Ewing caught the ball, faced Dale Davis’s defense, made a fake shot, and slightly shifted Davis’s center of gravity, then Ewing drove towards the basket.
His speed was slow, but with great force, he pushed Dale Davis aside and charged inside for a one-handed slam dunk!
The entire MGM Arena erupted, as Ewing roared like a giant gorilla after scoring.
The referee blew the whistle, calling a defensive foul on Dale Davis, and Ewing would get a free throw.
Davis was a bit stunned by the crash; indeed, a dead camel is bigger than a horse.
Ewing might not support the team’s offense and defense well anymore, but he could still manage an occasional dunk in a matchup.
Stepping up to the free-throw line, Ewing made the additional shot, sealing the first quarter score at 27:22, with a 5-point lead.
After Ewing’s successful dunk, the entire Glory team’s bench stood up, and as he returned to the bench, everyone gave him high-fives.
In fact, after this sequence, Ewing was at his physical limit, unlikely to contribute much in the first half and would have to rest until the second half.
But with 5 points, 2 rebounds, 1 block, and a morale-boosting MAX dunk, Ewing’s contributions were already sufficient.
As the second quarter was about to start, Ewing patted Yao Ming, signaling him to keep up the effort and not to fall behind in the interior battle.
The battle between the interior and exterior lines of both teams heated up, and although Dale Davis was dunked on by Ewing, his rebounding and rim protection inside were still decent.
Moreover, after the second quarter started, Derek Anderson regained momentum with an alley-oop with Little O’Neal.
The Trail Blazers indeed grew more and more composed on offense, after all, their lineup was young, and the players grew and evolved during the game, finding new synergies and feelings.
In contrast, veteran teams kept burning themselves, exhausting their experience and passion, battling young players bit by bit.
Porter also joined the fray at the start of the second quarter; he couldn’t wait until the critical moments of the second half to come on.
Kobe disrupted Glory’s perimeter defense formation significantly, drawing enough defensive forces from the Glory team, and driving Reed, Little O’Neal, Anderson, and others, which Porter didn’t want to see.
So he had to come on to assist Gerald Wallace in dealing with Kobe, who was still too young, a second-year player, very prone to making mistakes.
Shortly after the second quarter began, Wallace committed his third foul, forcing Porter to sub him out for Raja Bell, known for his ability to lock down Kobe.
"I’ve been waiting for you, Raja," Kobe said to him as Bell took the court.
"Waiting for what, waiting to get beaten?" Bell retorted mercilessly, not letting Kobe off the hook.
But when the two faced off, Kobe could easily break through Bell using his skilled techniques.
"Kobe, this kid, has really evolved. In the third and fourth games, he’s playing like a superstar."
On the sidelines, Larry Bird witnessed Kobe’s transformation as he began passing the ball and disassembling Glory’s defense, causing them to lose focus while defending him.
Simply put, he began to control the offensive and defensive initiative, no longer blindly charging into Glory’s defensive traps but forcing Glory to change strategies and guess how he would play.
This is what top-tier offensive players must achieve—the true engine of the court, a tactical playmaker.
In one instance, Kobe received the ball, appeared to make a jump shot, but suddenly passed it to Reuben Patterson cutting into the basket.
Patterson scored the layup, and the Trail Blazers took the lead 34:33.
At this point, Porter had the ball on the outside and ran a pick-and-roll with Gan Guoyang.
Gan Guoyang drew the defense, Porter glanced over, shot a three-pointer, and made it!
Porter made the three, then, on defense, helped trap Kobe and stole the ball!
On the counterattack, the ball went to Jordan, who drove into the basket, evaded the defense, and scored a reverse layup!
Glory scored 5 points straight, neutralizing the crisis.
However, Kobe soon hit a tough three-pointer from the top of the arc, 37:38, only one point difference.
The intense offensive and defensive battle was fierce, and frankly, Gan Guoyang saw a reflection of himself in some offensive and defensive rounds with Kobe.
Kobe’s technical characteristics were indeed like Jordan, but his style and thinking were inherited from Gan Guoyang.
In the offense, he always held the initiative, dictated the defense, and when the opponent was about to rise or counterattack, he used his individual ability to extinguish their fire.
