24-second thoughts on Game 5

24 -- Before "Shrek & Donkey" take the floor in Game 5, might be wise to remember the name of the latest movie sequel: The Final Chapter.

23 -- For a guy who came into the game as a huge question mark, Andrew Bynum is starting off like a giant question mark.

22 -- If this sizzling start keeps up, Derek Fisher might be crying a river in post-game interview with Doris Burke.

21 -- "Magic" Perkins in the middle of the floor leading the fastbreak. Who thinks that's a scarier sight -- Lakers defenders or Doc Rivers?

20 -- Ron Artest's 0-for-4, and one turnover first quarter has him as the early candidate for tonight's donkey. No movie reference.

19 -- What happened to that breakout offensive game from Kobe Bryant that so many were expecting? At the end of the first quarter, there were five other players with more than his three points.

18 -- Phil Jackson goes Kobe-less and Pau-less to open the second quarter. Then again, that's kind of the way the Lakers played the first quarter.

17 -- If Rajon Rondo puts up that reverse, overhead, high-flip, spin off the glass H-O-R-S-E shot in a TV commercial, he eats the lunch of LeBron James and Dwight Howard every time.

16 -- It's not true that during the last timeout (5:28) the refs looked at replay to verify that Ron-Ron was actually able to put the ball into the basket.

15 -- After that incredibly thoughtless shove that resulted in a technical, did Rondo get Artest to say, "Louisville?"

14 -- The already-red-hot Paul Pierce gets to finish the last 1 ½ minutes of the half guarded by Luke Walton? That's the dinner bell ringing, so he grabs another helping to push his total to 15 points.

13 -- A combined 5-for-16 from the field by Kobe and Pau. Celtics shoot 66 percent. So how are the Lakers within 45-39? In a word: turnovers. Boston has 11.

12 -- Mr. Outside becomes Mr. Inside. Ray Allen has missed 16 straight 3-pointers, so he goes inside to get himself an easy layup.

11 -- From the If-You-Want-Something-Done Dept: Kobe says, "I'll do it myself." 10 points less than 4 minutes to start the third quarter. Can't blame him.

10 -- Kobe can go it alone at one end of the floor, but he's gonna need some help with that horrid defense. He asks to cover Pierce in timeout, but Jackson sticks with Artest. Now some ball pressure on Rondo?

9 -- After 17 points in six minutes to open the second half, Kobe finally misses a jumper. Does he bleed, too?

8 -- Of course, Kobe wouldn't have to be putting on this one-man magic show if Pau Gasol were still alive.

7 -- The Cubs got two hits and a run in the 7th. Now it's down to just two no-hitter lineups on the night -- White Sox and all the Lakers but Kobe.

6 -- As if things weren't already bad enough for them tonight, now the Lakers are bickering with each other after Nate Robinson cruises all the way in for an easy layup.

5 -- Back in the Western Conference finals, Alvin Gentry kept saying the Lakers "weren't going to get any shorter." But doesn't it seem like that's happened here? Where's all that length with all these layups.

4 -- Has there been much talk of Kevin Garnett being old and decrepit in the last few days?

3 -- There had better be a lot of bonding on the long trip back to L.A., because there's a huge amount of frustration that exists between Kobe and his teammates right now.

2 -- The last time a team lost Game 5 on road to fall behind 3-2 in series and came back to win, it was Rockets over Knicks in 1994. Of course, that took John Starks getting 3-pointer blocked by Hakeem Olajuwon at end of Game 6 and then delivering a 2-for-18 clunker in Game 7.

1 -- Wouldn't it just make sense for the Lakers to check Ron Artest as baggage on the flight home?

Fran Blinebury has covered the NBA since 1977. You can e-mail him here and follow him on twitter.

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