THEY CALL HIM..."THE MACHINE"!

And, in Game 3 of the NBA 2008 Championship round, they certainly needed his machine like precision.

Sasha Vujacic scored 20points on a variety of fundamentally sound and extremely open shots as Kobe "The Black Mamba: Bryant upped his game by another notch in scoring 36 points to lead LA to a 6 point victory.

Vujacic's offensive proficiency was very timely as Gasol and Odom were off-form and old reliable Derek Fisher was not as reliable as usual.

Fortunately for them, only Ray Allen from Boston's Big Three showed up, as Garnett missed his first 6 shots (including a breakaway dunk) and Pierce went 2-14.

On a curious side comment, Leon Powe drew some defensive pressure from Odom, Turiaf and Gasol. The Game 2 hero quickly reverted back to being a rookie.

Also, Kobe guarded Rajon Rondo, a testament to the Lakers' growing respect for the yougn point guard. Of course, 16 assists do have a tendency to get an opposing team's attention.

CLOSE BUT NO CIGAR! (just Red Auerbach's)

This was a loss that showed just how possible it is to beat the Celtics.

The Celtics had the Big Three firing, with Pierce scoring 28 and Allen and Garnett scoring 17 each.
The Celtics had Rondo fuelling and orchestrating the offense magnificently, with a Nash-like 16 assists.

The Celtics had a 28-10 advantage in free throws (meaning calls were going their way).

And yet, they still nearly gave away a 24point lead with just 8 minutes left in the fourth, as Kobe brought the Lakers to within 2points with 30seconds left in the game.

It actually took a herculean 21pt effort in just 14minutes from unheralded Leon Powe and a blocked Vujacic three pointer to finally close the deal for Boston.

Now just imagine one of those things not happening.

PS Kobe is such a phenomenal player. In the fourth, I saw a Laker execute a perfect crossover on Pierce, drive to his left, then rise for a lefthanded teardrop in the lane that hit nothing but net and I thought "Damn, that Odom sure is smooth!"

Then I saw the number. Who else but Black Mamba? He is so good with his offhand that I'm not sure he has an offhand.