The Basketball Diaries

Los Angeles Lakers 89 San Antonio Spurs 85 (Lakers lead series 1-0)

You know, there's a reason Gregg Popovich is going to end up in the Hall of Fame one day, and it's because he's a very smart man who happens to be good at coaching basketball. An example of this intelligence came after the first quarter of last night's game when TNT's Craig Sager asked him what the Spurs had done to keep Kobe Bryant scoreless in the first 12 minutes of action.

Pop told Sager that they'd done absolutely nothing, but that Kobe just "hasn't decided to play yet. He's just watching right now."

Kobe didn't watch in the second half. After scoring only two points in the first half, Kobe came to life in the third quarter to help the Lakers come back from what was a 20-point deficit and narrowly escape a home loss in the first game of the series.

Kobe not only scored 27 points to lead the Lakers, but he also handed out 9 assists and grabbed five rebounds. In other words, there wasn't an offensive possession the Lakers had in the second half that he didn't have something to do with.

"I know I can make that push and I knew once I did, I could get the game back under control, get it under 10 where we knew we could be in striking distance," Bryant said. "In the first half, we were a little rusty, a little sluggish and a little tentative. Second half, it wasn't there. It is big for a young team to come back from 20 against the defending champs."

Tim Duncan had a huge night for San Antonio with 30 points and 18 rebounds, but neither he or his teammates were capable of scoring late. The Spurs had a golden opportunity to seize home-court advantage in this series, but they blew it. Still, it's not like this series is over by any means.