Though the Lakers blew a big game and maybe their season and maybe their shot at the NBA championship, they claim to remain a ``resilient'' group.

Well, they will have to be that against the Boston Celtics in Game 5 Sunday.

The Lakers had a clear case of a hangover Friday after they blew a 24-point lead and lost Game 4 Thursday night.

That put the Lakers in a 3-1 hole in the best-of-seven NBA Finals.

No team has ever returned from that deficit in the Finals to win the NBA championship.

The Lakers are hoping to become the first.

``Well, these young men are really resilent,'' Lakers coach Phil Jackson said. ``I don't think there's any doubt that if we had to play this morning, we probably wouldn't feel that great about playing thiis morning. But fortunately we're not playing until Sunday, and we'll bounce back ready to go on Sunday.''

-- Broderick Turner
-- bturner@PE.com

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