For the first time since acquiring Pau Gasol a few years back in the trade with the Memphis Grizzlies, the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers have lost three straight games after the Orlando Magic were able to get the best of Kobe Bryant and company in this NBA finals rematch at Amway Arena in Orlando this past Sunday 96-94.

It seems to matter how well or how bad the Lakers play lately, there games only seem to come down to a last second shot by Kobe Bryant. Fortunately, there is no other player in the league is better taken a last second shot in Kobe Bryant and the Lakers don’t frown upon put the ball in his hands when the game is on the line, but even though Kobe has been clutch throughout this whole season and in the last three games, the defending champs have not been nailed come out with a win in question surrounding whether or not they are going to be able to compete for another NBA title this season are starting to circulate.

For Kobe Bryant came back in the lineup, the Los Angeles Lakers are playing some of their best basketball the season as they started playing as a team with no leader and actually were able to strike up some chemistry that was really working. With that being said, lot people start to think whether or not the Lakers actually needed Kobe, but the game against the Boston Celtics in Los Angeles came down to a last second shot in which the defending champs looked lost without their undisputed leader to go to.

The Orlando Magic are good team, amongst the best in the Eastern conference, but they struggle with inconsistency and in my opinion aren’t as good as the Cleveland Cavaliers or the Los Angeles Lakers, but on Sunday they played a physical brand of basketball in which seems to work against the Lakers.

Former UCLA standout Matt Barnes got pretty scrapping this game as he was in Kobe Bryant’s face quite a few times throughout the course of the game. Despite playing some solid defense on Kobe, Barnes was hit with a technical foul and really started make the game even more physical as emotions started run high.

Along with Barnes playing some lockdown defense on Kobe, even though he still ended up with a game-high 34 points, Ron Artest also displayed some dedication to playing on the defensive and the floor by doing his best Dennis Rodman impression with some yellow dye in his hair and the word “defense” in four different languages on his head.

With things starting to get heated in the game, the Lakers and the Magic were starting to step it up and both teams went back and forth throughout the fourth quarter until it came down to a one shot once again for the Black Mamba which he missed despite getting a good look.