LOS ANGELES -- Now that the Lakers' chance of sweeping their way to a second title is history, they finally have a chance to prove their greatness.

Finally, Kobe Bryant didn't control the flow of the game as if he'd scripted it. Finally, Derek Fisher didn't pour in shots from the perimeter as if he was pitching pennies into a pool. Finally, Shaq's backsliding free-throw accuracy exacted a heavy price. Finally, they face a team that is going to demand the Lakers play more than the 40 or so minutes that has been enough to vanquish every other opponent. Finally, there will be no room for kicking into cruise control once a comfortable lead is built or preying on unforced errors to catch up.

Even the most ardent Lakers fan would have to admit all this was coming a tad too easy for a team that was pratfalling to Denver and Atlanta as recently as late February. You weren't reeeeeaallly buying into the notion that the Lakers were sweeping their way through each series on sheer superiority, were you?

Granted, part of me wanted to see the Lakers complete a 15-0 run simply for the historical aspect, having attended all except their Game 2 conference finals victory over the Spurs. But had the 76ers not mustered a challenge greater than the Spurs, Kings or Blazers, this year's title would have barely proved more impressive than last year's forever-on-the-verge-of-disaster title run.

Not now. Now the series has some weight to it. Now the Lakers will have to prove they can rebound from adversity. Now they can demonstrate that that wondrous run of 19 wins wasn't a runaway train that simply picked up speed the longer it went. Now they can show Game 1 was merely an aberration, a result of too much time off, and that their solidarity, discipline and resourcefulness are genuine.

Can Kobe counter the 76ers' strategy, of getting up into him, that worked so well in Game 1? Can Fisher, benched in favor of Tyronn Lue for the entire fourth quarter and overtime, fire away with confidence after going 0-for-4 in 23 minutes? Can Shaq, whose confidence visibly eroded with each missed free throw as he went 10-for-22 in Game 1, find the form that knocked down 6-of-8 in Game 1 against the Spurs?

Allen Iverson, showing that he's also ready to give the ever-quotable Lakers a run for their money at the post-game interview podium, laughed at the "many basketball experts" who gave the 76ers no chance. He had a right to.

"We've got heart and we play with that first, talent second," Iverson said. "Anybody who bet on it, they're broke now."

Asked if he was tired after playing all but one of the game's 52 minutes, Iverson laughed again.

"Fatigue is army clothes," he said.

The Lakers should be oh-so-thankful. Finally they're facing someone who is going to squeeze their best out of them, on the floor and in front of the microphones. If they're truly champion material, they wouldn't want it any other way.

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