Neither Riley nor the Divine Calculator called a timeout before the official timeout. At this point, calling a timeout first would give their players the feeling that their team needed an adjustment, which would somewhat impact their mindset.
Pat Riley didn't need to call one; this was their rhythm, and he was steady.
Del Harris didn't call because there was no good solution on the offensive end. If he needed to substitute players, he would have done so when a foul occurred earlier.
Who would have thought it was the Heat who got hit with a 2+1 going into the official timeout? This was genuinely uplifting for the Lakers.
Originally, Del Harris thought of letting Zhang Hao and O'Neal go all out, dealing with whatever came their way, leaving it to fate. But Zhang Hao's recent play made him reconsider...
...
After the timeout, the Lakers deployed a lineup of James Robinson, Wilkins, the Magician, Barkley, and Zhang Hao.
