KOBE FOR MVP!

It's no contest — Kobe should be MVPUnlike other candidates, take Bryant away and Lakers would fall apart
The most common criterion offered to evaluate a most valuable player involves the kidnap scenario. In other words, if you kidnapped a candidate for the award, how would his team fare without him?
Of course, if no one on his team offered to pay the ransom, then he must not be all that valuable. But let’s assume for the sake of argument that everybody in the organization passed the hat around and raised the cash necessary — but not until after a lengthy period of time had elapsed whereby the public could evaluate the missing player’s impact on his team.No one is suggesting a real kidnapping, of course. That would be wrong. But let’s imagine, say, six scantily clad supermodels pull up in a limo, lure the player into it with the promise of some good clean fun, and then make good on that promise over the course of several days or even weeks.
The team would never be the same. Neither would the player.
The NBA season is winding down, and it’s time to apply the kidnap scenario to determine which candidate deserves the league’s MVP award. If you snatched all the top players away from their respective situations, it would result in one fairly obvious conclusion:
Kobe Bryant is the MVP.
If Kobe were kidnapped by a half-dozen smoking hot supermodels, it would not only require the Los Angeles Lakers to pony up the ransom, it would probably cost Kobe dearly as well. His last indiscretion forced him to fork over more than $4 million for a diamond ring to calm wife Vanessa. Multiply that by six and we’re starting to talk real money here, even for an NBA player.
But that wouldn’t be nearly as costly as losing Kobe would be for the Lakers.
A similar argument can be made for the other hopefuls as well. If you kidnapped Steve Nash away from the Phoenix Suns, LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers, Dirk Nowitzki from the Dallas Mavericks, Elton Brand from the Los Angeles Clippers, Chauncey Billups from the Detroit Pistons, Dwyane Wade from the Miami Heat, Jason Kidd from the New Jersey Nets and Tim Duncan from the San Antonio Spurs, there would be a noticeable drop-off in success in each case.
But it’s a matter of degree.
In Kobe’s case, the drop-off would be reminiscent of what happened to Enron stock.
Much is often made of Kobe’s ability to drill last-second shots to win ballgames. And it’s true, the man’s arteries are like refrigerator coils. He craves the basketball at crucial junctures, and he often delivers.
But dwelling much on his late-game heroics obscures the fact that the Lakers are in ballgames they would never be in if they didn’t have Kobe on the floor. The back-breaking jumper would not be sailing through the net in the final seconds if Bryant had not submitted a Herculean effort to keep his ragtag band of misfits and outcasts in the game in the first place. The Lakers certainly have lost some games this season they should have won — Feb. 15 at home vs. Atlanta, Feb. 26 at home vs. Boston are two of the most notorious — but because of Bryant they’ve beaten teams like Detroit, Miami and San Antonio and others.
And I never thought I’d say this, but the kid finally seems to be getting it. Perhaps it was the massive reaction, pro and con, to his record-setting 81-point effort Jan. 22 at home against Toronto. After that, he could have gone either way. He could have interpreted it as a green light to challenge Wilt Chamberlain’s all-time single-game mark of 100 points. Or he could have said, “Enough,” and concentrated on becoming more of a team player. Fortunately for the Lakers, he chose the latter.
I never thought I’d say this either, but he’s starting to make the other players around him better. Usually that requires the passing of the basketball, which he has been doing more of, especially as teammates such as Lamar Odom, Kwame Brown and Luke Walton have become more comfortable and emerged as offensive options. Yet his improved decision-making — like not trying to break down three guys off the dribble, for instance — keeps defenses on edge because they’re not sure if he’s going to be the old Kobe and jack up shots, or the new one who will get the ball to the more sensible option at the right time.
He still has an annoying habit of trying to split two defenders for a drive to the basket, but there’s less of that these days.
But more important in regard to the kidnap scenario is the wreckage that would be the Lakers if Kobe weren’t there. Lately, he’s been getting more help. But the light bulb has only turned on in the heads of Odom and Brown since around the trade deadline of Feb. 23. Before that, it was Gladys Knight and a bunch of guys auditioning to be Pips.
Until recently, the other Lakers showed no inclination toward consistency. Chris Mihm, who has been out with a sprained ankle since March 12, was maddeningly up and down. So was Odom, Brown, Smush Parker, Sasha Vujacic, Brian Cook and Devean George. First-round draft pick Andrew Bynum, all of 18, has been no help. Neither has veteran point guard Aaron McKie, signed as a free agent last summer, who has played only a handful games because of injury.
If you took Kobe Bryant off this team, it would qualify for a FEMA loan.
Naturally, if you removed any of the other candidates from their teams, the results might be ugly as well. But they would at least survive. In the case of each of them, their teams would have enough left over to make a run at a playoff berth, at the very least. Without Bryant, the Lakers would not be a playoff team. Not even close.
He’s averaging 35.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 41 minutes per contest.
If you kidnapped him, all the other teams would chip in to make sure he never came back.
by Michael Ventre NBCSports.com

BE AFRAID - BE VERY AFRAID - OF KOBE

The Los Angeles Lakers aren’t a great basketball team; they’re hardly a team at all. There’s Kobe Bryant and some other guys whose names he may or may not remember. But if there’s one group of players that all dresses in the same uniform that has to scare everyone else in the playoffs, it’s got to be the Lakers.

Remember back before the season began, when we were all laughing at coach Phil Jackson for pretending that he never meant those things he said in his latest book about Kobe? Remember how we said the Lakers might be better with Jackson on the sideline, but they were going to run their streak of not making the playoffs to two straight Shaq-free seasons?

