Black Mamba: Still the Sex

How totally tits is that shot? Its gotta suck to be the defender on that play, do everything right and force the shooter to the baseline, damn, I wonder if Kobe practices that? Whether or not he does the shot does tell us one thing, Kobe is still tight. Not a mystery you say? Well at 31 years of age its not really clear what to expect from Bryant. He's done a great job transitioning his game to a more efficient jump shot based attack, and this carbon copy of Michael Jordan's transition to senior citizenship is guaranteed to keep Kobe effective for longer. But its also part of the reason that people sleep on Bryant. This version of him is much more apt to getting the "quiet 30" with 6 assists and 6 boards and much less likely to get a violent Sportscenter top-10 dunk. Which, by what I am sure is in no way a coincidence, is exactly how Jordan operated during the majority of the Bull's 6-peat. It's not that Kobe or Jordan completely lost their ability to depend on their athleticism, its more that they were practical about the fact that this element of their game was slowly being compromised. In both cases the solution was the same: change your game and be effective for longer. I'm sure its a tough decision to make and tougher to execute, especially when everyone is ready to forget about you and give the reigns of the league to the next generation. And even though Wade and Lebron are dominant I have trouble seeing them transitioning away from their athleticism as they age. So don't give up on grandpa Mamba just yet, he might be playing some boring/efficient basketball these days but it looks like he's still got a few tricks up his sleeve.

"Both teams played hard...goodnight and godbless."