If you’re reading this blog, you most likely already know that Kobe Bryant banked in a last-second three at the end of regulation to avoid the loss and put the Lakers ahead of the Heat 108-107 for the final score. While Derek Fisher’s three and Wade’s missed free-throw in the final seconds set up the shot for Kobe, he certainly didn’t see it going that way. To paraphrase his comments after the game, he says it was the luckiest shot he’s ever taken and that all he was trying to do was get to the basket to tie it up. I suppose the Lakers are lucky, because he says his foot slipped on the inbound pass and all he could do was heave up a prayer over the stifling Miami Heat defense, winning the game for the Lakers in the process.

This was one of the more exciting regular season games the Lakers have played in quite a while, including last season…but it does highlight some key points for the Lakers to work on. The bench was not performing well enough for Phil Jackson to be able to rest the starters significantly. Also, the Lakers gave up too many offensive rebounds to the undersized Heat and allowed far too many dribble-penetration drives to bring them back late in the game. It almost seemed like they gave up on defense a couple of times towards the ends of possessions. It’s hard to tell if that was just in-game fatigue or mental lapses, but either way it’s not good. Also not good are Lamar almost coming apart at the seams and Shannon Brown seeming to cool off, to be filed under things that don’t bode well for the Lakers reserves. Jordan Farmar did provide a consistent bright spot for the time he spent on the floor. He can really have a positive effect in almost every game because of his surprising athleticism. It’s always a big headline when he does it, as it was a few games ago, but I’ve seen Jordan chase down guys to block their layups from behind plenty of times. When he’s aggressive defensively it helps get him into an offensive rhythm as well. As for Shannon, I really hope he pulls himself out of his mini-slump, because he’s such a fun player to watch and he hustles on defense.

Team/Player Photos: Los Angeles Lakers Team / Player Photos on Jun 22, 2010

Ron Artest continues to provide a sort of glue for the Laker defense that is already proving to be more potent than last year’s. While Trevor Ariza played the passing lanes well and was very athletic, he was not large enough to guard some of the bigger 3’s and smaller 4’s that we needed him to. Artest, instead of being too small and slender, simply rolls over his opposition on both ends of the floor, which is endlessly entertaining to watch from the viewpoint of the purple and gold.

Still, at the end of the night, there were only Kobe Bryant and Dwayne Wade – and the slightly older, more championship-laden Kobe emerged the victor in a game that couldn’t have been closer. As for Kobe’s own personal thoughts on his wild game-winner, my boss has a saying that is quite apropos for this situation. When I’m not blogging I’m providing IT support for small businesses and whenever we figure something out or get something fixed in a surprisingly short amount of time, my boss likes to say with a smile, “It’s always better to be lucky than to be right!” He says this mainly because he tries ten things at once and doesn’t really care so much what change specifically fixed the issue, as long as it’s fixed. Similarly, Kobe’s shot certainly wasn’t the most correct offensive decision of his career, but since he characterizes it as his luckiest and the outcome is as such, I’d have to say that my boss’s saying extends to professional sports as well.