Down one and with 2.2 seconds to get off a shot to win the game Thursday against the Celtics, the Lakers looked confused. The play was broken and the ball ended up in Derek Fisher’s hand as he tried to dribble around to Celtics players and launch a game winner. He couldn’t.
Derek Fisher can hit game winners — he’s hit a lot in his time as a Laker — but he never had to create the shot itself. Kobe did that, and if all the defense came to Kobe, Fisher found himself with the ball and an open look.
But there was no Kobe on Thursday. And the Lakers are ready to get him back, because that game showed that while still good the Lakers are not elite without him.
The Lakers have done well while Kobe rests up an ankle injured when Lamar Odom stepped on his foot as Kobe tried to move. They are 4-1, with wins over Portland in Portland and over Utah. Trying to make up for Kobe’s absence the Lakers have played better defense than they have all season, and the ball and player movement on offense has been improved.
But the Celtics showed where the Lakers missed Kobe. Usually Kobe takes over the offense at the end of games — something some Lakers fans complain about — and without him the Lakers went 1-10 down the stretch and scored just two points in the final seven minutes of the loss to the Celtics.
But it was more than that. There was the defense — in the first meeting with the Celtics Ray Allen was a non-factor for Boston with Kobe on him. This time Allen got going early because Derek Fisher was on him and Allen, about four inches taller than Fish, just got good looks shooting over him. And once Allen got going he was hot, finishing with 24 points.
Then there was the opening minute, when Boston leapt out to a 11-2 run and the Lakers couldn’t buy a good shot. When that happens Kobe will take over for a few possessions, dominate and get a couple points to settle the team down. It took the Lakers a long time to settle down in this one.
The Celtics are a title contender, and the two teams played a grind-it-out, let-them-bang playoff style game. Kobe wins those kind of games. And with a stretch run ahead, the Lakers need him back and healthy. The sooner the better.
Kurt Helin lives in Los Angeles and is the lead writer on NBC's NBA blog Pro Basketball Talk (which you can also follow in twitter).
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