Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, Dwyane Wade, Lebron James and Kobe Bryant combined for 134 points last night. They each also went to sleep with one more loss than they had when they woke up with yesterday morning. They all did their whole “superstar” thing, but it wasn’t enough. They ran into three teams likely to make the playoffs that, for what they may lack in superstars, make up for with all-around basketball.

The Houston Rockets beat the Los Angeles Lakers 112-108 and had six players score in double figures. The Memphis Grizzlies easily beat the Miami Heat 97-82 with an even more impressive seven players score in double figures. And of course, the Indiana Pacers outplayed the Oklahoma City Thunder by accumulating more rebounds, more assists, more steals, fewer turnovers and, in case you didn’t know, more points on their way to a 103-98 win.

I don’t want to generalize too much, but it is easy to see the similarities between the Pacers, Rockets and Grizzlies. They don’t rely on anyone; they rely on everyone.

Last night, they all had young point guards who played very well against their championship contender foes. Mike Conley had 15 points, 4 assists and 3 steals while shooting 63%. Gordon Dragic had 26 points, 11 assists, 4 rebounds and 3 steals while shooting a respectable 42%. And Darren Collison had 11 points and 3 assists while shooting 43% and playing well down the stretch. When we hear about the current “Golden Era of Point Guards,” we never hear about these three guys. But all three of them are young and already doing what they need to do to help lead their team to wins.

But even more than young point guards, all three teams thrived off of efficient play from their big men last night. Roy Hibbert set the tone for the entire game (despite what SportsCenter’s Top Ten may tell you) with his big time double-double of 21 points and 12 rebounds to go along with his 50% shooting. Thanks for coming out, Kendrick Perkins. You’re 6 points and 7 rebounds were pretty cute, I guess. The Pacers also got an efficient 14 points from David West.

Or how about the Rockets’ Luis Scola dropping 25 points off 59% shooting on Pau Gasol (who only scored 14)? Pair that with his teammate, the ageless one, Marcus Camby, bringing home 12 points and 11 rebounds and you have a nightmare for opposing big men. Such a nightmare in fact, that Andrew Bynum went ahead and had himself thrown out of the game. Yet again. Nice work, Andrew.

Oh, and the Grizzlies just brought Zach Randolph off the bench for 14 points and 14 rebounds. Z-Bo made up for Marc Gasol’s “meager” 10 points and 9 rebounds. Thank God the Heat got Ronny Turiaf’s contributions of 2 points and a rebound. Way to go, buddy.

It also helps that all three of these no-star squads bring their own flare to the table. It helps, for example, when you have someone like Danny Granger trying to do their best Kevin Durant impersonation like the Pacers do. Or when you have someone like Rudy Gay doing their best Lebron James impersonation like the Grizzlies do. Or when you shoot nearly 60% from three-point land like the Rockets did last night.

When you have to carry the team on your back for 66 games in 123 days, your back just might start to hurt. But if you can share the load with six or seven other players than hopefully you will keep your strength. Last year’s Grizzlies showed the world what a complete team firing on all cylinders can do.

The fact all the uber-stars mentioned in the opening sentence played as well as they did goes to show why their teams are among the favorites to win the title. But that’s not what last night’s games proved. These upsets proved that the Rockets, Grizzlies and Pacers are threats in every definition of the word.

Here is how those shots broke down.

Situation: 7:18 remaining, Lakers up 5

Play: Lakers inbound to Kobe on the baseline with under three seconds left on the shot clock. With George closing in a tight trail position, and Granger rotating from the inbound passer, Kobe is forced to launch a 15-foot fadeaway challenged by both of the Pacers wings.

