The Sandspur

Issue date: 4/21/06 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Jose Carlos Fajardo MAN IN TIGHTS: Kobe Bryant's looking good on the NBA first team.

OK, I'll admit that I was not very smart for picking the Indiana Pacers to win the championship this season. However, I did not underestimate the impact that Sacramento Kings' swingman Ron Artest would have this season. Since his trade to the Sacramento Kings this season, the Kings have gone from the biggest disappointment in the NBA to recover and clinch a spot in the Western Conference playoffs that start on Saturday. Since the trade the Kings have gone 27-14, while the Pacers have slid to 18-21.

Kobe Bryant has probably had one of the most amazing seasons that the NBA has ever seen. He has had 27 forty point games this season, breaking the Lakers' franchise record set by Elgin Baylor. Who can forget when he outscored Dallas 62-61 in three quarters? Dallas is not a cellar dweller; they are fighting for the top playoff spot in the Western Conference. His season will be remembered because of the 81 point outburst versus the Toronto Raptors on January 22. He had 55 points in the second half. Kobe will most likely become the fifth player ever to average 35 points per game (he is averaging 35.4 as of Sunday with one game to go). To be mentioned in the same sentence as Rick Barry, Wilt Chamberlain, Michael Jordan and Elgin Baylor is something that no other player can claim to have done this season, and not many other players will do for their careers.

So when it comes down to the MVP discussion, it would be hard to snub Kobe. It's true that guys like Lebron James, Dwyane Wade and Steve Nash's teams have had better seasons and that their teams will go deeper into the playoffs. However, Kobe has carried a team whose second best player is Lamar Odom, who is average at best. The Lakers' third leading scorer, Smush Parker, was a journeyman before the Lakers signed him to a non-guaranteed contract before the season began. Nash has All Stars like Shawn Marion to help him. Wade has the most dominant force in the game, Shaquille O'Neal, to allow him to get open shots. Lebron has been sensational pushing the Cavaliers into the playoffs for the first time, but he has not had the kind of unforgettable season the Kobe has had. Kobe has the ability to do what Shaquille O'Neal and Michael Jordan did to their opponents for years. He scares them to death. Coaches have to switch their game plans around Kobe, because if they do not, he will light them up. If you do, he will light you up for a good 35 anyway. He is absolutely unstoppable. Why should he not win the MVP?

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