Kobe Bryant News

"It's a good thing the Bulls, in their pursuit of a superstar, resisted the urge to gut their roster last autumn to acquire Kobe Bryant from the Los Angeles Lakers. It's a good thing, that is, for Kobe Bryant. While watching Bryant cradle his league Most Valuable Player award the other day, one had to wonder. What was he thinking, or smoking, when he openly expressed a desire for a trade to Chicago?"

"Jazz players are sick of talking, and hearing, about it. Kobe Bryant still may be pained by it. It's Bryant bad back, and it played an integral role as the Los Angeles Lakers beat the Jazz in Wednesday night's Game 5 and took a 3-2 advantage in their best-of-seven NBA Western Conference semifinal playoff series. What part that aching back plays in tonight's Game 6 at EnergySolutions Arena, where the Jazz's postseason life is on the line, remains to be seen."

"Call me an L.A.-loving sycophant. Label me a superstar-gazer. Blame me for aiding and abetting the Jazz's enemies. But I like Kobe Bryant. So shoot me. There goes my invitation to Larry H. Miller's Christmas party. Now that I've outed myself, I may as well move to West Covina and file my columns from there. I'm not going to have many friends after this."

"Admittedly, Kobe Bryant doesn't throw up praise toward his opponents as frequently as he does jump shots. But when the topic of the Utah Jazz's 23-year-old point guard, Deron Williams, comes up, the L-word starts to flow. "I love him," Bryant recently said of Williams. "He's one of my favorite players in the league. "I love his toughness. I love his competitiveness. I love his skill. I don't throw accolades around too frequently. I really love him as a basketball player.""

"Kobe Bryant did his job, in a way. Good thing for him Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom did theirs. Nobody leaped tall buildings in a single bound. Nobody lit up the night sky. It was, in fact, fairly workmanlike. Sometimes it's not all that glamorous, but at this stage, neither the Jazz nor Lakers is asking for art. So now that Game 5 is over, could they pleeeease get back to actual basketball? The Jazz are one game from vacation, following a 111-104 loss to the Lakers, Wednesday night. All that buildup. All that back-talk. Sort of anti-climactic, really."

"Kobe's back? The Lakers had it. This time, his teammates would not be ignored. This time, his teammates would not be still. This time, the spasms were in their shaking fists and screaming voices. The time, the guys who collapsed in pain were dressed in Jazz. On a night when Kobe Bryant's sore back limited him, his maligned teammates hoisted him, and this is why the Lakers are now just one win from the NBA Western Conference finals after a 111-104 victory over the Jazz in the tiebreaking Game 5 at Staples Center."

"Jazz forward Andrei Kirilenko claimed to not know Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant was hurt in Sunday's Game 4 of their NBA Western Conference semifinal series. Still, Kirilenko can feel Bryant's pain. He's had bouts with back spasms before and knows it's not fun."

"Kobe Bryant did not practice again Tuesday, but said his injured back felt "a lot better" and that he would play in Game 5 of the Lakers' Western Conference semifinal series against the Utah Jazz tonight. That's what passed for definitive statements Tuesday around Lakers camp. What condition that back will be in, how much Bryant will be able to do, even how much his teammates will know about how much he'll be able to do, remained very much a mystery. "

"Kobe Bryant didn't practice, didn't even shoot the ball Tuesday, but reiterated he would be part of the Lakers' most important game so far this season. He seemed loose and relaxed as he talked to reporters, a contrast to the lower back spasms that had gripped him since Sunday, biting into his sleep patterns and making him grit his teeth on the long freeway ride from his Newport Beach home to the Lakers' training facility in El Segundo."

"Kobe Bryant couldn't run, jump or shoot a basketball Monday. He couldn't practice with his teammates 24 hours after suffering back spasms during Game 4 of the Lakers' second-round playoff series against the Utah Jazz. Bryant could make a promise, however. "I'll play," he said when asked about his availability for what figures to be a must-win Game 5 for the Lakers on Wednesday night at Staples Center. "I can't imagine it being any worse than it was (Sunday) night." "

"It was the tweak felt around the Southland. As Kobe Bryant writhed and wrenched through lower-back spasms during the Lakers' playoff loss against the Utah Jazz on Sunday, it was an injury with which many across California and the country could empathize. Back pain is one of the most common medical problems and will affect about eight of 10 people during their lifetimes. Of course, not many of them have quite as large an impact on the Lakers advancing in the playoffs."

