You're Not Actually Letting Kobe Win, Are You? Vampire Capitalist Li Fei?

A day later, San Antonio, Alamodome.

Game 6 of the Western Conference Finals. Down 2-3 in the series, the Los Angeles Lakers were already standing at the edge of a cliff.

The game had been explosive from the opening tip. Every rebound battle resembled a football collision, and every drive came with the sound of muscles grinding and heavy breathing.

San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich stubbornly stuck to his defensive strategy: leave the perimeter open and double-team Shaquille O'Neal in the low post at all costs. He did not care whether O'Neal passed out for an assist or turned the ball over on a kick-out. His playbook seemed to contain only one line: never let that Shark run wild one-on-one in the paint.

That almost obsessive defense made O'Neal extraordinarily frustrated, but it also created opportunities for the Lakers' other players.

The game remained fiercely contested, with neither side able to pull away.

The Spurs' Twin Towers—Tim Duncan, as steady as a mountain, and the battle-tested "The Admiral," David Robinson—took turns wrestling O'Neal in the paint.

For the Lakers, aside from O'Neal's brute-force attacks, the young Kobe Bryant repeatedly tore through the Spurs' defense with his graceful, agile jump shots.

In the closing moments of the fourth quarter, the score was tied at 98. Kobe took the final shot. With Bruce Bowen draped tightly over him, he went for a difficult fadeaway jumper.

"Clang!"

The basketball bounced off the rim, sending both teams into a brutal overtime.

The five minutes of overtime became a stage for two future superstars to face off. Duncan kept the Spurs alive with his precise bank shots and steady free throws.

But tonight, God seemed to favor the purple-and-gold No. 8.

Kobe Bryant took over the game.

First, he drove hard through the