Chapter 202

Two minutes before the end of the second quarter, some of the key players from both teams were sent off to rest again, while Andre Iguodala, who had performed well in the second quarter, was brought back onto the court. At that point, the score between the two teams was 52:61.
Time passed by slowly, with only two minutes left before the end of the second quarter. At this stage, it was the Pistons who held the ball.
Zhou Yi controlled the ball, moving outside the three-point line, while Kobe defended him, moving slowly alongside him.
These two talented young players faced off against each other—Zhou Yi did not attack, nor did Kobe try to steal the ball from him.
Because of this, the cameras on the court kept focusing on them, capturing every subtle movement they made.
All the fans in the arena were on edge, tens of thousands of anxious and eager eyes fixed on those two players on the court, cheering for Zhou Yi, who held the ball.
After both Zhou Yi and Kobe reached the 45-degree angle on the right side outside the three-point line, they stopped moving and stared coldly into each other’s eyes, filled with fierce determination.
Time continued to pass, and Zhou Yi’s rhythmic bouncing of the ball gradually accelerated. As the rhythm changed, Kobe’s vigilance also increased.
A sharp glint appeared in Zhou Yi’s eyes, and he began to move. He suddenly sped up, using the purest, simplest, most direct, and perfect form of “speed” to take his first step to the right, followed by quick subsequent steps, aiming to use his speed to break through Kobe’s defense.
As Zhou Yi moved, Kobe also started moving. He accelerated almost simultaneously with Zhou Yi, staying close to him, tightly surrounding him to prevent him from reaching his maximum speed or getting a chance to shoot.
After entering the paint, Zhou Yi realized he still couldn’t shake off Kobe, so he stopped and turned his back on him.
After bouncing the ball a couple of times with his back to Kobe, Kobe relaxed slightly and loosened his defense. But it was precisely this relaxation that led to a serious consequence for him.
Zhou Yi moved again. He quickly turned to the right, using his body and subtle movements to block Kobe behind him, then accelerated to the highest speed in the shortest time possible, heading straight for the Lakers’ basket.
Seeing Zhou Yi approaching the basket, the Lakers’ closest forward, Paul Gasol, had no choice but to leave Greg Monroe behind and rush back to defend, trying to stop Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi rushed up to Paul Gasol without hesitation. With a strong push from his right hand, he sent the basketball toward the floor beneath Gasol’s legs, causing it to bounce off the ground and land in the hands of Greg Monroe, who now had a chance to shoot.
“Great pass, Zhou!” Greg Monroe exclaimed in ecstasy after catching the ball. As he said this, he jumped up and slammed the ball into the basket with fierce intensity.
“Thud!” The sound of the basket echoing along with Monroe’s fierce roar filled the entire court, making the fans’ hearts race even more and prompting them to erupt in loud cheers.
All sorts of shouts came from the fans—old and young, men and women—all excited by this brilliant teamwork between Zhou Yi and Greg Monroe.
“Zhou!” Swift rushed over to Zhou Yi with a triumphant smile after landing, using a simple gesture to express his joy and high-fiving him in celebration.
Kobe stared intently at Zhou Yi’s retreating figure, his face expressionless and calm.
Kobe received a pass from teammate Paul Gasol just outside the three-point line, facing the basket. After catching the ball, he immediately lowered his center of gravity, ready to attack, while his other teammates moved around to create space for him, giving him ample room to showcase his skills.
Zhou Yi once again spread his arms, watching Kobe like a lurking predator, his face expressionless.
Kobe narrowed his eyes briefly before widening them suddenly, shooting two icy glances at Zhou Yi. At the same time, his body moved in a way that surprised Zhou Yi.
With a flick of his right hand and a step forward, Kobe broke through Zhou Yi’s defense along with the ball, leaving Zhou Yi staring in shock.
That’s because Kobe simply threw the ball onto the floor beneath Zhou Yi’s legs, allowing it to easily pass under him.
Kobe moved past Zhou Yi’s defensive range on the left side, caught the ball, and drove toward the Pistons’ empty paint.
This breakthrough by Kobe was similar to the quick pass Zhou Yi had made to Greg Monroe earlier—except that Zhou Yi had passed the ball, while Kobe drove through the defense on his own.
“Damn it, I was careless…” Zhou Yi cursed under his breath and quickly turned to chase after Kobe, while the other Pistons players also rushed toward the paint, trying to stop Kobe.

