LeBron lauded for game-winning shot

DENVER (AP) " Kobe Bryant was impressed by LeBron James' amazing buzzer-beater, not envious.

"He got a clean look," Bryant said. "That's what you really want to do."

The fashionable argument for Lakers fans after watching James' 3-pointer over Orlando's Hedo Turkoglu that knotted the Eastern Conference finals at 1-1 was to say Bryant should have been given the same chance to salvage Game 2 against Denver in the Western Conference finals in Los Angeles.

Instead, Bryant was a decoy for a play designed for Derek Fisher, whose 3-pointer was deflected by Nene at the buzzer, preserving Denver's 106-103 win at the Staples Center on Thursday night and evening their series.

Hours before the Game 3 tip-off at the Pepsi Center, Bryant sat courtside after a short shootaround and talked about James' basket off the inbounds with a second left for a 96-95 win.

"He got a good look, no matter whatever Hedo does or whoever does, you can put your hand up, it's not going to matter," Bryant said. "If you get a good look at the basket, that ball's going down."

No, Bryant insisted, his first thought wasn't that he should have gotten the same shot 24 hours earlier.

"No. Game 2's over with," Bryant said, adding, "I always want the ball, so that doesn't change anything."

Lakers coach Phil Jackson said he'd still draw up the final play for Fisher with the Lakers down 106-103 and trying to force overtime.

"Kobe wouldn't have gotten an opportunity. They would have fouled him," Jackson said. "That's the difference between being down three and having a two-point game. Now, Orlando has to guard the basket and the lane and everything else and the opportunity's there. So we had to find a surprise shot."

When Turkoglu's shot with one second left put Orlando ahead by two, Jackson figured James would still salvage the series for the Cavaliers.

"I was sitting at a counter, a greasy spoon I have in my soup and a greasy burger," Jackson said. "The guy next to me said, 'Aw, man, Orlando's going to go up 2-0 and Cleveland's going to go down in the series. You want to see Orlando? I said, 'You wrote off this guy. He can still make a shot from almost anywhere.' And he did. That's the way he is. James is just a terrific player."

The Nuggets were also abuzz over the shot heard 'round the NBA.

"Great, great shot," Chauncey Billups said. "It's what the great ones do."

Unlike Jackson, however, he wasn't so sure the Cavs were going to pull it out.

"I didn't know if they would get a shot off," Billups said. "But with him getting a clean look like that, you've got to think that he's going to make that shot."

Nuggets coach George Karl, whose strategic blunders in the closing minute of Game 1 in L.A. might have cost his team a big win, sympathized with Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.

Van Gundy had his defense take away the lob pass to the basket. That forced James to back up beyond the arc, where he had a clean catch and an open look at the biggest 3-pointer in Cavaliers history.

"In a lot of ways I think Stan did a great job of knowing what they were going to run," Karl said. "And I think Stan Van Gundy has done a great job coaching this year. And I know he's miserable right now. In some ways he's got to understand that he's in a great place," tied 1-1 and heading home.