Fear Not Lakers' Fans: This One's Going to Seven

I don't know what the folks in Los Angeles ate tonight, but whatever it was, it's spewed all over Figueroa St. and Santa Monica Blvd. this evening, the stench lingering throughout the greater Los Angeles area until this weekend.

It didn't need to be a blowout victory. Lamar Odom didn't need to drop a 50-point triple double. But when a team that hasn't lost on it's home court in over three months loses.... after being up by 20 midway through the third quarter... in the NBA Finals... it's worst than "The One that Got Away."

For basketball fans it's a crying shame.

For the Laker's it's a disaster.

A crying shame because a 2-2 series with somebody going back to Boston facing elimination sets the stage for a classic finale. A disaster because 3-1 hole in the NBA Finals is a death sentence.

The end of game 4 was a slow motion nightmare, like waking up during an operation. It wasn't just that they lost, it was the way they lost. Teasing us with the greatest lead in NBA Final's history after the first quarter. Finally delivering on the Showtime display we've been expecting. And then I lost sensation in my legs and my stomach rose up to my throat while I covered my mouth with my hands...

Excuse me for a moment while I clean up my dinner....

Don't think for a second that the Lakers are losing game 5. Los Angeles isn't losing two in a row, and the Lakers aren't ending the season on their home court.

Game 5 is a given, so there's no need to ice champagne and lay out the hats and t-shirts in the Celtic's locker room "just in case." David Stern won't be making a speech on Saturday night, and the Larry O'Brien trophy will stay locked up until next week.

Game 6 will be the challenge. It's easy enough to end the story there, with Boston winning it all in The Garden. As a fan, I may be crossing the bounds of objectivity, but don't you think the Lakers can win in Boston just once this series? Don't you think they can find the moxie that they displayed with such gusto during the first three rounds of the tougher Western Conference playoffs? Don't you think that for one game Kobe can be Kobe and that Lamar can be Lamar? Or that Pau can be just decent?

The Lakers are down 3-1 to a team that has looked superior all series. But if any team can win on their home court and find a way win one game on the road, it's this loaded, heavily-favored-not-so-long-ago Lakers' squad.

For those of you that bleed purple and gold, your hearts were broken tonight. The stench of upturned stomachs will leave a heavy residue in the morning, but you can count on Game 5. Game 6 will be a story.

And anything can happen in Game 7.