Taking the Point

At the opening tip, the young Shaquille O'Neal displayed astonishing leaping ability and easily won the jump ball.

Van Exel brought the ball across half court and started showing off his dribbling moves at the top of the arc.

Kobe stood on the wing with his hands up, asking for the ball. Van Exel glanced at Kobe but did not pass to him, instead sending it to Ceballos. Standing in front of Ceballos was the league's heavily promoted superstar prospect, Grant Hill.

Ceballos had been holding in his frustration. Ever since O'Neal arrived, the team's entire offense had revolved around him. That made Ceballos, last year's offensive focal point, feel extremely uncomfortable on the court.

It was not that Ceballos refused to accept O'Neal. He greatly respected the star center's abilities. The problem was that their offensive areas overlapped heavily. With little perimeter shooting ability, Ceballos mainly scored through post-ups and cuts.

Once O'Neal occupied the space under the basket, Ceballos's performance was severely disrupted. Mentally unbalanced and out of form, his numbers over the past few games had been terrible. After averaging 20+8 last year, he was averaging only 10+5 in these preseason games.

Ceballos's unwillingness to accept it turned into mindless recklessness as he tried to force his way past Grant Hill. After backing him down twice and finding Hill unmoved, he turned for a jumper that clanged off the rim.

"Damn it, Ceballos is complete trash." Harris was furious. He had repeatedly emphasized that the team's tactics were to revolve around O'Neal, yet Ceballos was completely ignoring him.

He had originally put Kobe in for Eddie Jones because he still held out hope for last year's key player, but Ceballos's performance was undoubtedly a slap in his face.

O'Neal was unhappy as well. The unspoken rule in the NBA was that the first possession went to the team's top player. Yet Van Exel and Ceballos had repeatedly stolen that first offensive opportunity.

The Pistons had a very clear game plan. After Lindsey Hunter brought the ball across half court, he handed it to Grant Hill to organize the offense.

Facing Ceballos's bulky body, Grant Hill blew past him with a single stride. Then, in the face of Campbell's help defense, he calmly knocked down a mid-range shot.

So fast. Kobe secretly marveled. A player with that kind of speed and ball-handling ability at that height reminded him of his friend McGrady.

O'Neal inbounded from the baseline and passed to Kobe. He did not pass to Van Exel, because the team's performance on both ends had made him somewhat angry.

This was the first time Kobe and O'Neal had shared the court in an official game in this life. With Dumars not seriously pressuring him, Kobe calmly passed the ball to O'Neal, who had established position in the low post.

Kobe understood Shaq's personality best. He knew that if they did not give the big guy the ball soon, O'Neal was truly going to lose his temper.

O'Neal caught the ball comfortably. Both the receiving spot and the force of the pass felt perfect to him. He powered backward with a hard bump, and Theo Ratliff could not withstand O'Neal's strength at all, stumbling back again and again.

Bang! Shaquille O'Neal hammered the ball through the hoop with one hand, making the rim groan. O'Neal broke into his signature dominant stride beneath the basket.

Harris's eyes lit up. The connection between O'Neal and Kobe was exceptionally smooth.

The Pistons focused on Hill, and Kobe had no great solution. Simply keeping up with Dumars's off-ball movement had already cost him a considerable amount of energy. If he abandoned Dumars to help defend, the team's defense would be riddled with holes.

After going 0-for-3, Ceballos was substituted out. Once on the bench, he covered his head with a towel. He had finally realized that this Lakers team no longer belonged to him.

Eddie Jones, who came in off the bench, managed to contain Grant Hill somewhat. At the very least, his solid defense would not allow Hill to carve them apart.

O'Neal was outstanding in this quarter, but Thorpe soon began double-teaming him. The veteran Thorpe had been Olajuwon's frontcourt partner on the Mosaic Team that swept the Magic in the Finals.

He had plenty of experience defending O'Neal, and his double-team timing was excellent. O'Neal did not force the issue, since it was only a preseason game. He passed the ball to his teammates.

