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All because of linsanity

why do so many people hate Kobe Bryant?

because he's sucessful.

Kobe, while he's been one of the best players in the world for at least the past decade on the court, does not have the public savvy to have most people on his side. but face it, the most successful one is, the more people will envy and hate, especially in the internet age with everything under magnifying glasses & media scrutiny.

especially for a lot of die-hard Jordan fans, it's difficult to accept another player nearing the all-time greatness of His Airness, so they take every chance to dissect and denounce Kobe's achievement, his play, and his persona. Kobe doesn't have the most lovable personality, and his on court demeanor does show that. but he's in the camp of "damn if he does, damn if he doesn't". there's always gonna be irrational hate towards him, and people can't stand him no matter what he does, on and off the court.

i know because i'm one of them.

everybody has "come fly with me"

Everybody has “come fly with me”. Everybody. Who don’t get a chill when they hear the music comes on, knowing they are about to go on a journey with Captain Air Jordan?
Personally though, whenever I watch him, it’s always the actual game footages.
They show what makes him the G.O.A.T.
It’s not the fancy stuff; it’s the way he dedicates himself to play every single nuance of the game to perfection, every single time. He embodies the qualities to be the best of the best.
Jordan represents the path to greatness, and he inspires us to get there.

Game 4 of the 2008 Finals

a few thoughts from Game 4 of the Finals, and unbelievably, the celtics are up 3-1 in the series.

- james posey was instrumental in this win. down the stretch, he played odom perfectly. even though it was a mismatch, posey caused him to miss shots and turn the ball over. on the other end he made two HUGE 3s in the left corner, one that pulled the deficit within one (two plays later, eddie house drained a jumper that put the celts up for good), and one that pushed the celtics lead up to 5 points with about a minute left. shaq was right, he knew posey was gonna help them win a championship.

- ray allen was the most consistent celtics this whole series. he kept them in the game with his 3s, and he chipped in 9 boards this game, and most importantly he help kept kobe in check most of this series. i mean if you told me this was gonna happen before the Finals, i'd laugh at you.

- garnett and pierce finally attacked the rim much more frequently. rajon rondo's injury was probably a blessing in disguise, it was because of his injury that doc rivers finally let eddie house off the bench. his shot making ability help stretch the defense, and it finally gave KG enough room to deal some damage down low. in the playoff, it's all about player matchup and adjustment, it's amazing doc rivers got this lucky.

- speaking of doc rivers, i can't believe he's outcoaching phil. i haven't see any imprint of the 9 time champion coach this whole series. i predict lakers will win this series rather easily because phil is supposed to be THAT MUCH better than doc rivers. the biggest mismatch of the Finals turned out to be pretty even, which is ridiculous.

- the 2nd point why i thought the lakers will win the championship was because the lakers have the best closer in the game in kobe, while the celtics are just shaky down the stretch because no one seems to step up. in this game, EVERY celtics stepped up. whether it's an offensive rebound, a defensive stop, an assist, a spot up 3, everyone made the correct decision AND executed them perfectly.

- with all that said, it's still possible for the lakers to come back and win the whole thing, but that's highly unlikely. not when the momentum is completely swung in celtics' favor, but 2 of the next 3 games will be in boston, if this series even last that long.

side notes:
- after a time out with 2 minutes left in the game with celtics up by 5, the camera was on the announcing crew when the action resumed on the court. Mike Breen was asking Mark Jackson about the key to celtics' run, and JVG was pointing to the court and making a disgusted/annoyed face that basically says "why the fuck are you showing us? the game is back on!" Absolutely hilarious. ABC quickly switch back to the court where we saw Kobe drove in and draw a foul. JVG is brilliant.

- after ray allen drove by vujacic for pretty much the clincher, pau inbounded the ball to vujacic when the whistle signaled a time out, and you can clearly hear vujacic clutching the ball and yell "FUCK!!!" really loudly. then of course there was the replay of him hitting a chair and saying "FUCK MAN!!" on the bench. nice.

nuggets @ warriors: the 8th seed winner

didn't realize how loud the oakland arena is until i hear it on tv, compare to other arenas.

stephen jackson is just way off today, he played terrible. he's not just missing shots. he's blowing easy layups.

matt barnes is back to himself. super utility extraordinaire. a bit extreme sometimes on his plays, high gamble high payoff i guess?

every time i see jr smith now, i think of how spurs almost got him for brent barry. JR is ridiculously good. he can catch fire any time and don't forget he started in the league as a dunker, so he has athletic ability to match. if only the spurs could grow him into the standard spurs mode, they'd be unstoppable, and he'll carry on the torch with parker after duncan retires. ahhh, what could have.

