By Brian A. Lester

It has always been said that one should never underestimate the heart of a champion. Sunday afternoon's fourth game of the Western Conference finals against Sacramento showed us why.

There were the Lakers, down by 24 points three different times in the first half and seemingly on their way to self-destruction. There were the Lakers staring at the reality of the end of a dynasty, knowing that a 3-1 deficit to the Kings would have been almost impossible to overcome.

The Kings had the Lakers right where they wanted them. They had Game 4 by the throat and only needed to choke the life out of it to move within a heartbeat of punching their ticket to the promised land of the NBA Finals.

That coveted trip to the Finals looked even better in the final frantic seconds of Sunday's game. Kobe Bryant fired up a shot, and missed. Shaquille O'Neal grabbed the rebound and put back up a shot. He missed, too.

Robert Horry, though, did not miss. He scooped up the ball that had been tapped in his direction by Sacramento's Vlade Divac and buried a 3-pointer with six-tenths of a second left that sliced through the net and through the heart of the Kings as well.

Game over, Lakers win, 100-99, proving that even on a bad day, they still have enough in them to win a game they should have lost. Meanwhile, the Kings let a golden opportunity to push the two-time defending champions to the brink of elimination slip through their fingers like tiny grains of sand.

Yes, the Kings are still a good team. And yes, they probably still have enough confidence in themselves to bounce back for Game 5 Tuesday night and take back the lead in this series.

Actually dethroning the champions and winning the series, however, is a different story. Realistically, the Lakers have control again, even if the scoreboard says each team has won two games apiece.

The Lakers have control again because they understand that winning an NBA title, especially a third consecutive championship, is not easy. Adversity comes with the territory, and so far, L.A. has done an exceptional job of overcoming it.

The Lakers have control again because they always seem to rise above the competition when their backs are against the wall and the intense pressure is on them to perform. Sunday's game was a prime example of that.

In some ways, it's almost as if L.A. is teasing Sacramento like a girl flirting with a boy on the school playground. The Lakers create a comfort zone for the Kings and give them a false sense of having everything under control.

Then it happens. The Lakers do their best impression of Lazarus and turn what should be a disappointing loss into a remarkable victory.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe the Kings have what it takes to beat L.A. because they have proven over the course of this series that the Lakers are beatable.

But the Lakers cheated death on Sunday and have new life again. A series tied at two games apiece is a much better situation to be in than down 3-1 with potentially two games in Sacramento. The Lakers, as far as I'm concerned, have the Kings right where they want them, not the other way around.

The Lakers also have the heart of a champion, and in a playoff series against a very talented and formidable opponent, the importance of that cannot be underestimated.

Brian Lester is a sports writer in Ohio and can be reached via e-mail at BAL4@hotmail.com.