On Wednesday night at the Staples Centre, the San Antonio Spurs led Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals by 20 points with 5:54 left in the third quarter. For a team that had been pushed to the brink of elimination by the upstart New Orleans Hornets the week prior, the situation was unbelievably amiable.

The defending champions had struggled mightily on the road in the Crescent City, getting blown out in the first three games there. Conversely, the Lakers had been perfect at home in the postseason. To be thumping L.A. in their own building so effortlessly was surely a pleasant surprise for the champs; they had caught the rested Lakers on their heels and were eyeing to steal both home court advantage and a sense of self-confidence from this young Lakers squad.

Unfortunately for Greg Popovich’s team, it was at that moment that Kobe Bryant decided to join the proceedings. A quarter and a half later, the Lakers escaped with a Game 1 victory and the Spurs were left scratching their heads.

Black Mamba’s entrance might not have been on schedule, but it was precisely on time.

The MVP showed why he is exactly that, scoring 23 of his 27 points in the final 17 ½ minutes while still dishing out nine assists in leading his team to the second largest second-half comeback in a playoff game since 1998. L.A. ended the third on a 20-7 run and outscored Los Spurs 24-13 in the final frame.

Bryant spent far too much of the first half and third quarter being overly passive, deferring to his supporting cast too much and not being nearly aggressive enough when opportunities presented themselves. It is not so much that Bryant needed to shoot or score more than his two points, but rather that he be assertive and definitive in his attacks to the basket in hopes of forcing the Spurs to focus on him. Kobe seemed to think his pliant start was not an issue, saying he “just had to pick up the game and get something going” and that he “just tried to read the flow of the game and tried to manage the game.”

Whether he admitted it or not, Bryant’s willingness not to force the issue and let the game come to him actually became detrimental to the Lakers during the third quarter. He waited and tried to show confidence in his inexperienced teammates in the name of getting them involved early in the type of big game none of them other than Derek Fisher had ever been apart of. And he almost waited too long. It quickly became clear that the rest of the Lakers were waiting for Bryant to take over, as if seeing him in control of the situation would also provide a calming presence for them. The Zen Master himself said that Bryant’s passing was doing some good, “but it had gotten us out of the rhythm”.

Recognizing the game was about to slip away and that his unique brand of heroics was needed, Bryanht disappeared into his metaphorical phone booth and changed into Mamba, MVP. One needed only to watch him toy with Bruce Bowen and Ime Udoka during the fourth quarter and imagine him reciting “Will you walk into my parlour?” Said the Spider to the Fly. Bryant did not only shoot though; his aggressiveness saw him still going to his teammates, particularly to Pau Gasol, whose 19 points on 9-16 shooting helped bare the load before Bryant took over. With 23.9 seconds left, Bryant drove to the heart of the lane, squared himself (and got separate from Bowen via a Jordan-esque no-call), and rose up to nail the game-winning jumper.

Bryant being Bryant will not worry the Spurs. “The second half he went to work,” Popovich said of Bryant. He is the MVP and Popovich’s staff fully expects him to take over at times during what should be a hard-fought, memorable series. But what might have the Spurs a bit rattled is that they handed away an easy, important road victory on a night in which Bryant’s supporting cast was so terribly off (with the obvious exception of Gasol). Fisher, shooting 51% in the playoffs, will not have many more 1-for-9 shooting games. Likewise, Odom is unlikely to shoot 3-12 again while getting only eight points and eight boards. That the usually heady Spurs failed to secure a victory under such conditions raises eyebrows and curiosity over where they go from here.

Whatever the Spurs plans for Friday night may be, they can expect Bryant to take less time asserting his will on the game as he hopes to not need such a Hollywood ending.

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