I am not a Kobe Bryant fan. I spent last year’s finals celebrating his Lakers going down to the Celtics and this season I rooted for the Rockets, Nuggets and Magic to take him down again. My thought is he ruined the Lakers earlier this decade with his childish petulance and jealousy of Shaquille O’Neal. He ran off Shaq and questioned Phil Jackson and I won’t even get into the crap he pulled in Denver a few years ago. But I will give him this, he can now claim his legacy as arguably the second best player to ever compete in the NBA.
It appears, at 30 years old, Kobe has finally grown up. He begged, pleaded, cajoled, threatened and dragged his Laker teammates to the NBA Title this season. He averaged 32.4 points per game which is not surprising for such a prolific scorer; the big surprise was his leading the Lakers in assists in every game of the five game Finals. He also is giving honesty a try when he finally admitted all the questions about winning one without Shaq really did bother him. He stated “It was like Chinese water torture,” he said. “I would cringe every time. I was just like, it’s a challenge I’m just going to have to accept because there’s no way I’m going to argue it. You can say it until you’re blue in the face and rationalize it until you’re blue in the face, but it’s not going anywhere until you do something about it.”
Kobe is on top of the world, he just won his fourth ring, his Los Angeles Lakers will be the favorites to win again next year and he was Finals MVP in a year where most said Lebron James has passed him by. Yep, Kobe’s Legacy is intact; I still don’t like him by the way…
The King James Bible is the most published and read book in history, but it appears a lot more King James literature is on the way, especially in Cleveland. This years NBA MVP, Lebron James has picked up his Cleveland Cavaliers and is willing them towards an NBA Championship. After annihilating the Detroit Pistons, the Cavs just completed another four game sweep, this time over last years playoff darlings, the Atlanta Hawks. None of the games thus far have been even close for Cleveland, double digits wins every time. And with the Celtics in another dogfight, this time with Orlando and the Lakers likely facing grueling and draining challenges from the Houston Rockets now and most likely, the Denver Nuggets next round, does anyone not see Lebron and the Cavaliers hoisting the NBA Championship trophy in June? The 24 year old James is re-writing the record books, almost averaging a triple double per game in this playoff year. The last guy to do that was the great Oscar Robertson and anytime you can be mentioned in a sentence with the Big O, you are doing something right.
I borrow my title today from a 1986 Sports Illustrated cover featuring the untimely and tragic death of another 22 year old rising sports superstar.
Wow! That’s all I can say about the NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship game last night. Never a Tarheels fan, I must bow to North Carolina after they blew away Michigan State 89-72 to culminate a superb tournament run. From Tyler’s leg to Ty’s toe, UNC shook off adversity over the entire basketball season to end up where many put them at the beginning of the year, Number 1.
Epitaph: Once great….Out lived Its Prime.
Villanova have to rally in the 2nd half to overcome a 14 point deficit and saw strong performances by two number 1 seeds in UNC and UConn. What a way to start the Big Dance.
As we head into the Sports void left after another NFL season, we turn our attention to early season Golf still sans Tiger, NHL Hockey and Basketball. When do pitchers and catchers report? Now, NCAA basketball is fantastic, especially now as we are deep into conference play and eagerly anticipate March Madness just a month or so away. The spirit and excitement on the college level makes the game worth watching. On the flip side is NBA Basketball which needs a makeover. In a 30 team league, how can you only have five that have a legitimate shot at winning a Championship?!? With apologies to fans of New Orleans, Denver and Houston (you’re good, but not good enough), it appears the East is a battle between Boston, Orlando and Cleveland while the Lakers and Spurs will battle out West. Anyone else have a shot??? The NBA needs to eliminate 6 or so teams, reshuffle the players to make stronger teams and go again. Having almost two months of playoffs is terrible as well, though if they indeed contract a few teams, they could eliminate a round or two of the playoffs. The NBA used to be a fun league to watch as great teams battled it out in long series with even competition. Sure the Bulls won a bunch of Championships with Jordan, but it was a team approach that got it done. Today’s NBA is all about who has the most stars, shooting at will and playing very little defense. Why did they move the Thunder to Oklahoma City? They should have contracted the team and sent Kevin Durant out of puragatory. Memphis, the LA Clippers, Sacramento and Washington also probably wouldn’t cry too hard if their teams were taken away. Help us David Stern, go to less teams, keep the better players and give us a better product to watch, please!
