It has been a long time since the Los Angeles Lakers have been in a situation like this.  They are down two games to one, losing the last two games straight and were embarrassed at home.  Moments after a 2 ? hour video session and brief workout L.A. coach Phil Jackson questioned to his troops for "a register of how they felt."  All he got was silence.

"They kind of stood their dumbfounded for a second, like `We can't collectively say anything,' " Jackson said.

The cockiness has disappeared.  The invincible feel of the two-time NBA champs is all but gone.  These Lakers have lost their way and were in need of reassurance, and Kobe Bryant would be the one who would try to ease their sorrow.

"We're going to be all right. We're going to be fine," said Bryant.  What else could he say?

"This," Bryant told reporters, "is a perilous situation. We're totally aware of the situation. But we also like to look at it as a challenge, to the point where it has to excite us. And it does excite us. And we're looking forward to the challenge."

"I wouldn't say `anxious,' I would say just `edgy,' " Fox said of his team?s feelings for Game 4. "Edgy in the sense that when you watch film with your coaching staff and you see, without the coaching staff having to point things out, what put you in those positions, you become edgy. You want to get back out and compete again."

"We're not scrambling, we've been down before," Bryant added. "We were down (0-1) last year in the Finals, and that's more pressure than this situation. Once you're used to the Finals and you go down one game and it's the opening game, that's pressure. This right here is fun."