"Kobe Bryant will play Wednesday, I learned Monday. Actually, I didn't learn it as much as divine it from years of watching Bryant, who would play if they had to wrap him from head to foot like a mummy. Two things are certain with Bryant: 1) he's the gamer of gamers and 2) he'll never take a breath without creating a controversy, as he did once more Sunday. Only one thing kept Bryant's performance in Game 4 from rising to the mythic level of Willis Reed limping out for Game 7 in 1970 and the flu-ridden Michael Jordan beating the Jazz in 1997...The Lakers didn't win. "

"Utah's back. Kobe Bryant says he will be, too. A series is now a series, which meant all eyes turned to the newest MVP as he took it easy Monday, resting his back in lieu of risking further flare-ups of the kind that floored him a couple of times in Game 4. Bryant, listed as day-to-day because of lower back spasms, says he'll be ready Wednesday for Game 5, though it's unclear if he'll be fully healthy, partially healthy, somewhere in between or somewhere the Lakers don't even want to think about."

"There was a time when Kobe Bryant practically was untouchable — and not in a good way. Corporate marketers wanted nothing to do with the Los Angeles Lakers guard even though Bryant was one of the best, most dynamic and highest-profile players in the NBA. The reason: Bryant had been charged with sexually assaulting a young woman during a 2003 visit to a resort in Eagle, Colo. Nearly five years later, with that charge long dropped, a civil suit settled, a strong team behind him on the court and an MVP award on the mantel, Bryant has seen his image among marketers and fans finally go on the mend."

"All it took was 52 seconds into Sunday's Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals against the Utah Jazz at EnergySolutions Arena. The Lakers' Kobe Bryant took a 15-foot jumper, and that was when it happened. It was just his team's second play of the day, and his back began to hurt him. From then on, things weren't the same for Bryant and Co. Bryant's injury and his inability to be his usual stellar self late in the game were big reasons why his Lakers fell 123-115 in overtime to the Jazz, evening the series at 2-2."

" It finally happened Friday night. With time winding down and the Lakers in a perilous situation, Kobe Bryant looked human. It's not that he didn't try to pull off his usual miracle shots, it's more that the shots looked like Mark Eaton was launching them. That was Kobe. With 3 minutes left in the game, Bryant fell while driving and the ball was turned over to the Jazz. He wanted a foul called. He didn't get it. "

"It has been two days now since his coronation, and we remain a city in a twitter. Kobe Bryant is the MVP. One more time, let's chant: MVP. MVP. MVP. Ours is a city that has had Van Brocklin and Koufax, Drysdale and Wilt, Fernando and Shaq. The Great One skated his way into our hearts... Still, none of them got our wings fluttering in the City of Angels like Kobe. If we didn't know better, we'd think he cured cancer. He is everywhere. A radio talk show isn't a radio talk show unless the topic is Kobe. "

"When Kobe Bryant formally accepted his first NBA MVP trophy from league commissioner David Stern on Wednesday night, the Staples Center venue awash in Hollywood glitz and glamor, the Los Angeles Lakers' superstar did so as a changed, perhaps even humbled, man. Deron Williams sees as much on the court. Luke Walton sees it on, and off. "It's just little things — taking guys out to dinner, spending more time with people, talking and explaining," said Walton, the son of NBA legend Bill Walton and a teammate of the particularly private Bryant for five seasons in Los Angeles. "You know, he's such a great talent that for him, sometimes, I think it's frustrating when people don't understand what he's trying to explain, or what other teams are doing out there," Walton added."

"All right, so it's too little too late, but here goes anyway: CP3 for MVP! Chris Paul didn't win the NBA's MVP award, but, as these playoffs have proven, he should have. Nothing against Kobe Bryant, your basic player for the ages, but he hasn't had the kind of season Paul has. Bryant, thanks in part to the acquisition of Pao Gasol, has put the Lakers in position to win the West and perhaps the NBA championship. Paul? He has changed the culture in New Orleans, transforming a have-not franchise into a legitimate contender. Along the way, he has revitalized a city and impacted careers across the league. "

"One cursory look, one quick scan of Staples Center on Wednesday and you knew. L.A.'s sports fans always arrive late. It's in their too-cool DNA. Just not this night. The arena was packed well before tipoff. People standing, chanting, holding signs, wearing giveaway gold T-shirts that read: "Our team. Our time. Our MVP."... Stern presented the MVP trophy and Kobe held it overhead, the crowd - light years removed from when it booed him on opening night - roared. They were all in love again. His teammates approached for a round of high-fives."

