Kobe is Hate

Had a wonderful time watching Portland deliver L.A.’s fourth straight loss, this one much more a thumping than the final score would indicate. The Blazers were great. On the second night of a back to back, with no Marcus Camby to help LaMarcus battle L.A.’s League-best frontline, Portland pulled a surprise shift and strategy, running at every opportunity. The Blazers had 20 fast break points in the first half. Usually, that is a week’s total for Nate McMillan’s squad. Andre Miller was brilliant, racking up assists with an array of half court bounce passes and alley-oops.

Crazy thing is, had the Kobster not played like such a shit head throughout the game, L.A. probably could have won. Lakers came out of the gate all fire, hitting jumpers, grabbing the boards, and generally controlling the first 5 minutes of the game. They were giving each other Duke hugs and generally acting like Champions. The Lakers had established Gasol (who was being guarded by 6’9 Nicolas Batum) as automatic in the paint, and Bynum was pushing everyone around. Then Portland caught a spark and went on a 17-2 run, consisting almost entirely of fast break finishes and up-tempo play. Phil Jackson called two times out before the first quarter was done.

Having lost three straight, trailing by double digits, the pressure was on. And for the Kobster, that means time to chuck it up. The Kobster nailed 4 consecutive threes to close out the first half and pull L.A to 6. But instead of re-establishing Pau and Bynum inside in the second half, the Kobster kept chucking. In fact, midway through the 3^rd quarter, he had the nerve to yell at a posting Gasol for not clearing out so that he could drive. At that time he was 8-22 from the floor and his team was trailing by 24.

There is no doubt that the Kobster is one of the most accomplished, talented players the Game has ever seen. But what a selfish jerk! Lakers will likely win a third consecutive Championship this year. The combination of the Kobster, Gasol, Bynum and Odom is really hard to best. But if L.A. does not repeat, none of us will be surprised that Kobe’s selfish play was at the core of problem.

p.s. fun note for all you current and former Portland residents. As Portland clinched the game, announcer Mike Rice (who hates L.A. with the passion appropriate to a homer announcer) gleefully said, “The game over. The L.A. band wagon fans are leaving the arena.” Mike Barrett (who also hates L.A. but is much more professional) says “Well, in fairness, there are some L.A. transplants living up here. Rice says “Yeah, well I can see their yellow leaving. And I am talking about their yellow jerseys not their yellow teeth.”