Sports Ramblings

Dear Kobe Bryant

2009-05-10T23:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Kobe Bryant,

I have been your biggest fan since you came into the league as the coolest cat in 1996 straight out of Lower Merion High. You've been that one constant on the Lakers ever since that time. , winning 3 consecutive titles from 2000-2002, and then becoming the scapegoat for allowing Shaq to leave. Through thick and thin, i have blindly supported you for all those years even when you had to prove to everyone that without your presence, the Lakers aren't simply the same team. Not even close. Not in a million years. You will always be our MVP.

Yet the questions about you becoming a team leader after Shaq's depature arised. How far would the Lakers go under your guidance? Would you have faith in your teammates? Although you were slow to adjust, and admittedly you didn't have much to work with, over the past two years you've somewhat evolved and slowly embraced the role of being an all around player-a facilitator, finding your teammates when they're open and having faith in them to knock down an important shot. Mitch brought in Pau Gasol to answer your call for management to step it up a notch in order to be serious contenders, and Andrew Bynum repeatedly watched your YouTube parking lot diss and has shown glimpses of being a great center. Trevor Ariza was brought in to shore up the defense and be the scrappy, hard-nosed player you guys desperately needed. Fisher was brought back to provide you with some more leadership experience and a veteran presence in the locker room. The Lakers have done everything in their power to provide you with enough talent in order to move to the top of the West.

I feel that when the Lakers are on a high, it's because you took them there, and when the Lakers are on a low it's the rest of your teammates that aren't getting the job done. Sure your playoff numbers this year of 29-5-5 are pretty solid, and it's not that LeBron is putting up better numbers. He's winning with considerably less talent, and he's winning BIG. He's motivating his teammates and they share that same fiery hunger to win the NBA title that he has, and to be honest with you, it's pretty damn scary. I don't know what you're saying to your team in the lockeroom or in the huddle, but you need to get the message pretty quickly. Sure the Eastern Conference is nothing compared to the Western Conference, but at this point I think the Clippers would take you guys to seven games (no offense). Phil can only do so much and you need to understand this is the stuff that doesn't show up in the box score, doesn't show up on Sportscenter's Top 10, it's something that Laker fans should be able to see on the court and in the Lakers' eyes. That desire to win is something that you can't simply be taught, it has to be an unsatiable feeling that never goes away until the NBA title is back in Los Angeles. And I really hate to bring this up again, trust me it's just as hard for me to even write out let alone type out, but those nagging questions and statements about winning an NBA title without Shaq still remain. Hope you can prove those doubters wrong once June rolls around.

Good luck on Tuesday.

Sincerely,

Your #1 fan.

Bittersweet Road Trip

2009-02-08T22:42:00.002-08:00

A road trip that was supposed to measure the Lakers' toughness and endurance away from Staples Center was bittersweet. Losing Andrew Bynum for 8-12 weeks made many Laker fans nauseated at the thought of another season that may perhaps fall short of their ultimate goal, an NBA championship. This question was quickly answered as the Lakers sent a powerful statement to the rest of the league, as well as two potential NBA Finals opponents, that they will not back down.

Kobe's Broadway-like performance in New York was utterly amazing, and Knicks fans were chanting "MVP!" as he silenced anyone who thought that he was no longer capable of putting on a show of his own. But, it had Laker fans wondering whether or not this Laker team would have to rely on its number one player to win games, or whether the rest of the team would step up to the challenge. The game at the Boston Garden would silence all doubters as the Lakers managed to squeak out a close win as Kobe missed his last five shots of the game, went horrendous 12-27 from the charity strike, and still defeated last year's NBA champs. Celtics fan may argue that the outcome may have been different had KG been in the game for the last few minutes of regulation and overtime, but me remind them that we were missing Andrew Bynum, who had been averaging 26 and 13 before a torn MCL sent him to the sideline. Any more questions?

Cleveland, home of King James and his throne was the last obstacle in an already impressive roadtrip thus far. Coming into the game, James had beaten Kobe in head to head matchups since he first came into the league, but it was Lamar Odom who quickly asserted himself and took the reigns as he exploded for 15 points and 10 boards in the third quarter itself. Odom had numerous quick slashes to the paint and he kept Lebron to a dismal 5-20 from the field, allowing him to score only 16 points and disrupting the Cavs offense. Kobe never really found a rhythym as he had flu-like symptoms before the game, yet he chipped in with 18 points of his own.

With the NBA playoffs slated to begin in two and a half months you'll be hard pressed to find anyone in Boston, Cleveland, or anywhere else in the NBA to disagree that Lakers are the favorites to win bring the title back to the City of Angels.

Lamar

2009-02-08T22:42:00.001-08:00