That Didn't Really Happen...Right?

The number 24 is cursed.

Kobe Bryant wears the number 24, which so happens to match the 24-pt. lead the Lakers squandered, in Kobe's 24th Finals game.

Now, I'm not a superstitious person. I don't believe in signs, things happening for a reason, or karma, but I guess we can safely say that Kobe Bryant will never be a fan of the show "24."

Even Jack Bauer couldn't have saved the Lakers from the worst tank-job in the history of the NBA Finals.

To think that everything was going well for the Lake show. Their offense was clicking. I mean Lamar Odom was 6-6 shooting in the 1st quarter alone. As unbelievable at that seems, Lamar was the best player on the planet for that stretch of time. All this while Kobe Bryant only had four points at the half when Jordan Farmar hit that amazing running three-pointer at the buzzer.

I hate Jordan Farmar. I know I picked him as my stand-out performer (he failed me miserably by the way), but that's not the reason why I loathe him. It's because I was watching the game with my cousin James at the time.

I told him that if Farmar runs the court in the 5 seconds they had left on the clock, and makes a 3, that I would jump in the pool. Well sure enough, the big-eared freak made the shot and I was forced to jump in with all my clothes on. Thank you Jordan. Then, when James told me that they only counted it as two points, I wanted to drown myself. Thankfully, my cousin is a joker, but not even he could predict what kind of joke this game would really become.

The bottom line is that Doc Rivers coached a magnificent ball game, that had Phil Jackson looking as confused as ever. When Rivers starting big man Kendrick Perkins got injured, for the second time this series mind you, he went to small lineup. Keep in mind that Rajon Rondo was completely ineffective because of the previous injury he had on Tuesday. Doc didn't even put a true point guard out there and went with his best offensive lineup to chip away at the Lakers lead. He had Laker killer Eddie House, 3-pt. shooter extraordinare James Posey, and the Boston Three Party just dissecting the Lakers in and out.

All of a sudden, Boston had firepower. Their three pointers that were rattling in and out, were now being sunk in. James Posey and Paul Pierce played great perimeter on Bryant and suffocated him from getting to the basket. He was forced into taking tough perimeter jump shots, just like in Game 1.

The star of the night had to be Ray Allen though, as he played all 48 minutes of this ball game, and was Captain Clutch down the stretch. He made an unbelievable reverse lay up, where he seemingly hung in the air long enough to kiss the sky. He also broke Sasha Vujacic off with his final driving lay up when Gasoft was too late to help-defend. Allen finished with 19 points, and are you kidding me...9 rebounds!

Game Notes:

-The Lakers bench was terrible and out-played by the older and more experienced Boston pine-stars
-Sasha had 3 points (a far cry from the near-perfect 20 he had in Game 3)
-Ronny Turiaf once again provided nothing.
-Paul Pierce once again outplayed Kobe Bryant outscoring him in 20 to 17 and made big plays down the stretch.
-Eddie House and James Posey combined for 29 points
-The Lakers scored only 33 points in the second half, which was less than their total for the 1st qtr. (35 pts.)

This was all just a bad nightmare right? This couldn't have really happened...nah no way, Kobe would've never allowed this to happen...You have got to be kidding me...