The Lakers' new target: Phil Jackson!

The final buzzer's shrill blast was like an invisible needle, viciously piercing the nerves of every Lakers player and fan inside the Alamodome.

The noise and jubilation instantly belonged to the silver-and-black home team. All that remained for the Lakers was dead silence and endless disappointment.

Shaquille O'Neal's massive frame stood frozen in place. His head hung low as he stared at his enormous sneakers, as though he wanted to bore a hole through the floor.

Sweat dripped from his chin and splattered across the floor. To him, this was more than a defeat. It felt like the collapse of everything he believed in.

He felt as though the sky had fallen. The NBA Finals stage that had been within his grasp, the chance to face Li Fei again and settle who was better—all of it had vanished.

He had given everything he had, only to discover that he was like a mighty beast trapped in a mire, brimming with strength yet unable to break free of fate's shackles.

Nearby, Kobe Bryant stood with his hands on his hips, his chest heaving as he gulped down the oppressive Texas air, trying to calm the heart that threatened to leap out of his chest.

His eyes were hollow and bewildered, fixed on the glaring "98" on the scoreboard. He could not accept what lay before him.

The miraculous buzzer-beater in Game 6, the burning determination that had dragged the series into Game 7—those vows still echoed in his ears as though he had made them only yesterday.

He had thought he was the chosen one, the hero who could defy fate. Instead, reality had dealt him its coldest blow. As it turned out, the journey from heaven to hell took only forty-eight minutes.

Robert Horry slumped on the bench with