The Lakers recover from a 20 point deficit to win by 4, 89-85.

Using bullet points seem to be an easy way of organizing random thoughts so I’ll use them starting today. I got this idea from Forum Blue & Gold – a highly informative blog site about the Lakers. I’m sure a lot of sporting sites/blogs use this lazy format but there’s something about Kurt’s post that made me think I should be using bullet points too – something about the real world keeping us busy.

Here goes nuthin’.

• The gods must be rooting for Los Angeles. First, the Denver bus fiasco. Then, the Kirilenko visa. Now, the Spurs overnight on a plane?
• The Spurs seemed to be *not* affected by the schedule/incident, they led by 20 at one point in the third quarter.
• The Spurs seemed to be affected by the schedule/incident, they squandered that lead and lost by 4.
• Kobe made 1 of 3 during the 1st half. I agree with Phil Jackson, Kobe needs to be more aggressive than that. At least one sports article says that the Lakers need a selfish Kobe. Classic “Damn if you do, damn if you don’t“. I don’t quite agree with that article – Kobe’s game needs to be measured – I like how Phil Jackson describes the game that Kobe
• should play. Besides, 1 of 3 is bad. If it were 3 of 3, it would have been good enough.
• I wrote how the Spurs are a good 3-point shooting team. (I just didn’t stress that they rely on it more than you think they do.) Los Angeles erased that strength in game 1 – Spurs shot 5 of 20, for 25%, from long distance. On the other hand, the Lakers shot 4 of 10, for 40%. Not bad for LA.
• As expected, Duncan was given different kind of looks by the Lakers. Yes, he scored 30 points but most of those points came before the now famous run of the Lakers. When the Lakers finally decided to confuse Duncan with a variety of post defense, he was done, and so was the Spurs.
• Sasha is becoming a Kobe Bryant student. He is relentless on defense, confident in his shooting and calm in the freethrow line (in the dying seconds at that). For the longest time, Sasha has been one of the better performing Laker in their practices. Now, it seems that attribute has scattered to the game floors. Of course, he will never be a Kobe Bryant but I’m sure he will always try. I don’t know if that’s good or bad though.
• Kobe said, after the game, that they didn’t exert much effort to overcome the 20-point deficit, and that he was confident they would still win. I don’t know if I should believe that. Regardless, it could mean 2 things: one, that Kobe is confident or over-confident (and so should the rest of the team), and two, the Spurs, if they heard or read that, could be on the losing end of a psy-war.
• I wrote how in this playoffs, it was San Antonio who had to adjust most of the time. And that Pop has a slight edge over PJ in the coaching aspect because of this (Pop got to practice his wits). Phil’s adjustment in the second half reminded us all that he’s not riding the coattails of great players. He reminds us that he is still arguably the best playoff coach *ever*. He inserted Farmar and Vujacic to play with Bryant – that’s when they made the run to recover the game. Inserting Farmar made the Lakers play faster, aside from spelling an ineffective Fisher. Inserting Vujacic made them defend the pick and roll better, which the Spurs have been abusing in the first half.
• Game 1 is big and is especially big now given how the outcome of the game was decided. Looking back, this game could be like the game 1 of the Magic-Rockets finals of the 90′s. The loser gets demoralized big time that they could eventually get swept. Having said that, the Spurs are no Magic. They have won 4 titles with Duncan and they are a sound and deeply experienced team. They know how to face adversity, just ask New Orleans and Phoenix.
• My heart tells me Los Angeles will win game 2. My mind tells me Los Angeles will win game 2. The Laker pessimist fanatic in me tells me the Spurs will unbelievably win game 2. (reverse jinx!)

(Photos courtesy of L.A. Times)