Love, Hate and The Black Mamba

Kobe and his ego, in all of their selfishness, somehow managed to make the most dominant force in the league, Shaquille O’Neal, a virtual non-factor, leading to a four games to one embarrassment at the hands of Detroit Basketball.

That offseason, Kobe Bryant’s career and reputation continued to take a Tony Montana-like turn for the worse.  Bryant strong-armed the Lakers organization—using free agency and the Los Angeles Clippers as leverage—into sending both Shaq and Coach Phil Jackson packing. 

Kobe had officially claimed his place as The Man in Los Angeles, and with a depleted, Shaq-less roster, I was fully prepared for Kobe’s Apocalypse.

(Quick tangent: If you look back at the Shaq to Miami trade for “the Lamar Odom pu pu platter,” the deal was not as lopsided as you would think.  Through a chain of events—, which included dumbly trading All-Star Caron Butler for Kwame Brown, straight up—L.A. basically got Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol for a declining O’Neal.  Seems pretty even, no?  That does not even take into consideration the fact that Washington probably would have taken Odom for Kwame Brown and likely would have thrown in another piece/draft pick on top of that.  Doesn’t replacing the inconsistent/soft Lamar Odom for the tough as nails Caron Butler fill virtually every single hole the Celtics exposed in the Finals?  Just saying…)  

In Bryant’s first season as The Man failed to take the Lakers to the playoffs as O’Neal and his new sidekick, Dwyane Wade were taking the Miami Heat to the Eastern Conference Finals. 

On top of that, the more likable and more popular LeBron James was beginning to challenge Kobe’s status as “The Next Jordan.”  Some even wondered if Kobe was nothing more than just another Vince Carter or Tracy McGrady without Shaq at his side (Yes, this really happened.) 

Kobe Bryant’s career had hit a low point, and, you want to know something?  I loved every single millisecond of it.

That began to change January 22, 2006.  

What Kobe did that night, scoring 81 (EIGHTY-FREAKING-ONE!) points against the Toronto Raptors, was, without a doubt, the sickest thing I have ever seen.

Seriously, the guy scored 81 points.  That is not a typo; he really scored 81, including 55 in the second half.  Does that even make sense? 

I remember asking my friends.  Kobe realized that he was playing in the NBA against professional athletes, not 5’5” pimple-faced-high-school-sophomores, right? 

The truly sick thing about the 81-point game is that I am not 100 percent convinced that Kobe cannot score 81 (or more) again. 

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