I was attending my daughter’s softball game right in the middle of yesterday’s Lakers-Phoenix playoff game. First things first, obviously, but every once in a while, I’d run off to my car to check the score. Not good. On the way I home I listened as the game seemed to dwindle away from the Lakers. By the time I pulled up in front of my house, 
they were down 5 points with twelve seconds to go. Why even bother to turn on the TV? So I didn’t. In fact, I just assumed they lost and it wasn’t until I walked out of my house this morning that I saw this on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. Holy Moly!… Later on, at the demonstration, I ran into the guy at the left and couldn’t resist snapping him. There’s one demonstrator you know is going to assimilate. (By the way, for you commenters who put down Kobe Bryant every time I write about the Lakers on this site… and you know who you are… eat my shorts!)
UPDATE: You know the time’s are a changin’ when Shaq and Kobe’s new daughters are only born six minutes apart. Talk about your “late eclipses of the sun and moon”!
I was at the game yesterday and I have to say that it was among the top five basketball games I’ve ever attended, and I’ve been a longtime Laker fan and season ticket holder for 25 years.
We somehow emerged from seemingly impossible odds not once but twice, and there were two incredible moments of joyous bedlam in the stands at Staples. When Smush got the steal and Kobe scored on the rainbow shot with .7 seconds left in regulation, my wife and I were shrieking, jumping up and down, and fiving with everyone in our vicinity, all of whom were doing the same thing.
I then ran out to go to the bathroom before overtime started, and all these people that had left early were coming back through the tunnel, so that it was jammed. They were all ecstatic and exchanging high fives too, but I couldn’t resist ribbing them as I made my way out.
“You didn’t LEAVE, did you?”
Then, at the end of OT, when that shot left Kobe’s hand, I swear time slowed down to the point that I went through an entire range of emotions while the shot was in the air, and when it fell, OHMIGOD the place was utter pandemonium and sheer ecstasy for about five or ten minutes.
The only things that come close are Horry’s shot to end game 4 of the Western Conference Finals in 2002, and the game 7 comeback against Portland that launched the threepeat.
For anybody that doesn’t give a rip about basketball or hates Kobe Bryant, my suggestion is that you jump on board the growing bandwagon. There’s still time. He may well be the most amazing athlete I believe I’ve ever watched, and I’ve seen a lot of them.
“(By the way, for you commenters who put down Kobe Bryant every time I write about the Lakers on this site… and you know who you are… eat my shorts!)”
May I at least put some ketchup and mustard on them first? Kobe Bryant is indeed a fantastic athlete. This is beyond debate. The question still remains, however, whether the LA Lakers can win a championship with him. Will Kobe allow another superstar share the spotlight?
As a Kings fan, that reminds me of a Mallard Fillmore cartoon from four(?) years ago. The copy read:
The NBA draft is over, and the Lakers haven’t made many changes, apparently relying on the same key personnel: Shaq, Kobe, and the guys who refereed game six against Sacramento.
Except that the refs stole three games from the Kings: 2, 4, and 6.
So I guess this means they’ll only be needing one championshop ring this year?
i just hope the suns don’t embarass themselves by losing four straight against the lakers.