Does Kobe Bryant live under a lucky star? Well, that is not my theory or at least not all of my theory, but we will get to that in a moment.

Is this a case of good things happen to good people? One thinks not, but that might be a part of it anyway.

Los Angeles Lakers 108 Miami Heat 107

So what happened anyway? The Lakers were behind the Heat in a Kobe vs. Dwyane Wade duel and the score was 107 – 105, when Kobe got the ball and slipped and had to throw up the last second shot. He started double teamed on one side of the court and wound his way towards the middle to take a twisting fading high arcing jumper over his defender. That defender was Dwyane Wade.

“When I released the ball, I thought, ‘No (bleeping) way,’” Bryant said. “I didn’t think the ball was going in. It felt good, but I didn’t think I was going to make that shot. – I liked my chances if I had squared up. I wanted to, but I slipped, I was doubled and all I could do what shoot a runner. I just couldn’t believe that ball might go in.”

Bryant scored 17 points in the fourth quarter, besting Wade, who had 12.

“To win that ballgame you have to be lucky, and we were tonight,” Lakers coach Phil Jackson said after the team improved its league-leading record to 15-3.

“I thought he had really good balance and he was setting up really well. What do you want me to say about it?” Jackson joked when asked about Bryant’s winning shot, the last of his team-leading 33 points on 12-for-25 shooting.

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You can see the shot more than once in this YouTube video. Warning, the sound is kind of muffled.

If you are Kobe, it isn’t just good luck it is good probabilities when he puts up a shot late in the game with the game on the line. That shot has been practiced over and over in practice and attempted many times in other games. Maybe the shot was not exactly like this one, but it was the same enough to allow his mind to calmly put the shot together and release it. Now the fact that it banked in was a bit of luck, but there have been others that did not go in that were great shots but just a little bit off.

Good things for good people, not exactly, but more like good things for prepared people that keep persisting in their efforts and have great talent.

The Lakers win again and Kobe Bryant is the star again, even if he was a bit lucky.

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Now it is time to play who makes more in the NBA as provided by Hoopsworld. The answers will be at the bottom of the blog.

Are you ready?

A) Who makes more Boston Celtics… Ray Allen, Paul Pierce, or Kevin Garnett?

B) Who makes more Cleveland Cavaliers… LeBron James, Shaquille O’Neil, or Mo Williams?

C) Who makes more Denver Nuggets… Carmelo Anthony, Chauncey Billups, or Kenyon Martin?

D) Who makes more Los Angeles Lakers… Kobe Bryant, Pau Gasol, or Ron Artest?

E) Who makes more New Orleans Hornets… Chris Paul, Emeka Okafor, or Peja Stojakovic?

F) Who makes more San Antonio Spurs… Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, or Richard Jefferson?

G) Who makes more Dallas Mavericks… Jason Kidd, Josh Howard, or Dirk Nowitzki?

H) Who makes more Orlando Magic… Dwight Howard, Rashard Lewis, or Vince Carter?

I) Who makes more Miami Heat… Dwyane Wade, Michael Beasley, or Jermaine O’Neal?

J) Who makes more Detroit Pistons… Ben Gordon, Charlie Villenueva, or Rip Hamilton?

Tim Duncan makes a lot of cash!

Answers from Hoopsworld:
A) Paul Pierce $19,795,712.
B) Shaquille O’Neal $21,000,000.
C) Kenyon Martin $15,613,636.
D) Kobe Bryant $23,034,375.
E) Peja Stojakovic $13,392,000.
F) Tim Duncan $22,183,220.
G) Dirk Nowitzki $19,795,714.
H) Rashard Lewis $18,010,791.
I) Jermaine O’Neal $23,016,000.
J) Rip Hamilton $11,625,000.

Photo source Newscom

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Just looking up at the title of this post cracks me up, because my life is immersed in acronyms and that title is nothing by acronyms. How did we survive without acronyms?

Would you like the title to say Most Valuable Player for the National Basketball Association picked by the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network? No, you like acronyms, just like NBAObsessed. By the way, while looking up what the P stood for, did you realize that ESPN is owned by ABC, which in turn is owned by Walt Disney and partially by the Hearst Corporation? Oh, and ESPN stands for ESPN now, it was officially changed.

We are getting way off the track, not that NBAObsessed has any difficulty getting back on track. Where were we…?
Oh, yeah, ESPN put together their top 20 analysts and picked their favorite for the MVP award for the coming season. The winner of that poll is not a big surprise. It is, of course, LeBron James, although NBAObsessed is worried about the Shaq clogging up the middle for James preventing him an easy lane to the hoop.

Where is Kobe in the MVP voting?

The big surprise in the poll was that Kobe only had 2 votes. Two lousy stinking votes was only 1 more than ‘Never Play D’ Carmelo Anthony. You would think the vote would be a lot closer. LeBron had 12 votes and even Dwight Howard had 3 votes.

