Kobe Bryant Made Los Angeles Feel a Little Smaller

It wasn't clear if the lucky tile in the living room was actually lucky or, if I stood inside it and held my breath, things would just happen to go the Lakers' way. On most nights a Lakers game would be playing on their gigantic Mitsubishi big screen, one of those hulking relics of the '90s that was the size of a Mini Cooper, with the screen resolution of Google Street View. During this particular game 7, the Lakers were down 15 at the beginning of the fourth quarter in the 2000 Conference Finals against the Portland Trailblazers but were mounting a comeback.