Kobe Goes God Mode

As the game progressed, the Knicks' offense became increasingly fluid.

They once led the Lakers by as many as 8 points, but with about three minutes left in the game, the Lakers launched a sharp counterattack. Yao Ming scored repeatedly under the basket and drew a foul from the substitute center who had just been substituted in.

Kobe also contributed a layup.

The Lakers went on an 8-2 run against the Knicks, and the Knicks ultimately led the Lakers 28-26.

In the TNT broadcast room.

"In the first quarter, Li Chen effectively limited Kobe's scoring ability, but the Knicks' defense against Yao Ming was less than satisfactory."

"Kenny, Wang is now more of an outside player. He weighs less than Yao when he lost weight, so it's normal that he can't handle Yao."

Kenny Smith nodded in agreement with Barkley's words, then added, "Odom has been playing very softly these past two years, completely different from before. He's at a disadvantage against Bynum."

"Oh! What a pity, I heard he's become quite soft since dating Khloe Kardashian," Barkley sneered.

Kenny Smith did not comment on the issue, but instead said, "Kobe's incredible fadeaway jumper on the final possession was unbelievable. You can imagine the Knicks might be in trouble in the second quarter."

"Hahaha! Good thing there's trouble!" Barkley said, feigning excitement.

Meanwhile, in the Knicks' rest area, Li Chen sighed inwardly. He knew Kobe was about to go berserk, and the Knicks were in trouble.

Thinking of this, he smiled slightly. "Fine, I'll defeat you at your peak and see what you have to say then."

"Hey! Chen, what are you grinning about?"

Li Chen glanced at Odom, "I'm thinking about how to get your brother out of this mess. I've decided to use 100 million to make Khloe Kardashian leave you."

Odom "..."

At the start of the second quarter, all of the Knicks' key players except Li Chen were substituted.

The Knicks' current lineup consists of Li Chen, Lowry, Louis Williams, Tucker, Paul Millsap.

For the Lakers, Kobe and Bynum remained on the court.

Li Chen, positioned beyond the three-point line, constantly sought offensive opportunities while simultaneously directing his teammates' movements.

At this point, he signaled to Paul Millsap to set a screen for him.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Chen successfully broke through Kobe's defenses.

He drove straight down the road and delivered a powerful one-handed slam dunk.

30 to 26.

In the next possession, Kobe received a pass from Bynum, used a screen to shake off Li Chen, and drove to the basket for a layup, successfully completing a 2+1 play in a two-on-one situation.

Swish! Kobe makes the free throw too.

30 to 29.

Immediately afterwards, Li Chen and Kobe faced off one-on-one.

The clash between the King of Los Angeles and the King of New York had Knicks fans roaring with excitement.

While dribbling the ball, Li Chen kept a close eye on Kobe's reactions and movements.

Kobe knows Li Chen too well; they now play one-on-one for a few days every offseason.

At this moment, Li Chen made his move, intending to get past Kobe in one step, but Kobe wouldn't let him have his way.

Seeing that Kobe wouldn't compromise, he sighed inwardly, thinking, "You brought this on yourself."

So Li Chen began to use behind-the-back dribbling, crossover dribbling, and quick changes in rhythm.

Kobe initially handled the situation with ease, but then, his legs suddenly gave way.

He knew something was wrong the moment he heard it, but Kobe only staggered slightly.

But who is Li Chen? He's one of the top players in the NBA right now, and he immediately Pull-up Jumper.

Her figure was as beautiful as a painting.

Swish! The basketball goes through the net cleanly.

Kobe's instinctive raised hand in defense became the biggest backdrop.

The cheers at Madison Square Garden frustrated Kobe; he really couldn't accept this result!

After Li Chen finished shooting, he patted Kobe on the shoulder and teased, "Little Kobe, your defense has regressed!"

Kobe forcefully slapped Li Chen's hand away, glared at him fiercely, and said, "Don't get cocky, I'll get my revenge next time."

Sure enough, Kobe is a man of his word; in the next possession, he scored against Li Chen with a pull-up jumper.

Thus, the entire second quarter became a one-on-one battle between Li Chen and Kobe.

At the end of the second quarter, the Knicks led 58-57, with the Lakers by one point.

In the third quarter, as the game progressed into the latter half, Li Chen, who was giving his all to defend Li Chen, was clearly outmatched in terms of Kobe, and his speed was noticeably slower than Li Chen's pace.

Phil Jackson, who had been closely monitoring the situation on the court, immediately noticed this and his heart sank.

Kobe was crucial in this game. Without him containing Li Chen, that Eastern Kid would have been unstoppable, and at that point, the Lakers would have had no hope.