half a quarter and down 17 points? that's not recipe for success. we need some miracle.

speaking of which, warriors just pulled off a 9-0 run. baron's forcing things to happen.

azubuike excels in executing the plays, and he usually is great at playing within him role and ability, but that was lost somehow tonight. and not make the game deciding plays. baron needed to touch the ball every trip down the stretch, there's absolutely no reason why azubuike should be making game deciding plays. especially since davis was the one who sparked the 9-0 run.

iverson broke the run
and back with a 3
swish both

iverson's a killer.

the game was lost back when the nuggets busted out the zone. warriors were completely befuddled. bad shots after bad shots.

can warriors beat the suns? they should be able to take the clips and sonics. man... this may end bad for the warriors.

kobe vs lebron SLAMDUNK!

lebron james is straight up crazy. kobe is this year's MVP no doubt? is there? definitely some. but this man is clearly the best player in the league for 2-3 years now. last year he should have won. the two years before he carried the lakers solely on himself. it's pretty amazing to be play all out in every game for 3 straight years.

kobe is like a samurai sword, he got to where he is right now through trial and fire. he wills himself to be the best in EVERY facet of the game. he's a health maniac i'm sure, making sure his body is in PERFECT condition. he has a complete set of skills. his shooting range is up to 25 feet from basket, his post moves are infinite, his ballhandling is mesmerizing, his defense is impeccable, he understands every nuance of the game to aid all his on court decisions, and his athletic ability to made sure all those skills and knowledge to be utilize to the max. all that with a mind of steel. i mean, he's playing with a half broken finger. really, what else do you want from an ideal basketball player?

the biggest difference between mr james and mr bryant is that lebron makes it look waaaaaay easier. it's so effortless to him. he's the realization of a great line in ice cube's "today was a good day": Get me on the court and I'm trouble/ Last week fucked around and got a triple double. this man IS made for basketball. he's only been in the league for 5 years, and he's already up to arguable kobe's level. and kobe's been honing his craft for 12 years in the league, that's more than TWICE the amount of time lebron has put in. lebron still doesn't understand the game as well as kobe, nor has acquired as many skill sets as kobe. he's simply PLAYING ON INSTINCT AND RAW ABILITY. that's not even scary. that's TERRIFYING! at his peak, dude can easily average 40/12/12 for a year, maybe even reaching 50/15/15! if that will be in the future, our jaws will be permanently detached.

so seriously, kobe deserves this long over due MVP. because there's a chance that from next year on, lebron's going to win it every year.

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anyone read the manga named SLAMDUNK? i love that manga (read: japanese comic). it was written/drawn in the 90's. wiki: "It was so popular that many Japanese teenagers began playing basketball after it was published." it was about some japanese high schoolers playing like nba players. the writer knew basketball really well and created very believable characters and play situations.

i'm reading it again and it's amazing how the author created characters that either modeled after yesteryear's NBA players or predicted some of today's players:

sakuragi - the main character that's basically a carbon copy of rodman. a basketball novice who's a monster on the board because of his athletic ability.

rukawa - the best player on the basketball team, akin to kobe now. an antagonizing basketball genius whose 1 on 1 skills is unmatched.

akagi - the intimidating no non sense captain who is the center has a shadow of david robinson or alonzo on him, especially the high top fade. a great defensive center who's also a main weapon on the offensive end.

sawakita - the best high school player in japan, whose style is wade's signature quickness and agility, even his mannerism. like wade in his eariler years, he only starts concentrating in the 2nd half/4th quarter, and then becomes unguardable/unbeatable.

maki - a star player who's simply stronger and faster than everyone else, and his nick name is King. yup, just like lebron james.

the hottest team in the west & the east battles

magic visiting the warriors...


the warriors are most effective when they have penetrations with quick passes. but they also need to create movement at the right time to receive the passes too.

nellie genius. attack reddick every time down. dude is just too small and slow for nba.

barnes is filling in whatever role the team needs. tonight it's knocking down shots, and he's doing it.

....

it's coming down to the wire for this game.

baron's fouling out was the undoing of the warriors. he had to foul dwight to try to prevent that rebound dunk. but everything felt apart after that. the last posession was atrocious.

with more than 10 secs left and the score tied, monta had the ball with all stephen jackson, al harrington, azubuike, and matt barnes on the perimeter. it came down to a bad 3 pointer by monta that just racachet off the board. you just kinda knew the warriors lost the game there.

in the overtime, the warriors committed 4 turnovers after the first bucket and just couldn't recover from it. baron plays wreckless sometimes, but without him the decisions making just got worse. warriors let this win slipped away.