LOS ANGELES -- The only conclusion to be reached after Game 4 of the Western Conference finals: Phil Jackson's snooze button must get some workout.

If there was any question Jackson is loathe to answer an alarm until the last possible minute, he proved it Sunday afternoon. It wasn't until the Kings had even The Fonz and Tony Robbins looking forlorn that Jackson finally assigned Kobe Bryant to check Mike Bibby all 94 feet, thereby wresting control of the game. Pre-Kobe: 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting. Bibby, Post-Kobe: three points, 1 of 5 shooting.

The Lakers thereby paid Bibby the highest compliment and posed the question to the Kings, "Who else ya got?" Answer, at least this particular afternoon: Nobody.

"They did what they had to do," Kings Coach Rick Adelman said. "Kobe got into him and hounded him all over the court."

But Jackson's reluctance meant the Lakers needed every nano-second of the second half to pull this one out, Robert Horry doing the honors with a buzzer-beating 3 for the 100-99 win. I don't think it's any coincidence that Horry hit his shot on the basket nearest Henry Winkler and Robbins, the motivational guru. Their mojo effectively blocked that of the Maloof Brothers, the Kings owners sitting a few seats away. The Maloofs had the edge when the Kings were shooting on that basket and roaring to a 50-26 lead, prompting Winkler to head for the men's room groaning, "Oh my God!"

You'll read plenty elsewhere about Horry's heroics, including this week's feature in The Magazine -- it is, after all, ESPN -- so no need to be redundant here. Nor will you read here about Vlade Divac being the goat for inadvertently batting the ball directly to Horry after missed shots by both Kobe and Shaq. Divac also fouled Shaq 26 seconds earlier, but both were fundamentally correct plays. He couldn't have known Horry would play spectator at the arc while everybody else crashed the boards. And who could have imagined Shaq going 0 for 5 from the floor and 6 for 6 from the line in the fourth quarter?

While we're setting the record straight, the truly lucky shot Sunday was by Samaki Walker to end the first half. The Kings could have had an uncontested dunk seconds before when Walker tried to check CWebb, Horry's assignment, leaving Divac all alone. When Horry recognized Walker's mistake he ran over to guard Divac, only to have Samaki follow a second later and tap him on the shoulder as if to say, "Ooops. Let's switch." That left CWebb alone on the baseline for a solid two-count. They finally got it straightened out, but the Kings missed a golden chance to go ahead by 19 with a demoralizing dunk. Instead, Walker heaved a 34-foot prayer to cut the halftime margin to 14 and headed to the locker room being lauded as having a dead-eye rather than a block-head.

The comeback still couldn't have happened if Kobe didn't work two shifts simultaneously. Denying the ball to a point guard who changes direction as often as Bibby is a full-time job for anyone, much less a natural two-guard still recovering from food poisoning. That he also is the Lakers' primary offensive penetrator means he had to take a less-taxed Doug Christie off the dribble as well. Kobe asked to check Bibby in a meeting Saturday but Jackson was concerned that Kobe was still too weak to handle both. Bibby's electric start left him no choice.

So now the question to the Kings remains, "Who else ya got?" Doug Christie seems the first option, if he can stop signaling love to his wife long enough, since he'll have a size advantage over either Derek Fisher or Lindsey Hunter and a speed advantage on Brian Shaw. Peja Stojakovic is iffy for Game 5 on Tuesday and as much as I admire his game, I'm not sure if he wouldn't be a better matchup for the Lakers. Hedo Turkoglu has essentially forced Rick Fox to the bench because his size prevents Fox from posting up and his athleticism makes him too difficult for Fox to corral. Devean George has provided the Lakers with sorely needed energy -- nine rebounds in 25 minutes, seven on the offensive glass -- but he's also prone to making an error and then compounding it, as he did by missing a layup and then fouling Divac in frustration on the rebound. Or in Game 3 when he missed a layup and turned to yell at the refs about being fouled while the ball was still within reach. I'm guessing Fox knocks down at least a couple of the wide-open 3s George clanked, and offense is where the Lakers are struggling right now.

As devastating as this loss appeared, I'm not expecting the Kings to roll over now. You'd have thought they were about to play a summer-league game judging by the looseness in their locker room beforehand. It is a team without a conscience or seemingly much of a memory, and that should serve them well. What they must have, though, is someone who can step up for Bibby, now that he's been quarantined by the Lakers' No. 8. Either that, or they have to hope Phil waits a second too long next time the alarm sounds.

Ric Bucher covers the NBA for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at ric.bucher@espnmag.com.