Last night, something happened on the court of the NBA Finals that defied my expectations: the Celtics won. Not only did they win, the Celtics beat the Lakers after trailing by 21 after the first quarter and by 18 at halftime. More astonishing than what, however, is the question of why. With a lead that exceeded 20 points and the MVP of the NBA on their side, why did the Lakers lose? As great as the Celtic defense proved to be, the Lakers lost because of Kobe Bryant.
Though Bryant is the best player in the NBA, when games enter crunch time and victory hangs in uncertainty, his downside manifests in his teammates. In such moments, the Lakers enter Kobe Mode, where Bryant assumes the role of the classic hero and bends the fate of the game to his will. When Kobe takes over, he resembles the closest thing to Jordan since Jordan. But as dominant as these moments can make Bryant look, they also reveal his great flaw: the rest of the Lakers fear their leader.
Kobe Mode destroys the Lakers' confidence and camaraderie for these two reasons: victory must occur through him, and he seems unwilling to trust his teammates. In the first instance, Kobe treats each game as if it is his to win, which makes his supporting cast passive; in the second, when Kobe must rely on his teammates, they fear to fail him.
This truth about Bryant only comes out in defeat of course. When Sasha Vujacic received Bryant's pass and nailed a three to seal game three, Kobe patted him on the head. But in game four, after Vujacic let Ray Allen slip past him to score a game-clinching basket, Kobe shirked his teammate. Vujacic slammed his despairing first into a bench chair, and Kobe let him suffer the blame. Jordan would have rescued his teammate. Consequently, the Lakers lack the sense of shared identity and shared fate that defines a team, and Kobe prevents them from becoming one.
Notice how the Celtics displayed the opposite in game four. In the first half, Eddie House missed all of his wide-open jump shots, but Paul Pierce—who is becoming their own leader—continued to give him looks in the second half, and House produced 11 points. The Celtics put the same exact faith in James Posey, who produced 18 points off the bench.
More importantly, these were not bench performances that brought random victory; rather, the Celtics clinched a win through the leadership of their stars. In the third quarter, Pierce confronted the impossible with defense—he blocked a jump shot by Kobe Bryant. The play led to the Celtics rally that won the game. Then on the most important possession of the game—the one that would put the Lakers away or give them a new opening—Pierce did not demand the ball. Instead, he trusted it to Ray Allen, who also displayed fearlessness.
An important victory requires two things: a leader who can confront the impossible and a team who believes in itself. Pierce displayed both traits last night, and the Celtics overcame a deficit of over 20 points to earn a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
Kobe may be the best player on the Finals court, but he has yet to learn what six seasons of mediocrity taught Jordan: a superstar cannot win a championship single-handedly. Unfortunately for the rest of the Lakers, this last component will only come if their leader is willing to change, to listen. As simple as such a demand sounds, it could keep Kobe from ever winning another title.
3 comments:
Good synopsis, Love. Course, I can't read as much into games as all that. But I demand that the Celtics win in their return to Boston. They've had some great comebacks in the series, and it's time to seal the deal. When is the next game?
Game six is tomorrow. Want to watch it with me?
glad to see you're on blogger! The first interview will probably be via telephone. If all goes well, we will probably make a trip over there within a few months.
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