Not just a basketball player. He's an angel. Or a griffon.
He is, given his abilities to proved me oxygen and removes carbon dioxide from my body. I don't know where I'd be without Kobe.
Kobe Byrant is a fantastic NBA player. He's one of the top 2-3 players in the game of basketball. I watched Game 5 of the Laker-Thunder series and it was noticeable how much he controlled the match up against Russell Westbrook. But here are a few other things I noticed:
Kevin Durant - Averaging 26.8 PPG going into Game 5 - 17 points on 5-14 shooting against Ron Artest
Pau Gasol - 18.5 PPG on 54% shooting - 25 points on 10-16 shooting
Glass Joe Bynum - 11.3 PPG - 21 points on 8-10 shooting
Jordan Farmar - 16 points all series - 14 points in Game 5
The Lakers won by 24 fucking points.
The Lakers are a very good team even without Kobe (6-3 this year when he didn't play. Small sample size, I know). No question he makes them better but I seem to remember 2004/05-2006/07 when the Lakers were 121-125, missed the playoffs one year and lost in the first round the other two years and made it well known that he requested a trade to Chicago because he didn't feel the Lakers were making the right moves to help him win a championship.
But let's forget about the game the Lakers played as a team. Mark Heisler wants to praise the guy who is praised more than virtually anyone in the NBA.
Mark, the floor is yours.
Kobe Bryant never ceases to amaze
Kobe Bryant is a great basketball player. You cover the Lakers, Mark. This should be common knowledge for you.
guess you can hold the toast.
Agreed. About time this Bryant kid gets some recognition.
After pulling all those rabbits out of hats, Bryant came up with the all-timer in Tuesday's Game 5: He reached into his hat and pulled out Kobe Bryant.
Kobe Bryant played like Kobe Braynt instead of playing like Tate Armstrong. Which is good since Tate's 3.8 PPG career average wouldn't get it done for the Lakers.
Taking what he had left — a sore knee that felt good, if not good enough to explode off — Bryant reinvented himself, becoming the playmaker who ran the Lakers offense and the defensive scourge who shut down Russell Westbrook and the Thunder offense.
Game 5 - 7 assists. Game 3 - 8 assists. He also had one more rebound and one less turnover in Game 3. So you're telling me his knee was good enough to do exactly what he did in Game 3 but Kobe, known for his competitive drive decided not to stop Russell Westbrook. Kobe Bryant = reinventing robot.
Actually, given Bryant's limits, what he did Tuesday was incredible.
It was a great effort...and a great team win. But fuck the team.
Being Kobe, Bryant offers only clues and leaves everyone guessing — making himself a blank canvas on which they can paint anything ... like the old charges of "pouting" that surfaced after his ineffectual Game 4.
He was probably pissed because they lost and he didn't play well. Be nice if he decided to stop Westbrook, or Durant or James Harden. Wait, he can't cover three guys at once? Maybe when he reached into his hat before Game 4 he should have pulled out Kobe Bryant. Too bad he only pulled out Charlie Villanueva.
Thirteen years later, still a wonder and a lightning rod.
Given Heisler's man crush on Kobe, I took this sexually.
For all Bryant's imperial certainty that led him to the peculiar niche he occupies, he has undeniable attributes beyond his rarely seen skill level and never-before-seen commitment.
I would hope an athlete making $23 million a year would always be committed.
The Kobe who played with Shaquille O'Neal, was capable of pouting — although not as capable as Shaq, and never in a playoff game.
How do you know? This pisses me off. You mean to tell me that losing 4-1 to the Suns in 2007, losing Game 5 119-110 where Kobe scored 34 points (albeit on 13-33 shooting) and with the clock winding down did not pout or get sad for even 0.05 of a second? Pouting is when you show displeasure on your face, most notably your lips, or you wear a morose expression. I bet in that game there was a little pouting.
That Kobe went away a long time ago. This is his team, the one he just re-upped with, essentially for good, that will take him to the destiny he has spent his life pursuing, assuming it was his destiny.
