Who wins??

I've been trying to follow the NBA playoffs as much as possible over the last month or so. Back in NYC (New York City - Duh! What did you expect??), I would follow it on TNT or ABC. The NBA, its FANtastic!

However, in India life isn't so easy. Aside from the fact that there is a massive time difference. Have you tried going to sleep at 4 am, waking up at 7 am, watching the game till 9:30 am and then heading to work for a 12 hour day? Let me tell you, it is not pretty. Let's just say my head has a bunch of bruises and my table has more than a few chipped corners.

Then you always have the possibility that the cable operator may switch channels on you and pull out ESPN and replace it with another shitty channel. Trust me, this has happened on more than one occasion. Have you ever woken up at 7 am after a late night and found out you woke up for absolutely no reason? I wanted to call my cable operator and leave him with death threats.

By the way only in India do you have a system where you can't choose your channels and your local cable operator totally screws you over by playing whatever they want, whenever they want. We're almost a developed country, yet we suffer from bad cable (Internet + TV) service. It's a sham!

However, through it all, I've persevered and I've been rewarded with a fairly competitive NBA Finals.

First of all let me make it very clear, I am a New York Knicks fan through and through (when they aren't losing and when Isiah Thomas isn't in charge!). Second, I've been a Kobe Bryant supporter since 1997 when he won the Slam Dunk Contest. You also have to realise, before this the only players I'd ever heard off were Jordan and Pippen. Oman (Tiny little oil rich country in the Middle East - my brother called it the Devil's armpit.) was probably worse than India when it came to following the NBA especially in the days before the net came into play.

So here we are, in the playoffs and it's Lakers Vs Magic. Interestingly both these two teams have had their fates intertwined. Sure, its been rehashed over and over but still I'll rehash it once again for your reading pleasure.

The Magic were the team to draft Shaq and then they made the NBA Finals in 1995 only to lose to the Rockets, the next year they made NBA Conference Finals where Jordan sent them fishing. After that they lost Shaq to the Laker's in the offseason and got nothing in return. This was followed up by years of losing for the Magic and 3 Championships for the Lakers.

It's almost like guy meets HCHHSSTT, HCHHSSTT takes guy to the top and then dumps him for another guy. Now the new guy is the "Man" and the first guy is homeless. That is until he meets a new HCHHSSTT with potential to be better than the first girl and now he's the "Man". This by the way happened to the Magic when they drafted Dwight Howard.

So now, you have two teams; the Laker's going up against the Magic. Kobe want's his fourth and most important ring. If he win's this, he can finally say he did it without "Shaq" and he goes down in history as the third greatest guard ever. First two being Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson. (This is of course until Lebron signs with the Knicks and win's them 8 - 10 Championship rings, don't think it's going to happen? Oh! It's going to happen!).

So back to the Finals, Laker's take game 1 with a come from behind victory. Kobe channels his nickname and becomes the Black Mamba completely killing the Magic defense. The Magic appear just happy to be in the Finals. Don't forget Kobe hasn't smiled in weeks. He's not starting now! He wants his fourth ring.

On a side note: If you ever get time, go to YouTube and check out the funny Nike MVP - Most Valuable Puppets commercials. There is a reason they sell as many shoes as they do. It's a shame they didn't make one with Dwight Howard and Kobe. Here's a link: http://tinyurl.com/1w83b7

Game 2 is a Laker's win again, barely. Pau Gasol helps bail Kobe out after he misses a clutch shot and blows a defensive cover. Still they win. Did I mention Kobe wants his fourth ring? He hasn't smiled in weeks!

Game 3 is a Magic win. This had to happen since they had home court advantage. Having said that Kobe fails in the clutch again. Amazingly enough he had 21 points in the first half on 8 - 11 shooting. If you don't know what that is, let me tell you it's great. Of course, he then goes and completely ruins it in the second half and fails in the clutch. He has the ball stolen from him, he misses a bunch of shots, fails to pass the ball to the open man and is full of fail. As Anne Robinson would say "You are the Weakest Link. Goodbye." I want to bring up the fact that he hasn't smiled in weeks? Man, he really wants that fourth ring!

Game 4 is a Laker's win. This is because Derek Fisher an old Laker holdover from their first three championship days hits the game tying 3 pointer with 4 secs left and then scores another go ahead 3 pointer in overtime to win. Kobe by the way scores 32 points, only problem is it took him 31 shots to get there.

Now, my problem isn't that the Lakers will win. Nope, I'm happy they'll win. I want Kobe to win his fourth championship ring and I want him to smile. Let's face it a sad Kobe isn't good for the NBA or for his endorsements.

My problem is the fact, that he probably will win the NBA Finals MVP, and I hate to say it but I don't think he's deserving. Sure, at a glance his stats look great. The fact however remains that the real reason the Magic are still in the hunt is because each game has been very close and Kobe (who is generally considered to be the best closer in the NBA right now) just hasn't been able to close them out. Now, I'm the first guy to tell you the biggest difference between Jordan and Kobe is that Jordan learnt to trust his teammates. Something Kobe still seems hesitant to do and considering the teammates he has, it's a shame.

Right now, I'd say Kobe is like your average guy trying to score with a really hot HCHHSSTT. He starts off really well, say's the right things and generally doing the right thing. Then the minute things get the slightest bit shaky, he goes off into "I'm Da Man" mode and totally ruins it for himself. If he just learnt to trust his wing man and allow the game to come to him, instead of forcing it. He would be unstoppable.

So, here you have it. The Lakers will win in 5. Kobe will be named NBA Finals MVP. Will he deserve it? Probably more so for the other years that he didn't get it. Will he learn to share the ball? I hope so, because if he doesn't he isn't winning another one again.