Result: Miss

Situation:  6:35 remaining, Lakers up 3

Play: Kobe curls off a Fisher down screen to catch the ball on the left wing with 12 on the shot clock. George evades the Fisher pick and slithers under Gasol’s attempted screen to cut off what could have been an open jumper from the top of the key. Kobe starts to work, probing the paint for a driving lane before spinning back and full-body-faking a step-back jumper. George stays with him, however, and Kobe fakes a spin before attacking the left side of the lane, angling away from the basket. Bryant never creates separation and is forced into a 10-foot fadeaway as George’s length allows him to get a hand (albeit the wrong one) in Kobe’s face without them tangling bodies.

Result: Miss

Situation:  4:18 remaining, Lakers up 1

Play: Kobe comes off a down screen by Gasol to catch at the top of the key. George is in trailing position about 1-2 feet behind. Bryant jabs towards the paint, but collapsing Pacers’ help defense causes him to retreat. Looking back over his shoulder to find George, Kobe settles for a step-back 16-footer. George is able to close the gap more quickly than Bryant anticipates and once again gets his hand (the left on this time) in Kobe’s face.

Result: Miss

Added Bonus: After challenging the shot, George leaks out on the break. Kobe just stands there admiring his missed fadeaway and the long rebound ricochets out to Darren Collison, who alertly feeds it down court to the streaking George. Paul beats the entire Lakers’ defense back for an uncontested transition dunk.

Situation:  3:47 remaining, Pacers up 1

Play: Lakers run a curl play for Matt Barnes who catches a nice feed from Pau Gasol and misses a tough, sweeping 8-foot runner. Because of the motion of the offense and Indiana’s defensive rotations, George winds up on the weakside with both Bynum and Bryant (and actually most directly matched up with Bynum). George squares to block out the Laker center, and the ball skips off the rim towards the baseline to a waiting Kobe. Bryant skies to get the board, gathers it and raises up to convert a tough 5-footer over Roy Hibbert.

Result: Make

Situation: 3:00 remaining, Pacers up 1

Play: Kobe comes off a Fisher down-screen in the right corner, making an excellent curl cut towards the rim. Once again, George is in a chase position. Hibbert shows defensively to slow Bryant’s attack, and by the time Kobe puts up his little shot in the lane, he is surrounded by Hibbert, Granger, and the now-fully-recovered George.

Result: Miss.

Situation: 0:04 remaining, Pacers up 3

Play: With the Lakers looking for a three to tie, Matt Barnes in-bounds the ball to Gasol on the right wing beyond the three-point line. The Pacers, apparently electing to defend rather than foul, leave Pau mostly alone as he dribbles towards Kobe. This allows Bryant to come up from the right corner to take a dribble hand-off heading towards the middle of the court. George is chasing close behind after avoiding Matt Barnes, who runs by him for misdirection. After the handoff, George closes the gap even with no real hedge attempt by David West, and Kobe pulls up for a 26-foot three pointer aimed through the fingers on Paul George’s outstretched hand.

Result: Miss, Pacer Rebound, Pacer win.

By and large, Paul George is playing top-shelf defense in the above videos. But perhaps even more impressive is what isn’t shown here: in the final three minutes of an incredibly tight game — on the Lakers’ home floor — Kobe Bryant went five Laker possessions, over a span of 2 minutes and 56 seconds, without getting up a shot.

However, you can’t get carried away. You’re only as good at guarding Kobe as your next possession, and the term “Kobe Stopper” is little more than arrogant twaddle. This is less about Paul vs. Kobe, and more about defining who Paul is as a defensive player. In his short career thus far, Paul George has turned in signature defensive performances against Dwyane Wade (see here), Derrick Rose (more on that here) and, now, Kobe Bryant.

Paul is still a second-year player. Less than a year ago, he was struggling to convince Jim O’Brien that he deserved to be ahead of Brandon Rush in the Pacers rotation. He still has much to learn the professional game, and he must develop a great deal as a player and a person to reach his potential. What is so striking about him, however, is that he is already so mature defensively. From the time he entered the Pacers locker room, he has been praised for his even-keeled nature. Never is this more evident than when you watch him patiently stalk a player like Derrick Rose or Kobe Bryant. In the fourth quarter last night, he never seemed panicked, he never seemed rushed. He understood the task before him, and he understood his advantages.

