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It was only six days ago that the Sacramento Kings pushed the defending champion Lakers to overtime, so you'd think that in the rematch, L.A. might have taken things a bit more seriously. But playing on their home floor, and with the Kings missing rookie sensation Tyreke Evans due to injury, the Lakers did exactly the opposite, and fell behind by as many as 20 points in the second quarter, before ending the first half trailing by 15.As expected, the Lakers made their run in the third quarter, and it took them less than four and a half minutes of game time to trim the lead to just four. But the Kings kept fighting, extended things quickly back up to 10, and even retook a lead late after the Lakers had come all the way back from that huge first-half hole.
With four point one seconds remaining, trailing by two, the Lakers had the ball out of bounds. Sasha Vujacic inbounded the ball to Pau Gasol at the top of the three-point line, Kobe Bryant comes up from the low block to screen Sasha's man, Sergio Rodriguez, and gives him enough of a bump to cause him to stumble. This allows Bryant to drift to the corner unguarded, and, well, you can probably guess what happened next.
Not much you can do about that, I guess ... except, oh, I don't know, put two guys on Bryant maybe and take your chances with Gasol 26 feet from the basket?
This was kind of a busted play defensively for Sacramento, and it ended up effectively being a pick and roll for Bryant, which are hard enough to guard if the player getting screened doesn't also get pushed to the point where loses his balance. But it continues to amaze me how, with the game on the line, teams aren't doing everything in their power to make sure that anyone but Bryant takes that final shot.
On the Sacramento side, there's plenty to be proud of. Spencer Hawes had a career game, Beno Udrih seemed to score and dish at will, and Omri Casspi was, honestly, spectacular. The way this team moves the ball and executes offensively is a joy to watch. Youth and inexperience (along with some ridiculous heroics from the game's most clutch player) are to blame for this loss, and had Ime Udoka not missed two free throws on the previous possession, this game would have been a W for Sacramento.
But to close out a team with as much talent as the Lakers have, in their own building, you need to play a perfect game in the closing seconds. And while the Kings impressed for most of the night, missed free throws and a poor defensive strategy on the game's final two possessions were simply too much to overcome.
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