Look for Kobe Bryant to take this as a personal challenge!
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It is the impossible world of exhibition basketball where teams have veterans with years of pounding on their bad knees that won’t bother to really run up and down the floor and teams also have rookies just dying to make a big play or provide some extra hustle.

Yesterday we discussed how Dwyane Wade lead the Miami Heat in scoring against the Detroit Pistons, but we failed to go into a play that made Detroit Piston’s rookie Austin Daye’s day.

The Heat star had just taken an outlet pass and was going to glide in for an emphatic dunk late in the second quarter of the exhibition opener for the Pistons and Heat.

But midway through the glide, Pistons rookie Austin Daye came over to block the dunk and knock it out of bounds, eliciting a cheer from the sparse Palace crowd.

Wade looked around and grinned.

Later in the possession there was a Pistons foul, and Wade just joked and laughed with the Pistons’ bench — particularly Tayshaun Prince — telling it that it was a great play.
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Dwyane Wade is a superstar and does not feel the need to be offended by Daye’s’ block of his dunk, so he took it in the spirit of fun and gamesmanship. Meanwhile, Daye could barely contain himself knowing what he had accomplished. If he wanted to be noticed, it worked.

Dwyane Wade laughs and has fun with Pistons Austin Daye

The new Pistons are a younger group with a long way to go to win anything and just don’t seem to be as serious as the old Pistons. It remains to be seen if that translates into victories.

Dwyane Wade is probably in the same boat, just waiting for the players to arrive to give him a good enough supporting cast.

Image: Zuma Press

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How strange it felt last night flipping through the channels on the big screen while waiting for my wife to come downstairs. We were going to watch the season ender for Warehouse 13 that was recorded on the DVR. Then there it was, a NBA basketball game. The Detroit Pistons against the Miami Heat. It did not seem right. The game was only exhibition and it just seemed too soon. Pro sports seasons are so long the off seasons seem too short.

Most of my friends don’t even watch basketball until January, when football switches over to the playoffs and bowl games. But there it was.

Dwyane Wade led Miami in scoring

It was a nothing game and Detroit and Miami are two teams that are going to race up and down the court to make up for some defensive deficiencies and some lack of height and that is what they were doing.

It was a good night for Dwyane Wade.

Dwyane Wade led Miami with 18 points.

The Pistons led by as many as 17 in the second half, but Miami came back in the fourth quarter. The Heat comeback was helped by a mistake by the replacement officials with 1:21 left. Bynum made two free throws to apparently put Detroit up 87-78, but the Miami players pointed out that Bynum hadn’t been fouled on the play.

After a discussion, the points were taken off the board and Maceo Baston was sent to the line, where he missed both shots.
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Chris Wilcox and Ben Gordon each scored 11 points and will play a big part in the Pistons this season.

The game was hard to watch, because there is just no intensity in a preseason game.

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It is going to be the most exciting free agent year of all time next year and you can add the super powered guard from Miami to the list. Dwyane Wade will be joining LeBron James, Chris Bosh, and Amare Stoudemire, among others, as 2010 free agents. This just keeps getting better. (Note, appears my Pistons won’t have any free agent money or at least the kind to land these guys.)

Now don’t get me wrong, the rules are rigged to keep a player in his home team town. In this case Dwyane can make 30 million more over 6 years if he stays with the Heat.

But will he stay with the Heat? They have done nothing to improve their roster and Jerry West is 64 years old. Dwyane Wade stated Jerry staying as GM was a factor. Really?

Dwyane Wade to the Bulls?

Now the hot rumors have Wade taking his extreme hoop skills over to the windy city to play for the Bulls.

Wade grew up a huge Bulls fan, idolized Michael Jordan and left Converse this summer to sign with Nike’s Jordan brand. Wade’s charity foundation, his family and his agent are all based in Chicago. Wade even acknowledged Wednesday he probably fueled speculation of a potential homecoming when he recently closed on a $1.4 million townhouse in the Windy City.

“Me buying a place in Chicago, that’s supposed to mean more than what it is,” Wade said. “I just sort of laugh at it, all the speculation.”
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Wow, this would be an awesome backcourt of Derrick Rose and Dwyane Wade. Maybe one of the fastest backcourts in the National Basketball Association. Oh man, this would not be good for my Pistons.

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The Lakers picked up Ron Artest and say what you want about the guy, he can be a terrific basketball player and the Lakers are hoping by surrounding him with strong minds and a solid coach and a winning tradition that they will be able to contain the rest of Ron Artest.

The ace in the hole for the Lakers would have been Lamar Odom. Only Lamar is thinking about going to Miami to play with Dwyane Wade, instead and he may do it for less money and more respect.

Lamar Odom to Miami?