It’s important to note that he doesn’t succeed alone. The Pacers help defense stepped up last night as it did against Chicago in last April’s playoffs. There isn’t a man dead or alive who can stop guys like Kobe, Rose and Dwyane by themselves. Still, George became a seemingly omnipresent shadow to Kobe in the fourth quarter, and it increasingly seems that his combination of length and athleticism — once seasoned with experience — could make him a truly special defender.

Here’s part of the dialogue.

Land O’ Lakers: The Pacers are holding teams to 89.3 points per game, down dramatically from last season’s 100.9. Even taking into account Indiana’s pace and the fact that scoring is down across the board in a compressed season, that’s a pretty remarkable uptick. What’s accounted for this improvement?

Jared Wade: Most importantly, there is for the first time a consistent rotation of players with clearly defined roles who play in a cohesive system the team has bought into. And the addition of Hill’s long arms, quick feet and well-drilled habits are a part of an overall improvement to the perimeter: the first line of defense, if you will.

Paul George didn’t see big minutes until the twilight of last season, and he is an excellent defender who, at 6-foot-9, can envelop most guards with his length and stay in front of them with his agility. He gained a lot of confidence after checking Derrick Rose so well in last year’s playoffs and it shows; he is now the rare player whose offensive game starts flowing after he makes a good defensive play instead of vice versa. Darren Collison is much improved. He was lost in the pick-and-roll last year and just got beat a ton. He isn’t perfect now, but there are way fewer possessions that leave you shaking your head at his defensive technique and effort. And Danny Granger, who has always had the tools to be a better defender, has gotten back to being more of a two-way player. Perhaps it’s because he’s struggling to score and he feels he has to, but he is clearly not taking as many plays off on the other side of the ball as he has in recent years.

And here is an an excerpt from the email discussion I had with JM Poulard of Forum Blue & Gold yesterday.

 so far this season Danny Granger’s shooting has baffled me. Initially I figured that he was settling for tough shots, but after watching the Pacers a few times, I liked what I saw from their offense.

Oddly enough, the Lakers run some of the same misdirection plays for Kobe Bryant that the Pacers run for Danny Granger. The idea is often to get the defense to think that the ball is going to one of the big men inside as Kobe sets a cross screen for his center, and then he gets screened by his power forward and pops out at the top of the key for either a jump shot or an isolation.

The Lakers so far have found ways to execute but have had trouble converting their shots. The Pacers seem to have the same issue but they offer enough variety for things to progressively get better during the rest of the season.

In the matchup tonight, I think the big men cancel each other out (starters and bench) and thus the wing scorers will play a huge part in this one. Darren Collison should be able to turn the corner against Fisher and get into the lane for some opportunities in the paint.

The great equalizer may be Matt Barnes getting out in transition for some easy scoring chances as well as his ability to play off Kobe to get open 3-pointers.

Ultimately though, I think the contest comes down to whether Kobe (versus George) or Granger performs better (versus Barnes and MWP).

Who do you think performs better and leads his team to victory?

Head over to FB&G for my thrilling answer.

And now, they have added Jim Boylen, who has been the head coach at the University of Utah for the past four years.

I don’t know much else about the guy other than some (perhaps true) facts listed on his Wikipedia page:

• he was fired from Utah in March after a 13-18 season. (He finished 69-60 in four years.)
• he served under my favorite NCAA college coach Tom Izzo at Michigan State,
• he has spent time as an NBA assistant, for 11 years in Houston and also with Golden State and Milwaukee
• he played college ball at the University of Maine, once finishing secnd to Northeastern’s Reggie Lewis for conference MVP

The University of Maine also happens to be in my hometown so you would think I would know a little more about one of the few basketball players of note who has ever attended the school. But I don’t.

