Sabonis remained on the court, the gauze at the corner of his mouth especially conspicuous. His eyes were still fierce, and he showed no sign of backing down because of his injury.
Li Fei stood beside him, tall and upright. At 2.24 meters, combined with his Titanium Alloy Physique, he was like an insurmountable mountain.
The other Knicks players were equally fired up, their fighting spirit blazing. Sabonis's blood-soaked battle had completely ignited their will to fight.
By the rules, when Sabonis had dived to save the ball just now, the basketball had ultimately gone out of bounds, so possession belonged to the Lakers.
After the timeout, the Lakers launched the first attack. Without any hesitation, they immediately went to their trump card—the OK Duo pick-and-roll.
O'Neal stepped up high to set a screen for Kobe, firmly blocking Sprewell and creating room for Kobe to drive.
Kobe's eyes sharpened as he seized the opportunity, driving quickly with the ball. He slipped agilely through the screen and charged toward the basket.
After his diving save, Sabonis's body felt somewhat heavy. He was half a beat slow and failed to rotate over in time.
Kobe drove all the way to the rim and leaped up for the layup. The basketball was just about to drop through the hoop.
At that critical instant, a towering figure rotated over from the baseline like Lightning.
It was Li Fei! He abandoned his own man and charged over without hesitation, extending his terrifying 2.45-meter arms to swat viciously at the basketball in Kobe's hands.
"Slap—" A crisp, forceful sound rang out.
Li Fei caught the basketball squarely, sending it flying hard into the backboard before it bounced out of bounds.
A thunderous block brutally snuffed out the Lakers' possession!
Madison Square Garden instantly erupted. The deafening