"Chris Paul's bid for this season's MVP award ended Tuesday, when the NBA announced Los Angles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant as the recipient of the honor. Bryant won the award for the first time, receiving 82 of a possible 126 first-place votes and 1,100 total points. Paul, the Hornets' third-year point guard, finished second with 28 first-place votes and 894 points, and the Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett finished third with 670. "It's a great honor," Paul said Tuesday about Bryant's win. "He deserves it. He had an outstanding year." "

"Kobe Bryant, the Lakers' star who will be awarded the NBA's MVP trophy by commissioner David Stern Wednesday night at Game 2 of the second-round playoff game against the Utah Jazz at Staples Center, is known for his remarkable offense. Jazz center Mehmet Okur said Tuesday the Jazz have to worry about his defense, too. "He was active on the defensive end and (would) come behind us, try to steal the ball," Okur remembered of Sunday's Game 1 Utah loss in which the Jazz had seven second-quarter turnovers. Bryant had one steal."

"Not too long ago, Hollywood produced a movie about wedding crashers. Tonight, the Utah Jazz hope to help inspire a sequel of sorts. They could call it "The Coronation Crashers." While publicly they agree Kobe Bryant deserves the NBA's MVP trophy he will receive from commissioner David Stern before Game 2 tonight, the Jazz would love nothing more than to crash his award party. That, however, probably isn't a script moviemakers attending the 8:30 p.m. Jazz-Los Angeles Lakers game would like."

"Now he's a good teammate. Now he's happy. Now he talks nice about his teammates and shares the ball with them. Now he wants to be a Laker for life. Now he's an MVP. With his official coronation as the Most Valuable Player of the NBA Tuesday, Kobe Bryant finally has everything he wanted, except a world championship when he was Da Man and not somebody's sidekick. Bryant has transformed himself into the perfect basketball player. Just brace yourself if things ever go awry again. We've seen Bryant at such times, and it's not a pretty sight."

"If tonight's game is destined to be a coronation for Kobe Bryant, with the Lakers guard presented with his MVP award by NBA commissioner David Stern, the Jazz would like nothing better than to be party crashers. They will have the chance once the pregame ceremony ends and Game 2 begins. Trying to downplay the occasion, Deron Williams said the Jazz knew Bryant had won the award before this playoff series started. "We don't have to play against the award," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan added."

"Jeff Hornacek spent much of two NBA Finals try to harass Chicago Bulls superstar Michael Jordan and prevent him from single-handedly beating the Jazz. That's why Hornacek can empathize with Ronnie Brewer, Kyle Korver, Andrei Kirilenko and whoever else draws the defensive assignment on Kobe Bryant in the Utah-L.A. Lakers playoff series. Been there, done that. Even if it's an almost impossible task. "

"Statistically, LeBron James just finished the best regular season of his career. He led the NBA in scoring at 30 points per game and had career highs in rebounds (7.9), assists (7.2) and blocks (1.1) per game. The Cavaliers were 0-7 when he didn't play, and he carried them to numerous victories with clutch fourth-quarter play. In all, it was quite a Most Valuable Player resume."

"LeBron James received one first-place vote and finished fourth in the NBA's 2007-08 MVP voting. Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant won the award, his first, with 82 first-place votes. James, who finished second in MVP voting in 2006, was not surprised Bryant won. "I've always stated, since two or three years ago, that Kobe Bryant's the best player in this league," James said. "And he's been the best player in this league for five or six years. It's good he won it. His team played well and he's part of the reason why they finished No. 1 in the West." "

"A year ago, Kobe Bryant was ready to bolt. Now, he's prepared to stick with the Lakers for the rest of his NBA career. "I would like to, absolutely," Kobe Bryant said during a formal news conference Tuesday afternoon to announce his selection as the NBA's MVP...Bryant had made it clear he did not wish to leave the Lakers, ending a 12-month melodrama he initiated by asking for a trade after demanding the team upgrade its roster following its second consecutive first-round playoff ouster. "

"We have the stars, baby. The glitz, the glamour, the Hollywood sign, the premiers, Jack sitting courtside, and one other little thing - most sports MVPs in the country. No city has captured more of the top professional awards in the four major sports than Los Angeles. We are just so cool. Compared to L.A., New York is the city that sleeps. Chicago is a second city. Boston the cradle of almost. Philadelphia the city of brotherly runner-ups. That's right, Kobe Bryant's MVP award today only will increase Los Angeles' lead as the sporting MVP capital of all America. This comes with a semi-convenient qualifier, heavy on the semi. "

