Tying It Up!

"72:87! The Eastern Conference All-Stars held a fifteen-point lead, while Jordan and Pippen were still on the court!"

"Viewers watching the All-Star Game for the first time might find it strange. Were All-Star Games always played this desperately?"

"Actually, no! Before Kobe entered the league, the All-Star Game had been far more entertainment-oriented. Dunks, alley-oops, and flashy passes came one after another. It was more of a show, rather than a brutal battle like today's game!"

"Especially the veterans—very few of them ever spent much energy in an All-Star Game. Most treated it as a weekend to rest. Seeing Jordan and Pippen playing with bloodshot eyes like this was truly rare!"

"Kobe and Jordan's competitiveness had pushed the All-Star Game to a new level. More than twenty of the strongest players in the world were battling it out at full force! Every moment was spectacular!"

"The game continued!"

After the substitutions, Kobe seized the opportunity and sparked another surge!

With Mutombo no longer guarding the paint, Alonzo Mourning's defense looked even more vulnerable against O'Neal.

And Jason Kidd's several brilliant passes allowed Kobe, a top off-ball player who had spent more than a decade studying off-ball offense in the Triangle Offense, to score repeatedly!

Kobe was already good with the ball! But once he started playing off the ball, even Jordan truly could not stop him!

"Damn brat! Why does he run nonstop like he's got a tiny motor installed?" Jordan chased! The off-ball pursuit between Jordan and Kobe drew every spectator's attention.

The league's strongest off-ball offensive player was Michael Jordan, the finisher of the Triangle Offense. Yet Kobe, who had always been known for his ball-handling offense, was somehow even more dangerous off the ball!?

Jordan genuinely could not keep up!

Without Penny and Webber, two elite superstars