Because before the game, Lamar not only promised to win back the championship for the Knicks, but also promised those Knicks fans who came from afar that a total of 1,000 signed posters of all Knicks players would be given away if they won the game.

"Don't care!" Bryant made a rare step forward to comfort his teammates.

In the past, as long as the people around him made mistakes during the game, Kobe Bryant either looked angry or yelled at his teammates, but now he is so gentle and elegant to Karl Malone.

Kobe Bryant was a bit of an offbeat, which is a bit puzzling.

In fact, Kobe Bryant also did this for a purpose.

Since Game 1, Bryant has made up his mind to get rid of Phil Jackson, a die-hard supporter of O'Neal. Although the team's Finals results are not satisfactory now, there are not a few Lakers management who have a good impression of this championship coach. If Kobe Bryant wants to kick such a formidable enemy out of the team at once, he needs more allies.

Bass Jr., Fisher and Fox are naturally firmly on Kobe's side, and Gary Payton and others have also begun to lean towards Kobe Bryant with Kobe's attitude in the last two games. Now what Kobe wants is Karl Malone's support. So after discussing tonight's tactics in the locker room, Kobe Bryant will go out with Malone to persuade O'Neal to hand Lamar over to Malone to defend.

As for why O'Neal agreed to Kobe Bryant and Malone's request, it can only be said that the dead fat man still has some small calculations of his own in addition to being lazy. O'Neill didn't think Lamar, who he couldn't defend, would be guarded by a forty-year-old.

"Follow up next time, it's dangerous for that guy to take the ball or not, don't be careless!"

Karl Malone nodded and attacked behind Kobe.

If before this game, Kobe Bryant still held the idea that Lamar would be careless and underestimated, and then the Lakers' chance to turn the game around, then the rest of the game proved how naïve his idea was.

Lamar will not take the enemy lightly, and even if he will, he will not look contemptuously at the Lakers, a strong enemy!

Although he has won two games in a row before, Lamar still does not dare to be careless in the face of an opponent like the Lakers. He knows very well that the overall strength of the Lakers is not worse than them, and even a little better than the Knicks. The only drawback of the Lakers now is that they are not united internally, and they have not been honed into a whole for a season. Once these giants of the Lakers give up their prejudices against each other and cooperate tacitly, the Lakers are definitely a strong opponent that cannot be ignored.

So Lamar played carefully from the beginning of this game, doing his best not to let the Lakers find a flaw in him.

Of course, now Lamar has another reason why he can't afford to fail, and that is the huge pressure that Arenas's bastard brings to the Knicks. Once there is any accident in this game, Arenas's incident will be detonated, and these rookies in the Knicks lineup who have not yet experienced the baptism of the Finals will definitely become a mess due to the huge pressure.

So this game the Knicks must not lose!

"Smack!"

With a soft sound, the cheers on the scene became a little more enthusiastic.

Lamar blocked, and it was Bryant's step-back jumper that was blocked.

In Bryant's astonishment, Lamar quickly burst forward with the ball.

Payton, who was chasing after him, couldn't get into Lamar's sight at all, and his goal was only a basket.

"Boom!"

The basket exploded again, and Payton, who couldn't dodge, was knocked upside down by Lamar and flew headlong into the group of reporters behind the basketball hoop.

Peyton didn't get up for a long time, and the blow just now Lamar used all his strength, and Peyton's old arm was really a little unbearable.

The opening stages of the game belonged entirely to Lamar. In just two minutes, he scored 9 points on one shot inside and outside, leading the team to an 11-0 attack wave.

This situation surprised everyone present.

The strength of the Knicks is indeed very strong, but the Lakers are not a weak team! It has been so long since the opening game, and the Lakers have only got one chance to shoot, and they still let Joe Johnson shoot a three-way that has no character. If it weren't for the fact that the Lakers players were actually wearing their iconic purple and gold jerseys, people would have to wonder if the gang on the court was fighting in the name of the Lakers.

It wasn't until two and a half minutes into the game that the Lakers hit their first shot of the game.

Compared with O'Neal, who watched the play on the sidelines, Kobe seemed to be accustomed to the work of this savior. Every time the Lakers encountered difficulties, he stood up without hesitation and contributed to the team.

The rest of the game looked like it was back on track, with neither side hitting high shots.

Lamar also fell silent after the madness of the start. After missing three shots, Lamar also began to withdraw from the first line of fire, taking on the task of transporting shells with Billups.

The game started to get dull, and neither side looked like they wanted to stomp each other to death. The two teams began to play a positional battle in a regular manner, and almost every ball had to spend all of their attacking time before they were willing to shoot.

