At 7:30 p. m. that evening, Conseco Fieldhouse Indianapolis.
Eighteen thousand Pacers fans packed the arena to the brim.
From the moment the DJ announced Kobe Brian's name in the Los Angeles Lakers ' starting lineup before the game, the entire arena erupted in deafening boos. Behind the basket and in the front rows of the stands on both sides, fans could be seen everywhere holding up glaring signs that read "Rapist" and " Colorado's Fugitive." Some even threw torn tissues and plastic cups down as Kobe ran through the player tunnel.
In the commentary booth, the TNT commentator couldn't help but sigh as he watched this scene, "The atmosphere at Indiana's home court tonight is too brutal. Although the Colorado case has been suspended indefinitely, the away fans clearly have no intention of letting Kobe off the Kobe."
Wearing a purple Los Angeles Lakers away jersey and black and white Converse sneakers, Kobe stood by the center circle with a blank expression on his face.
Once the game started, every time Kobe touched the basketball on the court, the boos from the entire arena would instantly spike to their highest decibel level.
In the first quarter, it was clear that Kobe was holding back a lot of anger. Facing the Pacers ' defensive stalwarts Al Harrington and Reggie Miller, he only made one of his first five forced shots. At the end of the first quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers trailed by nine points, 18-27.
The Indiana fans in the stands became even more enthusiastic, with shrill jeers and boos rising in waves.
However, starting from his return to the court in the second quarter, a calmer Kobe completely transformed into a cold-blooded killer on the court.
He used tireless off-ball movement and sharp drives to tear apart the Pacers ' defense. In the fourth minute of the second quarter, Kobe received the ball on the right wing, faked out Harrington, and drove straight to the three-second zone. Facing a block from Pacers' center Jeff Foster, Kobe twisted his body in mid-air to contest the shot and slammed the ball into the basket with his right hand!
After landing, Kobe didn't even glance at Foster lying on the ground. Facing the banners and spittle from the fans in the front row, he retreated back to the backcourt expressionlessly.
In the second half, the game completely turned into a one-man show by Kobe against the entire city.
He scored 15 points in the third quarter, and in the fourth quarter, facing a double team, he hit three consecutive pull-up jumpers. The louder the boos from the stands, the more steady his wrist movements became. Every time he made a basket, the sideline camera's close-up shot swept across his black and white Converse sneakers, creating an extremely strong visual impact.
With ten seconds left in the fourth quarter, the Los Angeles Lakers, who were down by more than ten points, were brought back to 96-97 by Kobe's 41 points, trailing the Pacers by only one point!
The Los Angeles Lakers called one last timeout.
Millions of fans across the United States held their breath, glued to their television sets. Boston's Lin Qi and several players who had just finished their evening practice also stood in front of the TV in the locker room, watching the screen.
The timeout ended, with only 6.4 seconds left in the game. The Los Angeles Lakers inbounded the ball from the sideline.
All 18,000 fans in the Conseco Fieldhouse stood up, booing so loudly that the referee's whistle could barely be heard.
The Los Angeles Lakers inbounded the ball, and Kobe set a cross screen with his teammates at the free-throw line. He then suddenly cut to the right 45-degree angle outside the three-point line to receive the ball.
Al Harrington, who was defending him, kept close behind, while Reggie Miller, who was helping on the wing, abandoned his own defender and rushed over with two big strides, forcing Kobe into a corner outside the three-point line with his four long arms!
The timer has only two and a half seconds left.
Kobe took a step to the right in the tight space, stopped abruptly with both feet outside the three-point line, and faced the long arms of Harrington and Miller rushing to block him. He leaned back sharply out of bounds, and at the limit where his body was almost at a 45-degree angle to the ground, he flicked his wrist with his right hand and shot the ball!
Miller's fingertips almost grazed Kobe's nose, and Kobe landed hard, falling directly into the photographers' box on the sidelines.
The basketball traced a very high arc in the air, passing over two large hands.
The red light on the backboard lit up, and the final buzzer sounded throughout the arena.
"Whoosh!"
A crisp sound of the net being swished rang out, and a three-pointer swished into the net!
99-97! A buzzer-beating three-pointer seals the victory!
The Conseco Fieldhouse, which had been filled with deafening shouts just moments before, fell silent like a graveyard. Pacers fans stood frozen in the stands, heads in their hands, while those in the front row holding signs gaped, speechless for a long time.
Kobe had fallen into the camera's box, pushed himself up from the floor and pushed away his teammates who rushed over to help him.
He walked alone to the sidelines, facing the Indiana fans in the first row of the stands holding up insulting signs, slowly raised his right hand, put his index finger to his lips, and made a "shut up" gesture.
The live broadcast across the United States froze on this moment. The next second, the television screen went completely black.
Immediately afterwards, a Converse advertisement with a black-and-white film-like texture seamlessly cut in.
In the video, Kobe is wearing the same black and white sneakers he wore when he made the game-winning shot. He dribbles the ball alone in the empty court amidst a chorus of boos. The deep voice-over, accompanied by subtitles, forcefully penetrates the eardrums of every viewer.
"Hate me for being selfish, hate me for being stubborn, hate me for stealing your victory. Love me, or hate me, but you can't stop me."
That night, the 44-point buzzer-beating three-pointer that slammed in amidst a chorus of insults, along with the gesture that silenced the entire arena and the black-and-white commercial, was played on repeat all night on ESPN's " SportsCenter " program.
For United States street teenagers, high school and college basketball players who crave individuality and rebellion, the well-behaved and gentle "good kid" in Nike ads suddenly became uninteresting. Kobe's aloof and defiant stance, delivering a fatal blow amidst widespread condemnation, directly ignited a buying frenzy among young people.
The next day was Saturday, with only five days left until Christmas.
At nine o'clock in the morning, when Foot Locker and Champs sporting goods stores in major cities across the United States opened their shutters, the employees waiting outside were all dumbfounded.
From Chicago and Los Angeles to Boston and New York, long lines formed outside every sneaker store. Countless young fans rushed into the stores with hundred-dollar bills in hand, pointing at the black and white Converse signature shoes that Kobe wore when he made the game-winning shot on the window posters, vying to buy them.
Before Sunday night, 250,000 pairs of Kobe's signature shoes in Converse stores across the United States were sold out, and sales also surged by 50% due to endorsements from Wade and Garnett.