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Kobe smokes a cigar, then the Jazz: the scent of greatness.
Posted by: SPQR on Apr 26, 2009 - 03:34 AM
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At the press conference following Kobe Bryants incendiary demolition of the Utah Jazz, a reporter asked him if it was true that he had smoked a cigar after game three to clear the stench of that game away. Kobe smiled and said, “yes.” The reporter then asked if Kobe would like to volunter the brand of cigar he has smoked. Kobe replied that he would keep that information close to the vest pending and endorsement contract.
Because he is a man of considerable wealth and means, one thing we can assume is that the cigar, by any other name, was expensive and smelled just as sweet as Kobe’s game looked on Saturday night.
On the heels of his worse playoff performance in close to a decade, one can also assume that when Kobe was alone with his cigar, unwinding and blowing the taste of that defeat from his mouth, he also made a promise to himself that he and this Laker team would play only one last game in Utah before this series ended back in the confines of the Staples Center.
One can also in hindsight also safely assume that Kobe made a decision that the Bryant who the Jazz saw last night was a throwback to the aggressive, attacking scorer who had terrorized the league for the better part of a decade, not the patient facilitator of more recent vintage. One can envision The Great Man, formulating the method of Utah’s destruction with each relaxing exhale of grey, pungent smoke, the smell of an expensive cigar carrying each deadly thought and private promise out into the air, born aloft and breathed into life by the burning desire of a player who knows he can bend a game to his will in a way only few before him ever could. As the clouds of cigar smoke rose on high and slowly dissapated into the air, so too did any chances the Utah Jazz had to win game four.
Game four did not end with Kobe’s first bucket, it did not end when Utah saw his fierce, unquenchable thirst for redemption and victory, it ended long before that, with Kobe Bryant smoking a cigar, making cold, calculating decisions about what he wanted to do the next time he stepped on the court. As he sat and smoked as each cloud of smoke disappeared, so too did Deron Williams, so too did Carlos Boozer. With each cloud of smoke another Jazz player dissappeared until the whole of the Utah team was gone. At the time, they didn’t know it. Only Kobe did. After the game, they all knew it, as did evey basketball fan in the country. Kobe smoked his cigar and made his promises in private. He smoked the Jazz and carried out his revenge in public.
Kobe light the Jazz as soon as the game began. He started taking shots and making them right from the opening tipoff. It was not a feeling out process or a tactic. I was an all out assault designed to break down the Utah team and destroy the protective carapace they rely on at home. He did not cut or slice but bludgeoned with hammer blows meant to hurt and drain.
At first the Jazz tried to ride out the storm. Deron Williams played with his usual aplomb. Carlos Booze once again attacked inside, muscling Pau and Laker interior as he did in game three. For a while it looked like they may keep up with Kobe’s ferocious pace. But it was not to be. Kobe kept going. Every ounce of his skill and will exhibited in his torrid pace and shots that seemed to seek out the basket with an accuaracy that defied reality.Each bucket, each blow was harder than the previous one. His message was clear: I am here to kill you. I will tear your heart out and if you are not ready to die you better step aside.
Kobe remained impassive, implacable. No smiles, no laughs, no emotion at all. As he attacked without remorse or remit, his long slanted eyes seemed dead and and his face eriely evocative of a pharoahs sarcophogus mask. To the Jazz, indeed it must have seemed like they were battling the spirit of an otherworldly king determined to take out his vengence in blood ten fold.
As time went on, Utah could not keep up. Williams effectiveness disappeared. The scoring and crisp passes faded away. Carlos Boozer could no longer corral rebounds and found making a basket a torture test. The Jazz were wore out and frazzled. Everytime Kobe got the ball, they tried to converge on him in ever more desperate attempts to stop him. The resembled a team afflicted with a nervous twitch that wouldn’t go away. Kobe, his mission accomplished, unleashed the dogs of war. Shannon Brown started hitting threes, so did Sasha. Lamar Odom dominated with drive to the hole and hit the backboards with alacrity. It looked all too easy and it was. Kobe’s teamates were simply cleaning off the bone Kobe had thrown them. If you ever want to see an entire team get worn out, pounded down, its collective will and desire ripped out, its energy sucked dry by one mans ablity and will, play a tape of game four of the 2009 Laker-Utah series. In the end, Utah was not ready to die and they stepped aside.
At the end of the game, there was a scent in the air. Like with Kobe’s cigar, it was something special, something high end. It was the scent of revenge. It was the scent of redemption. It was the scent of promises made and delivered. It ultimatly was the scent of greatness and a team smoked by a single man who would accept nothing less than total vindication.
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Re: Kobe smokes a cigar, then the Jazz: the scent of greatness.
by lakeshowsd (lakeshow2kbey0nd@yahoo.com)
on Apr 27, 2009 - 06:00 PM
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SPQR,
The most readable stuff on the LTB. Period. I actually look forward to coming into work, firing up my computer, and reading the latest SPQR Blog. Whether in victory or defeat, your writings cast the Lakers in a new light, always compelling, and never fallacious. Again, Bravo.
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