Why Deny The Raja Bell!? Beast?

You weren't aware of it, but you were robbed of NBA history this past Friday. A perfect storm of factors presented the ideal forum for Kobe Bryant to showcase his superior basketball talents to the world. Just a couple of nights earlier, Bryant received his fourteenth and fifteenth technical fouls on the season. The following morning, anyone and everyone in the media decided that the technicals would derail his MVP campaign. This brings us to reason number one why Friday night should have been one of the five greatest performances in NBA history:

1) Kobe was mighty pissed.

You could tell by the look on his face that tonight was the night he was going to prove himself yet again to his many detractors. However great an angry Kobe may be, this season has been the ultimate display of team basketball for the Los Angeles Lakers. So much so that we only see Kobe unleash his "I'm gonna score on anyone and everyone" powers (here-to-fore known as the Raja Bell!? Beast) for brief stretches of the game and usually only in clutch situations. This leads us to reasons two, three, and four that Friday night should have been one of the five greatest performances in NBA history:

2) The Lakers have been playing short-handed for most of the season, glaringly so over the past two weeks; Kobe could take over during games where the team is undermanned.

3) In Friday's game, Lamar Odom played, but did so with an alleged case of the flu.*

4) Also playing in Friday's game, Derek Fisher, complete with a torn tendon in his foot.**

Now, what other reason could there be for Kobe Bryant to post one of the five greatest performances in NBA History. Oh, yeah! Maybe because...

5) The Lakers were playing against the lowly Memphis Grizzlies.

Don't get me wrong, the Grizzlies would not detract from a dominant performance by Kobe, but it would provide a good excuse for him to go for the solo kill: 'Our team was flat and I didn't want to lose to Memphis, so I took over.' That's all Kobe would have needed to say. And it looked for a while like Kobe might have been able say it after the game, but his teammates had other ideas.

You see, Kobe came out of the box hot. He scored 18 of the team's first 23 points. He had notched 34 by halftime, but his teammates decided to deny him the ball in the final two minutes.*** Initially, I consoled myself by thinking 'hey, they are just trying to make sure that the ball movement stays key.' My level of happiness rose again in the third quarter when the Raja Bell!? Beast came out to play. However, midway through the period, his teammates decided that feeding the hot hand was not the wise thing to do. Ultimately, he spent the last few minutes of the third on the bench, but not before tallying up 47 through three quarters.

Still, history was slipping away. It was apparent that Kobe was on all night, and there is no excuse for him not having sixty heading into the fourth. But again, his teammates seemed to have other ideas. Maybe they were punishing him now for all the drama stirred up at the beginning of the season. Who knows? The problem now was not the lack of touches for Kobe, but rather that they needed to keep up with Memphis. It's ironic, but I spent the first 5/8 of the game rooting for Memphis to keep it close so Kobe would stay in. Now, it got to the point that I needed anyone to score to notch the 'W.'

And apparently, the mindset of the Lakers was that they needed anyone but Kobe to score to garner the win. He ended up with just 53 points (further proof that he deserves the MVP this year: there is no other player in the league who would end up with just 53 points), but at least the Lakers wised up during the game-deciding possession.

With 0.9 seconds remaining in the game, the lakers faced a 114-111 deficit. Luke Walton, he of the multiple boneheaded last-second inbound plays, was set to throw it in. With all four players on the floor swarming in and out traffic, Walton decided to hold the ball until the last possible second, lobbing a weak pass into Kobe's direction--unfortunately Kobe found himself draped by two Grizzlies at that particular juncture. The Lakers fell to the Grizzlies by a final of 114-111 in a loss that taught us two things:

1) Don't ever deprive Kobe of the ball whenever the Raja Bell!? Beast is on the prowl.

and

2) NEVER LET LUKE WALTON INBOUND PASSES IN CLUTCH SITUATIONS...EVER!!!

Maybe I'm being too melodramatic, but if Kobe scored 53 with a somewhat limited shot selection, just imagine the havoc he could have wreaked were his teammates open to deferring to him. This post started out strong, but kind of turned into drivel. Nevertheless, the basic idea remains true: Kobe was denied one of the five greatest performances in NBA history on Friday night.



*Ever since Michael Jordan's flu game, I have made a point out of being very, very suspicious about any player who claims they are playing with the flu. I've had the flu before and even if a person is tough enough to play in a basketball game, I think the activity would stimulate some purging, if you know what I mean. In actuality, I envision a player walking into a coach's office and saying "I got the sniffles real bad, coach;" with the coach responding "fuck that, son, you have the flu!"

**Torn tendons, on the other hand, are very believable ailments.

***For those keeping score at home, Kobe had 36 at the half of the 81 point game.