And it wasn't just Kobe Bryant shooting . . . what was it, 50 . . . 60 . . . 100 . . . 100,000 free throws? It actually was only 23, and he made 21 of them, high-jacking the course of Game 1 in the Jazz-Lakers second-round playoff series, boosting L.A. to a 109-98 win.

Phil Jackson called Kobe's continual trips to the line "incredible."

And it also wasn't just the Jazz's awful shooting, one of their worst shooting performances of the season, a showing that blew a hole in their offensive strategy at 37 percent. That subterranean number kicked them in the shorts, despite getting 56 points in the paint, which means the Jazz shot jumpers as though they were heaving girders onto the back of a flatbed. They hit 4 of 19 shots from behind the arc.

"We missed a lot of open shots we normally make," said Deron Williams.

And it wasn't just that the Jazz outrebounded the Lakers by 17 and still suffered a double-digit defeat.

"They were tough," Lamar Odom said. "You know, pushing and shoving."

And it wasn't just that the Jazz handled the ball in the second quarter as though they were wearing wool mittens, fumbling the ball away 11 times in first half.

"Bad turnovers," said Williams.

And it wasn't just that the Jazz, after all that, still had a chance -- "We were there," said Ronnie Brewer -- to take this game, trailing by a mere four points with four minutes and change left.

No, no, no, no, and no.

It was what came in the final two minutes that stood out as strange, odd, out-of-kilter.

That's when Bryant and this Pau Gasol fellow repeatedly teamed up, in one way or another, to bring the victory home. For example, Kobe missed a jumper, which Gasol tipped in, floating the lead back to seven. And Kobe pulled off a nifty I-got-it-no-you-got-it pass to Gasol, pushing the margin to eight. And Kobe drilled a long pass to Gasol on a two-man break, expanding the difference to 11.

Game over.

"He's huge," Kobe said of Gasol. "He's great in the low post, he's great in the high post. ... He's just a great basketball player."

Added Matt Harpring: "Pau's a talent. He's long and he can shoot, and when Kobe drives, he gets him easy points."

So, that's it.

Two teams took the floor in Game 1 here, one a huge favorite that ended up winning, but not the one, according to the Great Order of NBA Things, that should have been favored, that should have won.

The Lakers and Jazz have dramatically flip-flopped places in that order, and it had much to do with the Lakers' acquisition of Gasol and what he's brought them.

On Sunday, he scored 18 points, making 8 of 13 shots, and hauled 10 boards.

Match that with Kobe's 38 and seven assists, and the Lakers' leapfrogging of the Jazz is likely complete.

It was the Jazz who had burst onto the playoff scene a year ago, hurtling all the way to the Western Conference finals. The Lakers? They were blown away in the first round.

The guys in gold - or is it yellow? - and purple had more building, more evolving to do, and it might have taken years to pull off.

But their evolution turned into a revolution the day during the regular season when Memphis coughed up Gasol in exchange for what was left in the Lakers' junk closet. That was the dark day in the West when L.A. started barreling past everybody.

Those same Lakers unsheathed firsthand for the Jazz all the strength of that quick reconfiguration in Sunday's win.

"We're definitely the underdogs," Williams said.

Who knows? Maybe the Jazz can still fight back, still jump back over the Lakers in the Great Order and make everything natural again. They surely can play better.

But if they don't, this could be the longest short series they'll ever lose.