IN PRAISE OF KOBE

So Kobe has put up 65-50-60 in his last three games, I think that's enough to move my lazy ass to wax poetic about it.

To put this into perspective, 4 guys have had 3 consecutive games with 50+: Elgin, MJ and Kobe have done it once. Wilt did it 10 times.

With these 2 60-point games, Kobe now has 4 in his career, putting him into a tie for second all-time with MJ. Wilt had 32.

Yes, Wilt was fucking awesome.

But hey, different times, different players. What Kobe has done is astonishing. I don't think he's played this well since the 2001 playoff run when he put up 29/7/6 and along with Shaq provided the best 1-2 punch the NBA has ever seen (yes, better than Magic-Kareem, better than Bird-McHale, better than West-Baylor, better than Russell-Havlicek).

Here's the most amazing thing about this stretch of games: his discipline, his restraint. Imagine what it would be like to be the best player in the league, and then imagine what it would be like to be the best player in the league in the hottest stretch of your entire career. You'd want to take every damn shot every time down the floor (wait, I want to do that anyway--and I suck).

I mean, this isn't Wilt or Kareem or Shaq, someone dependent on his teammates getting him the ball--this is someone who can create any shot he wants at any time. So the problem for a guy with this talent level and in the midst of this white-hot stretch is this: how do you decide which shots to take and which not to take when you feel (justifiedly so) that you can make anything you throw up?

And having watched all three games, I can tell you that Kobe's judgment has been remarkable. Astonishing. Unprecedented. Don't get me wrong, he's taken a ton of shots--111 in 3 games--but only a few times have I felt like he was really forcing something. I don't know how you can score 175 points in 3 games and look like you're letting the game come to you, like you're playing within the constraints of team basketball, like you're looking to set your teammates up when the shot you want isn't available--but Kobe's managing to do it.

And another amazing thing about this stretch is that Kobe hasn't been *that* hot shooting the ball from outside. I mean, he fucking ripped Portland, a game I'd put right up there with the 81-pointer and the "singlehandledly-outscoring-Dallas-through-3-quarters" game (the single greatest athletic performance I've ever personally witnessed), but the last two games he's shot the ball like he normally does--good, but not Ray Allen, which means he had to pull out the entire arsenal to get his points. I mean, it's been a clinic in how to put the ball in the basket. He's hit threes, he's hit midrange pull-up jumpers, he's gotten to the foul line (although none of the games were called particularly close--he earned his 175 points), he's gotten to the rim, he's thrown down ridiculous dunks, he's posted people up, he's gotten steals & breakaway buckets...it's like watching a highlight reel of Kobe's entire skill set for three straight games.

And lastly, the team has absolutely *needed* every point he's scored. They've won the 3 games by 2, 7 and 5 (in OT). Kobe has scored all these points because it was the most likely way for the Lakers to win the game, period. I think some (not all) of the criticism of Kobe's egotism and selfishness is justified, but this has been the ultimate performance within the confines of team basketball, in the sense that he did exactly what needed to be done in order to give his team the best shot of winning.

What he's done here is incredible, it's insane, it's historic. This--for me--is what pro sports is all about: entertainment. If you know me in real life or have read my posts on the boards, you know I use this phrase too much, but I honestly do feel privileged to have witnessed this. I'd rather have seen this than watch the Lakers reel off 20 wins in a row (now I'd rather they win the championship than see Kobe pull this off, but that's obviously different--winning championships is pretty goddamn entertaining too).

I still don't think the Lakers have a prayer in hell of running the gauntlet in the West--they needed Kobe to channel Elgin in order to squeak past three pretty bad teams--but I can tell you this much: NOBODY wants a piece of the Lakers in the playoffs. Nobody. Not San Antonio, not Phoenix, not even Dallas. If everyone on the Lakers is healthy and Kobe is hot (not even 175-points-in-3-games-hot, just normally hot), they can play with anyone, just like they played with Phoenix last year.

In fact--what the fuck--I'm going to call it right now: if the Lakers are healthy & they play San Antonio in the first round, as they're currently slated to do, they're pulling the upset. I know that sounds crazy with the Spurs red-hot and the Lakers completely floundering before Kobe started going off, but I just have a gut feeling here. LA matches up with them really well and I think Kobe outlasts Duncan in a hard-fought 6-7 game series.

But then I think they get handled by Phoenix or slaughtered by Dallas. Just a bad/horrible matchup, respectively.

2009, baby!

(Speaking of which, watch out for Memphis down the road. If they get Kevin Durant (they currently have a 9-game lead on the #1 slot in the lottery) to go along with Pau Gasol, Hakim Warrick, Rudy Gay and Mike Miller--that's a *real* nice core group of players. Real nice. Just need a competent pass-first PG to throw in there (e.g., Brevin Knight), and that's potentially a monster of a team. If they get the #1 pick, I think they'd be insane to trade Gasol. Actually, I think they'd be insane to trade him, period, and I think the Bulls were insane *not* to trade for him. He's a 20 & 10 26-year-old center who blocks shots, those guys don't exactly grow on trees. Ben Gordon has virtually no chance of ever being as valuable as Pau Gasol is right now--and I love Ben Gordon. Huge mistake for the Bulls.)