“It Ain’t Over.”

Promising and powerful words that KB24 flushed to the press Saturday afternoon, and there’s no doubt in my head that these NBA Finals are anywhere close to being over. Blowing a 24-point lead and letting the Boston Celtics take a commanding 3-1 series lead against the Lakers isn’t nothing to crack jokes about while being a Laker fan, but with the League’s best player on your side, feel free to smash on Kobe’s comical “A lot of wine, beer and ‘couple of shots” response to his solution to bouncing back from the Game 4 loss. The loss is definitely a punch in the gut for Laker lovers across the world, but the degree of pressure on Los Angeles’ side isn’t frightening yet. I found myself slowing losing interest in Game 4 after slowing watching the Lakers league expand throughout the game. Even then, when Boston quietly began to cut the lead down to 10 points in the fourth quarter, the amount of excitement wasn’t there. This isn’t because I’m not a fan of either of the teams, but it’s because when you watch the Los Angeles Lakers play, Bryant seems to have an everlasting grip on the game. This whole bias paragraph may seem too ridiculous to swallow in one gulp, but a “couple of shots” aren’t any easier

I had no hesitation in allowing this blog to have a train wreck beginning with these assumptions. Only because we’re dealing with a future Hall of Famer that draws abundant comparisons to MJ every time he dominates in a series of games. In Game 4, Kobe drew even with his scorers with just 17 points. He decided to spread the stat sheet by adding 4 rebounds, 10 assits and 4 steals. His will to score wasn’t expressed until it was too late, which has been the scenario for the Lakers in this series (without counting Game 3, where he scored 36 for a W). The Lakers seem to be on cruise control throughout the first three quarters of each game, while the Celtics penetrate their star-studded offense to an unexplainable lead. In the fourth quarter, it basically the same story line, until it’s under 4 minutes and the gun is put to K24’s neck to take over. So far, when being in those situations, Bryant has failed to squeeze them out zero times out of the three.

This opportunity for Los Angeles has become something they’re losing control over, Boston has seized their chance at gold in these Finals. In an extensively dramatic playoff journey for Boston, orchestrated by story lines from Ray Allen’s slumps, Pierce’s toughness, to Garnett’s leadership. Boston has become the cover art for a book about devotion, desire and heart. These qualities are absent to many teams around in the League, so when it comes to which team is more deserving, Boston leads the line. This storybook ending could only be spoiled by Kobe Bryant, but thankfully for Boston, it hasn’t been anywhere close. All of those raging potentials carried by the Lakers have been tamed with organized defense and showing up for when it counts in the fourth quarter.

With Boston’s confidence flaring, expect Game 5 tonight to be something to savor. Of course, I’ll be at work, absent to the greatest case for must-watch basketball in years. Thankfully, I’ll be able to catch the game during the 3rd quarter, unless I die in a freak accident on the way. Expect this game to be everything you expected, but with more extras than you could ever imagine. Emotions will become more apparent, dunks, shot selections, passes will become more enthused, and K24 will not disappoint.