Kobe Being Kobe – NBA Basketball Handicappers

Excuse me if I dont get wrapped up in all of the talk about whether Kobe Bryant is now as good as Michael Jordan. If his fourth ring makes him one of the top 10 players of all-time. If he has finally shed the stigma of being able to win a title without Shaquille ONeal. If he learned how to get his guys to come together and play for him the way Jordan did. If he became a more unselfish superstar for the sake of the team.

The NBA Finals, much like their star, were overhyped and ended with me caring about as much as Vince Carter in January.

After watching the NBA playoffs and finals, I feel the exact same way about Bryant as I did before. He is one of the 10 best players ever. He is unlikable and his teammates won both because of him and in spite of him.

All playoffs we listened to announcers talk about how Bryant had that killer look, how he wanted this one so badly. Did he want it more than Yao Ming, Dwyane Wade, LeBron James, Dwight Howard? I dont think so. But it sure made a good story line.

The Lakers got punished in the 2008 Finals and almost choked away their opportunity this year, when the injury-depleted Rockets took them to seven games. Where was that insane passion of Bryants then?

What changed between the Rockets series and the finals? Well, besides the fact the Magic had less playoff experience, focus and heart than the Rockets, after getting to the Western Conference Finals, the Lakers supporting cast could finally see the brass ring.

They seemed beat down by their scowling superstar in the earlier rounds. But once the opportunity to actually win a title became evident, they picked up their energy and seemed as determined as their de facto leader to reach the promised land. But they werent doing for Bryant, they were doing it for themselves.

And what of those teammates? People seem to have short memories, but his supporting cast this year was much better than last and arguably as good as those when Bryant won his first three titles.

Pau Gasol is one of the top five centers in the league and with an opportunity to shine in the NBA playoffs on a good team, proved that he has a skill set we have not seen in a big man outside of Tim Duncan since Hakeem Olajuwon. Lamar Odom may have been plagued earlier in his career with the label of a player who only competes when he wants to and sometimes has trouble keeping his focus or his head on straight. Most players who have suffered through life as a Clipper can probably relate. The fact of the matter is, Odom has handles better than anyone his size in the league, and when he wants to, which he did almost the entire playoffs, he can be an unstoppable force going to the basket. Throw in a veteran point guard (Derek Fisher) who Bryant trusts completely and a young player (Trevor Ariza) coming into his own, and you have arguably the best starting lineup in the playoffs. The fact of the matter is Bryants numbers were almost exactly the same as last season when the Lakers got humiliated. I would say the difference was more in his supporting cast than it was in Bryants much ballyhooed will to win.

But that story line isnt as easy to pimp by the league and Nike and the networks as Kobe doin work (the storyline, not the bogus movie).

But despite his great supporting cast, Bryant always seemed to be separate and unequal of them. He barked on the floor and on the bench. He refused to pick up Gasol in the waning seconds of an ugly loss in which he turned the ball over multiple times in the final minutes.

I am no psychologist, but I play one on the Internet. Look at the final seconds of Game 5. As the clock ran down, Bryant jumped in the air and pumped his fist three times. While he was celebrating his fourth ring and showboating for the cameras, his teammates mobbed one another. Nobody rushed to Bryant to embrace him or thank them for his willing them to a title. They joined arms and began jumping up and down and then Bryant, following his personal display, joined them. As Bryant reacted like an individual who had won the lottery, his teammates acted like a group that had summated a mountain together.

The Lakers would not have won another title this year without Bryant, but he wouldnt have won another one without teammates that sacrificed for the greater good and a Zen coach who begrudgingly let his superstar be a prima donna while the rest of the Lakers calmly learned how to cope to life in the shadows of Bryants constant self-aggrandizing spotlight.

Something changed with the Lakers this year, but it wasnt Bryant.

cs@atsnetwork.com

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