Kobe, 65, Ho Hum

65 points in an OT victory over the Portland Blazers. 24 out of 30 Laker points total in the 4th quarter.

FGM-A 23-39
3PM-A 8-12
FTM-A 11-12

in 50 minutes of fighting through picks on defense, running around the court to get free on offense and making turn around jumpers from behind the 3pt arc. Sick! Sick!! Sick!!!

His game tying shot in regulation, and his game sealing shot in OT were insane three pointers that no human being has a right to even think about attempting let alone making.

The stat line is mind blowing, yet watching it is even more impressive.

And I was ready to stick a fork in the Lakers and declare their season over if they lost this game.

They came very close, it took a superhuman effort from an insanely talented player to pull off a victory at home against a lousy team.

That's not good.

Before this game, they had lost 7 in a row, and that was after a few other long skids. They've been in a tailspin since just before the All Star Break. But, the have enough games left to fix what's broken, and the games they have left are mostly against teams with worse records than the Lakers, so they should be able to win most of them.

Still, I thought the Lakers had evolved past being Kobe and everyone else, but sometimes if Kobe being insane is what it takes, then that's what's going to happen.

The Lakers will need consistent effort from all their players if they're to maintain their playoff seeding and have any chance of beating any of the 3 Western Conference titans (Mavs, Suns, Spurs) that they'll face in the first round.

Still, if they manage to defeat any of those teams in the first round, then the sky's the limit.