Great Game... I Told You So

Not to pat myself on the back or anything, but I did say earlier today that everyone should watch the Lakers visit the Denver Nuggets. If you took my advice and watched it you were treated to one heck of a ball game.

Allen Iverson put on a display of basketball brilliance. He had 51 points and single handily kept his team in the game. Kobe showed once again, why he is the best player in the game. Watching the game I knew Kobe was going to get the ball with under a minute left, and every time the Lakers came down court he got the ball and he scored. The best players always have that quality. In the middle of the game I knew Iverson was going to shoot, but nobody could stop him. It was the same way with Kobe with a minute to go in the game.

At the end of the game it looked like Iverson just ran out of gas. I would argue there is no finer conditioned athelete in the world than Iverson, but even he gets tired at some point. He carried his team through the first 3 and a half quarters. On the other hand there was Kobe who was able to carry his team in the closing minutes and lead his team to victory.

I said earlier today that the spread had the Nuggets as 9 point favorites. I told you to play this game and pick the Lakers. If you listened you were correct. The Lakers came out victorious tonight. It was a great game that was tightly contested throughout. In the 4th I looked up and they were either tied or only separated by a couple of points. What a basketball game and what individual performances by Iverson and Kobe. It is great to see basketball played at this level.

Tonight: Lakers vs Nuggets on ESPN

I hope everyone gets a chance to see this game tonight between the Los Angeles Lakers and the Denver Nuggets. How often is it that we get to see 3 of the greatest athletes compete on the same floor? We only get to see it 3-4 times a year now that Allen Iverson is on the Nuggets.

Allen Iverson is and has been one of the 5 best players in the league for a long time now. Here is a guy who barely stands 6 feet tall and carried his team, on his back, to the NBA Finals one year. Only to lose to to a guy who has been the best player in the league, unquestionably, for 4 years now; Kobe Bryant.

It's great when these two face off but now we get to up and coming superstar Carmelo Anthony. I shouldn't say 'Melo is up and coming, because he has arrived. He is already one of the top players in the NBA. He has a great jump shot and an incredibly fast first-step. If he can get his defense to the level that Iverson and Kobe play, he will be right up there with the elite in the league.

The last thing I want to point out about this game is the play of young center Andrew Bynum. Do not sleep on this young man. He is playing at a very high level, and still isn't old enough to drink alcohol. Here is a guy who plays the center the position the way it should be played. Back towards the basket, backing people down, blocking shots on defense, and catching alley-oop passes from his point guard.

So I encourage everyone tonight to sit in front of a TV, turn on ESPN, and enjoy a very exciting basketball game that invovles 2 first ballot Hall-of-Famers, 1 guy who is well on his way to being a Hall of Famer, and 1 guy who plays the center the position it should be played.

The line for this game is the Nuggets favored by 9 at home. Take the Lakers with this. The Nuggets may come out on top, but I don't see Kobe getting beat by 9 on national TV.

Bulls Say No to Kobe

Here is an interesting story about Kobe's future from ESPN.com:

Chicago Bulls general manager John Paxson said that trade talks on Kobe Bryant with the Los Angeles Lakers have ended for now and downplayed the notion that the teams were ever on the verge of a deal.

"There's not a deal done," he said Thursday. "There's not going to be a deal done. All the things that were out there were really unfair to all of us who were trying to do our jobs. The misinformation ... I think gets in the way of the process. It's just such a complicated thing and we kind of put it to rest now."

Paxson said they discussed "parameters," but the sides "never got down to the nuts and bolts of it because there was never a deal to be done. That's the reality of it."

Comments:

I guess Kobe will have to suffer with the Lakers. I think they should worry about how to make a deal to get some talent around him, instead of trying to trade him away.