Kobe Bryant remains a mystery
Friday, June 13, 2008 | 07:51 PM ET
Through four games of the NBA Finals, the play of the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers have followed eerily familiar patterns.
Both teams have had a breakout performance from a bench player at home (Leon Powe for the Celtics in Game 2, Sasha Vujacic for the Lakers in Game 3). Both had a previously dormant star have a sudden wake-up (Ray Allen for the whole series and Lamar Odom for Game 4). And both teams were getting buried in games on the road before roaring back in the final quarter.
But whereas the Lakers fell short in their bid for a comeback in Game 2, the Celtics were able to finish what they started Thursday night, coming back from 24-points down with a second-half throttling of the Lakers.
Now up three games to one, few are giving the Lakers a chance at a comeback.
It’s all about Kobe?
Last week I said the Lakers were likely to win this thing but that Celtics were better equipped to make a return appearance. As I search for reasons why my first pick was wrong, the answer seems obvious: it's all about Kobe.
That answer, sadly, was in my reasoning for questioning the likelihood of a return to the finals for the Lakers: Kobe's complete unpredictability.
There are times, like the second half of Game 2 and all of Game 3, when Kobe Bryant appears to be cut from the same cloth as Michael Jordan; maybe a little frayed on the edges, but essentially made from the same stuff. Kobe, the thinking goes, is a rare go-for-jugular superstar, the kind of player who personally wills his team to victory through superior commitment and force of will.
And then there are games like last night, when Bryant was out-hustled by defender Paul Pierce and seemed to be going through the motions.
Most Celtics consistent in temperament
Kevin Garnett has his flaws as a go-to scorer, but at least Garnett comes with the same stuff every night: he slaps some talcum powder on press row and then plays his butt off for 40 minutes. Paul Pierce is intense in a similarly consistent manner.
The Celtics’ Ray Allen and Lakers’ Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom are all unpredictable and lacking, you might say, in intensity. They may be inconsistent in production, they are all reasonably consistent in temperament: you don't expect Ray Allen to hammer a guy with a hard foul, just as you don't expect Pau Gasol to start popping his jersey.
But with Bryant, even his mood and his body language changes from game to game. Sometimes he seems like just another high-fiving, fist-pumping teammate. Other times he seems like Vince Carter when he awaiting a trade from Toronto.
What's odd about Bryant is that he could, conceivably, decide he wants to be Jordan 2.0 in the next three games. The Lakers could follow their Game 4 collapse with the greatest comeback in finals history. Or he could combine the intensity of Vince Carter with the likeability of Christian Laettner to mercifully end the season.
You just don't know. No wonder, after all this time, Bryant remains so fascinating.
Everyone loves a good mystery.
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About the Author
Paul Jay has been writing about basketball for seven years, working as a basketball columnist for Rogers Sportsnet and writing for CBC Sports, Raptors Insider, Dose and appearing on air with Sportsnet and Raptors TV. In his 12 years in journalism, Paul has written features for some of the best publications in the country, including the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, Saturday Night, Canadian Lawyer and This magazine. He first joined CBC.ca during the 2004 Athens Olympics and currently writes online for CBCNews.ca as a technology and science writer.
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Comments
baretactics
winnipeg
Defensive teams in almost any sport usually wins championships. I will take a solid defense over any offense any day.
Posted June 18, 2008 10:27 PM
peng
china
so
pity
lakes
Posted June 18, 2008 05:24 AM
michael
kobe byrant rocks!!!!
Posted June 17, 2008 02:43 AM
TOBIAS R
Ottawa
This should have been the best NBA showdown ever.Game 5 was not that impressive compared to the fired up LA Team in Game 4.The lakers team and Bryant are trully unstopable when consistent.
Unfortunately Bryant the,"go to guy" does not want to take the blame when the team loses the championship.I guess we wont be seeing him take over like he used to unless his given the authority by all his fans to take care of business.If we lose then,i`ll say hey, Bryant gave it his best shot..finally..i think Shaq should show up for the last 2 games in Boston, front row seats.Kobe will definitely try harder..Game 7even is up for grabs.
Posted June 17, 2008 12:22 AM
pierre
toronto
do you actually watch basket-ball ? Kobe is in fact a mystery ? but comparing Kobe to VC is just ridiculous ... one thing Kobe always does is give effort whether he is 15 for 20 or 4 for 20... plain and simple ..Celtics are tougher physically and mentally then the young laker team
Posted June 16, 2008 07:39 PM
P
Vancouver
Lakers in 7 thanks to Kobe
Posted June 16, 2008 05:54 PM