The United Center was brimming with anticipation Saturday night, eagerly awaiting a visit from an old friend, and a current foe: Phil Jackson. As most of you know, the “Zen Master” was with the Bulls for a little over a decade, and according to many, he left the Bulls on a very bad note (due in part to a reported tension between he and successor Jerry Krause). This previous courtship with the Bulls caused most of the pre-game hype to consist of whether or not Phil was going to bring his old team down with his new team, and ironically enough, what unfolded was exactly that. Despite the fact that Derek Rose and Ben Gordon both racked up a combined total of 55 points for the Bulls, it wasn’t anything our second unit couldn’t handle.

The Lakers surprisingly came out pretty strong in the first couple minutes of the first quarter. Although the Bulls won the tip, Derek Fisher stole it back within 5 seconds of game play, followed by a steal and a block from Kobe Bryant, as well as a steal and some fast break points garnered by Trevor Ariza. If every game started with this kind of defensive intensity, we wouldn’t be getting hounded on ESPN all the time for constantly holding and losing double digit leads almost every game. I mean, Kobe was 6/7 within the first 2 minutes! A drastic increase as compared to his field goal percentages in the first halves of the last couple games. But as the quarter wore on, we once again returned to our defensive and offensive bad habits.

Regardless of Pau Gasol’s previous domination over the Warriors, the Lakers need to learn not to depend on him so much. Once we start feeding the ball to Gasol down low, we seem to just stop moving. We stand around at the 3 point line and assume that Gasol is going to bring it home or draw the foul, and unfortunately, it enabled the Bulls to slip past us.  Now, Gasol is not necessarily the one to blame for that. He does his job in the paint (he had 23 points and 10 rebounds for the game), but he is also being double or even triple teamed once he receives the ball. Usually, this means that one, two, or even three Lakers are being left wide open on the perimeter, but when you’re surrounded in the key, it is very easy to be harrassed to a point where you aren’t getting the easy shot and your vision of open teammates is obstructed. Which also stirs up the fact that Gasol is being fouled way more than the amount that he is actually going to the line for (even though he does seem to be suffering from Shaq syndrome at the free throw line lately). The bottom line is that, offensive help is a must, not everybody is Kobe Bryant. Due to this lack of help, and an inability to retain the intensity they started with, the Lakers were once again entertaining a double digit deficit by the end of the first quarter. But tiny sparks from the bench would continue to give the Lakers life.

Late in the first quarter, Josh Powell blocked a Bulls shot, which was recovered by Jordan Farmar, who then whipped an assist to Gasol inside for the lay-in. An excellent example of how easily we can pull off these sweet plays, if we try hard enough. Jordan Farmar started the second quarter off with a superb penetration move, and then a 3 ball after Kobe hit his own long ball. There’s nothing better than watching Jordan Farmar step his game up a bit, he’s such a scrappy player, but often lacks the focus of a true point guard. The Lakers actually slowed down their offense much more than the previous game and, to my astonishment, were actually trying to run plays. Key word in the previous statement is “trying”, it seems as if, as soon as a play is called, it is either run half-ass, or abandoned halfway through.

In many instances, the play stopped when Kobe got his hands on the ball. Once #24 had possession, the remaining gold jerseys cleared out, so Kobe could take rookie Bulls star, Derek Rose, one on one. Don’t get me wrong, Kobe is one of the greatest players the NBA has ever seen, but Derek Rose truly gave him a run for his money. Let’s hope that isn’t the most detailed our offense will be for the rest of the season, or else King James and the Cavs are really going to clear us out in the NBA Finals (they are all we really have to worry about anyways). But besides Kobe Bryant’s 28 points, 5 steals, and 7 assists (Yes, I said ASSISTS), what actually rallied the Lakers to their victory was the bench in the 4th quarter. Sasha Vujacic began the quarter with a foul, followed by a technical. Not to pick on Sasha, but I think that was exactly what he needed; something like a big T to put him in his place (he gets a little too snappy with the refs). At that point, Doug Collins annunced that, while the Bulls were shooting their free-throws (from Sasha’s blunder), Farmar waltzed  over to them with a huge smile on his face and says, “We’re coming back”. He was definitely correct, after that technical, it was as if the Laker’s 2nd unit was back on their toes.

After the Bulls went 2/3 off their penalty shots, Luke Walton took advantage of the key to kick off an 8-0 run by the Lakers. Sasha followed Walton’s lead with a steal, managed to rebound Farmar’s miss on the other end of the floor, and landed a 3 pointer to bring the Lakers within three. The very next possession would also be a 3-ball (from Lamar Odom) to finally even out the score.  Sasha, Walton, and Farmar’s intensity during the 4th quarter brought the Lakers the vitality they needed to eventually spark a 14-0 run that would win us the game. Jordan Farmar left the court with 13 points, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Derek Fisher better watch it, Farmar’s putting up some serious numbers…and happens to be his substitute.