But how could Kobe, who had already made a breakthrough, easily let others catch up to him? So by the time the other Pistons players started moving, Kobe had already accelerated to full speed, crossed the free-throw line, and headed straight for the Pistons’ basket. The only person close to Kobe was Zhou Yi, who had reached his right side. Kobe casually glanced at Zhou Yi out of the corner of his eye, a cold smirk forming on his lips. Gritting his teeth, Kobe took three big steps, leaped into the air beneath the basket, and raised his hands to grab the ball as he soared. At this point, it was impossible for Zhou Yi to block Kobe with ordinary means; the only way to stop him was by committing a foul. Thus, Zhou Yi, who hadn’t committed a foul yet, chose that option without hesitation. Zhou Yi jumped up along with Kobe, raised his arms high in the air, and pressed his body against Kobe. “Bang!” Their bodies collided in midair, and both Kobe and Zhou Yi lost their balance, falling toward the ground. The basketball in Kobe’s hands flew out of bounds due to the impact. Chapter 440: Who Is the King? Due to Will Bynum’s excessive number of fouls, the rookie Jody Meeks came in to replace Zhou Yi. With another clang, a miss occurred, and Greg Monroe happily grabbed the rebound from the backcourt before passing it to Jody Meeks. Through his confrontation with Derek Fisher, Jody Meeks realized that although Derek Fisher was strong, his speed and agility were far inferior to before, especially when it came to his ability to stay close and his stamina. Jody Meeks felt he could now break through Derek Fisher with little effort. Seeing Jody Meeks about to dart past him again to lay up, Derek Fisher became displeased and grabbed Jody Meeks tightly. He knew he could restrict Jody Meeks from scoring easily by committing a foul—quite sensible. But then he realized he couldn’t keep using fouls to stop him! At that moment, Kobe stepped beside Derek Fisher and whispered, “Leave that rookie to me!” Hearing Kobe’s words, Derek Fisher nodded agreeably.

The Pistons called a sideline pass, and as Jody Meeks caught the ball, Kobe rushed at him head-on. Jody Meeks was startled—was Kobe guarding him personally? But he didn’t show any panic. Getting to play against the best player in the league naturally excited him greatly, intensifying his fighting spirit to its peak.

However, being a rookie, Jody Meeks was still a bit nervous facing Kobe, the best player in the league. His dribbling under his arm wasn’t as smooth as before. With his vast experience, Kobe swiftly reached in and stole the ball.

After taking the ball, Kobe drove straight to the Pistons’ basket, scoring with a behind-the-back dunk.

Jody Meeks helplessly wiped the sweat from his forehead before running back to his own half to receive the pass. After catching it, he took a deep breath and slowly exhaled to steady his rhythm.

“I have to stay calm, otherwise I’ll still make mistakes,” he thought to himself.

After a while, Jody Meeks calmly scanned the court. At that moment, McGrady came over and passed by him. Jody Meeks immediately handed the ball to McGrady and even set up a screen to block Derek Fisher, who was guarding McGrady.

With no one guarding him, McGrady accelerated to the fastest pace, rushed into the Lakers’ paint, and scored with a double dunk, also forcing a foul on Paul Gasol.

This play was brilliant, thanks to the clever coordination with Jody Meeks.

Commentating on the game today were Yao Ming’s mentor Jeff Van Gundy and Reggie Miller. Since it was a nationally televised game, both provided professional commentary.

To the Pistons’ players’ delight, the team’s owner Bill Davidson and general manager Joe Dumars were also in attendance to watch the game.

So when McGrady completed that dunk, everyone on the Pistons’ team was extremely excited, including owner Bill Davidson and general manager Joe Dumars. If even the owners and general manager were so thrilled, it goes without saying how excited the home fans were.

The Pistons’ home fans were shouting McGrady’s name loudly, cheering hard for their team.

“T-MAC…”

Lakers head coach Phil Jackson, known as “The Zen Master,” showed little reaction when Pau Gasol received another foul, only frowning slightly, but he didn’t replace him. Pau Gasol had only two fouls so far, so Phil Jackson wasn’t in a hurry to take him off the court.

Maddie took the free throw and made it. With all the starters on the court, Phil Jackson still sat there indifferently, watching the game as if there was no sign of panic on his face. Of course, if the referee kept calling fouls on the Lakers’ big men, he would get angry. When “The Zen Master” doesn’t get angry, that’s fine; but when he does, it’s quite intimidating.

