Well, this is generally a football blog, but I pride myself on loving all sports. So here I go...

Plus, my "Trojan" in me and my Los Angeles origins allow me to be a huge Lakers fan. In Los Angeles today - and this past week - we have been gearing up for a Finals that means a lot: Revenge from last season, bringing another championship to the City of Angels, and of course, Kobe's attempt to win his first title without The Diesel.

Well, the Lakers came out tonight with no regrets. From the very beginning, everyone was playing with a "sense of urgency," something Kobe Bryant stressed they needed to do.

After losing both games to the Orlando Magic in the regular season, they were going to have their hands full again. This just in: Dwight Howard is no softy.

The overwhelmingly most physically demanding player in the league is such a tough task to handle in the frontcourt. No matter who sits on the other side of the court.

But Pau Gasol, Andrew Bynum, and even Lamar Odom came to play. Bynum got into foul trouble early, but did a phenomenal job not allowing Howard the big play: The dunk.

All three of the Lakers big men did exceptionally well. Pau Gasol had 16 and 8, while Bynum had 9 and 9. Lamar Odom - coming off the bench - was spectacular, putting down 11 points while grabbing 14 off the glass.

We knew rebounding and the Lakers frontcourt play was going to be a factor; and the Lakers came to play.

                                            Lakers (Source: Flickr)

While the frontcourt maintained spectacular play throughout the contest, it was ultimately the Lakers' superstar that carried a victory through the fans in Staples Center on Thursday night.

Kobe Bryant was unconscious. His 61^st 30-point game in the postseason was also his 1^st 40-point affair.

Kobe took the team on his shoulders. And on a relatively poor shooting day (16-34) he showed why he is a former MVP and three-time NBA Champion: He kept attacking: Perfect on free throws, and so tough while driving to the basket.

Aside from garnering a whopping 40 points, he dished out eight assists and pulled down eight boards. Truly a master of the game.

Kobe is going to get his points, and play like a superstar every night; especially in the NBA Finals. But the numbers he put out tonight and the desire in which he played with tonight was remarkable.

And no one will ever stop the Black Mamba when he's in the zone.

Lastly, collectively, the Lakers defense played some of their best ball tonight I have seen in a long time. Forcing the Magic to shoot 29% from the field and holding Dwight to 12 points and few, if not, no dunks. Wait, did you catch that: 29%!

No matter what you say, the Magic will likely not shoot that poorly again in this series. But the Lakers earned it. And they will take it.

An outstanding performance by the frontcourt, but especially the perimeter defense. The Magic came in renounced as one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the NBA. Which is indubitably true. But the Lakers held them only to 8 of 23 from beyond the arc. More spectacular play from Showtime, indeed. 

You can say what you want about the Lakers: Critics point of the soft play of the post defenders, and the 'soft' Andrew Bynum when going up to score.

Many consistently are ranking LeBron James higher than Kobe Bryant as the best player in the league.

And sorry for the clichés, but these guys have resilience. They have heart. They have desire. 

But most of all, they have championship intensity. That intensity may have been lacking a week and a half ago when the Lakers and Nuggets were knotted at 2-2 in the Western Conference Finals.

But they have found their grove. And they have it now.

If they continue this way, my prediction of Lakers in 6 may shift to Lakers in 4. I don't want to speak too soon, but the Lakers sure looked tough to beat tonight.

Especially with No. 24 on your side.