On the Eve of Game 7

Ah, Game 7’s. You gotta love ‘em. Game 7’s separate the men from the boys, the champions from the chumps, the contenders from the pretenders. But enough with the tired out clichés and unnecessary hype, how do game 7’s manifest in the first place?

Well, in the case of Kobe and the Lakers, they come from an inability to close out the Yao-less and McGrady-less Houston Rockets squad who in games 5 and 6 started nobody over 6’9". That towering 6-foot, 9-inch power forward? LUIS FREAKIN’ SCOLA!!! Never mind the fact two of the main six players in Houston’s rotation sport a fauxhawk, the Rockets are becoming the George Mason of the NBA playoffs.

Two of their best three players, out. A coach who Phil Jackson completely owns in the playoffs (Rick Adelman, see: Lakers-Kings) manning the Rockets sidelines. A center in Chuck Hayes, who … it’s CHUCK HAYES!!! You couldn’t ask for a better situation for the Lakers to inherit. Yet, with each eye-opening, double-digit win, comes an equally eye-opening, double-digit loss. Certainly not what the doctor ordered. Trust me, I’m a doctor.

I wrote a piece about the LeBron James era a few days ago and received a mixed response. An argument on whose decade it actually is enthusiastically ensued. Predictably, Kobe Bryant activists leaned on his three rings – from a prior generation and with Shaq, I might add – to defend the Kobe era. (I’ve seem to have misplaced Kobe’s 3 air ball game up in Utah, can anyone remind me where I put it?)

It goes without saying, Kobe is a great player, probably one of the 10 best to ever strap on a pair of sneakers, but his uncanny ability to hoist bad shots in the blink of an eye is problematic. His uncanny ability to alienate his teammates is unrivaled. Simply put, Kobe is probably the least liked superstar in the league, amongst his teammates.

(If you think about it, you hear stuff like this all the time, “older player X is past their prime and is willing to take less money to play with LeBron.” Need I mind you, LeBron James plays basketball in Cleveland? Cleveland, people! Who wants to go to a town with the Browns and the Indians as their beloved sports franchises and Drew Carey as their public representative? Yet, I continuously hear aging veterans want to go there to play alongside this Jordan like phenom known as LeBron James. I have yet to hear a story about someone taking a pay cut to play alongside Kobe Bryant in LA, besides Derek Fisher, who already had a tie to the organization from the 3-peat days in purple-and-gold. And it’s FREAKIN Los Angeles!!!)

Just by watching telecasts of Cavaliers games LeBron is either an excellent teammate, or an Academy Award worthy actor. There’s no denying the players on this Cavaliers team thoroughly enjoy playing alongside the King (even if it means less touches for them). The goofy picture-taking before games, the dancing around on the bench during games, the genuine affection LeBron shows these guys is awe-inspiring. And what’s even better is it doesn’t seem to be forced.

Think of all the starting/rotation guys on this current Cleveland squad. Ben Wallace, Delonte West, Wally Szczerbiak (had to Google the spelling of that one), Joe Smith, Daniel Gibson, Zydrunas Ilgauskas (another Googling), Anderson Varejao. Not exactly the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls. Yet, LeBron has made these guys relevant and has transformed a team full of outcasts into contenders. I mean, who’s stopping Varejao from becoming just another Vlade Divic? Who’s stopping Wally from becoming another Eric Piatkowski (I actually spelled that right on the first try, believe it!)? Who’s stopping Ben Wallace from decomposing into an older Kwame Brown?

LeBron James, that’s who.

