Submitted by Ramsey, Mar 27, 2007 11:10

I am a Laker fan and have not missed any games on the league pass this year. I think the analysis given here is partially correct. Kobe has gotten more healthy as the season has progressed but his teammates played much better earlier in the season. Luke Walton started hot, Lamar Odom finally was agressive, Smush Parker scored well and even Jordan Farmer and Andrew Bynum showed huge flashes. When the injuries hit, Kobe played more point and got the ball back to score a lot later in the clock. The young players often were unable to step up and knowck down buckets.

When Luke and Lamar returned, the Lakers had offensive threats on the floor and more importantly, took the pg position away from Kobe and let Luke and Lamar handle. As such, Kobe had an opportunity to be more aggressive and take a load off of them as they got their game legs back. Bam, Kobe has a historic run and the Lakers win 5 in a row.

As a side note, the media continues to characterize the shots to Jaric and Ginobili as elbows but they were forearms, landed while trying to draw a foul. Anyone who has ever played thinks a thrown elbow is dirty but a forearm is acceptable. That is why neither player thought Kobe should have been suspended....

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