The game was played steadily, but the enthusiasm of the fans at the scene remained undiminished.

At this time, the Knicks still held a seven-point lead. Even if it is uneventful, if the game continues to develop according to this trend, it will naturally become a natural thing for the Knicks to win at home.

But someone doesn't seem to want this to happen, and he doesn't like blandness. Since entering the league, he's always been looking for excitement, so he's decided to change everything on the court at this point, and he's ready for it.

With a crisp sound of "pop", Scola who had just replaced Malone on the court, and a layup that should have been nine out of ten in the open position was ruthlessly fanned out by Lamar.

As soon as he landed, Lamar rushed at the speed of a cheetah towards the basketball that was about to fly off the sideline, then jumped up, his body parallel to the floor, and tried to reach forward with one hand to grab the basketball and throw the ball out by feeling.

As Lamar threw himself into the audience, the fans let out a burst of shouts and cheers. It was clear that Lamar had made the right bet, and the basketball was in Billups' hands, and there was no obstacle in front of the big-hearted Flounder.

Payton was trying his best to chase him, but it was clear that Billups didn't want to give him that chance. The standard three-step layup, at the moment of the basketball shot, Billups also made a pull-up motion, dodged Payton's malicious foul, and scored the ball with a backhand.

"Beautiful!" Billups also looked very excited, shouting and high-fived Lamar who came up.

Seeing that Lamar seemed to have woken up, Kobe naturally didn't want Lamar to be alone. Bryant, who had only scored three points eight minutes before, immediately announced with a three-pointer that his blade was unsheathed.

But Lamar, who is really serious, has shown a terrifying aggressiveness that has exceeded everyone's imagination. Lamar was like a hungry wolf looking for his prey, and any Lakers player who came into his sight became a target for him.

Towards the end of the first quarter, Lamar again managed to steal Payton's pass to O'Neal on the defensive end. used a rotating 360° one-arm slam dunk that can only be seen in the slam dunk contest, which completely detonated the enthusiasm of the fans on the spot.

At the first minute and 20 seconds of the second quarter, Lamar received the ball at the top of the three-point line.

At this time, there are at least three Lakers players between Lamar and the basket.

The Lakers' tight defense just shows Lamar's greatness. Lamar suddenly started to kill without hesitation.

Karl Malone, who defended Lamar head-on, bore the brunt of the attack, but unfortunately he was still a little unable to react. By the time Lamar took his first step, Malone's 40-year-old motor nerves had apparently been a little slower. As a result, Malone was easily broken into by Lamar.

Next, Kobe's supplementary defense failed to hold Lamar.

In the end, O'Neal, who was guarding the basket, had no choice but to fall down helplessly in front of Lamar's strong impact and chatted with the reporters behind the basketball hoop.

At 2:15 of the second quarter, Lamar ran along the baseline without the ball.

Billups threw the basketball straight at the basket, and O'Neal suddenly appeared directly in front of Lamar, blocking Lamar's path and leaping high to destroy the aerial relay. But O'Neill clearly underestimated Lamar's terrifying bouncing abilities.

Lamar, who had springs on his feet, was more than two palms bigger than the aging shark, snatched the basketball with one hand before O'Neal took the basketball into his arms, and then beat Kobe Bryant's slam dunk.

Two minutes and 31 seconds into the second quarter, the Lakers' offense.

Bryant easily broke through Battier's defense and went straight to the basket, but Dampoter's defense was not a threat in his eyes.

Kobe Bryant jumped high and tried to smash the basketball into the basket with one hand, but at that moment, Lamar, who suddenly came from the side, jumped up from behind.

The moment Kobe Bryant was about to smash the basketball into the basket, Lamar's hand also arrived.

Lamar tried his best to grab the ball from Bryant's hand. But the basketball, which was blocked by Lamar, didn't fly far and was back in O'Neal's hands.

In the face of the frantic boos of the fans, O'Neal made a small hook shot.

But Lamar's terrifying secondary bouncing ability was manifested at this moment. Another block, this time Battier who rushed to the basket made up for it and took the ball in his hand.

Wade scored on a quick layup.

At 5:10 minutes into the second quarter, Lamar received the ball at the top of the three-point arc.

After a feint so realistic that Lamar himself would have been fooled, Malone unsurprisingly fell into the trap, and the old postman jumped high to prepare for the cover.

At this time, Lamar quickly retracted the basketball, leaned forward and jumped up again. The ball scored at the same time as causing a foul on Malone, three plus one.