There are two players who started confronting each other even before the game began—Zhang Hao and Rodman!
Before the game started, they were already positioning against each other. Pippen felt fortunate that the Zen Master assigned Rodman to defend Zhang Hao. Watching those two guys elbowing together...
The Christmas battles from the previous two live broadcasts have ended. Time Warner Cable Sports, TNT, American Cable TV Station, and Fox Sports have all switched their live coverage to the Bulls vs. Lakers game.
At 7 PM, the referee blew the whistle right on time to start the game, tossing the ball into the air. O'Neal quickly leapt up and easily won the tip-off, with the Lakers taking the first offensive!
As soon as O'Neal touched the ball, Zhang Hao immediately used his elbow to try and push Rodman away. But Rodman's lower body strength was incredibly powerful, like he was rooted to the floor, and Zhang Hao couldn't move him, getting stuck against Rodman instead!
