ESPNMAG.com - Do Lakers have killer instinct?

With one title and three series' sweeps toward another to their credit, it was easy to presume these Lakers now had the killer instinct and crunchtime composure to put opponents away, an attribute last year's team did not have, reflected by its 4-6 record in close-out games.

Oooops.

Game 2 wasn't a close-out game, of course, but trailing in a series for the first time in two years, it was the most pressure they've faced under Zenmaster Phil. They survived, but they hardly did it with a champion's verve.

Eight fourth-quarter turnovers?

Three Sixers' layups in a span of three minutes?

Shaq, playing with five fouls, risking a sixth with four minutes left by pointlessly banging on Dikembe Mutombo for a ball Mutombo already had tucked away?

Kobe giving Shaq the ball on the break 16 feet from the basket -- a no-no even with a big man as agile as the Daddy -- resulting in an offensive charge and Shaq's fourth foul?

Rick Fox proving the adage that he-who-hesitates-is-lost by thinking twice about throwing a lob to Kobe for an easy layup after a post-and-spin move on Allen Iverson, then blowing a similar chance when Kobe re-posted and had Iverson once again at his mercy?

This is shaping up to be a battle of championship talent vs. championship 'tude. I'm not talking about Allen Iverson clapping and smiling and talking trash, although it's hard not to like someone who treats the NBA Finals like a pick-up game at the local park. I'm talking about the way the Sixers continue to press on D and execute on O no matter what the score is or how hard Shaq dunks or how easily Kobe shakes free with that fadeaway J.

"We have to realize this team's not gonna die," Kobe said. "They play all the way through the buzzer. it doesn't make any sense for us to go for the dagger or the kill. Instead, we play the possession out, milk it, get easy opportunities and do it that way."

The question remains whether or not the Lakers are capable of playing that way. They haven't yet. For all their talk about matching the Sixers' intensity and being the underdog because of Philly's array of individual awards, the Lakers just don't seem to be taking the Sixers' all that seriously. After Game 1, Shaq said the Sixers won because they gave 1000 percent while the Lakers only gave 70. After Game 2, he said the Sixers weren't any different than the three teams the Lakers swept, except a "little bit feistier."

Granted, Shaq has every reason to feel superior after nearly posting a quadruple-double in Game 2. But that's not how championship teams talk or act. They may lose, but they don't get outworked. They may win, but they don't belittle their opponent afterward.

The Sixers don't have the personnel to beat the Lakers four times. If there's any reason for Lakers' fans to feel uneasy, it's that their team seems to be banking on that fact.

Ric Bucher is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com.