I watched one of the best NBA playoff games ever last night. The Lakers beat the Spurs 74-73 to take a 3-2 advantage in the series. Analysts are calling it one of the most dramtic finishes in NBA history. Wow!
The Lakers fell behind late in the fourth quarter after leading for most of the game. With time running out, Kobe Bryant hit a 15 footer to put the Lakers up by one with 11 seconds left. The Spurs answered when Tim Duncan hit an impossible fade away from the top of the key with Shaq in his face. At that point, I assumed that the game was over since there was only .4 seconds left, barely enough time to catch a pass and shoot. After three time outs, everyone knew the ball was going to Kobe. The Spurs did a great job of denying him the ball. Gary Payton looked for his second and third option and finally fired the ball to a cutting Derek Fischer, who caught the ball as he was turning in mid air to shoot. SWISH! Fischer hit the 17 footer with the ball leaving his hand with .1 left on the clock. One is lucky to see a playoff game decided by a buzzer-beater. But three last minute shots in one game within a period of 12 seconds? Are you kidding me?!
I yelled so loud that I woke Adam up. As the old NBA slogan used to say, "I love this game" (especially when the Lakers win).
Posted by Frank Yamada at May 14, 2004 02:51 PM