The most crucial thing was that Phil Jackson's strategy worked.
His approach of not allowing Paul Pierce to get into the rhythm of the game was successful, as Pierce's offense was not as magical as the last game. More often, the offensive pressure was on Roger.
Moreover, Pierce also found himself in trouble with fouls today.
Because his outside shooting was not very good, Pierce increased the frequency of his drives.
But Robert Horry craftily drew two offensive fouls on Pierce.
He always managed to appear exactly in Pierce's driving lane and exaggeratedly fell backward when hit by Pierce.
After all, Pierce was just a sophomore rookie; he lacked sufficient experience in this regard.
By the end of the half, Pierce had already committed three fouls.
The Lakers went into halftime leading by 5 points, with a 54-49 score.