"The wait is finally over for Kobe Bryant, officially the NBA's most valuable player as of Tuesday's announcement, but it never ended for Jerry West. . . . Four times West finished second in the MVP balloting -- to WiltChamberlain in 1966, Willis Reed in 1970, Lew Alcindor in 1971 and, after the former UCLA center changed his name, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in 1972. . . . "

"I had to ask him. Kobe Bryant had just accepted the most meaningful, coveted most-valuable-player award of any sport, gripping it tight amid a hotel ballroom teeming with legends and love. But I had to ask him. Now that he is basketball's official king of unselfishness, does he regret those times last spring when he was so selfish? Now that he is basketball's official portrait of teamwork, does he regret those summer days when he was the Lakers' worst teammate? "No," he said, staring coldly. "I was right the whole time." He paused. The room fell silent. "I'm joking!" he said suddenly with a laugh, and, filled with great and obvious relief, everyone laughed with him. "

"The Lakers were in a hurry after Tuesday's practice, giving perfunctory comments in brief interviews with reporters. They had somewhere better to go. A few miles away, Kobe Bryant was about to be recognized by the NBA as the league's most valuable player, an award 12 years in the making that became official at a crowded hotel ballroom a short shuttle ride from LAX."

"OUR YEARS must seem like a lifetime ago for Kobe Bryant. In some sense, it was. Not every athlete gets a second chance to climb back onto the pedestal from which they had been knocked. At this time in 2004, allegations of a sexual assault and admitted infidelity in his marriage back in 2003 had destroyed the "pristine" off-the-court image Bryant and his handlers so carefully had crafted. Later that summer, Bryant bore the criticism for the Los Angeles Lakers not winning a fourth NBA championship in 5 years. His selfish play was sighted as a key component to the Lakers being upset by the Detroit Pistons in the Finals. Then Bryant was slammed again, fairly or unfairly, for allegedly running coach Phil Jackson and center Shaquille O'Neal out of town by giving the Lakers a them-or-me ultimatum in contract negotiations. When Jackson and O'Neal left, many believed Bryant had gotten just what he deserved."

"Bringing it all back home . . . home? It's almost 12 years since Kobe Bryant became a Laker and he's been ours all that time. Ours to dazzle, ours to try with his youthful exuberance, ours to horrify as we watched his fall, ours to shock as he threw the Lakers' organization under the bus. Mostly he was ours to amaze as he lurched from crises of his own invention to triumphs no one could have imagined months before."

"He was just a kid back then. Proud, eager, nearly invulnerable — or so it seemed to him. Even in 1997, when yet a teen, Kobe Bryant had the world by the tail. Until that moment in Game 5 of the playoffs in Salt Lake. Waning seconds of regulation, neck-and-neck, frenzied crowd. And he missed an 18-footer. The overtime was even worse: He air-balled two more shots down the stretch as the Jazz went on to win the series, four games to one. But even then, Bryant had composure beyond his years. In the locker room, he gamely faced the microphones and cameras, saying he hoped he would learn from the experience, and that the next time he was in that situation, he would come through. Eleven years later, and look where he is now. Team leader, scoring titles, championship rings, MVP. And he's not missing many free throws, either."

"The Jazz knew Kobe Bryant would be a handful. What blew them away, though, was just how much he had a hand in everything. Bryant didn't just score 38 points in the Los Angeles Lakers' 109-98 victory in Sunday's Game 1 of the NBA Western Conference semifinal series. He also dished seven assists and got big men Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom intricately involved, leaving the Jazz to figure out whether to choose rock or hard place for Wednesday night's Game 2."

"Kobe Bryant was tough enough for the Utah Jazz to guard off the dribble. But the Jazz were defenseless when the Los Angeles Lakers guard was at the free-throw line on Sunday afternoon. While the Jazz players headed to the bench with foul problems, the Lakers headed to the free-throw line during their 109-89 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals at Staples Center. Bryant was in true MVP form from a stationary position. He hit his first 18 free throws without a miss and finished 21 of 23 overall on his way to 38 points. "

"Twenty-three times Sunday, the Utah Jazz left Kobe Bryant wide open. Twenty-three times, the bumping, bruising Utah Jazz stood still and just let him shoot. Twenty-one times, Kobe Bryant scored. Twenty-one times, he jabbed a 10-foot sword into a puffed-out chest. And basketball folks still have the nerve to call it a free throw? Not here. Not Sunday. Not Kobe."

