A five-star hotel near Madison Square Garden.

All the Lakers players only rested in the hotel for more than an hour before entering the Knicks' home arena.

This arena is one of the oldest in the NBA, but the last time the Knicks won a championship was in the 1970s.

Because of the management's inaction, the Knicks' performance has been very poor in recent years, and they are basically a weak team in the Eastern Conference.

The last time they played in the playoffs was back in the 2012-2013 season.

That season, their star Carmelo Anthony led players such as Tyson Chandler and Iman Shumpert to the Eastern Conference semifinals, but was defeated by the Pacers led by Paul George.

That is to say, since that season, the Knicks have gone through a major change. Since then, they have been unable to recover and have gone further and further down the road of being weak.

Although the Knicks' record is poor, there are still a lot of fans across the country.

The arena ranks among the top in the league in ticket sales every season.

Not only that, the Knicks’ market value is one of the best among the 30 teams. Of course, this has a lot to do with New York, a world-class metropolis.

The players just played a game last night. After arriving at the training facility arranged by the Knicks, Scott did not arrange any heavy training tasks.

But today's game is extremely important to them.

Judging from the recent schedule, the Knicks are considered a relatively weak opponent they have encountered.

The current record of the Knicks is similar to that of the Lakers. They are 23 wins and 30 losses, and they have basically bid farewell to the playoffs.

So this is a good opportunity for the Lakers to win.

When the players were doing basic shooting training, Scott and team doctor Gary Viti came to Kobe: "Kobe! Are you sure you want to play tonight?"

After Kobe made a three-pointer, he said without hesitation: "Of course! Scott, you know me, I never thought about taking a rest."

Scott nodded: "Then please pay attention, Gary said your injury is not healed yet."

"Come on!" Kobe shot another three-pointer, "It's not like you don't know my situation. Unless I can't walk, I won't be absent."

Scott and Galivetti looked at each other, spread their hands and said nothing.

…

At seven o'clock in the evening.

When the Lakers players appeared at Madison Square Garden, they were greeted with extremely warm cheers and shouts.

"Kobe! Kobe! Kobe..."

The fans chanted Kobe's name in unison!

It was only then that Lin Tiancai discovered that the number of fans wearing Kobe jerseys in the home arena had reached almost one-third!

People who don't know may think this is at the Staples Center.

There were so many media reporters in this arena today that there was no room left on the sidelines.

Almost all the spotlight in the audience was focused on Kobe.

Although Black Mamba is well-informed, he was also shocked by today's scene!

He waved to the fans and blew a kiss.

The Knicks players who were doing shooting training also stopped shooting at this time and came over one after another.

Derek Fisher, the bald head coach of the Knicks, trotted up to Kobe and hugged Kobe tightly.

He entered the league in the same year as Kobe, and he also spent the peak period of his career with the Lakers, winning five championships with Kobe.

Fisher also performed one of the most miraculous kills in the playoffs: a 0.4-second kill!

That winning goal is still talked about by many fans to this day.

After he retired, he directly became a coach and has coached the Knicks for one season. This is his second season coaching the Knicks.

Compared to his playing career, Fisher's coaching career with the Knicks seemed a mess.

Last season, under his coaching, the Knicks only managed a record of 17 wins and 65 losses, finishing last in the Eastern Conference and losing only one game less than the Timberwolves in the Western Conference.

The situation has improved this season, and the number of wins has now exceeded last season. But if Lin Tian remembers correctly, Fisher will probably be fired by the Knicks in a few days. His NBA coaching career,

It will also come to an end for the time being.

After all, it is unacceptable that the Knicks, with Anthony, can't even make the playoffs.

As one of Kobe's favorite teammates, Fisher and Kobe hugged each other for two minutes.

Kobe originally wanted to chat with Fisher for a longer time, but the Knicks players were lining up to say hello to him...

Such a peaceful scene between the home team and the away team is rare in the NBA.

After greeting the players, Kobe had to greet the celebrities who came to watch the game.

