Lakers 112, Kings 106, final in OT
Wow. What a hell of an NBA playoff series. There's just nothing better than good NBA playoff basketball, and there has certainly been nothing better than what these two teams have come up with. The Kings have a hell of a team, one of the best assembled in a long time. But the Lakers have Shaq and Kobe. One can't imagine the Nets giving this team any kind of fight at all. Jason Kidd's great, and Kenyon Martin is big and mean, but they're not Shaq and Kobe.

I've become very partial to my local NBA team, the one with the loudmouth owner and the German guy who plays like Larry Bird. But I have to concede that they would have been no match for these Lakers. None at all. Normally, Shaquille O'Neal is the best player in the NBA right now. When he's hitting his free throws -- which he always seems to do when it matters -- he's the best to ever play the game. He's 7-1, 340, coordinated, explosive, fast. He's the basketball player you'd build if you had the parts.

Kobe Bryant knows how to play the game a little bit, too. All he did was score 30 points and make good decision after good decision. The best decision was to get out of the way and make sure the ball got down to Shaq down the stretch. Goodbye, Vlade Divac. Nice try, Chris Webber. Hedo Turkoglu? He's lucky to still be alive.

I'll say it again, and I'm ready to defend it: Shaquille O'Neal is the best player to ever play the game. He deserves another ring. Not much doubt from this corner that he'll get it.