Well, here it is playoff time and there are the Lakers. And this isn’t an NBA East kind of playoff team that can get in without playing .500 ball. Although the Lakers are one of the last two teams to get in the Western Conference tournament, they will finish either six or eight games above the break-even point. In the East, that would get them the fifth seed.

In the West, it’s no better than seventh and a first-round match against Pacific Division winner Phoenix, the West’s second seed.Normally, any NBA match between a team seeded eighth or seventh and another seeded first or second is as likely to produce an upset as Theo Epstein is to go to bed wearing pinstripe pajamas. And Phoenix beat the Lakers three out of four this season, with the loss coming in their last meeting April 16.

But the Lakers, as already stated, aren’t a normal team, and, no matter who they face, including the defending champion San Antonio Spurs, they’ve got as much as a chance to pull the big upset as any NBA team ever has.

Give Jackson a little credit for that. Last season, without him, the Lakers finished in the lottery. This season, with him, they’ve defied the skeptics who said that if Jackson didn’t have a great team to coach, he couldn’t win.

But most of the credit has to go to Kobe, the game’s most spectacular — and dangerous — player. He doesn’t have a lot around him, the team’s other mainstays being Kwame Brown, who spent a lot of time disappointing everyone in Washington, Lamar Odom and Luke Walton. All-stars they’re not.

That’s what Kobe wanted, to be the main man on a team of one. With him running the show, Jackson’s vaunted triangle doesn’t have any angles or points or sides, just one brilliant focal point. The offense is to give Kobe the ball and get out of his way.

It shouldn’t work, and with anyone less talented than Bryant, it wouldn’t. It’s doubtful even Michael Jordan could have done what No. 8 is doing for the Lakers, which is winning games all by himself.He scored 81 points in a game, the second-highest total ever. He can do 40 in his sleep. And unlike LeBron James, who has remarkably few game-winning shots to his credit, Kobe can do it time and again when he’s the only guy on the court the other team has to bother defending.

I don’t care who you are, a non-team like that with a player like that is one that has to scare the shoes off of you.

Teams talk about how you can’t control a great player; all you can do is hope to contain him. With Kobe, they don’t even bother saying it. You don’t control him and you don’t contain him. You just hope that the rest of the Lakers — whoever they are — don’t clean up enough slop around him to beat you.

And in defense of the rest of the team, you have to give the players credit for not whining about Kobe never sharing the ball with them, or even saying hello in the locker room. They know what their job is, which is to give him the ball and then say “Nice shot,” and they do it without complaint. It’s not necessarily a system Larry Brown would draw up on the board, but look where Brown is languishing these days.

The Lakers enter the playoffs having won 11 of 14, mostly against second-tier teams. But they beat the Los Angeles Clippers, who have a better record, and they beat the Suns.

That’s a pretty good roll to be on going into the games that really count. It’s the kind of roll that teams get on when everybody knows his job and there’s someone on board who can do the heavy lifting.And nobody carries a bigger load in the game than Kobe. When he held the door open for Shaq to get out of town, he said he wanted to win, to get back to the title game, and we laughed. But here it is just two years later, and he’s back in the playoffs without a single teammate anywhere near O’Neal’s talent level.

He’s not supposed to be able to get beyond the first round. But he also wasn’t supposed to be here at all. If that’s not scary, nothing is.

