Chapter 51: The Chase-Down

Golden State reset with a new guard at the helm, but the swap barely registered to the Forum. The change in volume came when the next whistle sent Latrell Sprewell onto the floor. He shed his warmup at the scorer’s table, checked the score, and waited for the official to wave him in.

Kobe said nothing. He watched Sprewell take his place on the other side of the floor.

The next Lakers trip ran through the high post. Knight held at the elbow, pivoted, and looked for a cutter. Bowen tried to shake his man through a pair of screens, but Golden State switched and took it away. Fisher cycled the ball up top, then used Ben for a quick screen. The Warriors anticipated it, showing toward the passing lane before recovering.

With three seconds left, Fisher reset to Kobe at the arc.

Sprewell was already there.

He dropped into a low stance on the catch and crowded Kobe without reaching. Kobe jabbed, shifted left, then tried to come back right, but Sprewell stayed on his hip and rode the angle toward the baseline.

The clock was disappearing.

Kobe planted and rose anyway, fading from just inside the three-point line.

Swish.

Golden State pushed immediately. Sprewell filled the left lane and caught the ball ahead of Kobe, attacking before the Lakers could get completely set. Kobe recovered to his hip, but Sprewell used the advantage to get into the paint. Ben stepped across.

Sprewell took the contact and finished anyway.

He turned and jogged back.

Kobe followed.

At the other end, Kobe caught Fisher’s eye and pointed toward Ben, then tapped his chest.

Fisher nodded.

Knight and Ben came high, stacking near the top of the floor. Kobe started low and broke toward the first screen. Sprewell fought over Knight, staying attached, but Ben was already set behind him and forced Sprewell around the second.

That was enough.

Kobe caught up with a step of space and turned toward the lane. The weak-side defender immediately slid across.

Kobe jump-stopped and kicked the ball back to Knight.

Knight was alone at the free-throw line.

The jumper rimmed out, but Ben had already put a body on his man. He grabbed the rebound and laid it in.

On the run back, Fisher said, “Good put back.”

Golden State went somewhere else on the next possession. Their guard used a screen to get into the lane, drew Knight toward him, then kicked the ball to the wing. Bowen recovered in time to bother the shot.

Miss.

Knight grabbed the rebound and pushed it himself, finding Fisher ahead. Kobe filled the right lane, but the ball never came his way. Fisher waited for the defense to collapse and flipped it to Bowen in the corner.

The three came off long.

Sprewell grabbed it and went.

He crossed half court, gave the ball up, then planted himself at the elbow and raised a hand.

The entry came.

Kobe settled behind him.

Sprewell took one hard dribble, leaned into Kobe’s chest, and spun toward the middle. Kobe stayed with him long enough to make the angle difficult, but Sprewell created half a step anyway.

He rose from twelve feet.

Back rim.

Ben pulled it down.

“Push!”

Fisher was already moving.

The Lakers pushed the other way, but Golden State got back and forced them into the half court. Fisher called the set, Knight came high, and Kobe ran his defender through another curl.

This time Sprewell stayed attached.

The ball went elsewhere.

Bowen caught on the wing, moved it to Knight, and Knight drove before kicking it back to Fisher. Fisher missed from the top, but Ben tracked the long rebound and kept the possession alive.

Two trips later, Golden State ran Sprewell off a curl.

Kobe trailed him through the screen and recovered as the pass arrived. Sprewell gathered to shoot, and Kobe got a hand into his line of vision without reaching across his body.

The jumper hit the front rim.

Kobe turned and ran.

On the other end, he started along the baseline and came hard off Knight’s screen. Sprewell lost the angle for half a step.

Fisher found him at fifteen feet.

Sprewell recovered, but the closeout was late.

Kobe rose.

The ball caught the back rim and dropped.

The noise from the lower bowl lifted. Somewhere behind the Lakers bench, Kobe heard his name mixed into it.

The game kept moving.

When the Lakers got the ball back, Fisher swung it toward Kobe on the right side.

Sprewell crowded him immediately.

Kobe jabbed and drove.

Sprewell met him chest to chest and held the angle. Kobe tried to step through, but there was nothing there.

He kicked it back to Fisher.

Fisher took the three.

Clank.

Ben chased down the rebound and threw it back outside.

The Lakers reset.

Kobe drifted toward the weak side while Bowen and Knight worked a two-man action opposite him. Bowen’s jumper missed, and Sprewell came down with the rebound before breaking upcourt.

Kobe turned after him.

Sprewell had half a step.

Then less.

By the time they reached the lane, Kobe was even.

