How great was it last night to watch the Lakers play trademark Ben Ball to come back on the Spurs last night!  Normally I don't tend to think of the Lakers as a defensive team simply because their offense is so powerful, but it was great to see everybody talk about how the defensive stops and intensity sparked the comeback. 

What was particularly encouraging was the clutch play of reserve Jordan Farmar :

This series will most likely be decided by the performance of both teams' respective Big Threes. For much of the game, however, the Lakers' trio of leading scorers consisted of Pau Gasol, Vladimir Radmanovic and Jordan Farmar, as Bryant and Fisher combined for only two points in the first half -- the backcourt's lowest scoring output from this season.

Listening to the announcers on the game (sorry Fox, bad habits!) it was fascinating to hear them talk about the defensive intensity of the Lakers in the key third quarter when the need for a run was palpable...again, Farmar's name came up as being part of the young, energetic intensity that Phil Jackson used to spark the run.  Heck, even Kobe was preaching the values of defensive intensity !

"If we don't play defensively, we still don't win, and everybody would be talking about how I shot us out of the game," Bryant said. "Defense is where it gets done."

So what does this have to do with Ben Ball?  I think that the performance of Farmar, the public attention about how defense is what is causing the pros to succeed in the playoffs, can only help our mystique and increase the effectiveness of our recruiting efforts.  And frankly, watching the Bruins and the Lakers never say die, play passionately to close out games, refusing to lose in tight circumstances...continues to inspire me to be a better person...