Kobe Bryant was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, and being the best player on the team that just won the championship, it's tough to disagree. It was Kobe's first time winning the award, because it went to Shaquille O'Neal the first three times that the Lakers won the title with Bryant on the roster.
Bryant averaged better than 32 points, five rebounds, and seven assists for the series, so again, his numbers validate the fact that he's taking home the award. But this was truly a team effort, and there are others that are arguably just as deserving.
Shaquille O'Neal may be headed to Cleveland or may team with Amar'e Stoudemire to push the Lakers in the Pacific Division next year. Either way, it appears his beef with Kobe Bryant is officially over.
I mean, we all know they will. You could point to several moments when this NBA season ended, but Derek Fisher draining a pull-up-jumper-in-transition three was pretty much the final nail in the coffin. You can't blow leads like the Magic did. But they did. But if the Lakers and Kobe Bryant want to cement themselves as everything we've already anointed them as, they have to win four games.
So here we are, and tonight will either be a mercy-killing as the Lakers end it and begin celebrating yet another in a long line of championships, or Orlando will kickstart the ticker and pray for a miracle. Join us for the celebration/funeral, at 8PM EST.
ORLANDO -- They're as different as Yoda and Danny DeVito, the Grateful Dead and Weird Al Yankovic, a complete mismatch in wisdom and savvy and diamonds on their fingers. Just because Phil Jackson evokes the appearance of a half-asleep grandfather waiting for his Metamucil doesn't mean he isn't in complete control of his scene. And just because Stan Van Gundy is running around and howling like a crazed banshee doesn't mean he has a clue.
If the Lakers win another championship Sunday night, Game 5 of the NBA Finals might signify the end of Jackson's spiritual, never-boring adventure through coaching. Yet even as he stares down his 10th crown -- which would push him past one of his biggest critics, the late Red Auerbach, as the most decorated of all pro basketball coaches -- he keeps absorbing potshots from snipers who think he's cruising through a career as an opportunistic fraud.
ORLANDO -- They came to the Los Angeles Lakers together as rookies in 1996, one a brash high school kid who thought he was Michael Jordan from the start, and the other a humble, more likable, college graduate from Arkansas-Little Rock.
Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher were – and are – so different. Yet as intense competitors, they are so much alike, so cool under pressure, so in tune with each other.
It's why they are on the verge of winning their fourth NBA title together, and why this one will be even better than the previous three.
Magic coach Stan Van Gundy will stick with struggling Jameer Nelson as his backup point guard, despite laying the blame on him for allowing Derek Fisher to hit the 3-point basket at the end of regulation that sent Game 4 of the NBA Finals into overtime.
The Lakers won, 99-91, essentially ending Orlando's hopes of winning this series.
"Jameer had one responsibility on that play, and that was to not give Derek Fisher a 3-point shot,'' Van Gundy said Friday afternoon during a conference call with reporters. "I'm sure Jameer wishes he had that one back, or that he had played it differently.''
As Derek Fisher rightfully enjoys his time in the spotlight today, it's impossible to watch the replay of his overtime dagger last night without also noticing Kobe Bryant's right elbow connect with Jameer Nelson's chin. The blow sent Nelson sprawling to the floor just as the man he left to double team Bryant drained a wide-open (and ultimately game-winning) three.
ORLANDO -- It was a night when a veteran dismissed as old and inept proudly turned back time, a night when a man-child with 21 rebounds and nine blocked shots was the goat, a night when the well-coached team won and the team that executed horribly in critical moments lost. Sometimes, the slim difference between a champion and a wannabe funnels down to savvy, character, IQ, experience, all the traits that never seem cliche when it's past midnight in overtime and the studs are separating from the frauds.
ORLANDO -- This is what true champions do. Somehow, when it matters most, they forget their recent ugliness, and they remember their past glory. Mostly, they discover ways in a hurry to overcome their opponents and themselves.
So the eternal doubters of these Los Angeles Lakers should consider this: Even before they make it official against the Orlando Magic, either on Sunday at Amway Arena during Game 5 or next week inside Staples Center for a possible Game 6 or an unlikely Game 7, these Lakers are true champions. They have the stuff of their predecessors, ranging from Jerry West to Magic Johnson to Shaquille O'Neal.
The Larry O'Brien itself is plenty of motivation for the participants in the 2009 Finals. But there will also be a few individual goals driving those involved.
Kobe Bryant: The commercial failure of Kobe Doin' Work made it apparent No. 24 needs much more face time. Can he get an ad campaign, maybe something with a puppet? It's evident Kobe can only get the media and popular culture attention he deserves by winning a championship. (Let's be honest, though: after that 2002 championship jacket, Kobe doesn't deserve to touch the trophy ever again.)
Andrew Bynum: Drew really needs Kareem to get off his back. Oh, did I say Kareem? I meant Nicole Narain. It's hard to show on the pick-and-roll with a playmate on your shoulders!
Kobe Bryant was named the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player, and being the best player on the team that just won the championship, it's tough to disagree. It was Kobe's first time winning the award, because it went to Shaquille O'Neal the first three times that the Lakers won the title with Bryant on the roster.
ORLANDO -- They're as different as Yoda and Danny DeVito, the Grateful Dead and Weird Al Yankovic, a complete mismatch in wisdom and savvy and diamonds on their fingers. Just because 
ORLANDO -- They came to the 
ORLANDO -- This is what true champions do. Somehow, when it matters most, they forget their recent ugliness, and they remember their past glory. Mostly, they discover ways in a hurry to overcome their opponents and themselves. 
The Larry O'Brien itself is plenty of motivation for the participants in the 2009 Finals. But there will also be a few individual goals driving those involved.
