Kobe: 'I'm upset, hurt, disappointed'

By JOHN NADEL, Associated Press

Last update: June 13, 2008 - 7:13 AM

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LOS ANGELES — Kobe Bryant realizes the Los Angeles Lakers are in deep trouble. He believes there's only one reasonable way to approach such a grim situation.

"I'm not thinking about beating them three straight," Bryant said after the Lakers collapsed in the last 18 minutes Thursday night, resulting in a 97-91 loss to the Boston Celtics that put them on the brink of elimination from the NBA finals.

"We're thinking about beating them on Sunday," Bryant said. "Then, you move on from there. Take one swing at a time to chop down a tree. We'll take care of business on Sunday."

The Lakers led by as many as 24 points in the second quarter and by 20 midway through the third before the Celtics began one of the biggest comebacks in finals history to take a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven series.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the comeback was the biggest in the finals since 1971, surpassing Houston's comeback from a 20-point deficit to Orlando in the first game of the 1995 finals.

The odds are stacked heavily against the Lakers. For one thing, no team has ever overcome a 3-1 deficit to win the finals. For another, they've got to win Sunday night at Staples Center and then win twice in Boston, where the Celtics have a 12-1 postseason record.

"We let a huge opportunity slip away, so I'm upset, hurt, disappointed," Bryant said. "It's a huge loss, no doubt about it. We've got to take the good things that we did well in this game, understand what we did wrong in the third quarter and move on from there. They played great in the third quarter. We played like crap."

After two free throws by Vladimir Radmanovic with 6:04 left in the third quarter gave the Lakers a 70-50 lead, they were outscored 47-21 to finish the game. It all started with a 21-3 run to finish the third period.

"It's a humbling experience, to be putting the pressure on them and then to be sitting in here thinking about how we're going to come back from 3-1," Lamar Odom said in a hushed Lakers' dressing room. "They beat us in the second half with their second effort, every way you can basically lose a game.

"It was offensive execution as a team. We let execution affect our defensive play and they took the game away from us. You have to play the same way with the same effort throughout the whole game — especially a game you go up 20. If you don't, you see what happened tonight. We let them control the momentum."