My Name is Kobe Bryant

Charlotte is the largest city in North Carolina and the 17th largest city 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 city with the fastest economic development in the southeastern United States. 12 banks in the United States, including 5 of the largest banks in the United States, operate banking and financial services in Charlotte.

The Charlotte Hornets were founded in 1988. The reason why the NBA set up a team here is to get a share of the NCAA's stronghold. In North Carolina, USA, there are many fans who like the college league. Stern believes that there are a lot of potential fans here that can be developed.

But the market for the Charlotte Hornets is not good, and NCAA fans are not interested in the NBA, a commercial league.

Although with Magic Johnson and Larry Bird entering the NBA, and Michael Jordan entering the NBA, a large number of NCAA fans have poured into the NBA. But the influence of just a few players is not enough, especially the Charlotte Hornets have been lacking superstars.

All-star players such as Larry Johnson, Alonzo Mourning, Magsy Boggs, and Glenn Rice have appeared in the Hornets one after another. But the team record and the market did not give good feedback.

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

After the game against the Knicks, the Lakers did not take a break and boarded a flight to Charlotte.

The NBA is like this, a lot of schedules, different venues. Players will consume a lot of energy during the journey and the game. Especially this kind of continuous back-to-back away games without rest time is a very hard work for the players.

The Lakers slept for a while on the flight, but the loud noise, the turbulence when encountering turbulence, and the aviation command while waiting to get on and off the plane all made them poorly rested.

As for the Hornets, they have rested at home for two days after the last game. They waited for work with ease, and Kobe knew that a hard fight would be inevitable today.

. . . . . .

The Hornets are coached by Dave Cowens, the legendary Boston center who served as the Celtics' player-coach in the 7879 season. He has been an assistant coach with the San Antonio Spurs for the past few years, and this season the Charlotte Hornets invited him to serve as the team's head coach.

Prior to this, the Charlotte Hornets had a record of 1 win and 1 loss, while the Lakers won all 3 games.

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

It is worth mentioning that their starting point guard is the bug Boggs who is only 1.6m tall. In 1987, Boggs was selected by the Washington Bullets with the 12th overall pick. He is the shortest player in NBA history. In this era when height is king, it is shocking that such a player can survive in the NBA and has been playing as a starter. Kobe knows that this player has amazing willpower and skill. It is said that his vertical jump is 110 cm.

If it wasn't for his height, it's hard to imagine what kind of height he could reach.

He once teamed up with the 2.31-meter Manute Ball in his rookie year. They were the tallest and shortest players in NBA history at the time, with a staggering 71 centimeters between them. 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 shooting guard is the father of Stephen Curry who caused a three-point storm in later generations-Dell Curry. Dell Curry's shooting ability is very outstanding. He has played the role of a bench bandit for the Hornets for many years. He can make more than 2 three-pointers with a shooting rate of more than 40%.

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

The Hornets have a lot of three-point shooters like Dell Curry and Glen Rice. Their team shot an astounding 42.8 percent from deep.

Glen Rice performed well in the Hornets last season, averaging 21.6 points per game, which can be called a qualified team star. But this performance is not outstanding. This season, he began to try to shoot more three-pointers.

Kobe and Glen Rice have been teammates for a while, and he knows that the small forward who is good at shooting has excellent physical fitness. With a height of 2.01 meters and a weight of 98 kilograms, he can gain a foothold in this era, and his excellent shooting skills make him an All-Star player.

Anthony Mason is a representative member of the former New York gang, with a height of 2.01 meters and a weight of 113 kilograms. He seems to be reckless, but he has very superb transmission and control skills. He is an all-around American power forward with excellent defense, strong body, and a good passer.

Verati Divac is the bargaining chip that the Lakers exchanged for Kobe in the summer. He has excellent passing ability. At the same time, the defense is excellent, and the protection of rebounds is very good.

This is a center who can make his teammates better, and the real core of the Lakers last year. Kobe has many years of experience playing against him. When he joined the Princeton Kings behind him, his offensive talents were brought into full play.

The Lakers' starting lineup remains unchanged. Ceballos still occupies the starting small forward role. Bryant was not dissatisfied with Harris's arrangement, because he knew that the undercurrent was surging.

The game started in a slightly deserted arena.

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

As if Verati Divac wanted to prove himself in front of his old club, he repeatedly resisted O'Neal's singles. The tired and slow-footed Lakers also had huge loopholes in defense, and Glen Rice once again performed superbly under the defense of Ceballos' eyes. 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 made two tentative shots. Neither Boggs nor Tony Smith could interfere with Bryant's jumper very well, and the ball crashed into the basket.

The first quarter of the game ended with the confrontation between Kobe and Glen Rice. Kobe scored 9 points in a single quarter. O'Neal made 1 of 3 shots and only scored 3 points.

After coming off the bench, Kobe kept a close eye on Dell Curry and didn't let him get a good shot. Kobe was double-teamed in the second half of the first quarter, but when Kobe passed the ball, his teammates repeatedly hit the iron open.

After the first quarter, the Lakers' offensive efficiency was extremely low. The Lakers ended the first quarter with the Hornets at 18:23.

Strongly recommend "Everything Begins with Basketball", back to playing basketball in 2002, the writing is very touching, it is worth reading!