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The weakness in the Lakers' championship pursuit was exposed Tuesday night, and Kobe Bryant could only sit calmly in the interview room and acknowledge it for what it was.

It wasn't Andrew Bynum's latest immature episode, calling closeout games "kind of easy" because teams facing elimination "tend to fold if you come out and play hard in the beginning." Although, this certainly didn't help, because the Lakers did not come out and play hard in the beginning, and they didn't play well at all, at any point. Except for Bryant, at the end.

"I almost bailed us out, that's what happened," said Bryant, who had 43 points -- 14 in a dizzying fourth quarter -- as the...

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Related Topics: NBA, los angeles lakers, NBA Playoffs 2012