by Mike Celizic NBCSports.com

THE BLACK MAMBA FOR MVP

Say what you want about the NBA, but the league offers seven superior features to every other professional sport: a wildly entertaining draft, a new dress code that caused "Big and Tall Store" stock to jump eight points, the wit and wisdom of Mr. Jalen Rose, cheerleaders who dress like hookers, a ridiculously surreal All-Star Weekend and, of course, the only "Most Valuable Player" award that truly matters.
Can you name the last 10 NFL MVPs? Of course not. Can you remember the last 10 MVPs in each baseball league, and definitively say which guy was better every year? Nope. Do you even know the name of the NHL trophy? Unless you're Canadian, probably not. The MVP concept works best in the NBA: Every player is eligible, everyone plays against one another, it's relatively simple to compare statistics and, if you watch the games, you can always figure out which players stand out over everyone else.
Of course, the experts seem just as confused as they were last season, when Steve Nash stumbled into the award because some people thought it would be fun to vote for a white Canadian dude with bad hair who didn't play defense. As it turned out, Nash raised his game in the playoffs and vindicated everyone who picked him. (Note: I thought Shaq should have won the award and still do.) But that raises a bigger question: What makes for an NBA MVP?I concentrate on three questions:
1. Ten years from now, who will be the first player from this season that pops into my head?
2. In a giant pickup game with every NBA player waiting to play, and two fans forced to pick sides with their lives depending on the outcome of the game (I think this is how the annual Rucker League tournament works), who would be the first player picked based on the way everyone played that season?
3. If you replaced every MVP candidate with a decent player at their position for the entire season, what would be the effect on their teams' records?
The first two questions are subjective. You might think the 2004-05 season belonged to Nash, whereas I thought it belonged to Shaq. And until this season, I would have picked Shaq first in any pickup game, you may have picked Kobe or LeBron. But the third question isn't nearly as subjective, it's also crucial to this year's dilemma. We're dealing with the deepest pool of potential MVP candidates ever (eight by my count). And I think the choice is pretty clear. But before we get to that, check out some of the names who didn't make the cut:
Shawn Marion, Elton Brand, Pau Gasol, Rasheed Wallace: All of them were indispensable to winning teams. Marion was the most explosive, Brand was the most consistent, Gasol carried the biggest burden and Rasheed is the one you would pick for one big game. You can't say one was more valuable than the others. (Although Gasol's straggly, Survivor-like beard had a Plummer-like impact on him and the Grizzlies, insuring its place in the NBA Beard Hall of Fame with Mike Newlin, Mike Gminski, Coby Dietrich, Bill Walton, Phil Jackson and Aaron McKie.)
The important thing to remember is that all of them were better than ...
Kevin Garnett: Can you name another alleged "superstar in his prime" who missed the playoffs for two straight seasons? How was his supporting cast worse than Gasol's crew in Memphis, or even Chris Paul's team in New Orleans? Did you know that we haven't had a former MVP miss the playoffs in consecutive seasons in his prime since Bob McAdoo (who never should have won the MVP in the first place because Rick Barry got robbed)? Isn't it his job to carry a crappy team? What do you think Barkley was doing in the late-'80s and early-'90s in Philly? Nobody in the league gets more of a free ride than KG. Nobody.
(Note: There's a difference between being "competitive" and being "no fun whatsover to play with," and KG crossed that line about five years ago. You can't carry yourself that way for eight months each season without eventually committing a homicide. You just can't. He's wound too tight. So if you're reading this 50 years from now and wondering why KG only made it past Round 1 once in his career -- as well as why he murdered everyone in Minnesota's locker room after a 20-point blowout loss during the 2007-08 season -- please consider everything in this parentheses. Thank you.)
Gilbert Arenas, Paul Pierce: Two splendid individual seasons; two guys who were probably worth 12-15 wins for their respective teams. And I could barely make room for them in the top 15.
Jason Kidd: Firmly entrenched in the "Heather Locklear on 'Spin City' " phase of his career -- he doesn't look good as he once did, but he's still Jason Kidd. And he gets credit for two things: First, he's the only player who could have salvaged Vince Carter's career (like Tarantino taking a chance on Travolta in "Pulp Fiction," only if nobody was hiring Travolta because he didn't try in his last five movies. And second, this current Nets team could win 50 games without rebounders, shot-blockers, and any semblance of a low-post game, as well as a rotation that includes Cliff Robinson, Zoran Planinic, Jacques Vaughn, Lamond Murray and Scott Padgett. Only Kidd could have salvaged this mess. And this is why I hate stats sometimes, because someone like KG will always come off better than someone like Kidd. But the overall objective is to win games, and no matter where he is, Kidd's teams always seem to win more than they lose.Allen Iverson: Mortal lock to be playing somewhere else next season.
Ben Wallace: In theory, he should be a top-10 pick for starting the Artest melee. Just think, if Wallace had calmed down after the initial shove, Artest never would have lounged on the scorer's table, John Green never would have tossed that drink, the ensuing melee never would have happened, and Detroit's most dangerous rival (an excellent Pacers team) wouldn't have completely self-combusted. Instead, Wallace kept carrying on and trying to reach Artest, and eventually, one of his fans turned into the NBA version of Lee Harvey Oswald. Eighteen months later, the Pacers are floundering and Larry Legend is making noises about blowing everything up.
(By the way, this seems like a good time to mention that Wallace was only suspended for six games. Although David Stern admits privately that, had Wallace handed Lee Harvey Green the cup of soda and screamed, "Throw it at him! Throw it!" ... they probably would have raised it to eight.)
Tim Duncan: In many ways, this isn't his greatest season -- thanks to his Phil Plantieritis or whatever it's called, he couldn't move laterally, couldn't get any lift, wasn't getting as many putbacks, had trouble filling the lane on fast breaks, never looked even remotely comfortable -- and yet, his team kept winning and his numbers didn't look much different than normal. You can't judge a great athlete until he's playing hurt, and in Duncan's case, his consistency was almost heroic. But he wasn't nearly as dominant, and I watched too many Spurs games in which he wasn't even the fifth-best player on the court. So I can't call him an MVP candidate. With many regrets.
Shaquille O'Neal: The best center alive by default (although Yao made a nice run in February and March). He still commands a double-team in every fourth quarter. The referees still call the game differently when he's out there. He's developed into an exceptionally smart passer from the low post. And he remains the league's most entertaining personality, maybe its most popular ambassador since Doctor J.
And with all of that said ... old Shaq is starting to look a little long in the tooth. You knew it was coming; all the stats from every great center forecasted it. Now, it's happening. Justin from Pasadena sums everything up: "With $100 million and 5 [years] left on his contract, and knees that bend no more than 5 degrees, how long do you think it will be before the Knicks make a run at getting Shaq? I'm already getting ready to pre-order my soon-to-be classic Knicks/O'Neal jersey."
