5:50 - After going sky high to corral a board, Kobe goes into "head down" mode, which results in Bryant coughing the ball up out of bounds and a Spurs time out.  Not the greatest of possessions.  In the meantime, the jumbotron shows on of those "race" animation dealies with marble looking objects going through a maze.  I'm glad wasn't Vlad didn't enter the game, because he was watching the hell outta that thing.  Out of the time out, Ronny and Mihm exit, Luke and Bynum enter.

2:34 - Beautiful spin move by LO around the rack for the layup, giving the Lakers a 15-14 lead.  This one's changing hands back and forth.  The Lakers are doing a nice job keeping TD from going nutty (1-6 from the field and no boards), but Mr. Eva Longoria already has 8 points.  A pick one's poison team, for sure.

2:13 - During a timeout, it's announced that the Spurs Coyote has been inducted into the mascot Hall of Fame, eliciting big cheers from the home crowd.  He gets a tiny banner next to Sean Elliot's retired jersey.  Good for him.

1:49 - Nice job by Bynum using his length to force Manu into taking a circus shot around the rack.  While Ginobli's been known to make some of those througout the years, this one bounced off the rim.

.48 - Bynum zigs when Jordan Farmar expects a zag.  Or Bynum zags upon receiving a zig.  However you wanna phrase it, Farmar tossed the ball into the stands. 

Walton attempts a hail Mary to Kobe to beat the buzzer, but time elapses while Bryant runs it down.  Spurs 21, Lakers 15.  Like I said, the Lakers doing a nice job making Duncan a non-factor and are outrebounding San Antonio by a large margin.  Unfortunately, they've already turned the ball, as Principal Roony would say, nine times.  Can't have that and expect to come out on top.

SECOND QUARTER

10:23 - Manu sinks a long deuce to put the Spurs up by five.  I can't quite figure out the correlation between the Argentian star and "Juke Box Hero," which may be his scoring music.  But hey, who doesn't love a Lou Gramm vocal?

10:15 - Bynum with the board, the dunk, the and one.  That's pretty much how you wanna see a 20-year old go strong.

8:32 - Bynum taps the ball out of the Spurs paint to Luke, who sprints halfway up court and tries Hail Mary #2, this time to Farmar.  This time, successful with a captial "S."  Or make that a capital "T," considering the throwdown Farmar administered for those two points.  Kid got way the hell up there.

Time out Spurs.  By the way, wanna know a difference between the AT&T Center and Staples?  Fans at Staples don't EVER clang cowbells.  AT&T folks occasionally do.  I prefer the Staples approach.

8:13 - Fantastic job by Andrew using his length to force a posting Duncan into a wild miss.  I've heard a few analysts talk about how Duncan is actually bothered more by wingspan defense than physical players.  Frankly, I'm not sure how much Duncan is truly "bothered" by anybody, but I've seen Bynum have some luck against Timmy using those arms in the past.  Not that Kwame's muscle doesn't come in handy, too.  But there can definitely be more than one way to skin a proverbial future Hall of Famer, so to speak.

6:16 - Kwame enters the game for the first time and immediately gets the gift of an alley oop from his good buddy Kobe.  But while Kobe giveth, he oft take away, too.  Take away from the Spurs that is, after blocking TD's shot.  That's block #3 for Kobe this HALF.  If he's gunning for DPOY, this is all some very nice resume fodder.

I'm curious to see how the center minutes get divided up in the second half. I know all three want as much PT as possible, but if they're all playing well, there are worse things in the world than a trio of guys you wouldn't mind seeing on the floor.

3:09 - Duncan takes Kwame off the dribble, but Ronny's there for the... goal tend.  The block party only has so many kegs on hand, but with 6 (and counting) so far, it's turning into quite the shindig.

2:50 - Fish turns the ball over in the paint.  Chalk up the 15th.  Too much dribbling, not enough passing it off.  The Lakers would be much closer in this bad boy if they'd take better care of the rock.

