Chapter 58: Preseason Game 7: An Apple a Day…

The building felt wrong from the minute they stepped in.

Not in a bad way. Just different.

The walk through the tunnel felt more crowded than it had during the rest of the preseason. Camera crews were already spread across the hardwood, another pair worked near the baseline, and press row behind the scorers’ table looked packed shoulder-to-shoulder. Even the security around the floor had been tightened. At the far end, a local television crew tried to fit a boom mic between two courtside seats while a producer waved somebody farther down the row.

The Knicks were already warming up.

Ewing worked around the lane. Houston moved between the wings. Oakley stayed close to the basket, rebounding and feeding balls back out. Nothing about it looked rushed.

The Lakers were looser.

Shaq was already on the court, headphones over his ears as he walked along the three-point line.

For once, he wasn’t singing.

Kobe noticed that before anything else.

Shaq usually found somebody to bother during warmups. He would drift into a teammate’s stretch, say something to one of the trainers, start moving his hands with whatever was playing through his headphones.

Not tonight.

He walked the arc, turned at the baseline and came back the other way, eyes forward. A camera followed him nearly the entire time.

At the opposite end, Patrick Ewing stood beneath the rim with a ball in one hand. He tossed it upward, caught it, turned and put up a short jumper without bringing the ball much below his face.

Then he did it again.

Even during warmups, there was nothing loose about him. Every movement looked deliberate.

Kobe reached the bench, pulled off his jacket, and started through his own routine.

Harris didn’t need to tell anybody what the cameras had already made obvious.

Most of them followed Shaq at one end and Ewing at the other.

The officials were on the floor early, checking the clock and speaking with the scorer’s table. Reporters moved around the baseline trying to finish interviews before warmups ended. Every few minutes, another camera found Shaq.

When the starters were announced, the volume climbed.

Shaq jogged toward the floor, slapped hands with Van Exel and Eddie, then glanced back toward the bench.

Kobe gave him a nod.

Shaq turned back toward center court.

He beat Ewing to the opening tip.

Ewing was already retreating by the time Van Exel crossed half court.

Nick raised a hand and called the first set. Harris gave a signal from the sideline, and the ball went down to Shaq on the left block.

Ewing met him chest-to-chest.

Shaq lowered his shoulder once.

Ewing held his ground.

Shaq took another step, gained half a foot, gathered and went up with both hands.

The dunk shook the support behind the rim.

New York came back the other way and went directly to Ewing.

He caught just inside the foul line.

Shaq stepped toward him.

Ewing gave one short hesitation and rose.

The fifteen-footer barely touched the rim.

They went back to Shaq.

Then Ewing.

The Lakers tried to establish Shaq deep, while New York kept moving Ewing farther away from the basket. Shaq earned space with his body. Ewing created it with his footwork.

Oakley made everything around them harder.

Whenever Shaq started getting too comfortable on the block, Oakley appeared near the edge of the action. Nothing dirty. A shoulder on a cut. A forearm during the fight for position. Another body waiting when Shaq turned toward the middle.

On one possession, Shaq caught with Ewing behind him and tried to wheel baseline.

Oakley slid over.

Shaq absorbed the contact, picked up the ball, and kicked it back outside before the lane disappeared completely.

Eddie caught on the wing and missed.

Oakley turned, found his man, and secured the rebound.

New York went back to Ewing.

This time Shaq crowded him immediately.

Ewing took one dribble, felt Shaq leaning toward the middle, then turned into a fadeaway.

Shaq recovered enough to get a hand up.

The shot still dropped.

Kobe watched from the bench.

Ewing wasn’t trying to beat Shaq at the same game.

That was the difference.

The next Lakers possession went away from the matchup. Ceballos came off a flare, caught on the move, and attacked the basket.

Oakley was waiting.

The contact sounded harder than it looked.

Ceballos lost the ball on the way down. No whistle.

He glanced toward the sideline as New York pushed the other way.

Harris only pointed back toward the floor.

Get set.

The first several minutes continued that way.

Shaq scored.

Ewing answered.

Houston knocked down a three when the Lakers pinched too far toward the middle.

Shaq earned another basket after fighting for position nearly the entire possession.

When Los Angeles tried to go right back to him, Oakley crowded the catch before Shaq could put the ball on the floor.

It wasn’t the first time Kobe had seen Shaq challenged.

By the time Harris went to the first rotation, the score was tied at ten.

Fisher came in.

Bowen followed.

Ben Wallace got up from farther down the bench.

Kobe stripped off his warmup top and joined them near the scorer’s table.

Harris caught them before they stepped onto the floor.