Still … Go Blue.

And since we don’t have any video of Boylen ballin’, here’s another new Pacers assistant doing throwing an alley-oop to Shaq Kobe. In our lockout boredom states of mind the other day, some of us folks were passing around YouTube videos of great dunks. This was on shared by Myles Brown. And as someone who follows the Lakers closer than almost anyone noted after seeing the highlight, “Shaw was one of the best lob throwers.”

Hopefully he can teach a little bit of that to George Hill and Darren Collison.

Just like that, Shaw lost his whole family and was trust into the role of guardian to his sister’s infant daughter. The grief he suffered through and the responsibility of raising his niece forced him to grow up quickly. It molded his character to a degree that, years later when he achieved his life-long dream of winning an NBA title with the Lakers, there was a grim reminder of reality that remained even amongst jubilation.

“I remember looking around the locker room,” said Shaw, “and I saw Shaq’s parents in the locker room spraying champagne. Kobe’s parents. Fisher’s. Rick Fox’s. Robert Horry’s. And I was elated ’cause we won the championship, but then there was a part of me that set in that said my parents deserve to be here to be a part of this, too.”

Brian Shaw has not yet been officially named the new lead assistant coach for the Pacers and Frank Vogel. But he has the job. And more than any assessments of his coaching abilities from Phil Jackson or Kobe Bryant, his life story is what Pacers fans should know about a man who has won three rings as a player and two more as an apprentice to the most accomplished coach in NBA history. (video via Pacers Digest)

Most immediately, Indy beat LA earlier this year so … tonight … the Lakers … are … back … WITH A VENGEANCE. Plus, we know that Pacers great Chuck Person is now coaching in the City of Angels. And we had that whole NBA Finals match-up thing.

Best of all … remember this fight between Reggie and Mamba? I bet Kobe does. He never forgets. He is like a hiphopopotamus that way. Or is that an elephant? Who can remember?

The video comes to us from Complex’s blog, which included both Mr. Bryant and Mr. Knick Killer in its 50 Dirtiest Players in Sports History list. (They rank number45 and number 41, respectively. Your boy Ron Artest came in at number 22.)

Person, as Pacers fans have experienced first-hand, was one of the premier shooters of his generation, and so it is no wonder that when he was brought in last season as a special assistant, he did not disappoint. The beginning of his Laker tenure, however, is an interesting study in interpersonal relations.

Person knew that as a newcomer last season, he couldn’t simply walk in and tell players what they needed to work on. So at first he would simply observe during practice. Then, when he thought he could help, he would gently ask permission to voice his opinion.

Person carried himself this way at the advice of former Pacers President Donnie Walsh.

“I told him, ‘Chuck, I’ll tell you what you do. You go in there and don’t tell them anything as to what they should do because they just won the championship. You should just sit there and watch these guys for a while, because they’re really good. … You learn from them and then once you feel comfortable, you can add what you know,’” Walsh said.

In such a fashion, he made sure to not, in the words of fellow Laker assistant Brian Shaw, “overstep any of his boundaries.” Slowly but surely, Person was able to endear himself to the team, and as time passed, Jackson began to entrust more and more duties to him. This progression eventually culminated with the Lakers hiring him for the entire 2009-2010 season. Quite a turnaround for someone who was initially brought in to work just during training camp.

His biggest contribution to the team began in December 2009 after Bryant fractured his right index finger. Bryant had started to trust Person, and so when he offered pointers on how to adapt his shooting form due to the injury, he fully embraced Person’s advice.

Out of this came a one-on-one partnership with Bryant to improve his mechanics. The results were successful. By the end of the season, Kobe had increased his free-throw percentage to a career-high 88% — despite what should have been a devastating impediment to his shooting ability.

Bryant has relished their time working together.

