The Thunder's halftime show featured a local singer, a rare opportunity for exposure for a C-list artist, but unfortunately, his song was truly awful.
"What is he even singing? It's not even as good as Kayce's single." A female staff member from CCTV couldn't help but complain.
"Culture is like that; some songs we just don't get. But Kayce is very popular in Oklahoma City; I've already seen many fans wearing his No. 10 jersey."
The photographer had been taking footage and noticed the situation with some of the fans at the venue.
"This is a good thing. The first half was quite interesting. Kayce, this young man, really isn't afraid of the big stage. Kobe really got physical in the second quarter. Most rookies would probably start making continuous turnovers when defended like that!"
Zhang was very happy watching this game. He didn't care much about the Thunder's win or loss, but if Kayce performed well, the old man felt good inside.
"Basketball still depends on physical talent. Kayce's physical test data seems to have no exaggeration. He is only 19 years old now. As long as he doesn't get injured, he will play even better by the time he is 25."
The photographer had collected a lot of news these days and initially thought those reports were hype, but after watching two games live, he completely changed his mind. Kayce was indeed a talented player.
"Let's see the second half. Kobe will definitely still defend him. This game is really interesting!"
Zhang loved a good spectacle. It was also a skill for a rookie to be specifically defended by Kobe.
The third quarter was about to begin. Russell started messing around in the locker room, even imitating Kobe's tone:
"What do you think Kobe will say at halftime? 'Give me the ball in the second half! You guys have to make those damn open shots!'"
"I don't think Kobe will say anything. He'll kill his teammates with his eyes, the death stare!"
Durant finished speaking and began to imitate Kobe's serious expression, but everyone almost burst out laughing when they saw Durant's face; the difference in aura was a bit too much.
"Before Black Mamba kills his teammates with his eyes, he'll definitely devour me first! He's really not friendly to rookies!"
Kayce also complained. Kobe's competitiveness was too strong. If you hit him once, he would definitely respond.
"Haha, Kayce, what did Kobe say to you in the first half? It's rare for him to trash talk a rookie."
Jeff Green asked curiously; he was addicted to watching the drama unfold.
"Nothing, just that I wouldn't score again under his defense. And indeed, I bricked shots in the second quarter!"
Kayce shrugged, saying it very calmly.
"But Kobe didn't blow you out either. In the second quarter, it seemed he shot 1-for-4. I bet he'll shoot like crazy in the second half!"
Durant had been keeping an eye on Kobe's stats.
"I bet Kobe will miss 6 more shots, 100 bucks, guys, anyone want to join in!"
Jeff Green got excited as soon as he heard about a bet and immediately opened a betting pool.
Everyone in the locker room eagerly participated, and the atmosphere was incredibly lively. Seeing this, Kayce inwardly complained.
The third quarter began. Los Angeles Lakers brought back their starting lineup. The Thunder made a proactive change, taking out Kostić and putting in Ibaka.
This lineup was excessively young. Kayce and Ibaka were both first-year players, Russell was a second-year, and Durant and Jeff Green were third-year players. It could be said that this was entirely a rookie team.
The Los Angeles Lakers, on the other hand, were the complete opposite, a bunch of seasoned veterans. Only Bynum was young, but he had also passed his rookie phase. The experience on both sides was completely unequal.
The fans at Ford Center began to cheer and shout for the home team. The live DJ desperately hyped up the atmosphere of the arena, and the roar grew louder and louder.
Russell quickly dribbled past half-court, then made a tactical gesture. Everyone knew this meant an isolation play, as Russell had a huge advantage against Fisher's defense.
After a handoff pass, Ibaka made a fake screen. Fisher defended very hard, trying not to give any breakthrough opportunities, but a confident Russell directly pulled up for a jump shot near the free-throw line.
"Swish!" Although the shooting motion was a bit stiff, if it went in, it was a good shot.
This Thunder offense was incredibly fast, basically crossing half-court and finishing the possession in about 6 seconds.
Fisher was a bit helpless. He was already short, and with age, his lateral movement was slow. He simply couldn't defend against a physically explosive player like Russell.
Coach Brooks watched from the sidelines, very satisfied. He wanted to bet on the shooting touch of both sides in this game. The Thunder would just focus on offense, and defense would be left to fate.
Kobe glanced at his old teammate, said nothing, as Fisher had done his best on that play.
Los Angeles Lakers attacked. Kayce again started desperately defending Kobe. The bronze badge bonus seemed a bit insufficient against Kobe. He had to concentrate, otherwise, he would definitely be shaken off.
After Kobe received the ball, he quickly put it down, then backed down two steps, not bothering with too many fancy moves. He just banged in a couple of post-ups and then turned around for a fadeaway.
"Swish!" The fadeaway was beautiful, sinking in steadily.
