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No Shaq, no problem for Kobe and Lakers
by Chris Tomasson, Special to FOXSports.com
Throughout the NBA Finals, the Lakers guard wore a stoic look. His focus was so intense that, by comparison, Phillippe Petit looked giddy while he crossed between the World Trade Center towers on a tightrope three decades ago.
But the man on a mission really let it out Sunday night after his work was done. It didn't matter that his Lakers were in the midst of the Lord's Prayer.
After the Lakers had wrapped up their 15th NBA title with a 99-86 win over the Magic at Amway Arena to win the Finals 4-1, Bryant promised coach Phil Jackson he wouldn't douse him with champagne.
The vow didn't last long.
"He told (Jackson) he's not going to pour any (champagne) on him," said Lakers forward Luke Walton. "We say the Lord's Prayer every Sunday, and right when (Jackson) stepped into the huddle to start it, Kobe poured a whole bottle of champagne on his head. It was pretty awesome."
For the record, it was Moet & Chandon Imperial Champagne, which is made in France and an Internet search reveals sells for about $60 a bottle.
OK, it's not Dom Perignon, but that was still, in these tough economic times, a nice selection by the NBA, with Walton estimating the league provided 15 to 20 bottles. After all, there was plenty to celebrate Sunday.
Jackson won his 10th title, breaking a tie he held with Boston legend Red Auerbach for the most won by an NBA coach. And Bryant shed a monkey off his back so big it should be put on display down the road at Disney's Animal Kingdom park.
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| Kobe Bryant doesn't have to hear remarks that he can't win a title without Shaq anymore. (Elsa / Getty Images) |
Bryant, who scored a game-high 30 points Sunday and averaged 32.4 in the series to win the Bill Russell Finals MVP Award, had won NBA rings with the Lakers in 2000, 2001 and 2002. But those all came when Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal was considered by many the driving force on the team, and O'Neal won each of those playoff MVPs.
O'Neal departed in 2004. Since then, Bryant had to listen to how he had been unable to win a title without the Big I Told You So.
He especially had to listen to O'Neal himself. His rap performance after the Lakers lost the Finals 4-2 to Boston last year, in which O'Neal barked, "Kobe, tell me how my (rear end) tastes," became a YouTube staple.
"I just don't have to hear that criticism, that idiotic criticism anymore," said Bryant, who did acknowledge the teams he and O'Neal were on comprised "probably the first dynamic duo that had two alpha males on one team.''
"That's the biggest thing ... It was annoying. It was like Chinese water torture, just keep dropping a drop of water on your temple.
"I would cringe every time. I was like, 'It's a challenge. I'm just going to have to accept because there's no way I'm going to argue it.' You can say it until you're blue in the face and rationalize it until you're blue in the face. But it's not going anywhere until you do something about it."
Bryant did.
In fact, with this being the first year the MVP trophy is named after Russell, Bryant turned in a Russellesque performance by blocking four shots Sunday in addition to handing out five assists and grabbing six rebounds.
"He proved all the doubters wrong who said he couldn't win one without (O'Neal),'' Lakers legend and part-owner Magic Johnson said in an interview with FOXSports.com. "Kobe is one of the top players that ever played in this league. He didn't need to win it, but I know for him personally it feels great ... He's proved in his career and also in these whole playoffs that he could do it with Shaq or anybody else.
Inside the NBA
"He doesn't have to admit (that he desperately wanted to win a title without O'Neal). But it's about his ego. It's about all our egos. It's about our competitive nature. He may not admit it, but it feels good (to win without O'Neal)."
Not having won a title as the sole leader of the Lakers was the one asterisk on Bryant's résumé. That seems to be a good word to use if only because Jackson loves to throw it in to needle the San Antonio Spurs when saying they won their first title during the NBA's lockout-shortened "asterisk season'' of 1998-99.
The lowest it got for Bryant was last June's loss to the Celtics. The Lakers, favored to win the crown, choked away a 24-point lead in Game 4 at home when they could have tied the series 2-2.
"L.A. is brutal, man,'' Bryant said. "Now, when I go to Disney World and Disneyland, I can enjoy the moment. I don't have to answer questions about what the hell happened to you guys ... From that standpoint, the summer is much more enjoyable.''
You better believe Bryant is going to be living it up this offseason.
"It feels like I'm dreaming right now,'' a beaming Bryant said after the game. "I can't believe this moment is here ... Just vacation (now for Bryant). Cabo. Yeah, stuff like that."
One thing for sure is Bryant won't be taking his series face into the offseason.
After all, he might need his smile surgically removed when he shows up for training camp in the fall.
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