Rio-Side
The Lakers are winning? I guess it’s time to jump back on that bandwagon.
The Los Angeles Lakers have found themselves in a bit of a winning streak since Kobe started doing what he never does—passing the ball.
It’s been unreal seeing his Stockton-esque play-making as of late. The man has averaged nearly a triple-double each and every night since that victory against Utah over a week ago. His numbers are starting to look even more impressive than LeBron’s. Quite frankly, Kobe’s statistics alone should put him back into the MVP debate.
The fact that Kobe’s Lakers have actually been winning should definitely increase his chances of winning his second trophy. Granted, the Lakers have gone against subpar competition as of late, but the win streak is still impressive. The defense has been on lockdown, the offense is finally flowing correctly and they somehow managed to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder.
What’s also interesting is the fact that Kobe managed to change his game this late in his career. He’s been in the league for 17 years and now he somehow changed his game from a scorer to a passer. Who says you can’t teach an old dog new tricks?
Not even Michael Jordan managed to pull that off. For all the Kobe haters who won’t even consider putting Bryant in the same breath of Jordan, think about this: At age 34, Bryant is averaging 5.4 assists per game; at age 34, Jordan averaged just 3.5 assists per game. The advantage here goes to Kobe.
When the season started back in October, no one could have predicted that the success of this team would have rested on Bryant’s passing ability. On the contrary, most pundits believed that Bryant should just stick to scoring the ball now that Steve Nash is on this team. But Bryant has taken the opposite approach. He has changed for the better of the team. He has become the selfless player fans have dreamed of for ages. That’s an invaluable quality that’s hard to find in any athlete.
Kobe, if you keep this up, you will earn your second MVP award.