Kayce rubbed his chest. This was getting serious. It was pure physical dominance; no crossovers or step-backs, just raw physical power.
The Thunder attacked. Fisher also started getting physical, but Russell, who lifted weights daily, was not afraid of the contact. After quickly passing the ball, he executed a handoff with Jeff Green.
It was still a fake screen. This time, Fisher defended high, sticking very close, but Russell accelerated with a right-hand dribble, then suddenly pulled back, stopping short for another jump shot.
"Swish!" The mid-range shot found its mark again.
The fans immediately cheered for the team. Russell excitedly pounded his chest.
Kayce noticed that after the basket, Kobe made a gesture to his teammates and shouted a couple of words. It seemed the opponents were also prepared, as Phil Jackson was not to be underestimated.
The Los Angeles Lakers' offensive rhythm was slow, constantly moving the ball in and out. As soon as Bynum received the ball, Ibaka and Jeff Green immediately double-teamed him, but he could still raise the ball high and pass it out.
At this point, Odom's passing was very deadly. He would accurately find open spaces on the perimeter, constantly moving the Thunder's defense. After multiple passes, Fisher hit an outside three-pointer.
This was why Phil Jackson used him; old players might be slow on their feet, but their hands weren't soft!
After receiving the ball past half-court, Kayce noticed a change in the Los Angeles Lakers' defense. Now, they were switching on screens, using this defense to protect Fisher's spot.
At the same time, this also showed the Los Angeles Lakers' confidence; they trusted the one-on-one defensive abilities of everyone else on the court.
Kayce looked at Bynum defending him. The latter held his hands high; his 213cm height coupled with an excellent wingspan indeed looked intimidating, but for Kayce, this was an opportunity.
Kayce immediately put the ball down and started dribbling rhythmically between his legs. Bynum gave Kayce about a step of space, but suddenly, with a cross-step dribble, Kayce quickly pulled back, causing Bynum to instinctively step up.
Then, a right-hand dribble directly bounced the ball between Bynum's legs. Kayce accelerated, controlled the ball with his left hand, and drove straight to the basket, quickly taking off for a one-handed tomahawk dunk!
"Slam!" A lightning-fast drive and dunk.
"Ah!!! Ah!!"
This shot completely ignited the atmosphere at Ford Center. It was too flashy, so flashy that the audience got goosebumps and could only howl wildly.
After Kayce's dunk, an excited Durant came over and celebrated with a chest bump. Russell stood on the side, holding his head in his hands, showing his astonishment.
In the CCTV studio, host Yu Jia also shouted out directly:
"Kayce with the nutmeg, a drive and a dunk! What a beautiful play! Full of imagination!"
Bynum, who had become the backdrop, felt a surge of anger. How dare a little rookie treat a champion center like this?
Kobe gave Kayce a deep look, said nothing, and gestured for his teammates to quickly inbound the ball. Everyone's hearts tightened when they saw their leader's expression.
As a young team, the Thunder played very emotionally. For example, at this moment, everyone was extremely excited, their defensive intensity was high, rotations were quick, and they were full of pressure.
Kobe held the ball in the low post. Kayce constantly used body contact to disrupt his offensive rhythm. At this point, Durant immediately came over to double-team. Kobe immediately passed the ball to Bynum in the paint.
The latter received the ball and seemed to want to get some revenge. Facing the double-team of Ibaka and Jeff Green, he forced a shot, resulting in a missed shot. Russell directly snatched the defensive rebound from behind his head.
He didn't stop the ball and passed it directly to Kayce. Artest saw the situation and wanted to directly run Kayce over, but his movement was too obvious. Kayce easily dodged the collision with a behind-the-back dribble.
Then he accelerated quickly. Kobe also chased after him, but unfortunately, Kayce had already released the ball, a precise long pass across half-court. The ball and player arrived simultaneously. Durant soared into the air for a two-handed alley-oop dunk!
"Slam!" After landing, Durant immediately gave Kayce a thumbs up.
The fans in the arena roared wildly. Dunks were the most effective way to ignite the game's atmosphere. Two consecutive dunks completely hyped up the fans.
Kobe first stared at Bynum, making the latter's heart run cold, then received the ball and dribbled past half-court to set up the offense.
Facing the double-team, he quickly passed the ball. The Los Angeles Lakers moved the ball very fast, and finally, Artest took an open three-point jump shot.
"Bang!" It was a brick.
The long rebound was controlled by Kayce. Kobe immediately came over to delay the fast break. Kayce protected the ball while quickly dribbling past half-court, then directly passed the ball to Ibaka, who came over to screen.
He quickly cleared out and gave a hand signal to his teammates. Durant, while battling with Artest, ran over to receive the ball. It was still a fake screen, and Odom was switched onto him.