“He has the same kind of attention to detail that I have. I enjoy being around that. I enjoy talking to him about it. I spend a considerable amount of time shooting with him and working on different things and just strategically how he sees the whole puzzle, not just pieces of the puzzle; he sees the whole thing as I do. It’s important for me to have another set of eyes that I can communicate with and kind of work on things with.

“He’s just a great Southern dude, man.”

All this being said, Person’s coaching skills are not restricted to just offense; he also aides players in improving their game on the defensive end of the court — even power forwards and centers. Last season, for instance, Person was one of the coaches who assisted pivot man Andrew Bynum develop as a player.

This has earned him the praise of Jackson.

“Chuck has an analytical eye,” said Jackson. “He’s always seeking answers and looking for reasons, so that blends in well with the kind of process we like to go through. I can give him something we need to work on defensively and he’ll come in with some exercises and things we have to do, and he works really well with our post players even though Chuck was one of the great outside shooters in the game.”

Furthermore, Person’s coaching success is not only a function of his basketball knowledge, but his ability to communicate well with today’s NBA players. Unlike some coaches and players, Person is very upfront, not hesitating to tell players what they need to do to improve.

Because of this, Portland Trailblazers Head Coach Nate McMillan has long-known that Chuck would make a good coach.

“I thought he was a coach when he played and I had the opportunity to work with him then … I just feel that the things that he brought to the floor, his communication skills with players not only players but the stars, he will approach any guy and work with him. You saw times last year when he and Kobe were communicating during the playoffs. Chuck is just that type of guy that will pull a guy to the side, star or best player [included], and talk to them about what they need to do and won’t be afraid or intimidated by that player.”

Even more remarkable, however, is the fact that Person has managed to stay humble despite his coaching success. With regards to his feat of helping improve the game of one of the the best players in NBA history, he notes with an air of humility that, “Kobe was a great player before I came and he’s going to be a great player after I leave.” Likewise, he hesitates to even take credit for what he has taught the star, adding that “all the things I told Kobe are things Jerry West told me.”

Indeed, such is this former Pacer — brilliant on the court, but just as inspiring as a teacher and as a person.

Jay Ganatra is a contributor to 8 Points, 9 Seconds who is currently studying accounting at the University of Florida. You can reach Jay at jay.ganatra@ufl.edu.

The Pacers victory over the Lakers in LA was the highlight of the season so far. It came not long after the blowout win in Miami and even though Indiana only beat Kobe and company 95-92, they thoroughly outplayed the champs, in the process showing the whole league that they might actually be somewhat for real. (“For real” compared to the past four years of mundane mediocrity the franchise has otherwise shown anyway.)

Things haven’t been so great since then, however. Brian Kamanetzky of ESPN: Los Angeles’ Land O’ Lakers asked me what the problem has been.

Here was my response.

1. What has happened to Indiana since they beat the Lakers on the 28th? The Pacers had been playing well coming in, beat the champs, and seemed poised to make a little run. Hasn’t really happened. Why?

Since they upset LA in Staples on November 28, the Pacers are 3-5. They have not looked sharp aside from the night they blew out Toronto, but three of the losses came in Utah, Atlanta and Chicago and all five have come of the road. Just watching the team this year, it’s evident they are markedly improved from past seasons, but they still are not at the point where they can be expected to beat top-tier teams on the road — or anyone really. That said, they have reached a level where every home game is certainly winnable. I don’t expect a win over the Lakers, but it wouldn’t surprise me either.

Aside from just tempered expectations, Roy Hibbert hasn’t been good for about two weeks. He has only had one double-double and no 20 point games since that victory in LA. Worse than stats, he just hasn’t looked good, struggling to maintain position down or make crisp post moves like he was earlier in the season. He does play better against guys like Andrew Bynum than guys like Al Horford, who torched him the other night, so this game could be a nice return to form.

You know what?

