Is it just me, or do Lakers games seem like they take a lot longer when the style of play is not conducive to team productivity?

The Lakers took a page from the 2006-2007 season tonight, nearly losing to a 9-28 team in a city that, in a short time will no longer be home an NBA team. Is it really any surprise that Kobe scored 48 points on 44 attempts? This was last year's team doing what last year's team did best; rely on Kobe.

Please please please don't take this as Kobe hating. I completely acknowledge the fact that he was solely responsible carrying this team tonight, and with the pressure on, and him still ailing from the upper-respiratory infection, he stepped things up and got the W in OT. Take this as either Bynum loving... or Kwame hating; you choose.

Lakers 123, Sonics 121 | Kobe, of course, lead the charge with 48, Ronny scored 14, Jordan Farmar and D-Fish both put up 12. Our buddy Kwame Brown managed to pull a 10 and 10 game, which was honestly more than I expected.

The Sonics lit things up offensively, anchored by an unlikely top-scorer, 2003 Kansas grad, Nick Collison, who posted 24 points and 18 boards. Rookie Kevin Durant chimed in with 19, Wally Szczerbiak scored 18 on 3-4 from 3pt, Kurt Thomas had 16 and nine, and Jeff Green posted 14.

The only excuse that I can find for tonight's forecasted sub-par preformance is the back-to-back games. Give Phil a few days to coach some sense into these guys, then I'll start prognosticating. Speaking of "a few days," the Lakes face the Suns for round three of the season series on Thursday. How's that for timing?

Well, that was just one of those games.

The Lakers came into tonight's match up with the Nets after a tough couple of losses on the road, hoping to maybe get things rolling on the home court... Maybe.

It was just four days ago that the Lakers were sitting pretty at 7-3; a respectable looking record, despite whatever was going on on the floor.

Look at it now. A tough loss to Milwaukee, and loss that was supposed to be a loss in Boston brought the road trip to a screeching halt... But tonight? What happened tonight?

It's too late (2:00am?) to get into any real analysis, so here it is in a nutshell. If you didn't watch the game, this might be difficult to understand, so bear with me.

The Lakers took a good lead into the half, only to blow it in one of their historic third quarter collapses. Then in typical fashion, Kobe saves the day in the fourth (or does he?), only to miss a third free throw after getting fouled behind the arch (which was really just a good acting job). With the game on the line and three seconds on the clock, the Lakers turn to the 0-10 from the field Vladdy Radmanivic to net the winning three! Bad move... obviously. Nets 102, Lakers 100.

There you have it. This was the most frustrating game to watch so far this year, and something tells me that if the Lakers don't beat Seattle on Tuesday, not only is this season doomed, but you might as well forget about good old Phil Jackson, who still hasn't inked for next season.

[edit] 5:41pm; Monday: I've been thinking about that whole scenario quite a bit today... It honestly leaves me questioning Phil Jackson's desire to coach. Vladimir Radmanovic didn't even deserve to be on the floor with the game on the line last night. I said this in a comment, but if ANYTHING, Vladdy should have been inbounding the ball on that play. His height could have been used to the Lakers advantage. Instead, you take the shortest guy on the floor, who also happens to be 8-10 from the field, and have him inbound the ball? I understand that Kobe got tied up, and that Bynum made a young mistake with his back to the ball at the inbound, but Jackson could have choreographed that play in a number of ways that would have had better odds than what actually happened. Giving Fisher a chance to take that shot as the third option is clearly more efficient than putting the game on the shoulders o####uy who went 0-10 with no rebounds. Even if Fisher would have missed it, the people wouldn't be as pissed. BAD CALL PHIL.

The icing on the cake? Unconfirmed reports last spotted Vladdy at 2am  at one of Hollywood's many trendsetting night clubs, the night before the game. Vlad was seen all over Los Angeles drinking it up until the wee hours.

Finally, To the LA Media: STOP CALLNG THIS GUY VLADE. Even if he was as good as Mr. Divac, the bottom line is the fact that his there will never be another Vlade in Los Angeles unless someone specifically named 'Vlade' were to come around. It just bugs me.

Leg one of the over-hyped Lakers road trip through Texas resulted in a predictable loss to the now 7-1 Spurs, in a game that saw phenomenal team ball on the Spurs behalf... like that's out of the ordinary.

Basically, the main point of the night was centered on the always-entertaining Kobe on Bruce Bowen match-up. Bowen covered Kobe well, and outscored him, putting up 23, compared to Kobe's 18.

Jordan Farmar played well, putting up 16, along side Lamar Odom, who kept up the pace from his debut on Friday, putting up 12 points and grabbing 6 rebounds.

The Lakers simply got outplayed tonight, nothing much more can be said for their effort, aside from the fact that they will need to rebound big to beat Houston tomorrow.

Tomorrow night's game is the one that the Lake Show can realistically win. The Rockets are coming off of a 105-95 loss in Memphis, so there is room for the Lakers to snag a win from a team that looked pretty solid up until tonight.

around the league
Chasing Obscurity
Chasing Obscurity is a tradition that I'll be carrying over from my previous blogging adventures that spotlights the league's undefeated and winless teams until there simply are no more. Why? Because that kind of thing gets me going.

Undefeated
Boston Celtics (6-0) - next game: 11/14 vs. New Jersey - 4:00pm pt

Winless
Seattle Sonics (0-8) - next game: 11/14 @ Miami - 4:30pm pt
Minnesota Timberwolves (0-5) - next game: 11/14 vs. Sacramento - 5:00pm pt
Golden State Warriors (0-5) - next game: 11/14 vs. Detroit - 7:30pm pt

Thoughts
That Seattle v Miami game should be a real thriller. The 1-6 Heat play host to 0-8 Sonics... Look for the Heat to take advantage of the home floor in this one.