Can Kobe Do It For Kareem? Your Obligatory Game 5 Pre-Game Blog

As a kid, I always remember the Bulls clinching in Game 6 at home mostly because I was convinced the team wanted to celebrate at home. Of course, that logic was defied in 1998. But it was cool, Mike probably had road beef.

Speaking of (alleged) road beef, Kobe, say it ain't so? Vanessa's hot and you could do so much better. With that said, I wouldn't kick her out of bed for mispronouncing my name.

So here's hoping for a well-played game in which Kobe does work and the Magic drain a lot of threes, Dwight Howard gets his 20 points 20 boards to go along with missing key free throws in an attempt to make Magic fans forget that Nick Anderson ever existed. C'mon, who wants a blowout in Game 5.

Prediction: There will be a celebration in the Magic Kingdom tonight. Unfortunately for Magic fans, it will not involve the home team. Lakers 102 Magic 97.

Magic Pull Out All Tricks In Win. And All Of A Sudden, We've Got A Series. Kind Of.

The Orlando Magic got 60 points from its frontcourt trio of Dwight Howard (21), Rashard Lewis (21) and Hedo Turkoglu (18) to go along with a 20-point night from Skip To My Lou. The Magic also shot 62.5 percent from the field.

And still almost lost.

All you will hear tomorrow morning is that "we've got a series on our hands" from every NBA expert this side of the moon. However, it took Orlando's best shooting performance combined with a subpar second half by Kobe Bryant to squeak out a four-point win on its own homecourt.

Don't expect Kobe's struggles to continue. Don't expect the Magic to keep nailing three's like it unlocked a cheat code on NBA Live.

The losing team always makes the adjustments. Unfortunately for Orlando, Game 3's losers still have a 2-1 lead.

Los Angeles Lakers 104 Orlando Magic 108 [Yahoo! Sports]

Kobe, Tell Me How My Rap Tastes

By now you know about how great Kobe was and how bad the Magic were last night.

But maybe you're new to some of the hottest new music on the scene. Unfortunately, it's not what you think.

Jay-Z's "Blueprint 3" isn't slated 'til September and this summer is still desperate for that one slamming hip-hop hit that everyone will be playing at 11 on their radios and such.

Last year, it was Lil' Wayne's "Lollipop" that blew out speakers nationwide throughout the summer. This year Wayne's back at it again with a song about ... Kobe Bryant?



I'm pretty sure Weezy's a Hornets fan, or at least he has claimed to sleep with women who sleep with the Hornets. (Seriously, I want that Wayne from Da Carter I back for good!)

In a bizarre video, a woman raps about being Kobe's alleged rapist. This can't be her, can it? This can't be real, in fact, I hope it isn't. Just a misguided attempt at humor. Either way, I'm disturbed so I figure I'd share that with you.



(Hat Tip: The Rap Up)

And the creme-de-la-creme. The Great Shaq-Fu in last summer's second best rap song.

What? You Didn't Expect The Magic To Hit All Their Threes, Did You?

I guess someone forgot to tell Orlando that if you press left-right-left-right-up-down-"B" as the ball is tipped you will unlock the can't miss a three cheat.

Orlando was 8-of-23 (34.8 percent) from the great beyond and in turn, fell in Game 1 of the NBA Finals, 100-75.

Kobe Bryant went bonkers on the Magic as he poured in 40 points to go along with 8 assists and 8 rebounds. There are truly no words to describe the look of determination Bryant is wearing around the Staples Center.

It is not as if Orlando is out of this series just yet. The Magic came back from a 2-1 deficit to knock off Philadelphia. Then they bumped the defending NBA champs on their home court in decisive fashion despite being down 3-2. And unless you've been sleeping under a rock, you know they eliminated King James and his Court Jesters in the Eastern Conference Finals.

But if they continue to struggle with their outside shot, and Dwight Howard only posts 12-and-15 by taking only six shots and making only one, Kobe might need to make room for a fourth ring.

Orlando 75 Los Angeles 100 [Yahoo! Sports]

The Next Jordan Or The Euro Jordans: Your NBA Finals Preview

Finally, the rematch everyone was looking forward to seeing is only hours from tip-off.

Wait, what do you mean no one is looking forward to seeing Pau Gasol and Dwight Howard lock horns as they did in the Summer Olympics? Or J.J. Redick go up against Adam Morrison?

OK, so it's not the series Nike had hoped for, but the NBA Finals should be an interesting series of who can take advantage of their mismatches down the stretch.

Los Angeles will try to avoid last year's fate as it will attempt to ride the world's best player and the league's best coach in an attempt to land its 15th NBA title.

In Orlando, the Magic will ride a team that is reminiscent of the kind of team you would find in NBA Jam. Yeah, don't you remember that old school video game where each team had one low-post player responsible for grabbing every rebound teamed with 3-point snipers that never missed? That is exactly who the Magic remind me of.

In fact, their 1995 title team was one of my favorite NBA Jam teams as I used a combination of Horace Grant, Nick Anderson and Penny Hardaway to slam dunks and rain threes all over my opponents.

I digress.

Unfortunately, I cannot play this series out on my Super Nintendo set because the Lakers are led by Nick Van Exel, Anthony Peeler and Vlade Divac. Excuse me while I yack.

OK, I'm good. Here are the match-ups I'm looking forward to.

