The Lakers Bared Their Fangs—The New Season's OK Duo Was Too Strong! The media storm in Chicago was still brewing.
The Knicks' twin kings' unstoppable dominance still occupied every sports headline across the United States.
Everyone was talking about the New York Dynasty's inevitability.
No one was willing to spare the Los Angeles Lakers a second glance.
Yet beneath the lights that burned through the night at Staples Center, the seeds of a counterattack had long been planted.
After a night of intense extra practice, the entire Lakers team had no time to rest.
The following evening, Los Angeles welcomed the team's regular-season opener.
The Lakers faced the Seattle SuperSonics at home.
This SuperSonics team was far from some bottom-feeding tanking squad.
They had two All-Star cornerstones in Gary Payton and Vin Baker.
Payton, the defensive lock on the perimeter, was known as The Glove and had shut down countless elite shooting guards in the league.
Vin Baker was balanced on both ends of the floor and stood as one of the league's top interior anchors.
On the wings, they also had two promising young talents in Lewis and Radmanovic.
Last season, the SuperSonics had firmly held a spot in the top six of the Western Conference, boasting a complete and mature system on both offense and defense.
Before the game, the media unanimously predicted a tightly contested tug-of-war.
The SuperSonics had more than enough strength to cause the Lakers major trouble on their home floor.
At the pregame press conference, a reporter deliberately brought up the Knicks' season opener to Kobe.
The reporter bluntly stated that the Knicks now had the league's greatest buzz, while the Lakers had been left behind by the times.
Kobe faced the cameras with an indifferent expression and offered no unnecessary response.
He merely