Before long.
On the court.
After the cheerleaders' graceful routine, the third quarter between the Lakers and the Suns finally began.
The home crowd felt a little subdued.
The Lakers fans wanted to cheer, but... with a 20-point deficit and Kobe struggling, they simply could not bring themselves to do it.
As for that.
Kobe's face was calm. In his eyes, there was only the desire to win.
The game resumed.
Lakers ball.
Kobe brought the ball up and held it at the top of the arc. Even though he desperately wanted to win, he was not reckless enough to throw everything away blindly.
"Step!"
Pau Gasol came up to set a screen.
"Whoosh!"
Kobe went around Blake Su and matched up with George at the left high post. Dribbling with his left hand, he went between the legs, accelerated toward the right wing, and fought through contact with George.
"Bang!"
He barreled into the lane for a layup.
Frye, who was protecting the basket, also came over to help. Kobe twisted in midair, hung in the air, and put up a bank shot.
"Clang!"
It missed.
But.
"Step!"
Kobe jumped a second time, grabbed his own miss, and went back up strong, attacking Frye again.
"Swish!"
The high bank shot went in.
On the change of possession.
Blake Su drove hard down the middle against Kobe and ran into a double-team from Artest. He passed back out to Nash on the perimeter, who found George in the left corner.
Open look.
"Whoosh!"
George fired a three.
"Clang!"
No good.
The rebound?
Frye, Blake Su, Bynum, and Pau Gasol all fought for it together, and the paint turned into chaos. At that moment.
"Step!"
Kobe flew in, snatched the rebound out of the crowd, and because he had launched himself so high, he plunged into the pile and completely lost his balance.
"Bang!"
He crashed sideways onto the floor.
Even though he braced himself with one arm, the pain was still obvious. Even so, his other hand clamped tightly around the basketball.
Blake Su rushed up to pressure him, trying to rip the ball away.
Kobe gritted his teeth and protected it. Lying on the floor, he passed the ball out from under Blake Su's feet. Fisher caught it and immediately pushed the fast break.
"Whoosh!"
He rushed to the left side of the arc, passed to Pau Gasol at the free-throw line, then hit Artest cutting on the other side. Artest ignored Curry in front of him.
"Boom!"
He rose up and threw down a powerful dunk.
The Lakers' fast break succeeded.
"Whoa..."
Inside the studio.
Hubie Brown frowned slightly, a little surprised, and said, "Kobe looks like he's playing even harder in the second half than he did in the first."
"Yeah."
Dave Pasch nodded and added, "There's no other choice. Tonight is a must-win game for the Lakers, and as the team leader.
"At a time like this, Kobe has to step up."
As he was speaking.
On the court.
Fisher stole the ball from Curry, and the ball bounced toward the frontcourt.
Kobe was once again the first one after it. Near the sideline by midcourt, he sprinted over and, just before the ball could bounce out of bounds, threw himself forward first.
"Whoosh!"
He tipped the ball back into play.
"Bang!"
His whole body crashed sideways beneath the scorer's table.
Pau Gasol, who had followed the play, caught the ball, went coast to coast, gathered for a three-step layup, and finished easily. The fast break was successful.
"Wow, he's fighting so hard. Kobe is really fighting out there."
"Even with a 20-point deficit, Kobe hasn't given up at all. He still wants to win, and he still believes they can win."
Hubie Brown and Dave Pasch watched Kobe roll across the floor, both shaken by what they saw.
The Lakers fans in the stands were shaken too.
"The Boss is giving everything!"
"The Boss hasn't given up!"
"If Kobe hasn't given up, then we definitely can't give up!"
"Let's go, Kobe!"
"Come on!"
"Boss, you're the best. You can definitely lead the team back!"
"..."
Watching Kobe refuse to give up and throw everything into the game, the Lakers fans were stunned. Then, immediately after, deafening cheers erupted again.
The roar of the home court, the roar that belonged to the Lakers, once again filled the arena.
That's right.
Kobe was all in. For the sake of victory, he no longer cared about crashing to the floor, the pain, or anything else.
As long as they could win.
Anything was fine.
Throughout the entire third quarter, Kobe was extremely focused, almost frantic, on both offense and defense. If his offense would not fall, he made up for it on defense.
As long as he could help the team cut into the lead, Kobe was willing to give everything.
Lakers 78, Suns 88.
In adversity, Kobe gave everything and fought against the current. Even though his offensive rhythm had not fully recovered.
He forced the deficit down by 10 points in a single quarter through defense and one desperate scramble after another.
A game that had originally looked out of hand, even almost decided, suddenly had suspense again. As for who would have the last laugh in the final quarter.
At this moment.
It was hard to say again.
During the break between quarters.
"Tsk, tsk..."
Hubie Brown clicked his tongue again and sighed. "He really is worthy of being called the 'best player in the league today,' worthy of being the strongest man in this league.
"Kobe.
"He's using everything he has to help his team win."
"Yeah."
Dave Pasch nodded, then smiled and said, "The situation after halftime was undoubtedly extremely difficult for the Lakers.
"You could say that at that moment, the Lakers already had one foot hanging over the edge of a cliff. One wrong step, and they would have fallen into the abyss.
"But.
"Kobe did not give up. He did not back down, and he had no intention of giving up or running away. Instead, he gave everything he had to create a miracle in a desperate situation.
"It's precisely Kobe's refusal to give up.
"That allowed the entire Lakers team to fight back from adversity and cut the deficit by 10 points in one quarter, bringing suspense back into this matchup.
"Hubie, do you know what that is?"
"Uh..."
Hubie Brown thought for a moment, then seemed to deliberately let the suspense hang before saying, "That is the 'Mamba Mentality.' That is Kobe's spirit."
"Exactly!"
...
On the court.
The Suns' bench.
After giving up 10 points of their lead in one quarter, leaving only a 10-point advantage, the ease, calm, and composure that had been on the Suns players' faces before.
Had now disappeared.
They had to be on guard.
Especially when Nash told everyone that the "Mamba Mentality" was at work, the seriousness in their eyes deepened even further.
"Mamba Mentality"?
Yes.
"Mamba Mentality"!
Everyone knew how difficult Kobe became under the "Mamba Mentality." That kind of Kobe could make anything happen in a game.
Tonight.
The Suns had forced Kobe into a desperate situation. At the same time... they had also forced out the strongest version of Kobe.
"Hey!"
Blake Su looked at everyone, narrowed his eyes, and said in a low voice, "We need to get serious. We need to fight with everything we have, just like Kobe. We need to defeat Kobe, the 'Black Mamba'!"