Brian’s whole game preview is very good. So rather than me telling you what you already know (i.e., that Indy will probably lose tonight but has shown signs this season that they are capable of beating anyone, so who knows?), you should just look at the numbers below to see where these two teams are at and go read the rest of Kamenetzky’s piece.

Pacers vs Lakers By the Numbers

[TABLE=92]

8 Points, 9 Seconds really wants you to go watch this game. And to make sure that happens, we’re even going to give one lucky fan two free tickets (Section 209, Row 2).

All you need to do to win is tell me which former Pacer/Laker great you like better: Byron Scott or Sam Perkins.

I like both players a ton, so I’m honestly not even sure who I would chose. But tell us you pick along with give a brief reason why in the comments section below, and I’ll pick a lucky winner by tomorrow at noon. Be sure to leave a real email address (only I can see it if you enter it in the comment form) along with your response and check your inbox by noon tomorrow or I won’t be able to get the tickets to you.

Who ya got: Byron or Perk?

UPDATE:

And the winner is …. Evan.

Congrats. We chose randomly, but Evan has told me he plans to take his young cousin who has never been to Conseco before, so I’m glad they will definitely be put to good use.

Thanks to everyone for the interest. Hopefully we will have some more tickets to hand out soon and this can become a more regular giveaway. Check back regularly for your chance to catch the Pacers for free.

Just based upon Sam’s grin in this photo, I think he has a slight lead for me. The blond agrees.

But this was more than that. This wasn’t just pulling one out on the road against a great team.

This was an ass-kicking.

Indiana outplayed the champs for basically the entire game in a way that you can’t read in the boxscore or even the scoreboard. Weird, I know, but completely true from what I saw. The Lakers fought and clawed to stay in this thing and it took a season-high, Herculean 41 points from a top 10 player of all time just to give them the chance to attempt a 28-foot heave to try to tie the game in the waning, desperate seconds.

No, the Pacers were the much better team tonight. Percentage-wise, both teams shot poorly with LA’s putrid 38.6% making Indiana’s 43.2% look rosy. But there’s a big difference in how those numbers were achieved. Or, “achieved,” if we’re being honest.

The Lakers offense was ugly, sputtering and, again, buoyed greatly by greatness. Even many of Kobe’s makes were not particularly good shots. The ones that the rest of the Lakers were taking? More often than not, they were low-percentage looks.

Indy, on the other hand, simply shot very badly.

There were some turnovers, yes, and there was also a contagious case of fumblitis going around that caused a lot of sloppy ball-handling. But by and large, the Pacers were just missing a lot of good, open shots.

The 4/23 shooting from behind-the-arc was particularly illustrative. Mike Dunleavy missed at least two shots (and I think all three of his bricks) on very good looks. James Posey missed several that anyone would normally drain. Brandon Rush had one that bounced around the rim late and another wide-open look hit heavy iron after Darren Collison caught a great pass from Roy underneath the hoop and decided to kick it out instead of going up. Hell, Danny Granger missed an open corner three when he had enough time to square up, set his feet and sing “Stairway to Heaven” twice before he let it fly. His GM, Larry Bird, used to call corner threes “layups.” And with Danny’s normal accuracy, I was honestly more surprised to see him miss from there than I was to see TJ Ford miss an actual open layup. Twice.

Make no mistake, the Lakers were lucky to hang tonight.

Just by simply making makeable shots in the first half, Indy could have been up by 14 — or more — at the half. Then if the Pacers start out the second half like they did (on an 8-0 run), LA might have been buried. Maybe Mamba still goes Mamba after that and makes a game of it. Maybe he doesn’t.

But that’s the takeaway here: the Pacers didn’t just edge out a win; they smacked the champs in the mouth. Shot-making and execution are different things. They didn’t do a lot of the former this evening. But they did a lot of the latter. And while shot-making is fairly erratic and any given night can play out oddly on that front, execution breeds consistency. Once it becomes habitual, so does winning.

Looks like Indiana might be forming a habit.