Fans who can sit in the front row of Madison Square Garden to watch games are either rich or expensive.

The tickets here are one of the most expensive in the NBA.

The usual attendance rate of other NBA teams is actually not high, but the Knicks tickets will never be worried about being sold out, not to mention that Kobe is here today!

When Kobe was busy greeting people, Nick Young joked to Lin Tian: "Lin! If you don't know, you think this is a fan meeting, haha!"

Another half hour passed quickly, and the game between the Knicks and the Lakers officially began.

The Knicks' starting lineup today is: Jose Calderon, Aron Afflalo, Anthony, Porzingis, Robin Lopez.

The starting lineup for the Lakers is: Clarkson, Kobe, Lin Tian, ​​Tucker and Howard.

Judging from the paper lineup alone, the Lakers are obviously stronger than the Knicks, but there are too many uncertainties on the court.

During the jump ball stage, Howard touched the ball first and slapped the ball into Lin Tian's hand.

The one guarding Lin Tian today was Knicks star Anthony.

Anthony faced Lin Tian, ​​adjusted his iconic hair tie, and a confident smile appeared on his face.

Although Anthony has entered the NBA All-Star starting lineup this season, at the age of 32, he is already at the end of his prime.

Although he has won many honors in his career, his good friend James has already won two championships.

Lin Tian is able to dominate the NBA thanks to Anthony, because he has copied all of Anthony's abilities at his peak.

Now Lin Tian is more than twice as threatening as Anthony!

Mainly because Lin Tian's defense is much better than Anthony's.

For the first ball today, Lin Tian chose to play singles by himself.

Looking at Anthony in front of him, Lin Tian did not change direction directly, but suddenly accelerated inward.

He didn't completely get rid of Anthony, but he took two steps in from the three-point line and directly shot a pull-up jumper. This is also one of Anthony's most commonly used weapons.

Whoosh!

The first mid-range shot was a hit!

Anthony failed to defend in time and shook his head in frustration. When he returned to the frontcourt, he said to Lin Tianda: "When did you steal all my offensive moves?"

He has watched almost all the Lakers games this season, and he has long discovered that many of Lin Tian's offensive moves are very similar to his, especially small steps and emergency mid-range shots.

In his career of more than ten years, this is the first time a player has such offensive actions and imagination.

Lin Tian was shocked, but his expression did not change. He smiled and said, "I have watched the videos of each of your games hundreds of times."

Now it was Anthony's turn to be surprised. He thought to himself, this kid is so smart! There are not many young people who work as hard as him!

For a time, Anthony's attitude towards Lin Tian also changed.

The Knicks had the ball at this time. Calderon dribbled the ball across half court and passed it to Anthony as a matter of course.

After receiving the ball, Anthony made a fake pass, and then suddenly rushed inside.

Lin Tian himself copied Anthony's peak ability and was too familiar with Anthony! The opponent's fake moves could not fool him at all.

When he was guarding outside the penalty area, Anthony braked instantly, stabilized his body extremely deftly, and jumped high to hit a mid-range shot!

Lin Tian's defense was already in place, but he still let Anthony throw this difficult ball in.

The fans cheered excitedly from the auditorium.

The home fans who come to watch Knicks games now basically come only for Anthony and rookie Porzingis.

This kind of goal can excite fans the most.

In the next round of the Lakers' offense, Lin Tian did not take over all the offense, but gave the ball to Kobe who was preparing to respond on the wing.

After Kobe caught the ball, the cheers in the arena were even more enthusiastic than when Anthony scored just now!

It is really rare to encounter such a situation in an away game.

After Kobe got the ball, he directly chose to break through!

The Knicks' No. 2 Afflalo followed Kobe's footsteps, but Kobe suddenly jumped near the penalty area and made a jump shot, causing Afflalo to foul.

This was a shooting foul. Amid the cheers of the fans, Kobe stood on the free throw line.

"MVP! MVP! MVP..."
To be continued...