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?