NBA Playoffs: Lakers vs. Spurs - Game 3

It was a must win game for the Spurs last night being down 0-2 to the Lakers and they came through like defending champions do with a 103-84 win to get them back in the series down 1-2. San Antonio was not going to be beaten at home in Game 3 after being embarassed on the road at Los Angeles in Game 1 & 2 in the series and kept themselves undefeated at home through the playoffs with an 8-0 record.

The Spurs trio (Duncan, Parker, Ginobili) had been outplayed in Los Angeles, but on their home court in San Antonio they came through combining for 72 of the Spurs 103 points and totally shut down the Lakers' Lamar Odom by holding him to just 7 points and making him cause 5 turnovers. It was especially good for the Spurs to see Manu Ginobili back to his old self in Game 3 scoring 30 points off the bench, with 22 in the first half. Ginobili only scored 17 points in the first 2 games combined, and was that spark last night that the Spurs have been waiting for all series.

Kobe Bryant got his 30 points for the Lakers, but the next highest scorer was Pau Gasol with 15 points, a huge compliment to the Spurs defense. Bryant had been scoring at will all series and like all great scorers, he got to the foul line many times but that was not the case last night only getting to the foul line once. The Lakers need more production from Lamar Odom, Derek Fisher and their bench to win Game 4 on the road because San Antonio was down 0-2 against New Orleans last round and still won the series in 7 games.

The big difference in this round is the Lakers have the 2008 NBA Most Valuable Player in Kobe Bryant and their head coach Phil Jackson is 40-0 after winning their first 2 games in a playoffs series so San Antonio needs to play all their games like they did in Game 3 if they want to get to the NBA Finals again. Bryant still has a lot to prove since he was the main reason that Shaquille O'Neal was traded and hasn't done anything since then but now that the Lakers are in the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2004, don't be surprised if Bryant scores 50 points to win Game 4.

Bryant knows how important Game 4 is because the Lakers don't want to make this a 7-game series with San Antonio. The Spurs are not only the defending champs, they always play big in big games which is why they have won 4 championships in the past 9 years. If Bryant ever wants to live up to the hype being compared to Michael Jordan, he will have to win 3 more rings by the end of his career to match Jordan's 6 rings. Bryant knows this is a golden opportunity to get his fourth ring this season so I believe Bryant will put up a performance next game to do whatever possible to come out with a win and spoil the Spurs hopes of becoming back-to-back champions.