Lakers-Spurs: Los Angeles Comes Back to Beat San Antonio

They had their pens out in the press box at the Staples Center. They were texting on their Blackberries and iPhones. It was the 5:54 mark of the third quarter, and the Lakers were losing by 20 points to the defending champion San Antonia Spurs, 65-45.

They were getting their stories ready for their newspapers and online sports pages. They were about to write off the Lakers as overrated. They would tell their readers that Game One of the Western Conference Finals was the shocker of this year’s NBA Playoffs.

This game would prove why the San Antonio Spurs are still the NBA Champions and the team to beat. No doubt the reports of their demise were grossly premature. After all, this team had just beaten the New Orleans Hornets on the road in the seventh game of their semi-final series and spent the night sleeping on a disabled airplane.

And now here they were, with only a day’s rest and no chance for a full practice, beating the well-rested Lakers by twenty points in Los Angeles. Could there be any doubt?

They had held Kobe Bryant to just two points in the first half on 1-3 shooting. Tim Duncan would finish the game with 30 points and 18 rebounds. And the Spurs would hold the Lakers to under 90 points. Meanwhile, Lamar Odom and Derek Fisher both had problems trying to find the mark. Odom would go three for 12 from the field, and Derek Fisher only one for nine on his way to picking up five personal fouls.

The Spurs were indeed ready to drive the nail into the Lakers' coffin, and press row was all set to write the obituary.

But this is the NBA, where, as ESPN and TNT tell us time and time again, amazing happens. And sure enough, it did. The rust suddenly dissolved. After four days of rest following their semifinal series victory over the Utah Jazz, the Lakers and Kobe Bryant all at once came to life.

From the 5:54 mark of the third quarter to the final buzzer, the Lakers outscored the Spurs 44-20, holding them to just 13 points in the fourth quarter.

What’s this? The Lakers playing defense? Now that is amazing.

So, press row got its shocker. Only it wasn’t the one they were anticipating halfway through the third quarter. The Lakers did to the Spurs what the Jazz had been unable to do to them. Come back from twenty points down to win.

Bryant hit on 10 out of 18 shots in the second half, and wound up with 27 points after only having two at halftime. Actually, he had 29, if you count the tap-in of a Tim Duncan miss. Duncan was given credit for the bucket.

Bryant’s most aggressive play was a steal off of Tim Duncan after Duncan had just grabbed a Turiaf miss.  Bryant then drove around Duncan for a layup. Bryant’s play was big, because it prevented the Spurs from going up by nine points early in the fourth quarter and regaining the momentum.

If this game proved anything, it was that the extra rest between series isn’t worth the rust that it creates. It was especially evident in Tuesday night’s Eastern Conference Final opener between the Celtics and the Pistons.

Fortunately for the Lakers, they did not have as long a layoff as the Pistons, and were finally able to shake off the rust. Thanks to the Lakers reserves, Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar, who energized the offense and played stiff defense, and Kobe Bryant who put the team on his back.

If anything, the Spurs have to be demoralized to lose a game on the road that they had well in hand. The Lakers, on the other hand, have to feel confident about their chances in the series. They did to the Spurs what the Spurs had done to the Phoenix Suns in game one of their first-round series, when Tim Duncan’s dramatic last-second three-point shot to tie the game that the Spurs finally won in the second overtime.

What can we expect in the remaining games? I can tell you what not to expect. Don’t expect the Lakers to come out rusty. And don’t expect Odom and Fisher to have many poor shooting nights like tonight. And if either one or both are on their game, don’t expect to hold the Lakers under a hundred points. Not with Kobe Bryant on the court.