I think they have a good chance of winning a couple more with Kobe before it is all said and done. As much as many people dislike Kobe (I guess I'm one of those people), I have been impressed with him this playoff run. He worked with his teammates when needed, but also took over when the rest of his team wasn't delivering the goods. He also seemed to be coaching the team on the sidelines as much as Jackson at times. He definitely had the desire to win. The Lakers organization needs to send the GM of the Memphis Grizzles a nice thank you gift in gratitude for the trading of Pau Gasol in exchange for the janitor at the Staples Center.
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I have never been a fan of Kobe Bryant but watching as he put away his selfishness and played as part of a team was fairly inspiring. I had felt a bit of reluctance about accepting him into my personal pantheon of NBA greats but there now can be no denying that he belongs in the same class as Bird, Magic, Kareem, Russell, Wilt et al.
It's kind of amazing that people don't talk more about the Gasol trade. Given Jerry West's connections to Memphis, it was extremely fishy, to say the least. Oh, well. Lakers were the best team. I'm not convinced Kobe proved all that much, except that he has an exquisite sense of when the cameras are on him. (All that coaching on the bench got to be a little much for me.) Plus, he went something like 11-for-31 in Game 4, and took several shots in the fourth quarter when he was double- and triple-teamed. Blah.
I dunno, the games and Series where they lost/almost blew it, it appeared that Kobe was still acting like Kobe. The are a good team, but the got lucky. No Yow, no Garnett, Orlando making a few boneheaded plays in the last seconds of games when it could easily have been the Magic up 3-1 instead of the other way around. Kobe is a great player, sure, but he is as much responsible for their near misses as their success. He is not Jordan, nor will he ever be. Jordan had a much different style with his adultery than does Kobe.
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