Whatever his reasons, Kobe Bryant is on a history-breaking rampage, scoring 65, 50, 60 and 50 in his last four games.
Given their teams’ superior won-lost records, though, I previously thought that only Nash of the 52-16 Phoenix Suns and Nowitzki of the 57-11 Dallas Mavericks deserve the league’s most sacred individual award.
Not anymore.
Kobe has made the MVP quest a legitimate three-man race. And with the looming playoffs serving as a dramatic backdrop, an upset brews, fermenting on the cusp of creation.
Nowitzki, 28, is averaging 25.1 points and 9.5 rebounds in 67 games. With his team running like the 1995-96 Bulls and chasing 70 wins, the 245-pound power forward is an easy MVP choice.
So is Nash, the reigning and two-time defending NBA MVP. A 6-foot-3, 191-pound spitfire, Nash hasn’t slowed at age 33. He norms 19.1 points per this season, and with his league-best 11.9 assists a contest, the Suns are deadlier than ever.
Kobe isn’t as sweet a jump shooter as Nowitzki is. He isn’t faster than Nash in the passing game, either. But neither Dirk nor Steve is playing at a higher level than Bryant, who averages 30.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists for the season.
Kobe, 6-foot-6 and 220 lbs, isn’t just competing. The 28-year old superstar is performing.
Mia Embalzado, the drop-dead gorgeous MassCom program head at Saint Theresa’s College, is an unrepentant Nash fan. But she can’t ignore Kobe’s brilliance.
“It’s just amazing,” says Mia, who named her four-year old male Golden Retriever after the Laker great. “Like Kobe Bryant, my Kobe is an attention-getter,” she says lovingly.
Mia, the rock of Raymund Mateo’s Gibraltar, is darn right. Kobe is getting a lot of attention. And a lot of MVP votes.
I used to argue that the Lakers’ inferior won-lost record, currently at 37-32, is a liability. Not necessarily.
The Lakers are not like the Suns and Mavs, who are enormously deep in talent. The Lakers are a fractured group, hindered by several injuries. Kobe deserves a mountain of credit for whisking this storied franchise to the safety of a playoffs berth.
Like Mia, I’m a Steve Nash fanatic. After he granted me a lengthy one-on-one interview at the United Center last January, I have since been kneeling at the altar of his eye-popping, assist-giving ways.
But Kobe has just set my pants on fire. Bryant has amassed 225 points in four games. In this glorious streak, which he hopes to carry on today at the Staples Center against the Warriors, Kobe has made 17-of-33 triples and 56-of-60 free throws.
My unofficial MVP vote still goes to Nash, with Nowitzki coming in at a very close runner-up. But if Kobe somehow steals the cherished plum from Nash or Nowitzki, you won’t hear any protests from this corner.
CAR POOL. I don’t know which one is rooting for which NBA team. What I know for sure is that the following are loyal readers of Sun.Star Cebu.
Greetings to Jimmy Gomez, Rene Dela Torre, Ditdit Gorne, Sean and Snookie Hernandez, Gilbert Lu, Epoy Caballero, Paeng Burgos,
Wellington Yu, Cris Chua, Louie Arriola, Sonny Alo and my good friend, James Alivio.
Like the affable Stephen Villamor of Step V Trading, the above-mentioned people are the pillars of Cebu’s car business. They sell wheels for a living, and their shared hobby is reading Second Overtime, I was told. Thanks for the support, people.
