Ron Artest saves Lakers season and almost ruined it!!!!! by Ronald Carthen

I was ready to jump out of my chair if Kobe Bryant made the game-winning basket with Grant Hill and Steve Nash defending him with 3.5 seconds, but little did we know that Ron Artest would catch Kobe's airball and lay it in for the game-winning basket to defeat the Suns 103-101 to take a 3-2 lead in the series. Kobe and Artest hugged one another as the game was over and the entire team came by to celebrate with them.

Before this all happened, Artest was getting ready to be in the doghouse by the Lakers and many of their fans. He was 7-for-23 from three-point range in this series prior to last night's game. No one wanted hime to even make an attempt to shoot any 3's in this game. The Lakers were up 101-98 after Steve Nash's big three-pointer with 1:21 left to go in the game. He decides to shoot a deep jumper and of course he misses but it was too funny what happened when Pau Gasol grab the rebound and passed it back to him. Every Laker fan all over the world was shouting "Noooooooooo!!!!!!" when he shot up a 24-foot three-pointer and missed it again. You should've seen Kobe pissed when the ball was let go.

Then with 17 seconds left, Nash misses a 25-foot three-pointer and gets his own rebound. Then Jason Richardson misses a three-pointer and what do you know Channing Frye get an offensive rebound. It finally took a 27-foot three-point prayer, off the glass, to tie the game at 101 with 3.5 seconds left.

After a Lakers 20-second timeout, we all knew it was Kobe time. Then Kobe threw up a 26-foot three-pointer, while he was defended by Nash and Hill, and we were about to head to overtime with an airball. Lucky for the Lakers, Artest went from the Laker's enemey to a hero. If Artest didn't make that shot, who knows if LA would bounce back in overtime.

Kobe drop 30 points for the 10th time this postseason. He scored 30 points, grab 11 rebounds, dished out nine assists, and blocked four shots. He has averaged 33.0 points, 9.6 assists, 7.4 rebounds, and shooting over 53% from the field in this series. This man is on a mission for his fifth title and continues to show everyone why he's the best in the league.

It was good to see Nash drop 29 points and dish 11 assists in this game, but I don't expect him to do that again in this series. He was a huge reason for the Suns staying in this game. He's going to need help from others for them to win this series.

Amar'e Stoudimire scored only 19 points and grab only four rebounds. He's going to have to get more aggressive in the paint like he was in Game 3, when he drop 42 points to help the Suns win. Jason Richardson only scored 12 points in this game and I think he needs to be more involved on the offensive end. He's shooting over 50% from the field and over 48% from three-point range this postseason. There's no reason why he should only have a total of 23 points in the last two games.

I think the Lakers will end this series in Game 7 of this series. The Suns will win a close one in Game 6 and Kobe and LA will close it out on Memorial Day.