Facing the crafty Dumars, Kobe did not find many good individual scoring opportunities. Even when he got open through off-ball movement, he could not receive the pass immediately. Meanwhile, Van Exel monopolized the opportunities to attack with the ball.

Once the starters came off, Harris arranged for Kobe to play the entire first quarter. After Kobe took the floor with the Lakers' reserves, he swung the momentum back again. Their aggressive full-court press left the Pistons' bench unit struggling to cope.

Kobe scored repeatedly in transition. As the second unit's defensive chemistry improved, their pressure became increasingly intense. They created more and more opportunities for defensive fast breaks, and Kobe even felt that the group of rookie reserves he led could make the playoffs.

At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers led the Pistons 25:22, holding a slim three-point advantage.

Kobe, who had played the entire quarter, sat down to rest in the second. Harris did not intend to bring Ceballos back in, instead experimentally sending Bowen onto the floor to guard Grant Hill.

The results were remarkable! Under Bowen's tight defense, Grant Hill could no longer find easy scoring opportunities. Bowen stuck to Grant Hill like glue, and even when Hill scored, the relentless defense forced him to expend a tremendous amount of energy.

With the Pistons in trouble, Dumars stepped up and scored repeatedly, preventing the gap from widening.

Harris quickly put Kobe back in, this time taking Van Exel out. The Lakers' perimeter defensive lineup became Kobe at PG, Eddie Jones at SG, and Bruce Bowen at SF.

Their defensive pressure instantly rose to another level. The Pistons could only score with difficulty through Grant Hill's individual isolations.

With the ball in his hands, Kobe began running pick-and-rolls with O'Neal and Campbell.

The Kobe-O'Neal pick-and-roll was far too devastating.

Kobe first assisted O'Neal on a roll to the basket, then used O'Neal's screen to knock down an open three-pointer. The score gap widened in an instant.

At halftime, the Lakers led the Pistons 61:52. The margin was not large, but the Pistons clearly had no answer for the Lakers' offense. The dominance of the Kobe-O'Neal pairing was simply extraordinary. At least, this Pistons team could not stop them.

After the sides switched ends, Harris removed Van Exel and Ceballos from the starting lineup. He directly replaced them with Kobe, Eddie Jones, and Bowen. Kobe and Bowen proved through their play that they were the players best suited to start for the Lakers.

Kobe took on the role of point guard in the second half. Harris loved the Kobe-O'Neal pick-and-roll, so he simply had Kobe play point guard and organize the team's offense himself.

The 1.85-meter Lindsey Hunter saw that Kobe was his matchup and hurried forward for a steal. Kobe protected the ball with his left hand, evaded the steal, and charged straight toward the basket! Thorpe stepped up to help, and Kobe fired a behind-the-back pass. The ball arced through the crowd into the hands of the unguarded Campbell, who slammed it home.

Campbell gave Kobe a thumbs-up. "Great pass, kid." It had been very difficult to get passes that open while playing for the Lakers before. And who did not enjoy throwing down a dunk?

After the halftime adjustment, Grant Hill stopped tangling with Bowen and called Thorpe over to run a pick-and-roll.

The experienced Thorpe reached out and grabbed Bowen's jersey, and Grant Hill used the opening to drive to the basket for a thunderous dunk.

The Lakers had no good answer for the Grant Hill-Thorpe pick-and-roll either. They still struggled somewhat when facing superstar perimeter players.

In the end, with both sides playing efficiently in the second half, the Lakers narrowly defeated the Pistons 95:91 thanks to their bench advantage.

Kobe, who started and played point guard in the second half, finished with 21 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, and 2 steals.

O'Neal, who had held back somewhat, also performed excellently under Kobe's organization, posting 23 points and 9 rebounds.

Yet the brightest star on the court was neither of them. Though defeated, Grant Hill still produced an incredible line of 31 points, 11 rebounds, and 8 assists despite the Lakers' suffocating defense.