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Bryant becoming Jordan, Garnett becoming Sampson
By JASON WHITLOCKThe Kansas City Star
LOS ANGELES | When this NBA finals series is over, Kobe Bryant may be a real threat to Michael Jordan’s throne, and Kevin Garnett just might finish dethroning Ralph Sampson as the most misguided 7-foot jump shooter in league history.
Look, Charles Barkley is my favorite sports broadcaster, but the man makes some critical errors from time to time. Throughout the second half of the regular season, Sir Charles convinced hoops fans that the Lakers had the best bench in the league. He kept saying it over and over again on TNT, and I foolishly believed it.
The truth is if you take Kobe Bryant off the Lakers, what you’re left with are the Memphis Grizzlies. We know that now, three games into the NBA finals and with critical game four on tap tonight at the Staples Center.
We now understand why Kobe never issued general manager Mitch Kupchak an apology after spending the offseason demanding a trade.
Kupchak did little besides taking the gift (Pau Gasol) the Grizzlies gave him. Kupchak didn’t put together a championship-caliber team around Kobe. Bryant has simply elevated the play of a group of spot-up shooters (Sasha Vujacic, Vladimir Radmanovic and Jordan Farmar) and pretenders (Gasol and Lamar Odom).
If Kobe carries this collection of stiffs to a world title, it’s one of the greatest feats in sports history. It would be an accomplishment that Jordan can’t match. Three games in, I’m convinced the Lakers would be one of the sorriest NBA champions I’ve ever seen. It would be the equivalent of the sack of (stuff) Allen Iverson carried to the finals while a member of the Philadelphia Sixers.
Mitch Kupchak owes Kobe an apology and a thank-you note. Phil Jackson might as well thank Kobe, too. Kobe deserves much credit for tolerating Jackson’s everybody-is-equal triangle offense.
Kobe damn near rallied Los Angeles from a 20-point deficit in game two when Phil abandoned the triangle and let Kobe run pick-and-roll in the fourth quarter. When the ball is in Kobe’s hand, the Celtics don’t really have a Kobe-stopper. They don’t have a Bruce Bowen. Kobe can get to the lane and the basket when he’s not hampered by the triangle.
The reality is the Lakers got back into this series (fourth quarter of game two and all of game three) once Kobe quit having confidence in his timid teammates. He’s decided to win this thing by himself. He’ll take help if it’s offered, but he’ll play these last four games without assistance if necessary.
He figured out in game two that the Celtics aren’t so tough, especially with The Big Ticket exposing himself as The Really Big Two Guard.
Seriously, someone who cares about KG needs to put a stop to this. He looks like the kid who ran into the house rather than fight the neighborhood bully. He needs his mama to push him back outside (into the paint), lock the door and tell him don’t come back to the door until the fight is over. It happens to all of us. It’s a rite of passage.
Doc Rivers needs to give KG some tough love. What’s really sad is Gasol is scared to death that KG is going to come in the paint and take his lunch money. Gasol breathes a sigh of relief every time The Really Big Two Guard unspools a harmless 18-footer.
Seven-footers don’t win championships on the perimeter.
Garnett started this championship series in the debate for the greatest power forward of all time. You could mention him in the same sentence with Tim Duncan, Karl Malone, Charles Barkley and Elvin Hayes.
Now, I’d put Garnett a cut ahead of Dirk Nowitzki and Dan Issel.
To be an all-time great, you have to be a dominant scorer in the final three minutes of games. You have to be a guy who can get to the rim and the free-throw line in the clutch. I just don’t see it with Garnett. He’s a 7-footer with too much skill.
Shaq won four titles because he was too raw to leave the lane. Moses Malone won three MVP awards because he refused to leave the paint.
I like KG. He’s a wonderful human, a terrific example of how to handle going straight from high school to the pros. But he’s killing his reputation with all the perimeter jumpers. He looks like the second coming of Ralph Sampson. No one remembers Ralph Sampson fondly. Everybody talks about Hakeem Olajuwon and the Dream Shake down on the low block.
Kobe is doing everything possible to drive into the lane, and Garnett is foolishly leaving the post to fire 20-footers. Kobe, a three-time NBA champ, knows the paint is where championships happen. Garnett doesn’t.
Boston leads series 2-1
•OUTLOOK: The Lakers are breathing easier after their 87-81 victory in game three. They feel right at home at Staples Center, where they’re 9-0 in the postseason and perfect over the last two months.
•KEY FOR CELTICS: Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce have to make their presence felt. Garnett scored only 13 points Tuesday and shot six for 21. Pierce has to do better than his six points on two-for-12 shooting in game three.
•KEY FOR LAKERS: This can’t be another two-man show (Kobe Bryant and Sasha Vujacic). LA’s four starters other than Bryant combined for 22 points on seven-of-28 shooting.