1. The Next Jordan vs. The Euro Jordans

Last year, I asked whether three was greater than one when I previewed the Kobe v. Big 3 match-up. This year I ask whether or not The Next Jordan will be able to beat The Euro Jordans.

Kobe's got that nasty game face on as if he does not want to lose and will not allow his teammates to fail. He knows it is his time to cement his legacy in the Post-Shaq Laker Era.

On the other hand, The Euro Jordans (Pietrus and Hedo) have no pressure on them because being the French Jordan or the Turkish Jordan is the equivalent to being the smartest kid in class when you're the only kid in class.

2. Pau vs. D-Ho

Dwight Howard is a scary dude right now. He's a double-double ready to happen at any moment. And not one of those weak-sauce 15-10 games, I'm thinking that at the drop of a hat that Howard can pour in 40 and grab 20 boards without blinking twice.

On the other hand, Pau Gasol is just plain scary. He is arguably the ugliest man in the NBA and without a doubt the ugliest individual in this NBA Finals. I would have more faith in Stan Van Gundy's ho-runnin' abilities than Gasol's. Luckily for Pau, none of that matters. He, Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum are in charge of checking the big man down low.

3. J.J. Redick vs. Adam Morrison

They were college basketball's best hoopers. They owned the game's sweetest shots and were beloved by fans across the country.

Then fans realized that J.J. shanks during crunch time, or whenever angry athletic black men guarded him vigorously. And that Morrison shed waterfall-like tears when his team fell behind whenever Gus Johnson yelled loudly.

A pair of lottery picks will go against each other if, and only if, everyone else in front of them fouls out.

Oh, how the mighty have fallen.

Mike > Kobe ... 'Nuff Said!

Michael Jordan is the greatest player to ever step on the hardwood. You know that. I know that. Everyone with an ounce of Basketball IQ knows that.

Let it sink in. Best Ever.

And while LeBron James might take a shot at that title down the line (especially if he wins a few championships and improves on that career 72.8% free-throw percentage) Kobe Bryant had the chance to really make his voice heard in the argument of being the G.O.A.T.

Unfortunately for Bryant, the Boston Celtics hit the mute button. En route to clinching their 17th title, the Celtics shut down the league MVP to the tune of 25.6 PPG, 40-percent shooting from the field and 32-percent shooting from 3-point land.

And if you're feeling a sense of deja vu after watching Game 6, you're not the only one.

Just like he did in Game 5, Bryant began the game like he was shooting with a blowtorch. He shot 4-of-5 from the field including 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. KB24's 13-point first quarter was eerily similar to his 15-point first quarter in Game 5.

And just like Game 5, that's where it ended.

Paul Pierce & Co. tied Kobe's hands with twine and shoved him in the freezer as his Laker teammates followed. Actually, they didn't, but they might as well have.

Kobe went basket-less from the 5:30 mark in the first quarter to the 7:07 mark of the 3rd. Bryant finished with a team-high 22 points on 7-of-22 shooting. That's not the stuff that champions are made of.

After knifing his way through the talent-heavy teams of the Western Conference, he was out-dueled by Paul Pierce. It seems so long ago when the man known as "The Truth" was almost run out of Beantown before Ray Allen came a-callin' and Minnesota Timberwolves exec Kevin McHale sent Kevin Garnett out east in exchange for Al Jefferson and Sebastian Telfair's high school highlight video.

Kobe is the best player in the NBA today, I understand that. He has the ability to light up scoreboards by making acrobatic shots and by throwing down thunderous dunks that a FatHead couldn't even capture. And yes, three championships, numerous All-Star appearances and a Most Valuable Player award put him in rarefied air (pun intended.)

All of that was thwarted thanks to stifling defense and a lack of production by his teammates. In the Game 6 loss Lamar Odom scored 14 points, Jordan Farmar had 12 and Pau Gasol pitched in with 11.

I would be more willing to cut Kobe some slack had he lit up the Celts despite the losing effort. Instead, he'll catch a lot of the blame and it will be well deserved. Where Jordan thrived in taking over games late after getting his teammates involved early, Bryant failed.

Instead of demanding the rock, Black Mamba deferred to Odom, Farmar, Gasol, Sasha Vujacic and Derrick Fisher. And he seemed intent on doing so, as if he wanted to show the world how much great he was by pantsing his teammates and proving to the world that the aforementioned Lakers would likely be jobless without Bryant's talent.

And even with that talent, the final score read 131-92. Shouldn't that score be a little closer since the best player in the world is playing on the team with 92 points? Shouldn't he have 40 of those himself?

Guess not. And that's where the Jordan comparisons should completely come to an end because Jordan never let his teammates hold him down.

Remember, this is the man who scored 63 in the (original) Garden before Scottie Pippen, Horace Grant, John Paxson and Dennis Rodman were even in the team picture.

Did Jordan ever check down to see what Pip was doing? No. How about Ron Harper? Nope. What about Bill Cartwright? Don't worry, I'll wait.

The only times I saw No. 23 call a number other than his own was in 1993 when Johnny Jumpshot buried the Phoneix Suns and when Steve Kerr finished off the Utah Jazz in 1997.

That's it.

While Kobe & The Gang have a quiet plane ride home to L.A., Boston celebrates it's almost perfect sports year as they make their case for ESPN's Titletown USA competition.

Now that it's over, I can't help but wonder when the Kobe-to-Chicago for the No. 1 overall pick rumors will begin.

What, too soon?