Dent in Kobe's Armor as Lakers Stumble

by Jay MariottiFiled under: NBAORLANDO -- What happened to the killer fangs, the death staredown, the stalker profile? Kobe Bryant's raw facial expressions, so intimidating only a few nights ago, have vanished into a humble silhouette of self-flagellation and disgust. He was supposed to rule the NBA Finals like no singular force since the man he emulates, Michael Jordan, and he was positioned to close with a jackhammer Tuesday night if he simply was himself.But he was someone else and somewhere else in the final minutes of Game 3, flashing the absolute wrong body language when he clanked a gigantic free throw with a minute left -- his fifth miss of the evening -- and sunk into the sort of exasperation that Jordan never would have let us see. Bryant stared at the floor during a timeout, cursed at himself and took his bitter mood back onto the court, where, in a defining moment, Dwight Howard and Mickael Pietrus trapped him, allowing Howard to tap the ball into a scrum that result...