Difficult Back-to-Back

Charlotte was the largest city in North Carolina and the seventeenth-largest in the United States. Modern-day Charlotte was a highly developed commercial and industrial city, an important American hub for finance, trade, and transportation, as well as the fastest-growing economic center in the southeastern United States. Twelve American banks, including five of the country's largest, operated banking and financial businesses in Charlotte.

The Charlotte Hornets had been founded in 1988. The NBA had placed a team there in hopes of claiming a share of the NCAA's heartland. North Carolina had countless fans who loved college basketball, and Stern believed there was a vast pool of potential fans to develop there.

But the Charlotte Hornets' market was not particularly strong. NCAA fans simply were not interested in the NBA, a commercial league.

Although Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entering the NBA, followed by Michael Jordan, had brought large numbers of NCAA fans into the league, the influence of a few players alone was not enough. Especially since the Charlotte Hornets had always lacked a true superstar.

The Hornets had successively produced All-Star-caliber players such as Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Muggsy Bogues, and Glen Rice. Yet the team's results and market response had not been particularly impressive.

That summer, they had traded for the Lakers' core player from the previous season, Divac. The prior offseason, they had sent Mourning to the Heat in exchange for Glen Rice. This season, the Charlotte Hornets were fired up and ready to accomplish something big.

After finishing their game against the Knicks, the Lakers did not rest and boarded a flight to Charlotte.

That was the NBA—packed schedules and games in different venues. Players expended enormous amounts of energy during travel and competition. Back-to-back road games without any rest in between were especially grueling.

The Lakers slept for a while on the flight, but the deafening noise, the turbulence when they hit air currents, and the airport instructions while boarding and disembarking all left them poorly rested.

The Hornets, on the other hand, had already rested at home for two days after their previous game. They were fresh and waiting for their weary opponents. Kobe knew a hard battle was unavoidable today.

The Hornets were coached by Dave Cowens. This legendary Boston center had served as the Celtics' player-coach during the 1978-79 season. He had spent the previous few years as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs, and this season, the Charlotte Hornets had brought him in as their head coach.

Before this, the Charlotte Hornets had posted a 1-1 record, while the Lakers were undefeated at 3-0.

The Charlotte Hornets' starting lineup was PG Muggsy Bogues, SG Tony Smith, SF Glen Rice, PF Anthony Mason, and C Divac. It was a solid lineup, fully capable of achieving excellent results.

It was worth mentioning that their starting point guard was Muggsy Bogues, who stood only 1.6 meters tall. Bogues had been selected by the Washington Bullets with the twelfth pick in 1987, and he was the shortest player in NBA history. In an era where height reigned supreme, it was astonishing that a player like him could survive in the NBA and remain a starter. Kobe knew that Bogues possessed incredible willpower and skill. It was said that his vertical leap reached 110 centimeters.

If his height had not limited him, it was hard to imagine just how high he could have risen.

During his rookie years, he had been teammates with the 2.31-meter Manute Bol. At the time, they were the tallest and shortest players in NBA history, separated by an astonishing 71 centimeters. That difference in height also made Bol and Bogues frequent fixtures on magazine covers.

Their shooting guard, Tony Smith, was also a nominal starter.

The real primary shooting guard was Stephen Curry's father, Dell Curry—the man who would later spark a three-point revolution. Dell Curry was an outstanding shooter. During his many years with the Hornets, even while serving as a bench sparkplug, he could make more than two threes per game at over 40 percent shooting.

That was exceedingly rare in this era. Coaches of the time always believed that three-pointers created long rebounds and allowed opponents to launch easy fast breaks.

Yet the Hornets had a host of three-point shooters like Dell Curry and Glen Rice. Their team three-point percentage had reached an astonishing 42.8%.

Glen Rice had performed brilliantly for the Hornets the previous season. His 21.6 points per game made him a qualified team star. But that performance had not truly stood out, so this season, he began trying to take more threes.

Kobe had been teammates with Glen Rice for a time and knew that this small forward, known for his shooting, possessed excellent physical tools. At 2.01 meters and 98 kilograms, he had the build to establish himself in this era, while his superb shooting touch had made him an All-Star-caliber player.

Anthony Mason was a representative member of the former New York gang. Though only 2.01 meters tall, he weighed 113 kilograms. He looked reckless, but he possessed highly refined passing and ball-handling skills. He was an all-around power forward in the American mold: an excellent defender, physically powerful, and a capable passer.

Divac had been part of the Lakers' package in the summer trade for Kobe. He possessed outstanding passing ability, played rugged defense, and protected the boards extremely well.

He was a center who could make his teammates better, and he had been the Lakers' true core last year. Kobe had years of experience facing him. Only after he joined those later Princeton-style Kings did his offensive talent reach its fullest potential.

As for the Lakers' starting lineup, it remained unchanged. Ceballos still held the starting small forward spot. Kobe was not dissatisfied with Harris's arrangement, because he knew an undercurrent was already stirring.

The game began in a somewhat sparsely attended arena.

From the opening quarter, the situation was extremely unfavorable for the Lakers.

Divac seemed determined to prove himself against his former team, repeatedly going head-to-head with O'Neal in the post. Meanwhile, the travel-weary Lakers, slow on their feet, showed enormous holes on defense. Under Ceballos's token defense, Glen Rice once again caught fire, scoring 11 points in the first quarter alone.

For the Lakers, after O'Neal failed to open things up, the ball went to Kobe. Kobe tested the waters with two shots. Neither Bogues nor Tony Smith could do much to disrupt Kobe's jumpers, and both shots swished through the net.

The first quarter ended with Kobe and Glen Rice trading buckets. Kobe scored 9 points in the quarter, while O'Neal went 1-for-3 for just 3 points.

After the reserves came on, Kobe tightly guarded Dell Curry and denied him good shooting opportunities. Kobe was double-teamed in the latter half of the first quarter, but the passes he sent out repeatedly led to his teammates bricking wide-open shots.

At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers' offensive efficiency was abysmal. The Hornets led the Lakers 23-18.

Strongly recommending Everything Starts with Basketball: returning to 2002 to play basketball. It is highly immersive and well worth reading!