I rarely watch NBA games, but have been habitually watching the playoffs this year because of Orlando and Denver. These two teams seem a new concept for the NBA- teams with stars, of course, but not made up of the penultimate superstar that scores 50+ points shooting on every other possession. Orlando and Denver play like a team and rely on the logistics of the offense and defense to create.
And now as I watch the finals, I see Kobe Bryant in and out take the ball, hold it, and either score or miss then complain that he was fouled. I by all means respect him as a player and am inspired by his drive, love, and tenacity for the game and pure competition...but...it's boring. There's no sport in the game when, if somehow the Lakers could figure out how to keep three to four of the opposing team's players distracted, they would only need two players on the floor-one to pass the ball in to Kobe, and then he alone could do what he habitually does to score in and out.
This is where my love for college basketball comes from I think, as Coach K puts it, "the fist"; five guys working together as fingers to create the more powerful fist, the fist which wins games as a collective of the team's effort. That's why teams like Orlando and Denver are fun to watch, but have less marketability when it comes to the shoes, the clothes, the merch. Lebron tried to do it, but his big man just wasn't as tall as Gasol to catch and put in that occasional miss. Everyone hyped up the potential Kobe and Lebron match-up, and in essence if that finals scenario went down, might as well have paid to just watch the two play one-on-one for 48 minutes.
Superstar players like Kobe wow the fans night in and night out, are guys you want on your team for the clutch situations, and are first on the list to represent our country for the Olympics, but I feel in the end when players like these are craved for in match-ups, they are better suited for boxing or tennis, something nice and individual.
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