Wilkens' Hawks

After three days of rest and recovery, the Lakers welcomed the Atlanta Hawks to their home court on November 10.

This Hawks team was led by Dream Team III's legendary head coach, Lenny Wilkens. Having just led the United States to an Olympic Games gold medal in his hometown of Atlanta that year, Wilkens was riding high.

The Hawks were also a playoff-caliber powerhouse. Under Wilkens, they had reached the playoffs for four straight seasons and won their division multiple times.

They were a team built around collective tactics, without any dazzling offensive superstar. However, they had many team-oriented players willing to follow instructions. That was Wilkens's style of coaching: the team came first.

At the end of last season, the Denver Nuggets' defensive anchor, Dikembe Mutombo, became a free agent. Reports said he was seeking a ten-year contract, something the Nuggets believed they could not offer.

The Hawks seized the opportunity that summer and signed him as a free agent to a five-year, $55 million deal.

The media did not approve of the thirty-year-old veteran center. They believed the league's battles in the paint were too intense, and that the defensive star's rapid decline would come at a huge cost to the Hawks.

Kobe knew that Uncle Mutombo would ultimately play until 2009, only announcing his retirement at the age of forty-three—according to official records; his true age was impossible to verify.

This legendary Congolese center made eight All-Star teams, three All-NBA teams, five All-Defensive teams, and won NBA Defensive Player of the Year four times over his career. More than half of those accomplishments came after he turned thirty. Had he not been born in an era where the four great centers shone side by side, this evergreen of the basketball world surely would have achieved even more.

Mutombo's frontcourt partner was NCAA legend Christian Laettner. Laettner attended Duke University and played for Coach K from 1988 to 1992. As the team's star player, he led the Blue Devils to back-to-back NCAA championships!

Laettner was a floor-spacing big man with exceptional shooting ability, and in clutch moments, he was a killer. In an NCAA final, he once put up the incredible performance of going ten for ten from the field and ten for ten from the line.

As the nation's Player of the Year, Laettner was the only college player selected for the Dream Team. He was then drafted third overall by the Timberwolves that year. The Atlanta Hawks acquired the star player through a trade in the 1995–96 season.

The Hawks' backcourt consisted of Steve Smith and Mookie Blaylock. Steve Smith was a 2.01-meter-tall shooting guard who could average a well-rounded 20+4+4, making him the Atlanta Hawks' top offensive weapon. Mookie Blaylock, meanwhile, was a 1.83-meter point guard, a classic undersized American point guard with an excellent mid-range game and strong drives. Last season, he had averaged 17+5+7.

Combined with Laettner's 18.1 points per game, the Hawks had three players averaging more than seventeen points, giving them ferocious offensive firepower. With Uncle Mutombo bringing his defense this year, the team was exceptional on both ends of the floor.

The strengths and weaknesses of this kind of team were obvious. Balanced scoring meant their offense was less likely to go cold and harder to target. But their offense could easily become chaotic in crunch time, and they lacked clutch-shot ability.

Their defense relied too heavily on Mutombo. If Mutombo's defensive line collapsed, the consequences for the team would be catastrophic. So the Hawks were currently a strong team, but not championship contenders.

Kobe drove into the arena and headed to the training room after entering. He needed to have his ankles taped as part of his usual routine.

NBA players almost always taped their feet before games. Intense, frequent changes of direction and physical collisions could quickly damage a player's fragile ankles. The muscles around the ankle were difficult to train and easily injured. Players dealt with this by wrapping their ankles in tape for some protection.

When Kobe felt his ankles were in good condition and free of tightness, he would have Gary Vitti tape them more loosely so he could move more freely. When his ankles were tight and fatigued, unable to support his body properly, Gary Vitti would wrap them tightly in dense layers of tape. But that was something for later in his career. Right now, Kobe was as healthy as a black panther.

Kobe loved having a body free of injuries. The agonizing injuries to his fingers, shoulders, knees, Achilles tendons, and ankles had finally faded away. He no longer felt that faint pain whenever he shot.

"Kobe, you're in great physical condition." Gary Vitti finished stretching him out.

Kobe liked joking around with O'Neal during treatment, because it let their teammates feel the leaders' confidence in the game. But as tipoff drew closer, Kobe and O'Neal would become quiet and serious. Their teammates would then understand the importance of the game and focus on playing it well.

Kobe had accumulated these little lessons over many years. Leading a team was not just about a single sentence or a single game. Small actions at every moment could make a team more united, and only then would they perform better on the court.

"Let's hit the court, boys!" Rambis was once again calling out to the Lakers in the locker room. Bowen finally made the starting lineup for this game. Meanwhile, Ceballos had not reported to the team at all. Everyone knew a trade was about to happen, and some players could not help worrying whether they were included in it.

Kobe hoped the trade would happen soon, but the season had only just begun, and many things were not so easy to accomplish. Every team owner would observe their team and players for a while before making adjustments.

Kobe was once again the first to step onto the Great Western Forum floor. This time, the DJ's voice was much louder than before.

"The first player to take the court, from Lower Merion High School—the Magic Kid, Kobe Bryant!"

Kobe did not like the "Magic Kid" nickname the media had given him. It was childish. But what could he do? After all, Kobe had not even spoken to the media yet.

The game began, and O'Neal lost the opening tip to the lighter, quicker-jumping Mutombo.

The undersized Mookie Blaylock brought the ball up, while Kobe still defended him with a step of space. Christian Laettner came up to set a screen, and Kobe squeezed through it. But he saw Blaylock pass the ball to Laettner, who had popped out after the screen. Laettner knocked down the jumper for the first points of the game.

In transition, Kobe lobbed the ball to O'Neal, who had established position on the low block. O'Neal had a good touch, hooking the ball in over Mutombo's defense.

The first quarter ended amid tentative offense from both sides, with the Lakers and Hawks tied 22–22.

The Hawks played with great structure. Their active movement within the system repeatedly created open looks on the perimeter. Laettner's pick-and-pop, in particular, was something Campbell simply could not follow out to the perimeter, allowing Laettner to hit several shots in a row.

The Lakers, meanwhile, relied on the Kobe-O'Neal two-man game. Kobe scored seven points on limited attempts. The situation remained relatively calm, and neither side was playing especially physically. Kobe knew that games like this often went into the fourth quarter before both teams truly turned up the intensity to fight for the win.