Kobe Bryant Dashed Spain's Gold Medal Hopes

I watched the Gold Medal game between the "Redeem Team" of the USA and the Spain the 2008 Beijing Olympics and while the Spanish basketball team was superb, the difference was #10 on the USA side: Kobe Bryant.

If you think about it, if there were eight extra minutes for the game, I think Spain would have won. Pau Gasol was doing damage in the paint, Juan Carlos Navarro and Rudy Fernandez were hot from the perimeter and upstart 17-year old Ricky Rubio seemed confident directing the Spanish offense. But then Spain was inching in the the Americans, Kobe made a clutch 4-point play to stretch the lead to a comfortable level. As the final buzzer sounded, USA defeated Spain, 118-107.

Yeah, Dwayne Wade led the scorers with 27 points, but he was a non-factor down the stretch when Spain made their run. The same can be said about LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony.

So, sorry Spain your gold medal was snatched by the NBA's MVP.


Tags: Lakers

The Lakers' New Guard: Lamar Odom?

 

The Los Angeles Lakers are contemplating to put Lamar Odom into the back court in tandem with point guard Derek Fisher.

According to a  report from ESPN, which ironically focused on the Lakers' signing of Sun Yue, the "Chinese Magic Johnson." The addition of Sun Yue still has to make any impact on the Lakers rotations, because since he played point guard in China, that puts the potential PG rotation to Derek Fisher, Jordan Farmar and Yue.

Going back to Odom being a guard, it really is a unconventional positioning in light of moves like Kevin Durant as a shooting guard for Oklahoma City or even Magic Johnson as point guard for the Lakers in the 1980's. Odom does have the agility, but he does not have the speed to run against  shifty guards like Tony Parker and Gilbert Arenas of the league.

My prediction? The Lamar Odom Experiment will result in a trade for a real guard.

Tags: Lakers

Paul Pierce: "I'm the Best Player in the NBA"

You gotta be kidding me.



I read from Red's Army that none other than 2008 NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce made this claim in an interview in Spaim:

Q: Is Kobe really the best player in the world?

Pierce: I don’t think Kobe is the best player. I’m the best player. There’s a line that separates having confidence and being conceited. I don’t cross that line but I have a lot of confidence in myself.

I almost fell from my seat as I read that statement. The Truth has definitely had too much of himself since winning with the Boston Celtics last June. Fine, he won the Finals MVP but claiming to be the best player in the league?!? Not only did he directly dissed Regular Season MVP Kobe Bryant, but also MVP candidates LeBron James, Chris Paul, Dirk Nowitzki, Tim Duncan and even team mate Kevin Garnett.



Somebody stop this Pierce guy-- he's going into that Stephon Marbury "I'm the best point guard in the NBA" territory.





Tags: Lakers