(Two notes about that e-mail: First, it's funny because it's true. There's no doubt in hell that Isiah is trading Curry, Crawford and 25 future first-rounders for Shaq in the summer of 2007, followed by Knicks fans rejoicing for the first few months, then eventually turning on the trade and claiming they never liked it in the first place. And second, until last month, I had never received a "Shaq is starting to look washed up" e-mail. Not once.)
All right, enough foreplay. My top eight choices for MVP, in reverse order from eighth to first:
8. Chauncey BillupsThe best player on the best team this season. But can you really call anyone "the best player" on a team that works solely because they play so well together?
For instance, "24" wouldn't work without Kiefer Sutherland as Jack Bauer; nobody else could play that part. But "Lost" relies on a number of quality actors, all of whom play a role in the show's success to varying degrees: Jack, Sawyer, Locke, Kate and Hurley (that's their starting five). Personally, I think Sawyer is the best character, not just from an acting standpoint, but from an entertaining/interesting/dramatic standpoint). He's the Rasheed Wallace of the group, someone who doesn't need to carry every episode, brings a ton of stuff to the table and takes nothing off (and they're both funny as hell). As for the rest, Locke is probably Ben Wallace (does all the little stuff); Kate is Tayshaun Prince (the token chick/fifth man); Hurley is Rip Hamilton (totally underrated, always rises to the occasion); and Billups is Jack (the leader of the group).So here's the question: Does the show work because of Jack, or does it work because of the group as a whole? Obviously, it's because of the group. Well, the same goes for the Pistons; calling Billups a bonafide MVP candidate demeans the contributions of everyone else involved. Would they slip that much with Jason Terry in Billups' spot? Probably not.
(Of course, if Jack ends up taking down The Others, and Billups takes down every contender this spring, maybe we have to re-evaluate.)
7. Chris PaulThe great John Hollinger covered Paul's case in his "third greatest season by a rookie guard ever" column yesterday, even if he didn't give Magic's rookie year nearly enough credit. Remember, Magic was playing out of position that season because of Norm Nixon, and he and Bird DID save the league and all, and he DID average nearly a triple-double in the playoffs and play one of the 10 greatest games in the history of the NBA Finals. (Whatever, we'll have to settle this over fisticuffs at the company barbecue in July.) For the purposes of this column, Paul had the lamest supporting cast of any candidate, played his position about as well as it can be played, and his team overachieved mainly because of him.
Let's say the Hornets finish with 40 wins ... how many would they have won with Deron Williams or Raymond Felton instead of Paul? Twenty? Fifteen? What about the baggage the Hornets had coming into the season, what with the hurricane in New Orleans, new digs in Oklahoma City and everything else? What about how much this team depended on Paul from night to night, even though he was a rookie? I just don't see how anyone can list him lower than seventh. And yes, that screaming is the sound of everyone from Atlanta. Just give them a few seconds.
6. Carmelo AnthonyThe best clutch scorer alive -- seven game-winners and a game-tying shot just since Jan. 1, as well as the best clutch numbers of anyone in basketball over the past three seasons (according to 82games.com) -- to the point that we should be using his full name like we do with every other famous assassin. If your life depended on somebody making a game-winning shot in the last 10 seconds, would you pick anyone BUT Melo? I sure wouldn't.
So there's that. He also carried a division-winning Nuggets team that dealt with numerous injuries and numbers problems, a significant trade in mid-February, a glaring lack of outside shooters, and Kenyon Martin gimping around like Ken Reeves on the Bulls. And it's not like he's in his prime; actually, he's only seven months older than LeBron. Maybe there have been some minor flaws here and there -- he takes some quarters off, doesn't rebound enough, acts out sometimes -- but nothing that can't be fixed down the road.
Here's the thing: I'm starting to wonder if LeBron-Wade-Carmelo could become the most important sports rivalry of this generation. Each is great in his own way, each brings something different and unique to the table, and each seems to feed off what's happening with the other two guys. For instance, the Wade-LeBron duel two Saturdays ago (LeBron finished with 47-12-10, Wade with a 44-8-9) wasn't just the most thrilling game of the season, it was a significant experience for anyone who truly gives a crap about this league. Here were two fantastic young players absolutely KILLING it, doing everything they could to win the game, bringing out the absolute best of one another, raising everyone to a higher place.
This was like Pacino and De Niro sharing a scene in "Heat," only if they made the movie together in 1974. This was like Pearl Jam and Nirvana saying in 1992, "Screw it, let's go play at the same tiny club in Seattle and see who the crowd enjoys more." This was like nothing that's ever happened before. I haven't stopped thinking about it for three straight weeks. Could this be where we're headed -- magical game after magical game, like those Celtics-Lakers games in the mid-'80s, only for 12-15 years? What's the ceiling here? Do we even have a ceiling? Ali had Frazier, Bird had Magic, Russell had Chamberlain. Is it possible that LeBron, Wade and Carmelo all have each other? And do you realize that these guys are a combined 66 years old?
Maybe I'm biased as an unabashed NBA junkie, but I truly believe that the collective emergence of LeBron, Wade and Melo could eventually become the most significant thing that ever happened to this league -- bigger than MJ, bigger than Bird and Magic, bigger than everything. I guess we'll see.
5. Steve NashKudos to him for increasing his scoring and seamlessly integrating seven new teammates into Phoenix's offense; in many ways, he was better than last season. He's the only current player whose unselfishness seems to transfer (almost by osmosis) to everyone else on his team. On the flip side, he's even worse defensively than last season; just in the past two months, I watched Shaun Livingston, Delonte West and Kidd completely outplay him in separate games, capped off by Billups simply CREMATING him in Detroit two Sundays ago. Would an MVP ever get decimated like that by someone who plays the same position? Please.
Put it this way: Nash was a cute choice last season, mainly because none of the other candidates stood out, and I could see why someone would have been swayed. (It was like ordering one of those fancy foreign beers at a bar, the ones in the heavy green bottles with the 13-letter name that you can't pronounce, only someone else is drinking it, so you say to yourself, "Ah, screw it, I'm tired of the beer I always drink, lemme try one of those.") But this year? I'm not saying he should be ignored, but if you actually end up picking him, either you're not watching enough basketball or you just want to see a white guy win back-to-back MVP's.
4. Dwyane WadeEven as recently as four weeks ago, he was my MVP pick ... and then he started struggling, and so did Miami, and now he's hurt. The next three guys just passed him. It's that simple.
3. Dirk NowitzkiAveraging an astonishing 29-and-10 since the All-Star Break (the only two forwards to average 29-and-10 since the ABA/NBA merger were Bird and the Mailman). He's the only All-Star on a 60-win Dallas team. He shows up for every game. He's an underrated rebounder and superior free-throw shooter in crunch time. He solved the whole "Let's stick a smaller, more athletic guy on him!" strategy by punishing defenders with a variety of herky-jerk moves on the high post. He's German, which makes him fun to dislike whenever he starts sneering at his teammates or arrogantly celebrating after a big bucket. Out of any over-25 player, he made the biggest leap this season; it's hard to imagine anyone meaning more to his team.
