This is what Laker bros look like. (Getty Images)

With 20 seconds left and the Los Angeles Lakers hanging on to a one-point lead in a nip-and-tuck Sunday afternoon battle with their longtime nemeses, the Boston Celtics, just about everybody in the basketball-watching world was probably expecting Kobe Bryant to commandeer L.A.'s final possession. Just how good Kobe is in these late-game situations has become a favorite debate in some NBA-watching circles, with writers and fans tossing around numbers, quotes and opinions at a fever pitch seemingly every time the Lakers have the ball with the clock running down.

Some emphasize the fact that Bryant leads the NBA in fourth-quarter scoring and that polls of his peers have often identified him as the players' pick for the league's most respected closer. Others note that 23 other players this season have produced more "clutch" points than Bryant, that he's shooting just 27.9 percent in such situations and that the Lakers as a team rank 23rd in the league in fourth-quarter efficiency.

The perception and momentum can swing not only game-to-game, but play-to-play — against the Detroit Pistons last Tuesday, Kobe coolly drained a 19-foot fadeaway at the buzzer to send the game to overtime (he's clutch and a winner!), but then missed two 3-pointers late in the extra frame to give the Pistons the win (he's bad in big moments and kills his team!).

Whatever your opinion on Kobe's predilection toward hero ball, at this point, pretty much everyone expects to see it. Which is why, with the Lakers up 95-94 against Boston on Sunday, Bryant called an audible, according to Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times:

[...] he uttered four words the public hardly expects Bryant to say.

"Make me a decoy," he said.

So on the Lakers' final offensive possession of the game, leading by one, Bryant stood at the top of the key, while Metta World Peace threw an entry pass toward Andrew Bynum. The Lakers center backed into Boston forward Kevin Garnett. He picked up his dribble just as Paul Pierce cut down to double team. Then Bynum split both defenders and spun around to make a short right-handed hook.

The bucket gave the Lakers a three-point cushion that they'd hold on to with some stalwart defense during a frenetic final 15.5 seconds, sealing a 97-94 victory on Sunday. The combination of the Lakers win and the Los Angeles Clippers' 97-93 loss to the Golden State Warriors later Sunday put Kobe and company back in the top spot in the Pacific Division.

Check out video of Kobe's humble handiwork, plus more reaction to the deferral, after the jump.

Magic Johnson announces that he is HIV-positive. (Getty Images)I'd wanted to do a full-on review of "The Announcement" ⎯ ESPN Films' latest documentary, which revisits Magic Johnson's watershed Nov. 7, 1991, revelation that he is HIV-positive ⎯ in time for its broadcast premiere Sunday night at 9 p.m. Eastern on ESPN, as I've done for a handful of other hoops-focused documentaries over the past couple of years. Unfortunately, the end of the week got a little hectic, which led to some scrambling and the scuttling of some best-laid plans. So, no full review this time around.

On the other hand, I don't want to give the work of Brooklyn-born filmmaker and journalist Nelson George short shrift, leave readers that dig these documentary pieces hanging, or come away from all that watching, note-taking and thinking empty-handed. So in lieu of a full review, here are a handful of thoughts about "The Announcement," which you can check out tomorrow night. (These were supposed to be brief thoughts, but they are not.)

We'd love it if you'd share your take on the doc in the comments, at the Ball Don't Lie Facebook page or on Twitter, whether by reaching out to me or to our @YahooBDL account.

1. "The Announcement" feels sort of rigid and didactic, which is kind of the point, but is still a bit of a problem.

The documentary has dual aims, one micro and one macro. On one hand, George wants to examine the lead-up to, events surrounding and aftermath of Johnson's announcement, as told through interviews with the principals involved in the story ⎯ Johnson, his wife Cookie, his close friends, his teammates and his doctors. On the other hand, the filmmaker wants to use the 20th anniversary of Johnson's nationally broadcast press conference announcing that he had contracted HIV and was retiring from professional basketball as an occasion for reflection on the impact the megastar's disclosure has had on the fight against AIDS.

Vince Carter of the Dallas Mavericks. (Getty Images)

It took 13 years, but Vince Carter seems to have finally gotten tired of people suggesting his game was just a bit too, let's say, "easy listening." Well, no matter what your take on Carter's past lack of killer instinct in big moments, I think we can all agree that few things are more metal than throwing stiff side kicks at every onrushing defender. That will, at the very least, create space for a jumper.

Sorry, Jared Dudley. You're BDL's boy and all, but personally, I've kind of always wanted to see a basketball player just walk around kicking everyone and see what would happen, like that scene in "Necessary Roughness." Finally, of all people, Vince Carter seems poised to make my dreams come true.

Best caption wins permission to kick it, granted this Friday by the Abstract, the Five-Footer and Mr. Muhammad. Good luck.

In our last adventure: A Russell Westbrook drive leaves three Phoenix Suns slack-jawed.

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban enjoys jokes. (Getty Images)UPDATE #1: Mark Cuban published a post on his personal blog discussing this matter on Friday afternoon. In the post, titled "Am I a Homophobe ?," the Dallas Mavericks owner characterizes the comment detailed below as "totally sophomoric" and writes that making it was a mistake. He also shares his thoughts on prejudice, his sense of humor and the challenges of "being the person I want to be." It's worth a read.

UPDATE #2: Deadspin's Erik Malinowski posted a recording of the relevant bit of audio on Friday afternoon, confirming the "you and your boyfriend" comment.

