Kobe brilliant, Lakers looking strong

Let me be the first to say that after I spent all that time writing about how Lebron needed to step up in the clutch, he finally did. You're welcome, Cavs fans. Seriously though, that Game 7 performance was not just Jordan-esque, in some ways it wrote it's own Lebron-esque chapter into NBA playoffs history. I also loved the Paul Pierce explosion by the way, and even though I was pulling for Cleveland, I am retroactively happy that the C's won the series. The big picture is more important I suppose, that being the Finals matchup. And we all know that we want to see the Lakers and Celtics go seven in June, for old time's sake. Maybe EA Sports will call NBA Live 09 Lakers vs. Celtics like it did in the seminal years of the franchise.
Anyhow, what a performance by the Lakers last night. Specifically Kobe Bryant. Popovich summed it up best when he told Craig Sager that Kobe was just scoping the game out and waiting to take over after Kobe only scored one bucket in the first quarter. The Lakers rally from 20 down was a great sign of things to come in this series. For me, the exclamation point wasn't the basket that gave them the lead, it was Kobe's behind the back juke-dribble, then ridiculous pump-fake that got Ginobili (or was it Oberto?) in the air, after which Kobe banked home the leaner. No sweeter move was there in this game, although Gasol blowing by Kurt Thomas on the baseline spin move was a close second. As masterful as Kobe's second half was, I thought Tony Parker was equally good in the first half. The Lakers had no answer for his slashing drives and mid-range game. Really it was poetry. When he is playing his aggressive style, I don't think there's any better point guard in the NBA (until next season when I say the same about Chris Paul and Deron Williams). The only knock I have on the Lakers though is that they continue to give Vujacic big minutes. I know they like to lean on their bench guys a lot, but seriously, Vujacic is a walking time bomb strapped to the Lakers title hopes. It's only going to take one game where he tries to be the man one too many times and the Lakers do something disastrous like, say, losing at home. Although he did make a couple of big threes last night, there were times when, even with Kobe on the floor in the middle of his second half tear, you could see Vujacic just aching to take the shots. That's not going to cut it. You didn't see Craig Hodges launching shots when Jordan was on a tear did you?