I had absolutely no problem with the Pierce situation. My first thought was, crap, I want both teams at full strength for this series. I was happy to see him return 3 minutes later although Phil had a "chuckle" with it...
But I have played competitive sports since I was 5 and played NCAA Division 3 Soccer and I have seen dislocated fingers, etc. Extreme pain followed by a simple relocation and players returned to the field quickly.
If Pierce felt something pop and was in extreme pain and had to be carried off then returned a few minutes later, I have seen that, that's all. And I was happy to see him return. He is a class act.
As for the Lakers being a one Kobe team, consider this, it was practically a one possession game with Kobe playing horribly offensively...
Lakers scored only 22 points in the 3rd Quarter and shot a dismal 25% from the field in the 4th quarter and they were still a three or 2 away from stealing the game until the last 2 minutes. Can't do that with a one player team.