Charlotte is the largest city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the 17th largest in the country. Today, Charlotte is a highly modern industrial and commercial city, an important financial, trade, and transportation center in the United States, and the fastest growing city in the southeastern United States. Twelve U.S. banks, including five of the largest U.S. banks, operate banking and finance operations in the city of Charlotte.

The Charlotte Hornets were founded in 1988, and the reason the MLS team was established here was to get a piece of the NCAA home base. In North Carolina, USA, there are many fans who like college leagues, and Stern believes that there are a lot of potential fans to develop here.

But the Charlotte Hornets don't have a good market, and NCAA fans are not interested in the commercial league of American professional basketball.

Although with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entering the NBA, and Michael Jordan entering the NBA, there has been a huge influx of NCAA fans into the NBA. But the impact of just a few players isn't enough, especially since the Charlotte Hornets have been lacking superstars.

The Hornets have had All-Star calibre players such as Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Magosy Boggs, and Glen Rice. But the team's record and the market have not received good feedback.

This summer, they traded from the Lakers for Verratti Divac, the core of the Lakers last season. Last offseason, Mourning was traded from the Heat for Glen Rice. This season, the Charlotte Hornets are gearing up for a big career.

After the game against the Knicks, the Lakers didn't rest and boarded a flight to Charlotte.

That's what MLS basketball is all about, with a lot of fixtures and different playing venues. The players will spend a lot of energy on the road and during the game. Especially back-to-back away games like this, which are played in a row without breaks, is a very hard thing for the players.

The Lakers slept on the flight for a while, but the loud noise, the turbulence when encountering air currents, and the aviation command while waiting to get on and off the plane all gave them a poor rest.

The Hornets, on the other hand, have been resting at home for two days after their last game. They waited for work, and Kobe Bryant knew that it was inevitable that there would be a hard fight today.

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The Hornets are headed by Dave Cowens, a legendary Boston center who coached the Celtics players during the 7879 season. He had been an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs for several years, and this season the Charlotte Hornets brought him in as the team's head coach.

Previously, the Charlotte Hornets had a 1-1 record, while the Lakers won all 3 games.

The starting lineup for the Charlotte Hornets is PG Bugs, Boggs, SG, Tony Smith, SF, Glenn Rice, PF, Anthony Mason Jr., C, Verratti Divac. This squad is also a good set of lineups, and it is fully capable of achieving excellent results.

It is worth mentioning that their starting point guard is Boggs, who is only 1.6m tall. Drafted by the Washington Bullets with the 12th pick in 1987, Boggs is the shortest player in MLS basketball history. In this era when height is king, it is shocking that such a player can survive in the NBA and play all the time, and Kobe Bryant knows that this player has amazing willpower and skill, and his vertical bounce is said to be 110 centimeters.

If it weren't for his height limiting him, it's hard to imagine what heights he could have reached.

In his rookie years, he teamed up with the 2.31-meter Manute Bauer. They were the tallest and shortest players in NBA history at the time, with a staggering 71 centimeters between the two. This height difference also makes Ball and Boggs often appear on the cover of magazines.

Their shooting guard, Tony Smith, was also a fake starter.

The real main scoring guard is none other than Stephen Curry's father, who caused a three-point storm in later generations - Dele Curry. Dell Curry's shooting ability is very outstanding, and he has been a bench bandit for many years with the Hornets, and he has been able to shoot more than 40% from the field and make more than two three-pointers.

This is very rare in this era, where coaches always think that three-point shots will cause long rebounds, causing the opponent to easily counterattack.

The Hornets have a number of three-point shooters like Dell Curry and Glen Rice. Their team is shooting a staggering 42.8 percent from three-point range per game.

Glen Les had a strong season with the Hornets last season, averaging 21.6 points per game to qualify as a team star. But that wasn't a great performance, and this season he started trying to shoot more threes.

Bryant and Glen Rice were teammates for a while, and he knew that the shooter had excellent physical qualities. With a height of 2.01 meters and a weight of 98 kilograms, he has a foothold in this era, while his excellent projection skills have made him an All-Star caliber player.

Anthony Mason, a former member of the New York Gang, is 2.01 meters tall but weighs 113 kilograms. He seems to be reckless, but he has very superb passing and control skills. He's an all-around American power forward with excellent defense, physical strength and a good passing hand.

Verratti Divac was the Lakers' bargaining chip for Kobe Bryant in the summer, and he has excellent passing ability. At the same time, the defense is excellent, and the protection of rebounding is very good.

This is a center that can make his teammates better, and the real heart of the Lakers last year. Bryant has years of experience playing against him, and his offensive talent was brought to full play when he joined the Kings team at Princeton.

And the Lakers' starting lineup remains the same. Ceballos still plays the role of starting small forward. Bryant was not unhappy with Harris's arrangement, because he knew that an undercurrent was surging.

The game took place in a slightly deserted arena.

From the beginning of the first quarter, the situation was very unfavorable for the Lakers.

As if he wanted to prove himself in front of his old club, Verratti Divac fought hard against O'Neill's singles. And the Lakers, who were tired from the journey and slow-paced, also had great holes in defense, and Glen Rice played again under the eye defense of Ceballos. He scored 11 points in the first quarter.

On the Lakers' side, after O'Neal couldn't open the situation, the ball came to Kobe Bryant. Bryant made two attempted shots. Neither Boggs nor Tony Smith could interfere with Bryant's jumper too well, and the ball went into the frame.

The first quarter of the game ended with Kobe Bryant and Glen Les, who scored nine points in a single quarter. O'Neal made 1-of-3 shooting and scored just three points.

After coming off the bench, Bryant kept a firm eye on Dell Curry and didn't let him get a good shot. Kobe Bryant was caught in the second half of the first quarter, and the ball passed by Kobe Bryant, but his teammates repeatedly hit the iron in the open space.

At the end of the first quarter, the Lakers' offensive efficiency was extremely low, and the Lakers ended the first quarter at 18:23 with the Hornets.