It Makes a Difference to the Sheep

LA was entirely a 2-man team. The other half of the vaunted 4 future-hall-of-famers didn't bother to show up (or were superbly defended). Of course the last time LA lost a game one in the finals, it won the next four in a row. This is far from over, but what a nice way to begin!

UPDATE: Mark Stein notes what I already feared:

This is the fifth time the Lakers have lost Game 1 of the NBA Finals at home. The bad news for Detroit: L.A. has gone on to win the championship in each of the previous four occurences, including the 2001 Finals against Larry Brown's Philadelphia 76ers. Only once, after those previous four Game 1 losses in the Finals, did the Game 1 winner take the Lakers to seven games: Detroit in 1988. The three other times it happened, L.A. went on to win the next four games.