The most absurd demonstration of how inconsistent the calls were tonight was on a touch foul that went against Kobe at the end of overtime while he d-ed up Caron Butler. Caron took it to the hole and Kobe shaded him. It was a ticky tack foul that even Butler looked surprised to get. Kobe sort of grabbed his crotch in frustration and turned away, a sardonic smile creeping up his face.
But that was it. Even after getting hammered on the two plays above, he simply walked away from confrontation. Sure, he’s got to, he does have 15 technicals. One more gets him a one game suspension. But that’s the beauty of Kobe’s transformation this year. He knows he’s needed. And he’s making sure his next technical doesn’t come until at the very earliest, the first game of the playoffs.
He might lose the MVP to Chris Paul due to his team dropping two games to the struggling Bobcats and the lowly Grizzlies, but Paul’s team, unlike last year, has remained relatively healthy. Kobe’s playing with Turiaf and Mbenga as his bigs.
Speaking of Mbenga, after 15 or so games, he’s starting to show why Dallas had interest in him. He’s a bit raw, but he’s got a pretty solid J and he goes after the ball. And he’s happy and excited to be playing. After Kobe closed out the half with an and-one layup, Mbenga ran over absolutely geeked. He might just be a stop-gap, but Lakers fans should take notice and be thankful of the effort he’s been giving.
The fans at the game took notice and gave him a nice round of applause when he came out in the fourth.
Not a great win tonight. But a win nonetheless. One game at a time. Oh yeah, did I mention that Kobe had 13 assists? Now imagine if that J was falling like usual. Yeah, scary.
Keywords: Caron Butler, Kobe, Lakers, Mbenga