No, Kobe needs to leave the court to rest and recover his strength, but Kobe leaves, who will defend Li Chen?

Yes, no one on the Lakers can stop Li Chen right now. If Li Chen takes this opportunity and goes on a crazy streak of three-pointers, then...

Phil Jackson instinctively pushed up his glasses, at that moment having the same thought as Popovich: to cancel that damn three-pointer.

No, we need to find a safer way. Phil Jackson, true to his championship coaching reputation, quickly came up with a good idea.

So he first called a timeout, then substituted Kobe off the court to rest, and instructed the players to run down the clock.

When the timeout ended, Alvin Gentry's eyes narrowed slightly; he seemed to have thwarted Phil Jackson's plan, and so...

He also called a timeout and began to plan the next tactics.

Li Chen was speechless. He felt like his coach was a mole within the Lakers. Kobe needed rest the most right now, and his coach, like a caring uncle, immediately offered his timeout so Kobe could rest. He was speechless.

But Alvin Gentry clearly hadn't noticed this; he was now giving the players a detailed explanation of the Knicks' upcoming tactical plans.

After the timeout ended, the Knicks kept making steals, forcing the Lakers to launch fast breaks, otherwise losing the ball would be a huge loss.

On the other side, Phil Jackson, who had just been mocking Alvin Gentry for his incredible assist, frowned again.

He was somewhat surprised that Alvin Gentry could see through his intentions at a glance.

It seems the only option is to use a timeout tactic to give Kobe a rest.

Several timeouts helped Kobe recover a lot, but his stamina was clearly no match for Li Chen's.

At the end of the third quarter, the Knicks led the Lakers 80-75 by 5 points.

Kobe struggled at the start of the fourth quarter, missing several shots in a row, while Li Chen was slightly better than Kobe, making one of three shots.

Seeing that Li Chen's shooting wasn't going well either, Kobe felt relieved, and so he happily missed another shot.

But Li Chen wasn't going to play along with Kobe; he chose to pass the ball.

Odom and Wang Zhizhi made consecutive shots, giving the Knicks a one-point lead.

Kobe never expected Li Chen to be so unsportsmanlike as to pass the ball. The Little Blacksmith was furious!

Kobe then began to pass the ball, and Yao Ming was really effective under the basket in the fourth quarter, scoring frequently, which made the Knicks' lead less secure.

As a result, Li Chen frequently mismatched Yao Ming in defense, which significantly reduced his offensive efficiency.

This scene left Phil Jackson speechless, and Yao Ming speechless as well; they had no idea what was going on.

Just moments ago, Yao Ming was brimming with confidence, but suddenly he had a feeling that the shot wouldn't go in. He even lacked confidence in himself, so the chances of making the shot were extremely slim.

The Lakers then went on a three-minute scoring drought, but just then, Kobe stepped up again.

Two consecutive three-pointers narrowed the score to 95-90.

However, there were only two minutes left in the game, and the Knicks still had possession of the ball.

Li Chen's layup drew a foul from Byron, triggering a "Miracle Shot" and resulting in a 2+1 play for Li Chen.

Li Chen went to the free throw line, and swish! The free throw went in smoothly.

98 to 90.

The Lakers were on offense. Fisher lobbed the ball to Yao Ming under the basket, but Wang Zhizhi intercepted it and sent it out of bounds.

The Lakers' baseline play.

Fisher passed the ball to Kobe outside the three-point line. Kobe started his run from beyond the three-point line, and like an arrow, he broke through the paint, pulled away from Odom's block, and scored.

98 to 96.

After the offensive and defensive transition, Li Chen dribbled the ball across the frontcourt and began a stalling tactic.

Kobe's desperate attempt to steal the ball back was exploited by Li Chen, who successfully broke through Kobe's defense and drove to the basket, drawing four fouls from Yao Ming.

This time, the [Miracle Shot] skill did not trigger, and Li Chen got two free throw opportunities.

Swish! Li Chen made both free throws.

100 to 92.

There are 100 seconds left.

The Lakers were on offense. Kobe pulled up for a jump shot, but missed. Yao Ming then dunked the ball in the basket.

100 to 94.

There are 90 seconds left.

Next, Li Chen received a pass from Kidd and tried to stall for time.

However, Kobe's defense was very aggressive, so Li Chen gave up the idea of continuing to stall for time. He tried to fake out Kobe with a fake move, but Kobe it and passed the ball to Richardson was cutting inside to the basket.

However, his shot was interfered with by Yao Ming, and the basketball bounced off the rim. Wang Zhizhi then passed the ball to Odom in mid-air.

Odom tried to shake off Yao Ming, who was helping to defend, but failed the first time. Odom then took a jump shot.

