poorkobe

Mike Francesa and Jeff Van Gundy (rant at the bottom), we’re looking at you. Kobe’s got an offensive arsenal to rival Jordan? What a crock of shit. We’ve fought many folks on this one all season long – Kobe is not the best player in the NBA. He had a spectacular season, his immense talent is undeniable, and he’s already proven that he’s one of the 30 greatest players in NBA history. But he’s certainly not the best player in the NBA. If you want to compare Kobe to Jordan (enjoy the FAIL!), fine … use the Jordan from the 1988 playoffs against Detroit, when the Pistons enacted the Jordan Rules.

“Kobe doesn’t have the supporting cast that Boston does.” The Others staked LA to an 18-point halftime lead last night, and Kobe didn’t make a basket in the first 24 minutes. You’d think Kobe would have been able to hold off the collapse, but he couldn’t shake Paul Pierce, that lockdown (note the sarcasm) defender. LA’s supporting cast is also why 98 percent of pundits took the Lakers. The Celtics were taken to seven games by the lowly Hawks and Cavs, who both have weaker squads than the Lakers! If you want to say the Lakers bench has underperformed, we’ll buy that. Even we got sucked into the hype there. They’ve been outclassed by Leon Powe, James Posey (the new Robert Horry!) and Eddie House. Eddie fuckin’ House!

(Just came up with a decent line, we think: Pau Gasol, who only two weeks ago was hailed as a savior in one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history, is suddenly softer than our stool after a few dinners in Cancun.)

“Kobe’s just having a bad series.” He just went to town on the 2nd best defense in the league (San Antonio), but now he’s been rendered ineffective against Boston? Kobe had one terrific performance – game three – and LA was barely able to win that one. His struggles, it seems, have extended to post-game pressers: “lot of wine … lot of beer … couple shots … maybe like 20 of ‘em.” (That was a terrible attempt at levity, Kobester.) It was as close to a concession speech as you’ll find. Curt Schilling was right – Kobe’s no leader. As RotoNation said to us in gchat: “Bird, Magic, and Jordan all would have been watching game film to figure out what went wrong.” Indeed.

At the risk of stirring up that LeBron vs. Kobe debate … if Kobe had the edge on perimeter shooting … what say you about Kobe’s 2-for-10 shooting from three in this series? He no doubt saw that LeBron struggled from three (9-for-39) against the Celtics, and decided he would not allow the same mistakes to hinder him. Yet they have. And lest you think Kobe’s defense was superior to LeBron’s well, talk to us about Ray Allen’s dominant series. At best, it’s a wash, because Pierce pwned the Cavs.

If every player in the NBA is dumped into a draft, and we have the first pick, we’re going LeBron 10 times out of 10. Tim Duncan’s aging, so it is probably a split between he and Kobe for who goes 2nd.