Victory

Kobe looked at his dejected teammates and felt helpless. He had practically spoon-fed them opportunities, yet they still could not make their shots.

Harris had a headache over the team's condition as well. Their form on the second night of a back-to-back was truly poor.

Early in the second quarter, Harris sent out a lineup of PG Derek Fisher, SG Van Exel, SF Bruce Bowen, PF Ben Wallace, and C Travis Knight. He hoped Van Exel could find his touch, but he was gradually realizing that despite the Lakers' seemingly deep roster, they lacked the ability to adapt.

They had no one who could step up and adjust the team's rhythm after the starters fell behind. Especially once O'Neal was contained, the entire offense depended on Kobe. Yet he could not let an eighteen-year-old Kobe play forty minutes every game; Kobe's nearly thirty minutes per game over the first three games had already begun to worry him.

Kobe, on the other hand, had plenty of stamina. His devilish training intensity had made him the Lakers player performing most normally in this game. Having gone through twenty years in the NBA, he was long accustomed to this kind of schedule.

Kobe, who had played the entire first quarter, wanted to stay on the floor, but Harris sternly refused. Knowing Harris was looking out for him, Kobe did not argue further.

In the first half of the second quarter, the Lakers simply watched Van Exel play isolation after isolation. There was a huge difference between Kobe leading this bench unit and Van Exel leading it. On defense, Kobe could put tremendous pressure on the opposing reserves, while Van Exel allowed them to play far too comfortably.

Though both relied on isolation offense, Kobe could capitalize on transitions between offense and defense. Van Exel could only run pick-and-rolls before looking for pull-up jumpers. Their offensive efficiency was worlds apart.

As a result, even though the other four players remained unchanged and only the shooting guard spot had been altered, the Lakers' second unit played in a completely different style. Sure enough, their performance on the court began to fall apart.

Van Exel was hit with two three-pointers by Dell Curry. Stubbornly refusing to back down, he wanted to answer back. The 1.85-meter Van Exel actually tried a pull-up jumper right in front of the 1.93-meter Dell Curry.

The ball rattled out, and his teammates had not expected Van Exel to force up a shot with twenty seconds still on the clock. The Hornets seized the opportunity and scored on a quick fast break.

Kobe could barely bear to watch. It felt like his eyes had been burned.

Harris could not stand it either and hurriedly put the Lakers starters back in. If he did not use the starters, the game would get out of hand.

"Shaq, I need you to dominate their interior. Do you understand?" Kobe said to O'Neal. If Shaq did not get going, the other side would double-team Kobe without hesitation. The way to get the offense moving quickly was for O'Neal to draw enough defensive attention as well.

O'Neal's big face reddened. He knew he had played terribly in the first quarter, and he patted his chest. "Watch me."

"Bruce, I need you to lock down Glen Rice. I know you can do it." Kobe found Bowen. Bowen had not matched up with Glen Rice in the first quarter, but Harris finally put him on the court in the second to contain the Hornets' king, Glen Rice.

"No problem." Bowen's gaze sharpened. He badly wanted a starting job. Ceballos's dreadful performance had given him an opportunity, and Bruce Bowen, who had fought and clawed his way through the league for years, desperately wanted to seize it.

Kobe knew those two were the key to the team's comeback. As long as O'Neal could create enough room inside, the offense would flow smoothly. And if they contained Glen Rice, the Hornets' offensive momentum would be stifled.

Watching Kobe direct his teammates, Harris was somewhat amazed by the kid's leadership. At such a young age, even O'Neal was willing to listen to his commands?

Kobe knew exactly how to speak to O'Neal to make him listen. The big man was proud and impervious to both coaxing and pressure; only provocation would get through to him.

Kobe had the ball and faced Dell Curry's defense. The Hornets' sixth man played heavy minutes—one could even say he was their true starting shooting guard.

Kobe called O'Neal over and had him receive the ball at the top of the arc. Then he used a dribble handoff to shake free of his defender.

After taking the ball from O'Neal, Kobe quickly cut into the paint. Divac knew about Kobe dunking over Ewing, so he did not dare be careless. He would rather give up a foul than let Kobe barrel through.

At that moment, Kobe seemed to have eyes in the back of his head as he fired a behind-the-back pass to the cutting O'Neal.

"Boom." O'Neal caught the ball without dribbling, took a huge stride, and exploded upward. His massive body hung from the rim, making it creak and groan. O'Neal wanted to vent all the frustration from the first quarter through that dunk.

With his attention fixed on Kobe, Divac had no way to rotate over again. He could only watch helplessly as O'Neal ravaged the rim.

"Excellent, keep playing like that!" Harris could not stop praising the play from the sidelines. It looked simple, but tactically, it was nearly perfect. The action began with the immediate handoff, followed by the guard attacking inside to draw the defense, then the big man cutting open. It was an offensive possession with clear layers, the kind of basketball old-school coaches loved.

The Hornets' offense stalled. Divac caught the ball in the high post to facilitate, but when he looked around, he found Muggsy Bogues tightly covered by Kobe. Dell Curry was shadowed relentlessly by Eddie Jones. Glen Rice, who had excelled in the previous quarter, could not even get the ball under Bruce Bowen's physical, tight defense.

"Damn it, I'll do it myself." Divac nearly had two passes stolen, and with no other choice, he missed a mid-range jumper over O'Neal's defense.

Replacing Ceballos with Bowen made an enormous difference for the Lakers defensively. At the small forward spot, the Lakers had finally stopped the bleeding.

Kobe knew that in this situation, his individual performance alone would not be enough to win. He actively set O'Neal up. Beating Dell Curry off the dribble was easy for Kobe, but he did not force his way past Curry.

Instead, he ran a two-man game with O'Neal, putting O'Neal at the top of the arc and in the high post. Kobe ran pick-and-rolls and dribble handoffs around O'Neal, then passed to the rolling big man after driving in and drawing attention.

When a 2.16-meter, 130-kilogram behemoth came charging at you, it was hard for any defender to find the courage to stand in his way. Given the choice between the ICU and casually stepping aside, most people chose the latter.

The Lakers took the lead in the second quarter, and the Hornets had no good way to stop O'Neal once he got rolling.

At the start of the third quarter, the Hornets tentatively tried putting Glen Rice on Kobe. Kobe was no longer as comfortable against Glen Rice, who far outweighed and outsized him. He changed tactics and had O'Neal establish position directly in the low post. Glen Rice had no way to stop Kobe's passes, and once O'Neal got going, he needed no tactics at all—Divac was utterly helpless against the red-hot O'Neal.

Kobe did not have many chances to shine in the second half. He finished with just 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 7 assists, while O'Neal came on strong late with a dominant 31-point, 14-rebound performance.

Glen Rice and Dell Curry scored only 22 and 14 points respectively. Bruce Bowen's defense on Glen Rice was superb, and the Hornets' offense went cold.

When the final buzzer sounded, the Lakers defeated the Hornets 88-79 for their fourth straight win, taking first place in the Western Conference.