Thursday, May 22, 2008

KOBE, KOBE, KOBE

Winner, Winner....Chicken Dinner

I know there are a few Kobe Bryant haters amongst my readers, but surely if you watched the game today you have to at least respect his game.

For those of you who are in the dark the Los Angles Lakers and the San Antonio Spurs played Game 1 of the Western Conference Final today. The Lakers come back to win after being down by twenty points mid way through the third quarter.

The second half was the Kobe Show. Lets not even worry about the 25 points he had after the half. I'm looking at the spoon fed layups he gave Pau Gasol. Greg Vanderjagt would have looked like an All Star out there.

Then there is the "D". He hawks the lanes and gets his hands on a lot of balls creating "easy basket" opportunities for his team.

The one basket I will talk about though is the game winner. Everyone in the building knew who was going to shoot it. Cool and calm as you like, Kobe waited until he had the space to take Bruce Bowen to his sweet spot. Giving a little nudge with the shoulder he created enough space in the lane to get a good look at the rim from 10 feet. Sweet as a nut the shot went.

As I wrote yesterday, this will be a chess match series. It lived up to that today. The Lakers played Tim Duncan one on one to start the game, but come the fourth quarter they where doubling in a hurry. It became very disruptive to Duncan's rhythm. No coincidence this lead to a Spurs scoring drought.

Both teams will make minor changes for Game 2. This will continue to be a ripper series and I can't wait for more KB24.

Other Hoops News:
"Plane debacle" is how Spurs coach Gregg Popovich put it.

Daily Dime

Beasley or Rose for the Bulls?

Stephen A Smith on the OJ Mayo situation.

Scott to stay with Hornets?

Bill Simmons on KG.

A bit of Boti Nagy.

The NBL needs this guy. Anyone interested in helping our game needs to be contacted, fast.

Adelaide get their "Aaron Grabau".

In this article ESPN'S Chad Ford talks about teams making a "promise" to players. Has Joe Ingles been the recipient of a "promise"?

Crocs keep assistants on board.

David Barlow wins another weekly award.

7 comments:

DJ LEON SMITH said...

Kobe haters unite! JR check my blog for another Kobe update, you shouldn't be surprised with the angle I took.

Anonymous said...

Rillie. Why no crack at the assistants coming back?

John Rillie said...

DJ Leon Smith:

Always like the angles you take with articles.

Kobe at Hunter St. Can we make that happen?

John Rillie said...

Anony:

Those guys got enough publicity in one article to last them a while so I'm not wasting my column space on them!

I'm sure the Spectares will give Short the rewards he deserves, while Brieffies relo's will send out a new pair of clogs to celebrate in.

Anonymous said...

Instead of saying something nice about the way Kobe is playing at the moment... I'll just stay silent :)

John Rillie said...

DJ Rod:

I see you playing over at Murray. #24 on your back, the Nikes the gum etc.

They say imatation is the greatest form of flattery.

Anonymous said...

Actually I do wear pair of Purple and Gold Kobe's - man, I never thought of it before... for shame!

You should come and have a look one night, you might learn a thing or 2 :)