A few other thoughts.

• Roy Hibbert was superb. It would be hard to overly praise him here. He slipped and fell flat on his face on one play and it was pretty funny. That’s the only negative I can really recall. Other than that, he did nearly no wrong. He passed like Arvydas Sabonis out of the post, baiting hesitant double-teamers to hedge his way and then whizzing the ball by their ear to a wide-open cutter for a lay-up. Collison and Rush both did excellent work finding space when their defenders turned their head. This needs to be a constant go-to. Roy is good enough now in one-on-one coverage that getting him the ball deep in the post is always a good look. He might miss, but he’ll make a decent move to create a makeable shot. And if they double? Well, when he is feeling it like he was in Staples Center, the opposition would be wise to just hope he misses a hook shot. He was Detective Alonzo Harris-in-Training Day-surgical-with-this-b**** tonight. Meanwhile, Pau Gasol was 5/15 on the other end with 13 points. Yeah … nice little night for the good Dr. Hibbert.

• Brandon Rush made Jim O’Brien look really smart at times for opting to go with him on Kobe to start the game. By the time the final buzzer sounded, we were all in awe of Bryant, naturally. But let’s be sure to remember how well Rush guarded him at times, particularly in the first half, forcing him to take frustrated fall-away jumpers with a hand in his face. It doesn’t matter if it’s Kobe. Those still are the shots that Indiana wants its opponents to take. Make some threes next time and I’ll even bring you some orange wedges for after the game.

• Did anyone else find it odd that not only was the marque point guard acquisition from this summer not on the court in the final minutes — yet again — but the guy that Larry Bird was forced to take on in the same deal, due his terrible contract, was on the floor? (For those scoring at home, that’s Collison on the bench and James Posey on the hardwood.) It worked out great since TJ Ford both scored on a drive to the hoop to put the Pacers up 5 with 90 seconds and later found Hibbert wide open under the hoop for a dunk with 16 seconds left. But it is certainly curious.

• I liked it better when Mike Dunleavy, Jr. was making everything from behind the arc. Let’s bring that guy back next game. Also, Shannon Brown borderline crippled you with an ankle-breaking move to the hoop in the 4th. I hope you can both physically and emotionally recover from that. (OK. I’ll note that he also swatted Kobe earlier in the game. That was pretty cool.)

• Lamar Odom is a terrible match-up for Josh McRoberts. Let’s pretty much just forget this game for him. Nice pass late to someone who got fouled though. Forget who he dished to, but he showed poise on the wing while being crowded with the shot clock waning, pivoted a few times and calmly found the cutter (Rush?) who would have scored if he didn’t get hammered and sent to the line. He also had that nice tip-in when Lamar got caught in no-man’s land while half-committing to double Roy on a post move. Two nice plays. A lot of nothing for the most part otherwise. Like I said, forgettable — but nice that he still found some ways to be helpful late on a tough night.

• Another thing that made this game a little less close on the floor than the scoreboard indicated was the fact that LA also needed what Chris Denari called “a step-back three by Ron” to keep their run going. This, other than a couple of Pau free throws (which were really a Kobe creation as well since they came on an offensive rebound Gasol grabbed only cause Roy sold out to contest Mamba’s drive) were the only points any Laker not named Kobe scored in the final 4:58 of the game. Hurricane Mamba is going to happen. It’s an uncontrollable, unpredictable force of nature. Like a dog sitting down before a tsunami, you might have a few minutes of warning when you see his Trap Jaw start to show. But basically you just need to brace for the impact and be ready to respond. The Pacers did just that and never got overly frustrated. Kobe Bean Bryant is incredible and will make bad shots. But keep forcing him to take bad shots and then get good shots on the other end and the percentages are all in your favor. It will work out more often than not. But let’s not mistake good shot-making for good foundations of winning basketball. Tonight, one guy made a ton of shots. But one team executed well on both ends consistently.