It's amazing how much ones perception and confidence can be changed after a few games of a series.

With the Jazz a rapidly fading memory the next gauntlet was layed down: The defending champion Spurs. Could we match up? Were we out of our league against this great and proud team? How will we do?

First game. Before you know it, our beloved Lakers are down by twenty and I'm thinking, "Wow, they really took it to us this game. It's not the Jazz anymore. Wer'e going to have to regroup and come up with some answers." The Lakers, very much to my surprise, came back to win.

Now fast forward to game five. Almost the exact situation. The Lakers are down by 17. The Spurs are frisky and pushing to avenge their home loss and drag us back to San Antonio and then a possible game seven. We are apparently dead in the water. What am I thinking? "No problem, we will come back to win this game." After watching the Lakers outplay the champs for the the majority of the series, I had no doubt our youth, talent and will to win would prevail. I have never been so confident that a team down by such a large margin would come back to prevail. I had seen enough in the prior games to know the Spurs were just running on adreniline against a superior team....and when adreniline runs out, superior ability will prevail. Did any of you feel that same confident calm last night?

It is most interesting to note that in the three games that went down to wire: one, four and five; the younger more inexperienced team won. It was these games, toe to toe gut checks that ultimatly decided the series, not the two blowouts. The Lakers lost not a one of them. Not what one would expect from a team so young against an oppenent so wise and experienced. Of all the revelations in this series, this I feel was the most dramatic and impressive.

This was something both an experienced Suns and young powerful New Orleans team could not do against the champs. It's why they are sitting at home and we are going to the finals.

The catylist of course was The Great Man: Kobe Bryant. Like Michael Jordan before him, he just is too great, causes too many problems and ulitimatly triumphs where others fail. Out of all the great coaches and players in this series, it was he who was the ulitmate arbiteur of the outcome. Put Kobe on either the Spurs, Hornets or Suns. Who goes to the championship now? Everone knows the answer.

Finally manumitted from the overwhelming shadow of Shaquille, and subpar talent, The Great Man is now fully unleashed to challenge the legacy of Michael Jordan. It seems inconcievable to think that so soon after Jordan's supposed 'once in life time' career and performances that someone would come along, almost a contemporary at that, and legitimatly prove to be his equal...or even superior.

The one area he will never equal Mike is with the adulation of the media and sporting pubic. Kobe has certainly done enough dumb things to earn the emnity of fans but even before this, there was an undercurrent of dislike for him. I think this was simply caused by the fact that he came along second. Mike was a original, in talent and accomplishment. He was a past master at playing the media game. Firing the publics imagination with his skills and making the impossible seem ordinary, over his career he became an Amercian icon. A latter day Babe Ruth, Mickey Mantle or Joe Louis or Muhammad Ali. It was a given that no player for decades to come would come along and perform and accomplish what he did.

Then, along came Kobe.

During the three peat years, any unbiased observer could already see that as unimaginable as it seemed, a man had come along who possessed the same skills and drive as the beloved icon. I have had many discussions with fans of Michael and was always struck by their dislike and dissmissal of Kobe as a second rate copy of Mike. The next few years are going to be very difficult for the 'protectors" of the Jordan legacy as Kobe racks up championships at a .......Jordanesque pace.

It's ironic that the commercial used to say, "Be like Mike." Of course they didn't expect it or really want it to happen. Kobe has shown how getting a little to close to being, "like Mike", is dangerous. They will resent you.

Yes, MJ will always be the hero, and Kobe the villain; but he is our villain. And our villain along with the team he leads will be pillaging the NBA landscape for years. Their hate for the Lakers and Kobe will grow with every defeat we inflict on them, every new ring The Great Man takes as his own. I wouldn't want it any other way.

Want to single out the unsung hero, space cadet, Vlad Radmanovich for his contributions in this series. With erratic scoring all series from Pau, Lamar, Fish and Sasha losing his shot for the last three games, Vlad's steady and consistant scoring was huge for us. Unlike the aforementioned players, his play was steady from game one and never wavered. Without his contributions, this victory may not have happened. No space cadet anymore.

Well, 12 down and four to go. Our greatest challenge probably awaits from the east. Just one more time into the breach and let slip the dogs of war, to hopefully our 15th championship.