I am not using goat in the “greatest of all time” sense either.  Kobe was almost the man who cost the Lakers the game last night.  The Lakers were up by 3 with about 8 seconds to go.  They took their foul to give, and Deron Williams made both free throws.  Ron Artest then threw an errant pass (with the help of a hold), and the Jazz regained possession of the basketball.

As Deron gets the ball, the Lakers do a smart thing by creating a make-shift zone (the only one not zoning an area is Derek Fisher, who is covering Kyle Korver), cutting off all lanes to the basket for Deron.  Since this play happened, I have read a couple times that Deron “settled” and could have attacked the basket.  This shot shows you that is wrong, there is no lane for Williams, and there was no time for a drive and kick either.

The problem with zoning up a final possession is that you are going to have trouble securing that final offensive rebound.  As the shot goes up, there are two Jazz players who are a threat to get the offensive rebound, Carlos Boozer and Wes Matthews.  Pau Gasol quickly finds his man and gets to him.  Kobe, on the other hand, kind of relaxes and watches the shot go up.  This gives Matthews an opportunity to attack the front of the rim, in an effort to get a rebound.

Gasol is now in a tough situation.  He has to box out two guys, he chooses to stay in front of Boozer, as Matthews continues his path to the rim.  Kobe is still standing at the free throw line.

Matthews jumps up and gets his hand on the basketball.  He taps it up and the ball just rolls off of the rim, giving the Lakers a win.  Kobe narrowly escapes being the goat.