There are four teams remaining in the race for the 2002 NBA Championship, and while most believe the victor is bound to come out of the West if the last two days of NBA action have showed us anything it is that anything is possible.  Two games, four halves, but only two winners.  Who would take the games?

Two nights ago we had the Boston Celtics, led by forward Paul Pierce, making history by coming back to win after being down 21 points at three quarter time.  No team in 171 attempts prior to that game had been able to come back from 19 or more points in a playoff game.  If that wasn?t exciting enough for you last night it was the Los Angeles Lakers turn, coming back from being down by 24 points in the first half to again steal victory from the jaws of defeat.

It wasn?t quite as emphatic as the Celtics win, the Lakers getting the lead down to seven points at the end of the third quarter, but as they say luck is a fortune.  

To close out the first half forward Samaki Walker had his prayers answered when he hit a 34 foot heave as the buzzer sounded, marking his second career three pointer in his six seasons.  He has only attempted seven including this one, the score cut to 65-51 at the half.

As the Lakers slowly wore down the Kings, the solid defensive efforts of Kobe Bryant on dynamic guard Mike Bibby leading the way, Los Angeles could get close to the Kings but couldn?t quite take the lead.  As the game was coming to a close Kings center Vlade Divac was put on the line with the Kings nursing a one point lead, but all the 7 foot Serbian could do was come up with a split which set the scene for a heroic conclusion.

Kobe Bryan drove the ball from the right side of the court, hung but missed his leaning floater.  Shaquille O?Neal rose for the rebound, his put-back layup also missing.  In an act of desperation Divac slapped the ball out of the key way to try to put the result to rest but there alone at the top of the key was Robert Horry, swooping on the ball then casually stroking the put-back three pointer to perfection, the sound of the buzzer sparking a Lakers commotion as Horry stood emotionless.  It was the Lakers first lead of the game, and it happened as time expired.

The Lakers looked at the Celtics for inspiration, never giving up regardless of how the scoreboard read.

"Yesterday, watching the Boston-New Jersey game, they were down more than us in the fourth quarter, and they weren't pressing the Nets," Brian Shaw said. "But they just came down and they made the most of their possessions, and they did a little bit at a time, and I think watching yesterday's game probably had a lot to do with us being as composed as we were coming down the stretch."

"It's hard to think about it now, with the shot going in," Rick Fox said about how close the Lakers came to being down 3-1, "but yeah, you find yourself 3-1, watching ESPN talk about all the percentages of all the people that haven't come back from that kind of deficit. Still may be a little bit in disbelief that it took that to win."

The last two days have been an NBA publicists dream.  Blowout or nail biter, never give up hope and never change the channel.

?I love this game??  How about ?expect the unexpected?.  NBA 2002.  Seeing is believing.