“Run the set. Don’t let Starks get free.”

Then he waved them in.

Fisher took the ball across half court and called the action.

New York put a longer guard on Kobe and immediately started denying the wing. Kobe moved toward the passing lane, felt the defender climbing above him and prepared to reverse direction.

Fisher saw it first.

Kobe planted and went backdoor.

The pass bounced through the opening before Kobe had to signal.

He caught it in stride and finished off the glass.

On the way back, Kobe glanced toward Fisher.

Fisher was already pointing Bowen toward the next matchup.

New York inbounded.

Starks started moving before the ball reached the frontcourt.

Bowen stayed with him.

Across one screen.

Then another.

Starks tried to stop short on the wing, but Bowen crowded the catch enough that he had to move the ball instead.

The Knicks reset.

Starks cut through again.

Bowen followed.

He didn’t shut him down. He simply made every route take longer than Starks wanted.

Ben did most of his work closer to the basket.

A Lakers jumper came off long, and Oakley turned toward the rebound.

Ben found him first.

He got his hips underneath Oakley, held the box-out through the contact, and pulled the ball down with both hands.

Oakley leaned into him.

Ben shifted his feet and stayed where he was.

He gave the ball to Fisher.

A few possessions later, Kobe came off a screen and caught near the elbow.

The defender recovered late.

Kobe rose before he could get all the way back.

The jumper hit the front rim and bounced high.

Ben got a hand to it.

The ball kicked back toward the perimeter, where Fisher collected it and called another set.

The Lakers never got comfortable.

Every time they created a little separation, New York took some of it back.

Bowen kept Starks from touching the ball for two straight possessions. On the third, New York ran him through another curl.

This time Starks slipped free.

He caught on the wing and went straight into the shot.

It ripped through the net.

He was already running back when the ball hit the floor.

Houston found space on the next trip and knocked down a jumper from the elbow.

Kobe answered later from the same area.

Fisher brought the ball up, moved it to the side, and Kobe came off the action with enough room to catch and rise.

The shot dropped cleanly through.

Harris continued changing groups as the quarter went on. Sometimes Kobe played with Fisher. Sometimes Shaq came back alongside the younger players. Other stretches had more of the starters together.

The Knicks kept going back to the same actions and making Los Angeles defend them again.

When the horn sounded, the Lakers had the lead.

Lakers 25 – Knicks 22

Shaq came toward the bench, breathing harder than he had during most of the preseason, sweat running down his arms as he grabbed a towel.

Across the floor, New York gathered around Van Gundy.

Ewing stood near the front of the huddle with his hands on his hips. Starks leaned in from the side. Oakley stood behind them.

Nobody looked particularly bothered by the score.

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Harris opened the second quarter with the experiment.

Van Exel stayed at the point, Ceballos at the three, with a pair of second-unit bigs filling out the frontcourt. For the first few possessions, nothing changed. Nick got a clean look coming off a screen, Ceballos drew a foul on a drive, and the Lakers held on to the small lead they had carried out of the first quarter.

Then Starks checked in.

His first touch came off a hard screen on the left side. He turned the corner at full speed, caught the return pass and went straight into his shot before the defender could recover.

Three.

Starks picked up Ceballos on the way back and stayed with him across half court, forcing the Lakers to begin the possession farther from the basket than they wanted.

The next time down, Starks used Ewing’s screen near the top. The first defender got caught behind it, the help arrived a step late, and Starks was already through the gap.

He finished at the rim.

Five points in two possessions, and the lead was gone.

Harris watched from the sideline with his arms crossed.

The Lakers tried to settle things down.

Nick came off a screen and found a second defender waiting. He picked up the ball, tried to squeeze a pass through the opening, and watched it glance off a teammate’s hands.

New York was gone before the Lakers could recover.

Ceballos caught the inbound after the basket and looked toward Van Exel. Nick raised a hand.

Slow down.

They ran the next possession through the post, but New York crowded the lane before the ball could get where it needed to go. Ceballos eventually caught it back on the wing with the clock running down and had to put up a contested jumper.

It came off wide.

Oakley found the rebound and pulled it down through contact.

New York started changing assignments on the Lakers’ screens. One possession left a guard attached to the ball. The next put a bigger body in the way. Los Angeles kept finding itself beginning the offense farther from the spots it wanted.

Starks didn’t need the ball to keep causing problems.

He ran off one screen, cut through the lane, and came back off another. When the Lakers finally chased him off the three-point line, he pump-faked, took one hard dribble inside, and dropped the ball to a cutter for a layup.

Harris called timeout.