Quick Nowitzki story: Clips-Mavs, Monday night, tie game, 18 seconds left. Nowitzki is 5-for-18, but we all know he's getting the final shot -- right at the top of the key, where he's been thriving all season. Naturally, we assume that Dunleavy will send a second guy at him, since you never want to get beat by a franchise guy. So Dallas brings the ball up and feeds Nowitzki on the high post, only Chris Kaman (a gawd-awful defender) switches onto him. And we're waiting for the second guy. And we're waiting. Hell, even Dirk is waiting. Never comes. Finally, with the clock winding down, he puts a quick move on Kaman, upfakes him and drains a 16-footer to win the game, followed by a goofy gesture in which he coldly pulled his jersey out with both forefingers, almost like dueling shotguns. And then his teammates practically chest-bumped him to death.
Here's the point: I wasn't even remotely surprised. Not by any of it. (Well, except for Dunleavy being dumb enough to single-team Dirk with Kaman.) There are franchise guys, and then there are FRANCHISE GUYS. This season, Nowitzki added the caps.
2. LeBron JamesTwenty-five months. That's how long it took before one of the Cleveland coaches (and there have been three since LeBron joined the team) made the astounding realization, "Hey, instead of sticking LeBron in the corner or the wing and having entire possessions where he never touches the ball, maybe we should run the offense through him!"
In the words of Colonel James, "Oh, you think so, Doctor?" Really? You want to stick him at the top of the key and run the offense through your best playmaker, as well as someone who's completely unstoppable whenever he decides to drive to the basket? You think that might work?
Now he's putting up 33-8-7 every night, which makes me wonder what would have happened had he handled the ball that much from Day 1. And it's not a very good Cavs team -- nobody plays defense, nobody rebounds, Ilguaskas doesn't fit in at all (terrible signing), even the alleged "shooters" (Damon Jones, Donyell Marshall, etc.) rarely make open shots. Replace LeBron with Mike Miller, throw in the Hughes injury and this was probably a 27-win team. Instead, they'll win 50.
The intriguing subplot: LeBron is figuring out how to take over down the stretch, personified by what happened on Saturday in New Jersey (17 in the final quarter). At least once a game, he does something so explosive, so athletic, so incredible, you can't even believe it happened. The last time I remember feeling this way about a professional athlete was Bo Jackson, who wasn't just great ... he stood out. I attended a spring training game once when Bo scored from third base on a 180-foot pop fly -- standing up. It was awesome to watch.
Well, LeBron reminds me of Bo. On those plays when he says, "Screw it, I'm scoring" and heads toward the basket like a runaway freight train. He's like a young Barkley crossed with a young Shawn Kemp crossed with young Magic, but with a little Bo thrown in. Out of anyone in the league, he's the only player who can cripple the other team with one monster play.
There's a perfect example that Hollinger wrote about on Sunday, but screw it, I'm retelling the story. On Saturday afternoon, I TiVo'ed the Nets-Cavs game because the Nets had won 14 straight and officially reached "record all our games" territory. LeBron completely took over the game in the fourth, capped off by one of the most startling plays I have ever seen: Trailing in the final two minutes, LeBron seized some open space in transition and pulled the Runaway Freight Train move, careening toward the basket as one Net reached in and hacked him, followed by another Net on the other side reaching in and fouling him, and then a third guy just to make sure he wouldn't score. LeBron was cradling the ball, taking two giant steps toward the basket and absorbing those karate chops. BOOM-BOOM-BOOM. Any normal human being would have either lost the ball or lost their balance and tumbled to the ground.
Well, LeBron kept going -- almost like a tight end bouncing off three safeties in the open field. As the last guy walloped him, LeBron jumped in the air (where did he get the strength?!?!?), regained control of the ball, hung in the air, hung in the air for another split-second, gathered the ball (at this point, he was drifting under the right side of the rim), and finally unleashed a righty layup that banked in. The shot was so BLEEPING INCREDIBLE, the referee practically jumped in delight as he called the continuation foul. The Nets were done after that. He ripped their hearts out, MJ-style. Unbelievable. Absolutely unbelievable. I couldn't believe it. I still can't believe it.
And he's 21. Even more unbelievable.
So why isn't LeBron James the 2006 MVP? Two reasons. First, he hasn't committed himself on the defensive end yet. It's not even an effort thing, I think he's just been poorly coached. Bird and Magic couldn't guard anyone either, but they were always great help defenders, and Bird actually controlled games on that end like a free safety (just watch Game 6 of the 1986 Finals, you'll see what I mean). Defensively, LeBron is a complete non-factor.
More importantly, the next guy has just been a little bit better ...
1. Kobe BryantYou don't know how much this kills me. Actually, you probably do. But Mamba passes all three MVP questions ...
Question No. 1: When remembering this season 10 years from now, which player will pop into your head first?
Answer: Kobe. The dude scored 62 in three quarters against Dallas, then 81 against Toronto a few weeks later. He's about to become the fifth player in NBA history to average 35 points a game (along with Wilt, MJ, Elgin and Rick Barry). He made up with Shaq. He made up with Phil. He made up with Nike. He appeared on the cover of Slam Magazine with a Mamba snake wrapped around him. He did everything but make the obligatory cameo on "Will and Grace." No player took more abuse from writers, broadcasters and radio hosts this season, but Kobe seemed to feed off that negative energy. It was almost Bondsian. And just when it kept seeming like he might wear down, he'd toss up another 50 just to keep you on your toes. Kobe was relentless. That's the best way to describe him this season.
Question No. 2: In the proverbial giant pickup game with every NBA player waiting to play, who would be the first player picked this season?
Answer: Kobe. He's the best all-around player in the league, the best scorer, the best competitor, and the one guy who terrifies everyone else. Plus, if you DIDN'T pick him, he would make it his mission to haunt you on the other team.
Question No. 3: If you replaced every MVP candidate with a decent player at their position for the entire season, what would be the effect on their teams' records?
Answer: If you replaced Kobe with a decent 2-guard (someone like Jamal Crawford) for the entire 2005-06 Lakers season, they would have won between 15 and 20 games. I can say that in complete confidence. Terrible team. When Smush Parker and Kwame Brown are your third- and fourth-best players, you shouldn't even be allowed to watch the playoffs on TV. Throw Kobe in the mix and they're headed for 45 wins. So he's been worth 25 victories for them.
Minimum.
In a weird way, Kobe ended up getting what he always wanted: The Lakers completely revolve around him. He gets to shoot 25-30 times per game. He gets to take every big shot at crunch-time. He gets all the credit. Nobody else on the team dares to challenge him. And even better, because he lucked out with the only possible coach who could make this cockamamie situation work, his supporting cast kills itself to make him look good.
Basically, he's Elvis and everyone else is Joe Esposito. And it's working! That's the crazy thing.Now they're a sleeper in the West -- seriously, do you think Phoenix wants any part of them in Round 1? -- and have the only player in the league who can win a playoff series by himself. He's the Black Mamba, he's Kobe Bryant, he's the 2006 MVP, and since we finally have that settled, I will now light myself on fire.
By Bill Simmons ESPN

