A dull, heart-stopping thud!
The basketball, like an apple swallowed whole by a giant python, was firmly, brutally pinned in midair by Li Fei's enormous hand!
A snatch block!
A solid, utterly humiliating snatch block!
Time seemed to freeze completely at that instant.
The roars of twenty thousand people at Staples Center came to an abrupt halt as everyone stared wide-eyed at this miraculous sight.
Kobe lost his balance in midair and crashed heavily onto the hardwood. He lay there staring upward, his eyes filled with stunned disbelief and confusion.
Li Fei, meanwhile, landed slowly like a god descending to earth, still gripping in his right hand the basketball that should have decided the game.
He lowered his head and looked down at Kobe on the floor, his gaze calm yet carrying an unquestionable authority.
"Beep—!"
The referee's whistle finally sounded, signaling a jump ball.
But Van Gundy had already rushed to the scorer's table and called timeout with all his might!
The red clock froze at 1.2 seconds!
Because it was a snatch block, possession had not changed hands, and the clock did not stop until Li Fei landed!
The Knicks still had their final 1.2 seconds of offense! They would have a chance to hit the game-winner!
The entire Staples Center fell into a suffocating silence.
Twenty thousand Lakers fans seemed to have been collectively struck by a silencing spell, their faces frozen in a complicated mix of shock, disbelief, and fear.
Throats that had been ready to cheer for Kobe's lethal shot now seemed clutched tight by invisible hands, unable to make the slightest sound. The only things left in the air were ragged breaths and hearts pounding like drums.
1.2 seconds!
That number hung over every person in Los Angeles like a Sword of Damocles.
They