Fair Play: Kobe Bryant's redemption
IN HIS first ever playoffs appearance for the Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant was a dud.
The guy named after a famous beef his parents saw on a restaurant menu, Kobe was as cold as stored meat.
While the Lakers were trailing the Jazz in the first round of the 1997 playoffs, he air-balled a potential game-winning three in regulation and hit nothing but air in two attempts from the arc in the last minute of overtime.
Nick Van Exel, then LA’s starting guard who sank a catch-and-shoot trey earlier in the season, was pissed why the play was designed for Kobe.
I remember, after that miss, Kobe had a “what the hell am I doing here?” look.
The Jazz won the series, and went on to face the Chicago Bulls in that year’s NBA finals.
Van Exel is gone, while Bryant is now known as the greatest NBA closer—the go-to guy in the closing seconds—since Michael Jordan.
And he’s back in the NBA finals for the second straight year and scored 40 points in LA’s Game 1 rout of Orlando.
I officially became a Bryant fan just recently, but I actually started to admire the guy during one of his lowest points of his career.
In Game 6 of the final series against Boston last year, fans showered Bryant with the chants, “You’re not MJ” in a 39-point loss.
I remember a striking picture in that final. Kobe had his head turned slightly to his side, while fronting him was a fan with those words, “You’re not MJ.”
That season started with Kobe demanding a trade, so I half expected the post-season reports to be of Kobe demanding this or that, or of blaming him or that for the fiasco.
But, I don’t remember him saying anything bad.
Now that LA has won Game 1, I’m pretty sure the Lakers will win the finals. Phil Jackson is 43-0 when he wins Game 1 of a series.
I’m so confident the Lakers will win, I’ll have a former columnist eat his phone if they lose.
BAD REP. On the other hand, another player who jumped straight from high school to the pros and who could be greater than MJ, LeBron James, is getting quite a bad rep lately.
James was brilliant in the post-season, even during the six-game loss against the Magic in the conference finals.
But, after the loss, he refused to shake any player’s hand and walked off the court. One columnist called him a brat, while the NBA fined him $25,000.
QUOTES: “You know how I be, last week Kobe couldn’t do without me,” Kobe’s former teammate Shaquille O’Neal rapping after LA’s loss to Boston in 2008.
“I am saying it today and today only—I want Kobe Bryant to get number four,” Shaq said on his Twitter account in 2009.
I guess Shaq hated his first ex-team more than his second ex-team.
FROM DOWN UNDER. Graeme Mackinnon, the former Carmen coach who also follows tennis, reacted to my last column regarding Jelena Dokic (“God, can’t you give her a break?,” June 2). Here’s Graeme:
You are right, Mike she does need a fair go. With a DEVIL for a father she has spent more time in hell with him than anywhere else. So for just being able to escape him God has given her a break.
Now as you rightly put it, she needs a break on the court.
She had a great run in the Australian Open earlier this year.
She showed her undoubted talent in the game against Dementieva.
So if she can get her body together in the next few weeks some time before the end of the year, we might witness a real fairytale either at Wimbledon or the US Open.
God knows she deserves it. We can only pray it happens for her.
Thanks Graeme. I hope we see Jelena again in Wimbledon.
The guy named after a famous beef his parents saw on a restaurant menu, Kobe was as cold as stored meat.
While the Lakers were trailing the Jazz in the first round of the 1997 playoffs, he air-balled a potential game-winning three in regulation and hit nothing but air in two attempts from the arc in the last minute of overtime.
Nick Van Exel, then LA’s starting guard who sank a catch-and-shoot trey earlier in the season, was pissed why the play was designed for Kobe.
I remember, after that miss, Kobe had a “what the hell am I doing here?” look.
The Jazz won the series, and went on to face the Chicago Bulls in that year’s NBA finals.
Van Exel is gone, while Bryant is now known as the greatest NBA closer—the go-to guy in the closing seconds—since Michael Jordan.
And he’s back in the NBA finals for the second straight year and scored 40 points in LA’s Game 1 rout of Orlando.
I officially became a Bryant fan just recently, but I actually started to admire the guy during one of his lowest points of his career.
In Game 6 of the final series against Boston last year, fans showered Bryant with the chants, “You’re not MJ” in a 39-point loss.
I remember a striking picture in that final. Kobe had his head turned slightly to his side, while fronting him was a fan with those words, “You’re not MJ.”
That season started with Kobe demanding a trade, so I half expected the post-season reports to be of Kobe demanding this or that, or of blaming him or that for the fiasco.
But, I don’t remember him saying anything bad.
Now that LA has won Game 1, I’m pretty sure the Lakers will win the finals. Phil Jackson is 43-0 when he wins Game 1 of a series.
I’m so confident the Lakers will win, I’ll have a former columnist eat his phone if they lose.
BAD REP. On the other hand, another player who jumped straight from high school to the pros and who could be greater than MJ, LeBron James, is getting quite a bad rep lately.
James was brilliant in the post-season, even during the six-game loss against the Magic in the conference finals.
But, after the loss, he refused to shake any player’s hand and walked off the court. One columnist called him a brat, while the NBA fined him $25,000.
QUOTES: “You know how I be, last week Kobe couldn’t do without me,” Kobe’s former teammate Shaquille O’Neal rapping after LA’s loss to Boston in 2008.
“I am saying it today and today only—I want Kobe Bryant to get number four,” Shaq said on his Twitter account in 2009.
I guess Shaq hated his first ex-team more than his second ex-team.
FROM DOWN UNDER. Graeme Mackinnon, the former Carmen coach who also follows tennis, reacted to my last column regarding Jelena Dokic (“God, can’t you give her a break?,” June 2). Here’s Graeme:
You are right, Mike she does need a fair go. With a DEVIL for a father she has spent more time in hell with him than anywhere else. So for just being able to escape him God has given her a break.
Now as you rightly put it, she needs a break on the court.
She had a great run in the Australian Open earlier this year.
She showed her undoubted talent in the game against Dementieva.
So if she can get her body together in the next few weeks some time before the end of the year, we might witness a real fairytale either at Wimbledon or the US Open.
God knows she deserves it. We can only pray it happens for her.
Thanks Graeme. I hope we see Jelena again in Wimbledon.
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