The pass came ahead. Sprewell caught on a hard step and planted for the gather. Kobe rose with him.

Sprewell held the ball.

Kobe stayed up.

Sprewell came back down and kicked it outside instead.

Golden State reset with the shot clock winding down. Their guard attacked from the top, beating Fisher by half a step and getting toward the paint.

Kobe saw it.

He slid toward the lane.

One step too far.

The pass went immediately to the corner.

“Kobe! Corner!”

Kobe turned.

Too late.

Cash.

He looked toward Harris and raised a hand once.

Harris was already pointing back upcourt.

Fisher took the inbound.

The Lakers worked through two actions before Knight got a look inside and drew the foul. At the dead ball, Harris called them over.

He tapped the board with the marker.

“Don’t help unless it’s a hard double,” he said. “Sprewell’s going to call his own number. Let him.”

Kobe nodded.

Harris moved on to the next assignment.

When play resumed, the referee handed Golden State the ball before he could give it another thought.

Kobe lowered the towel on the bench and leaned forward.

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Kobe didn’t stay on the bench long enough to settle into it.

The game moved through another stretch without him, Golden State finding some rhythm against the Lakers’ next group, before Harris looked down the row again and called for Fisher, Kobe, Bowen, Ben, and Knight.

By the time Kobe stripped off his warmup and headed toward the scorer’s table, Golden State had built a six-point lead.

He looked across the floor as he checked back in. Different guard. Different forward. Sprewell was still out there.

Kobe studied the five Golden State players gathering near the lane, and something about the combination tugged at his memory.

Not because any one player shouldn’t have been there. It was the five together. He couldn’t remember this group sharing the floor during this stretch.

Then again, Fisher hadn’t played these minutes before. Neither had Ben or Bowen, at least not like this.

The referee handed Golden State the ball, and Kobe dropped into his stance. Whatever he remembered, this wasn’t it.

Golden State ran a quick action through the top. Fisher and Ben contained the initial screen, forcing the guard to give it up, and the ball skipped to the wing, where Kobe’s man caught and faced. Kobe gave him space. The forward took one dribble toward the middle, changed direction, and Kobe reached at the exact moment the ball crossed his body. His fingertips caught leather and knocked it out of bounds.

Golden State kept possession, but the shot clock had dropped to seven. Kobe backed away and found his man again. On the inbound, the Warriors went immediately into a familiar alignment. A shooter started low. One big one came toward the elbow while another turned his body along the baseline.

Kobe recognized it.

He shifted before the screen arrived.

The screen never came.

The big slipped toward the rim instead, and Kobe turned immediately, but the pass was already going inside.

Ben stepped across and forced the receiver underneath the basket, buying Kobe enough time to recover.

The ball came back outside, and Golden State settled for a contested jumper at the horn.

It went long.

Knight grabbed it, and Kobe was already running.

Fisher took the outlet and pushed. Bowen filled the left side, Kobe the right. Golden State retreated toward the paint, and Kobe slowed just enough to let Fisher see the floor before cutting behind the defender looking back toward the ball.

“Derek!”

Knight had seen it from behind the play.

Fisher looked and sent the pass over the top. Kobe caught it without breaking stride and went straight up. The rotating defender arrived late, and Kobe finished hard with two hands, dropped from the rim, and turned upcourt.

The Forum followed him with a rising wash of noise.

Golden State came right back. Their guard attacked Fisher off a high screen, but Ben showed long enough to turn him sideways. The ball went to the wing again.

This time Kobe pressed closer. The forward crossed once and tried to turn the corner, but Kobe stayed on his hip until Knight stepped across and forced the pass back outside. Golden State reversed it.

Same alignment.

Kobe saw the big turn his body, but this time he didn’t move early. He waited until the screener opened his hips, then slipped underneath, beat the shooter to the spot, and arrived as the pass did. The shooter caught with Kobe already in front of him and had to put it on the floor. With the shot clock running down, the ball went back outside and Golden State threw up a rushed three.

It missed. Ben pulled it down, and Kobe turned upcourt.

That was better. Not remembering where the possession was supposed to go. Watching where it went.

Fisher slowed them into the half court. Ben came high for the screen while Kobe started along the baseline and came up through Knight’s body on the weak side.

The switch put a longer defender on him. Kobe caught at the wing, showed the ball, then took one hard dribble toward the lane. The help defender stepped away from Ben.

Kobe bounced it underneath, and Ben caught and finished before the help could recover. On the run back, Ben pointed once at Kobe. Kobe was already finding his man.

The next few possessions came faster. Golden State scored on a pull-up. Fisher answered by getting into the lane and finding Knight underneath. Bowen forced a bad pass along the baseline. Kobe came off a screen and got a clean look from the elbow.

