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.

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The Boton Celtics take a 1-0 lead over the Detroit Pistons but the action turns to the Western Conference today. The Los Angles Lakers take on the defending champs, San Antonio Spurs.

How do I see this series going?

Kobe, Kobe, Kobe will do it again. (Bad joke for those Toni, Toni, Toni R&B fans) I just sense that Bryant is on a solo mission to win the championship this year and if anyone else (Odom, Gasol) wants to help out, it just makes that Lakers that much harder to beat.

I feel that Odom is a the key guy to this series. He has been great for the team all season and if he can continue to play efficiently the Spurs are in for a long series. The Spurs will have a problem matching up on him.

Bruce Bowen will need every super power possible to stop Kobe, but then who do the Spurs stick on Odom. If you go with Manu Ginobilli, Odom will post him all day long. Tim Duncan does not have the footstep to contain him on the perimeter. I will be interested to see how this develops over the course of a series.

As for the Spurs, Tony Parker has been tough to date. Keeping him out of the paint will fall onto the shoulders of Derek Fisher. I'm sure he is looking forward to slowing the Frenchman down. If not, it will be left up to Kobe to do a number on Mr Longoria.

Ginobilli and his flopping antics will not work with Kobe. I will give the Argentinian credit though. His spirited play quite often keeps the Spurs around the mark when they go through a scoring drought or two.

Duncan will be looking forward to his matchup against Gasol. He should get some better looks and might even get Gasol into early foul trouble. I'm looking for an aggressive Tim Duncan early in this series.

As for the benches, the Lakers are looking for energy. Ronny Turiaf and Luke Walton are the main providers, while the Spurs a looking for spot up shooters (Brent Barry and Mike Finley) to spread the floor and give Duncan the room to operate down low.

This will become a chess match of a series. Two good teams that are both well coached.
Lakers in 7.

Tonight I was invited to be the guest speaker at a Channel 7 function in my hometown of Toowoomba. Ch 7 were launching their Olympic campaign and asked me to talk about my experience in Athens.

Before I took the stage they showed a brief DVD of memorable Olympic moments. In the highlights there was footage of defining moments in Athens and the memories of some of these events came back like it all happened yesterday. Talk about triggering the emotional buttons.

It truly is an unbelievable experience to have. Words can never really do the Olympic experience justice. You do have to be there to believe it.

I just hope the people in attendance left there thinking, "I cannot wait to see who the next great Aussie athlete will be". History shows that this great sporting country always unearths some hidden talent at the Olympic Games.

After talking about my experience in Athens and watching the DVD footage I left there wishing I could board a plane for Beijing immediately and feel those same emotions I did four years ago.

Good luck to all our Olympians and make the most of the experience.

Changing speeds here. Nathan Jawai has landed in the USA and he is off to a flier with his NBA workouts. He is currently working out in Las Vegas with other potential draft picks and NBA veterans and the feedback has been positive. Check out what ESPN'S Chad Ford had to say.

Chicago Bulls were the winners in the race for the Number 1 pick. The Lottery was held today and here is how the ping pong balls fell.

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