Defying the Odds in the Comeback!

"No way, no way! Shaq! Didn't you eat enough? Why can't you even move Malone?" Campbell gaped at O'Neal.

The only person on the whole team who would talk to Shaquille O'Neal like that was Campbell, the resident sarcastic bastard. That was Campbell's purpose—he could say things in the locker room that Kobe could not conveniently say himself!

That remark was exactly what Kobe wanted to say. O'Neal's dominance against the Jazz defense had indeed been rather mediocre this game. After consecutively battling two of the Four Great Centers, Hakeem Olajuwon and David Robinson, O'Neal seemed to be playing with insufficient aggression.

He had gone 11-for-18 for 27 points and 11 rebounds. Those numbers looked excellent, but he had put them up over the 6'9" Malone!

O'Neal's face flushed red.

"It's not that I can't move Malone! Have you seen how thick Malone's arms are? And their help defense isn't nothing either! They put out three forwards and kept trapping me endlessly, just like the Bulls last year! Isn't 27 points enough?"

"Now isn't the time to talk about that," Kobe said.

How they should play the fourth quarter—that was what they needed to discuss now.

A 16-point deficit! In a clash between super teams, that was an astonishing gap!

Especially with Malone, an unstoppable superstar on the other side, continuing to score. He had already made six threes! If they let Malone keep attacking like this, he might just drop another 50-plus!

"The Lakers have been driven to the brink by Malone!" This game was being called by Jazz legend Pistol Pete Maravich.

"The strongest power forward in the league! You could even call him one of the three greatest power forwards in history! When he erupts, his dominance is this terrifying!"

"Malone has been unbelievably strong in this