Kobe Bryant is happy for the help from teammates like Lamar Odom

Image details: Los Angeles Lakers v San Antonio Spurs, Game 4 served by picapp.com

For years Kobe Bryant wanted to leave. When the only big contract out there was with the Clippers, it was an easy decision to stay with the Lakers.

Still he talked of leaving and teams like the Chicago Bulls were mentioned prominently. All of those deals fell through as Mitch Kupchack began building the team, gaining Odom for Shaq, drafting Bynum, trading for Gasol, resigning Fisher, and so on.

Now with what looks like a motley collection of players, Phil Jackson has them on the verge of taking out San Antonio and heading to the NBA finals.

Kobe Bryant looked back and found himself all alone. All but guaranteed the basket, he went up and slammed the ball with a little extra oomph, just for good measure.

One more win, and Bryant and the Los Angeles Lakers will be all alone in the Western Conference and on their way to the NBA finals.

The Lakers beat the San Antonio Spurs 93-91 on Tuesday night—surviving a last-second 3-point attempt that would have given the Spurs the win—for a 3-1 lead in the conference finals.

“It is a big step for us,” said Bryant, who led the Lakers with 28 points and 10 rebounds. “Tonight we came out and did a much, much better job to win in this building in this particular game. It’s big for us.”

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The important thing is that Kobe does not have to do it alone.

Lamar Odom, who was upset with his Game 3 performance, scored 16 points, eight in the fourth quarter, for Los Angeles, while Pau Gasol had 10 points and 10 rebounds and Vladimir Radmanovic added 11 points.

“I just stayed composed. I kept my poise,” Odom said. “I just stayed tough, told myself it was a long game.”

San Antonio was lead by a strong game by Tim Duncan.

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 29 points and 17 rebounds, while reserve Brent Barry had 23 points and his last-second 3-point attempt could have given the Spurs the win.

Getting past San Antonio is no small feat. They are one of the most successful franchises in modern history. Now a days, you think NBA finals and you think, San Antonio.

LA has the Spurs down 3 games to 1 and looks to close it out Thursday night.

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Kobe is flat out a great scorer

The Bulls have got to be wondering what they were thinking.

Hold on to Luol Deng and pass on Kobe Bryant?

Luol Deng. Now how many votes for the All Star team did he get? Hmm, there was that one from his mother. And that one from his agent.

Oh well, Luol is going to be great, right? Right?

Kobe is great and has been since the day he stepped on the court.

GM Mitch Kupchak should get more credit for not pulling off any deals.

Adrian Wojnarowski, Yahoo! Sports has compiled some first half of the season awards with the MVP being one of them. Let’s look at Adrian’s awards choices and why he feels that way.

Your intrepid author’s comments will be in italics.

Most Valuable Player: Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers

Sometimes, there are superstars due to win the Most Valuable Player Award. It is the year owed them. No one wants to hear this, but it’s true. Kevin Garnett has an MVP trophy. So does Dirk Nowitzki. Steve Nash has two. Once Shaquille O’Neal left, Bryant was considered an unworthy candidate because the Lakers were still losing. source

Adrian goes on to support his argument, by stating that LA winning in the West is far harder than Kevin Garnett winning in the East.

He also states that LeBron will win several MVP’s but this is just not the year for him to get support from his team.

It will be a great MVP race. Not like in past years where you arguable could have just handed the trophy to Shaq every year. In fact, it got to the point that someone had to get smoking hot to take the trophy away from Shaq.

For the first half of the season you have to go with Kobe.

Least Valuable Player: Vince Carter, New Jersey Nets

He has stopped going to the rim, stopped risking life and limb and declared his new four-year, $62 million contract fit for a suburban jump shooter.

Have never understood why Rod Thorn thought the Nets could win with a 6′ 4″ ball hog that played no D.

Rookie of the Year: Kevin Durant, Seattle SuperSonics

Adrian brings up what could have happened with a healthy Greg Oden.

Kevin Durant is instant star power in a franchise that is floundering. He will be a star for his entire career and hopefully will leave town to play for franchise intent on winning.

Oden has the power to bring back the true center into the NBA. But at this point, Greg is just potential and Kevin is doing it.

Rookie Bust: Joakim Noah, Chicago Bulls

no one can live with the insubordination that he showed with assistant coach Ron Adams prior to getting a two-game suspension in mid-January. Maybe his chatter will be entertaining when he’s considered a good player, but until then, Noah needs to grow up.

Just be glad you are not a kid in an adult world where everything you do is told to the media and printed the next day or shown on the internet. Noah will make it in this league. He will mature as well.

Executive Disaster of the Year: Isiah Thomas, New York Knicks

This is a career achievement award for Thomas. Kevin McHale has been a different disaster, but he does have a blossoming young star in Al Jefferson, No. 1 picks and cap space on the way. Odds are, he’ll do nothing with it, but at least you know Thomas has no chance with the constitution of his team.

All the Isiah Thomas stuff just stuns me. As a long time Piston fan it is so hard to fathom.

Did Isiah ruffle feathers as a Piston? Absolutely.

Did Isiah turn people off, in spite of his cherub smile and youthful energy? Absolutely.

Did Isiah move beyond all that and get the job done? Absolutely, positively.

Try two rings as the team leader of a franchise that had no belief in itself for decades.

And, like now, Thomas told everyone that he would do it!

Let me leave you with this thought, no matter how ludicrous. What if the Knicks start to win?

Adrian gives us some other awards, so be sure to check them out!

NBA Basketball Fan Question What other MVP candidates are out there?

As always, any NBA Basketball related comments are welcome.

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Post from: NBA Obsessed