It was his team when the Lakers traded away Shaq. It was his team in 2007 when he demanded a trade. It was his team when they failed to get out of the first round for three years in a row. It's also his team the last two years when they've gone to two Finals and won one championship. That Kobe is still around. He merely has a better team and less of a reason to gripe.
This next part is going to make me so angry I'm about to burn my eyes out with chlorine.
The Kobe who resurfaced for Game 5 resembles the one who joined the U.S. Olympic team in 2007.
Flashback!
The other players had lost in the World Championships the summer before to Greece, which ran pick-and-roll after pick-and-roll in their red-white-and-blue mugs. At that point, the only reputation LeBron James had on defense was for not playing any.
Fuck you LeBron you no defense playing motherfucker.
Asking Coach Mike Krzyzewski to let him guard the opposing point guard, Bryant knocked the ball away from Venezuela's Greivis Vasquez on the first possession of the first game, dived after it, got up as Venezuela got it back, and stole Vasquez's pass, starting a fastbreak the other way.
Kobe Bryant demanded to cover a 20 year old college Freshman. At the time Kobe was 28 (day before his 29th birthday). Kobe was (still is) a world famous basketball player, 11 year NBA veteran, 3 time NBA champion, two-time NBA scoring champion, five-time All-NBA First Team recipient and five-time All-NBA Defensive First Team recipient. Vasquez was on the Honorable Mention ACC All-Freshman team. There is a chance Vasquez was slightly intimidated. USA won 112-69. They weren't playing Spain, Argentina, Greece or Serbia.
Krzyzewski showed the play over and over. That was how they defended from that moment on.
It was a great play. In a game versus an over matched opponent. A game the US won by 43. Also, Kobe is a very good defender. He's been an outstanding defender his whole career basically.
Oh, and LeBron then went home and made his first NBA All-Defense team.
I'm sorry Mark, are you implying that LeBron was selected to the NBA All-Defense team because Kobe Bryant embarrassed a 20 year old college freshman in a game where the final score was 112-69?
Newsflash jackass, LeBron made the NBA All-Defense team for the first time in 2008-2009. The game against Venezuela was on August 22nd, 2007. Here is the box score from that game. So to repeat: in 2007, Kobe took a 20 year old college freshman to school in a game the United States won by 43 points. A few months later the 2007-2008 NBA season started. The season was played and completed. The Olympics happened. After the Olympics the 2008-2009 season began. At the end of that season, LeBron James was named to the All-Defense team. So a year after the play you referenced LeBron started to play defense and somehow Kobe was the catalyst. If LeBron was so moved to play quality defense you would think this would have occurred in 2007/08 and he wouldn't have waited a Goddamn year to give a little effort on the defensive end.
Does any of this make sense to you? Why am I getting so worked up over this? You have ruined my day, Mark Heisler.
Bryant's request to guard Westbrook had the same effect on the Lakers, whose defense had been like the U.S. team, circa 2006.
The Lakers played their best game of the series. A lot of players played outstanding defense. The Thunder shot .369 from the field. That's bad. Kobe may have been the catalyst but where was said catalyst in games 3 and 4? No no...and thanks and praise to Kobe.
I'm not trying to get all over Kobe. I'm not. I only think focusing on the greatness of Kobe in a game where the Lakers played great is a poor way to approach an article.
What they'll show next remains to be seen, but in Lakerdom, or Kobedom, the wonders never cease.
Fuck it. Just change their official title to the Los Angeles Kobes already. I can't think of another player who played for the Lakers who was remotely good at basketball.
Which reminds me... A friend whose identity I won't divulge, but whose initials are TJS, just wrote to me, pointing out our differing perspectives on Attila the Hun, er, Kobe.
You, or more likely "TJS" just compared a NBA basketball player to a man who killed like millions of people. Seems like an illogical comparison.
Maybe that around-the-clock treatment he was getting for his knee buoyed his spirits too!
The fact that you added an exclamation point makes me hate you even more.
The Kobe I know may get attitudinal in news conferences, but never, ever in playoff games, when he's Kobe Bryant, by any means necessary.
Except in Games 3 and 4.
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