Since the Lakers were still in the lead, he naturally had the leisure to sit there, chewing gum calmly while watching the game.

Kobe controlled the ball, with Maddie closely following, constantly using small tactics to disrupt him. But these didn’t cause Kobe to make mistakes. He dribbled behind his back, pulled to the left, and immediately jumped to shoot. With a swish, the basketball smoothly entered the basket.

In the next offensive sequence, the Pistons failed to score. Pau Gasol grabbed a rebound in the backcourt and passed it to Derek Fisher. Derek Fisher drove past the half-court line and, seeing Kobe’s upward gesture, quickly threw the ball toward the top right corner of the basket. However, the pass was a bit too far, and Kobe didn’t catch it easily.

Still, he managed to complete the alley-oop in mid-air. But due to poor coordination, it wasn’t a dunk but just a simple alley-oop layup. Though it seemed simple, it was actually very difficult. After completing this layup, Kobe lost his balance due to the difficulty of the coordination and fell from mid-air. Fortunately, he had a strong sense of self-protection and wasn’t injured.

Jody Meeks still had a speed advantage, thanks to his youth, while Kobe was in his thirties and no longer had his former speed. So compared to these rookies known for their speed, he was slightly at a disadvantage.

With a better mindset, he wasn’t as nervous facing Kobe anymore. A series of dribbles under his body, followed by a crossover, allowed him to get away from Kobe. Seeing Kobe get beaten, Derek Fisher immediately came over to help defend Tyreke Evans. As Derek Fisher rushed over, Tyreke Evans wasn’t in a hurry; he effortlessly passed the ball to McGrady in the distance. McGrady caught the ball and took a quick jump shot, scoring 2 points smoothly.

Seeing Tyreke Evans break through Kobe and complete that beautiful pass with McGrady, especially that effortless and clever backpass, the crowd erupted in cheers once again.

As the situation on the court gradually changed, Tyreke Evans also sensed some problems with the Lakers’ defense. For example, in that previous play, although Kobe tried his best to defend, he stopped chasing after being half a body length behind. And after Derek Fisher came over to help defend him, there was no one left to cover McGrady behind. Being ahead by a few points made the Lakers’ players a bit complacent. There might be another reason as well—Lakers’ fatigue. After all, both games were played away from home, so their weak defense could also be attributed to this.

However, despite some complacency in defense, the Lakers’ offense remained sharp. Kobe received the ball at the top of the key, broke past McGrady, and faced Tyreke Evans’ help defense. With a fake move, he turned and took a backjump shot—“swish”—another successful shot.

“Good defense!” After that shot went in, Kobe smiled at Tyreke Evans and said that to him.

Tyreke Evans indeed defended well in that play. McGrady had no way of stopping Kobe. As soon as Kobe broke through, Tyreke Evans immediately rushed over to help. Although he defended well and timed his block attempt well, Kobe’s backjump shot was too powerful, so Tyreke Evans couldn’t stop it.

Samuel Dalembert’s jump shots left Andrew Bynum, who couldn’t defend them, helpless. Seeing Samuel Dalembert getting hot, Tyreke Evans was happy to pass the ball to him so he could attack.

As the Pistons gradually closed the score gap, the Lakers were indeed a bit worried. But in critical moments, they could trust in handing the ball to their star, Kobe, who hadn’t yet lost his composure!
When Kobe stepped past James Posey’s defense, Jody Meeks quickly closed in. Jody Meeks was very agile, making it difficult for Kobe to face him one-on-one. But that didn’t stop Kobe—he was one of the most aggressive offensive players in the league. Kobe faced Meeks back-to-back, pushed him twice, then suddenly turned to deliver his signature backspin jump shot. However, under Meeks’ tight defense, Kobe’s shot missed, and Meeks felt a sense of satisfaction.
Yet, Paul Gasol secured the rebound and scored on the second chance. Fortunately, Samuel Dalembert responded with a layup inside the paint.
On the Lakers’ next offensive drive, Kobe took the ball and cut from the left wing. Using Andrew Bynum’s screen, he broke free from Meeks’ defense and made his way into the paint. Faced with Dalembert’s defense inside, Kobe didn’t back down—he simply shook him off and attempted a beautiful layup. Unfortunately, it missed, and Dalembert grabbed the rebound.
Kobe looked at the basket in frustration, made a shooting gesture, then shook his head.