Yao Ming reacted quickly, delivering a powerful block to Odom, sending the basketball flying out of bounds.

At this moment, Li Chen slapped the sullen Odom on the butt and said, "Lamar, that was a beautiful shot."

Odom's lips twitched, and he asked indignantly, "Hey, hey, hey! Are you mocking me?"

Li Chen punched Odom and said, "You idiot, didn't you notice we have eighteen or nineteen more seconds of attack time?"

Upon hearing this, Odom suddenly realized, "Oh, it really is!"

The sullen look on Odom's face disappeared.

The Knicks inbound the ball, Kidd passes it to Li Chen.

After receiving the ball, Li Chen kept entangled with Kobe, thus wasting the offensive time.

Fisher knew time was of the essence, so he came over to double-team Li Chen.

Li Chen's eyes lit up; he knew his chance had come.

He first passed the ball to Kidd, then skillfully dribbled past Kobe.

Kidd immediately understood and passed the ball back to Li Chen.

At this moment, Yao Ming came out from under the basket to help defend.

Li Chen stopped abruptly and assumed a shooting stance.

Yao Ming had no doubts because Li Chen frequently pulled Pull-up Jumper and was very accurate.

However, he was wrong this time. Li Chen passed the ball to Wang Zhizhi.

Swish! Wang Zhizhi easily put the basketball into the basket.

102 to 94.

With 65 seconds remaining and the score still at eight points, time was running out for the Lakers.

Phil Jackson was aware of the Lakers' current predicament, so he immediately called a timeout and substituted in a reserve player.

Phil Jackson knew that an eight-point deficit was too large, Lakers had almost no hope of turning the tide because Li Chen was too steady, especially at such a crucial moment.

However, having known Kobe for so many years, he understood Kobe's personality, so this fouling tactic was entirely for Kobe.

Li Chen also knew that Phil Jackson might resort to fouling tactics.

As his thoughts wandered, a slight smile appeared on Li Chen's lips; he had come up with a perfect plan.

A short while later, the timeout ended, and the Lakers launched their attack.

At the Kobe the arc, facing Li Chen's defense, he hit a three-pointer.

At this moment, Li Chen's [Iron Wall and Bronze Barrier] skill seemed to have failed.

The score is 102 to 95, with a seven-point gap between the two teams.

There are 60 seconds left.

In the next possession, Kidd knew that Li Chen was the most accurate free throw shooter, so he had to pass the ball to Li Chen.

The Lakers' bench player fouled Li Chen as soon as he received the ball.

But at the same moment he committed the foul, Li Chen also threw the ball.

With a loud thud, the basketball slammed against the backboard, and the referee's whistle blew.

The referee was speechless; he never expected Li Chen to pull this stunt again.

However, the league has introduced a rule that only two free throws will be awarded for shooting fouls in the second half.

Actually, this rule was originally created to target players like Li Chen who would try to draw fouls for three-pointers and free throws.

Li Chen knew this, of course, but his goal wasn't to draw a three-pointer or free throws, but rather...

On the other side, Phil Jackson in the Lakers' rest area twitched; he immediately understood Li Chen's thoughts.

If he does this every time he's fouled, he might actually manage to sink a three-pointer. And if he does make it, then... the Lakers are completely finished.

Yes, Li Chen really has a chance of making the shot, because as long as the basketball hits within the rim area, there's a very high probability of it going in; after all, the [Miracle Shot] is too overpowered.

At that moment, Phil Jackson had a flash of inspiration: if they could exploit Li Chen's shooting ability...

Just as he thought of this, he shook his head and dismissed the idea. Li Chen was a cunning kid; it would be too difficult to fool him.

A moment later, Li Chen to the free-throw line and made both free throws.

Kobe drove to the three-point line, pulled up for a jump shot, and made it again.

Knicks fans' lips twitched. They silently calculated that if Kobe kept hitting three-pointers, the Knicks might actually lose this game and be dragged into a Game 7 final by the Lakers.

Thinking of this, they panicked a little, and a deafening chorus of boos erupted over Madison Square Garden.

102 to 98.

There are 50 seconds left in the game.

Kobe then hit three more three-pointers in a row.

108-107, they tied the score on their next attack.

With just ten seconds left on the clock, they secured a game-winning shot against the Knicks.

At this moment, Knicks fans were going crazy. This was unbelievable! They were being driven mad by Kobe.

Li Chen remained in the same spot to receive the ball; he had used too much force the previous times, so he was holding back this time.

As the referee blew the whistle, Li Chen threw the basketball out again.

Thud! The basketball slammed hard against the backboard, then hit the rim, and bounced off it repeatedly.

Finally, reluctantly, it fell into the Nets.

Li Chen's 3+1 play effectively sealed the victory.