WHO’s THE "AIR" APPARENT? KOBE OR LEBRON?

Last weekend, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James clashed in what was billed as a duel between the two best players in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. Wade’s Heat outlasted James’ Cleveland Cavaliers in Miami, 98-92, although James had 47 points to 35 for Wade.
Although both indisputably are great players, it’s probably safe to anoint James as the more spectacular individual. And because James is considered more indispensable to his team than Wade is to his, it seems appropriate to select James as the best single player in his conference.Now that King James has emerged from his Eastern bracket (hey, everything is bracket-related during the month of March), it’s time to pit him against the best of the West.
Kobe Bryant, naturally.
Basketball isn’t supposed to be about individuality. But you’ll notice you don’t see too many Nike commercials featuring all 12 players from an NBA roster, nor will you count an equal number of attractive women in an arena wearing “Nowitzki 41” and “Dampier 25” jerseys. It’s impossible to follow sports and not ponder which players stand out from the pack to form the elite, and which single player rises above that to reign above all others.
Kobe versus LeBron. It isn’t just a one-night stand. It’s a relationship.
Kobe and LeBron probably will be butting heads each season for the foreseeable future in pursuit of Best Player In The Game honors because each is relatively young and has several seasons of dominant play ahead. Kobe is 27, six years older than LeBron, and at some point all that pounding on the hardwood will get to his legs and slowly render him mortal. But that probably won’t happen for four or five more seasons, so the Kobe-LeBron comparison won’t evaporate as a viable topic of barroom arguments anytime soon.
One area in which Bryant is said to have a considerable edge over James is in mental toughness, or more specifically, killer instinct. Kobe is as bloodthirsty on the basketball court as Michael Jordan used to be, and it shows at the end of big games. Much was made of this recently when James himself admitted to ESPN The Magazine that he didn’t think he was as good as Bryant because he doesn’t have the desire to “just kill everybody.”
This is not to be confused with a coach killer, like Stephon Marbury.
But this is all relative. It isn’t as though James hides among the team’s cheerleading squad when an important shot needs to be taken. James is also a clutch performer, it’s just that his fangs aren’t dripping with venom like Bryant.
James has the advantage over Bryant when it comes to team play and all the intangibles it entails. In fairness, it should be noted that since Bryant’s 81-point outburst on Jan. 22, he has appeared more willing to share the rock. Maybe he was embarrassed by the indulgence and therefore made more of a commitment to getting his teammates involved, or maybe he was just exhausted and realized he needed help. Either way, he’s been more inclined to pass and trust his teammates.
But James has always been that way. He is more of a triple-double threat than Bryant, which means he is more likely than Kobe to let the game come to him. Bryant forces his will upon the opposition, with varying degrees of success.
James is also perceived to be the better guy in the locker room. Bryant has improved greatly since his tantrum-a-day routine of two years ago, when he was going through the sexual assault fiasco at the same time he was trying to juggle vendettas against Shaquille O’Neal and Phil Jackson. But there are still times when tensions boil over. In those instances, it’s important for Bryant to command respect rather than simply dispense his displeasure.
Recently Kobe was seen on the bench shoving young teammate Sasha Vujacic after the kid made a bonehead mistake. Afterward, when queried about it, Bryant bristled, suggesting that no one bothered to notice that he encouraged Vujacic soon after. Yet it’s instances like this in which Bryant treads a thin line between team leader and overbearing superstar.
James never has had that problem, and as a result it’s easier for him to bring the best out of his teammates than it is for Bryant. The Lakers often seem more concerned with being snapped at by Kobe than by Phil Jackson. James is more amiable, more supportive, and therefore a better leader.
In the skill categories, Bryant probably gets the nod. He’s the best player off the dribble in the NBA. He’s probably the best pure shooter in the league as well, and definitely the best under pressure. Bryant also is a better one-on-one defender than James, although since the championship-pedigree Lakers of a few years ago were disbanded after the 2003-04 season and more offensive burden placed on Kobe in the new era, he hasn’t had the luxury of giving himself fully to playing defense. Kobe has been named to the NBA’s All-Defensive team five times — first team three times, second team twice — but was not included at all last season.
So what’s the verdict? Who is the best player in basketball?
Kobe Bryant, but barely.
Notice I didn’t say who is the best team player. If that were the topic on the table, James and Wade would be neck-and-neck, with Steve Nash closing fast.
But this is about ignoring team basketball for a moment and singling out one player for recognition.
LeBron is freaky good, to be sure, but Kobe has that extra quality that sets him apart. Maybe it’s arrogance. Maybe it’s contempt for the opposition. Maybe it’s an insatiable desire to be the best individual. Maybe it’s a lust for the limelight.
Whatever it is, Kobe Bryant has more of it than anybody.
by Michael Ventre NBC Sports.com

