhou Ze on the other side used his speed to wipe out Tony Battie and rushed to the basket. Kobe made a ground pass, but Howard failed to intercept it and turned around to chase back and defend Zhou Ze who had just jumped.

"drop!"

The referee whistle sounded!

Howard committed a defensive foul.

This shot fully demonstrated Howard's defensive flexibility and mobility. At the same time, it also indirectly reflected that Zhou Ze's arm span was still a little lacking, otherwise, this attack might have been an and-one.

"He doesn't have a basket either, get ready to grab the rebound!" During the free throw round in the first half, Howard, who was disgusted by Zhou Ze's similar method, actually learned the "Turning Stars" trick.

"Wow, blue-collar wimp, you've even learned to answer questions quickly." Zhou Ze's free throw shooting is indeed poor, with a hit rate of less than 60%, which is about the same as Howard's.

But Zhou Ze is a gentleman on the basketball court, and a "love ambassador" in the hearts of many media...

After missing the first free throw, Zhou Ze smiled and said to Howard, "Brother, seeing how miserable you are tonight, I'm going to give this shot to you. You know, I love giving warmth to weaklings the most."

After making the second free throw, Zhou Ze said to Howard, "See? I'm a textbook example of a good free throw shooter!"