Lakers quickly finding the killer instinct of a champion

Did you see how it started?

Immediately after the opening tip, Kobe Bryant jogged over and poked Bruce Bowen in the chest.

Hard.

Did you see what happened moments later?

Derek Fisher dribbled up to Tony Parker, then around him, then directly to the basket.

Hard.

Could you feel what was happening?

Looking across their little piece of the city Friday night, the Lakers saw a collection of weary, weakened San Antonio Spurs.

So they pounded them.

Bryant socked, Fisher shoved, Lamar Odom slapped, then smiling Jordan Farmar danced around the wreckage.

And, believe me, today the Spurs are a smoldering heap after the Lakers took a 101-71 victory and a two-games-to-none lead in the Western Conference finals.

The Spurs' Tim Duncan wiped his drawn face afterward and sighed.

"Everything just seemed to stack up against us," he said.

The passes-so-quick-you-can-hear-them Lakers teamwork.

The squeak-and-grind Lakers defense.

The breathless Lakers hustle.

Everything.

The Lakers ran off nine straight points to break a tie at the end of the first half, beginning with a Pau Gasol layup from a pass from the quadruple-teamed Bryant.

"I think they had some tired legs and . . . we had some open opportunities," Coach Phil Jackson said.

The Lakers then scored on their first nine possessions of the third quarter, flying where the tired Spurs stood, wowing as the uninterested Spurs just watched.