Kobe Bryant. The Omarosa of Basketball

After Kobe retires, he should consider a career in politics. He should run for office because he's so great at lieing with a smile and an innocent look on his face. I was just watching an interview ABC did with him and he said it was so beautiful to play unselfishly and to hear the fans at Staple Center shouting Kwame Brown's name, something that wouldn't have been possible at the beginning of the year.

AMAZING.

Is this not the same Kobe that was claiming he HAD TO take 30+ shots per game because of the rest of his team was horrible?

Is this not the same Kobe that used to yell at Lamar Odom because Lamar didn't pass him the ball 100% of the time?

Is this not the same Kobe that would NEVER pass the ball to Kwame because he didn't think Kwame was capable of doing anything?

What happened in the last weeks of the regular season and during the playoffs? Did his teammates (all of them) all of a sudden learn how to play basketball? Or were they capable all along, but played horribly because they never had the ball in their hands?

Hmmm, that's a hard one...

I almost get a feeling that Kobe has a PR person or script writer that feeds him lines before every interview. He's like the Omarosa of basketball, except that Omarosa plays a villain on reality TV, while Kobe is one.

One Game Don't Change a Thing

The Lakers played superb basketball on Wednesday night. No question. We saw something we really hadn't seen all season - a real team working together to take every ounce of the game out of the Suns. The Lakers played great D, were consistent on the offensive end, and stuck to Phil Jackson's game plan for most of the game.

Can this keep this up for Games 3 and 4? We'll see. I'd love to see Lamar continue to step up (the man has been shooting 60% for the last 2 games!), Kwame to play like the big man that he is, and Sasha Vujacic to continue hitting the 3s like he's unconscious.

At the same time, the Suns must be furious with their performance, and are very likely to come back with a vengeance.

The one person Nash and the gang don't need to fear? Kobe. As always, everyone acts like Kobe did such an amazing thing by playing more or less unselfishly for one game. It's like a C student getting one A every couple of months. Doesn't make him an A student, just a C+ student on average. Chances are, Kobe will go back to his old self eventually. However, even if Kobe plays in Game 3 the way he played in Game 2, that will not be a deciding factor. The reason the Lakers won Game 2 is their amazing defense and Lamar's dominance. That's what the Suns will fear most.

24 Dobe

According to various sources Dobe has decided to switch his jersey number from #8 to #24. Thanks to anonymous for the tip last night.

What is this but a publicity stunt to get more attention? Perhaps Kobe is upset that Dwayne Wade's, A.I.'s and LeBron's jerseys sell better than his. Rather than changing your jersey #, how about changing your game? That might get you more popularity.

One Down. Three to go.

Kobe was 7 of 21 last night. Enough said.

Overall, despite the loss, a quite decent game for the Lakers. Phil Jackson's plan to make the Suns play inside did work to the Lakers' advantage - the Suns had to slow down their game and shot worse than usual. For the first time this season, I saw the Lakers play more like a team, a disciplined team with strategy at that. Lamar proved that he can execute under pressure - with 21 points (on 8 of 15 shooting) and 14 rebounds, he was a major reason the Lakers played a close game. Even Luke Walton, as lacking in talent or skills as I believe he is, shined last night with 9 of 16 shooting and a career high 19 points.

So what happened to Kobe? During a half-time interview, he said he was happy to see his teammates, like Smush and Kwame, develop and grow. In reality, we all know he's not happy with 22 points (and not quality points on 33% shooting at that). What happened to Kobe is that he can't do well unless he is constantly shooting the ball. Defensive minded plays don't work for him, even if they may work for the team as a whole.

Preview of Game 2. Kobe makes 30+ shots. Lakers lose again.

Crazy Predictions: Suns v Lakers

Apparently 5 of 16 ESPN experts, including Bill Simmons and Scoop Jackson, have picked the Lakers to beat the Suns in the most likely 1st round upset of this year's playoffs. I like Bill Simmons' column and interviews, but he, along with other EPSN "insiders" must have been smoking too much of something while listening to Pearl Jam .

The Lakers lost 3 of 4 against the Suns this year, and all 4 games last year, each loss over 10 points. The one game they did win, Steve Nash didn't play and neither did Raja Bell, who has averaged almost 15 points a game for the Suns this year and is one of the team's lead defenders. Sure, Kobe will probably be able to score 40 or even 50 points in a game or two, but that's very unlikely to beat the Suns who average 108.4 points per game this season. Will Kobe shock the Suns by engaging the rest of his team and thus thwarting the Suns' strategy of putting 5 defenders on him to shut the team down? Not in a million years. That scenario is just as likely as Steve Nash deciding to play center.

For my prediction sources, I'd rather trust ESPN's more impartial and rational Scouting Inc. report which picks Phoenix Suns in five games.

My one diagreement with that report: it matches each of the Suns' starters against each of the Lakers'. Really, it should just match up each Suns starter against Kobe, because that's what the game will really be like: Kobe v 5 Defenders. And that's how Kobe likes it. Lets see how fast he'll choke. Suns in 5 games? I foresee Suns in 4.