The NBA ASG is one of the best all-star events in all of sports and last night proved why. Amongst all the pageantry and glitz and glamour, it always comes down to who's doing what on the court and why and the same held true last night.
Going into last night's contest, there was a well held belief that the Eastern Conference had overtaken the West in terms of sheer amount of talent and not to mention the distinct age advantage. It looks like Kobe, Duncan and friends were out to prove just how wrong that notion was.
Kobe Bryant is one of the most aware superstars in the league, he knows just where he stands in regards to many things NBA related. Things like records, titles, acclaim and respect are treasured to Bryant even though he may not come out and admit it all the time and last night he had a couple things on his bucket list.
He wanted to set a scoring record (he fell short), he wanted to tie the record for most All-Star Game MVPs (he got that one), he wanted to create an All-Star highlight for the home faithful in what will probably be his final LA All-Star appearance (LeBron can testify that this happened) and he wanted to win.Bryant was able to accomplish almost all of his goals last night and he did it his way, as he has for most of his career, but the other story from last night's game was how the game was won.
You would guess that since Bryant won the MVP and has 37 points in the process that when the game got tight, he took over, right?
This was definitely not the case as Kevin Durant, the best player in the league in waiting, emerged from the shadows to make some huge shots and free throws down the stretch to ice the game after Kobe got gassed.
So I'm sure Durant had a modest point total on the night, yeah just a cool 34 points and 14 points in the final quarter. I may be in the minority on this but I voted for Durant as MVP.
You could sense that once the Eastern started their comeback on the heels of LeBron James who took the game much more seriously in the second half, that Kobe wanted to get in a one-on-one battle with him but he wasn't able to get his game back on the right track after LeBron kicked it to another level.
This is why, it's only a matter of time before Kobe becomes the old guy still hanging around the gym because he thinks he still has it. he's not to that point yet, but Kobe has always had a 'I'm bigger and better than thou' attitude and it'll be a sad moment for him to realize that he's not able to close games like he used to.
That's what I saw last night and it's what the Los Angeles Lakers have been seeing all season, you get the flashes of young Kobe but in the end it leads to the worn down Kobe we see at the end of the game trying to hang with the best of today. Could this be a sign of what's to come this season, I think it might but it's always interesting to learn something new from an All-Star Game.
Photo Courtesy of the NBA
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