Kobe Bryant, Lebron James and NBA Top Performers

Leading 3-1 over the Suns simply shows the power behind Kobe Bryant. The Lakers have a pathetic lineup but looking at how they play anchored on Kobe tells a lot about his ability to carry a team to victory.

In Game 3 Kobe had a poor shooting so he opted to pass more finishing with 7 assists and sealing the victory for the team. He madfe his teamates play better throughout the team with his precise and crisp passes. He showed a lot of maturity by playing the point as well as the team’s main scorer.

In Game 4 he was just phenomenal hitting the Suns with one shot after another. He hit the shots that mattered the most shutting everyone out that he can put the dagger in his opponents heart. He bounced back from poor shooting night in Game 3 into scoring the most crucial shots of the game.

The Lakers simply buried the Suns. Do you think Nash is the MVP? Bummer man, that sounds more like it.

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.

Scottie Pippen has a blog post about Kobe’s 81 points saying just how possible it is today to score many points.

I had so much respect for Pippen but after reading his blog post dismissing Kobe’s greatness of 81 points was due to lack of defense plus the fact that it should not be compared to His Airness; damn, loser Pippen. Now let’s break down each and every stupid argument of the sidekick.

Scottie Excerpt #1:

In the era when Michael played, it was a physical game. Defense was promoted. Guys took pride in it. Today defense is no longer a part of the game…

He argues here that in Michael Jordan’s time the level of defense was so much higher than it was today. The rules did not allow easy baskets and thus reaching 40 points was a big deal. He also notes how Patrick Ewing, Oakleys and the Masons would put a hand in your face.

Oh darn, nba.com reports that Michael played 1,072 games in his career. So don’t tell us that those entire 1,072 games defense choked you. You did not play Ewing, Oakleys and Masons 1,072 games man. 1,072 games without a chance of scoring 81 points let alone 60++ points without overtime (The only time Michael reached the 60 point mark.) You got blown out games and still Michael did not even score 56 points in 3 quarters as Kobe did.

This has just been unbelievable. Kobe Bryant just scored 81 points against the Raptors. T-shirts, Videos and different kinds of memorabilia are being sold in the internet for this historic feat.

I would say I do have my own version to celebrate together with Kobe Bryant’s magnificent display of firepower.

Can you guess what is it? You are actually staring at it now. Oh yes, it is this website. For quite sometime I have been contemplating on putting up a website to watch the journey of Kobe Bryant and those other superstars who might push him out of the world championships when his time has come.

Well, for now let’s just leave it to the number 81 posted by number 8.

Reference and Photo: nba.com

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