I watched the game yesterday, and the game was very entertaining. I don't really understand why all the "living up to the expectation" part. The media was the only driving force behind all the drama. Kobe kind of through some fuel of that fire when he accused Karl Malone of "hitting on his wife". So there were some that tuned in just to se Kobe lose. (One was me).
The game started of with Kobe hitting everything he shot. First and second quarter looked like the Lakers might actually pull it off. It seemed that they were up for the game, as the Heat (except for Shaq) looked flat. Third quarter was more of the same as the Lakers resumed control as the Heat could not find an answer for Lamor Odom. Put the fourth quarter was a different story.
The Heat went on a run and the lead was back and forth. Then Shaq fouled out with 2:15 seconds left in the game as he fouled Kobe while he was driving to the basket. Then Kobe went scoreless for the rest of the game and Dwayne Wade turned up the "Heat", (no pun intended). He scored the last 3 points to tie the game at 94 and had a chance to win with a last second shot that was short. So, overtime.
The Heat came out early in overtime as Wade and Eddie Jones took on the scoring resposibilities. The game was 104-102 with the Lakers having the last posession. It came down to Kobe taking the game winning shot, but the shot fell short and the Heat escaped with a 104-102 win in overtime. All and all it, it was a great game. The only underlying factor that I don't like is all the drama.
I mean, there was a big deal over all the stars that were there. ( Sylvester Stallone, Nicole Kidman, Dustin Hoffman, Dyan Cannon, Penny Marshall, Henry Winkler, Sugar Ray Leonard, Renee Zellweger, Samuel L. Jackson, Lionel Richie and Courtney Cox.) These people are there all the time, its not any different from any other laker game. But it was cause of all the Kobe nonsense and Shaq, being the bigger man, having non of the drama nonsense and just trying to play his game so he can take his team to the finals.
So in the end (for anyone that cares)
Shaq-1 Kobe-0