It will be interesting to see how this plays out, because the Lakers will need Odom to repeat. No Odom and things get a lot more interesting in the West.

According to Wojnarowski, one source said that the Odom-to-Miami deal is “Close, but it’s not done.” It would be a huge pickup for the HEAT should they pull it off, and a huge loss for the Lakers. Kobe Bryant has said all along he thought Odom would end up back in Tinsletown, but now it’s pretty much anybody’s guess. Either way, he’s going to win some ball games, though it seems more likely the Lakers would give him the better shot at another ring.
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Image: Zuma Press

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The latest greatest almost impossible to dream rumor about is the Bulls picking up Dwyane Wade with a max contract. Can you imagine rookie of the year Derrick Rose and perennial MVP candidate Dwyane Wade in the same backcourt? Hand them a few average big guys and you are talking title contenders for years to come.

Think of your average Chicago Bulls fan tainted with the memory of the great one, Michael Jordan, still fresh in their minds and his 6 titles. They have to be hurting right now. There was the close miss with the Celtics that were without the services of Kevin Garnett and the thought that Derrick Rose is a few years away from being able to carry the team.

Could Rose be teamed up with Wade?

Oh, it could be great. In a couple of the OT games with the Celtics the Bulls went to Rose in tie breaker situations at the end of games. How nice it would be to hand the ball to Dwyane Wade instead. No knock on Derrick, but it would be his job to set Wade up for the victory shot.

Wade could walk right into a backcourt with Derrick Rose, two potential all-league players with a nice supporting cast with Joakim Noah, Luol Deng and John Salmons. Such a plan likely would preclude making a big offer and bringing back Ben Gordon. But then you also risk Miami pulling off a coup, and, say, getting Bosh and then ending up with the 2010 version of Ron Mercer.

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MVP time is this week Thursday and the choice is a tough one. LeBron James or Kobe Bryant? It really is down to the two of them as Dwyane Wade as had a drop-off recently and that remains in the voters’ minds.

Kobe Bryant is hardly fifth best?

One way to look at a player’s production is the Bird value.

As always, I am informed, but not driven, by the formula three-time MVP Larry Bird devised to quantify any player’s true value: points, rebounds, assists, steal and blocks, minus missed shots, missed free throws and turnovers. The sum is divided by games played. It’s a great jumping-off point for careful consideration.

LeBron James, Cavaliers

Bird average: 32.15

Case for MVP: He has the highest Bird value. Additionally, he’s nearly as good a closer as Bryant, still the player every coach would want taking a deciding shot in Game 7 of an NBA Finals. He’s worthy of consideration for the All-Defensive team, too. Simply, he gets the vote because he’s the reason Cavaliers have the best record.

Kobe Bryant, Lakers

Bird average: 24.26

Case for MVP: No player in the league is more reliable when the ball is in his hands and the game is on the line, or more focused on getting a stop in the same circumstance. Plus, he understands, more than at any time in his career, how to make his teammates better.

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In case you were wondering:
Chris Paul 30.3
Dwyane Wade 28.98
Dwight Howard 27.32

My personal consideration of this matter reveals that stats are stats and don’t always tell the story. While LeBron is certainly deserving, you can’t put Kobe 5th in this group. Kobe or LeBron will likely win the award.

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Who wins the MVP in the NBA this year? There are really 3 main candidates and they are not hard to figure out.
LeBron James
Dwyane Wade
Kobe Bryant
So who wins it? Kenny Smith, writing for Yahoo.com has some definite opinions.

Dwyane Wade brings the excitement

Kenny likes DWade, because he is so exciting and has very little help. He has to do it all. Kenny eliminates DWade by insisting that he play for one of the top four teams. He believes that the MVP should carry your team to the playoffs.

LeBron is another story. Is there any other player with this much talent? How can this guy be so big and still play the small man’s game as well as the big man’s game? Need speed? LeBron has it. Need jumping ability? LeBron has it. And if your team wants to play great just put players where they like to shoot, because other teams will double and triple LeBron leaving guy’s wide open to shoot.

Finally there is Kobe. The one that reminds you of the One, the Michael, the Jordan. Kobe will not just beat you, he will destroy you.

Which player is deadliest with the game on the line? Kobe. He not only lives to win, he enjoys demoralizing opponents. That edge is what separates him from LeBron and D-Wade. He’s the guy who kicked sand on your face at the beach.

Kobe almost has a Jordan-like aura among NBA players, and for good reason. He has more offensive skill then anyone in basketball. If Jordan is No. 1, Kobe is 1A. He isn’t Jordan to my generation, but Kobe is tops to the now generation. Believe that.

Kobe actually has more offensive moves than Jordan and shoots the 3-pointer slightly better. And who scored 81 points in a game? Not MJ.

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So who does Kenny pick? Well, you will just have to read the article and find out for yourself.

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