Returning Home to Be Crowned Two Teams Engage in Fierce Verbal Battle!

Elsewhere, O'Neal also showed rare seriousness during an interview.

The reporter asked, "Shaq, if you lose tonight, the Knicks will lift the trophy at Staples Center... sorry, at Forum Arena. What do you think about that?"

O'Neal's expression instantly turned fierce. Staring into the camera, he said word by word, "I'll only say this once. As long as I'm still standing on this court, I will never allow anyone to throw a party on my turf! They want the trophy? Fine—go back to New York and get it!"

The horn of battle had sounded.

Beneath the arena dome, seventeen thousand Lakers fans created a deafening roar like crashing mountains and tsunami waves.

Deep inside the players' tunnel, staff members had already carefully prepared the gleaming Larry O'Brien Trophy and the FMVP trophy.

The stage had been set, and every prop for the coronation ceremony was ready.

Everyone believed that tonight would be the night the New York Knicks returned to the top of the league after twenty-five years.

Li Fei stood at the exit of the players' tunnel, listening to the thunderous boos outside and the provocatively charged music from the home DJ. His face remained expressionless as he calmly adjusted his arm sleeve.

He knew that a desperate fight was about to begin.

Yet the course of the game exceeded everyone's expectations, including Li Fei's own.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Forum Arena scoreboard glaringly displayed a score of 108:92.

The home team was ahead, the visitors behind.

The Knicks had lost.

And they had lost without putting up any fight.

Throughout the game, the entire Knicks team had looked like plants wilted by the Los Angeles sun, stripped of their usual vitality and sharpness.

Allan Houston and John Starks, their outside shooters once as precise as scalpels,