IT WAS, DARE IT BE SAID, JORDANESQUE

Really, what's the big deal?
If the Mavericks had just held up their end and stayed in that game Dec. 20, Kobe Bryant, who had 62 after three quarters, would have played in the fourth, so Sunday might have been only his second 80-point night of the season.
Of course, if he was really feeling it that night, he might have gotten 100. On the other hand, there's a lot of time left this season, not to mention in his career.
This is the stuff of legends and not a second too soon for the NBA, which has been in relative eclipse since the one and only (at least until recently) Michael Jordan left the Bulls in 1998.
Bryant led "SportsCenter" Monday morning, ahead of the NFL's conference championships, its second-biggest day of the year. "A gi-normous night for the NFL," said Stuart Scott, "but the night belonged to Kobe."
They may still be cleaning up the tickertape in the league office, but a lot of nights have belonged to Kobe lately. We're not completely off the map, but you could count the NBA players who were this dominant on one hand, while wearing a mitten.
Only Wilt Chamberlain scored more points in a game, not that there's any comparison between them.
Chamberlain was a 7-foot-1 center who played in a higher-scoring era, although he was so far ahead of it, he was like a different species. When Wilt arrived in 1959, there were three players over 6-10 — Ray Felix of New York, Walter Dukes of Detroit and Charlie Share of St. Louis. Bill Russell, who was listed at 6-10, was really 6-9, weighed 225 pounds and would be small for a power forward in today's game.
Jordan arrived in 1984 with his mind-blowing game and proved himself to be without peer, at least until the last few weeks. There have been fanciful comparisons of Jordan and Bryant for years, but, assuming Kobe doesn't do one of his 180s, it's finally legitimate.
Jordan scored more points (30.1 a game for his career to 23.2), shot better (49.7% to 45.2%), averaged more assists (5.3 to 4.4), defended better and, in the big one, won more titles (6-3).
However, if Jordan had been more efficient, sheer unadulterated greatness might be in question. No one who ever played may have been able to match Kobe's top end.
"You know those steel cage matches in wrestling?" said TNT's Doug Collins, who coached Jordan for two seasons in Chicago and two more in Washington, as Michael's personal choice.
"I would love to see Michael at 27, Kobe at 27, lock them in a gym and see who comes out. And you know one thing, the other one will be dead on the court.
"Kobe is the best player in the game right now. People don't want to recognize that because of the things that happened that caused people not to like him. …
"Kobe at 27 has the worst talent around him he has ever had. When Michael was 27, he had the best talent around him he ever had. It's as if their careers flip-flopped."
At 27, Jordan hadn't won a title and had learned his limits the hard way, but with Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant emerging, was surrounded by the best talent he'd play with.
Bryant won three titles with Shaquille O'Neal by 24, but now, at 27, is learning the hard way how far he can carry the Lakers by himself.
Bryant is every bit as ferocious as Jordan and works even harder at his craft (Jordan got more serious as he got older; Bryant was born serious).
Of course, Kobe is doing it his way, with his impossible, long-range, covered, falling-backward, leaning-in, off-balance, no-no-no-nice shot repertoire.
"I've always said Michael is the most fundamentally sound player I'd ever seen," Collins said. "Now when you throw in that spectacular physical talent, you've really got something…. If this was like gymnastics with degree of difficulty, Kobe's shots wouldn't just count two points."
Phil Jackson, who coached Jordan to his six titles, may have preferred coaching a clinic, as opposed to a human highlight reel. Nevertheless, the excitement works for the NBA in Year 8 of its post-Bulls transition, with each season seemingly quieter than the one before.
The 2004 breakup of the Shaq-Kobe Lakers was just the latest calamity. With small towns such as San Antonio and low-key stars such as Tim Duncan taking over, there were few of the old magnetic personalities who once galvanized interest.
After Shaq, Kobe and Allen Iverson (wasted on a team going nowhere), there was no one to compare to Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Isiah Thomas, Charles Barkley, Hakeem Olajuwon and Dennis Rodman, the brash stars of the '80s and '90s, who lived as big as they played.
This season opened to yawns. Talk show hosts who can now tell you how many days are left "before pitchers and catchers" — a new shorthand phrase for the early opening of baseball's spring training, which no one even covered 20 years ago — greeted the NBA with indifference, noting there was no reason to pay attention before the playoffs.
And then along came Kobe.
It's especially good news for the Lakers, who are still managing to give their fans value, even factoring in the king's ransom they charge them.
The Lakers needed a re-imaged Bryant, whom some other great player wants to join. Like it or not, it wasn't his arrest that hurt him with his peers, but the leak of his police interview in which he alluded to O'Neal. But basketball players care, first and foremost, about basketball.
Bryant's image isn't just warming up now, it's as if they put it in the microwave. There's no more confusing him with the merely great such as Iverson, or the merely promising such as LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, or the giants of yesteryear such as O'Neal.
He's the one-and-only Kobe. Everything to now might have been a warmup. His time could just be starting.

