Wag mong i-base sa mga random quotes. Tignan mo na lang ang stats. Balewala ang mga quotes kung hindi sinusuportahan ng mga statistics.
Kobe hasn't done anything without Shaq. He is still a sidekick in everyone's eyes.
While Lebron James is winning, Kobe Bryant is whining.
http://www.insidebayarea.com/sports/ci_6051837LeBron, not Kobe, is king of leagueTO THE HIGH pitch of whine and the rumble of a bull with the speed of a cheetah, there is a changing of the guard in the NBA. We are at the dawn of a new era.
Kobe Bryant out, LeBron James in.
And, yes, it's that simple.
Understand, Kobe gets to keep his all-NBA membership card. He earns it every year. The Lakers star is a rare and special talent, capable of unrivaled feats of scoring and occasional fits of stifling defense.
Yes, his package includes more selfishness than most NBA fans can stomach. Yes, his halting attempts at professionalism tend to precede acts of astounding pettiness. Yes, he often sabotages his best intentions. And we know that being loved and stroked and spoiled, certainly in Southern California, has not pacified Bryant.
Still, Kobe's persona is not why the crown for which he yearns  "best player in the league"  is being fitted for LeBron.
It's about team. And game. It's a matter of performance and timing.
LeBron arrived the other night. With his Cleveland Cavaliers under crushing pressure, needing to beat favored Detroit on its own floor to stave off an elimination game in the Eastern Conference finals, James served notice that the league will be his soon, if not this season.
One day after Bryant's highly publicized sniveling reminded us that he is a tortured soul or a calculating back-stabber  or both  James, playing a little bit of every position except center, delivered a message to Kobe and the rest of the ballers: Stop crying, man up and carry your team.
At 22, James is exhibiting more courage and resolve than not only Kobe but also Allen Iverson, Dirk Nowitzki, Tracy McGrady and Kevin Garnett  all outstanding veterans who at one time or another have shined a light elsewhere as an excuse for the limitations of the team.
While Bryant was an effective closer behind Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe solo has not been able to get the Lakers out of the first round.
LeBron may not wait for his Shaq to reach Cleveland.
Over the final minutes of the fourth quarter and two overtimes of Game 5 at the Palace of Auburn Hills, James was in a zone the likes of which we've not seen. Mind-boggling statistics tell most of the story. James scored Cleveland's final 25 points and 29 of its last 30, was the only Cav to score in the final 2:49 of regulation or in either OT and scored the game-winner on a layup, having used finesse and muscle to force his way through four Pistons.
This is straight from a script rejected as unrealistic, all the more with regard to conditions.
Guard Larry Hughes, Cleveland's second-best player, was on the bench with a bum wheel.
Forward Drew Gooden, debatably the team's third-best player, had fouled out.
Zydrunas Ilgauskas, the 7-foot-3 center in the debate with Gooden, was disqualified shortly thereafter.
So it was up to James, surrounded by the ordinary likes of Donyell Marshall and Damon Jones and Eric Snow, as well as mediocre coach Mike Brown, to put his foot on the neck of the Pistons, whose savvy and defense rank second to none in the conference.
LeBron did. By single-handedly lifting his team above the sum of its parts, throughout these playoffs and certainly in this series, James is doing the very thing Bryant has been unable to do. LeBron's teammates are inferior to those Lakers not named Kobe, especially when the Cavs are without Hughes, Gooden and Ilgauskas.
But James did more than shock the Pistons. He credited his teammates. For what, I can't tell you. He praised them for spreading the floor, allowing him to work his magic. It was beyond gracious; he was much too kind to a bunch of guys who realized they were better off staying out of the way.
But that's not all James did. When Detroit forward Antonio McDyess used a right forearm to deck Cleveland's Anderson Varejao as he drove to the basket, who but LeBron immediately rushed to support his fallen teammate, sprinting toward and gesturing at McDyess.
James gave all he had to provide his team with all it needed, in the most important game of its season. He excelled in the role of the ultimate teammate, then summoned a bravura performance in the role of gracious teammate.
And I have to say this again: He is 22 years old.
Which is to say James has aged exponentially during these playoffs. Does anybody really believe the LeBron we're watching now is the same LeBron who 13 days ago dished off to an open Marshall in Game1?
This generation has searched for years for its Michael Jordan. It's not Grant Hill, nor is it Vince Carter. Kobe had the look, but so much else about him was off; he never got the universal love accorded MJ.
As fabulous as Dwyane Wade is, the search ends in Cleveland. LeBron is the new Michael. Bigger, stronger and just as fast.
All he needs now is enough time, whether measured by days or years, to collect his rings.