If you look at the box scores from the games these two superduperstars had in Madison Square Garden earlier this year you’ll see my point:

Kobe Bryant: 61 points, 3 assists, 0 rebounds
LeBron James: 52 points, 11 Assists, 9 rebounds

Sure, both teams came out victorious (they were playing the Knicks, need I remind you) but which box score (note, I said “box score” stands out more)? Sure, 61 points is one hell of an accomplishment, but basketball is a TEAM sport, it’s not tennis or golf. I’ll take the accumulative total of assists and rebounds over an excess amount of points any day. You think Kobe was looking to find Luke Walton in the corner for a wide-open 3? You think he was willing to kick it back out to Sasha Vujacic for a 13-footer from the baseline? You think Kobe applauded when Trevor Ariza pulled up from the free throw line and drained a 15-footer? Call me crazy but I think Kobe was more aware of Spike Lee in the front row than Lamar Odom or Derek Fisher on the court.

Live from Madison Square Garden, iiiiiiit’s Kobe Doin’ Work!

In the end, #24 has the better surrounding cast. He has a big, mobile and somewhat tough post player in Pau Gasol who he can dump it down to at any given time and two versatile, lengthy, athletic, somewhat agile swingmen in Lamar Odom and Andrew Bynum. He has the highly-decorated Zen Master sitting on the bench calling – well, presumably – plays from the bench. And the X-Factor in all this? Jack Nicholson sitting courtside!

LeBron is trotting out there night in and night out with Wally, Wallace, Williams, Ilgauskas, Varejao and Joe Smith. If this is what the MVP is doing with this less-than-superb Cavaliers cast, just imagine what he’d be doing with the 2008-09 Lakers squad. Yet, despite the lack of talent on the court, he’s making them all better, not because he’s filming the new ESPN documentary “LeBron Doin’ Work” but because he genuinely wants them to have a ring just as much, if not more, than he does. He wants Cleveland to have a ring. He wants to put an end to the misery in C-Town. He’s made basketball relevant in Cleveland and you can tell he desperately wants to keep it that way. With each passing day the 2010 LeBron Sweepstakes looks more and more sealed and delivered.

On the other hand, you think Kobe wants to win a ring for Los Angeles? For the Lakers? Let me provide this stat: Kobe with Shaq in LA: 3 rings. Shaq without Kobe in Miami: 1. Kobe without Shaq in LA: 0. You don’t think that very stat wares on Kobe’s mind night in and night out? I can guarantee you Kobe’s not concerned about getting DJ Mbenga or Shannon Brown to call their own. Kobe Bryant wants a ring for Kobe Bryant and nobody else.

Which brings me to this upcoming do-or-die game 7. If the Lakers somehow lose tomorrow it’s going to be the biggest choke since, well, last summer when the Celtics erased a seemingly insurmountable lead (in LA) to take the series lead 3-1. My thing is, if you replaced 2009 Kobe with 2009 LeBron you think the Lakers would be heading back to LA for a game 7? You think LeBron lets his team lose to a Houston team with Chuck Hayes as their center and Luis Scola as their power forward regardless of where the game is played? For some reason I don’t think the King would let that happen.

You saw what he did to a worn-down and old Pistons squad as well as an under matched and injured Hawks team. He dismembered them. He didn’t give them a swinger’s chance to snatch a game from his team. He didn’t allow his team to lose on a fluke call or a lucky shot. He knew the other team was weak and he capitalized on it. Watching the first two rounds of the Cavs’ 2009 campaign was like watching Liam Neeson terrorize his way through Paris in “Taken.” It simply wasn’t fair.

Isn’t that what superstars are supposed to do against inferior talent? Aren’t they supposed to wipe them off the court and make them sorry for even stepping into the arena? That’s exactly what LeBron and Co. did. Eight games, eight wins. All by double-digits.

On the other hand, the Houston Rockets come into Staples with a swinger’s chance. They have the nobody-believes-in-us card on their side as well as the accomplishment of winning in that building not more than two weeks ago in their pocket – with Yao Ming, mind you.

LeBron James and Kobe Bryant are hungry. Actually, hungry doesn’t accurately describe their thirst for a title. They’re starving for a title. Yet, with a looming game 7 in Los Angeles, while #24 preps for this possibly legacy-changing game, LeBron James is sitting comfortably at home waiting for it all to unfold.

Who knows, maybe he’s even watching “Kobe Doin' Work.”