Will This Series Set Kobe Bryant Apart?

L.A. Times staff writer Mark Heisler has seen the highs and lows of Kobe Bryant’s career in covering the Lakers most valuable player for over 13 years and is now posing the question, is this his time? Says Heisler, “If Michael Jordan was the best ever, it was because of his consistency at a level no one had ever reached. Bryant goes to Jordan’s level all the time–and beyond, where no one ever went before–between dips. If Jordan was a straight line across the top of the graph, Bryant is a wavy line, with the highs going off the chart, as in Tuesday’s first quarter, in one of the great 12-minute bursts anyone has ever played.” Said ABC’s Jeff Van Gundy called Kobe’s first quarter, in which he had 17 points with three assists, making seven of 10 shots, “The greatest first quarter I ever saw.”

On Wednesday Lakers’ Coach Phil Jackson said, “He’s going to have to take his time and weigh that out and trust his teammates, there’s no doubt about it. We’ve told him, one guy’s not going to beat five. That’s something that doesn’t happen in these things. And he can’t always be the first initial option. He also has to be a guy that baits the defense and moves the ball ahead, as he did in the Denver series.” The obvious comparison in this year’s NBA Finals has been between Bryant and Orlando’s Dwight Howard. Howard is younger and plays inside, where his teammates get him the ball, while Bryant is older and wiser and plays on the perimeter.

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