Yesterday, the Los Angeles Lakers played on ABC. The network did the usual fawning over Kobe Bryant and proclaimed him “the best player in the world”. Unfortunately for ABC, he wasn’t even the best player on the floor. You see, the Lakers played the Cleveland Cavaliers, whose star player is LeBron James. Once again, James outplayed Bryant as the Cavs beat the Lakers for the fifth straight time.
If you don’t think Bryant understands that LeBron is the better player, look at how he played yesterday. He spent the early part of the game being unselfish, looking to set up his teammates. Why? Because that’s what James is praised for by the basketball insiders. The Chosen One is the do-it-all guy, he scores, rebounds, and passes. Kobe Bryant had to show that he could do all of those things better than the King. At the end of the first quarter, the graphic showed how James shot more times than Bryant in the first quarter. Certainly, Kobe Bryant is no unselfish gunner.
As the game went on, Kobe then decided to test the officials. He blatantly fouled James at the top of the key in the second quarter without drawing a whistle. In the third quarter, he pulled screamed at the top of his lungs to draw a foul from LeBron, causing analyst Jeff Van Gundy to call it a “verbal flop”. Later, he pulled James on top of him to draw a double foul. He then received a technical foul for rebuking an official following a missed shot in which he thought he was fouled. He continued chirping throughout the rest of the quarter and into the fourth. He definitely was more petulant than James.
After the Lakers took an eight-point lead early in the fourth quarter, the King went to work. He drove to the hoop, rebounded the ball, and even started defending Bryant. Suddenly, the Lakers’ offense went south and the Cavs took the lead. James had help, as Larry Hughes played very well down the stretch, hitting a couple of shots, and making a great pass to Ira Newble for a dunk. Bryant did hit a jumper with less than two minutes left to close the gap to one point, but it was his last hoop. Hughes blocked a lay up attempt, and with time running out, Kobe couldn’t even get a game tying three pointer off before the buzzer sounded.
Yesterday’s win makes it five in a row for the wine and gold against Big Chief Triangle and the Lakers. Kobe Bryant is a gifted player, capable of dominating a game, but he doesn’t know how to win unless he is doing it himself. That’s why LeBron James is the better player, and that’s why he has consistently gotten the better of the Laker superstar. There isn’t a doubt in my mind that when Team USA gets together for the Olympics this summer, James looks at himself as the main man, not Bryant.
As for Mark Jackson and the rest of the announcers at ABC, they witnessed first hand yesterday what I’ve known for the last year and a half. The best player in the NBA wears wine and gold. He’s not the darling of the west coast movie stars, he’s a hard working gifted guy from Akron, Ohio and does what it takes to win.
JK
Cleveland Sports Perspective 