Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and NBA Top Performers

I said in my last post that the Suns win was a big fluke; so it was. Kobe Bryant exploded with 29 points, 1o rebounds and 5 assists to even the series at 1-1 a piece. The lakers showed great teamwork by spreading the ball and the statistics amongst other players. They have capitalized the absence of Amare due to injury by pounding the ball inside, as a result Lamar Odom scored 21 points while Kwame chipped in 12 points.

The Lakers has played as a team to get past the higher seeded Suns who was expected to sweep the series. I don’t think that is going to happen. Kobe Bryant contrary to what most people believe can pass. He has involved his teamates game after game. His selfish attitude was long gone and it only remains in the minds of people who are pre-judging his team effort. Kobe is the highest scoring player in the league but he is still averaging close to 5 assists despite of that. It just shows you all that Kobe is a great player.

I am surprised when people simply throw comments about his selfishness because they are mere perceptions that was ingraved in their cranium.

Expect the Suns to go home early in this series.

Kobe Bryant lost his first playoff game as the team’s leader. Jackson lost his first career playoff debut.

So what?

1. The star of the night is Tim Thomas who had 22 points, and a career playoff high 15 rebounds.
2. Kobe only scored half of what he averages against Phoenix
3. The Suns had 35 free throws
4. Nash had his usual statistics for the night

So let’s see what happened here folks.

1. First, Tim is not going to make any more superb performance like that. Yes, he did have a wonderful night but he is not the type of player that will do that night after night. He just did not come out of nowhere to raise his level of play ten folds and expect to maintain that.
2. Kobe is going to explode. Obviously he did not get the rhythm throughout the game and will definitely get he’s 42.5 point average against the Suns in the succeeding games.
3. The Suns are the lowest free throw shooting team in the league. 35 free throws is absurd. They don’t have the forwards and center to draw that much foul to get to the 30 point free throw average.
4. Nash pointed out they did not play well but got the win. Well, the bad news Steve is that the Lakers played terribly throughout the game.

Suns got the first win and they better celebrate because it’s going to be their last. Kobe is going to come out aggressive after this one and would reach the 50 point mark at least once in the series. He’s gonna pulverize his opponents.

Don’t expect Kobe to look for his teammates anymore, the way he did in the first game. The buttom line is, don’t expect the Suns to get the “W” anymore.

Lebron James became the first player since Magic Johnson to record a triple double in his first playoff game. With 32 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists; the fans have something to look forward to in the series against the Wizards.

This is going to be interesting how Lebron could lead his team past the Wizards. It may be tough though since the NBA’s highest scoring trio of Jamison, Arenas and Butler will be firing back in the next game. Their output in the first game of 21 is less than a third of their 67 point average throughout the season. Given that the Cavs only won by only 11 points despite the lackluster performance of the Wizard’s trio combined with Lebron’s awesome performance; who among the two teams will come out may not be a walk in the park for either team.

Surely enough the trio may get to the 50 point mark in the next games, Lebron will have to do a series of superb performance throughout the series. The bright side is that the Cavs other players will just have to concentrate on keeping the lanes tight and wait for Lebron’s feed for points.

If the Wizards could only contain 20 percent of Lebron and at the same time raising their trios output by 20% then the Cavs would be in trouble.

Expect Lebron to fight for the series with all guns blazing. He is going to continue to get better in the series and may close out the Wizards in four more games.

The playoff teams are now finalized and we shall see the world’s superstars caryying their franchise night after night.

Two very interesting facts hold. Kobe Bryant made his first playoff as the team’s leader. For all you doubters out there, Kobe has proven his worth.

Next is Lebron James who is making his first playoff. How far can he carry the Cavs remain to be seen.