Lakers comeback from 17, move on

In the end, youth trumped experience ... and Kobe Bryant conquered all.
That's the Western Conference finals broken down to the essential compounds. The Lakers had two of the three most important elements in their favor against the San Antonio Spurs.
For all of his wondrous abilities, Bryant by his lonesome isn't enough. He knows that now. In Game 5 and throughout this series it was the younger, deeper Lakers who prevailed, who had the energy to overcome big deficits at home and put the ultimate closer in position to finish things off.
It had the effect of making Bryant look young again, pasting the same giddy smile he had on his face when he made his first trip to the NBA Finals eight years ago. After the power struggles with Shaquille O'Neal, failing to advance past the first playoff round in his first three years as the main man, his trade demands from a year ago and what Coach Phil Jackson described as a "bewildering two weeks or so in the preseason, where things were tenuous, at best, as an organization", Bryant seemed refreshed.
"That has to be a very special feeling for him to be back here and get to the finals and have exactly what he had hoped to happen happen," Jackson said.
His team, his way, in the only team colors he's ever worn.
Bryant and Jackson know better than to get overly excited by this step. Bryant even left his Western Conference champions cap behind on the interview podium, while younger players proudly wore theirs. The delirious crowd at Staples Center was treated to a blending of Laker success past and present on the court following the 100-92 victory, as Jerry West presented the gathered team with the trophy for the Western Conference winners.
Bryant was giddy standing next to the man who pulled the trade to get him to the Lakers.
"I remember like it was yesterday, Bryant said. "I was 17, in his Lexus, riding around, scared to talk because I'm sitting next to Mr. Clutch."
Eventually, Bryant felt comfortable enough to have lengthy conversation, he asked him about playing in crunch time.
"He said something to me that was really interesting," Bryant said. "He said when the game is on the line, he feels like the shots are actually easier to make. It was just interesting to hear him say that and try to understand how he views those clutch situations and how I can learn from that and try to be that way."
Thursday you saw the finished product, the game's new sensei, the first choice in the league you'd want with the ball in the fourth quarter.
Just as they did in the first game, the Lakers erased a large deficit (17 points this time) and won the nitty-gritty battle. When it mattered most, with only two points separating the teams and just over 3 ½ minutes to play, Bryant went on a tear, scoring eight of the game's next 11 points, in just about every way possible: jump shots, a layup and a free throw. He tacked on two more padding free throws in the final 15 seconds to bring him to 39 points for the game.
It was such a killer performance that when Bryant passed by Tony Parker in the hallway afterward he almost felt the need to apologize to the Spurs point guard.
"That demon came out," Bryant said. "What do you want me to do?"
"He was unbelievable again," San Antonio's Manu Ginobili said. "When his team couldn't score, he just took over."
It wouldn't have mattered if the young players had not developed enough to give Jackson a range of options -- and this was even before the Pau Gasol trade. After the Lakers did not cave to Bryant's trade demands, this was the most significant development of the Laker season. It's what allowed them to think in championship terms in the first place.
After a lackluster first quarter of only 15 points on 29 percent shooting, Jackson stuck with his season-long pattern of sending out the second unit to start the second quarter. After dropping behind by 17 points, the crew of Luke Walton, Jordan Farmar, Sasha Vujacic, Ronny Turiaf and starter Lamar Odom got the deficit down to 11, and the Lakers fnished the quarter with a flurry to trail by only six at halftime. Jackson credited that stretch with saving the game.
"The building was dead tonight, they were on a roll, they had all the momentum," Farmar said. "That's our job, to come in and turn it around."
"We've developed a confidence about us, especially as a unit," Walton said. "We were down early on. In the first quarter, we kind of looked at each other and said, 'When we go in, we've got to pick this energy up.'"
The Spurs had an energy deficit, one they never did overcome after spending a night on an airplane following their Game 7 victory in New Orleans.
"As I look back, it was a tough beginning of the series for us," Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said. "Considering the seven games, a quick turn around, losing that game in Game 1. I think that took a bit of a mental toll. It was a tough beginning. We just faced a better team."
Give the Spurs credit for not griping about the non-call in Game 4 that was so egregious the league office admitted it was bad. (If anything, they had a right to still be harping on a Game 1 critical rebound that went out of bounds off Tim Duncan when it appeared Duncan had been fouled.)
Popovich, in a way, seemed relieved that it was over. He and the Spurs have had four chances to defend their championship during his run, and never have worn the crown well.
"We don't have to practice tomorrow, do we?" he said as he walked off the interview podium. "We can sleep late, drink wine. No practice, no shootaround."
Bryant, meanwhile, was off to catch a showing of "Sex & The City" at a movie theater that was being held open for him.