Durant quickly put the ball down, making a huge in-and-out dribble. This change of direction was so big that he completely blew past his defender, taking a big stride towards the paint. Facing Bynum's help defense, he executed a nimble reverse layup with a scoop.
"Bang! Swish…" It banked in.
After scoring, Durant smiled and shook his head while retreating on defense, a move that infuriated Bynum even more.
The Los Angeles Lakers' offensive rhythm began to falter. Perhaps provoked, the veterans were getting a bit heated, wanting to teach the youngsters a lesson one-on-one, but unfortunately, the effect was poor, with brick after brick.
Kayce then struck hard. First, facing Artest's defense, he dribbled continuously between his legs, then suddenly stepped back for a jump shot, hitting a three-pointer. Then, facing Odom's one-on-one defense, he executed a nimble spin move to break through.
He dished the ball to Jeff Green in the corner, who easily hit an open three-pointer.
This lightning-fast offensive burst immediately widened the score difference to double digits. The third quarter had only been going for 4 minutes.
Phil Jackson immediately called a timeout. The Thunder's offense was too fast; he hadn't expected them to score continuously.
"That's it, guys, maintain our offensive rhythm, and protect the rebounds!" Coach Brooks didn't even talk tactics during the timeout; he just hyped them up.
After the timeout, Kobe, guarded by Kayce, forced a three-pointer and made it. This shot was completely unreasonable.
But on the Thunder's offense, after continuous handoffs, Durant again switched Artest onto Kayce.
After a right-hand cross-step dribble and a quick pull-back, he followed with a large-amplitude spin with his left hand. This set of moves basically shook off the defense.
However, Artest was very experienced in defense. Although he was out of position, he subtly pushed Kayce from the side.
This caused Kayce to be a half-step slow in getting away. Artest had already adjusted his center of gravity, but before he could celebrate, Kayce, unable to get free, suddenly stopped short and then immediately took a step-back jump shot.
Artest, in a hurry, tried to close out directly, but his feet got tangled, and he fell to his knees with a thud.
"Swish!" The three-pointer went in steadily.
Kayce raised his hands, gesturing for the crowd to get hyped. He hadn't been showing off for more than a few seconds when a completely broken Artest immediately stood up and shoved Kayce:
"F*** you, rookie, don't you ever f***ing celebrate in front of me!"
Kayce was pushed, stumbled, and hearing Artest's curse, he immediately went up and body-slammed Artest to the floor:
"You bandwagon-riding trash, f*** you, what's wrong with me f***ing celebrating!" he cursed while raising his fist.
The scene unfolded so quickly that it wasn't until Artest was on the ground and took a punch that everyone rushed over. Bynum was already furious and also wanted to sneak attack Kayce.
But Ibaka next to him immediately delivered a big slap to the back of his neck, and the two also started brawling. The scene was chaotic for a while, and the bench's hype squad also charged forward, roaring.
Finally, the referees and team staff from both sides entered the court and, with great effort, separated Kayce and Artest. The coaching staff from both sides pulled their players back to the bench.
This scene completely thrilled the audience inside Ford Center. Everyone loved a good spectacle and shouted wildly, and soon they all started booing the Los Angeles Lakers in unison.
Kayce didn't suffer any losses; his jersey was just torn by the opponent during the scuffle. Artest definitely took some hidden blows, getting two solid punches from Kayce.
"Nice job, Kayce, I've been annoyed with him for a while, you really should have given him a few more punches!"
Russell was visibly excited; he was the quickest to jump in earlier. If Fisher hadn't grabbed him halfway, he probably would have joined in to gang up on Artest.
"Shit! Look at Odom's face, if someone hadn't pulled us apart just now, he'd be leaving here on a stretcher today!"
Durant had also gotten into it with Odom just now, and the two had a bit of a scuffle.
"Thanks, Bro, for stopping that trash Bynum!" Kayce thanked Ibaka next to him.
"No problem, I should thank Green. That guy successfully took Bynum down."
Ibaka looked at Jeff Green, who was pretending nothing happened. The latter went to break up the fight but ended up pulling Bynum down, and then the three of them were in a pile.
"Guys, I swear, I didn't do it on purpose, it was all an accident!"
Jeff Green shrugged, indicating that he was actually a good person who loved peace.
"I'm probably getting ejected! This game is up to you guys now."
Kayce watched the referee crew still reviewing the replay, knowing that his game was basically over.
Sure enough, after repeatedly watching the replay, the head referee crew went directly to the scorer's table and announced the ruling.
"According to the NBA's latest on-court regulations, both parties are assessed a Flagrant 2 foul and ejected from the game."
The crowd immediately erupted in boos. Kayce shrugged, completely tore open his jersey, and left the court shirtless through the player tunnel, while secretly complaining:
"Outwardly tough, but actually a softie inside."