This style was aggressive, aimed at seizing the offensive and defensive initiative as the core purpose, with rapid, explosive offensive means, leaving little time for the opponent to reflect, and requiring a unique sense of rhythm and timing, always a step ahead of the opponent, disrupting their usual game rhythm, gradually leading them into chaos.
Such a style had a high demand for stamina, and Kobe was another stamina monster following Ah Gan.
Jordan’s style was different; he was the ultimate rhythm player, starting from North Carolina with Dean Smith, his rhythm was always different from other teams and players, but he did it much better than others. As the game went on, his opponents would find themselves lagging and unable to catch up.
Only Gan Guoyang’s destructive style could repeatedly defeat Jordan when facing Ah Gan.
Gan Guoyang was very gratified to see Kobe finally achieve something in the fourth game, and it was his style.
Deep down, Kobe was still his disciple, only learning the superficial skills from Jordan.
In the second quarter, both teams were intertwined, and in the last moments, Kobe used a drive and a foul, plus a three-pointer, to help the Trail Blazers take the lead!
49:47, the Trail Blazers led Glory by 2 points at halftime, with Kobe scoring 21 points and 7 assists, effectively controlling the Trail Blazers’ offense.
Meanwhile, Jordan and Ah Gan were in a dormant state in the first half, one with 5 points, the other with 8 points, leaving Rick Carlisle uneasy, wondering if these two guys were waiting for something.
Glory’s veterans and role players played an important role in the first half.
In an overall slow-paced, low-scoring game with low shooting accuracy, every substitute made scoring contributions.
Ewing had 5 points, Bell 2 points, Porter 3 points, Barry 2 points, Ross 2 points, Van Exel 7 points.
Together they scored 21 points, the same as Kobe, enough to offset.
By comparison, the Trail Blazers’ bench performed relatively mediocrely, with only Dale Davis and Patterson scoring 4 points total.
From this point, the second half for the Trail Blazers was destined to be tough.
Of course, Kobe didn’t care; he didn’t care how many points his teammates scored, he cared about winning.
If the teammates didn’t perform, wouldn’t it be enough to score 40 or 50 points himself?
Kobe indeed thought there was no mistake in this, as Ah Gan did the same back then.
However, the major difference between Kobe and Ah Gan was that Kobe’s scoring efficiency was far inferior.
At the start of the third quarter, Kobe attempted to take over the Trail Blazers’ offense, relying on personal ability to suppress Glory in the third quarter.
Yet, at the start of the third quarter, Kobe missed five consecutive shots!
Perhaps it was due to too much energy expended in the first half, or maybe Glory’s defense was too good.
Or perhaps it was just Kobe’s poor shooting touch, as there was no change in Glory’s defense compared to the first half.
The change was in Kobe himself, maybe in the third quarter he encountered the "night of the ugly lady," where what was working well in the first half collapsed in the second, as she accused him of rape, and everything fell apart.
The less he made, the more Kobe wanted to shoot.
Actually, on the third attempt, he had a chance to score or draw a foul when he reached the basket.
But Ah Gan’s precise anticipation disrupted his layup.
The confrontation in the air went without the referee’s whistle.
This play became a turning point in the third quarter and even the entire game.
Glory launched a fast break, Jordan held the ball, assisted Gan Guoyang cutting into the basket for a layup, and even drew Little O’Neal’s foul.
The free throw was made, extending Glory’s lead to 5 points; subsequently, Kobe’s forced three-point attempt from the perimeter was off the mark.
A long rebound was captured by Andre Miller, Jordan on a fast break, stopping at a 45-degree angle, using a fake move to deceive Kobe, then making a steady mid-range shot.
With this shot, the Trail Blazers showed signs of collapse, Rick Carlisle called a timeout, reprimanding Kobe on the bench for his reckless shot selection.
Kobe argued, saying, "Ah Gan played like this."
Carlisle’s response was cutting, "Because Ah Gan could damn well make those shots!"
Kobe fell silent, but it didn’t mean he would change; he was not one to easily change what he believed in.
"Since that’s the case, I just need to make the shots," Kobe thought.