Lakers get charge from Kobe’s dunk

湖人被科比的扣篮所激发

The lane opened, and so did Kobe Bryant’s eyes. In that flash of an instant, Bryant’s warped ankle no longer felt stiff. His legs felt alive. He took one hard dribble and exploded up. Emeka Okafor, the New Orleans Hornets center, jumped too.

Bryant cocked the ball with his right hand as if it were a hammer held above his head, and … well, this did not end gently for Mr. Okafor.

当突破路线出来，科比也看到了。在那一瞬间，科比受伤的膝盖不在僵硬。他的腿感觉好像得到了重生一样。突破之后来了个暴扣。新奥尔良黄蜂中锋，奥卡福也跳起来了。

科比右手举起球，好像把锤子举过头顶，接着…好吧，这对于奥卡福先生可不是一个什么温柔的举动。

Emeka Okafor admitted he wasn't expecting Kobe Bryant to try to dunk over him.

These are the moments when an NBA season can turn, and Kobe knew as much. This game, this series – maybe even these entire playoffs – became his again. Shannon Brown would later joke that the last time he had seen such a ferocious dunk, Kobe had an Afro. Brown and the rest of these Los Angeles Lakers saw the fury in Kobe’s eyes, and they understood.

奥卡福承认他没有想到科比会想在他头上扣篮。

科比非常了解，在NBA中总些时刻可以扭转局势。这场比赛，这个系列赛-甚至是今年的季后赛-都会又变成他的模式。布朗后来开玩笑说他最后一次看到科比这样的扣篮的时候，科比还是留着爆炸头。布朗以及湖人其他的球员都看到了科比眼中的能量，他们也知道该怎么做了。

Raise up or sit down, Kobe was telling them. The Lakers’ listless season had lurched precariously close to the edge. This quarter, this game – all of it was a referendum. And one violent dunk was all Kobe needed to send his message.

“They know I save those,” he said. “I don’t have much of those left anymore.”

无论是在场上还是在场下，科比都在告诉他们。湖人无精打采的赛季几乎马上要走到尽头了。这一节，这场比赛-都是我们自己造成的。而一个暴扣真是科比想要传递给队友们的。

“他们知道是我拯救的，”科比说。“那一刻我毫无保留。”

Bryant and his Lakers had limped into this Game 5, and yet they emerged looking stronger than they have in a month. The Lakers will fly to New Orleans for a Game 6 on Thursday, and the Hornets will again feel the energy of playing in front of their own fans. But Bryant, who had 19 points on Tuesday, made clear he has no intention of losing control of this series – just like he wouldn’t give up last year’s first-round series to the Oklahoma City Thunder or the conference semifinals to the Houston Rockets two years ago.

科比以及他的湖人队跌跌撞撞的打到了第五场，而且他们期待他们会在一个月内变得更强。湖人将飞往新奥尔良准备他们周四的第六场比赛，而黄蜂将会又一次在他们自己球迷的面前打得充满能量。但是，在周二得到19分的科比明确表示，他不想失去对于这场系列赛的控制权——就像他一年前对阵奥克拉克马雷霆的系列赛，以及两年前半决赛对阵休斯顿火箭一样，不会放弃。

Finally, the Lakers played with an urgency that showed they are finally ready to treat these playoffs with the respect they deserve. Some of that was borne from the desperation of seeing Bryant need crutches to leave the locker room in New Orleans less than 48 hours earlier.

Bryant refused to have his ankle scanned on the off day, and his reasoning was simple: “I didn’t feel it was broke. If it was, it wouldn’t have even mattered. I was going to play anyway.”

最终，湖人在紧急时刻终于准备好了来应付他们应当尊重的季后赛对手了。部分原因是来自于看到在不到48小时之前科比需要拄着拐杖离开新奥尔良的更衣室的绝望。

科比拒绝在休赛的时候检查他的膝伤，而他的理由也相当简单：“我并没有感觉我的膝盖坏了。即使是坏了，也不会有什么关系，我还是会上场打球的。”

The Lakers had little doubt Bryant would play, but they couldn’t be certain what he would give them. Phil Jackson predicted Kobe would “rise to the occasion,” and yet even the Lakers coach wasn’t sure after watching Bryant labor on the ankle through the opening minutes. Bryant didn’t attempt a shot. He didn’t do much of anything. After Kobe let Trevor Ariza brush past him, Jackson switched him onto Marco Belinelli. Then he pulled him from the game.

“Better get him off the floor,” Jackson said. “He’s a liability.”

