Kobe Proves Again He's The Best With The Game On The Line
- Sunday, May 30, 2010 10:11 AM
- Written By: Harry Parmenter
So interesting and I suppose, revealing, that six of the greatest seven players to ever play pro ball were/are guards:
Bryant. Jordan. Johnson. Robertson. West. Frazier.
And Bill Russell.
Sorry, Wilt. It's still a team game.
As much as I loathe KB he showed Saturday night, especially in the last five minutes (as did the aforementioned players), true TRUE greatness. Phoenix never had a chance.
And while I sat here and blogged Friday night about Celtic prowess, it's hard to imagine Boston overcoming Bryant's sheer talent and angry will to win.
Like a schmuck I taped the game and stumbled upon the end live, 95-90 LA, and knew intuitively I had better things to do with two hours than watch the preamble.
Kobe Bryant ... what can you say? He is a basketball god. He doesn't have to be a nice guy, doesn't have to be a media darling, because he is simply The Best on the planet, particularly when the game is on the line.
Sure, he got bailed out by Artest in Game 5, but hell, he would have won it in overtime anyway, so who cares?
Jerry West, as great as he was as a player, did his most magical feat as a GM, dealing Vlade Divac and change for Bryant. Russell, Frazier, Johnson and Jordan were all draft picks by the teams they spent their career with. Bryant is the lone exception, picked by Charlotte and dealt by the all-time moron in hoop history, George Shinn. And the rest is history.
I'll be rooting for Boston but the Celtics are a workmanlike unit, proficient and professional, but not blessed with the fluid genius that is KB. And with a supporting cast of Gasol/Artest/Odom/Bynum/Fisher, Bryant will be hard to deny.
I live in LA but am beginning to surrender to the inevitable: The Lakers are unbeatable.
The Finals matchups on paper:
Gasol/Perkins
Bynum/Garnett
Fisher/Rondo
Bryant/Allen
Artest/Pierce
Odom/Wallace
Nobody else will matter, although as I wrote Friday night Nate Robinson could make it interesting.
For Those About To Rock I Salute You ... and let's hope it goes the distance and gives us a Final for the ages.
But no matter how you slice it close games will be in the hands of The Black Mamba, The Nikita of hoop Assassins, and you just can't bet against Kobe.
Bring it on anyway, but Boston can only hope a) Perkins controls his temper, b) Wallace shows up (and controls HIS temper), c) Rondo and Davis show no signs of the beatdown they experienced v. Orlando and, most importantly, d) Bryant misses a few at crunch time.
I'll be rooting for Boston but I can smell another parade on Figueroa.