Swish.

Golden State pushed after a Lakers miss, and Kobe sprinted back to cut off the lane. The ballhandler pulled out rather than challenge him, allowing Fisher and Bowen to recover. The Forum had changed with the run. Not dramatically. Nobody was chanting his name. But Kobe could hear the difference whenever he touched the ball. The sound lifted a little earlier now, anticipation arriving before anything actually happened.

Golden State called timeout.

Harris was already drawing by the time they reached him, and the five crowded around. “They’re starting to jump the first action,” he said. “Don’t fight it. Get through it and make them guard the second.”

The marker moved across the board. Harris tapped the weak side.

“And quit leaving this empty. Somebody’s got to occupy it.”

The horn sounded, and they went back out.

At the next dead ball, Golden State changed personnel again. But Sprewell stayed on.

Golden State answered through Sprewell. He caught on the opposite wing, attacked Bowen’s outside shoulder, and got into the lane before Ben could completely close the gap. The layup dropped, and Sprewell was already running back when Kobe took the inbound. There was no look between them, no acknowledgment. The game had gotten too fast for that.

The next few minutes blurred together in the way good stretches always did.

Not because Kobe stopped seeing the details, but because there were too many of them. A shoulder opening before a pass. Knight’s defender looking at the ball half a second too long. Ben changing the angle of a screen at the last instant. Bowen drifted three feet toward the corner because his man had turned his head.

Kobe stopped trying to match any of it against what he remembered.

There wasn’t time.

He grabbed a long rebound and pushed it himself, forcing Golden State to retreat before slipping the ball to Fisher, cutting behind him for two. A possession later, he jumped a lazy pass toward the wing and knocked it ahead.

This one stayed inbounds.

Kobe got there first, and the lower bowl started rising before he crossed the free-throw line. He gathered, took one step, and went up.

The dunk snapped through cleanly.

By the time his shoes hit the floor, the Forum was roaring. Kobe turned and ran back.

Golden State didn’t give him much room after that. The next time he touched it on the wing, two defenders shaded toward him before he’d even started his move. Kobe saw them and drove anyway, not toward the rim but toward the help. The second defender committed, and Kobe kicked it to Bowen.

Bowen buried the three.

The Lakers bench rose. Kobe pointed toward them once and turned back to the game.

Golden State called another set, and Kobe recognized the alignment. For half a second, memory supplied an answer.

Then the forward moved somewhere he wasn’t supposed to.

Kobe almost smiled.

He waited this time. The action developed in front of him. The screener turned. The guard looked middle-aged.

Kobe saw his eyes move before the ball did.

He stepped into the passing lane.

Steal.

Fisher was gone, and Kobe hit him ahead. Fisher caught, took two steps, and finished off the glass. The crowd rose again.

“DE-FENSE! Clap-clap. DE-FENSE! Clap-clap.”

Golden State slowed things down on the next trip and got Sprewell the ball. He attacked, drew Ben toward the lane, and kicked it out for an open jumper.

Kobe took the inbound and handed it to Fisher. They went back the other way.

Possession after possession, the six-point deficit disappeared. Kobe didn’t notice exactly when. He noticed Harris stop looking toward his bench. He noticed Golden State calling out switches earlier. He noticed defenders turning their heads toward him whenever Fisher pushed in transition.

A Lakers miss bounced long toward the sideline, and Golden State grabbed it and went. Sprewell broke immediately. The outlet found him along the right side with an open floor ahead.

Kobe was behind the play.

Three steps.

Maybe four.

He went after him.

By half court, he had taken one back. Sprewell crossed the three-point line, and Kobe had taken another.

The crowd saw it before Sprewell did.

People along the baseline started standing.

Sprewell gathered.

Kobe planted.

Sprewell went up off the glass, and Kobe came across from the weak side. His palm met the ball against the backboard with a crack that carried through the building, driving it straight down instead of sending it into the seats.

Ben grabbed it.

“Numbers!”

Fisher was already gone.

Kobe landed, turned, and sprinted. Ben threw the outlet, and Fisher caught near half-court before pushing up the middle. Bowen filled one side. Kobe came flying up the other.

The Forum was still on its feet.

Fisher attacked the lane and pulled the last defender toward him before kicking the ball out. Kobe caught on the wing. The defender scrambled toward him.

For a beat, Kobe let him close.

Then he rose.

The shot left his hand clean.

Nothing but net.

The bench erupted. Kobe was already running back.

By the time he crossed half court, half the lower bowl was still standing.