作者spock2230 (spock)
站內Lakers
標題[閒聊] Kobe makes a believer of him
時間Fri Dec 18 23:17:56 2009
http://tinyurl.com/yzgmpez
Kobe makes a believer of him
Bryant has answered all questions over the years, except for 'How can he top
this?'
By
Bill Plaschke December 18, 2009
"Watch this," I say, standing in middle of the family room, pointing at the
television.
"Watch what?" says my 14-year-old daughter, unmoved on the couch in her
basketball sweats, Wednesday's junior varsity practice complete, nothing more
to learn tonight.
"They are going to throw the ball to Kobe, he is going to make a basket at
the buzzer, and the Lakers are going to win," I say.
"You really believe that, Dad?" she says.
"You know, I finally do," I say.
After 14 years of publicly questioning and challenging and wondering about
the Lakers' bewildering star, it has finally sunk into my brain like that
jumper sank into the hearts of the Milwaukee Bucks.
Goodness, the guy really can do anything.
The guy is the best player in the NBA, and, sorry, LeBron James, you have to
wait.
The guy may be the best clutch shooter in Lakers history, and sorry, Jerry
West, but the evidence is irrefutable.
The guy is not yet Michael Jordan, but long after he retires, we'll remember
these days as if he were.
What the freshly crowned Bryant has accomplished this season, playing like a
big man when Pau Gasol was gone, playing like a madman with a broken finger,
playing like "oh, man" with two last-second, game-winning jumpers in the last
couple of weeks, it should end all debate.
Even counting his MVP year, he has never been better.
Looking back to where this all started in the autumn of 1996, maybe no
athlete in this town has ever come further.
The only thing more winding than his path has been my 14 years of scribblings
about it.
"Is Kobe Bryant a future superstar or sideshow? Is he about championships or
confusion?"
I wrote those words in April 1999, at the end of Bryant's third full season
here. There were the four airballs in the final minutes of the final playoff
game of his rookie season. There was the brewing trouble with Shaquille
O'Neal.
Those questions were real at the time, and shared by many folks who wouldn't
admit it, and I wouldn't have changed one word.
Bryant, of course, eventually changed them for me.
You want out, Kobe? See ya. Why settle for being the next Michael Jordan when
you can be the next Jerry Stackhouse?
Written in January 2003, this was my answer to his first mutterings of
unhappiness. Several times in the ensuing several years, when Bryant was at
his pouting worst, I would again write that the Lakers should trade him.
OK, so maybe I would change a couple of those words.
I saw Jeanie Buss on Thursday and congratulated her organization for the
umpteenth time on ignoring my pleas.
"It was hard," she said. "But it's really all about talent. And we just could
not replace that talent."
"A sweet kid has grown into a sassy young adult. . . . Wonder Boy has
sometimes become Wonder-What-On-Earth-He-Is-Thinking-Boy."
I wrote that in March 2002, as Bryant hardened into a veteran with little
tolerance for anything that didn't suit him, which included O'Neal and passes
to other players.
He eventually grew out of that place, the true wonder being in watching it
all happen.
"Kobe Bryant seems to be a tormented soul who doesn't want to be here. His
behavior is erratic. His chief goal seems to be forcing his way off the team.
Maybe the Lakers should considering granting his request. Yeah, maybe they
should trade him."
This was written in October 2003, at the start of Bryant's sexual-assault
case season. Much of this town, and many of the Lakers, felt the same way.
Everything screamed that it would just be easier if he left.
Did I tell you I thanked Buss for not listening?
"It appeared Bryant, hurt by recent comments about his selfishness, was
tanking the game to prove that the Lakers can't win without him.
This was in April 2004, after he took just one first-half shot and basically
stood around for 42 minutes while the undermanned Sacramento Kings handed the
Lakers an important late-season loss.
I still believe Bryant was trying to send a message of arrogance that day. I
also believe that the message of disgust he received was much stronger.
Five years later, the guy is scoring 42 points on nine fingers.
"The question is, is Kobe Bryant worth it?"
This was written in July 2004, after the Lakers traded O'Neal for several
reasons, one of them being Bryant's happiness.
It was a fair question at the time. Last summer made it a moot one.
"Three years after being anointed the solution, Bryant has decided instead to
be the problem and I ask, this is a winner?"
This was part of the chorus that resounded nationally in May 2007 after
Bryant threw his legendary I'll-play-on- Pluto tantrum.
Of all of his self-dug ditches, this one seemed the hardest to scale. He had
to not only show that he wasn't really a selfish jerk, but he had to do it by
winning a championship without O'Neal, showing his strength of character by
hoisting a title on his back.
Well, last summer, he showed it. This fall, he is expounding upon it.
Forever, a city will remember it.
"Watch this," I say, we all say, with the confidence in Bryant's face before
taking that last shot, with the conviction in his upraised arms afterward.
bill.plaschke@latimes.com
twitter.com/billplaschke
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※ 編輯: spock2230 來自: 123.204.239.51 (12/18 23:18)
推 sexy1128:原來是這個樣子阿...難怪 12/18 23:24
推 mikehu:難道現在隊上也有人要走類似的老路嗎? XD 12/18 23:28
推 newsno1:有的話也不錯阿 12/18 23:37
推 magmanx9:好長= = 12/18 23:38
推 zealeliot:看完眼眶濕濕的 12/18 23:44
推 Shmilybaby:寫的超好,待會來翻譯一下! 12/19 12:31