No Air

Kobe Bryant's legacy.

That was the selling point of this year's NBA Finals. It was all the media talked about. It's why Gabe tuned in. Kobe Bryant trying to add to his resume was supposed to make everyone forget that we saw this movie between the Celtics and Lakers two years ago. It was supposed to make us forget the media's 180 on "The Black Mamba". It was supposed to make us forget everything. Who cares about everything else? This series was about Kobe.

And you know what? In the process of watching Kobe do work, we got a somewhat entertaining NBA Finals(or so I'm told, since I stayed true to my word of boycotting the Finals). Kobe Bryant showed why he is the best player in the game for the first 6 games of a back-and-forth championship series.

Then, Game 7 came along....and Kobe shit the bed.

Now, I know Laker fans and Kobe slurpers are going to point fingers at me and go on one of their "You're a Kobe hater!" diatribes. I assure you, as I've said many times, I do not hate Kobe Bryant. I think his 2003 sexual assault charge shouldn't have been swept under the rug by reporters and, at times, I think he tries to disguise his selfishness on the court with a PR-cultivated phony persona off of it in front of the flashing lights, but for the most part, I like Kobe Bryant. He's among the top five guys I enjoy watching in the game right now. He's one of the 15-20 greatest basketball players of all-time and he was spectacular in both the first six games of these Finals and throughout the postseason(especially against the Suns).

That being said, for weeks, we got fed the storyline of Kobe's chased of the great Michael Jordan. It's all we heard about. "Kobe's trying to pass Mike. He's only one ring away.....blah blah blah." Then, in the biggest game of his life, when the stakes were high and everything was on the line, Kobe Bryant went 6-for-24 with 23 points(led all Lakers scorers) and 15 rebounds. When the game was down to wire in the last few minutes, it was Ron Artest's shooting, Pau Gasol's rebounding and Sasha Vujacic's two clutch free throws that helped put championship banner #16 on the rafters of the Staples Center. Kobe's excuse for his poor performance? He was tired. Spent. Exhausted. I'm sorry, did you say you were tired? The biggest game of your career and you needed 40 winks? Weeks of stories about your legacy and you fall flat in the end? Really? THIS was your selling point, America!?

I said before Game 1 tipped off that we will learn nothing. That the teams were evenly matched and the Lakers will win in 7.....You can thank me later. When the clock hit zero, the big stories after the game were Ron Artest being Ron Artest and thanking his shrink and promoting his single at the same time during the biggest postgame interview of his life(Hey, whatever keeps him out of the stands and away from robbing liquor stores is OK by me). Do you think that would happen if this was Jordan's Bulls winning a close Game 7 for the NBA championship? Do you think His Airness would be taking a backseat to Dennis Rodman in the biggest game of his life? Do you think Jordan would be too tired to carry his team across the finish line? Jordan once dispatched the Utah Jazz while being sick with the flu. That game, Jordan went 13-27, played 44 minutes, scored 38 points, had 7 boards and 5 assists. Scottie Pippen and Luc Longley chipped in. They didn't steal the show. He didn't use the flu as his excuse because he didn't have to. He brought Chicago back from down 16 and the Bulls won by two. He willed himself and his team to victory. He didn't sit back and prayed his teammates would bail him out. He didn't pull a Kobe Bryant.

Is Jordan's Game 5 of the '97 Finals vs. Kobe's Game 7 last night an unfair comparison? Maybe. But you brought this on yourself. We always put things in front of Kobe Bryant for him to destroy. We always give him obstacles. After the breakup with Shaq, we all made a big fuss over Kobe not being able to win one without "The Diesel". So Kobe went out last year and won a ring without Shaq. This year, we had no real obstacle for him, so we put the best basketball player of the last 12 years against a ghost. We told him to go out and surpass Michael Jordan. Instead of asking Kobe Bryant to be his own stand-alone legend, we, like we have so many Jordan clones over the years and like we will do for decades after with LeBron James, asked him to slay the giant. Michael Wilbon made a point in the post-game discussion about how this generation only remembers the great players of now and forgets past legends so easily. He said Kobe was in the Top 20 ever, while Stuart Scott(the hyperbole king himself) tried to bait Wilbon into pushing him into the Top 10. Wilbon's point was never clearer than when moronic Lakers fans booed former Celtics legend Bill Russell(only the greatest big man this game has ever seen and perhaps the sports world's most accomplished winner) during the MVP coronation(which, of course, went to Kobe). Phil Jackson, Kobe's coach for all five titles and Jordan's coach for all of MJ's six, wouldn't go as far as to say that Kobe is the best player he's ever coached. Rather, Dr. Phil said "he's right up there". Translation: Jordan is still King. Kobe's still a prince.

Look, I despise Michael Jordan and I like Kobe. I could have easily banged the drum like so many will do these next few months that Kobe has dethroned MJ. Certainly, Kobe has dominated a tougher era and has managed to do so without even going to college. The acceleration from plucky young gunner to seasoned winner was almost instantaneous. He didn't have to wait nearly a decade to taste a championship like Jordan did and like James inevitably will. That being said, he's not Michael Jordan, and he never will be. Jordan vs. Bryant will be the Louis vs. Ali of our generation. Diehard Jordan fans will NEVER put Kobe ahead of MJ even if Bryant wins 12 championships and Lakers fans will always opt for their guy over Jordan, even when evidence like last night's stinker clearly shows that Jordan is still above Bryant. It's a neverending debate.

These Finals were supposed to be about Kobe's legacy, Kobe's chase of Jordan, Kobe's 5th ring. Instead, it should be about Kobe choking when it matters most. Of course, lucky for Lakers fans and Bryant himself, nobody is crazy enough to tell THAT story.

That's why I'M here.