by Mark Heisler LA Times

KOBE MAKES RECORD "WILT"

Only Kobe Bryant would try to single-handedly upstage the NFL on Championship Sunday.
And get it done.
It's the greatest scoring night any of us have ever seen, except for the few among us who were in the arena in Hershey, Pennsylvania, on March 2, 1962. In other words, it's the best performance in NBA history, except for Wilt's 100.
It was 1.7 points per minute, or, in this case, 1.9 points per minute, since Kobe actually sat six minutes against the Toronto Raptors on Sunday in the Lakers' 122-104 come-from-behind win in L.A.
It was 66 shots -- 46 field goal attempts and 20 free throw attempts. Of those FGAs, 28 found the net (60.9 percent), including seven of his 13 3-pointers. Eighteen of 20 free throws followed suit. (Yes, Kobe's free throw streak ended -- at 62.)
It's this -- 2 2 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 3 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 3 3 3 2 1 3 2 2 2 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 3 3 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 1 1.It's enough to make you wish he'd have had a faster start, instead of "only" 26 in the first half ... to be followed by 27 in the third quarter ... and 28 in the fourth ... picking up speed with all the inevitability of gravity itself, a runaway train, a basketball bouncing down a steep driveway.
After the game, Kobe insisted it was "a big win" and said getting the W was the most important thing. Not sure anyone believes that, but it was remarkable how Bryant's scoring affected the game, far more than his usual onslaught.
Three minutes into the second half, the Raptors led 71-53. Bryant already had all four of the Lakers' second half points, giving him 30 for the game, but then he cranked it up -- later he would say that he had gone into overdrive because the Lakers were "lethargic," as if he needs a reason.
Over the next 80 seconds, he made a basket and two 3s, cutting the 18-point lead to 12. The Lakers and Kobe kept coming and, late in the third quarter, when he stole a pass and tiptoed down the sidelines to get loose for a dunk and make it 87-85, he put Los Angeles up for good.Speaking of getting Los Angeles up, Kobe turned on the Showtime crowd for one of the greatest spontaneous celebrations ever for a single player.
For his audience, this was not about beating the Raptors but rather the pinch-me thrill of being in the arena during the greatest individual performance of the past four decades.
It was M-V-P! M-V-P!
But it was more than that -- it was the growing sound of 18,997 paying customers every time Kobe got the ball, and an expectant whoosh every time he went up to shoot, and a noisy, giddy sigh every time he missed, and a roar every time he made the basket or was fouled. It was the sound of a crowd at the circus, watching the trapeze artists at work, watching the greatest show on earth.
And while it's easy to forget when Kobe goes off, especially when the opposing team wears RAPTORS on its chest, this was an NBA team he was doing this to -- a team that was leading the game handily before he really got going.
That team, with talented players like Chris Bosh, Jalen Rose and Mike James on the floor, was clearly rattled, or worse. When everyone realized what Kobe was up to, both teams responded emotionally. The Lakers got a charge from Kobe's energy, while the Raptors were both distracted and overwhelmed. After a 63-point first half, they managed only 41 points in the second half, including only three baskets during a decisive nine-minute stretch.
A month ago, Lakers coach Phil Jackson (along with Kobe himself) held Bryant out of the fourth quarter, when Kobe had 62 and the Lakers had the game vs. the Mavericks locked up. Jackson was criticized, in the Daily Dime and elsewhere, for his decision.
This time, he might have had the same impulse, but he thought better of it. Late in the game, he said later, he told assistant coach Frank Hamblen he would take Kobe out. "I don't think you can," Hamblen replied, according to Jackson. "He has 77 points." And Jackson left Kobe in, until a Toronto turnover with four seconds to play allowed him to remove Kobe for the ovation he deserved and, indeed, even a half-hug from the Zen Master.
Jackson did the right thing this time, because Kobe ultimately wasn't playing against the Raptors. He was playing against all the guys who never scored 80, or even 70 -- Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, Dominique Wilkins, Allen Iverson, Tracy McGrady, Vince Carter, Shaquille O'Neal, Jerry West, Karl Malone, Bob McAdoo, Oscar Robertson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Pete Maravich, George Gervin, Bernard King and on and on.
And he was competing against the Lakers' record holder, Elgin Baylor, who had 71; David Robinson, also 71; David Thompson, 73; and Wilt, 72, 73, 73, 78 and 100.
And he beat them all.
Except for Wilt. On one night.
Too bad the Lakers don't play on Super Sunday. I'd love to see Kobe go for Wilt's record, too.
by Royce Webb ESPN