My 165° On Kobe

I haven't done a complete 180° on Kobe, so a 165° is about as far as I can go (something tells me he's still an asshole off the court, but that remains to be seen). This season I've watched him become great. It's has been, gulp, a joy to watch him play basketball.

It was during a game in Sacramento in mid-February when their fans were chanting MVP for Kobe that I knew he reached the greatness plateau. I told my girlfriend "See that, baby? He's getting road-love. These fans HATED him as recent as last year. Only Jordan used to get road-love like this".

His ascension reminds me of the last scene in The Matrix when Neo figured out he was the chosen one and it all started to make sense. Everything slowed down and he was able to dissect and obliterate his foes. That's been Kobe this season (more so after the Gasol trade).

I watched him in Utah WILL the Lakers to a win. Like Jordan, he plays better when he's pissed off. In Utah that game the fans were jawing at him and started to get under his skin. He got sooo freakin' mad that he unleashed a hellacious onslaught on the Jazz, their fans, and anyone withing a 5 mile radius of the arena. F-bombs were flying, MF-grenades were being tossed into the crowd... it was awesome. His lips could be read loud and clear: F*** THESE MF'ERS. It was a one versus 18,000 fight and he kicked all of their asses.

There was the game a couple of weeks ago when they played The Golden State Warriors - in a breath-taking home-and-home - when he got ALL UP in (his teammate) Luke Walton's ass for turning the ball over at a critical time. Luke poorly secured a rebound, and Baron Davis came by, took the ball from him and scored on the other end. Kobe was livid; HOLD ONTO THE G'DAMN BALL you could see him scream at Luke. Luke put his head down like a child who's ass just got the belt from poppa and I thought this mf'er is out of his mind.. someone better sedate him.

Even in his interviews he's been more palatable. I recently heard him say that he felt it was an honor to be in the running for NBA MVP because it shows that he took care of the one knock against him: that he didn't make his teammates better. What the hell?!?!?! That's a great answer!! I have to say I am little disappointed because I LOVE to hate Kobe.

So kudos to Kobe. He has me tuned into every Laker game no matter who they play because be conducts an absolute clinic how how basketball is supposed to be played.

Labels: sports rants

posted by Bdub at 9:14 PM