***

The final session of last weekend's MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference was intended to be an entertaining spectacle, kind of an easy comedown after two full days of high-minded discussion of advanced statistics. The main attraction? A live recording of "The B.S. Report," the ESPN podcast hosted by columnist and Grantland.com editor-in-chief Bill Simmons, where "The Sports Guy" would interview Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban.

Cuban is a slam dunk at Sloan. For one thing, he's an owner with a high-tech background whose Mavericks have long been at the vanguard of the NBA's analytics movement. Cuban brought in Roland Beech, the creator of advanced stat haven 82games.com, to consult for the team, and actually had Beech seated behind the bench, there to "interface" with Mavs coach Rick Carlisle, during Dallas' championship run.

Beyond that, of course, Cuban's famously quotable, liable to say just about anything when put in front of a microphone. Hence the podcast. Simmons and Cuban have publicly sparred before — why not close down the conference with them stepping back into their rhythm for some good-natured banter?

From the start, though, something seemed a little off. As Simmons and Cuban began to talk, what was intended as jocular back-and-forth felt a little more adversarial than it seemed like it should. The vibe felt off.

And then, as Carly Carioli of the Boston Phoenix wrote in a blog post accompanying an excellent feature story on the conference, "the atmosphere turned even weirder."

... Cuban began telling the story of how he'd almost fired a Mavs employee for encouraging Dallas fans to do the wave. Cuban hates the wave. "I'd rather have 60 minutes of Kiss Cam," he said, to laughs. Simmons has long been on record as being a fan of the Kiss Cam [...] and piped up in favor of it. "I like the Kiss Cam," Simmons said.

"That's because you and your boyfriend are always on it," Cuban spat.

C'mon, Hedo Turkoglu. It's 2012. All three seasons of "Arrested Development" have been on DVD for almost six years now. How do you still not know that there's no touching?

With just under four minutes remaining and the Orlando Magic clinging to a one-point lead over the Chicago Bulls in their nationally televised matchup on Thursday night, Turkoglu isolated up top against Chicago defender Kyle Korver. The Magic forward then drove left around a Dwight Howard screen, gained the lane and elevated to attempt a layup over the outstretched arms of Korver and the rotating Carlos Boozer. Turkoglu lost the ball on the way up, it went out of bounds, and referee Karl Lane awarded possession to Chicago.

Feeling he was fouled on the play, an incredulous Turkoglu ran right over to Lane to dispute the no-call and make his case. And because Hedo is a big proponent of the "show, don't tell" writing technique, he was pretty demonstrative in doing so. Like, physically demonstrative, which is a no-no that'll get you T'd up just about every time.

Hit the jump for the letter of the law on not touching officials, plus more on the play and the rest of the night's top stories from our friends at the Yahoo! Sports Minute.

Russell Westbrook of the Oklahoma City Thunder drives against the Phoenix Suns. (Getty Images)

To be fair, I don't blame Robin Lopez, Markieff Morris or Sebastian Telfair. Seeing Russell Westbrook coming at you with a head of steam, barreling down the lane and hellbent for the basket, is enough to send shivers up and down any defender's spine.

Westbrook has struck fear in the hearts of many paint patrollers this year, averaging as he is 6.5 shots per game at the rim, including more dunks than any guard other than Dwyane Wade. As proof that you are not alone, I offer the fact that a search for "russell westbrook" "scary" returns 59,200 results from the popular Internet search engine www.yahoo.com, most of which are Web pages written by Shane Battier, Lamar Odom and Mario Chalmers. Plus, he is a teammate of Kevin Durant, which means there are also probably a lot of ghosts hanging out around the backboard.

Still, though: Even if you're scared, you should probably get your Aragorn on and hold your ground rather than just stepping aside and letting Westbrook get to the cup unabated. You are, after all. Men of the West. Especially you, Robin. I expected better from an Ent.

(Holy cow, did we just go down a rabbit hole.)

Best caption wins a courage medal. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Chris Bosh has clearly been working on his weird-face-up game.

Wednesday was a pretty great night in the NBA, especially if you hate the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks, love the Minnesota Timberwolves, Memphis Grizzlies and Philadelphia 76ers, and can't get enough of point guards making huge plays in the closing seconds to secure big wins for their teams. Everyone (outside of Boston, L.A. and NYC, that is) agrees on all of those things; they are inarguable.

Likewise inarguable? My world-famous Dan Devine's Inarguable Power Rankings, which identify which items in a group of things (say, versions of the Knicks' "Go New York Go" theme) are most powerful. In this episode: Dan Devine's Inarguable Wednesday's Point Guard Game-Winners Power Rankings.

Click the jump to behold the full list. And please remember, as always, that the list is the list.

Chris Bosh of the Miami Heat and Kris Humphries of the New Jersey Nets. (AP)

I have been staring at Chris Bosh's eyes and face for about the last 20 minutes or so, and I am at a loss. Is he in disbelief, or perhaps discomfort? Is he stifling a smirk at Kris Humphries, who seems like the kind of guy it might be really fun to take off the dribble and score on if you had the means to do so? Is he about to sneeze? I am starting to feel like I am staring into the abyss; down this path lies madness.

Save me, friends. What do you think is going through Chris Bosh's mind and heart as he is being guarded by Kris Humphries? Best caption wins my undying gratitude, plus a cover of The Smiths' "This Charming Man" composed entirely of "Super Mario Bros." sound effects. Good luck.

In our last adventure: Joakim Noah is being a little handsy and a little fresh, if we're being honest.