"It might have been in the form of forearm shivers, sharpened elbows or simply getting tossed to the floor, but the Los Angeles Lakers were handed a message along with their 109-98 victory against the Utah Jazz in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal series Sunday afternoon. This will not be easy."

"He was facing a 3-1 series deficit in the 2004 NBA Finals against Detroit, plus that rather noteworthy sexual-assault charge. “If you know me,” Kobe Bryant said at that time, “I'm probably the most optimistic person you've ever met.” It's an interesting description for Bryant, because when you breathe fire from your eyes so often while at work — and get caught on video calling your boss “an idiot” for not trading the big kid in the next cubicle for Jason Kidd — even your most ardent supporters can't figure you for a person who'll use smiley-face emoticons. The thing is, optimism isn't really about whether you can more convincingly play Happy or Grumpy. In fact, real psychologists analyzing optimism and pessimism brush right past that commonplace half-full, half-empty thing."

"When word leaked late Friday that Los Angeles Lakers' star Kobe Bryant will win NBA MVP honors this year, it came as no great surprise to the Jazz. "I don't pay attention to that," Utah coach Jerry Sloan said Saturday as the Jazz prepared to face Bryant and the Lakers in today's Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal playoff series. "But he's the logical choice, because his team has done well and he's having a great year." "He was the MVP," Jazz All-Star Carlos Boozer added. "The way his team played, the way he played — he's probably been the best player in the game for the last few years, but finally he deserved it. And I'm happy for him.""

"For three weeks last summer in Las Vegas, Deron Williams called Kobe Bryant his teammate. They played together on the USA Basketball team that won gold and qualified for the Beijing Olympics at the FIBA Americas Championship. Along the way, Bryant made an impression on the Jazz's third-year guard. He reported to training camp a day earlier than the other NBA stars and started workouts immediately. He went to shoot on the first day of practice with one of the coaches and didn't return for three hours. "One of the most competitive guys I've ever been around," Williams said. "He works so hard on his game. He's the best player in the world." "

" The Lakers were eating dinner Friday night in Hollywood when Kobe Bryant got the news. Somebody e-mailed him a link to an Internet story that reported his selection as the NBA's most valuable player. Suddenly, a team-bonding exercise turned into a raucous celebration. "There were a lot of (curse words) being thrown around," a smiling Bryant recalled Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours after word leaked out of the league office that he had been named MVP for the first time in his 12-season career. "It was a lot of fun," he added."

"Kobe Bryant tried to play it coy with his reaction to winning his first MVP award, saying he had yet to hear anything official from the league. But when needled and prodded by media members -- as they are known to do sometimes -- he acknowledged that it was something he did not know would ever occur in his career. Bryant said he learned of the report while at dinner with his teammates Friday night."

"It took 12 seasons, but Kobe Bryant has finally been selected the NBA's most valuable player, The Times has learned. Sources familiar with the outcome who were not authorized to speak publicly about the award until the official announcement from the league said Commissioner David Stern will be in Los Angeles next week to present the trophy to Bryant."

"If the MVP trophy ends up in Kobe Bryant's hands for the first time in his career next week, then it might have had something to do with the superstar guard's increased trust in his teammates this season. Bryant has struck the proper chord between shooting and passing this season, and that's made his teammates better players, according to Lakers guard Derek Fisher. "He's trusted me making big shots," Fisher said Thursday. "

"Kobe in the Promised Land, Act II. Remember when the first round of the playoffs blocked the Lakers' way, as impenetrable as a mountain range?"

"The Lakers are expecting the Denver Nuggets to pack their largest punch so far, an appropriate time for Kobe Bryant to peer into the pressure of trying to be king of the ring."

"On the day after Kobe Bryant torched the Denver Nuggets and electrified a sellout crowd at Staples Center with 49 points and 10assists, his coach marveled at how effortlessly it unfolded in Game 2 of the first-round playoff series. "I think the ball seemed to find him," Lakers coach Phil Jackson said Thursday. "A lot of times, Kobe is asking for the ball, as a scorer will do. But (Wednesday) there were just a lot of plays that just came to him. The ball seemed to find him. The hot man got the ball. It's something nice to see in basketball when that happens." "