http://www.sacbee.com/content/sports/columns/voisin/story/11792602p-12677288c.html
Ailene Voisin: Kobe puts the Lakers on his back
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, December 17, 2004
The worst thing about this Kings-Lakers rivalry?
The encore never happened.
Thursday night's stumble in Arco Arena has to be an aberration. Too many of the main characters from that feisty 2002 Western Conference finals have changed addresses. Shaquille O'Neal to Miami, Phil Jackson to Montana, Robert Horry to San Antonio, and now, when the circus comes to town, the lineup features not one, but two delightful human beings: the kindly Rudy Tomjanovich and the princely Vlade Divac, the former Kings center who spends most of his time on the bench, clutching his sore lower back.
The only Laker worth booing anymore is Kobe.
But, geez, couldn't someone have fed him a cheeseburger?
Gulp. Maybe someone did.
"The guy's been sick, really under the weather," said Tomjanovich later, after Bryant had orchestrated the worst spanking in Arco since the San Antonio Spurs visited on March 2, 1998. "But he was really in it the whole night. Him taking over was big."
In his first meeting this season in one his favorite buildings, Bryant, who historically has tormented Kings fans with his offensive repertoire, though more often of late, with off-court escapades, indeed gave a performance that brought the memories flooding back. The good and the bad. The offense and the defense. The stinging outcome.
It has been 18 months since a more meaningful Lakers victory occurred here - that seventh game of that now famous conference finals - and yet it seemed like only yesterday. It was almost as if Kobe was making up for lost time, as if two consecutive postseasons without a Kings-Lakers encounter begged for a reminder of what might have been. And what Kobe might have done.
Yeah, well, he did more than enough. He did everything.
There was Kobe, teasing Doug Christie on the right wing, then attacking for a reverse layup. There was Kobe, luring Bobby Jackson out front, then sprinting into a gaping opening for another layup. There was Kobe, driving past Chris Webber, past Brad Miller, past Peja Stojakovic, past Matt Barnes, his dribble-penetration exposing a defense on the exterior and the interior. And when he induced the cerebral Christie into clipping his hand on that three-pointer that elicited gasps of amazement from the crowd?
No, Kobe was every bit as dominating as O'Neal had been here on so many occasions, his all-round game exactly what O'Neal had been begging for all those years. Kobe's 31 points were no more impressive than his six rebounds and especially his season-high 12 assists.
Geez. Maybe Vlade knew what he was doing after all.
Kobe still has amazing drawing power, and some would say, enough power with owner Jerry Buss to prompt Phil's departure, Shaq's trade, Karl Malone's vacation, or in other words, the decline of Lakers civilization as we knew it. He is also proving very skilled at damage control. Besides completely dominating the NBA these past few nights - his latest tiff with Malone leading to lengthy interviews on ESPN, TNT and innumerable print publications - Bryant has been attempting to make himself more, well, likable.
He chatted with fans during pregame warmups the other night in Seattle. That never happens. He broke with tradition again Thursday night here in Arco, and instead of huddling in the visitors' training room while his teammates stretch and break sweats, the remaining Lakers superstar ventured onto the floor and shot jumpers for approximately 45 minutes. Fans lined up along the far sideline and occasionally yelled words of encouragement or an unrequited quest for attention. Some simply called out his name. Others held signs nominating him for MVP.
This might be a first-visit phenomenon, and in fact, when fans around the league get a closer look at the Lakers and their lack of a consistent post presence, they might start tuning in to the Clippers. Then again, a few more balanced efforts like this, with the Lakers' supporting cast of Lamar Odom, Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm and someone named Tierre Brown, and the Kings, among others, might start calling for the return of the big fella. At least when Shaq was around, the Lakers seldom ran Rick Adelman's club out of the building. They were only methodically lethal.
Yet instead of setting aside their petty feuds and massive ego battles - Shaq, Kobe, Phil - and hanging together long enough for the Kings to get healthy enough for a rematch of 2002, those Lakers imploded before Arco could shake, rattle and roll one more time to the sound of cowbells, deafening cheers and assorted, impassioned NBA nastiness. Now, two postseasons without a Kings-Lakers matchup, without accusations of spoiled room-service cuisine (Kobe and that cheeseburger), with Horry's last-second reprieve, without all that high drama has forced these two teams to reshape a rivalry. No, it just isn't the same.
Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
Ailene Voisin: Kobe puts the Lakers on his back
By Ailene Voisin -- Bee Sports Columnist
Published 2:15 am PST Friday, December 17, 2004
The worst thing about this Kings-Lakers rivalry?
The encore never happened.
Thursday night's stumble in Arco Arena has to be an aberration. Too many of the main characters from that feisty 2002 Western Conference finals have changed addresses. Shaquille O'Neal to Miami, Phil Jackson to Montana, Robert Horry to San Antonio, and now, when the circus comes to town, the lineup features not one, but two delightful human beings: the kindly Rudy Tomjanovich and the princely Vlade Divac, the former Kings center who spends most of his time on the bench, clutching his sore lower back.
The only Laker worth booing anymore is Kobe.
But, geez, couldn't someone have fed him a cheeseburger?
Gulp. Maybe someone did.
"The guy's been sick, really under the weather," said Tomjanovich later, after Bryant had orchestrated the worst spanking in Arco since the San Antonio Spurs visited on March 2, 1998. "But he was really in it the whole night. Him taking over was big."
In his first meeting this season in one his favorite buildings, Bryant, who historically has tormented Kings fans with his offensive repertoire, though more often of late, with off-court escapades, indeed gave a performance that brought the memories flooding back. The good and the bad. The offense and the defense. The stinging outcome.
It has been 18 months since a more meaningful Lakers victory occurred here - that seventh game of that now famous conference finals - and yet it seemed like only yesterday. It was almost as if Kobe was making up for lost time, as if two consecutive postseasons without a Kings-Lakers encounter begged for a reminder of what might have been. And what Kobe might have done.
Yeah, well, he did more than enough. He did everything.
There was Kobe, teasing Doug Christie on the right wing, then attacking for a reverse layup. There was Kobe, luring Bobby Jackson out front, then sprinting into a gaping opening for another layup. There was Kobe, driving past Chris Webber, past Brad Miller, past Peja Stojakovic, past Matt Barnes, his dribble-penetration exposing a defense on the exterior and the interior. And when he induced the cerebral Christie into clipping his hand on that three-pointer that elicited gasps of amazement from the crowd?
No, Kobe was every bit as dominating as O'Neal had been here on so many occasions, his all-round game exactly what O'Neal had been begging for all those years. Kobe's 31 points were no more impressive than his six rebounds and especially his season-high 12 assists.
Geez. Maybe Vlade knew what he was doing after all.
Kobe still has amazing drawing power, and some would say, enough power with owner Jerry Buss to prompt Phil's departure, Shaq's trade, Karl Malone's vacation, or in other words, the decline of Lakers civilization as we knew it. He is also proving very skilled at damage control. Besides completely dominating the NBA these past few nights - his latest tiff with Malone leading to lengthy interviews on ESPN, TNT and innumerable print publications - Bryant has been attempting to make himself more, well, likable.
He chatted with fans during pregame warmups the other night in Seattle. That never happens. He broke with tradition again Thursday night here in Arco, and instead of huddling in the visitors' training room while his teammates stretch and break sweats, the remaining Lakers superstar ventured onto the floor and shot jumpers for approximately 45 minutes. Fans lined up along the far sideline and occasionally yelled words of encouragement or an unrequited quest for attention. Some simply called out his name. Others held signs nominating him for MVP.
This might be a first-visit phenomenon, and in fact, when fans around the league get a closer look at the Lakers and their lack of a consistent post presence, they might start tuning in to the Clippers. Then again, a few more balanced efforts like this, with the Lakers' supporting cast of Lamar Odom, Chucky Atkins, Chris Mihm and someone named Tierre Brown, and the Kings, among others, might start calling for the return of the big fella. At least when Shaq was around, the Lakers seldom ran Rick Adelman's club out of the building. They were only methodically lethal.
Yet instead of setting aside their petty feuds and massive ego battles - Shaq, Kobe, Phil - and hanging together long enough for the Kings to get healthy enough for a rematch of 2002, those Lakers imploded before Arco could shake, rattle and roll one more time to the sound of cowbells, deafening cheers and assorted, impassioned NBA nastiness. Now, two postseasons without a Kings-Lakers matchup, without accusations of spoiled room-service cuisine (Kobe and that cheeseburger), with Horry's last-second reprieve, without all that high drama has forced these two teams to reshape a rivalry. No, it just isn't the same.
Reach Ailene Voisin at (916) 321-1208 or avoisin@sacbee.com.