湖人毫无疑问会让科比上场打球，但是他们不能确定科比将会带来什么情况。杰克逊预测科比会“应付自如”，然而，即使是湖人主教练在比赛前几分钟看了科比的伤势了之后也不敢肯定。科比甚至没有尝试一次投篮。他没有做太多的东西。在科比被阿里扎过掉之后，杰克逊让科比去防守贝里内利了。从那时起，科比被解脱出来了。

“还是让科比上场吧，”杰克逊说。“这是他的责任。”

The Lakers fought back as Bryant watched. Once he returned early in the second quarter, he continued to carry the fight to the Lakers. This time, there would be no worrying about his aggressiveness. As soon as the lane opened and Okafor rotated over to meet him, Bryant had his moment.

“It looked like he was going to challenge me at the rim,” Kobe said, “and I accepted the challenge.”

“I wasn’t anticipating it being a dunk,” Okafor said, “until it was a dunk.”

正如科比看到的，湖人一直在抵抗。从他第二节提前上场，他就继续与湖人一起战斗。这一次，不用怀疑他的侵略性了。马上黄蜂防守有漏洞，奥卡福轮转过来补防科比，而科比完成了那一个暴扣。

“看上去他想在篮下挑战我，”科比说到，“而我，接受了这个挑战。”

奥卡福说：“在没扣篮之前，我没有预料到这会是个暴扣。”

Bryant’s ferocity sent a charge through the Staples Center and the Lakers themselves. Rarely anymore does Kobe showcase that degree of athleticism. His recovery from offseason surgery on his right knee was slow this season, reducing him to an observer at the Lakers’ practices. Even dunking in games robs too much from his legs.

And yet there was Bryant one quarter later, bolting by Ariza, curling around Carl Landry, throwing down a stunning left-handed flush that was even more difficult, if not spectacular, than his dunk over Okafor.

科比的暴扣点燃了斯台普斯球馆的气氛以及湖人队的士气。科比确实很少做出这样的动作了。

本赛季科比从上赛季的膝盖手术中恢复得很慢，在队中的训练也在减少。即使在比赛中扣篮，也会影响到的腿。

在一节比赛之后，科比又来了。过掉阿里扎之后，兰德里过来补防，科比换到左手来了个扣篮。而这一次要更加困难，甚至要比赛在奥卡福头上的那个更精彩。

“Some injury,” Ariza sniffed.

Said Bryant: “We aren’t all built the same way.”

He’s right, of course. Few players have been better at managing pain, at adjusting their bodies to cope with whatever ails them. Kobe learned to shoot with a broken finger. He severely sprained the same left ankle in Dallas earlier this season and didn’t miss a game. In last year’s first-round series with the Thunder, his right knee was so swollen it eventually needed to be drained. With the series tied 2-2 and the Lakers facing a critical Game 5, he volunteered to guard Russell Westbrook. The Lakers won in a rout.

“只是有伤病的人么，”阿里扎不屑的说。

科比说到：“我们对服伤病的方式不同罢了。”

当然没错了。很少有人能在有伤病的情况下，一直调整好自己的状态来适应比赛，即使这会感到疼痛。科比学会带着一根几乎断了的手指投篮。他在在本赛季前一阵子严重扭伤了左膝盖但是并没有缺席一场比赛。在去年第一轮系列赛与雷霆的交手中，他的膝盖都肿成那样了，以至于最后都需要抽积水了。但是在系列赛打成2-2平的情况下，湖人面临着很严峻的考验，科比主动要求去防守维斯布鲁克。最终赢下了系列赛。

“If he plays,” Derek Fisher said, “he’s going to be Kobe.”

This time, the rest of the Lakers played with that same sense of purpose. Bryant’s inactivity in the first quarter forced them all to join in the fight. Andrew Bynum and Pau Gasol overwhelmed the Hornets inside, showing a level of physicality that was missing from their loss in New Orleans two nights earlier. The Lakers’ attack was balanced and unyielding.

“只要他在场上打球，”费舍尔说到，“他就还是科比。”

这一次，湖人三军用命。科比在第一节的迟缓使得湖人其他的队员们都不得不站出来。拜纳姆和加索尔在内线完全压倒黄蜂的内线，展现出前两场输给黄蜂时消失的身体对抗。湖人的进攻很均衡而且稳定。

With their season careening toward the cliff, the champs found something within them. They’ll fly back to New Orleans now, Chris Paul and the Hornets still in their way, and someone wanted to know if Bryant’s ankle was up for another challenge.

“I’m doubtful,” he said.

Kobe laughed. He’s taken back control of this series, of these playoffs. He doesn’t plan to give it up anytime soon.