Is Kobe Bryant finally realizing his greatness?
Love him or hate him, Kobe Bryant has earned his reputation in the NBA and comparisons to Michael Jordan from being a great scorer. Anyone watching the playoff series between Los Angeles and Phoenix is being left scratching their heads because of the play from Kobe. Kobe is actually playing the great mentor and team player. Kobe and team play, what’s going on here?
The Lakers currently lead the series 2-1 and the shocking fact catching the attention of every expert and fan is that Kobe is playing some of the best basketball of his career, yet he isn’t doing it by hoisting up 40 shots a game and scoring a lot. Kobe is doing it with patience, trust in his teammates and a protective attitude when they get in scuffles on the court. Kobe seems to be playing great ball without scoring a lot of points and as a result, his teammates are playing their best ball of their careers because they finally seem to believe that Kobe will get them the ball if they are open and move to the right spot. In the past, Lakers players would just stand around and wait for Kobe to shoot and run back down the court.
The Lakers have exhibited a balanced attack with Kobe only taking 63 shots in this series to date, while teammates Luke Walton is second with 43 shots, Lamar Odom with 41 shots, Smush Parker next at 35 and Kwame Brown at 28 shots. Normally Kobe would easily take twice as many shots as the next closest player. Kobe hasn’t shot particularly well hitting only 40% from the field, especially after feasting on the Suns in the regular season averaging 42.5 points a game. The two biggest benefactors of Kobe’s newfound teamwork are Luke Walton and Kwame Brown. Walton is a natural playmaker, which is always good when a big man can play that role and the finally rejuvenated 5-year young veteran Kwame Brown. The Lakers fans were ready to chase Kwame out of town just a month ago, but were chanting his name during the game 3 playoff match-up.
Kobe’s mentoring attitude is best seen in working with Kwame. You can see Kobe playing that Michael Jordan role of talking and prodding Kwame on after plays and you can finally see the confidence in Kwame growing as the games go on. No longer does he seem afraid to make a mistake for fear of his teammates losing confidence in him. When a players confidence grows and he knows you’ll come back to him, the more effort they will give you. When Kobe gets the ball now, you see four Lakers players moving and cutting all over the court when their man helps to double team Kobe. Kwame still misses some easy chippies (shots 3 feet and closer), but he’s not afraid to keep cutting to the basket and is getting more dunks in the process.
Kobe’s role as team leader is unquestioned and much of that is due to his actions rather than words. The Lakers seem to be attacking the Suns physically and aren’t backing down at all when the game gets testy and the first person in the fray is Kobe to defend his teammates and putting himself on the line with the referees. When Sasha Vujacic got into it early with Steve Nash in game 2, Kobe was there immediately to protect Vujacic. Everyone knows Vujacic would lose the battle with Nash in the eyes of the referees even though Nash was the one to initiate contact after the whistle. Kobe came in to make it superstar against superstar as you could see him talking sternly to Nash that they weren’t going to take any of that from anyone.
The beautiful aspect of Bryant’s growth in this playoff series is his simple trust in his teammates to do their jobs. It reminds me of a story former Bulls guard Steve Kerr told about Michael Jordan. In a playoff game against Utah, Jordan wouldn’t pass the ball to John Paxson and finally during a timeout Phil Jackson asked Jordan who was the open man. Jordan wouldn’t answer and Phil asked two more times who was the open man? Jordan finally answered and said Paxson, so Jackson told him to pass the damn ball to the open man. Paxson went on to hit 3 three-point shots in a row to help win the game and championship. That’s partly attributed to Jordan turning the corner and finally trusting his teammates to do their jobs right. Jackson has wanted Kobe to do this all along and for whatever reason, Kobe is finally trusting his teammates and the Lakers look like a completely different team with everyone making significant contributions.
I think anyone with a clue about basketball knows that Kobe wants to be the viewed as the best player ever and not just a Michael Jordan wannabe. To do this, Kobe must win at least 1 title and possibly 2 to earn his own legacy and not just be considered Robin to Shaq’s Batman in that tandem. Everyone pretty much has been agreed that the Lakers can’t go any further in the playoffs if they just stand around and watch Kobe play one-on-one for 48 minutes. The Lakers with Kobe playing an all-around game can actually be considered a threat in these playoffs and can let him conserve energy keeping everyone involved and let him take over for long stretches in future games when everyone else is tiring.
It’s inexplicable why Kobe Bryant is finally playing a great team game and displaying incredible leadership, but the fact is he’s finally getting it. If anyone looks for a reason to criticize Kobe for this style of play, they are simply losers and want to bash him. Winning is the key and teams will win more games than individuals. Michael Jordan didn’t win a title until Scottie Pippen came around and became the perfect complementary superstar player. Kobe only taking 21 shots a game seems to be the ticket a lot more than just electrifying the fans with 40 point games, but not knowing if you’ll win the game. For Kobe Bryant to reach his full potential of greatness, he has to keep trusting his teammates. Being considered great doesn’t come from just scoring and Kobe has always wanted fans and experts to recognize his all-around game and being a great teammate is just as important as how many points you score.
I just gave you my view of Kobe Bryant from my corner of the world, now I want to hear your view from your corner. Is this Kobe Bryant better for the Lakers or not? Will fans outside of Los Angeles appreciate it the lower scoring Kobe or do they want to hate him for shooting and scoring so much?