Buck Williams, a former multi-time All-Defensive Team player, and Charles Oakley, this season's hot candidate at forward for the All-Defensive Team, their double-team could be called perfect—experienced, rough as hell… but O'Neal still finished the bucket!
On the New York Knicks side, the first thing that flashed through their minds was Zhang Hao repeatedly fouling O'Neal in last year's All-Star Game, but this time O'Neal scored on a hanging layup with a man on his hip, then walked to the free throw line—and the and-one actually went in!
The thought of using Hack-a-Shack had just popped up and was immediately strangled in the cradle…
20–18, the Lakers are up by two!
O'Neal's fearless play didn't instantly blow the game open for the Lakers; instead, over the next few minutes, the score between the Lakers and the Knicks stayed deadlocked.
O'Neal can't attack like that every single possession either—he can't keep the efficiency up, and it would affect the later stages of the game.
