One Game Don't Change a Thing

The Lakers played superb basketball on Wednesday night. No question. We saw something we really hadn't seen all season - a real team working together to take every ounce of the game out of the Suns. The Lakers played great D, were consistent on the offensive end, and stuck to Phil Jackson's game plan for most of the game.

Can this keep this up for Games 3 and 4? We'll see. I'd love to see Lamar continue to step up (the man has been shooting 60% for the last 2 games!), Kwame to play like the big man that he is, and Sasha Vujacic to continue hitting the 3s like he's unconscious.

At the same time, the Suns must be furious with their performance, and are very likely to come back with a vengeance.

The one person Nash and the gang don't need to fear? Kobe. As always, everyone acts like Kobe did such an amazing thing by playing more or less unselfishly for one game. It's like a C student getting one A every couple of months. Doesn't make him an A student, just a C+ student on average. Chances are, Kobe will go back to his old self eventually. However, even if Kobe plays in Game 3 the way he played in Game 2, that will not be a deciding factor. The reason the Lakers won Game 2 is their amazing defense and Lamar's dominance. That's what the Suns will fear most.