Finally after three years of not being able to reach the NBA finals after the Shaq-Kobe championship era, the Los Angeles Lakers are four games away from holding the 2008 Championship trophy.
I'm not a rabid fan. I'm not one of those fans who fight with others in defense of my favorite team. Sure I watch a game now and then, only if I'm not busy and yes, only if the Lakers are playing. Since I live in the Philippines, the object of my basketball interest is relative too. Depending on the featured personality/ties in that given season. There was Larry Bird toward the end of his career. The 1993 Charles Barkley-led Phoenix Suns The Chicago Bulls of Michael Jordan. And the Shaq-Kobe three-peat team early this century. And now the Kobe-led team of post Kwame Brown, post-trade me, trade-me-not.
The story of Kobe Bryant fascinates me. He is generally acknowledged as the best basketball player in NBA today. Yet, as a result of media scrutiny, internet blogs, and to some observers, “his downfall is generally of his own doing”, he is that one sports icon that generates polarizing opinion like no other.
On the other hand,he makes up for it during his fourth quarter heroics. He is beautiful to watch on the basketball court. He seems to be dancing when he makes those traffic-busting moves, those fadeaways, those turn around jumpers, when he make those impossible shots way beyond the three-point line.
But, basketball truly is a team sport. Although it doesn't hurt to have a superstar or two, for this 2008 Lakers team, by resolving their “chemical imbalance” they are able to achieve the impossible, getting to the NBA finals in the toughest conference in NBA history.
There were instances these past playoff games that i want to shout at them through the TV for falling behind 17-20 points, those were frustrating, heart-attack inducing times. But, somehow, at the back of my mind and those of the millions of Lakers fans all over, we believe they can hurdle a 20 point deficit and win a game.
If they lose against Boston, I'm not gonna be sad because I have seen how this Lakers team slowly mature into Championship contenders.
Now, on to the Championships.
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