He drew one adjustment on the board, pointed out where he wanted the first pass, and sent them back out.

Van Exel called the set.

The Lakers got into it cleanly this time. Nick turned the corner, forced Ewing to take a step toward him, and dropped the ball to the big man underneath.

The shot rolled off.

Oakley cleared the rebound.

At the other end, Houston buried a jumper.

Harris turned toward the bench.

“Kobe.”

Kobe was already on his feet.

He stripped off his warmup top and walked toward the scorer’s table.

When the horn sounded, he checked in at the two.

Ward picked him up.

He gave up several inches, but there was nothing slight about him. He crowded Kobe before the ball arrived, putting a forearm against his hip and making him work just to reach the spot where the Lakers wanted the catch.

Kobe moved through the first action and received the ball above the wing.

Ward closed immediately.

Kobe jabbed once, used a brush screen to make Ward go around him and turned toward the middle. Oakley took a step out of the lane.

Kobe moved the ball.

Fisher caught it, reversed it, and the possession came back around.

This time Kobe caught near the elbow with Ward recovering from behind him.

He rose before Ward could get all the way back.

The jumper was clean.

New York came right back.

Ward used a screen near the top, but Kobe stayed close enough to contest from behind. Ward’s shot hit the back rim, and Ben secured the rebound.

Fisher took the outlet and pushed them into the next possession.

Kobe came off a stagger on the weak side. New York changed assignments on the second screen, leaving a longer defender waiting for him when he caught.

Kobe took one dribble and pulled up.

Short.

Ben got a hand on the rebound and knocked it back outside before Oakley could secure it.

Fisher collected the loose ball and called another set.

The Lakers moved it from side to side until Ceballos got a step along the baseline. Help came from the middle, and he kicked the ball back out.

Fisher had room.

Swish.

The lead was still New York’s.

Houston was beginning to find his spots now.

He came around Ewing near the top, caught with his feet underneath him and pulled up before the defense could close the space.

A possession later, the Lakers stayed tighter to him. Houston curled toward the elbow instead, stopped on balance and hit again over the contest.

Starks had already changed the quarter.

Now Houston had found his rhythm.

Kobe tried to answer on the next possession.

Ward picked him up high and stayed on his right hip. Kobe got past the first step, but Ward had already sent him toward Oakley.

Oakley met him near the lane with a forearm against his body.

Kobe lost his line.

The ball slipped loose.

No whistle.

Starks grabbed it and pushed the other way.

Two points before the Lakers could get back.

Harris called timeout.

Shaq returned afterward.

New York adjusted before he ever touched the ball.

Ewing met him early, fighting to keep him from settling deep on the block. When the entry finally came, Shaq put the ball down once and Oakley immediately dropped toward him.

Shaq turned through the contact anyway.

His shot was off.

Ewing got both hands on the rebound.

The next possession started the same way.

Shaq fought for the block.

Ewing leaned into him from behind.

Oakley took another step toward the lane.

Kobe caught the ball above the break and waited.

For a moment, three Knicks were looking toward the same side of the floor.

He swung it opposite.

Ceballos caught with room and knocked down the three.

New York answered through Houston.

He came off a screen, stopped near the elbow, and put the jumper in before the defender could close the last step.

By the final minutes of the half, the Knicks had stretched the lead to six.

Kobe brought the ball across half court and gave it up before moving to the opposite side.

Fisher returned it to him near the top.

Ward went underneath the screen.

Kobe stopped.

Ward tried to recover.

Too late.

Kobe rose behind the line.

Swoosh.

Three-point game.

New York went back to Ewing.

Starks started the possession with the ball, used Ewing’s screen, and forced Shaq to take a step toward the lane. The pass went back to Ewing before Shaq could recover completely.

Ewing caught around fifteen feet.

One dribble.

The pull-up jumper rattled home.

52–47.

The Lakers had enough time for one more possession.

Fisher brought the ball up and looked toward Harris for the call.

Kobe started high, cut toward the right wing, then changed direction and came back across the lane. Ward stayed attached.

The ball found Kobe near the elbow.

He turned.

Ward was there.

Houston had taken a step off Fisher.

Kobe put the ball on the floor and drove toward the middle.

Houston came another step.

Kobe kicked it out.

Fisher caught just inside the line.

He set his feet and shot.

The ball dropped.

52–49.

New York had a few seconds left.

Starks took the inbound and raced across half court. Bowen met him before he could turn the corner and stayed attached as Starks tried to create enough room for one final shot.

Starks pulled up from well outside.

The horn sounded while the ball was in the air.

It caught the back rim and bounced away.

Knicks 52 – Lakers 49