1:36 - That goofy looking Matt Bonner hits a trey, increasing the San Antonio lead to 15.  LO quickly hits a deuce to make it a baker's dozen, but it's bumped up to 16 on the next possession after Bowen hits from downtown.  Spurs are shooting 55% from behind the arc.  I don't know everything about roundball, but me thinks that line needs to be better guarded. 

LO misses a triple of his own to close things out.  54-38 Spurs.  Some better D (particularly from distance) and some stick-em would be in order.  The Lakers can definitely make this a game again, but only if the sloppiness stops.  We'll see if they come out better in the third.  See y'all in a bit.

THIRD QUARTER

Kwame starts the half in place of Mihm.  Dunno if this means Mihm will pull a vice versa and close out the last five minutes of the game, but at any rate, the switch didn't prevent the Spurs from getting a quick four points on the board (although Kwame did do a very nice job bodying up Duncan on San Antonio's third possession, causing another miss for TD, having a tough night).

&:03 - The Lakers catch a huge break when a masked Francisco Elson can't hang onto a Tony Parker bounce pass, leading to a considerably less frequent Spurs turnover.  But had Elson snatched the ball, it would have been an easy bucket.  Weren't nobody within three feet of the painted area.

6:33 - Fantastic job by Kwame of putting the ball on the floor, knifing between two defenders and going strong to the rack for an uncontested dunk.  When he can do stuff like that and make the defense reguarly account for him, whether he makes every basket or not, it will open up big worlds for himself and his team.  Perhaps he's taking my advice, since he soon ended up at the line to shoot a pair after drawing the foul against Elson. One sank.  Lakers down by 15... Make that 17, after Parker gets inside for the easy layup.  That's 24 points already for the 2007 Finals MVP.  Dude is killing them.

5:13 - Ronny blocks Duncan.  it's been a tough night for Turiaf (he's got 6 of them turnovers by his damn self), but he's extending the Lakers' stinginess on Timmy.  Unfortunately, nobody seems to wanna do the same for Parker or Ginobli, who just hit a bomb.

2:42 - Terrific defensive stand by the Lakers, in particular on a switch that left Bynum on Manu around the arc.  Bynum kept with Manu until Kobe could provide the calvary and force Manu to give the ball up.  More sticky D, eventually leading to Bonner putting one up to avoid the 24 second violation.  Miss.  The lakers need MUCH more of that, and quick, since this one's about to hit "ain't getting back" territory.

1:10 - Vlad takes a couple dribbles, pulls up, then sinks the mid-ranger.  I just wanted to type that, otherwise I could have easily gone all night without typing his name.  Quiet night for the Artist formerly known as Cat Stevens.

33.6 - Mo clangs one off the side of the rim.  Not what he had in mind, I'm imagining.  Thankfully, Bynum is there to clean up for the lay up.

9.9 - Instead of scoring against the Lakers, Manu instead sets up Darius Washington for the triple.  Do you like that any better?

Third ends.  79-62 Spurs.  Lakers need to make some headway and fast.  I'd reccomend some D.  We'll see what happens.

FOURTH QUARTER

7:19 - Bynum draws Duncan's third foul, then heads to the line for two.  Sad thing is that Duncan's having such a bad game, the Spurs might prefer he foul out.

6:31 - Some nice bobbing and weaving by Kobe around a few Spurs defenders, with #24 eventually in the air for a fancy dunk.  Unfortunately, it's only Kobe's 14th point, part of the quiet night he and all his laker homies are having. 

5:15 - Bowen hits a three.  I might as well just start cutting and pasting the phrase "hits a three," then entering the specific Spur connecting.

3:33 - Vlad misses a gimme layup.  It's just been that kinda night for everyone.

1:03 - it's officially beyond garbage time, but Bynum is digging around for a loose ball, getting himself to the line for the And One attempt.  That's some effort his coach will surely like.

And there you have it.  107-92 Spurs.  On the plus side, the Lakers certainly (or hopefully) didn't use up their best stuff before heading to Houston.  On the minus, when they played this poorly, I don't know if I even want them to take on the Rockets to begin with.  Yikes.  A lot ugly in that one.  But like the Lakers, y'all will be back to fight another day.  So will I. Thanks for dropping by.  More to come later.

AK