Kobe Bryant Benched: Lakers Star's Benching Is Being Overblown

There are some things the head coach of the Los Angeles Lakers just isn't supposed to do. Benching Kobe Bryant when the game is on the line is one of them. That's not just insulting to the Black Mamba himself. That's dumb.

This is all generally speaking, of course, which is why the situation that unfolded at the Staples Center on Sunday night is such a big deal. With the Lakers trailing by 14 points against the Memphis Grizzlies, Kobe was sent to the bench by Mike Brown with 5:45 remaining in the game, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Kobe would not re-enter the game until the 1:51 mark when the Lakers were down by nine, leaving him precious little time to work his magic. The Lakers lost 102-96.

And it's exactly because they lost that everyone is freaking out on Monday. Had Kobe gotten hot in the final two minutes of last night's game and led the Lakers to a win, he would be receiving universal praise for being a miracle worker and the people would probably be praising Brown as a genius.

But that didn't happen, so the media has no choice but to make a firestorm of this for the purpose of riling up the NBA fanbase, 90 percent of which is surely overly-obsessed Lakers fans.

Credit where credit is due, Kobe didn't fan the flames with his comments after the game. He admitted he was upset, but he also said this about Brown, per the Times:

"

It's his decision to make. He's the coach. If you guys are looking for a story, I'm not going to contribute to it. I can't sit here and criticize his decisions. Leading this ball club, that's not something I can afford to do. I had his back the whole season. I can't start doing something crazy now. It would make no sense.

"

This was the most diplomatic answer Kobe could have possibly given in that situation. He was clearly annoyed, but he knew that throwing his coach under the bus at that moment would have been a very bad idea, even if he secretly wanted to do it.

It matters not. There must never be a dull moment when it comes to the Lakers, and the fact of the matter is that the idea of Kobe being benched in a pressure situation is almost too good to be true.

But let's consider the possibility that—Gasp!—Brown actually made the right move benching Kobe when he did. What then?

Think about it. Kobe played the entire third quarter, and he didn't start the fourth quarter on the bench. By the time Brown sent him to the bench, Kobe had played a lot of consecutive minutes. Since the Lakers' hole was only getting deeper, Brown had every excuse to mix things up and see if he couldn't get lucky.

Then think about this: If you give Kobe 1:51 to close a nine-point gap, you're not asking for too much. Heroics are not out of the ordinary for Kobe, and he's surely had to tackle much more Herculean tasks than making up a nine-point deficit in about two minutes.

Had Kobe actually managed to do it, the Lakers either win the game or send it to overtime. If it goes to overtime, Kobe is standing on legs that are still fresh.

So, I say again, this is only a controversy because Brown's plan didn't work. Anyone who dares to criticize him now is basically playing the part of Captain Hindsight:

Instead of playing the part of Captain Hindsight, everyone should just move on.